Cook This: Ling Cod Fish Tacos

February 19, 2012

I originally found the recipe for Scrumptious Halibut Fish Tacos on Epicurious about 4 years ago. I bookmarked it and have gone back at least a dozen times. This time though, I wanted a slightly less expensive fish for a weekday meal so I asked Lyf at Flying Fish Co what he thought would work well. It took him about 5 seconds to choose Pacific ling cod. It was fresh, never frozen, about half the price of halibut, and Lyf was 100% sure. And really, who am I to doubt the fishmonger?

There are a few other changes I made because I didn’t want to buy pre-julienned carrots or non-organic broccoli slaw. And next time I’m going to make my own tortillas. I bought a tortilladora about a year ago (I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets) and my first try was a disaster but I really need to get back on that.

I served the tacos as shown with a side of refried black beans. My five year old came up with that idea and was thrilled it helped everything “stick” so well inside the tortilla. And if you wanted to make this even lower in carbs you really could serve the fish over the slaw and skip the tortilla.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb Pacific ling cod (these fish are actually unrelated to cod) or other mild but meaty fish cut into pieces about 1 x 3 inches.
  • 1-2 T Olive oil
  • Flour for dredging fillets. I’ve used whole spelt flour for this and last night tried a coconut flour to make it GF. It didn’t work great. I’ll use corn meal next time.
  • 1 bag of corn tortillas

SLAW DRESSING

  • 1/2 C fresh lime juice
  • 1/3 C honey
  • 2 T olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tsp. cumin powder (better fresh ground from seeds but not necessary)

SLAW

  • 1 1/2 C thinly sliced red cabbage
  • 1 C shredded carrots
  • 1/2 med. red onion slivered
  • 3 T rough chopped cilantro (on the topic of kitchen gadgets, just bought these- love!)

GARNISHES

  • 1 sliced avocado
  • 3 scallions diced
  • fresh diced jalapenos (optional)

Instructions

1. Assemble slaw, mix dressing ingredients and whisk , pour dressing over slaw and let marinate while you prepare the rest of the dish.

2. Pour flour onto large plate, add cumin, salt, and pepper. Dredge fish in flour mix.

3. Heat up a stainless or cast iron skillet with olive oil and cook fish until just cooked through.

4. Heat up tortilla on hot cast iron pan or directly on electric burner.

4. Put slaw on tortilla and top with fish and garnishes.

 

I serve with lime wedges, avo, refried black beans (amy’s are my favorite), scallions and fresh jalapenos.

 

Enjoy!

Dr Samantha

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Cook This: Meatoaf Muffins- Gluten and dairy free goodness

February 14, 2012

A patient recently told me she made up a recipe for “buffaluffins.” Buffalo meat muffins. Brilliant, I thought. And look what was sitting in my fridge- a pound of grass fed grass finished beef waiting to be made into burgers. Forget it! Muffins it is. The first round was good. Not great. I tweaked the recipe a bit to add more veggies and took out a few things I threw in there that didn’t work (flax seeds for one- not sure what I was thinking.) Bingo.

Note: this recipe includes cooked quinoa which I would recommend making the night before so it will be cool for mixing into the meatloaf. Here is a great link for instructions on cooking it. I take a simpler approach and just go 2:1 (ish) with water to quinoa but her instructions lead to a better result texturally.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb grass fed/grass finished ground beef
  • 1-2 TBSP olive oil
  • 1 medium onion: minced
  • 2 medium or one large carrot: minced
  • 2-3 cups of chard cut into tiny strips- packed tightly into measuring cup
  • 1 cup cooked quinoa
  • 1 egg
  • 2 TBSP tomato paste
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • pepper grinder with whole pepper

Instructions

  1. If you haven’t cooked quinoa, do so now. See above.
  2. While quinoa is cooking heat 1 TBSP oil in sauté pan over medium heat. Once hot add minced onion. Sauté about 5 minutes or until onion is soft and starting to brown. Add carrots. Cook until just soft. Add chard and cook until soft. Please note at any time if you need a little more olive oil, feel free to add it.
  3. Remove from heat and put in large bowl to cool. When it’s slightly cool add quinoa, tomato paste, egg, salt and a few turns of pepper to the bowl. Mix well. I use my hands.
  4. Add meat. Mix.
  5. Add egg. Mix.
  6. Roll into balls and drop into muffin tin. This recipe made 8 muffins for me.
  7. Cook 15-20 min until cooked through.

