Blueberry Walnut Salad With Lemon Vanilla Vinaigrette

Blueberry Walnut Salad, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

This salad struck me whilst strolling through the produce section at work, eyeing some blueberries. Well, not literally struck me-- though I wouldn't be too bothered by being pummelled with a box of delightful food (as long as it were intact, edible, and I was conscious enough to eat it). I splurged on my favorite soft goat cheese, Capricho Di Cabra, a few days prior, and I imagined the two together, married with the deep, earthen flavor of walnuts. From there came some kind of salad recipe.

Blueberry Walnut Salad

Walnuts
Avocados
Blueberries
Soft Goat Cheese / Mild Blue
Meaty, smoky lardons.
Chopped hardboiled egg
Spinach

Lemon-Vanilla Vinaigrette

Lemon Juice
White Balsamic Vinegar
Poppyseeds
Good Olive Oil
Vanilla Extract*
Sea Salt
A bit of mayonnaise
Water to taste

*I actually used the 'vanilla salt' that I picked up at the night markets in Cairns, QLD, AU.

Cantaloupe and Capsicum Dressing

Cantaloupe and Capsicum Dressing, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

Today is a big concert at the farmhouse that the land-owner is hosting, with a couple of Texas country artists. A few weeks ago, she and some mutual friends were up at my house having lunch, and brought a cantaloupe along. I don't usually buy melon-- but I do like it. I tossed the cantaloup, balled, with some of my chopped pineapple-mint and some Black Lava Salt that I brought back from Hawaii, and that was it. Simple and quick. Everyone loved it, though, and requested that I make it again for the big concert cookout barbeque--...thing.

As I scoop-plopped each sphere into the bowl with a damp plop, I pondered the juice pooling at the bottom of the little valleys in the melon skin. I had a smidge of cantelope left on the rind, and quickly shaved it off and put it into a bowl with the juice. I added a few things, pureed, and suddenly-- magically-- a wonderful dressing emerged. It could be thicker (more cantalope and bell pepper for body) as a dip-- as I tried it on broccoli and was amazed. It would also be good as the base of a cold, hearty vegetable salad-- cold broccoli florets with chopped macadamia, for instance. Recipe (sort of) as follows:

Cantaloupe and Capsicum Dressing

1/4 C Cantelope
1/4 C Red Pepper, chopped
3 TB Olive Oil
1 tsp Lime Juice
2 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar*
Many Mint Leaves (I used Pineapple-Mint)
Dash Salt
Dash Cayenne
Puree, add solids or liquids as desired to thicken or thin.

*it'd be great with all (3 tsp or 1 TB or so) lime instead of vinegar, but I ran out of lime.

Salted Cantaloupe and Mint

Smoky Tea Roast

This post shall also known as: Lessons from a world-travelling farmhouse-dweller. It shall seek to inform you of not-enough in too-little-words, and finish with a grand pile of shredded beef. 


I'll give you a tiny bullet-list of things that I have learned in the past few months, before getting 
onto the lovely recipe. 

•  Melbourne's weather is as crazy as DFW's
•  New Zealand has a thing against delightful beef jerky
•  Take notes and take pictures
•  ALWAYS zip up your camera bag. Do NOT EVER leave your camera in an unzipped bag OR outside of a bag. EVER. 
•  DON'T TOUCH THE TURTLES
•  Mulch. 
•  I feel better with very little carbohydrate. 
•  Just plant things. Sometimes you can have an entire farm and the best place ends up being your front flower-bed. 
•  Presents are fun
•  People will listen to anything the TV says
•  Don't forget about yourself.

OK, so, philosophy lesson over? Discussion may continue after class. Uh, after post. Post-post. Comment. 

Smoky Tea Roast, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

ONTO THE BEEF: I just got a little bit of grass-fed rump-roast with no clue about what I'd like to do with it. I've been developing tea-based recipes (as I'd like to lead a class in Fairview on this subject!) and decided I'd try one out, measurements and all. Lapsang Souchong is a black tea that is dried over burning pine-needles, giving it a robust, complex, smoky flavor. Typically a cup that I'd drink in the wintertime, the possibilities are endless and evergreen when it comes to recipe incorporation. Braising in it, marinating chicken, creating sauces-- all ideas that I encourage you to experiment with.

