Category Archives: Musings

My “Primal Advice”

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Mark’s Daily Apple recently had a contest; he posted 10 questions and asked readers to send their answers so he could compile everyone’s wisdom and experience in an ebook to help people who are transitioning to a Primal lifestyle. He did this before and apparently had so much successful feedback from it he decided to give it another go. I submitted answers to some of his questions (I’m a sucker for contests) and decided to post my answers to Two Tables. I hope my experiences might help you on your journey, or maybe inspire you to look into a Primal lifestyle.

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How do you keep costs down eating Primal?

As a graduate student, this was my biggest concern when Sean and I decided to go Primal. First we got rid of cable. When some people find out we don’t have cable they look at us like we are crazy and say they “would miss blah-blah-blah too much”. To be honest, I don’t miss it. There is always a better way for me to be spending my time than watching TV. Going without cable gives you extra money each month to spend on some good, local food.

Also, local, in-season veggies aren’t expensive. We bought a CSA share for the summer and during the winter we buy most of our produce from the Farmer’s Market. And sometimes (if we don’t think the taste will be compromised) we substitute fresh veggies with frozen ones. We use frozen fruits and greens for making smoothies and use frozen cauliflower to make cauliflower “rice”.

We are also trying to reduce our meat portions at meals. Before going Primal, I would try to make sure my plate consisted of a meat with a side of veggies. Now I’m trying to make that a little less meat and two sides of veggies. In the same fashion we have instituted “Meat-less Mondays” at our house.

We also buy the cheaper cuts of grass-fed beef at our local farm, they just need a little more love (which a crock-pot is really good at providing). Our farm’s grass-fed beef is cheaper than the grass-fed beef you find at Whole Foods, and for certain things like ground beef our local farm’s grass-fed beef price is actually comparable in price to the grocery store’s grain-fed beef.

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How often do you snack, and what do you snack on?

Before going Primal I used to snack all the time; I would have a snack between breakfast and lunch, and then 1-2 more snacks between lunch and dinner. When I first switched to Primal I would snack on unsalted raw nuts or dried fruit whenever I wanted. And as time went on I snacked less and less. I don’t snack at all anymore. I’m just not hungry. I guess my Paleo-meals are that much more satisfying

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What is the biggest change you’ve seen in your life since going Primal, and how long did it take to notice?

After a few days since going Primal I found that I am much more satisfied from meals, especially lunch. Before going Primal, I used to have a sandwich everyday for lunch, and I was always hungry later and would have to snack one or two more times before dinner. I don’t snack anymore and I’m not always hungry throughout the day.

Then there is of course the physical change I saw in myself. When I first went Primal I was injured so I couldn’t exercise. All I could do was walk (but not long distances) and swim (with limited use of my legs). Despite that, as soon as I went Primal I started consistently losing 2 pounds a week. I’m 5’3″ and was a starting weight of 130, so I was shocked when I lost that much weight and that fast. More importantly though, I felt great; I felt lighter on my feet, like I could conquer the world and nothing could stop me.

Two months later, and 15 pounds lighter, my weight started leveling off and shortly after I was able to start exercising again. I have adopted the Primal lifestyle for 6 months now and am still seeing slight changes to my body. I haven’t lost a significant amount of weight since my first 2 months of going Primal, but now that I am able to exercise again I’m starting to see the benefits of the Primal diet combined with a Primal lifestyle. I’m seeing leg muscles on my body that I never knew existed. And, what is probably my favorite part, I am a faster triathlete. I’m a faster runner, biker and swimmer. I still haven’t fully worked my training back up from my injury but I’m already noticing I’m faster. I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve waiting for my next triathlon; it will be my first race since recovering from my injury and going Primal, and I’ve never felt more ready for it.

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What do you do for fun/play?

Sean and I sit on the back porch with our dog, Morley, and talk, listen to music, or just sit in silence and listen to the sounds of the outdoors.

On the weekends when we have a bit more time we like to go for hikes or long walks with Morley.

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How do you find time to do lots of walking or other low-level exercise, play, relaxation, etc.?