You can serve with red sauce or ketchup. A good side dish with this is sautéed spinach or kale. And a salad. Of course.

Here’s a nutritional breakdown per muffin. Calories: 179, Carbs: 9g, Protein 13g, Fiber 2g, Fat 11g.

Enjoy!

-Dr Samantha

 

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Seriously, HOW did you get your kid to eat that?

February 12, 2012

 

Green Stuff.

Simple. Start from the beginning. Of course there are some kids that no matter what you give them they won’t have a taste for healthy foods, but in my experience that’s the very rare exception. Naturopaths who have an emphasis on nutrition most often have children who eat a wide range of foods including varied vegetables, spices, whole grains, game meats, healthy fats, and even take herbs, fish oil, vitamins and other remedies without batting an eye. What’s so different about how we feed our kids? We give them healthy foods. Period. And call me a zealot but I say kids should get healthy foods and healthy foods only for as long as you can possibly manage it.

Children’s palates are a blank slate. They learn foods as they eat them. Now that said, some children do have an immediate dislike for certain textures or tastes. My friend Michelle posted a video on her blog a few years ago that proves this point swimmingly (please do not try this at home, folks.) But even if your child rejects a food, try it again every few weeks, you’ll be surprised at how your child’s tastes change.

A child who has never had white bread will be satisfied with whole grain. A child who hasn’t had food smothered in cheese won’t ask for mac and cheese for dinner. Oh, and by the way, dairy isn’t a nutrient, calcium is, vitamin D is, but your child will be fine if she doesn’t eat dairy on a regular basis as long as she’s getting enough calcium and vitamin D. But I digress.

 

After J licked the spinach out of the bottom of the bag. Really.

Here are some tips to start your child off right. And trust me, the earlier you start the better off you’ll be.

  • Don’t give any food that is strictly sweet. Make sure there are other flavors: sour, bitter, salt, spicy, and umami. Example: Sweet potatoes? Add pureed chard, kale, and spinach. We actually added this to everything our son ate until he was off of pureed food. Everything. Oatmeal? Green. Eggs? Green. Chicken? Green. All of it. Sometimes that and a bowl of all green. See photo above titled “green stuff.”
  • Avoid the trap of “children need cake.” A mom actually said this to me when my son was under two. It sounds nuts but many (dare I say most?) parents feel it is depriving their children to not give them sugar when they’re little. It’s not.
  • Yes, feed your child what you are eating (once she’s old enough) but that means YOU need to eat healthy food. Of course your child will eat pizza if you’re eating pizza. But a child raised on healthy food will also eat halibut with olive tapenade wrapped in organic prosciutto with a side of sautéed spinach.
  • Every meal should be served with a vegetable. Most meals with more than one. Including breakfast.
  • If you’re feeding packaged foods to your child, even from the health food store, read the label. If the food contains hydrogenated oil or corn syrup, drop it. If it has artificial colorings and flavorings, chemicals or preservatives, think twice. You want your child to be satisfied with the taste of real, whole food.
  • With every plate of food you prepare for your child ask yourself “how could I make this healthier?” And do it. Only a few veggies? Add more. No protein? Add that. If a child starts with meals that are served with several kinds of vegetables, that will become the norm.
  • Serve veggies first, when your child is hungry. We call it the appetizer and although our son will eat veggies with his meal we can get more in him if we start with a big bowl of them while we’re getting dinner ready.
  • Add fresh herbs and spices to the foods you serve your child. From the beginning.
  • Breast feeding mamas- eat plenty of varied foods, including vegetables. If it causes your child digestive issues watch it but otherwise know that if you eat bitter veggies your child will more likely develop a taste for them.
  • If there is a food your child doesn’t like, mix it with something she does like to get her accustomed to it. For the little miss in the video above, Michelle could have tried mixing the avocado with sweet potatoes (and kale!)

    Caldo gallego soup. Extra kale, please.

 

ETA: I just read this post to my husband and he pointed out I should add that another healthy tip is to skip dessert entirely. Just because you’re used to dessert, there is no reason to give it to children. Dinner can be complete, should be complete, without a sweet ending. How many adults wish they hadn’t developed that habit of wanting something sweet to eat at the end of a meal?

