Nutrition - 1 Feb 2011 - Did you hear? And a recipe!

Hi, Team!

Just a quick reminder - to all who braved the slick roads and made it into work – that we will have our Tuesday meeting at the normal time and location. I’ve been getting lots of emails and hearing stories of successes, breakthroughs, and revelations. Let’s share and keep it going! Having the support of those around you is perhaps the most vital to being successful in your lifestyle change.

Did you hear? The USDA is coming up with a new food pyramid. Before we even see it – you and I know that we can just black out the grains, beans, and most dairy areas. HOWEVER, as I understand – they are recommending that MOST (over 50% of the population) people should moderate their SODIUM (salt) intake to less than ½ teaspoon daily. That’s not any big news, right? What got me smiling was hearing that this recommendation came with a suggestion for doing so. “Cut back on processed foods as they all generally contain large amounts of salt as a preservative.” That does sound to me like the government is recommending the eating of whole foods! We’re already one step ahead. (Three if you’ve given up grains and legumes!) J

Speaking of grains and the dishes we all love to say we will miss… Here’s a recipe that will tickle your taste buds and bring pizza-riffic joy to your Friday! From the awesome folks at health-bent.com (Paleo Recipes That Don’t Look or Taste Like Dog Food)

See you at noon!

Mike.

Paleo Pizza Salad

31 January 2011 by megan keatley

I swear to you, I was the biggest pizza fan that ever existed. It was our cheat meal almost every Friday night. About a year and a half ago, I realized that it wasn’t pizza that I loved, it was the flavors piled on top of the crust. There is no real flavor in the crust, it’s just a vehicle for the tastiness on top. I haven’t had a pizza, in the traditional, or even paleo-ified sense, since. So here you have it, instead of picking off the toppings during this year’s Super Bowl party you can eat an entire bowl full of ‘salad’.

Paleo Pizza Salad

Ingredients

· 1 7 oz. package of Applegate pepperoni slices, chopped or sliced

· 2 bell peppers, choose your favorite color, chopped or sliced

· 1 eggplant, diced

· 1 red onion, diced

· 6 oz mushrooms, sliced

· chili flakes, to taste

· olive oil

· black or green olives, roughly chopped

· banana peppers, roughly chopped

· fresh basil, torn with your hands into small pieces

· any other pizza-like topping you dig

For the Dressing

· 3 T pizza sauce

· 1 T red wine vinegar

· 1/4 c olive oil

Method

Over medium-high heat, saute the pepperoni pieces until they’re crispy. Remove from the pan and let them hang out in your serving dish. Add some fat to your saute pan, along with peppers, onion, eggplant and mushrooms. Let all the ingredients sweat it out together, until they’ve softened and developed some caramelized-like color. Add the veggie mixture to your serving bowl, along with the chili flakes, olives, banana peppers and basil.

For the Dressing

Whisk all the ingredients together. Drizzle over the pizza salad and toss to combine. Serve the salad hot–though cold pizza salad is just as yum in the tum.