Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Easy Homemade Paleo Mayo

I know, it's been awhile since I've posted anything.  Our computer hard drive crashed and it's taken me awhile to get back up and running.  The Paleo/Primal diet is still going great and Paul and I just started a 30 day challenge with our Brilliant Life Chiropractic community on Monday.  We will all be super strict for the next 30 days - eating only meats (including seafood, poultry and game meats), eggs, vegetables, healthy fats (coconut milk/oil, olive oil, avocado oil, etc.), nuts, seeds and fruit in moderation.  I've found that having home made mayo around really helps for making creamy salad dressings, using as a veggie or artichoke dip, or for even just dipping leftover chicken in!  My first couple of attempts honestly didn't go too well.  One was super runny and the other just didn't ever emulsify.  But after playing around with it for awhile, trying out different ingredients and ratios, I've created my "Easy Homemade Paleo Mayo" using one of my favorite kitchen tools, the food processor.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 Large Egg (Preferably local, fresh and pastured)
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 C Light Olive Oil

Directions:

Place egg, mustard, salt and lemon juice in food processor fitted with metal blade.  Blend about 30 seconds until well combined.  Stop to scrape down sides of bowl if needed.  Keep motor running and add oil drop by drop using the "drizzle hole" in the lid (if you're like me and always wondered why your lid had a hole in it...now you know!).  Stop blending once all oil has dripped out and is combined in the mixture.  

Voila!  Homemade mayo that is better for you and tastes so much fresher than anything you will buy in the store.  If you don't eat it all right away, the mayonnaise can be transferred to a covered container and stored in the fridge for about 5-7 days.  

Additional Tips:

Your final product is much more likely to be successful if the egg and lemon juice are at room temperature.  I recommend leaving both out for at least 3-4 hours before proceeding with the recipe.  You can substitute apple cider vinegar for the lemon juice if you are all out of lemon or just want to try something different, but I personally prefer the flavor of lemon juice.  If you use extra virgin olive oil, your mayo will have a very strong olive flavor, especially if made in a food processor.  If it's all you have, I have heard that making it with a whisk helps to keep the flavor more subtle.  My first ever batch was made with extra virgin oil as I didn't know any better and I ended up throwing it out.  I wish I could find an Organic "light tasting" olive oil, but haven't had luck with that one yet.  Mayo can also be made in a food processor without a hole in the top, a blender, or with a whisk by hand (as mentioned above) but you have to be really careful to add the oil slowly, drop by drop, especially at first to make sure an emulsion forms. 

Enjoy and let me know how it goes for you!  

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Going Primal!

It's been an interesting week of eating with Paul and I experimenting with eating a "Primal" diet - or close to one at least.  After reading bits and pieces about the principles behind primal/Paleo/caveman nutrition over the last couple of years, it was when Paul became interested from his Crossfit circles that we both finally dove in head first and did some serious reading and research to see what it was all about.  And the principles behind it made enough sense that we decided we had to at least give it a try! For those not familiar with the recommended dietary guidelines, that means eating mostly a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables along with pastured, wild caught and/or naturally raised meat products.  Also eggs, nuts and seeds, and sometimes raw dairy (everyone has their own opinion on that one!) . Sounds good so far, right? The hard part is that the list of allowed foods pretty much stops there. Grains, beans, other legumes and sugars of all kinds are on the off limits list.

I can imagine what you might be thinking. What kind of crazy diet plan is that? Why in the world would someone want to avoid eating whole grains and legumes? Aren't they the healthiest foods out there? But the more I read, the more I think what they say makes sense. Genetically, our bodies have not adapted to eating grains. Most of us have probably heard about how common gluten intolerance is now and how much better these people feel on a gluten free diet. The truth is, all humans would feel and function better without gluten. But it doesn't stop there. Other grains, even beloved brown rice, also have anti-nutrients in them that make it very hard for us to digest. Traditionally when humans first started planting and eating grains, they were always soaked, sprouted and/or fermented to make them edible and easier for us to digest. Over time, most have stopped these practices, but continue to eat grains. The Paleo/primal diet advocates say this has contributed to a whole host of sicknesses and disease. Auto-immune disorders, diabetes, obesity, etc. 