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43 is the new 35

February 8, 2012

A few months ago, around Halloween, I started to have some shoulder pain when I was working out. This wasn’t terribly unusual for me so I ratcheted it back a bit but it kept getting worse. At the end of December I broke down and made an appointment to see the orthopedist. As a physician, I try not to self-diagnose so I played dumb at the appointment but my suspicion was also his suspicion- a SLAP lesion. I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say it’s not pretty. The first week of January I had an MRI done at Siker Imaging in Portland* and the result was as we expected. Oh, there were also a number of more minor issues- fraying, partial tears, fibrosis or tissue thickening, and inflammation. Not a terribly big surprise but a drag to hear, nonetheless.

As I was fully expecting the orthopedist to schedule surgery I was practically giddy to hear him say that he thinks aggressive PT might very well take care of my symptoms. It was almost enough for me to let slide his comment “Well you’re not 35 anymore.” True, that, but really, doesn’t he know that 43 is the new 35?

Anyway, in addition to the exercises, my PT wants me icing my shoulder for 15 minutes 5x a day.  It’s not how I would do it if I were in charge but I’m leaving it up to her (did I just hear you gasp?). In order to facilitate the icing I bought a shoulder ice pack, which thankfully was available in a youth size for little league pitchers. Apparently my shoulder girdle is the size of a 12 year old’s.

I’ve also put myself on a bunch of anti-inflammatory supplements and I’m about to start a 6-8 week anti-inflammatory diet. I’m already a very healthy eater. No wheat, no dairy, very little soy, little sugar, no artificial anything (excepting a very occasional bag of sour patch kids- the dentist told me it was better for my teeth than eating lemons), and only ethically raised meat. But we’re digging in a little deeper for the next few months. No gluten, cooked tomato, peppers, pork-that one is a biggie for me, bread of any kind, potatoes, noodles, or other high carb items.

I’m actually pretty excited to have to put aside some of our standard fare and try some new recipes. We just bought 2 new cookbooks The Primal Blueprint and Well Fed, both paleo cookbooks with lots of very interesting recipes.

Oh, I had my first fail this morning with a smoothie: D’Adamo’s type O protein powder, hemp milk, frozen banana and greens powder. Gag. I’ll be back to post the recipes that actually work.

 

*As an aside I was shocked to find that I absolutely loved being in the MRI machine. It was weirdly soothing. I seriously could have spent the entire day in that tube.

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Navigating Superbowl Sunday

February 5, 2012

Tomorrow is Superbowl Sunday. We’re just over a month into 2012 and already I’m seeing that the gym isn’t quite so full of all of the resolution folks. But if you resolved to make healthier choices this year (or you have a healthy eating theme) and you are having trouble figuring out how to navigate in a world where most people don’t make healthy choices, Superbowl Sunday is a great opportunity to put your values into action.

These ideas aren’t specific, of course, to Superbowl parties, but can be used at any party. It just seems for some reason that a gathering around sports is more likely to include crappy food. What’s up with that?

  1. Pick a designated driver. OK, that’s not a food choice but tomorrow ranks high in traffic fatalities due to alcohol. Don’t drive even after a few drinks, it’s not worth it. You never know how impaired another driver will be and you need your reflexes intact.
  2. Decide ahead of time how much you want to drink, and really, if you want to drink at all. It’s remarkable when you’re in a room full of people drinking beer how your hand just always seems to have a beer in it. Not to say you shouldn’t have beer, but it’s empty calories and you just might be engaged enough in the game that a glass of water would suit your needs just fine.
  3. Call ahead. If you are wondering if the host will have healthy food available, give a call. A simple “Hey, I’m curious to know what’s on the menu tomorrow.” can go a long way to helping you make your game plan.
  4. Bring a dish to share. Depending upon how well you know the host you can ask about bringing something or just bring it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve brought something healthy to a party full of junk food and have had person after person tell me they’re so glad to have it available.
  5. Eat first. I do this all the time. I’ll eat a big salad with some protein on it, leftovers from the fridge, or in a pinch I’ll stop and grab something to eat on the way. That way I can skip eating at the party, or just graze. A little bit of unhealthy food is way better than a lot of unhealthy food.
  6. Bring your own food. I recently attended a wedding with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole grain bread in my purse. And an auction with whole grain crackers in my coat pocket. I’m not whipping it out in front of everyone but if it’s a priority to eat healthfully, what’s the harm in slipping out for a sec? No harm at all, I say.  You know what? Now that I think of it there are plenty of times (at a casual gathering) I do just bring my own food and load it up onto a plate instead of loading up what’s on the buffet table. Again, I wouldn’t do that at a wedding but a Superbowl party? Sure.

