Primalizing old Cookbooks/ Polynesian Chicken Salad

There are so many paleo/primal websites online with recipes, and quite a few paleo cookbooks at the library, so you really don't have to buy special cookbooks if you want to start eating Real Food --meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, and fruit, with olive and coconut oils, and nuts. These aren't weird ingredients.  (I tend not to like cookbooks that have unusual ingredients I am not used to eating.)

Many of  the primal websites focus on recreating the old food that are off-limits in the primal world: primal cinnamon rolls, primal cookies and muffins,  primal bread, and paleo pizza! They are ok once-in-a-while, but I think it's a mistake to try to make these substitute foods because they just aren't going to taste the same and that will cause you to miss the grain-based foods you enjoyed.

This past year, I have tried to make meat and vegetables and have not spent much effort replacing the grain-based food.  I never cooked many vegetables in the past, so now I am looking for ways to prepare them that will be a good addition to our meals.

I think I can primalize some of our old favorite recipes by eliminating the forbidden ingredient when it isn't a huge part of the dish. After all, a good stew is meat and vegetables, and instead of  adding a tablespoon of flour to thicken it, I can leave it out or thicken the broth by simply mashing a few of the vegetables.

I already went through my recipe cards and pulled the recipes that will work (with a little modification) with the primal diet.

Last week I started reading through The Silver Palate Cookbook; a large number of vegetable recipes in this book are completely ok in the primal diet.  I can just mark the primal recipes in the index and keep the book.





Next I went page-by-page through one of my first cookbooks: Southern Living's Dinner and Supper Cookbook (pub date 1978).   You can tell by the stains on the pages that I used it a lot!  (For many years, I cooked recipes only from Southern Living cookbooks and  magazines.)

Let me tell you, it was a bit of a shock to see so much sugar in those recipes, even the entrees have sugar in them. And flour, canned soups, even MSG for pete's sake!! (I never used MSG, that is some bad stuff.)  Out of the whole book, I found 3 or 4 vegetable recipes that are ok!



I didn't have much hope that my SL Party Cookbook would be much better (published in 1972); true enough, recipe after recipe contains sugar. Sometimes a LOT of sugar.  I had some pangs of sadness as I saw recipes that I probably will never make again: party coffeecake; orange date pecan bread; Swedish melting moments (a delicate orange-glazed cookie); date-nut bars.

However, there are a few recipes that I can adjust. Here's one I frequently made:

Polynesian Chicken Salad
from Southern Living Party Cookbook
2 c cooked chicken, cut in small pieces
1 1/2 c diced celery
1 1/2 c diced pineapple or seedless grapes
1/4 c shredded carrot (not grated)
1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
1/2 c homemade mayonnaise
1/4 c sour cream (or plain Greek yogurt)
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
salad greens
minced parsley
Combine first 5 ingredients. Blend the mayo with sour cream and seasonings, pour over chicken and toss lightly. Chill. Arrange on greens and garnish with parsley. Yield: 6 servings.