This is a simple and satisfying side order to go with some smoked salmon or maybe organic chicken. In my mind (and in my mouth to be exact) this tastes like pizza so it does makes me happy… In a way that no pizza would do. Anyway, I’m too coward to promise you a definate pizza experience but even as what it is - veggies seasoned with oregano - it’s delicious. Nothing too fancy but oh so satiating. Eggplant works the best sucking all the flavours in!

Pizza Vegetariana

• half of an large eggplant
• half of an large zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 2 dl pureed tomato (or crushed tomato) in a can
• 2-3 Tbs nutritional yeast
• dried oregano
• butter, salt, water

Chop the veggies into generous bites, carrots more thinly. Fry the veggies in a heavy amount of butter on a large skillet. Add the canned tomato and a little water. Season with oregano, salt and nutritional yest. Let it cook up until it’s more like a stew than a sauce and so that the tomato loses its bitterness. There you go. Uno Pizza Vegetariana, por favor.

And again I’m blogging in Finnish since this is about a new Finnish gluten-free dairy-free product and not sold elsewhere. So hang in there, my English readers, this is not turning into a Finnish written but I’ll just make some occasional visits to mother tongue.

[Kuva Biofermen sivuilta, omat purkkimme olivat syödyt ennen kuin pääsin kameraan kiinni!]

Eli suomeksi mennään! Sain kesän alussa kotimaiselta pieneltä yritykseltä Biofermeltä postia ja sitten lähetyksen: katsokaa mallia Pastanjauhajilta, sain samanlaisen, käsittämättömän anteliaan setin! Kyseessä on siis kaupassa myytävistä kaurapohjaisista hapatetuista “jogurtinomaisista” tuotteista vastuussa oleva firma, joka lähestyi uuden tuotteensa esittelyasioissa. Yosa-valmisteet ovat kaurasta hapattamalla valmistettuja eivätkö siis sisällä gluteenia tai maitotuotteita lainkaan.

Makeampia jogurtteja tai muita en kaipaakaan, mutta uusin tuotteensa Ruoka&Dippi tuli ihan tarpeeseen. Kyseessä on ruokacrémen tapaan käytettävä tuote, jolla saa kastikkeisiin jne. kermaista tuntua. Ja maukasta sellaista! Pelkästään maisteltuna Ruoka&Dippi maistuu lähinnä maustamattomalta soijajogurtilta emmekä innostuneet sen dippi-ulottuvuudesta, mutta ruoanlaitossa se toimi erinomaisesti.

Sain tuotetta niin monta purkkia että sitä tuli testatuksi monessa. Parhaimpina kuitenkin vuosien takaa itselleni tuttu savulohikastike, jota en ole syönyt sen jälkeen kun jätin pastan (siitä on enemmän vuosia kuin osaan laskea). Pannulle siis sipulia ja vaikka porkkanakiekkoja, ehkä sieniä, ja Yosa Ruoka&Dippiä. Kylmäsavulohta suikaleina sekaan ja keitellään hiukan kasaan. Autenttinen maku! Todella hyvää.

Toinen kokeiluni joka sai käsittämätöntä ylistystä Lihansyöjän taholta oli lihasuikalekastike, joka syntyi suunnilleen samalla tavalla. Palaute kuului häikäisevästi “melkein yhtä hyvää kuin isän lihakastike lapsena”. Toisin sanoen varmaan juuri yhtä hyvää, aika kun kultaa muistot ja maut… Siis helkkarin maukasta ja Yosa tuo hyvän rakenteen, pitää raaka-aineet kasassa.

Ruoka&Dipin lisäksi saimme läjän erilaisia smoothieita ja “jogurtteja“, joista kaikista Lihansyöjä piti valtavasti samoin kuin kollegani töissä, jossa tarjoilin muutamia makuraadille. Ja mm. punaiset marjat -niminen tuotos sai vakiystävän puheterapeutistamme. Vanilja-Yosa olisi myös hyödyllinen jälkiruokatyyppisissä ratkaisuissa, vaikka juustokakuissa, jos sellaisia haluaa tehdä.