Being roast and having hot weather, I figured either the slow-cooker or the pressure-cooker would be my options, and when I got home from work I certainly didn't approve of the 'slow' part of the former. Out came my pressure-cooker, and then transcended the following:

Smoky Tea Roast

(Set One)

10 grams lapsang souchong (?? Approx 1/4 cup) (brewed into 1 - 2 cups)
1 tsp pink salt
2 tsp powdered ginger
2 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 TB coconut shoyu

(Set Two)

1 lb rump roast
Sprinkling of Hawaiian Black Salt/Alaea
dusting of garlic granules
1 thinly sliced onion
2 cloves chopped garlic

Whisk together first set of ingredients.
Sautee onion and garlic until onion is carmelized in the bottom of a pressure cooker, push to the side. Brown roast thoroughly on all sides and add liquid from above. Pressure cook on high pressure for 40 minutes and let naturally cool.

I served this with Mark Sisson's Creamy Basil Pesto Coleslaw, from his Quick and Easy book, but replaced the walnuts with sesame seed and half of the cabbage with shredded mustard-greens. I shredded the meat on top, and the flavor really surprised me with its complexity-- carmelesqe, almost chocolatey in nature, deep and robust. Ah!

Auwe... Ono... BROKE DA MOUT...

Stay tuned for more Tea Recipes, and as always, happy eating.

...And an Organic Farm

One of the many changes that I had mentioned in the previous post is the fact that I have moved to an Organic Farm. I had decided to post this later, but seeing as it snuck its way into the HTML address, I thought I'd go ahead with it. I'm in a sweet little house with a sun-room for my art, helping the owners of the property with farm-chores and gearing up for the vegetable season. I'm 15 or 20 minutes from work, having ousted the hour commute from my life. I have a little gym inside the guest-room, with a benchpress, and a place where I can leave my freeweights and kettlebells. I have thousands of acres of core-of-engineer-land to run. I can listen to the forest, its just out the back, past the horses.

There are goats: Yitzy and Yaya, India and Arie. Yitzy hurt her foot the other day. There is a chicken-yard and we get 7-10 eggs a day. There are horses, a pony, two pigs and six dogs.

So here it is: One new adventure, in which I will try my hand at growing things and will be so much more connected to the earth and the sun. I will be the best farm-hand I can be-- and I will become stronger and happier. Here we go, right?

COMING UP SOON: Ode 003, and a new Product Pick

Chocolate, Tea, and Your Personal Grocery-Store Bodyguard (you can call me Betty)*

So, my friends, since we have last talked, many changes have seeped into my life like watercolors and told me that some things are going to be different. All for the better, but definitely different.

I had mentioned quite a while back that one of my goals was to be more forthcoming with who I am and what my life is, and I believe that this is a very good time. I am Shaleah, the Tea, Chocolate, and Hosewares Specialist at Whole Foods in Fairview, Texas. While I believe that mentioning your workplace specifically can be a touchy subject, I have decided that with the amount of Primal/Paleo people that I have helped at work, I would be good to do so.

I'd also like to welcome you all to my blog! There are a lot of guests from the local boxes-- CrossFit FX TX, CrossFit 380, and West Plano CrossFit.

Being the store's resident cave-chick, I have kind of an awesome opportunity. I have worked with the company for a while, coming from the Parkway store in Arlington, TX before this one, in which I was on the grocery team. I have read nearly every label in the store, and an generally quite used to what is 'safe' for our beliefs**. I would love to become your resource. Depending on what your views are-- ie: how strict, your allergies, what you love, what you hate-- I can help you find exactly what you want and what you do not. No cheese? Raw cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese? No sugar? Pure stone-ground Mexican chocolate with only three ingredients (cough, Taza)? Chicken stock without yeast extract? Tomato sauce without sugar? Unsweetened almond milk? Macadamia-nut ''hummus''? Roasted red peppers without canola oil? It can be a dangerous and dodgy world to traverse! I'm even considering building very specific paleo-safe shopping lists that someone in a hurry can come grab or download without having to read every label.

Okay, okay-- this is not an advertisement here. I'm not here with any sort of ill-intent, nor am I a salesmen. But working where I do, I am in a position to be there for ya. Its just me extending a strong hand and telling you-- look here, you have a buddy. You have a buddy who knows stuff about stuff and you have a buddy who comes bearing chocolate and tea. I mean, if you're into that kind of thing.

Come see me at the coffee bar and we'll see what we can do!