Honestly, Paleo is time-consuming. By the time I get home from work, exercise, clean up breakfast and lunch dishes, make dinner and clean up dinner dishes it’s usually time for bed. But cooking and dishes at least keeps me up and moving around. And cooking with your loved ones can be so much fun and, I believe, it really strengthens a relationship. On the weeknights, if Sean and I do have some down-time, usually we are so tired we just sit on the back porch and chill.

I think the key is, on the weeknights and weekdays try not to turn on the TV or turn on your computer – that time can be better spent going for a walk or enjoying your time with loved ones.

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What is the most attractive feature of the Primal Blueprint to you?

I appreciate things (particularly, food) more. I’m growing my own vegetables and I know how hard it is; I appreciate that when I get a box full of CSA-fruits and vegetables every week. I go to the farm every weekend and buy local, grass-fed beef from the farmer; I see how dedicated she is and I am grateful she can provide me with my meat every week. I see the cows grazing in the fields and I am grateful the sun is shining, the rain is raining, and they are well-fed and healthy.

Before going Primal I would just go to the grocery store and have my pick on whatever vegetables and meat I wanted, but when I did that, it was just…food… and I wasn’t as grateful for it as I should have been. Now when I eat my food I know that hard work and good fortune is keeping me from going hungry and I am thankful for every bite.

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What does 80/20 mean to you?

It means I am not perfect. It means, when a friend invites me over for dinner and serves lasagna, I am going to eat it, appreciate it, and say “thank you, that was delicious”. It means when I want a beer, I’m just going to have a damn beer.

“Paleo-Vegetarian” for a Week

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I recently read an article on an NPR blog by biological anthropologist Barbara King called “The Paleo-Diet: Not The Way To A Healthy Future“. While I disagree with what she references about the diet from a health standpoint (she references this US News article which has an excellent rebuttal by Dr. Loren Cordain), I do appreciate that she recognizes that many proponents of the paleo-diet think hard about lifestyle and fitness choices in addition to food:

“When I’ve interacted online with paleo-diet fans, though, I’ve found the great majority to be measured and thoughtful.”

This has largely been my experience with the paleo community as well. King then touches on something that I really agree with, and I think is central to the core idea of this blog. She goes on to say:

“With them (paleo-dieters), I worried aloud about the consequences of urging even more carnivory than we’ve already got. Largely, but not 100 percent, a vegetarian, I don’t tell others what to eat. But the paleo-movement seems to doom (even if unintentionally) more animals to life and death in factory farms. A greater percentage of grain crops would also be diverted to rich countries’ animals and away from poor countries’ people.

What I learned is that some paleo-dieters reject the eating of animals from factory farms. Some don’t eat much meat at all, focusing instead on avoiding grains and sugary foods. So no one should dismiss these people as blind fanatics…”

This is an excellent point. Being on the paleo-diet does not mean a licence to eat as much crappy meat or as many bacon-wrapped things as we can imagine. I think that most of us, regardless of our thoughtfulness or intentions about food, fall victim to that sentiment from time to time. Remember that foods that are high in fat are energy-dense. It’s also about making sure that foods we eat are high-quality. This means eating local pasture-raised meats as much as possible. For most people, because of the higher price, this means eating less meat. That’s okay. Don’t be afraid to round out meat dishes with a double-serving of vegetables. As the paleo-diet becomes more and more mainstream, it is especially important to keep this all in mind when spreading the word.

That all being said, it lead me to wonder, how much meat is too much meat? That’s probably a tough question to answer. It maybe more appropriate to ask myself, how much meat is too little meat? To try to answer that, I’ve decided to become a “paleo-vegetarian” for a week. I know a week isn’t very long, but what I hope to be able to get a hint of in this amount of time is:

Are my protein requirements easily met? This is many people’s, including my own biggest concern especially as someone who does frequent weightlifting.
How does my energy consumption (carbohydrate and total) differ from my typical paleo diet?
How does my fat consumption/breakdown differ from my typical paleo diet?
Is this a sustainable long-term lifestyle?

Some of the ground-rules:

I will try to follow a typical paleo-diet, avoiding meat and fish.
I will avoid soy, beans and quinoa. I only mention this in addition to 1. because many vegetarians acquire protein from these specific sources.
I will allow eggs.
I will allow a small amount of dairy in the form of raw cheese and grass-fed butter.
I will not take supplements of any kind, including protein (soy, whey or otherwise).
I will eat dinner leftovers for lunch as I usually do, but I will not repeat any dinner meal more than once.

