I tried to fancy up some little pork loin cutlets the other day. I think it worked.

  

Ingredients:

Pork Loin 

(You can cut it yourself or get a package of cutlets from the grocery store.)

One large sprig of fresh rosemary

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Olive oil and grass-fed butter for frying

1. Heat a large pan with olive oil and butter.

2. Season one side of the pork cutlets with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

3. Place the pork into the pan with the seasoned side down.

4. Season the other side, flip them when the meat starts cooking around the edges and the underside is browned (about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of the cutlets).

5. Pour applesauce over the pork. Add rosemary. Let other side cook through (another 3-5 minutes).

6. Garnish with rosemary and serve with extra applesauce.

  

When Melissa and I were planning this weekend, we pretty much divided our time together by potential blog posts. Paleo recipes, personal style, makeup, and not-so-Paleo cocktails all made the list and were fit into our two-day schedule. So if you read her blog, you might see some duplications over the next week or so. So for now, let's start with pancakes. Because it's Monday, and I know how Mondays can be, and because sometimes you just need pancakes.

We used a variation of this recipe for the pancake batter, and before the pancakes went onto the griddle, we fried up some bacon to go in them, because why not, man? I still maintain the opinion that there's not much that can't be made better with at least a little bacon. And did you hear? Turns out banana, vanilla, cinnamon, and bacon are like, best friends.

Ingredients (makes 4-5 big pancakes):

• Two or three strips of bacon, cut in half
• Two bananas
• Three eggs
• Three tablespoons coconut flour
• One teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Sprinkle of cinnamon, pinch of salt

Instructions:

1. Space out strips of bacon onto the pan or griddle where you will make the pancakes. Fry them up!
2. Blend all pancake ingredients in a food processor or blender until completely smooth.
3.  When the bacon is done, spoon pancake batter on and around each strip and let cook for about eight minutes.
4.  Flip each pancake carefully and let the other side cook. Serve with maple syrup, if desired.

Rocky really wanted some.

I think that most of the time, the hardest thing about being Paleo is lunch. I won't lie and tell you that I don't wish I could just have a fabulous sandwich with some really crunchy sourdough toast most of the time. When I'm in the mood for a sandwich, I often roll turkey and salami up in lettuce with some vegetables and call it lunch, but that gets old really fast. 

Really, my favorite thing to do is to just have leftovers from dinner. I bring them to work in a Tupperware container and reheat them in the microwave at the office, but what if your office doesn't have a microwave? 

And also, what if you just want some sushi?

Maybe my family is weird because we randomly have seaweed and a bamboo mat for sushi lying around, but this was a fun, alternative lunch idea that I didn't even have to go to the grocery store to make happen.

 

Ingredients:

For the tuna salad

One or two cans of tuna

Mayonnaise (homemade is best)

Several tablespoons of chopped, pickled jalapenos

Salt and pepper

For the roll-ups

Avocado, tomato, lettuce 

Some veggie chips for texture

A package of seaweed sheets

Bamboo mat 

(Get the seaweed + bamboo together here)

1. Make your tuna salad the way you normally would (unless you would normally add something not Paleo; I use homemade mayo and usually some relish, but this time I added jalapenos instead. Also, Sriracha.

2. Put a sheet of seaweed on the bamboo matt. Add some tuna and spread it out down the middle. Layer your fillings on top of each other.

3. Roll the seaweed up. It helps to get your hands a little wet to get it all sticking together.

4. Cut them up and serve. Make three more batches when your family asks what you are doing and sees how awesome they are.