*( first person to get the reference in the title gets a free high-five.)
** (That being said, I take pride in being able to help everyone who needs help. I can help a vegan find a chai without honey, I can help a mom find a nut allergen-free granola, I can help some guy find an interesting new beer, and I can tell someone all about our Waxahachie Local Honey.)

Product Pick: PureWraps

PureWraps, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

I gave PureWraps a test-run after seeing their ingredient list: Coconut Meat, Coconut Water, Himalayan Salt. I got in touch with the people from the company and had a long (VERY long) conversation through email with them. They're great people and I got a very good impression. I decided that, while expensive, these were worth a try. I ordered them at $5.99 for four wraps.

When I received them, I knew that I'd have to do something very special with each one. Something that I just missed wrapping up, with clean dry fingers and well-bundled ingredients.

The people at Improveat assured me that these weren't easily tearable and they were indeed something you could pick up and eat. They were right-- they were pliable enough and didn't crack like lettuce does. It was nice to have something dry in my hands. I don't know that they would hold up in a lunch-box (though I'd be willing to give it a try, as that was what I originally wanted them for!). The taste was great-- pleasant and mild, but not invisible. It had a good tooth-feel.

The four tests (in no particular order):

1. Blueberry, Almond, and Coconut Butter Flute: One of my favorite snacks pre-primal was almond butter or peanut butter on a lavash with blueberries. Here, with almond butter and coconut butter, the delightful burstiness returned with proper squish-and-pop feel. Wonderful.

2. Turkey Wrap: Actually, the last thing I did. I don't often have deli-meat around, so it took me a long time to finally get around to making this one. I wanted to make a "real wrap," so I did the normal sandwich fillings. This turned out very well, too-- though, being a few months after making the other three, the wrap was still pliable yet a bit crackly. I solved this the sushi-making way: liquid. I spritzed on balsamic vinegar to soften it up and encourage it to stick to itself.

3. Chicken Wrap: This was filled with guava fajita-meat and served as my taco-test-run. Er, burrito. Taquito? Some other American bastardization of the Mexican cuisine? Hang on, lets get this right: This would be a test-run of a Tex-Mex Burrito.

4. Spring Roll : The first thing I thought of was the dear-to-my-heart gỏi cuốn, or Summer Rolls, that I grew up with. Paired with seaweed noodles, this would work.

All in all, I feel that they're something fun to change things up. They're convenient, and delicious, but for me they'll have to be a special-occasion kind of treat. The reason is two-fold: 1) The price is so limiting that at more than $1 PER sheet, they're too high for even a proper taco-night. 2) They're a higher carbohydrate option than I'm used to (8 grams per sheet) but their ingredients check-out just fine, so as a fun little indulgence, fine. I didn't try the curry flavored one (though I gladly would) and while I understand why the cost is high, I think it would make the product more successful if it were more accessible.

All in all, I rate these very high. On a scale of 1-10:

Ingredients: 10
Ease of use: 8
Nutrition: 7
Convenience: 9
Price: 2
Over-All: 8 (Mathematically, 7.2, but I really to love them and the price was the only thing bringing them down!)

So, get some and have some fun with it. I purchased mine at NaturalZing, a blast off a website on its own.  Let me know what you think.

Happy Eating!

Tacos: Simplicity

Tacos, a photo by CaptainShen on Flickr.

I maybe, sometimes, often over complicate things. For one of the Mark's Daily Apple contests that I really have my eye on, readers were asked to choose a recipe posted in a previous thread and take a photo of it. I just got back from a long trip out of state, so I had just above nothing in the kitchen. I had put some frozen beef in the fridge to thaw overnight (lucky move) and had a tiny head of cabbage in the fridge, as well as an avocado from the trip. Basically, I chose a recipe that looked extremely simple and required few ingredients. The one I found: Primal Tacos from Hollykelsey.

I used what I had and I whipped the rest up after a short bike ride to the Farmers Market and produce store. I made a few tweaks here and there, but didn't have high hopes for the recipe (no offense, Hollykelsey, read on!). I'm a Texan and I have made some seriously involved taco meat. I have put a lot of effort into past primal tacos, and with great results.

I am also, as it turns out, a naive and arrogant little chef.

These were AMAZING. This was GREAT. One of the best recipes I've ever made from a blog! It was so simple-- yet somehow, with the first bite-- I was left astounded, with a familiar burst of flavor dancing on my tongue. These, my friends, are TACOS!

Thanks MDA and Hollykelsey! You humble me (and fill me up).

Happy eating!

