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WOODCARVINGS BY MY GRANDFATHER

I don’t talk about my grandfather Verne very much but recently we were at my grandmother’s apartment for Easter and she had been given a couple of his old woodcarvings that hung in our old church for many years. Not sure why they were eventually taken down but apparently some asshole over there put them in the garbage and some nice person rescued them for my grandmother. Anyway… I will spare the internet a church-related rant and instead show you these wonderful carvings!

They depict symbolism from the Biblical Gospels and are really pretty great. I kind of wish I’d paid a little more attention to my grandfather’s wood carving skills back when he was still alive but to be honest, we were not very close. So it is nice to see some of his work appear out of nowhere for us to enjoy. In fact, if no one in the family claims them, I would be happy to take them.





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PALEO / CLEAN MEATLOAF BURGERS RECIPE

For many years my family has cooked the classic meatloaf recipe that my grandfather Jason always made. He got it off the back of an oatmeal canister if I recall correctly. I’ve always loved meatloaf but hadn’t made it too much in the last couple of years because it’s full of oatmeal (grains) and canned milk (dairy) – two things I now try to steer clear of.

Anyway, so since January I’ve been trying to come up with a clean recipe that would essentially taste the same and I’ve finally hit on it. Recently I wanted meatloaf but didn’t want to wait an hour plus for it to bake in the oven so I formed it into patties and cooked them on the stove. The recipe wound up being very similar to my turkey burgers recipe. Recipe below plus notes on how to adapt for regular meatloaf.

Served with roasted asparagus, oven fries, and a mandarin.

CLEAN MEATLOAF BURGERS

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb 80/20 Ground Beef (can use any type but 80/20 is more tasty)
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 egg

Directions:

Combine all ingredients together in the large non-stick pan you will use for frying (this saves on messing up another bowl to clean later). Make sure all ingredients have been thoroughly combined, then form into 4-6 patties depending on how big you make them. Fry on either side for about 6 minutes each until patties reach 160° F internally.

For a classic meatloaf: Add 1/4 cup additional almond milk to ingredients, combine thoroughly, then press into meatloaf pan (or shape into meatloaf in 9″x 13″ pan), cook for 60-75 minutes in pre-heated 350° F oven until temperature reaches 160° F internally. Remove from oven and let sit for 10-15 minutes, slice and enjoy.

Goes great with: Whole30 mayo, marinated onions, ketchup. We often pair meatloaf with “Jason Noodles”, which is medium egg noodles seasoned with butter, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, and garlic powder to taste. Note that this option is not compliant under Whole30 or Paleo guidelines, lol. Doesn’t stop me from enjoying it from time to time though!

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WATCHING / LISTENING 4.4.18

TV/MOVIES:

Finished watching The Alienist and I am of mixed feelings. On the one hand, it was pretty interesting. On the other hand, still no aliens. On the other other hand, Luke Evans gave a wonderful performance, imbuing his character with a decency and kindness you simply don’t see very often. Final Grade: B- (technically C+ but points awarded for Luke Evans).

Also watched Game Over, Man! on Netflix because I was vaguely curious and this is a very tasteless movie that did make me laugh a couple of times but I can’t exactly recommend it.

I spent much of last week watching Investigation Discovery as is my wont. My wi-fi wasn’t working great (eventually had to reboot) so it was classic murder shows all week.

But I will say…..

The Lego Batman Movie was positively delightful! Frenetically paced, jam-packed full of jokes and a lesson about family and teamwork. I loved it. It’s as good as the OG Lego Movie, which I also love. Blatant product placement never felt so good! This is currently on Netflix.

PODCASTS:

I’ve definitely been listening to a lot of podcasts lately.

New one for me is Sword & Scale, which is true crime related (my jam, as we know. See above re: murder shows). Interesting episodes about various things crime related. The subjects are generally left open-ended allowing the listener to come to their own conclusions.

Episode 29. Discussion of “bluebeards”, men who kill their wives.
Episode 59. Paramedics. An interview with an ex-paramedic. Very interesting!
Episode 60. An interview with Dave Navarro (guitarist for Jane’s Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers) whose mother was murdered by her ex-boyfriend in 1983. This was a really interesting episode. I had heard of Dave Navarro of course because of his music career (and marriage to Carmen Electra) but did not know anything about him personally.
Episode 61. A child-on-child murder. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Episode 66. The Bjork assassination plot, which I had never heard about.

Criminal
Episode 59: In Plain Sight. This is the amazing story of William and Ellen Craft, who in 1849 escaped slavery in the south. A must listen.
Episode 87: Casper, Wyoming. A very, very sad tale of sisters in 1973.

Still working my way through My Favorite Murder episodes… I guess you could say after 45 episodes I am a fan? I guess? 😛

And finally…

Dirty John. I read the LA Times article about this guy months ago but couldn’t really get into the first episode of the podcast when I first listened. I think I had been listening to too much Casefile at the time. Gave it another try last week and jammed through the whole thing in two evenings. The mom in this story was such an idiot. I really felt for her kids. It’s a crazy story about a con man. They’re making a TV show about it too with Connie Britton as the mom. Could be good!