Older Bolder Life

Stronger | Leaner | Sharper | Longer - From Older Bolder Fitness

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the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast on Thursday: Toasted Pecan Blue Cheese Ball

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In sharing many recipes here over the years I’ve unabashedly claimed the fact that I’m a child of the South having grown up in Texas, and in particular having grandparents ensconced on the Texas Gulf Coast (with ties to Louisiana and Tennessee woven into the family tree).

My earliest childhood holiday memories with these coastal-dwelling grandparents include tables spread with simple but oh so tasty – and plentiful – foods, and the venerable cheese ball never failed to make an appearance. Not only did the cheese ball make an appearance, it drew attention throughout holiday afternoons and evenings, through multiple refills of crackers and carloads of family and friends passing through.

The Southern cook’s holiday cheese ball has been around so long, persisted through so many generations, that it’s passed from being an old standby to kitschy cliche to being back in vogue again, with some nifty new flavors and ingredient combinations stealing the show these days.

A friend asked me a couple of weeks back for our favorite cheese ball recipe; this is the one that we’ve pulled together over the years, based on one that my Ma-Ma (pronounced maw maw) hand wrote years ago, and modified by bits and pieces as we’ve run across great recipes over the years.

I also reached out to Chef Libby in Austin, who emphasized that in her catering world, she builds all cheese balls around a great blue cheese (she likes Maytag) and a sharp, fresh goat cheese, with fresh dates for an earthy sweetness, two different alliums, and a generous splash of Worcestershire for the tamarind flavors, and a shake of a Cajun inspired hot sauce. For those really wanting to layer in flavor, she also toasts her pecans in a bit of Cajun spice mix and good Irish butter…

Libby added that the most critical mistakes home cooks make with this recipe include using pre-chopped dates, often dusted in sugar, which Libby likens to eating musty, slightly wet cardboard, and using a bland, minimally flavored cheese in lieu of the boldly flavored blue. You can of course throw in any cheese combination your heart desires (along with the cream cheese and butter to fill this one out), and experimenting with flavor is part of what makes the kitchen and cooking game so interesting.

By the way, once chilled these transport very easily for the days when we’re past the COVID hump and enjoying our friends and neighbors again.

3/4 cup full fat cream cheese, softened
2/3 cup good butter (11 tbsp), softened
1/2 cup blue cheese – get the good stuff
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh dates (see note)
2 tbsp chives, chopped
2 tbsp chopped green onions, white and light green parts
1-2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp hot sauce of your choice (we lean to a Cajun sauce here)
Up to 1/2 tsp salt

To finish
2/3 cup spiced roasted pecans
1/4 cup fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

Take the first four ingredients (cream cheese, butter, blue cheese, and goat cheese) out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before starting.

Throw everything into a mixer bowl (paddle attachment) and combine on low speed until evenly mixed; the mixture will be quite soft. Scrape the paddle and place the bowl in the fridge for 20 minutes, then form into one big or two smaller cheese balls and coat with the roasted pecans and chopped parsley.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Sauce and Dip Monday Recipe: Butterbean Hummus

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Living in the nutritional ketosis world for the past 15 months or so, I’ve only pulled together a hummus plate a couple of times; now that I think about it, both were for entertaining company with a big crudite spread before the main meal event.

Don’t get me wrong, we’re big fans of a well-prepared and flavored hummus; some of our favorite eateries here in the DFW metro serve up a wonderful butterbean hummus as part of their Southern-inspired menus – and it’s always delicious with an innovative platter of crispy vegetables alongside.

We just haven’t served up hummus of late as I’ve been running (very comfortably I might add) at or below 20 grams of soluble carbs per day for more than a year now, and let’s face it, a nice hummus with a plate full of crispy crudite could easily double or triple amount in one sitting. (For the record, I’ve never played the keto game as if the keto police were looking over my shoulder; I’ve simply felt great at that level, and it’s allowed me to fairly painlessly accomplish my weight loss and body recomposition goals this past year.)

And like many of you as well who are thriving eating a low/lower carb nutrition plan, we pretty much carved legumes out of our routine several years ago, not only for their carb load relative to nutrient content, but their anti-nutrients as well. Truthfully, I can’t even recall the last time I cooked a big “pot of beans” at home, though I have to confess we very rarely and thoughtfully nibble at some when eating TexMex out with friends.

That said, my lovely wife recently developed a hankering for some hummus and veg to take to work for lunch during these blisteringly hot Texas summer days; the same week, two clients asked me if we had a favorite hummus recipe to share as well.