Enjoy! (and go Giants!)

-Dr Samantha

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12 Healthy Changes for 2012

January 1, 2012

Is 2012 going to be the year you make sweeping lifestyle changes for a healthier you? Great! Find the support you need to identify your goals and make a path to get there. If that’s too much, think about small changes. They add up quickly if you can stick to them. Here are some ideas for the coming year. One a month? Pick 3 this year? Think about what your goals are and which of these will help you get to where you want to be.

I’ll be fleshing all of these out on the blog over the coming year. Comment with your successes and ideas!

  1. Move your body. We have more than ample information now that proves that even increasing your movement by 30 minutes a day can have a profound effect on your health.
  2. Increase your vegetables. Eat 3-4 cups of low carb vegetables a day.  Make it at least a cup of dark leafy greens. Eat roasted veggies for snack. Have 2 servings of veggies with dinner. At least a cup per veggie. Try new recipes if you get bored.
  3. Get enough sleep. 8 hours is ideal. 7 is minimum. I need 9 and know many other folks who do as well. If you think you’re rested enough with 6 or 7, cut out coffee and see if you’re still ‘well rested.’
  4. Cut down on TV time. The average American watches over 4 hours a day of TV. Once we add screen time it can easily double or triple. We just finished a challenge of no TV for 6 months. It’s not as hard as you think.
  5. Drink more water. And green tea, it’s water with added benefits.
  6. Take vacations. Even if you can’t afford to get away, take a break from your day to day.
  7. Increase your fiber intake. Fiber is important for healthy digestion. And yes you should have a BM at least once a day.
  8. Eat 3 meals a day. Or more if you prefer smaller meals. Eating regularly leads to healthier eating as you don’t get famished and compromise what you know is a good choice.
  9. Plan ahead for meals. If you plan ahead you’re much less likely to grab junk. Period.
  10. Take time for yourself every day. Many of us spend the greater part of our lives taking care of others. It’s a good thing, in my opinion, but if you don’t take care of yourself then it’s too easy to burn out and either become resentful or simply too exhausted to manage.
  11. Stretch. Flexibility is an important part of good health. It prevents injury and helps you retain a sense of balance into your older years.
  12. Breathe. Every hour take 3 deep breaths. Set your phone alarm to go off every hour as a reminder.  You’ll be amazed at how this resets the tone of your day.

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The Secret to Good Health: Exercise.

December 13, 2011

There are 1,440 minutes in every day. Can you schedule 30 of them for physical activity?

I just watched a twenty-minute YouTube video about the single most important thing we can do for our health. Exercise. Here is the link for the video. I highly recommend sitting down with a cup of tea and checking it out.

After you watch, if it strikes a chord, pull out a piece of paper and write down first, how much you are exercising on a regular basis. Be honest with yourself. Next, look at what your goals are for exercise. A simple 150 minutes a week (for adults, and hour a day for kids) is enough to significantly impact your health. That’s the minimum. And it’s not that much. The doctor who narrates the video (Mike Evans, MD) figures that it’s half an hour a day out of 24 hours. You can do that, right? Though everything seems a trade off these days can you afford not to do it? And if you know that your health goals require more than half an hour a day of exercise? Start slowly and continue to reassess every few weeks how you might be able to make it happen. Some is better than none. Always.

Once you take a hard look at how much exercise you’re actually getting, if you’re not exercising as much as you would like, make a complete list of what gets in the way. Once you’ve exhausted the reasons, take each one and brainstorm 3 creative ways you can get around the problem. Here are a few examples.

Problem: I like to ride my bike for exercise but the baby is too young to put in a bike seat. She’d probably cry the whole time anyway.

Solutions:

  1. Buy a stationary bicycle.
  2. Get a trainer (stationary mount) for bicycle and turn it into a stationary bike.
  3. Put on headphones while baby is sleeping, set up a video monitor to keep an eye on her without worrying about hearing the regular monitor then DANCE for 30 minutes to my favorite oldies mix.

Problem: Since I turned 40 my knees bother me if I walk for more than 20 minutes.

Solutions:

  1. Walk for 20 min twice a day.
  2. Walk for 20 min a day and then go to the local community center and swim for 45 minutes 3 days a week.
  3. Go for acupuncture to treat knee pain.

Problem: I hate exercise.

