Budget friendly paleo meal: Chiipotle Sage Pork

It's been a tough summer on my diet, with very limited funds available for investing in some major staples of the paleo friendly diet I'd ideally be eating ( like local grass fed beef shares, wild caught alaskan salmon etc etc) I've managed to make do with things like canned wild salmon, lots of beans ( not paleo at all, but I gotta have protein!), and gifts of fresh vegetables from friends gardens or CSA shares, and canned wild meats from my friends at the Anima center.

I've got one of my garden beds all planted, and should be harvesting my own greens and roots within 30-45 days! That will make a huge difference in the way I eat, because all the funds allocated for food can be directed towards high quality protein.

That said, I'm learning to be a bit flexible with the kinds of foods I buy, and came up with the following fast (less than 30 min to prepare), tasty, and paleo friendly meal. It isn't perfect, by any means, but hey, sometimes a girl needs a steak!

At one of the local stores, a quick browsing of the meat department immediately showed a lack of any grass fed/free range meat. Sure, it is natural, antibiotic free and all that, but right there in big old print, GRAIN FED. Ok, so..not perfect by anymeans, but I found a nice juicy pork steak, about a pound of it, for about $2.50. Snag! I brought that home with a bunch of collards ( non organic, like I said, not perfect) for 99 cents. The addition of a hierloom melon from a friend was a freebie, so the following meal cost about 1.75 a piece for two people. Pretty affordable if you ask me.

Chipotle Sage Rubbed Pork Steak
1 large pork steak
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp sage
1/2 tsp monarda, or oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
butter for cooking in

Mix all the spices together in a mortar and pestle and grind into a fine powder. Rub this all over both sides of your steak. Heat a cast iron skillet till smoking, then Melt butter. Add the pork steak and sear on both sides to seal in the juice. I cooked mine about 7-10 min, still tender, but the juices run clear. Top the hot steak with the tbsp of honey and spread it around. Slice it up and serve it on two plates.

In the same pan, toss in a bunch of greens ( kale, collards, spinach), and sautee with the spices left in the pan, and touch of water to steam. (Chopping and cooking took me 5 min).

Slice open a melon ( or any other piece of fruit that is appropriate, berries, apple, etc) and add a slice of melon to the plate.

Viola! Dinner in about 20 min! For less than 2 $ a person. And tasty to boot!

pepper to taste