Note: The coconut sour cream is something I pride myself in and whipped up my own way. Coconut milk powder, creamed coconut, lemon juice, salt, and a sprinkling of garlic powder sat out on the counter during my ride to get ingredients and chilled in the fridge while I cooked.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/contest-share-your-wisdom/#more-23277

http://hollykelsey.blogspot.com/2011/08/primal-tacos.html

My Mom: An Inspiration

I'd like to honor my Mom today. She's from Hawaii and is one of the youngest souls I know. When she was in high school in Kaneohe, she was already a tall 5'9" and weighed 112. When she was around 25 she began to put on weight. She had moved to the mainland and says that every year she'd put on a few pounds at Thanksgiving, never losing them, and when I was born she'd reached 188. That is when she joined Weight Watchers.

Ever since I was a kid, she'd been afflicted with terrible migraines, had to nap every single day, and was constantly striving for her 'goal weight' of 169 at Weight Watchers. She was depressed a lot of the time. She kind of went up and down with her weight and her health, never attaining what she wanted and always coming up short of that magic number. At her heaviest (on, still, a 5'9" frame) was 202. She hasn't ever told anyone that-- she said it for the first time when I asked her to share for this story. She says she always got within 7 pounds of her goal weight.

She thought I went absolutely crazy when I first went primal, and got a little bit used to it ater a while. On a road trip together, I made our road snacks-- conventional for her and primal for me. By the time the trip was over, she wanted my snacks more! I asked her to go for the 30 day challenge in 2010, and to my surprise, she jumped on board. She was 186 lbs, but never started the challenge to lose weight-- just to gain health.

She began doing more and more things, stopped needing naps, began ripping out the old bathroom wall to remodel (!?!), changed the oil in the cars with my dad, and generally just shed years of age. She settled into the primal lifestyle well and was magnificently creative with her foods. We shared (and still do) everything-- recipes, meals, snacks, and articles. When she visited, I'd read Mark Sisson's book with her or watch a movie like Fathead. Suddenly, one day in January, I recieved a call from her. There was utter shock in her voice. She told me, completely taken aback, that she was 2 lbs under her nearly-forgotten goal-weight of old times. She seemed relieved, and amazed, but at the same time-- that number that she'd been reaching to attain ironically mattered so little now. I remember the exact moment I realized that this had definitely changed her: She bent over and picked up something she had dropped without even thinking about it. It had been so long since I'd seen her quickly and nimbly squat down or bend over that it stopped me in my steps.

I interviewed Mom because I think that she absolutely has a wonderful story to share (and deserves 100% to win this contest. As much as I'd love those supplements myself, this one is for Mom). Mom is a beautiful, vibrant, healthy 62 years old with who's smile can light up an entire island and who's heart still knows how to play. So, Without further ado, I introduce to you: Sandy Poster.

What has been liberating about eating this way?
"You know-- butter, cheese, eggs, bacon... these were all things I grew up with. Then I came to a time in my life where they were saying "Limit your eggs to weekends, eat turkey bacon... that is whats liberating to me. What I can't get my friends to understand is you don't NEED Sweet N' Low, you don't NEED splenda. I keep telling them, its things that are made in a laboratory that you need to stay away from. I asked her, 'Why not just try without the sugar?' and she said 'Oh I could NEVER do that.' Why not?'
What does primal mean to you?Primal is ... natural. Things from the earth and its non-chemical and its a way that, to me, a way that you can eat and your body knows how to work with you.
Primal means... Healthier eating and more energy. I don't know how to put it into words. Its like a new journey that is FUN.. its fun discovering new recipes and its fun eating its just really awesome knowing that everything I eat is doing something good for me and that if I do slip every now and then-- like if I just think i have to have a peice of a brownie or something-- i take a bite of it and I realize this isn't as good as I thought it was gonna be. There is a couple of times that I've eaten something like cheesecake.

What do you think is the greatest benefit you've seen, being primal? For the first time in my life I am NOT counting calories, I'm NOT counting portions. I eat when I want to eat what I want to eat. I eat when I'm hungry and I'm fine! My snack is a handful of nuts with some dark chocolate. If I miss a meal or if I don't eat it exactly on time, I don't have that horrible horrible zoned out feeling. I don't zone out like I used to. Feeling more comfortable with my body. Less pain, less muscle pain... a little renewed energy.

Whats your number one primal food? *laugh* Would I be a dork if I said bacon?

