Father's Day

I know I said I would share a couple chicken recipes, and I still will, but I'm currently marinating chunks of top round in garlic, rosemary, olive oil, sea salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. It smells wonderful. I mention the pepper because I have this amazing pepper grinder that my husband got me at Williams-Sonoma a few years ago. It makes for a really coarse grind - truly cracked peppercorns - a wonderful pepper experience. Then there's the rosemary. I love the smell of fresh rosemary and we have a huge clump - not sure if that's the right term, it's more like a bush - in our backyard. So, garlic, rosemary, black pepper, and well, I'm not the biggest beef fan, but it's Father's Day...

We're planning to grill simple beef kabobs with sweet onion and bell pepper (red and green) for our special dinner tonight. No recipe to share because I'm just winging it.

Later...

OK, so I don't have much experience cooking beef. The kabobs looked great, smelled great, seemed to be cooked perfectly, but they sure gave my jaws a workout and weren't very flavorful either. Apparently, top round (london broil) is not the right cut for kabobs. I'm now being told it should be cooked more slowly, so it has time to tenderize. Oh well - don't ask me for tips on cooking beef anytime soon. Hope your dinner was better than mine!

What to Eat

So, here's the deal... I'm having a hard time lately figuring out what to eat. My mom found out last year that she has a genetic gluten intolerance and, it seems, I inherited that same intolerance. Now, I'm thinking I may have dairy sensitivity too. I haven't, however, made myself eliminate that from my diet yet, to see what difference (if any) it makes.

To add to my confusion, I read (OK, I just skimmed) Robb Wolf's book, The Paleo Solution. According to Wolf, not only should we eliminate gluten and dairy from our diets, but virtually all grains, legumes, and sugars. His argument makes sense to me, but I certainly have not subscribed to the diet at this point.

As you know, I haven't been much of a meat eater in the past as I'm less than thrilled with the practices of the meat industry and the impact on the environment. Finally, my son has a peanut/tree nut allergy, so I avoid nuts for the most part too.

I know I should focus on all the good foods I can eat, and not on the things I should not, but I love cheese (do you hear the whine?) and I don't want to eat gobs of meat. I'm overwhelmed. I am eating more meat. I'm avoiding gluten. But I'm not really feeling any better overall. I guess dairy is next on the hit list. Then, we'll see. Good thing I love salads and vegetables.

Watch for a couple delicious chicken recipes coming soon.