You're doing WHAT in the land of dumplings, dim-sum rice and noodles???

As some of you may know - I altered my eating habits a while back - adopting a paleo style of eating. Of course given that I tend to coordinate the food, Russ has been dragged along and It has proven to be terrific for both Russ and I - we have shed 10 kilos each and feel much healthier!   

(For those not in the know - Paleo eating essentially relies on eating fresh fruit, loads of vegies and meat - avoiding starches, breads, processed foods, sugars and some dairy) 

Of course eating paleo isn't always easy in the land of rice, noodles and dumplings!  

Buying any type of meat/poultry is proving to be surprisingly challenging.  First up most of the cuts of meat the Chinese use are unrecognisable to me - heavily laden with bones and bits and taken from places I would never have thought to use in cooking.  

Then there's the quality issue - As you can imagine when it comes to providing produce for the 1.35 billion residents of China organic farming isn't that high up the priority list!  So I fear that a great deal of the produce here is mass produced and seeped in preservatives.  

Did you know that there are more people living here in Shanghai than there are in Australia?It is considered to be the largest city by population in the world!

Foreign imports (Australian and New Zealand beef) are available - but the prices are almost prohibitive and a large portion of it is sold post thaw.  So you can only buy what you need for the day.  And of course the expat supermarkets where this meat is available are few and far between. 

To date we have overcome our meat challenge by buying 1 large imported vacuum pack fillet of Australian beef - at the cost of $250!!  We race it home and then I  butcher it up the best I can - separating it  into steaks, stewing cubes and roasts. I intend to purchase a mincer soon - so if anyone has any ideas on the best way to mince up meat do let me know!!

I have also located a local organic shop that sells frozen blocks of New Zealand Beef - I am yet to try it. They also sell organic eggs and other things like nuts, oils etc. 

NZ beef - or so they tell me!

Sourcing vegetables is a bit hit and miss. So you have to go with what is best on the day!  

If you happened to have read my earlier blogs you will know that we buy all of our fruit from  the fabulous family of fruit vendors on our local street corner.   They lavish us with bananas every day - in fact we are drowning in bananas!  I Given the cost of food here in Shanghai I am loath to let them rot - and was desperate for ideas of what to do with them - of course being paleo muffins, banana bread and cake are out - so what to do??????

Well here is a fabulous paleo friendly idea that I found - I tried it today and it is extremely YUMMY - 

Peel and cut up your bananas into 1 inch pieces - place them in a container and freeze them!

When you're after a sweet treat - (guilt, dairy and sugar free) place a handful of frozen banana pieces in your blender, add in another handful of fruit (I used blueberries!) and about 30 - 50 mls of coconut cream - turn on the blender and hey presto - VERY yummy icecream!

Here's one I prepared earlier!

I tried it and it was fabulous!   With the Shanghai average daily temperatures exceeding 40+ it's a welcome cool treat! 

Give it a go! 

K xxxxx