Anything you'd like to add? In the begining I just thought I was taking a challenge, and the way I feel now... its a lifestyle. Its a change in lifestyle. I feel better than I've felt in a long time. I do realize I need to excersize more-- If I do start excersizing, I think I'll feel even better!

Its a weird journey because I was such a sugarholic. It was sugar sugar everything -- donuts, cookies, cakes, pies. I will admit that I miss, every now and then, just being able to have something like that. Most the time I'm in complete control-- most of the time it doesn't bother my to have [my youngest daughter] or [my husband] eating cookies in front of me. Its funny-- every now and then I would love to just have a donut. But then I know how bad it would make me feel! Too much bakatadi*.
I don't feel bad about not being able to have the wedding cake now, but I get excited about what I CAN have. Like a little square of dark chocolate-- I will take that little square of dark chocolate and nibble on it. The things that I love together I never would have imagined, like a bite of apple and a bite of cheese. I savor every minute of it! I always have had a passion for food, that was part of my problem-- and I think that even more than the grain, is the bad vegetable oils. Cutting the nasty oils it what strikes me as the most beneficial.
I like knowing that people-- almost everywhere you go-- people say "Oh, I couldn't do that." "I could never give that up." And I love knowing that I CAN do it. It makes me feel like I can do anything.

 
 

IN SIX MONTHS:
- "186 lbs to 163 lbs (without trying)"
- "I stopped requiring naps"
- "Flexibility, Oh my god! I can bend, stoop, pick stuff up, lift things! The other day this girl that works in the back [at work] was trying to get a layaway box down and I grabbed this whole box of layaway, lifted it with one hand, and just stuck it on the shelf. "
- "I'm not depressed-- I never even thought about it just now! I was driving down Green Oaks Blvd. the other day and it was one of those kind of open-up-the-car-window-days, and the air felt good, and I thought 'I havent felt this way in a long time.' I lost the passion for life. I used to be depressed all the time, but it wasn't like 'oh poor me, I'm so depressed,' it was like a lack of excitement for things. I didn't have any drive. I'd wanna do something in my mind but I was too tired to do it. Like just for example, gosh, like [remodelling] the bathroom. When I went to Grandma's I couldn't sit still, I was moving the whole time. I was doing their laundry, my laundry, their dishes, fixin' stuff, and you know them, they were like 'come sit down, you're gonna weigh yourself down!'"





A FEW KEY QUOTES "They're not Phytates... they're FARTates!"
"Ever since going primal I just have this deep... uncontrollable urge... to drink bacon grease."

Using the "Whole Animal," or, Mottainai

Here is a nice story, largely unrelated to the topic at hand. Once upon a time I was chatting with a couple of guests at work. I mused about how giving the coconut palm was, providing vitamins and minerals in the liquid from within the fruit, nutritious and fatty nuts, creamy milk, healthful oil for eating, cleaning and conditioning skin, sennet ('aha') for ropes-- well, I digress, but needless to say I have a great respect for the tree. They told me about the coconut palm in their culture, being from Mangolore, and the Kalpa Vriksha. The Kalpa Vriksha is, as many western cultures might call it, a Tree of Life. They said that they called the coconut palm that because it was all-giving and all-providing.

That got me thinking, later, about the way in which plants and animals provide for the people to live. In a way, I believe that much of what we consume from can be considered all-giving, if we are only all-accepting.

In Japan, the concept of Mottainai is the idea of simply not being wasteful. I learned 'Mottainai' a long, long time ago-- I'm not sure from who or why or how, but I remember the following, about the Mottainai Obake.



 And f you are awesome (or 8), you could also watch this video. Anyhow, I remember vaguely the concept being described to me as "what old men say when you throw away a sandwich." I did a heap of studying about the concept, and old Japanese traditions (such as furoshiki, an all-purpose Japanese bandana) and even did my final project for my Japanese Minor on it.

Eventually I come to this: I believe in using as much of everything as possible. One thing feeds the next thing and everything is a cycle. This cycle is so vital to life and living and being and growing-- an entirely captivating and rhythmic system that seems to be have been choreographed by necessity and currently carried out only as novelty. The entire process of cutting and peeling vegetables, discarding large parts of them, and (oh no!) throwing out the 'less enjoyed' parts of animals just makes me so sad inside. Learn about the different nutrients in the leaves, roots, stems, seeds, and fruits. Learn about how giving the bones and organs of an animal can be.

