This week was a big week for trying new things. I've been a bit tired of all the cooking so I've reverted to stir fries a bit more than I was. Still been staying in the paleo ingredient list though, this time with some real wild edibles!
I tried Morel's for the first time.
Morchella a. in the frying pan
I cooked them with butter because I had heard that was a simple way to prepare them and get their full flavor. They definitely had a unique flavor and smell. I am undecided on whether or not I like it. When eating them I felt like they needed to be paired with something. Perhaps a tasty meat of some sort. I still have some mental hurdles to go through when eating the wild stuff. Such as, I had just wiped a bunch of little bugs off of them before cooking. I got over it though and would eat them again.
Wild Wood Ear Salad
This is the wood ear that I mentioned in my previous paleo post. I decided to make them into a salad and took a recipe off google. Unfortunately I am not eating soy sauce, so I made the recipe without it, and the flavor ended up being a mixture of vinegar, red pepper, and garlic. Rather strong to say the least. The texture of the wood ear was very strange and kept putting the image of ripped apart silly-puddy in my head every time I took a bite. It may have been coincidence but I read that Wood Ear boosts the immune system and my allergies felt much relieved for the next two days. I would have thought they would go extra crazy since allergies are an immune response. This could have been caused by other factors though, such as less pollen in the air the next few days or something. Who knows? Also, I ate one the night before eating the salad to test if my body would react to them. I always eat a small amount the first time I try any new plant or fungus.
Liver, Onions, and Garlic
This week I also started incorporating liver into my diet. The book I've been reading recommends about 3 oz. a week so that's what I went with. It is very yummy, rich, and I don't think I could eat much more than the recommended amount. I had been putting this one off until I could get some grass fed, happy, cow liver from the farmer's market. Liver is surprisingly cheap for how nutritious it is.
Carrot and Guacamole
I have become a snack fiend. One way to combat the doughnut and pizza urges that seem to be regularly stoked at my work is that I have been sure to have snacks on hand at all times. My favorite one has been carrots and guacamole. I have also been doing kale chips, veggies dipped in almond butter, and I've started roasting sunflower seeds with pumpkin seeds. The nut butter and seeds I have been portioning out as to not over eat them. Something else that has helped is to start thinking of some of the stuff I was eating as poison. When you start equating sugar to the way dogs like anti-freeze then it becomes much easier to not want it.
Crappie, White Bass, and Cauliflower
The family decided to have a fish fry, and I wanted to join them, except that they were eating it in a way that was incompatible to my diet, with their peanut oiled, fried, and battered crappie. I decided to bake them in butter, garlic, and onions. It was freaking delicious and I was happy to have experimented.
Hamburger Veggies Stir Fry
This is the last meal I will be sharing and it was another good one. What was special about it to me is that I put wild onions and cattails in it. I had never eaten either until this week. I think adding foods that I've never eaten has really made the paleo diet more exciting. I have combined it with my new found passion of eating wild edibles and wanting to live a healthy happy life. I didn't notice much difference about the onions, other than that they are small and very strong. The cattails were yummy but the food was so spicy that I wasn't really able to tell if they had a flavor or not.
Self Check: Still some work to do on the gut health. I am basing it off my morning poo and its solidity. I need to drink more bone broth and probably incorporate another pre-biotic like sour kraut. My mood has been most excellent. I had one day where my dog ruined my lunch and I was off put all day but other than that I have felt great this week. This is very important as I have had a hard time with my emotional state over the years, some months crying every day. I am sleeping better than I have in a long time. I'm dreaming more, although not really remembering them. Part of it is probably the food and part of it is me prioritizing sleep. When I get sleepy at night I have been giving into it instead of reading another article or playing a video game. I feel like my skin is becoming healthier but it might still be too soon to come to any conclusions.
Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!