Solutions:

  1. Sign up for some classes that sound like fun…maybe tap dancing, kick boxing, ice skating?
  2. Join a hiking group (look online for meetup, in local paper etc.)
  3. Get a Wii.

And finally, make a schedule. Put exercise on there as if it’s just as important as an office meeting, hair coloring appointment or date night. If you need to sign up for a class or make plans with a friend, do it and be accountable. Schedule things around exercise time, after all, what’s more important, really?

Enjoy,

Dr Samantha

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Cook This: Squash, Yam, and Bacon Soup.

November 18, 2011

Hot soup on a cold fall day, nothing like it. There are quite a few steps in this recipe but it is very easy to make. You can most likely do it while you’ve got other things going on in the kitchen unless you’re a really poor multi-tasker.

 

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

  • 2 lb butternut squash
  • 1.5 lb garnet yam
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 1 lb bacon
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 cups simply stock (or homemade stock)
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 dried ancho chile
  • ground chili molido
  • fresh cilantro for garnish

Prep squash and yams

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise, take out seeds.
  2. Paint or rub the face of squash with olive oil. Place face down on a baking sheet.
  3. Stab yams with a fork a few times, wrap in foil and place on baking sheet with the squash.
  4. Place sheet in oven.
  5. They are done when fork tender typically 45-60 minutes.
  6. Scoop insides into a bowl to reserve.

Prep bacon

  1. Cook bacon until crispy.
  2. Cool and dice.
  3. Place 2 TBSP bacon fat in a soup pot. I used my cast-iron enamel Dutch oven for this job.

Assemble soup

  1. Cut onion into medium dice.
  2. Mince 3-4 garlic cloves.
  3. Turn stove to medium heat and add onion and garlic to bacon fat.
  4. Sauté until soft.
  5. Add squash and yam, water, and stock to pot.
  6. Cut one dried ancho chile into thin strips over soup.
  7. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes.

Finishing touches

  1. Blend with hand blender or remove to blender, blend, and return to pot.
  2. Add bacon.
  3. Sprinkle with chile molido to taste. I add mine per each bowl because I like it really spicy and my five year old only likes it a little spicy.
  4. Garnish with a sprinkle and a sprig of fresh cilantro.

I’m not sure if this soup freezes well but we couldn’t try this time- we ate it all.

Serve with a protein and a green vegetable for a complete, well-rounded meal.

 

Enjoy!

-Dr Samantha

 

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A Healthy Birthday Party?

November 12, 2011

When we’re planning a party for my son J we have to keep a number of things in mind.

First, my son has reactions to foods. He isn’t dangerously allergic to anything but he does get hives and rashes from soy, dairy, and rice. Oh, and from strawberries, mangos and oranges.

We also care about feeding him healthy food, and have a next to zero junk food policy. I remember when my son was two he was at a birthday party and another mom looked at me wide eyed when I told her he wouldn’t be having any cake, she said “But children need cake!” Like? Sure. But need? I wondered for a bit whether I was depriving my two year old somehow by not giving him cake. I mean he certainly gets sweets upon occasion but 99% of the time it’s whole grain and natural sugar. So I pulled out the muffin I’d brought from home- whole spelt flour, no sweetener except for bananas, and only 5 ingredients. He happily gobbled it down while the other children ate a cake from Costco. Within 20 minutes most of the other kids were amped out of their minds. I decided pretty swiftly that depriving my child of feeling like he was totally out of control of his emotions is not deprivation after all.

Fast forward to my son’s fifth birthday party last month. My husband let J make the guest list so we ended up with 17 children at the party (and their 20 adults.) And yes, I know the rule about age +1. Talk to my husband. Anyway, due to the crowd size I decided to order cupcakes from a local bakery instead of making them. Dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free, nut-free cupcakes sweetened with agave. Shocker of all shockers the kids loved them. The pediatrician with the kid who eats exclusively cheese sticks, peanut butter sandwiches and bars watched with his jaw dropped “he’s eating it!” Now these were still cupcakes mind you, but they were mini-cupcakes and they were whole grain.

And then there was lunch. Lesson learned: don’t book the climbing gym for your kid’s birthday party in the 11:30-1:30 slot. Why? I had to provide lunch for those 17 children and their 20 adults. Our friends did a party here and had pizza. Not an option for us. But I wasn’t about to get the thing catered and it was a busy week. So I planned a simple meal:

1. Sandwiches. Almond butter and jelly on whole spelt bread and herbed free-range turkey and avocado on whole spelt bread.

