Sucky September

I've decided to make September as sucky as possible.  I'm starting the whole30 program and even though I know it's a good thing....it's still going to suck.  I am also going to make the commitment to workout....beginning September 1.  So that's going to suck too.

Over the next 8 months or so I am going to go from skinny to strong.  Get ready.

You know who else should get ready?  My family.  I'm going to be really grumpy really soon.

First Day

My boy had his first day of preschool yesterday.  I wasn't sure it was going to happen since it had been postponed due to the effects of TS Isaac, but it did!  He was so excited to go and didn't struggle a bit when I dropped him off.  The bigger miracle is that I didn't struggle.  In fact, to celebrate how great I did I sat by the pool, drank coffee, and read while the baby napped!

While I was packing his lunch my husband joked I should start making his lunch.  When I asked him if he really wanted me to, he replied with "sure."  Gotta tell you, I didn't think that day would come.  I figured he would be so picky about his lunches he wouldn't want me anywhere near them.  But, who can resist cucumbers in little, fun shapes and apple sandwiches?  Guess I should be honored he trusts me to make him yummy, healthy lunches.

Here's a peak at the pre-schoolers lunch:

He has salami, parmesan cheese, and grape kabobs.
Carrots and cucumbers.
A yogurt and a granola bar.
A baggie of sweet potato chips.
A thermos of water.

I know that sounds like a lot, but I have no idea what he'll eat and how much he'll eat so I erred on the side of caution.












 And here is a terrible picture of those apple sandwiches....with sunbutter and raisins.  Hope the hubs' co-workers don't make fun of him too bad!

School Lunch Ideas

Last week I posted about making school lunches for my little pre-schooler and since then I've been compiling a go-to list of "main meals" and "sides" so I don't have to scramble for ideas.  I'd like to share those with you.

Meals-

Apple sandwiches

Hard-boiled eggs

Sweet Potato Stuff

     - soup

     -wedges/fries/chips

Turkey/Ham rollups

Pasta  (Eddies Vegetable Corkscrews)

Peanut Butter and banana kabob sandwiches

Brown Rice

Turkey/grape kabob

Leftover chicken/steak/meals in thermos

Bacon

Salami

Beef Jerky

Smoothie Pops

Sides-

Veggies  (shapes, kabobs, mixed, etc...)

Fruit (shapes, kabobs, mixed, etc...)

Applesauce

Ants on a log

Raisins

Dried fruit

Pita/veggie chips

Cheese

Nuts

Yogurt
Strawberries/Bananas/Blueberries mixed with coconut milk and almond slices

Meal Plan

This is a big week for us.  My husbands flight is supposed to come in Monday around 4:30, but with this storm I not sure that'll happen.  We are not supposed to get the brunt of it, but we are still under  hurricane/tropical storm watches and warnings and with the size of this thing I'm not sure what kind of weather we'll get.  Most likely it'll be hot and sunny.  Wouldn't that just be a riot after all this preparation?  Really though, that'd be awesome.  So with that in mind I have kind of a wishy-washy meal plan made.  I have three meals to make, but I'm not at all sure of when I'll make them.  Our power lines are above ground and if a big bird lands on one everything flickers so who knows what the wind will do to it....  I also start whole30 on Saturday so that'll be fun.

Here are the meals I intend to make:

Sweet Steak Salad-  86 the dressing and probably sub blueberries for blackberries.  They are less expensive.

Sweet Potato Lasagna-  She calls them enchiladas, but instead of doing that I simply use my food processor to slice the potatoes and layer it in a lasagna instead...much easier for me.  I also bake the sp in the oven to soften them instead of frying them in the pan batch after batch.  If you're going to make the enchiladas by all means do the frying, but to save time on all those rounds I did the oven.  Both ways tasted great.  I have made the sauce both times, but I'm sure another way to save time would be to use store marinara.  

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Pasta-  I'll just used jarred sun-dried tomato pesto and will slow cook the chicken during the day.

Meal Plan: Review

This week got all screwed up.  I made a few meals, but because of a certain Hurricane named Isaac that was headed our way I didn't focus too much on cooking dinner and instead focused on preparing my house.  Turns out it was a futile effort, but as foster parents we have to be more prepared than most people.

Monday I did make Mango Chicken Salad.  And it was delicious.  I stuck to the changes I talked about here.

Tuesday I made the Taco Salad exactly as I said I would.