This Butterbean Hummus recipe is one that we worked out years ago, originally of course with chickpeas, though it works with just about any other cooked legume; here we’re using butterbeans, though Great Northerns would work as well. And as in the image above, we like ours with a bit of fresh ground pepper and a dusting of a good paprika as well.

Of note, many prepared hummus products you will find at your favorite grocer are make with canned beans (BPA risk), terrible seed oils, and other preservatives and stabilizers. It’s far better to soak and cook your legumes of choice (even better if fermented too), use quality oils and tahini, fresh lemons and spices, and you’ll craft a hummus worthy of an indulgence now and again.

4 cups cooked and cooled legume of choice (chickpeas, butterbeans, Great Northern, etc)
1/4 cup cold water
Freshly squeezed juice of 1-2 lemons (2-4 tbsp)
2 tbsp good tahini paste (more to taste)
2 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tbsp (generous) ground cumin
Good salt and pepper to taste

For service, drizzle with more olive or avocado oil, finely chopped cilantro, maybe even a dusting of paprika or cumin/coriander.

This one is easy and intuitive to stir blend together. Into your trusty food processor go the cooked legumes, followed by the next 7 ingredients. Blend together until as smooth as you like (we like a little texture in our hummus), and adjust the tahini, lemon, cumin, salt, and pepper to your tastes.

Serve either at room temp or chilled (we like it chilled during these hot summer days), and drizzle with more oil and any of the optional finishing touches above.

Enjoy.

The Older Bolder Life Avocado Monday: Bacon, Green Onion, and Avocado Dip

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Once again unintentionally dating myself a bit, I have to admit I grew up during what was probably the peak of the “French Onion Dip” era. You know, the dip recipe made using a carton of sour cream and the little packet of French onion soup mix. And while the ensuing mixture tasted like a little like a chemistry experiment gone awry, this dip showed up on the chip and dip table of many a gathering during my youth, and there was usually a crowd fighting over the best dipping chips and elbowing for prime position in front of the bowl. Oh my (deep sigh).

Just this past week we took a step back in time (to those French onion dip days) when Chef Libby in Austin shared this recipe with me, something she’d been working on for a catering event several weeks ago.

She is a huge fan of avocados, and had tweaked this recipe to serve with a big crudités platter for an event she’d done just after PaleoFx for one of the vendors. Sautéing the thinly sliced green onions in the bacon fat is a stroke of genius, and produces a flavor (in a real food way) very similar to the old-school dip recipe above.

Bacon is always good, no matter what, and the tartness of the yogurt (and the lime), combined with a bit of heat from a finely diced pepper (we favor serranos here) pack an amazing punch that’s surprisingly tasty. We dipped sliced raw vegetables in this recipe, and slathered it over grilled pastured-beef burger patties.

Wow, this one is good.

2-3 slices bacon, cooked crisp, drained, and crumbled
3 large green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 large or 2 small avocados, chopped
1-2 tsp fresh lime juice
3/4 to 1 tsp good salt

Optional
1 additional green onion, white and pale green parts thinly sliced
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, finely diced
2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Sauté the bacon until crisp, drain, then crumble into a medium bowl.

Using the reserved bacon fat, sauté the green onions until soft and just beginning to caramelize; add to the bowl with the bacon. Stir in the yogurt, salt, lime juice, and avocados, mashing the avocados up as you go, though we like to leave some chunks of avocado to add some texture. Add the diced pepper and cilantro if using.

Top with an additional scallion if desired, and go to it.

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Vegetable Wednesday: Grilled Poppers with Smoked Gouda

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We love to grill around our house, and we love spicy foods from our native Texican cuisine and that of nearby New Mexico.

That said, I have to admit we’ve eaten a lot of jalapeño (and other pepper) poppers over the years, even some back in our pre-Primal/Paleo days that were breaded and deep-fried in the franken oil of the day (dammit).

Like many of you we’ve cleaned up our popper act considerably, and still enjoy them with friends for appetizers and the occasional main course, the most outrageous being a bacon-wrapped, smoked pulled pork and cheddar popper bomb that we served at a party a few years back.

As we lean these days toward more simple preparations (most of the time) that highlight great ingredients, a few days ago I made these Grilled Jalapeño Poppers with Smoked Gouda to accompany an artisanal chicken sausage I’d run across at our favorite market here in the city. Don’t skip adding the fresh ground pepper to the cheese mixture by the way – it adds a great flavor point and interesting texture too.

