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Healthy Tailgating Recipes - Paleo Style!

Andrew Rubalcava of Go Healthy Go Fit Interviews Paleo Cookbook Author Nikki Young

I’m sure that most of you saw this coming, but I of course had to do it! Eating Paleo is a great way to mix healthy eating and tailgating fun. With a very big emphasis on meat, Paleo provides tailgaters worldwide with the knowledge that they are doing something good for themselves (when done properly, of course!).

So it got me to thinking. Why not get an expert to help us figure out how to tailgate… Paleo style! So I did just that and today we’re very lucky to have a recipe from the young lady who wrote the book on Paleo. That’s right, Nikki Young, author of The Paleo Cookbook!

So let’s take this off week in College Football to get ready for the biggest tailgates of the year, which start December 20th. Here’s a schedule for this year’s bowl games for ya!

Before we get into the recipe, let’s have a chat with Nikki!

When did you first get into the Paleo way of life… a lifestyle, might I add, that is very tailgating friendly due to the emphasis on meat consumption.

I have always had an interest in nutrition, especially when it comes to nutrition and illness, I’ve read books and met people who have overcome chronic illness through nutritional changes, this being something their doctors would never discuss.

When I first became aware of the paleo diet back in 2005 after finding the CrossFit webpage and reading a lot on the forums, I could see the health benefits that would be associated to following a paleo diet straight away. As my mum is allergic to many foods which are in-fact not part of a paleo diet (such as grains and dairy), I was already eating a fairly paleo diet and I found changing to a strict paleo diet was easy to do.

Three years later I’m not as strict as I was when I first read about the paleo diet, this is because I’ve since educated myself more about maintaining good health and nutrition. And although I still follow a paleo diet I will enjoy the odd cheat meal, restaurant meal or alcoholic beverage.

What would your perfect tailgate/BBQ be?

One would think that being an Australian i would have my own BBQ by now! Actually i do, but only because my Dad’s upgraded and I’m getting his ‘old’ one. I will probably always have a BBQ meal when going to my Dad’s place for lunch or when going to his place to watch UFC with my friends.

There is pretty much always BBQ chicken, lamb/steak and salad. Sometimes we will marinade the chicken in an Australian blend of herbs and spices, including wattle and other native plants. If I was to say what my perfect BBQ would be, it would be the BBQ’s I have at my Dad’s place, he always cooks up lots of meat and makes a salad or two with his organic home grown vegetables.

When did you write your Paleo Cookbook?

I first started putting paleo recipes together back in 2005 which I could give to my personal training clients when suggesting they follow a paleo diet. Almost every-time I would talk to them about following a paleo diet they would be so confused as to how they could possibly eat a meal that didn’t include grains or dairy that the sound of it alone was enough to scare them off, or thinking about how much time it would take to find a meal that was paleo friendly wouldn’t be worth the hassle.

At the same time i noticed a lot of people on the CrossFit forum where also having a hard time with meal ideas. This is when I decided to put a few more recipes together to create an online Cookbook. I’ve had a lot of positive response from people who have found the Cookbooks to be extremely helpful to them, and is one of the reasons why I decided to put another Cookbook together! As i have different categories within the cookbook, it provides an insight to many different recipes and recipe ideas which people new or old to the paleo diet will enjoy.

Sweet Potato, Bacon and Egg Salad

 

Ingredients

2/3 cup diced sweet potato
2 eggs
2 rashes of bacon, diced using meat only
1tbs oil
4tbs dill, finely chopped
2tbs mayonnaise
2tbs lemon juice

Instructions

Boil eggs in water for 4-6minutes. Peel and dice eggs.

Boil sweet potato for 4-5minutes or until cooked through.

Place a frying pan on medium-high heat, add olive oil and bacon and fry until browned and slightly crunchy.

In a small bowl, combine dill, mayonnaise and lemon juice.

Place eggs, sweet potato, bacon and mayonnaise sauce into a medium size serving bowl. Combine well.

Serve.