Wednesday was the day I found out about the storm.  We made chocolate chip cookies for sustainable food so for dinner I ate two of them with a glass of wine.  The kids ate good, healthy meals, but by the time I got them in bed I didn't want to make anything more for me.  You've done it too.  Does it make it better if I tell you I was up in the middle of the night with the baby and then had to get up to take Husband to the airport at 4:45am?  I was in bed at 8.  Sleep was a priority, dinner wasn't.  Oh and my dog ran away.  We found her, but by the time the day ended I didn't care about food.

Thursday we ate pizza.  I also made sweet potato soup for some good stuff.  I simply baked a few small potatoes, then pureed them with half can of coconut milk, cinnamon, and allspice.  Needed those nutrients.  This is heaven folks....served either hot or cold.  Really, really good.  Could be done with carrots too.

Friday D had Eddies Vegetable Pasta with butter and parmesan cheese, sweet potato soup and fruit; while I ate the soup and a salad with shredded chicken, broccoli, carrots and avocado.

Saturday I cooked hamburgers on the griddle with sweet potato fries.

Sunday will bring chili as we settle into the rainy, windy effects of what will either be a tropical storm or simply a lot of rain.  Either way, sounds like a great day for chili!

The End of The World As I Know It.

Beginning a week from today I will start the whole30 program.  I posted a while back that my husband did it while the kids and I were in the Midwest over the summer and now I am going to embark on the journey.

I have done it once before, which should mean I should know better, but apparently I don't.  In fact, going back to the beginning of this blog to look at my last trip down this road I have become even less excited.  It sucked.  Really, really sucked.

So why am I doing it?  Well, I have realized over the last few years I am greatly affected by food.  When I was a child I was allergic to dairy....all of it not just lactose....amongst many other things.  As a teenager and in the first few years of my adult life I would throw up all the time for "no reason."  I suffered from headaches, stomachaches, and would go weeks without a bowel movement.  I was in rough shape and didn't even know it! The thing is though, my dad and his side of the family suffers from the same type of stuff so I thought I was doomed and didn't look into fixing it.   When I began cooking for myself the throwing up lessened and then when I married the man of my dreams and we changed our diet the stomachaches disappeared.  Now that we are eating paleo the only time I notice aches and pains is when I get off track.  One meal a week doesn't bother me, but if I have many cheats I can feel aching in my arm and leg joints, headaches come with a vengeance, and my digestive track gets whacked.

If you've read any of my past posts you'll know that even though I believe paleo is the best way to eat and even though I can tell a huge difference in the way I feel, I am not at all the type of person that loves this way of life and never thinks about deviating from the diet.  I'm not that lucky.  My husband would be in his glory if I was, but I'm not.  I LOVE baked goods, comfort food, yummy drinks and the paleo substitutes only depress me more.  In my mind they cannot even compare.

So I'm doing the Whole30 to get a better idea of what I react to.   Is it gluten?  Sugar? Dairy?  All?  Something else?  I have my feet in both worlds a little to much right now to know exactly what I'm reacting to.  I'm going to get to my most detoxed state and then at the end of it I'll be more aware of how my body is supposed to feel and will know what triggers those bad feelings.  Hopefully after that I can live a more balanced life of paleo/non-paleo without doing too much damage to my body.   Like, can I have coffee creamer?  How does that glass of wine or two really affect me?  And that dark chocolate square?

Which brings me to my next point.  I may cut out coffee too.  I know, I know.  I'd rather cut off a limb than cut out coffee, but let me tell you my reasoning.  I have rosacea.  It didn't rear it's ugly head until I moved to South Florida, but now it here and so far has shown no signs of going away.  The medication regime I got from my dermatologist hasn't helped much, the redness makeup does a pretty good job covering it, but since I had clear skin most of my life I really want this to GO AWAY!   The diet they recommend has much to do with alkalinity of food and I'm not going to go into it; but it cuts out coffee, tea, sugars, bad fats, alcohol, salt, etc....  They also tell you to cut out most meat, but that's not possible. I do not believe cutting out meat for the sake of my skin is a good option.  Cutting out coffee for the sake of my skin may not be a good option either, but it's one I'm at least willing to try.  I may do it now since I'm going to be crabby doing the whole30 I may as well just get it out of the way now....You should start praying for my family.  I hope it's just the heat and humidity and not coffee and wine, but if cutting those things out help me look more like a 30 year old mother of two and less like a 14 year old girl going through puberty it may be worth it.  We'll see....

Brekky.

In Australia they call breakfast Brekky.  Did you know that?  When I studied abroad there I didn't actually like they called it that, but now for some reason I love it.  They also call short naps a kip.  I loved that then and still do.  Maybe because I love to sleep.