Hot off the grill, sprinkled with a coarse sea salt, drizzled with fresh lime juice and just a little of a very nice California extra virgin olive oil, and finally sprinkled with fresh cilantro, these were probably the best popper we’ve ever crafted in our kitchen. Gouda is such a wonderful cheese, the smoked version adds a nifty touch, and it’s a great melter.

Many thanks to Chef Libby in Austin; it pays to have a genius friend in the professional kitchen.

18-20 large jalapeño and Fresno chiles
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 and 1/2 cups smoked Gouda, finely grated
1-2 tsp fresh coarsely ground pepper
Salt to taste

Optional
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Lime quarters
A light drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil

Cut the washed peppers in half lengthwise but leave connected at the stem end; using a grapefruit spoon, scrape out the seeds and membranes from the peppers.

Combine the room-temperature cream cheese and grated Gouda in a bowl; add a little salt and grind in the fresh pepper. Mash it up well, then carefully spoon the filling into the peppers, taking care not to overstuff and closing the peppers back together when they’re full. They’ll hold together better cooking if you throw them in the fridge for an hour or two.

Fire the grill (live fire is best!).

Now place the peppers on the grill over direct heat and cook for at least three minutes per side; you’re looking to soften the peppers and have them begin to brown (charring a little is fine) and have the cheese melt inside.

Pull the peppers, sprinkle with the cilantro, spritz with the fresh lime quarters, and go to it (I like to add a little more coarse salt too!).

Enjoy.

Road Trip Food Update May 2019

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About nine months ago I wrote this post – Healthy Take From Home Road Trip Food Ideas for Summer 2018 – with a list of suggestions for healthy foods to take on the road when traveling. Having spent the past 54 weeks (quite happily and contentedly) in nutritional ketosis, I thought I’d offer a quick update with a few thoughts.

Metabolic Flexibility Rocks on the Road

Though you don’t hear everybody talking about it, count me among the die-hard fans of the concept of being metabolically flexible as you charge through the challenges daily life brings to hand.

Being metabolically flexible means, in this context while traveling, you’re not looking to eat every 2-3 hours, buying chips, sugary drinks (sports drinks and fruit juices still aren’t good choices, no matter how crafty their marketing), and crappy candy to “keep your energy up”.

Being metabolically flexible on the road means, when adequately hydrated, fasting comfortably if you need to stretch a day or travel outside your normal activity window in a day. For example, my wife and I hit the road on a 24-hour drive about 1pm yesterday and drove into the wee hours today to make our upcoming vacation schedule work; we had both fasted since dinner the evening before, and we were absolutely comfortable nibbling on keto snacks along the way, choosing to forgo a sit down meal to get on down the road.

Not fat-adapted or as metabolically flexible as you’d like to be? Stay with it, you’ll get there. (I can help you with the process too).

What About Foods for the Road?

Having spent a little over a year in the keto world, the list I posted here last year still stands. This particular trip to Montana (both of our kids live still live under the Big Sky), we have another 1/2 gallon of our favorite cold-brewed coffee on hand in the cooler, with some great cream to go along with it.

As suggested in last year’s post, we have cold-grilled salmon, some high quality German salami, several nifty cheeses, my go to keto snack trimmed radishes, some full-fat, whole milk, pastured yogurt, good dark chocolate, nuts, and unsweetened coconut chips.

Finally, I made a batch of these Spicy Southern Sausage and Cheese Balls – they’re great cold and will keep a week or so in the cooler/fridge.

After another fasted start this morning, we’re back on the road and will be in Missoula later today, stocking up at a wonderful grocer our daughter has found there, and getting ready for a week of fly fishing and hiking.

What are some of your favorites for the road?

the Older Bolder Life Friday Feast: Spicy Southern Sausage and Cheese Balls

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Growing up in the South, just about every holiday spent with extended family, or party with friends, included at least plate or platter of some version of these classic sausage cheese balls.

One of my grandmother’s (the scratch baker grandmother) recipe was something along the lines of classic Southern chef Vivian Howard’s; my other grandmother used the (gasp, cough, wheeze) Bisquick-based recipe still floating around out there today.

It didn’t matter, as kids we still stuffed our pockets with these little bite-sized delights and fought over the last two on the plate.

After moving to a primal | paleo food plan years ago, to be honest I’d never even thought about a gluten free, primally-oriented version of these until a friend recently asked me if I’d ever run across one as she was planning a party menu.