I tracked my nutritional information using Livestrong.com.

Sunday May 6, 2012

What I have learned so far is that planning my meals for a week in advance took me about three times as long as it usually does. I will not even try to consider a “paleo-vegan” experiment. There are a few, but not a lot resources on the internet for paleo-vegetarians. It seems that many people and almost all “paleo-vegans” have to make a compromise somewhere (eating soy, legumes, quinoa, etc…).

Fennel and Orange Salad

Roasted Tomato and Fennel Soup

Breakfast: Spinach and veggie omelette (2 eggs).

Lunch: Steamed artichoke with grass-fed butter.

Dinner: Fennel and orange salad and roasted fennel soup.

Other: Small piece of 85% dark chocolate and 2 glasses of red wine.

Total Calorie Estimate: 1400

Total Fat Estimate (g): 95

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 70

Total Protein Estimate (g): 40

Monday May 7, 2012

Did CrossFit today. PR’d on a 20 rep max back squat. Felt pretty good today and the thai veggie curry was awesome. Saved some leftover veggies sautéed in coconut oil for an omelette later on in the week.

Thai Veggie Curry

Breakfast: Spinach and ricotta omelette (2 eggs).

Lunch: Fennel and orange salad and roasted fennel soup.

Dinner: Thai veggie curry.

Other:

Total Calorie Estimate: 1250

Total Fat Estimate (g): 80

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 90

Total Protein Estimate (g): 50

Tuesday May 8, 2012

Worked from home today. I was really excited to do CrossFit today but I ended up getting on a roll with writing and missed out. Felt pretty good all day but was tired a little earlier than normally.

Breakfast: Berry smoothie.

Lunch: Baked sweet potato with sautéed spinach and fried egg.

Dinner: Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with spinach walnut pesto and roasted tomato and fennel soup.

Other:

Total Calorie Estimate: 1500

Total Fat Estimate (g): 90

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 110

Total Protein Estimate (g): 60

Wednesday May 9, 2012

Okay so today I felt pretty terrible all day. Maybe it’s the lack of human interaction. My whole research group (including Jacquie) are at a meeting and it’s just me and Morley this week. Maybe it’s the weather. It has been stormy all day. Maybe it’s the diet.

I got up at about 6:30 to get Morley a walk to get into work. The breakfast smoothie lasted me until about 9:30 when I got painfully hungry. To be fair, this breakfast makes me feel this way most of the time. I feel worse mid-morning than if I had nothing at all. The only modification I made is that I usually put a bit of whey powder in which I left out this week. I ate my lunch around 10:30 and was pretty hungry again around 3:00 (not surprisingly). I went ahead and had a boiled egg and some raw cashews. That helped but I still had to drag myself to CrossFit. At the beginning of the workout I felt pretty good but by the time I left I was wiped again (more lethargic though and not the normal kind of post-WOD feeling). Maybe just an off day but I also realize I’ve been a bit low on calories, especially for workout days and definitely low on protein. Most of the protein has been from eggs and cheese. I’ll have to work on increasing high-quality protein and energy intake for the rest of the week.

Breakfast: Berry smoothie.

Lunch: Fresh mozzarella and tomato salad with spinach walnut pesto and roasted tomato and fennel soup.

Dinner: Salad with blue cheese, avocado, boiled egg, tomato and raw sunflower seeds.

Other: Boiled egg and raw cashews.

Total Calorie Estimate: 1700

Total Fat Estimate (g): 120

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 110

Total Protein Estimate (g): 70

Thursday May 10, 2012

Beautiful sunny day today. I took a full 30 minutes off at lunch time to go sit in the sun at eat lunch.

After work I went out for a few beers and sat in the sun for longer. Talk about dehydration… not good. Anyway, I ended up skipping dinner for tonight… also not good. For that reason I’m giving the nutrition facts of the day a N/A so the totals don’t get screwed up.

Breakfast: Omelette with leftover veggies from veggie curry (before adding the sauce).

Lunch: Thai veggie curry.

Dinner:

Other: Beer.