I try my hardest to wring two or three uses out of things. Yesterdays dressing is today's marinade, last night's leftovers are this morning's omelette, and the drippings from that meat will cook the next batch of veggies. Yogurt drains out whey and you can make fermented vegetables, chock-full of probiotics, from that (as the yogurt enables you to make the next batch of yogurt!). Since I was little, I saved papaya seeds as pepper (not knowing about how rich in enzymes they were!) and planted all (to my parents dismay?) my fruit seeds.

Stock is a good place to start: Vegetable peelings and stubs can get thrown into the freezer and collect in a bag. The stems of your herbs and the heads and shells of your shrimps are almost as valuable as the initial foods were. Buy a whole chicken and roast it, then pick it clean and save the carcass. Make a stock from it. Slow-cook your ribs or roasts and save those bones. Make a stock from them. When its time to boil (er, almost boil) those meaty discards, add your frozen carrot peelings and parsley stems. Add your celery and onion butts! I could make an entire blog about stock making alone, so I'll leave you with those tips and urge you to explore the world of stockmaking from one of the many masters.

You can throw the tops of carrots into salads or anywhere you'd use parsley. Radish tops make a mean pesto and the white tails of green onions can grow you more green onions simply by trimming the roots and placing them in fresh water in a sunny spot. In looking through old cookbooks in my dear grandmother's house, I found a very simple recipe that is perfectly in keeping with this subject. I invite you to try it and I'll try it too. It is so simple, in fact, that I don't even believe it has a name (or that people actually need a recipe for it), but sometimes it is nice to see something in old print and pass it on. It makes it a little bit more real, and a little bit more like it is part of that cycle.

BEET GREENS FIESOLE from Fresh-from-the-Garden Cookbookby Miriam B. Loo
1 lb beet greens, washed and trimmed
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 TB olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Cook beet greens in salted boiling water until just tender, about 7 minutes. Drain well, pressing greens to sides of colander or sieve to remove all moisture. In a medium-size skillet, sauté garlic in olive oil until just brown, about 1 minute. Add beet greens; mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Heat greens through. Serve immediately.
Serves 4. 

Thanks for stickin' around. Let me know if you try it!

Happy eating.

Zahlouk and Meatballs

Moroccan food is one of my top favorite cuisines in the whole world. It is almost level with Tunisian food for me-- they are both exotic and mysterious, yet warm, bright, and familiar enough to be comfort food. It is well varied, though almost every single recipe uses Olive Oil, Cumin, Paprika, Cilantro, and Parsley. It is beautiful, bright, and clean. I love it desperately and rarely get to eat it unless I make it myself.

Zahlouk (to me this is pronounced just like 'Salad,' except with different letters. What?! Um...) is a Moroccan stewed eggplant and tomato dish that really develops its flavor on the stove after almost exactly the 30 minute mark. I'm not sure how 'authentic' my recipe is, but I do something that I've never seen done with it before: I add meat. Sometimes I add it ground up like a middle-eastern ragout, but this time I added it in meatball form. So, I have Cinnamon Lemon Meatballs and Zahlouk.

3 Chinese eggplants*, peeled in stripes, then cubed
1 large grated onion
2 large tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 or 3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1/2 TB paprika
1/2 TB cumin
Sea Salt
Course Black Pepper
1/2 TB white vinegar
Olive Oil 

Grass-fed ground beef, 1/2 lb
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 tsp cinnamon
Sea Salt

Salt the eggplant and boil it for like half an hour. Drain it and press the water out of the pieces with a spoon, in a colander, until they're mostly wrung out. 

Roll the beef into loose meatballs and get a skillet really hot, with a bit of olive oil. Put the meatballs in and sprinkle them with salt, some cinnamon, and some lemon juice. After turning them a few times so that they're nicely browned (and have made a bit of grease) add the onions and garlic to get them going. After they've sauteed just a bit, add everything else (except vinegar and some lemon juice and salt). Let it cook on medium for another half hour, smashing the eggplant and tomatoes with a spoon but not smashing the meatballs. After that half hour, add the vinegar, the rest of the lemon, and some salt. One thing that I did differently was use one big fat vine tomato and a whole bunch of little grape tomatoes. Those popped and cooked beautifully!

Oh lets see, did I forget anything? I'm not sure. I served this with my standard spinach-- that is, spinach with wakame stirred in it after it cooked.

*Or, one giant American eggplant.
**Also, I'm showing off my new bowl. <3