One thing I could really do without though is eating.  In a perfect world it would be like the Jetsons cartoon where you just pushed a button and your dinner came out in pill form.  That's my ideal food life.  Besides, growing up watching that cartoon I always thought we'd be driving cars that fly by this time anyway.  What gives?  No flying cars, no space towns, no dinner pills.....this is not the future of my childhood dreams.  Anyway....

My least favorite meal is breakfast.  I just like to get my kids their breakfasts, drink my coffee, and read my Bible while they play and watch cartoons that will give them false ideas of the world to be....just kidding.  By the time I get them settled in I don't want to make more food for myself so I've begun making smoothies.  I've found drinking my breakfast goes much more smoothly (ha!) than trying to make and eat something I really don't want anyway....like eggs.  If my choices are eggs and nothing, I usually choose nothing.

So I have some frozen fruit in the freezer, add some banana, carrot juice, some sort of natural fruit juice, egg white protein power, kale or spinach, and coconut milk.  I usually drink about 32oz of it and it gives me over 600 calories to start my morning off.  That may seem like a lot, but considering my lunches aren't high in calories and I don't snack much I need a good boost in the am.  And it seems smoothies are the best way to do that.

I also like to puree it before I add the protein powder and will add that to the babies cereal so he can have some goodies too.  Then I'll add a scoop of protein, blend again, and enjoy.

After I uploaded this picture I remembered I was going to tell you about this blender.  Do you remember the Will Smith movie Enemy Of the State?  You know how they stole his blender and he went banana's?  Well, now I get it.  A few years back the hub told me he wanted to get one of these Blendtec blenders and spilled how much they cost.  I pretty much lost my marbles and had no idea what the purpose of spending that much money on a stupid blender was.  Nevertheless, I bit my tongue after that, we ordered the blender, and I have never looked back.  It is a miraculous blender. I now understand....

                                       

Oh my.

My boy starts preschool next week.  I am not dealing with this well.

For the last four years the only schedule I've had to work around is the husbands and since he is not home until 5 or 6 I've had a lot of freedom.  That all changes now.  I know it's only three days a week, but that means I have to be dressed, publicly presentable, and organized.  Meh.  I don't wanna!

There are a few things that will help with this transition: 1.  Little man is excited.  We've been counting the sleeps.  2.  I found some websites that have got me so excited to make his lunches.  It's the small joys in life people...

I came across the website thislunchrox.com via pinterest.  You may not have heard of this pintereste thing....it's not very popular.  This Lunch Rox inspired me to search out other bento box lunch ideas and to order fun little things to make D's lunch fun and exciting.  That makes it fun and exciting for me.

My other half finds it amusing I am so excited about making his lunches, but I had to remind him that chances are our child's lunch is going to look different than all those around him.  I hope hard boiled eggs in the shape of bears, fish, cars, etc...will help distract from the fact he doesn't have Little Debbie Snacks and Scooby Doo fruit snack....

Here are a few of the things I have ordered to make his lunches exciting:
http://www.amazon.com/Kotobuki-Plastic-Mold-Rabbit-Bear/dp/B002TZ04J6/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1345561341&sr=1-1&keywords=bento+box+accessories

http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Vegetable-Cutters-K8444/dp/B00095VK7S/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_b

http://www.amazon.com/Bento-Decoration-Picks-Animal-15pcs/dp/B002PO1A7G/ref=pd_bxgy_k_img_c

Here are a few more sites for kids bento box style lunches:
http://www.anotherlunch.com/p/my-favorites.html
http://www.bentonbetterlunches.com
http://www.bentolunch.net/search/label/easylunchboxes

The possibilities are endless with a quick google search!

Paleo Party (minus the key lime pie someone brought)

Have you ever noticed hosting a get together is difficult when you eat paleo and other people do not?  You have two choices:
1. Spend your life savings and buy everything for the party.
2. Do pot luck style and succumb to eating what people bring.

I wish is stopped there though....within these choices rest questions:
1. If I provide all the food and it is paleo, will people eat it?
2. If they know we eat paleo and say it's pot luck style will people feel obligated to bring food they don't eat?
3.  If they know we eat paleo, but we don't provide paleo food does that make us hypocritical?

Nothing is ever easy.

Luckily a few weeks ago when we had some friends over we were able to create a good balance.  There were two couples and their kids so we provided the majority of the food, one person brought a salad, and one person brought kettle chips and a key lime pie.

