Mediterranean Stuffed Pork Loin

Kirk’s mom had given us a bounty of food from Whole Foods a few weeks ago, and one of those items was a pork tenderloin. We’ve been waiting to make it and once we found this fantastic recipe from Mark’s Daily Apple, we decided to make it for dinner today.

Now, it does take some time to prep. But I firmly believe that for the most part, you get back what you put into something. If you want quick food eat fast food. But will it really have complexity of flavor, be satisfying, and give you an opportunity to spend time with family cooking? We are insanely busy, but somehow we always find time to cook together, and it has brought a lot of happiness to our lives. I think there is nothing greater than making something from scratch and then enjoying it together. OK…..so back to the pork loin.

Mediterranean Stuffed Pork Loin (Via Mark’s Daily Apple)

• 1-2 pound pork tenderloin
• 1 red pepper, finely chopped
• 1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 6 oz spinach
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts (any kind that sounds good)
• Pitted kalamata olives
• Olive oil or butter for sautéing
• Optional: 1/4 cup crumbled Feta cheese (not paleo, technically, but a minimal amount adds great flavor)

Instructions:

Drizzle some olive oil or butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add red peppers and garlic to the pan. After a few minutes add the spinach and cook until it wilts. Remove from heat.Butterfly cut the pork tenderloin (cut vertically down the middle until almost through, but not quite through the pork).Place saran-rap over the butterflied pork and pound it as flat as you can without breaking through the pork (use a meat tenderizing hammer for best results).Once the pork is thin then add the ingredients from the pan on top of the pork, spreading it all over. Add the nuts, and optional feta cheese and olives.

Gently roll the pork into a tube/roll. If you are using a smaller pork loin, or were not able to pound it very thinly, you may just be folding the loin over rather than rolling it. In this case, securing the loin with toothpicks or kitchen twine will be necessary.

Drizzle the pork with olive oil and butter and bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 40-60 minutes (depending on the size of the pork roll).

When the pork is cooked to your liking, let it cool slightly and then slice.

We ate ours with grilled asparagus and it was delicious!

If you can’t buy it paleo, make it

After a long week dealing with students who are already mentally on spring break and looking a 12 page graduate paper in the face I need something sweet. And nothing hits the “I’m stressed” spot better than a bowl of homemade ice cream. But not on paleo right? Well, I found this little gem of a recipe on the Caveman Food blog for making paleo vanilla ice cream. I’m a little wary, BUT the ice cream maker we received for Christmas can only continue to gather dust. I think its time to make sure it still works.

So here is the recipe boys and girls, straight from Caveman Food:

COCONUT MILK ICE CREAM
honey/lavender/vanilla version

1 14-oz can full fat coconut milk
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, cut in half lengthwise (we used 1.5 T vanilla extract because vanilla beans are pretty expensive around here. Next time I’ll probably double that amount of vanilla)
1 T chopped lavender flowers, optional
3 T raw honey (adjust up or down to taste, but less honey will make it freeze much harder in the freezer)
ice cream maker

Set up a double boiler by placing a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water (be sure it’s simmering and not a full rolling boil, as this will give you better control later). Add the coconut milk and lavender to the bowl. Scrape the insides of the vanilla bean into the coconut milk, then throw in the whole bean pod as well. Stirring fairly frequently, heat until the coconut milk is hot but not boiling.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs well in a separate bowl. Once the coconut milk is hot, add a ladleful to the eggs while you’re whisking – you want to bring the eggs up to the temperature of the coconut milk without scrambling them. Add in another ladleful of hot coconut milk to the egg mixture while whisking. Take the now hot egg mixture and whisk it into the bowl of coconut milk on the double boiler.

Now, whisk constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard. This may take several minutes (it took me about 5 minutes). If it’s getting too hot and starting to scramble, remove from the heat immediately but keep whisking, then return it to the double boiler. Once it has thickened to a custard, remove the bowl from the heat and let it cool.

Thickening to a custard-like consistency

Remove the vanilla bean pods. Once the custard is cool enough for you to stick your finger in it and hold it there without burning, whisk in the raw honey. Put the custard base in the refrigerator or freezer until it gets cold. Freeze in your ice cream machine per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Straight out of the machine this ice cream has a creamy soft serve texture. If you store it in the freezer for later, just let it sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before eating to let it soften up a little bit.

Yummy, frozen custard

VERDICT: This is a very rich ice cream, more along the lines of custard. I think next time we’ll splurge for the vanilla beans. This seems like it would make a good base to add other ingredients; I think next time I’ll add fresh berries. Enjoy!

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You know you think about something way too much if….

you dream about it. Which is why it seems so strange that I had a dream last night in which I effortlessly did kipping pull-ups. YES, that was definitely a dream! I can do 1-2 hanging pull-ups, a decent amount with a band, and can crank out ring rows like nobody’s business. But the elusive kip keeps escaping me. When I get the kipping pull-up, I’ll know that I’ve arrived, Crossfit style.

In other news, a friend told me about this new movement (literally) called MovNat.

It is “paleo” to the extreme, basically moving outdoors the way humans were meant to. AKA no shoes and using every muscle in your body to safely and effectively move through your environment. I guess the group does workshops where you can spend 4-5 days in nature learning how to reprogram your body. I love that this movement is aligned with paleo eating, and I would love to try this someday. I think I’ll work on Crossfit for the time being though.

My goal for this week is to eat 90% paleo and go to Crossfit three times. What are you doing this week to live a more natural, primal life?