The Black Hoof

As much as I love being a lazy bum all weekend, hanging out in my workout clothes/sweats, making yummy food and watching Doctor Who, I also love getting all dolled up and going out for dinner.

Yup, I need to remember to clean my mirror.

Last week, my friend and I decided to go out for a little foodie experience with our boyfriends.  Her boyfriend is a chef in the city and has been looking up places to try.

They were both excited to try The Black Hoof so Greg and I agreed to go out with them this weekend.

Remember how I said this year was all about getting out of my comfort zone?  Yeahhhhh.  The menu for The Black Hoof was a little out of said comfort zone.  However, it was also a very paleo friendly menu.  A restaurant that focuses on good quality meats and good food, means no guilt eating out since you can pretty much guarantee they aren't using anything too funky in their cooking (like crummy oils).

It was a bit hard to see but they have their menu up on two chalkboards.  Very cool.

Our waiter noted everything was basically to share, so the four of us each ordered something that appealed to us, plus 'appetizers'.

The order looked something like this:

Bread, Olives, Charcuterie.

Salt Cod Mezzaluna, Bone Marrow, Pork Carnitas Tacos, Pork Belly and Cappuccio, Oxtail and Scallops, and the eat your veg option which was Squash.    Yes, we ordered almost the whole menu!  Everything came out about one dish at a time which added to the experience, with new plates and cutlery every few dishes.

The charcuterie board was out of this world!  I loved stuff that I wasn't really sure about.  The chicken liver terrine was spot on, and the meat at the right end was....... horse.  Yes horse.  Luckily I didn't know that before I inhaled it.  We also got warm, fresh olives, that were amazing.

 Pork Carnitas.  I made a paleo exception and ate the tortilla (corn is a no no) but it was worth every bite.  Perfectly spiced pork rinds and a squeeze of lime took these to the next level.

Bone Marrow.  Honestly, while I liked this, it wasn't my favourite.   It was buttery and really interesting, but I think it would have been better if I was able to spread it on the bread.  I just didn't want to endure bloating for the rest of the meal.

So this was the pork belly..... We realized with one bite left no one had taken a picture of it.  This went down quickly and was my personal favourite!  Pork belly on a brussel sprout sauerkraut with a creamy polenta (damn corn) and an anchovy sauce.  Wooooooow.

I didn't snap pics of the oxtail but it was a table favourite as well.  Unfortunately it was breaded, so I kinda ate around it but what I did have was delish.

The squash (unpictured) was in a coconut sauce with roasted pepitas and must be recreated in my kitchen.

Honestly, there was nothing we didn't like. it was all ridiculously tasty and the service was amazing.  Very attentive staff who knew the menu well and made suggestions.  We'd go back in a heartbeat though I think we're off to new culinary adventures next month!

Gluten Free Carrot Muffins

 Actually, these puppies aren't just gluten free, they're paleo too.  But I figured the less I tote around my paleoness the better.  So let's just call these little muffins of love.  Okay never mind.  That's even worse.

I went to bed last night with every intention of going to the gym but this morning it was NOT going to happen.  Apparently I need to stop drinking afternoon caffeine.  I've been up 2 nights in a row until at least midnight trying to get my brain to stop thinking.  It just won't.  So I'm tired today and rambling.  And currently drinking tea.

Whenever I stay home on Tuesday/Thursday mornings though, I can never just rest.  I literally pulled myself out of bed at 9 and made myself some breakfast and got to work.  Lots of tidying, vacuuming, etc was going on.  And some baking.

After the holidays we ended up with a huge bag of carrots.   I love carrots, but honestly, they aren't my go to veg for meals.  However, what I like more than carrots lately is anything to do with the idea of carrot cake.  Prior to starting the paleo thing, I made carrot cake baked oatmeal and it was SO GOOD.  Thinking that there's got to be a way to make it Kelly-friendly I started searching the web last night and found a few recipes.  I finally snagged this one and got to work this morning.

The batter was a little thicker than I was expecting, but kept my fingers crossed and 25 minutes later was trying not to eat all 12.  These are delicious, full of good stuff, tastes just as good as your average junk filled muffin, but, dare I say it, are good for you?

Carrot Muffins

1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
3 eggs
2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
1 ripe banana, mashed
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey (optional)
1 1/2 cups carrots, grated
1/2 cup pecans, chopped


1.  Pre-heat oven to 325 and line a muffin tin or spray with coconut oil.

2.  Combine almond flour, seat salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

3.  Stir together coconut oil, banana and maple syrup, and eggs.

4.  Fold in pecans and carrots into the wet mixture.

5.  Add wet to dry

6.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

7.  Try not to stuff your face and eat the whole batch

**My modifications:   I love cinnamon so you bet I upped that to a whole tbsp.  I also added some coconut shreds to the mix.  I think next time I would experiment with the spices in this one.  A little bit of nutmeg would have put these guys over the top!

Pure Laziness

Maybe not pure laziness, but pretty damn lazy.  That's how I feel.

My dad and Gregers... it wasn't too long after this picture that my dad declared he was drunk and going to bed.

I actually booked myself off for the holidays for a whole week and a half and it's hard to believe so much of it is already over!  I spent the first weekend prepping for my parents to arrive and then when they did there was a lot of yummy cooking happening that I didn't take pictures of (whoops).  We had Greg's now infamous ribbies, steak, banana bread french toast, ham, brussel sprouts, and lots of bacon.  It was glorious. 

Even if you aren't paleo or hate paleo, you really need to make this banana bread. 

But not.  I'm not sure if it was the sheer amount I ate, or the chocolate chips in my banana bread that did me in, or maybe the alcohol, but I've spent the last few days with an angry stomach.  I was really hoping that I would avoid the Franklin/Hyland stomach issues but it appears I haven't.  Which is really sad.  Dairy and gluten make my stomach really angry and other things seem to upset it on a whim.  It's really frustrating. 

