Autumn is officially here and so are all of the yummy winter squashes. Here is a great and easy recipe for those of you that are missing pasta - you can get spaghetti squash almost everywhere right now, I got a great deal at the farmers market a few weeks ago where each squash was only 75 cents! This is a dish that is great to reheat, take to work for lunch, or have for breakfast if you're so inclined. It's easy to do so give it a try - no excuses!
Roasted Spaghetti Squash - Paleo Spaghetti
Heat oven to 400 degrees and put a halved, seeded spaghetti squash in a baking dish or baking pan, lightly coated with coconut oil. I always put mine face down, so that the inside of the squash is on the bottom of the pan. Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, remove and let cool. Once cool, use a fork to scrape the squash out from the shell, it will have a "spaghetti" like consistency.
To save time you can also half and seed the squash, and cook in the microwave for 6 to 8 minutes. Follow the same process to scrape the squash out. For this recipe where I took the pictures we cooked the squash on the plate in the microwave instead of in the oven.
What's for dinner? I ask myself that question often, almost everyday actually. This weekend we decided to make the most of the summer weather (hitting 80 in October is definitely summer weather when you live in the north east) and make some grilled chicken kabobs. It was really easy and turned out delicious.
What you need:
- 1 - 2 pounds of chicken thighs
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 1 large red bell pepper
- 1 large onion
- Minced garlic
- Olive Oil
- Oregano
- Salt and Pepper
- Kabob Skewers - wooden or metal
My last post talked about the 1/8th of a cow I got through Philly Cow Share. You may be wondering why go grass fed? To start, there is some truth that you are what you eat, and as I mentioned in the Optimal not Tolerable post. What I didn't mention is that you also are what you eat, eats. When you eat conventionally raised meats and farmed fish which are fed lots of corn, soy, antibiotics, hormones, and questionable feed (mixed in animal products in some cases) that food is what is being used as the building blocks for that animal's fat and muscles. So when you eat conventionally raised meats and fish, they have a higher amount of Omega 6 fats (that cause inflammation) from eating all of the corn (Corn oil's Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio is 46:1). Not to mention any antibiotic or additional growth hormone that may also be there.
Grass fed meats are healthier because the animal is eating what it was evolved to eat, so it has a more complete nutrition profile and doesn't have industrial by products. When your animals are eating grass, seeds, grubs, insects, etc (depending on what the animal is) it has a healthier profile, grows at a natural rate and has less Omega 6 fats since it's not eating any corn. You naturally are getting a some amount of Omega 3's since cows are eating a diet that is natural to them along with some other good stuff like CLAs. When you eat higher quality meats you are fueling your body with more optimal sources. Starting to be concerned about quality is the next level of optimizing your food choices, after you've changed your food choices to primarily whole foods - focusing on meats, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds.
Where can you find grass fed or pastured meats, the first step is to start asking and looking for it. Often times it's in with the Organic meats. But if something says vegetarian fed or organic that doesn't mean that it's grass fed or pastured. Be careful what you are buying and decide for yourself what is worth the additional money. Check out farmer's markets in your area, try to find a local farm, look for resources like Philly Cow Share and Farm to City that serve the Philadelphia area. Other great resources for high quality meats are: EatWild and US Wellness Meats where you can order meat that is delivered right to you door.
Are you ready to make a commitment to improve the quality of what you're eating?
For a more depth description of the differences between grass fed and grain fed, check out this post by Mark Sisson on Mark's Daily Apple.
