Whole30, day 6: Bone marrow, beef & vegetable soup

I woke up today at 06:30, refreshed, awake and feeling just fine. I slept like a baby for 8 hours straight. Last night I was really tired, so I had planned on sleeping in today, but I guess my body had other plans. Could this be the diet, or is it just coincidence?

For breakfast I had a big mug of peppermint tea, tomato and avocado salad and two scrambled eggs. After that I took a quick shower and went to the market. I bought a bunch of fresh vegetables, smoked mackerel and a few pounds of haddock that was on sale. After that I went to a plain old supermarket to buy meat (that's hardly ever sold on Dutch markets). I whipped up a salad for lunch with daikon, a bit of fennel, kohlrabi, a bit of paleo mayonnaise and smoked mackerel.

Paleo Pumpkin Fries

Fries. Who doesn't love them? But if you're lowcarb, you probably won't eat them anymore. Or maybe you do, as your occasional cheat meal. Some people swap them for the healthier sweet potato fries, but those are still heavy on carbs. Pumpkins are much lower in carbs and, as I found out today, a lovely substitute.

Roasted tomato soup with beef shank

I used to do a vegan version of a roasted tomato soup. But since I'm eating meat again, I updated my old recipe. And for the better, I have to say! This soup is amazing. The base is a bone stock, made from beef shank. Then flavored with roasted tomatoes and herbs and finished with super tender shank meat and a good dollop of heavy cream. Roasting the tomatoes gives them loads of extra flavor.

If you make this soup using the home made shank stock, it takes quite some time to make, but it's really cheap (because shank, at least in my country, costs next to nothing compared to other stewing cuts), easy and very, very (did I say very yet?) tasty! Of course, you can take a short cut with a beef stock cube, and some sausage. But try roasting tomatoes for soup, that's really worth the effort!

Soto ajam

"Soto ajam" means chicken soup in Indonesian. This is going to be a lengthy recipe, but if you're short on time, there is room for a few short cuts. Like using stock cubes, and chicken breast meat. But, as with almost everything else, it's way better if you make it from scratch. This is my favorite way of making chicken soup. Typical Asian ingredients, like lime leaves, lemongrass and ginger, make this soup incredibly flavorful. The stock is rich and fatty and...oh, please, try this recipe. It is SO worth it!

Cottage Pie

When thinking about comfort foods, one of the first things that come to my mind, is cottage or shepherd's pie. I used to love a soft creamy layer of mashed potatoes and the savory filling of meat and vegetables. I personally can't do potato anymore, because I found out that it produces a serious spike in my blood sugar, so I replaced it with cauliflower. But not just cauliflower...creamy cauliflower! This veg really replaces potatoes very well, as is well known in the paleo/primal world.