HEY THERE, FRIDAY

Image via The Clothes Make The Girl

Last night I pulled out all my freshly-purchased ingredients, and made a couple of items to get me through the week. 

First up, this Paleo Broccoli Salad, which I made without bacon, because none of what I have is plan compliant, and without raisins, because I hate raisins. I plan on eating this with canned salmon from Trader Joe's, mixed with homemade mayo. 

Homemade mayo, people. I MADE MAYO! I tried and failed earlier this week (making me doubt my mad kitchen skills...), because I was impatient and didn't take the "room temperature" and "light-tasting olive oil" directions seriously. Whoops. Look, follow this recipe exactly, and you will have glorious, delicious homemade mayo. 

A helpful hint: if you have one of the dinky, 4-cup Cuisinart food processors like I do, which requires the lid to be locked and loaded before you hit the chop button, you can still achieve your mayo dreams. Look at the top of your lid - there should be an oval with raised edges, with sloping ramps to two tiny holes that feed into the bowl. This is where you pour the oil to integrate it into the mix. Amazing, amirite?!

Then I also made my own recipe for pork carnitas, which I'm planning on wrapping in butter lettuce with onions, pico and lime throughout the week. This stuff is SO good. Seriously. 

Jessica's Paleo Pork Carnitas

You'll need:

Pork tenderloin, not frozen

4 TBS Lime juice 

1 TBS Ghee

1 C Olive oil

Three large hatch chiles, or a few good-sized jalapeños

1 heaping tsp Paprika

2 tsp Chile powder

1 TBS Crushed garlic (TJ's has it in a jar!)

1 tsp Red pepper flakes

1/2 C Chopped white onion

Salt & pepper to taste

Note: I used a Dutch oven to cook the meat on the stovetop for three hours. I'm not sure that there's enough liquid in the recipe to allow for a crockpot modification, but if you figure out a method, let me know.  

1. Pour olive oil, lime juice and ghee into the bottom of your pot/Dutch oven, and whisk together until the ingredients are fully integrated.

2. Add in dry seasonings and whisk.

3. Place your tenderloin in the pot so that it sits well in the liquid/spice mixture.

4. Rub crushed garlic along the exposed edge of the tenderloin, add a little portion into the liquid mix.

5. Cut hatch chiles in half lengthwise, and add them to the pot. Lay them on top of the pork, wedge them in there.

6. Turn the burner on low and let cook, checking every 45-minutes to an hour. When the bottom of the tenderloin gets charred and caramelized with spices and the liquid starts to evaporate, flip the tenderloin and caramel use the other side.

You'll know it's time to take it out when you try pick up the tenderloin with a large fork or tongs, and the meat falls apart. 

8. Shred the pork with two forks and pour the remainder of the juice over the pork in a bowl that you can refrigerate or serve it in. Add additional salt and pepper to taste. 

And there you have it! Go forth and enjoy!

Day 7 Recap:

Breakfast: homemade smoothie with frozen strawberries, frozen banana, frozen peach and canned coconut milk

Lunch: chicken-stuffed, bacon-wrapped jalapeños

Dinner: leftover blackened mahi with broccolini