2. Veggie plate. Organic snap peas, baby carrots, cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumber. Two kinds of hummus for dipping.

3. Organic corn chips and salsa.

4. Boxes of vanilla coconut milk.

5. Water.

I also brought a loaf of gluten-free bread and more sandwich fixings because I knew a few kids were sensitive to gluten. Oh, and before I made the menu I checked with the mom whose kid had nut allergies and she said it was no issue to serve the almond butter. She was also thrilled not to have to worry about the cupcakes. And several parents pulled me aside to thank me for serving healthy food.

It is so common for me to hear from parents that their children won’t eat vegetables or whole grains. There are most certainly some children with sensory issues who really can’t bring themselves to eat certain foods because of texture or taste. This is a real issue that can have a profound impact on health. Most children, however, eat the way they eat because we feed them the way we feed them. A child who has never had white bread won’t typically have a problem with whole grain. Same for pasta, tortillas, etc. In the next few weeks I’ll post about some tools for helping our children develop a taste for whole grains, healthy meats, and fresh fruits and vegetables including (gasp!) dark leafy greens.

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Cook This: Buffalo and Lamb Meatloaf in a Skillet.

October 31, 2011

I was a vegan for years. Though I felt comfortable with the idea that humans by nature are omnivores I just couldn’t wrap my head around how animals were being treated on large commercial farms.

This went along fine for a while but I eventually found myself in a bit of a pickle as I developed sensitivities to soy (couldn’t digest it) and wheat (made me very tired.) These were my main sources of protein. Around this time I also got mono and my body just wasn’t able to kick it. One of my doctors suggested that I try eating more protein (as in meat) and I was so desperate I decided to give it a try with the caveat that I would eat it only if I knew the animals hadn’t been subjected to unhealthy or unkind conditions.

I started by reintroducing fish and found my body thrived on the protein. Over the next 5 years I gradually added in more meat. I was thrilled to find that I lost weight and gained back the energy I’d lost years before.

We started buying cow shares about five years ago and this year branched out to lamb as well. And now there’s Lyf at Flying Fish Co. He runs, well, a meat shack on SE Hawthorne. I’ll write more about his place later but suffice it to say we now have access to just about any kind of seasonal fish or meat you can think of- all ethically raised and slaughtered.

This week for our menu we wanted to use some of our lamb so my husband and I curled up with my mother’s day present Good Meat. We found a meatloaf recipe that called for lamb and beef. I substituted buffalo for the beef so there was a combination of both fatty and lean meat.

Ingredients:

  • 3 pieces of stale whole grain bread- we used Nature Bake spelt bread
  • ¼ cup MimicCreme- the recipe calls for cream but we don’t eat dairy in our home
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • leaves from 4 sprigs of thyme
  • 10 chopped sage leaves
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • Fresh ground black pepper to taste
  • 1 pound grass fed and finished buffalo (original recipe calls for beef)
  • 1 pound pastured lamb
  • 4 slices of bacon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

  1. Either food-process or otherwise grind or crumble bread. We only had fresh bread so I crumbled it. Pour cream over bread to mix/soften.
  2. Cut onion, celery and carrot into very, very small dice. Alternatively you could use a food processor but I really like the process of dicing and have a tendency to over-pulsing.
  3. Chop sage.
  4. Add vegetables and herbs to bread/cream mixture. Hand toss.
  5. Add 2 beaten eggs. Hand toss.
  6. Add meat. Mix until uniform.
  7. Press mixture into 10 inch cast iron skillet.
  8. Pat down to shape.
  9. Criss-cross the bacon on top of the meatloaf.
  10. Cook for about an hour or until center is heated to 155 degrees. Let sit for 15 min before serving or storing in refrigerator.

Note: I drained the extra oil out of the pan with a turkey baster as our ‘loaf’ gave off over half a cup of fat.

My plan is to make a tomato paste sauce for this dish as when I was a child my mother served it that way. I’m a little afraid to ask her what she put in it but I’ll keep you posted.

Enjoy!

Dr. Samantha

Edited to add: My husband had a brilliant idea to add nutritional information to the recipes! This meatloaf serves 8 and per serving 311calories, 26 g protein and 11 g of carbs. I’m not including fat because I’m not sure if it’s accurate as I drained off such an enormous amount after cooking.

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