Happy Birthday Julia! Cheers to homemade (paleo) mayo

It would have been Julia Child's 100th birthday this week, and if you've never seen her make (and ruin!) and omelette, you should take a little trip to YouTube.  What I loved about Julia Child was her fallibility... she loved food, loved to eat and then loved to cook, and when something went wrong in the kitchen you just moved on!   Her Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a staple in my kitchen when I need to look up a technique or tradition, and I use her recipe for mayo.

Now, back in culinary school in France Julia would do this by hand with a whisk and a stainless steel mixing bowl (warmed with water of course), can you imagine the forearms she must have had???  I use my food processor, which is a little more fool-proof and less stressful on the wrist.

Paleo Grilled Halibut with Tomato Basil Salsa

It's been downright tropical here at the beach these last few weeks - hot sunny days, warm clear water, tourists by the thousands!  But after a cool dip in the ocean the last thing you want to do is head into the kitchen and turn on the stove/oven, so here's a quick fresh dish that you can grill while you're outside imbibing in your favorite frosty adult beverage.

We're lucky enough to have a friend who recently went fishing up in Alaska and was kind enough to share in his riches - so we have some gorgeous halibut and salmon filets in our freezer!  You can really use any fish for this recipe - and the salsa is even delicious on it's own.

Paleo Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

Oh man.  I rarely bake for a couple reasons.  One: You have to be so exact.  I consider myself more a free spirit in the kitchen - I don't actually own measuring spoons.  Two:  I have very little self control when it comes to things with a soft, sweet texture so I just don't stock the offenders.  

Every now and then you need a dessert - and these will come in handy for birthdays and bake sales.  I ate one, was tempted to eat another so I quickly gave them away to my neighbors before we had an incident.  Thanks to Livin Paleo for the recipe! 

Gluten Free Quinoa & Bison Power Chili

Happy Olympic Kickoff day!  This is a recipe favored by one of team USA's track & field athletes and I can vouch it is quite delicious even if it's not paleo.  (Gasp!)  

We eat mostly paleo for numerous reasons, but I can't claim that this is our diet 100% of the time.  I was recently reading Outside magazine and they did a feature on decathlete Trey Hardee (on a side note, they did a great spread of his training routine and it's very similar to the way we train at our Crossfit gym except for the fact he does it 2-3x a day, 6 days a week), and this was one of his favorite recipes.  

Life is all about balance and I figure if this is the worst thing we eat all week...