There are several good ones floating around, and this one isn’t all that different from many you’ll see, save for kicking the spices up quite a bit, and adding additional flavor with alliums and peppers. I’ve added a shallot (or green onions), finely diced, to sauté with the sausage, my grandmother’s dry mustard, cayenne, and red pepper flakes (or minced serranos), and even use Monterrey jack cheese occasionally to mix things up. (In the pic above, we used cheddar on the left and MJ on the right.)

Upping the coconut flour to 1/2 cup (a generous 1/2 cup) makes these a little more bready, though my wife prefers ‘em with less coconut flour. Another tip – portioning out with a cookie scoop (I used a No. 60, about a tbsp; made 7 rows of 5 balls, which just fit on a standard 1/2-sheet) make the prep easier and faster.

These are great for a quick snack and my lovely wife has been grabbing handful for a work lunch on the run.

1 pound spicy ground sausage
1 medium shallot, diced fine OR
2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

4 eggs
4 and 1/2 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp sour cream or softened cream cheese
1/3 to 1/2 cup coconut flour (generous measure, see note above)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp good salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne

2 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar or Monterrey jack cheese

Optional
Toasted red pepper flakes
1-2 minced serrano or jalapeno peppers

Sauté the sausage for several minutes, breaking it up into small pieces. As it’s beginning to brown, throw in the shallot or green onions. Brown the sausage well, and drain in a paper towel-lined bowl.

While the sausage is browning, melt the butter and set aside. Grate the cheese and line a baking sheet with parchment. Preheat the oven to 375.

Now combine the eggs, butter, sour cream/cream cheese, mustard, garlic powder, salt, baking powder, cayenne, and red pepper flakes or minced peppers; whisk to combine well. Now whisk in the coconut flour until well combined.

Stir in the sausage-onion mixture and the cheese until evenly distributed, then form into balls roughly 1-inch in diameter (I used a cookie scoop) and place on the lined baking sheet. Place fairly closely on the sheet in 7 rows of 5 and it’ll just fit a standard 1/2-sheet.

Bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly browned; cool and store in the fridge (should be good for a week or so, though they won’t last that long).

Enjoy.

the Older Bolder Life Snack Wednesday 21 November: Citrus Spiced Olive Mix

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On this day before Thanksgiving, a preparation and travel day for many, here’s a simple snack or side dish we’ve served at family and friend gatherings many times before, a Citrus Spiced Olive Mix.

Friends and readers here know the goodness that olives (and olive oil) bring to any healthy food discussion, and even something this easy to prepare can really dress up your holiday, entertainment, or everyday table.

Adjust the spices as you see fit, though try it as written once to see what you think. We typically add a bit more red pepper flakes than listed…

3 cups good mixed olives (your choice, with pits)
1 cup EVOO (or 1/2 cup EVOO and 1/2 cup avocado oil)
Three 3-inch strips of orange peel (see notes)
Three 2-inch strips of lemon peel (see notes)
Two 2-inch strips of grapefruit peel, optional (see notes)
1 jar roasted red peppers, cut into strips
3 bay leaves (freshness matters!)
1 small-medium head of garlic, cut in half
1 tbsp fresh whole coriander, toasted, roughly crushed
2 tsp fresh whole fennel seeds, toasted, roughly crushed
1/2 to 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp fresh whole black peppercorns, roughly crushed

Place the olives in a medium mixing bowl, stir to combine the different types.

Over medium-low heat in a small saucepan, combine the oil(s), the various citrus peels, the garlic, and bay leaves. Cook, keeping an eye on the mixture, until the garlic (the cut edges) has slightly browned and the oil is fragrant. Remove from the heat and let the oil infuse for 90 minutes, then remove and discard the garlic.

To the olives add the roasted red peppers, the coriander and fennel seeds, the peppercorns, and the red pepper flakes, then pour the infused-oil mixture over all. Stir/toss to coat, and marinate at room temp for at least 2 hours before serving. Will hold in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Enjoy.

Healthy Take From Home Road Trip Food Ideas for Summer 2018

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Seems like we’ve been peppered of late with people asking about our favorite approaches to taking food on the road while traveling; after all, it’s high summer and time for folks across the fruited plain to get out and play.

We happen to be headed out ourselves later this month; we’re fairly hardcore Primal eaters around our camp, and I’m now in week 13 of a nutritional ketosis run that’s been nothing short of extraordinary, so we’re shaping our ‘road food’ plans accordingly for this trip.

