Monday 5 October 2015

New Instagram account for PaulssonPaleo, whoop! #PaulssonPaleo


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Every Day is a School Day

Every day is a school day is a favourite expression of a friend of mine. This last weekend was a case in point.

Our Norwegian friends Sofie and Andreas (paleoterapeuten) are not only keen paleo converts and functional movers, they are also into hunting and growing their own food.

Grateful host and tired guests...
While digging our new vegetable beds, they mentioned that they've used "hugel beds" in their community garden. Hugel stands for hügel, meaning hill in German. You essentially pile up a load of dead wood and cover it with earth, giving your plants a dependable source of moisture and nutrients. We suddenly saw rotting wood with different eyes, ha ha! Lucky for us, we are surrounded by rotten wood.

Although we haven't implemented hugel culture fully (our beds aren't 6 feet high...), we do hope that the incorporation of loads of dead wood will serve our vegetables well in this windy climate and poor soil.

Chick with a death wish





Friday 2 October 2015

Liver Pâté Vehicle or Nut and Lingonberry Bread

Sometimes you just need something to put your liver pâté on and you don't fancy another carrot stick or cabbage leaf (although these are very good alternatives). That's when you bake some nut bread. This one is a bit lighter than our other go-to bread (Danish Paleo Bread).

Makes one loaf:

125 g nuts (e.g. almonds, cashew nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts)
125 g seeds (e.g. sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds)
2 tbs psyllium husk powder (available in health stores - "fiberhusk" in Swedish)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tbs cinnamon
6 eggs
200 ml coconut milk or cream
100 ml dried lingonberries (if you don't have any, then use any other dried berry or dried chopped fruit)

Blend the nuts and seeds in a food processor until you have some flour-like material, but still some small bits of nuts. Mix with psyllium husk powder, salt, baking powder and cinnamon. In a separate bowl whisk coconut milk and eggs. Then mix everything together and pour into a loaf tin lined with baking paper.

Bake for 80 minutes at 175 degrees, but start checking at 60 minutes.

Enjoy!

Thursday 1 October 2015

Scarring the landscape...more veg beds with @paleoterapeuten and @megafantastisk #hugelculture #hugelbeds #rottenwood #moveyourdna #digging #paulssonpaleo #selfsufficient #eatclean #freefood #eatseasonably #blog


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Farmers Market, Feeling Tired & Our Paleo-ish Balls

Fantastic weather, hundreds of visitors, a PaulssonPaleo stand that turned out JUST the way we wanted and a raucous Oktoberfest in the evening. Saturday was a success!

The little stand to the right was perfect for shy Swedes who didn't want to make conversation...
I think we're all in a bit of a daze now. The market lasted just over three hours, however the preparations went on for months and coincided with the busiest months on the farm. Everything is new to us - the animals, the rules, the physical labour, the regulations, the house, the farm, the land, the soil, the business, the paperwork, the permits, the social & business networks, the country, the region, the language (for Si!), the culture (for all of us!), communal living (perhaps the most difficult?)... The list goes on. Looking at it makes me realize just how far we've come and how hard we've worked. Maybe it's ok to feel a bit tired.

Our friends Martina and Chris kept the kids busy on the slack line all day long
Anyhow, the paleo-ish balls went down a treat with some of our visitors, whereas others really didn't like them at all (but still came back for more, you know who you are, ha ha). So for all those paleolites with a sweet tooth out there, here is the recipe once again. I think paleo-ish is a better descriptor than paleo for them, however, as I am pretty sure none of our stone age ancestors enjoyed them with their espresso... ;-)

Sauerkraut to the left and right, paleo balls with sheep/ cat/ rooster pics in the middle
PALEO BALLS - 20 pieces
(unless you make really big ones, or eat all of the dough and only get 10)

2 dl nuts/ seeds (preferably soaked and dried/ roasted, google blötlägga nötter/ soaking nuts)
4-6 fresh dates (depending on how sweet you like them)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil and/ or ghee
2-3 tablespoons of shredded coconut (more if you like the balls a bit drier)
Cocoa powder + ground coffee OR liquorice powder + grated lemon rind and lemon juice
Salt to taste

Mix all ingredients except for the oil/ ghee in a food processor. Add the oil and mix until smooth. Form balls, roll in shredded coconut, freeze or refrigerate. Try not to eat all at once.