So you'll likely hear more from me about this in future posts. I'm planning to figure things out over the next few weeks, then commit to 30 days of a 100% Paleo diet (dairy free too) in September. Anyone wanna join me??

Friday, June 10, 2011

My second Blog Entry!

I know all 2 of my followers have been waiting and waiting for another incredible post from me.  So here it is.  In the time since my last post (4 months maybe??) quite a bit has happened.  One huge thing is that I have become a cloth diaper consultant with Diaper Parties by EverythingBirth.  So fun diving into the world of "fluff"!  My friend Amanda and I are hosting our first party next Saturday and I'm looking forward to teaching new moms and mommas to be about how and why to use cloth and showing current CD'ing mommas my huge new stash of goodies :-).  You will likely be seeing more on here from me about dipes and what I love about them.  

I have also started visioning for the chiropractic center I will open when I'm ready to dive back into working actively as a family chiropractor.  It feels good to start the creative process and know that I can work on it and dream about it in my free time over the next year, or two, or three until it's time to take that step.  So instead of just being "on an extended maternity leave" I can now say (and know) that I am actively involved in the visioning and planning process of creating my next chiropractic wellness cafe.  How exciting!  

I am off to bed to try and get some sleep before Ari wakes up and wants to nurse for the rest of the night.  I will likely be writing a post on all night nursing a toddler soon.  For now, I'll just say that I never imagined my almost 2 year old would be nursing constantly all night long and that over half the time when he wasn't I would be holding him and rocking him to try to keep him sleeping!  How I long for just one night of uninterrupted sleep.  Or three hours even!  That would be incredible.  

And next time, I promise I'll come up with a more original title and that it won't be 4 more months between posts.  Especially since I have a fun new "smartphone" I can use to keep up on emails and write my blogs too.  I think I'll try that next time!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My First Blog Entry!

So I finally did it.  I have a blog.  Not that I had to tell you that since you're obviously reading it, but it has taken me quite awhile to join the masses and get one of these started for myself.  It took me awhile to come up with an address and title for the blog that felt good to me.  "DrMommaLaelle" won out for my address as those are two aspects of myself and who I am that I'm working on integrating at the moment.  The Dr. part is for Doctor of Chiropractic.  After much hard work and dedication, I received my Doctorate degree in Chiropractic back in September of 2007.  I was only just beginning to really comfortably identify with myself as a "Doctor" when I became a "Momma"!  And what an incredible past 16 months of Momma-hood it has been.  As I've slowly come to embrace myself and my role as a mother, I have simultaneously moved away from identifying with myself as a doctor.  Only very recently as I've come to regard myself as a Mom without seeing all the other more experienced moms as separate and distinct from me as a "New Momma" have I felt the urge to reconnect with my "Doctor" side again.

Yet through it all I have never stopped being a Chiropractor.  It's not just a title, it's a part of who I am and everything I'm passionate about.  It's why I trust so much in every individual's inborn ability to heal themselves.  It's why I so strongly trust in the natural process of pregnancy and birth.  It's why I eat organic wholesome foods to nourish my body and choose not to take medications that interfere with what my body is trying to do when my system is overwhelmed and out of balance.  So even though I have not been actively working as a chiropractor since Ari was born back in September of 2009, I still know that I am as much as a chiropractor today as I have been since I really "got it" about half way through my schooling process (that of course I had to finish to get that oh so important piece of paper that makes it legal for me to care for people as a chiropractor in our country).

So what now?  How do I continue being a Momma while I turn some attention back to being a Doctor and educating others about the things that are so important to me?  And when and how do I start actively practicing as a Chiropractor again as well?  I'm hoping that writing in this blog will be the first step of many in working towards finding a balance in all of these roles.  And I look forward to continuing to share the journey with everyone who chooses to read with me!