Total Calorie Estimate: N/A

Total Fat Estimate (g): N/A

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): N/A

Total Protein Estimate (g): N/A

Friday May 11, 2012

I was really excited about these grilled mushrooms and I was not disappointed. I marinated them in a bit of melted grass-fed butter, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic. I meant to eat one and save one for lunch tomorrow but I ended up eating them both. The problem with mushrooms, even something as hearty as a portobello is that they have almost no nutritional content. 20 calories, 0 g fat and 3 g protein per mushroom. Hit the spot for dinner but I found myself to be hungry pretty soon after.

Breakfast: Omelette with spinach and ricotta.

Lunch: Spinach salad with steamed beets, goat cheese and raw sunflower seeds.

Dinner: Grilled portobello mushrooms with “paleo creamed spinach” (made with coconut milk and a little grass-fed irish cheese).

Other:

Total Calorie Estimate: 1100

Total Fat Estimate (g): 80

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 40

Total Protein Estimate (g): 50

Saturday May 13, 2012

So today is the last day of the veg-paleo experiment. I felt pretty awful all day again today, kind of like Wednesday. I did have plenty of sleep. I didn’t get out to exercise today which probably didn’t help.

I felt so bad around dinner time that I contemplated grabbing a 5-hour energy so see if a whack of caffeine and B-vitamins would help put my head in a better place. I didn’t do that though. I ended up working until about midnight tonight while Jacquie was out with some friends and felt a little better after dinner as the night progressed.

I ended up with a couple of significant paleo cheats today worth noting. For lunch I made some spinach and artichoke dip to finally finish up all of our spinach from the CSA (1.5# in the past two weeks and I pretty much took it down solo). I added sour cream, mayo and cream cheese (all full fat) to the dip. I served that with dried zucchini/squash chips I made yesterday but also grabbed a bag of Tostitos to go with it.

Ratatouille for dinner tonight. Jacquie recommended this recipe, which we have made before, that comes from The New Moosewood Cookbook, a collection of a vegetarian/vegan recipes from a wonderful restaurant in Ithica, NY. Many of the recipes are not paleo of course in there is a lot of soy and grain but this one seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and a fresh orange.

Lunch: Spinach and artichoke dip.

Dinner: Ratatouille.

Other:

Total Calorie Estimate: 1900

Total Fat Estimate (g): 120

Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 170

Total Protein Estimate (g): 50

Nutritional Breakdown

Average Daily Calorie Estimate : 1500

This was significantly below my target of about 2200/day.

Average Daily Total Fat Estimate (g): 100

This was about my target assuming about 40% of calories come from fat in a typical paleo diet (fat = 9 cal/g).

Average Daily Total Carbohydrate Estimate (g): 100

This was a bit less than my target assuming about 25% of calories come from carbohydrate in a paleo diet (carb = 4 cal/g).

Average Daily Total Protein Estimate (g): 50

This was significantly below my target of about 150 g/day.

Conclusions

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not going to reach any concrete scientific verdict on the nutritionally superior diet based on changing my habits for a single week. I’m also extremely biased in that I have generally chosen to eat a paleo diet over a vegetarian (or any other) diet because I am convinced of the nutritional advantages. I also realize that the feasibility will differ from person-to-person.

Returning to the questions that I did hope to answer:

Are my protein requirements easily met?

Clearly not. The correct amounts of protein do vary but assuming someone who does significant weight-training would require ~0.75-1 g/lb of bodyweight/day I fell short by a factor of 3-4 over the course of the week. At a conservative 0.5 g/lb of bodyweight /day I still only came it at about 50%. Even at that, most of my protein was from eggs and cheese leaving me with serious concerns about how a vegan-paleo or even a strict paleo-vegetarian (no dairy) would meet these requirements. Or perhaps more appropriately it answers the question of why there are not many out there.

How does my energy consumption (carbohydrate and total) differ from my typical paleo diet?

My total energy consumption was well below my usual goals. This is obviously because my choices for main dishes mainly comprised less energy-dense foods than normal, while still keeping carbohydrate intake low. I think this is a problem that could fairly easily be remedied by modifying the diet to increase fruit slightly and including a high-quality mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack to curb hunger.

How does my fat consumption/breakdown differ from my typical paleo diet?

Pretty good. This week was right around the paleo diet target. I probably eat a bit more fat when meat is included and for that reason my typical diet could probably stand to cut down on that a little bit. Most of my fat this week came from coconut/olive oil, grass-fed butter and cheese.

