Paleo Comfort Foods

What’s that saying about the best-laid schemes of mice and men? Like the rest of the paleo foodies in our healthy corner of the blogosphere, I was pretty excited when my copy of Paleo Comfort Foods showed up in the mailbox. Charles and Jules, the authors, are Good People™ and Robb Wolf’s glowing foreword had me fired up to try their recipes.

But then the corporate overlords intervened.

My cooking plans have been scuttled in the wake of a required business trip to Chicago for a few days, so sampling Paleo Comfort Foods recipes will have to wait. I can tell you that the first recipe I’m trying is pickled shrimp. It looks dead easy and wicked tasty and I am CRAZY for anything pickled these days. The recipe headnote says, “The toughest part of this recipe is giving those delicious shrimp a full day to marinate…” I believe it!

Until I can share my cooking adventures, I encourage you to pre-order your copy of Paleo Comfort Foods – the book is officially released on September 12.  Til then, here are…

5 Cool Things About Paleo Comfort Foods

1. Doubles as a weapon.
The book is big and glossy, with full-page photos of each recipe. The beginning sections share the stories of how Jules and Charles found themselves eating paleo and writing a cookbook – and you get to meet their canine family members, too. The book is colorful, easy to use, fun to flip through, and – bonus! – with 336 pages, it’s dense enough to double as a weapon.

2. Six sections of yumminess.
The recipes cover just about any eating situation that pops up: starters/snacks, sauces, soups and salads, sides, main dishes, and desserts. I don’t eat paleo desserts very often, but next time I do, I’m making the chocolate cake with chipotle pepper powder in the ingredient list. Cake with a kick!

3. It’s personal.
From the intro pages to the headnotes, it’s clear that the authors care a lot about food, each other, and the people who will read this book. There are plenty of personal anecdotes, so it feels a little like hanging out with them in their kitchen while they cook.

4. Lots of options.
Because the term paleo has become so elastic – cheese or not? butter or not? wine or not? – it can be hard to write a definitive paleo-friendly recipe. I follow the strictest-of-the-strict Whole30 guidelines and totally appreciate that most of the recipes in the book include variations for cheating it up (“If I was going to be cheating with some dairy, or following a lacto-paleo diet, I’d for certain add in some fresh shaved Parmigiano-reggiano to my Caesar salad!”) and cleaning it up (“Check the label on your hot sauce for things you can’t pronounce and avoid those that contain ingredients that scare you.”).

5. Commitment to quality.
Jules and Charles care passionately about food quality and flavor. In their overview of foods for a well-stocked kitchen, they earn their spot in the Paleo Foodie Hall of Fame with this: “… repeat after us: ‘I will never, ever, not ever buy garlic that comes in a jar.'” Two people after my heart, right there!

So… you know what you need to do. Get your hands on a copy of Paleo Comfort Foods, ‘like’ Jules and Charles on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter. Then get cooking because you need to be finished exploring Paleo Comfort Foods by December so you can start cooking your way through my cookbook Well Fed: Paleo Recipes For People Who Love To Eat!