Oma vatsani on niin herkkis, ettei Yosa valitettavasti sovi ruokavaliooni kuin kovin harvoin, mutta suositan kyllä erityisesti Ruoka&Dippiä arjen ja juhlan pelastajana, kun täytyy saada täyteläistä maidotonta ja gluteenitonta ruokaa. Veikkaan, että Yosa lähtee vielä maailmalle! Ja huom. Yosa Ruoka&Dippihän on myös täysin kasvipohjainen eli hellii myös vegaaneja.

…and what to do with it. I arranged a huge (well not huge but 130 kg anyway) order of meat some weeks ago. The idea was to buy some well kept (meaning ethical raising conditions) grass-fed meat of a quality beef from Highland Cattle. The whole procedure was more than easy and so the day arrived and our 10 kg share of meat. Six kilos minced meat, two kilos soup meat and two kilos silverside roast (or bottom side roast, ulkopaisti in Finnish).

Minced meat’s a piece of cake and the soup meat’s obvious. But in care anyone’s wondering what to do with the silverside roast here’s an ultimately easy and delicious recipe.

Love me tender

• silverside roast
• butter
• garlic cloves
• meat bouillon, from a cube or a fond (NOT containing MSG)
• a carrot

Cut the roast into rough cubes. Fry on a pan in loads of butter to get a nice tan for the cubes. Put into an oven casserole together with peeled whole garlic cloves, cut carrot and enough beef bouillon to cover the meat. Cover the dish with a tin foil and let it cook in the oven 1,5 or 2 hours on a mild heat (150 degrees or so). Remove the tin foil and let it still cook for about an half an hour. And whoomp there it is! Tender, garlicky, tasty meat. Can’t get any better than this. Veeeeery paleo.

I had a dinner with Juhana the other week, Juhana being the blogger behind an interesting (and may I say sophisticated) nutrition/health blog Aamiainen ruohikolla. Among other things, mostly nutritional, we discussed some new meal inventions. We are both devoted fans of coconut milk and Juhana told about his reoccurring desire to mix coconut milk, champignons and fresh coriander. Sounds lovely! And is.

Juhana works his Magic

• fresh champignons
• (veggies such as eggplant, cauliflower, cabbage and/or bellpepper)
• coconut milk
• fresh coriander (aka cilantro)
• turmeric, curry and possibly some sliced fresh ginger
• salt

Heat a little coconut oil in a pan and chop mushrooms and veggies, let fry or almost roast for a good while. Add a generous amount of coconut milk and continue cooking until the liquid’s gone down a bit. Season with salt and chop a whole bunch of fresh coriander, mix. After adding coriander take off the heat and prepare to eat.

Goes well as it is but is also excellent with some “paleo rice” (not cauliflower this time) by which I mean just some chopped salad or thinly sliced cabbage. The taste combo works big time!

Yeps, I know every one knows how to make burgers, but still: these were best I’ve ever made so am gonna share it with you. Just one word of advice. Alter all you want to, but DO NOT SKIP FRYING THE BURGERS ON A PAN IN BUTTER! It’s thee key to success.

The measurements are approximations since I just did it by heart as I always do… Forgive me. They just turned out so good I’m gonna try repeat it for you.

Golden Burgers

•  600 gr minced lamb meat
• 1 organic egg
• 1 onion
• fist size piece of a turnip or a small turnip (käytin kaskinauriin)
• 1,5 Tblsp coconut flour
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• approx. 1 dl coconut milk
• salt
• pepper
• BUTTER for frying

Grate onion and turnip, mix into a dough with other ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Form into patties and bake in a generous amount of butter until almost done. Leaves them juice and tasty and the texture is perfect!

I’m overwhelmed by my own skills Can you imagine: just seven years ago I hated cooking and didn’t know anything. Now I’ve got me precious patties.

In Finland we’ve got this hugely popular and loved dish called makaroonilaatikko. It’s something every kid eats and all adults take a ton when it’s served in the lunch restaurants. In English it would be something like macaroni (pasta) and minced meat casserole so yeah, it’s not quite paleo. Since there’s no brilliant equivalent for macaroni in paleo diet (such as cauliflower rice which isn’t that ricy either imo) I had to come up with a little different solution. The result is somewhat of an application of the paleo loaf and tastes… Yes, GOOD! May be altered with different meats, why not make it veggie sometime as well?