Is this a sustainable long-term lifestyle?

Restrictive diets are not sustainable long-term because they allow so little flexibility. Combining them even for a week kind of sucked. Paleo is restrictive in its own sense, but allowing for some flexibility (80/20) makes it sustainable. On the other hand, you don’t hear of many vegetarians who occasionally eat a burger or chicken wings. The fact that I did not feel well for two of the days was also probably not a coincidence. If I had to do it, I would certainly consider adding some other forms of protein (soy, quinoa, high-quality protein powder, etc) as well as experimenting with some supplementation; both of which I have felt to be unnecessary when following a paleo diet. Going back to the original question, how much meat is too little meat? For me, the answer still seems to be greater than zero, although it is not unreasonable to consider some hybrid of paleo and general vegetarian, keeping with some important tenets of a primal diet (local food, little processed food, no sugar, etc) while decreasing meat. For my lifestyle, it seems that some version of the primal diet still is the best way meet nutritional requirements and feel good for the long-term.

Growing Zucchini

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Before this post, I’ve never grown anything. My only gardening history is from last year when I bought a flower from Lowe’s and tried to not kill it… well, it was supposed to be a flower… but it never lived that long. Now that Sean and I have been focusing on eating local, I’ve wanted more than ever to be able to grow my own vegetables. So I decided to pick one vegetable to grow from seed this year. A vegetable that could grow in a container too; we rent a townhouse so as much as I wish I could have a nice garden in the backyard I will make-do with container gardening. I did a bunch of Googling on the easiest vegetables to grow from seed… and zucchini was the lucky winner.

So on March 11th I planted 20 zucchini seeds in little Jiffy Pots. I wrapped them up in plastic wrap to keep them warm and moist and crossed my fingers. I planted 20 seeds because I was expecting with my

lack-of-a-green-thumb, only one or two of those would actually sprout. Boy was I wrong! Four days later I had my first three seedlings, and the next day I had another six! As the zucchini seedlings started to show I unwrapped the plastic wrap and set them in a sunny place in the house. On weekends when I was home during the day I would set the seedlings outside to soak in the nice NC sun. When their potting mix looked dry I would lightly water the surface of the potting mix with a spray bottle and pour some water in their tray so the roots could soak it up. I also had a rotating fan lightly blowing on the seedlings every so often; I read somewhere that it imitates the wind and makes their stems stronger, giving them a better chance of survival when you transplant them outdoors.

Ten days after sowing my seeds, and after spending a little-too-much time Googling zucchini, I had 13 seedlings. (That’s an impressive 65% success rate for anyone who was wondering!) Growing something from seed is very rewarding. I’m not going to lie, I became a little obsessed with my zucchini seedlings. They were just so damn cute and I really really didn’t want to kill them

You are supposed to transplant the seedlings when they get their first “true leaves”. Apparently the first two leaves you see are the seedlings leaves, and after that they are the “true leaves”. It was obvious when the first true leaf showed on the seedlings, it had a different texture and color. Some of the seedlings roots even started growing through my Jiffy Pot by that point – next time I would use a bigger starting pot for the seeds. So on day 12 I decided it was time to transplant my zucchini seedlings into their containers and set them outside for good. I choose the 2 best looking zucchini seedlings, gave a few to a friend, and shed a tear as I said good-bye to the least healthy seedlings – natural selection is cruel. I transplanted each seedling in their own large plastic gardening container. I read not to use any kind of potting mix that contains soil because the soil doesn’t allow water to drain well in the container, so I went to the local gardening store and bought some Conrad Fafard Professional Potting Mix. It appears to be working well? … but seriously, sometimes I have no clue what I’m doing and I guess

The night before I transplanted my 2 seedlings I made a homemade garlic-pepper spray to spray on my seedlings to keep off caterpillars, slugs and other hungry critters. This stuff seriously reeks, but it definitely works. I boiled 3 c of water and added to that 1/2 diced red onion, 2 tbsp of crushed garlic & 1/2 tbsp of cayenne pepper and covered it and let it sit overnight (outside that is, because it stunk). The next day I strained out the onions and funneled the liquid into a spray bottle. I spray the tops and bottoms of my plant’s leaves with the spray after I water them or after it rains, and I always use the spray at night; during the testing-stage, I accidentally sprayed a leaf during the day with the stuff and the combination of the spray and sun scorched the leaf a bit.