A Quick Thumbs Up for the Power of IF and/or a Compressed Eating Window

Last year, several months into a fairly diligent run restricting my own personal carb intake down below 70 g/day initially and later fairly consistently under 50 g/day, as so many have before, I found my typical hunger diminishing, with increased cognitive and physical performance along the way.

It became second nature to simply not eat until hungry, which for me personally on most days means not eating my first meal until somewhere between noon and 2 PM (and most days include a very early walk and another morning to midday workout or active play at least 5 of 7 days/week).

Intermittent fasting or use of a compressed eating window like this plays very, very well on the road.

Worth Its Weight in Gold: A Good Cooler

We’d argue that no matter what the length of your trip, investing in a decent to good (maybe even great) cooler is worth the money. There are a number of great brands to choose from (not just YETI); we happen to prefer the Orion line and find it the best buy and most fully featured on the market today.

From prior days floating multi-day trips on Western Rivers, we learned of the value of picking up (or freezing your own) a block of ice to fit the cooler, though on this trip we’re taking up a couple of pieces of grass-fed beef and pork to family in Montana, so we’ll freeze them both solid and use them to chill the cooler all week (it works great actually, the meat will still be frozen solid on day four).

Our Favorite Road Trip Foods for the Cooler

Pre-cooked meats often include either steaks or a grilled leg of lamb (try the Ancho Grilled version coming up on Friday); a roasted or smoked pork shoulder works too, though we find meat from ruminants (beef, bison, elk, venison, lamb) tend to keep better over several days.

For the first day out, one of my wife’s favorites is our tamari-lemon-dill grilled salmon; she insists it’s better cold than hot off the grill…

Another first day out treat that’s worth the effort is a container of deviled eggs; we’re both children of the South and a zesty deviled egg is simply part of a longstanding tradition in these parts. Boil extra eggs, leave them in the shell, and pack along for snacking down the road too (probably good for a week with consistent ice in the cooler).

We also almost always pack a high-quality cured meat or two for variety, this trip will include our current favorite – a German mustard seed salami thickly sliced, along with several quality sliced cheeses (baby swiss with the mustard seed salami is heavenly). Speaking of dairy, my wife likes to have a bit of a good full-fat yogurt in the cooler as well, particularly if we’ve packed some fresh, seasonal berries along.

If there’s room (and there usually is) we like to add a few organic avocados to slice in half and simply eat out hand with a spoon, along with some colorful cherry tomatoes so common this time of year.

Finally, the cooler wouldn’t be complete without a container of our cold-brewed coffee that’s become a staple around the house (the current flavor of the house is a Mexican Chocolate); it’s perfect poured over iced with a bit of cream or a cold sparkling (unsweetened of course) water.

Favorite Grab and Go (Non-Perishable) Road Trip Foods

We’ve long been fans of homemade jerky, and have crafted various versions using beef, elk, venison, bison, turkey, pork, fish, and even goose. Not only is home-prepped jerky much healthier, as you control everything from start to finish, you’ll save astounding amounts of money compared to the commercially-prepped stuff.

Everyone puts nuts of some sort on their list, and while nuts have their downsides (caloric density and omega-6 baggage among others), we’ll often include some macadamias, walnuts, dry roasted pecans, or even pepitas.

If you really want to get down to nit-picky details, high-quality canned seafood might be the most nutrient dense option you can pack in the road trip bag, with ‘whole fish’ options like sardines, herring, and mackerel arguably the very best choices, though oysters, tuna, and salmon (pick the olive oil packed versions for an even higher bolus of good fats). Years ago I worked as a backpacking guide in the Weminuche Wilderness of southwestern Colorado; we always had a ‘seafood night’ on my trips, and lugged the relatively heavy (from a backpacking perspective) tins of seafood goodness often for days. Opening the various tins, usually along the shores of a high altitude mountain lake, made whatever meal seem like a banquet.

We’ve been playing with making root vegetable chips of late, and here’s a recent video (30 June 18) detailing the process nicely.

Other odds and ends that occasionally make it in the ‘snack bag’ include –

Coconut butter ( just a tablespoon is a great treat)
Dried, flaked coconut (unsweetened!)
Dark chocolate
Dried seaweed / nori
Plantain chips fried in coconut oil
Rarely a pork rind or two

There are no doubt dozens more we’ve missed; update post to follow.