Local cider for the win!

Then there was the fact that Greg and I went out for our belated anniversary dinner at Fabbrica and I couldn't resist a piece of bread... or the tiramisu.  You can bet I felt like ass yesterday after not having gluten for close to 4 months. 

I also spent most of yesterday in my pajamas not moving off the couch.  I wasn't going to workout but I realized that there was  probably going to be a 4 day gap between workouts because of circumstances so I should probably get off my butt.  I finally made it off the couch for the 5pm workout.  It was sweaty and disgusting but so worth it.

It was also chilly since Toronto finally decided to have some snow.

Alright... it's almost 11 and I'm going to try to aim for the noon class today... guess I should probably put some workout clothes on or something.

Happy Holidays!  Nothing like flying a helicopter inside!

Random Stuff

I sat here for awhile trying to figure out what I wanted to write about today.  I don't have a clear plan.  Meh.  Let's see what happens.

Crossfit this morning was brutal and awesome all at the same time.  I went up by 15lbs on my squat and my form seems to be improving every time I try which is awesome.  I also feel a lot more confident with chin ups and pull ups.  With chin ups in my workout out, and man makers (eff me those things are tough!), toes to bar (I currently do knees to chest), and skipping as the WOD, my hands are toast.  They're starting to look about as rough as they did while I was working on the canal:

I made fish sticks last night for dinner and they were rockin'!  I'm trying to get more fish in my diet without just going out for sushi every other night.  I tried to make a butternut squash hash too but it kind of failed and I've also decided that I really don't love squash.  I'm still working on my feelings about the funky smelling vegetable.

Pecan crusted haddock. Mmm mmm good.

 

 

Speaking of going out.  Greg and I went out for an anniversary breakfast this morning.  It's kind of frustrating having to modify meals so much when you go out, and I can only ask for so much so the hash browns showed up on my plate and I had a hard time not picking at them.  Okay.... I had a few.... 

Okay, last thoughts for today:

 My cat's are adorable.

Monkeys dressed in coats at Ikea are freakin' hilarious. 

Learning to like...

1.  Black coffee.   Seriously?  Who knew black coffee could actually taste good?  I'm that person in your Starbucks who can never walk in there and just order coffee.  It's usually some form of crazy ass drink with 3-4 changes to it.  I'm sorry.  And I'm sorry to anyone who asks me if I want anything from Starbucks if they're going.  Anyways, the point of this ramble is that black coffee was never something I thought I could do.   On this whole Paleo challenge thing, one of the suggestions was to drink your coffee black, and ya know what?  It's actually pretty good!  Last night I even got a decaf americano.  Progress!

(Post-Crossfit hair)

2.  Me.  I took a picture of myself on the way to Peterborough on Saturday and I can tell you everything I hate about it:  I'm pale.  I'm tired.  I look chubby, etc.  But you know what?  My hair looks killer.  I love my makeup.  And I love that my eyes have gotten greener.  And I really look pretty good.  It's so hard to stop negative self-talk, but the only way to combat it is with positives.

3.  Spaghetti Squash/Substitute Carbs.  Let's talk about this.  Zucchini is not really a lasagna noodle, and no matter what anyone tells you, spaghetti squash does not replace fresh homemade pasta.  But sometimes it kind of tastes good.  And sometimes it's actually not so bad in a dish.  Promise!  Funny story about this one.

 As I was transferring pictures to use in this entry, I came across my screen cap for the recipe.  Last night I spent a half hour freaking that paleomg.com was down I couldn't see the ingredient list (can you tell I'm a baker by nature?  I can't deal without exact measurements),  and the damn ingredients were on my phone the entire time!

3b.  Side note:  changing up my cooking habits made me finally pull out my fancy Le Crueset cookware that I usually hate getting down because it's so heavy.

4.  Okay, we already know I love these two, but Greg wants me to post about our cats.  So here are our cats spooning.  Cutest thing ever.  How can you not like cats?  Also, we locked Pip in a closet for 24hrs this weekend.  Whoops.

Dabbling in Healthy Desserts

Wishing I had grabbed my SLR when I took the spring form pan off this amazingness, because this picture does NOT do it justice.  This my friends, is PEANUT BUTTER PIE.

Raw, gluten free, and pretty much healthy for you. 

Mine didn't turn out perfect because the instructions were a bit vague but it's definitely a must try again!

Chocolate Fudge Crust

• 1 Cup Raw Peanuts
• 1 Cup Raw Slivered Almonds
• 1 Cup Pitted Dates
• 4 Tbsp Cocoa
• 1/4 Cup Water

Peanut Butter Filling

• 1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
• 1/2 Cup Natural Peanut Butter
• 1/3 Cup Pitted Dates
• 3 Packets Stevia
• 2 Tbsp Pure Maple Syrup

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 Cup Coconut Oil
• 1/4 Cup Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/2 Cup Cocoa

1. Grease a spring form pan.  I used coconut oil.

2. Food process/blend peanuts and almonds until desired size (you still want it to be a bit chunky, not a flour).  Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend until a dough forms.  Pack into the bottom of the pan.  Stash in the fridge so it firms up while you complete the next step.

3.  Blend the peanut butter filling until smooth.   I would suggest chopping the dates before throwing them in.  I had to blend like crazy.  Pour over the crust layer and put in fridge.

4.  Blend ganache layer.  Pour on top.

5.  Pop into the fridge or freezer for about 3 hours.

*Added suggestion:  Refrigerate until the ganache is semi-solid and pre-score your slices.  I think it would be best served frozen, but it'll be easier if your top layer is already cut.

ENJOY.