So as of today, April 9th, it is 30 days after sowing my zucchini seeds. And my zucchini plants are looking great! As you can see some of the leaves look a little torn up… we’ve had some hail in NC unfortunately. But I’m not too concerned, it’s been over a week since they took on their slight hail damage and they seem to be doing just fine. I’ve heard vegetables plants are pretty resilient to hail damage, so I’m just going to keep a close eye on them.

My plants each have their 2 seedling leaves, 4-5 true leaves and are even starting to bud! I can’t wait to see a zucchini flower; I think it will be one of this summer’s Top 10 moments for me.

For now, that’s all on my zucchini adventures. I’ve read a few other people’s blogs on their adventures in container gardening and I found everything to be so helpful, so I figured I would contribute my experiences. Hopefully you feel inspired now and want to grow zucchini

Easter Eggs and Vanilla Mashed Sweet Potatoes

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Easter Eggs!

I haven’t dyed Easter eggs in I’m going to guess 15 years. Why not get some friends together and go for it? And this time let’s do it with beer! A fun time for sure, and now I have breakfast/lunch for the better part of a week. I also got a Cadbury egg but I haven’t eaten it yet.

We’re not big on celebrating Easter but I will take advantage of making a nice meal for a Sunday evening. I’ve been searching for a good ham for weeks now. A local farm who does some ham ran out before we got there. I saw uncured ham at Trader Joe’s last week. When I went back yesterday they were sold out. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. I gave up on the ham quest and bought a grass-fed beef roast from a local farm yesterday. I’ll cook it rare with some garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and I’m sure it will be wonderful.

I also wanted to talk about my most recent side-dish discovery… vanilla mashed sweet potatoes. Although a google search tells me I’m not the first one to combine these ingredients, it’s worth restating because the hint of vanilla made these stand out as one of my favorites. To make them, add about a half cup of cream or coconut milk and about 1-2 tsp vanilla extract to about 4 cups of boiled sweet potatoes as you mash them up. I also added some grass-fed butter to make them a little bit richer. A touch of honey would also bring out the sweetness. A perfect addition to your Easter dinner.

An ethical discussion…

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I was perusing the NY Times the other day and came across this gem:

Calling All Carnivores
Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat: A Contest

The article mentions that the dialogue on food, especially healthy, ethical eating, is controlled by vegetarians or those who largely abstain from meat (Jonathan Safran Foer, Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, etc.). Meat eaters, it seems, have “surprisingly little to say” in this important discourse. So, the NYT is opening up the floor for omnivores to discuss the ethical reasons TO eat meat. I remember the alma matter for all of our bloggers, Geneseo, had a debate by professors in the philosophy department on this very topic when we were in school (yay Geneseo).

The NYT contest ends April 8, but I think we can have our own mini-discussion right here. I love a lively debate, so meat eaters, let’s hear why it is ethically sound to eat animal protein. Go!

A Carolina Winter Evening

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We have had some serious weather swings in North Carolina recently. Forty degree changes in daily high temperatures made me feel like I was back in Western New York. What didn’t make me feel like I was in Western New York was on the first day of March, we enjoyed an unseasonable 80-degree high and warm temperature lasting well into the evening. Since I have a windowless basement office with a year-round temperature of about 55 degrees, I am unfazed by heat, cold, ice, tornadoes, raining frogs, etc. This kind of weather just makes me feel like hanging out, grilling and having a few beers. As Jacquie and I contemplated cheeseburgers, we decided not to let it get the best of us and see if we could satisfy our cravings in a way that wasn’t going to make us hate ourselves later. We ended up with a completely satisfying meal made with ingredients that we had on hand. Grilled chicken breasts (got my grill fix), sliced and tossed in Frank’s Red Hot (the ONLY Buffalo hot sauce and surprisingly primal friendly). We put the chicken on a bed of fresh lettuce and topped it with some raw milk blue cheese crumbles and sliced avocado. We enjoyed our meal on the back porch with Morley, some bluegrass music and one primal cheat… an ice-cold beer.