Monkey Pie goes Paleo

• couple of onions
• 400 g canned meat (sikanauta! may also use minced meat)
• mushrooms
• approx. 3 dl coconut milk
• 3 organic eggs
• salt, pepper
• coconut flour and nutritional yeast for crust

Cut onions into stripes and cook in butter on a pan. Add minced meat/canned meat and mushroom and cook until done (the meat cooked and the mushrooms lost a bit of their moisture). Pour into an oven casserole. Mix coconut milk with eggs in a separate bowl. Season with salt and pepper, pour into casserole. If you want a crisp, salty crust on the top such as is in the original makaroonilaatikko, put some two teaspoons or so coconut flour and nutritional yeast on the top. Bake about 40 minutes in 220 degrees. Enjoy food and childhood memories!

Just to keep you ON YOUR TOES!! No, but seriously, to remind you of this brilliant possibility to have some alteration in the menu: minced meat bends so easily into a loaf, non of the fuss that’s included in meatballs or burgers but the juicy tastiness! Variable, easy, perfect to keep in the fridge and to bite when ever you feel like it. Could “bake” some boiled eggs into it or whatever you wish. Mine consisted this time of:

• minced lamb meat
• organic egg
• onion
• garlic
• fresh basil
• puréed tomato (I found one from Rainbow which DOESN’T INCLUDE SUGAR! …or any other sh*t)
• salt, pepper, oregano

Chop onion, basil and garlic, mix ingredients, season and taste. For into a loaf on an oven tray, bake for about an hour, 175-200 degrees.

At least in Finland, at least when I was still eating pizza in some distant past (like 10 years ago), it is common that pizzerias have this tasty and crunchy salad as an appetizer. It’s really a classic in my opinion, I always looked forward to that when having a pizza. It doesn’t smell as good but sure tastes great! Also easy to prepare home to create some authentic pizza feeling to your paleo goods…

Pizzeria’s Paleo Salad

• cabbage
• olive oil
• raw apple vinegar
• salt
• dried oregano, basil or other herbs

Grate the cabbage. You may grate some red cabbage, carrot or other veggies to go as well, but basic cabbage works the best. Pour in some olive oil, like for a quarter of a cabbage maybe 1,5 tablespoon. Add a little less vinegar, maybe 1 Tbsp. Season with salt and some dried herbs, mix. Eat or better yet, let sit in the fridge overnight. Delish! Perfect with meats.

…on her plate!

This is the most simple recipe and thee most delicious! Gotta post it again in English so to enable all the English readers to prepare it as well.

Thee Bää-äääst Cabbage Dish

• 500+ g minced meat (lamb/mutton or else)
• small cabbage
• salt

Cook the minced meat on a pan until browned. Take out an oven tray. Chop the cabbage into relatively think slices and spread onto the tray. Cover with cooked minced meat and place a tin foil over the whole thing, doesn’t have to be tight. Bake in an oven for at least an hour, in 200 degrees, then remove the tin foil and bake half an hour more. Season with salt and soy sauce if you tolerate that, ketchup goes also well with this (but has sugar :-/). Brilliantly delish and tender, makes an excellent meal and is easy to take the leftovers to work the next day.

Well no, Artsy Stew ain’t some kitsch artist but rather a bit kitsch dish. I don’t even have a photo of it because a) I was too hungry and it was so good and b) because it ain’t that photogenic. Anyway, am gonna share with you, love your artsy stews, create your own!

[A day later: had to make it immediately again since it was sooo good!]

Artsy stew

• veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, turnip)
• spring onion
• salt, pepper, organic shoy soy sauce
• deli (smoked) turkey or meat
• coconut milk

Peel and roughly chop the veggies and spring onion and boil in a little water until tender but still al dente, not totally mushed. Pour away excess water and mush the veggies with a fork. Not into a puré but into something stewie. Season with salt, pepper and if you like, soy sauce. Chop some thinly sliced smoked turkey or ham and mix, transfer the stew onto your plate. Finish with a generous splash of coconut milk and enjoy immediately! Delish.