Spreading the Good Word: Part One
Written by Julie Kelly
May 8, 2014
Our quest to spread the good word about Nourish Balance Thrive is under way! We held our first Paleo cooking demo and Healthy Hormones seminar the other night, and it was a great success. We were lucky enough to work in the awesome community kitchen space at New Leaf Community Market, in Santa Cruz. New Leaf's Westside location re-opened a few years ago and was wise enough to create a fabulous teaching kitchen to connect with community. It is a great space to work and teach and I'm so glad we have two more presentations there this month.
The Paleo cooking demo was so much fun. It has been awhile since I had the opportunity to speak or teach in front of a crowd, and it's really nice to be back at it. This group was particularly great since it included some of our current clients and friends, it's so nice to get to see them in person. Cooking for them was a special treat for me. It was a really relaxed evening and I loved answering questions as I was cooking.
The goal of the menu was simplicity. We hear so often how hard it is for people to make time to cook, we wanted to demonstrate that Paleo doesn't have to be time consuming or overly complicated. I didn't plan the menu ahead of the class on purpose. We showed up to New Leaf about an hour before the class and I did all of the shopping.
I had a craving for salmon since it's the start of the season, but once we saw the price we decided to dispel another Paleo myth, it doesn't have to break the bank. We opted for lamb shoulder chops instead. At $6.99 a pound, you'll be hard pressed to find a steak with higher nutrients for the price. Lamb is also great because it's not super common in a lot of households so it lends a bit of an 'exotic' feel to any menu.
In keeping with the theme of simplicity I opted for lots of veg and some super fresh herbs. I wanted everyone to see how really fresh vegetables cooked simply with a god amount of healthy fat can really stand alone without some sort of starch or heavy carbohydrate. I chose some beautiful dino and Russian kale with leeks, which I sauteed with coconut oil. I also selected some perfect asparagus and red bell peppers that were roasted with butter.
To compliment the whole meal I used really fresh and aromatic herbs. Basil, mint, and cilantro. I love these three with lamb, so I make a quick sauce to serve with the dish with a few table spoons of each chopped herb, one can of coconut milk, the zest of a lemon and a lime, the juice of a lemon, and salt and pepper to taste. It's best if you can make the sauce ahead of time to let the flavors really come together, but it's pretty tasty made just in time too.
Cooking the whole meal took 45 minutes from start to finish. The only prep I did ahead of time was washing the veg. The lamb was first up. I laid it out on a baking sheet, seasoned with salt and pepper, and topped with some shredded basil, mint, and cilantro. I'd recommend chopping the herbs pretty fine and wait to top the lamb until after it's been in the broiler for about 10 minutes and is ready to flip. It will only need about 5 minutes on the other side.
After the lamb was in, I got going on the kale and leeks. Simply sliced the leeks and added to a hot pan with about three tablespoons coconut oil. As the leeks became translucent I added the chopped dino kale and gave the whole thing a stir. I let the dino kale wilt down a bit before adding the Russian kale to the pot. I seasoned with salt and pepper and a few dashes of balsamic vinegar to finish.
The next dish was really the easiest, the asparagus and peppers really just got trimmed and sliced, set out on the baking sheet, topped with salt and pepper, and 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter. They went into the broiler right under the lamb for about 10-15 minutes.
After I flipped the lamb and was waiting for the asparagus and peppers, I had just enough time to make the sauce. I chopped the herbs roughly, added them to a can of coconut milk, and then zested the lemon and lime into the coconut milk, added the juice of the lemon, salt and pepper to taste, and gave it a good stir. Finely diced cucumbers are a really great addition to this sauce, but it's great and fresh without too.
That was it! Three great dishes and a sauce all plated and tasted, in under an hour. Even Ivy got to have some lamb, it is her favorite food to date. After the demo, Chris got to dive into a great talk about healthy hormones and how to know when you should test your adrenals. Everyone seemed to get a lot out of the whole evening. The questions were great and we really enjoyed the company. We are so looking forward to our next two presentations, we hope you can make it! Register Here
Paleo Cooking Demo and Your Guide to Healthy Digestion - May 21'st, 6PM New Leaf Westside Santa Cruz
Paleo Cooking Demo and Your Guide to Successful Living - May 27'th, 6PM New Lead Westside Santa Cruz
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