Is Paleo Caesar Salad with Croutons not the best thing ever? I for one cannot get enough!
Rain Caesar! Because it Didn't Hail Today
April showers bring May flowers. It's Spring, and it's supposed to rain. I listened people complain all day today. But I love it. It's great weather to walk in, wear a rain jacket and a hat! And the air, it reeks like rain, all fresh and crisp. I spent 8 hours at work, it can rain while I'm stuck in the office!
It's the best weather to bake in, the oven warms the house and the sights and sounds bring back happy childhood memories. My Ma must have made cookies for us on rainy days. It is also great weather to cozy up at home, watch a movie and go to bed early. Which lately, is right up my alley.
After blogging tho, I'm headed to hot yoga, they just opened a new studio and for $40 you could attend 40 yoga classes. Who can pass up a deal like that? If you attend 30 classes in the 40 days this promotion runs, you will be entered to win a lifetime unlimited membership. Ultimately I will aim for the 30 days, but any yoga is better than no yoga.
I am a bit of a maniac. I used to practice Ashtanga yoga, 5 or 6 days a week. I was going thru a break-up, and a tremendous amount of stress at work, it was the only way I coped (I didn't eat, or sleep, or call anyone). I remember telling myself “there is NO crying in yoga” but at the end of my practice during savasana tears would pour out of my eyes and I would have to mouth breathe as my head filled with snot. If humans under stress and pressure turned to diamonds like coal, I would have become solid shimmering bling. I made some changes in my relationship and at work, and yoga took a hiatus. I would go maybe once or twice a week.
When my world was again dumped out, relationship stress (the same relationship) and another career change, my home studio was closed for a month while they went to Colorado for teacher training. I had to cope on my own. I did a poor job but was working with what I had. I was generally pretty awful to myself.
I moved, changed towns, and had become a yoga snob. I would ONLY practice Ashtanga. I judged teachers on their instructions, not as concise as my teacher, not as disciplined, they forgot to do the second pose of that series on the second side. Ughhh. Truth. Practicing yoga was painful. Not in my body -I longed for that. I wanted to punish myself for letting my relationship fail. I wanted to punish myself for gaining 40 lbs. I wanted to punish myself for having to start over. I wished to practice so hard that all you can do is breathe and hope you don't puke or pass out on your mat. That is serious self-loathing. I didn't get that distraction I was looking for, and I stopped going under the guise it wasn't physically hard enough. It has taken 3 years to admit that yoga brings up old self-hatred, it's an emotional “old faithful” ready to blow. So I am going. 30 classes in 40 days.
And after yoga, I'm going to eat Paleo Caesar Salad with Croutons, that I made myself, from scratch. You can too!
Paleo Croutons
- Total Time: 30 minutes
Description
What is Caesar Salad without croutons? Still awesome, but not quite as awesome.
Ingredients
- Any gluten-free or Paleo bread, a couple days old, I used Brittney Angell's world's greatest sandwich loaf, and just pulled a few slices out of the freezer, it is the bread I have found to best keep its shape/texture
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/3 cup ghee or avocado oil
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- dash of cayenne
Instructions
- Combine ghee and spices in a bowl, let sit for a while to infuse.
- Preheat oven to 300F.
- Cut bread into bite-size cubes.
- Toss cubes in ghee mixture until they are well coated.
- Spread out onto a baking sheet and bake for 30 min, turning regularly (the dog watched me do this every 10 min or so, willing me to drop just one… but he was out of luck).
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Category: Salad
Paleo Caesar Dressing
- Yield: 1-1.5 cups 1x
Description
Garlic, and nutritional yeast help give this Paleo delight a classic Caesar taste
Ingredients
- 1 cup Paleo mayo
- 1 tsp coconut amino
- 1/4 cup full-fat coconut milk
- 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp anchovy paste
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2/3 cup nutritional yeast (or to taste)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients except for the nutritional yeast in an airtight container or jar and whisk or shake until mixed.
- Add the nutritional yeast a little at a time until blended, you may want to do this to taste. Some people would be happy with 1/3 cup, but we like it cheesy at my house.
Notes
The Caesar dressing will thicken up in the fridge.
- Category: Salad
Cookies were made in 2 gallon bucket batches x 4 normal recipe every 3 days.
A few days had to be rainy I guess. Grin.
Congrats on the Yoga. You get more zen internal power when you do that.
Educate me on Nutritional Yeast Please.
Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast, often a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which is sold commercially as a food product. Wikipedia
You can find it at most health food stores, and commercial grocers as well. Gives a cheesy-type flavour. Some people LOVE it on popcorn, I don’t eat popcorn, not because it isn’t paleo, but because I’m a weirdo that doesn’t like popcorn. It’s good on salads, like Caesar, or in pureed cashews for a non dairy ricotta style cheese.