We had hamburgers as the main event and while we didn't eat buns or cheese...we bought them for our guests.  I sautéed mushrooms, onions, and had a platter of avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and raw onions and for a veggie side I sautéed summer squash in some olive oil with garlic salt.  The salad that was brought was a delicious spinach salad with dried fruit and nuts with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

But we all know the snacks that are out before dinner is served is where most of us go down hill....having those chips and dip/ cookies/ appetizer stuff out is detrimental for the diet.  So to help my family stay on track I put out pineapple, grapes, cantaloup, pepper strips and guacamole, and Everday Paleo Sunny Deviled Eggs.  I was a little nervous about these eggs, but people enjoyed them.  One person said they tasted like pizza.  They kind of did.

I'm not sure what it would have looked like if the other 5 couples with their kids came....probably much different....but it was encouraging to see we were able to make choices that reflected our lifestyle while having non-people over.

So I think the key to parties is balance. I know, I know...lousy excuse for an answer. But it is the truth.  A good balance gives people the freedom and comfort to eat how they want and providing enough paleo food will help you stay on track.  It may even encourage people who are interested in Paleo to get a taste of how it can be done.

Disclaimer though...I did have a piece of key lime pie.  It was delicious.  I then sent the leftover pie, buns and cheese home with guests....we don't need that temptation 'round here.

Here is the recipe for Sunny Deviled Eggs (taken from Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso)

Ingredients

12 Hard-boiled eggs
2/3 cup julienne-cut sun-dried tomatoes
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil*
1 tsp garlic powder
crushed black pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh basil**

Dried dill for garnish

Directions

1. Place the 12 eggs in a sauce pan and add enough water to cover the eggs. Bring the water to boil and boil rapidly for 8 mins.

2. As soon as the timer beeps, drain the hot water from the eggs; add cold water and ice to stop the cooking process. The faster you cool off your eggs the easier it will be to peel them!

3. Leave eggs in the cold water for 5-10 mins before you peel. Peel eggs, rinse, and cut in half lengthwise. Carefully scoop out all of the yolks into a food processor.

4. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.

5. Fill the egg halves with the mixture and sprinkle with a little bit of dill if you like.

*  I did add the 6 tbsp olive oil and then added some of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes.  If 6 tbsp isn't enough oil, try doing the same. 

**I used 2 tbsp + 2 tsp dried basil as a sub for fresh.

Meal Plan: Go-to Salads

This is a week of go-to meals.  Easy, quick, good meals....that happen to all be salads.

Adam leaves for Boston on Wednesday for his MovNat certification seminar so I won't make hardly any meals for the rest of the week.  The boys and I will just live on leftovers, but I wanted to give you some of our favorite recipes for those weeks/days when time runs out or you simply don't want to cook much.

Monday:  Mango Chicken Salad
       The first time I made this, I took the hour to make the Chipotle Mayo, then dumped it down the drain.  The subsequent times I used Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch Dressing found in the produce section of my local Publix.  This dressing, paired with chicken from the crock pot, has made this meal a simple, quick meal.  And by chicken from the crock pot I mean I put 3-4 chicken breasts in the crock pot with some water, garlic salt, and onion powder on low for 5-6 hours.  I have used frozen chicken breasts too when I forgot to pull them out of the freezer.  After they are done cooking, I shred them with forks and store it in the fridge for quick protein.  There is another recipe down below where crock-pot chicken is used.

Tuesday:  Taco Salad
          I will use the taco seasoning I posted about here.  Put it over some crispy romaine, add some onions, avocado and homemade salsa.

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Pizza

Friday:  Sweet Steak Salad sans pearl onions and dressing.

Saturday:  Chicken Salad.
     About three or four chicken breasts cooked in the crock pot on low for 5-6 hours...then shred with fork.
     In big bowl combine chicken with one apple, cut into chunks; 1/4 cup shredded almonds; and one 8.5 oz bottle of julienne sliced sun dried tomatoes in olive oil with herbs (maybe less depending on how much chicken you have).  Serve over lettuce, in an avocado, melt it in the oven on portabella mushroom, etc...the possibilities with this stuff are endless.

Sunday:  Leftovers

Meal Plan: Review

You already saw I attempted to create my own meal with little success, but here is how the rest of the week went....

Chili:  This is my favorite chili.  There is something about the red wine vinegar in it that makes it delicious and not as boring.  I like it.  After I browned the meat in a skillet I threw all the ingredients in the crock pot and let it simmer for the day.  I love my crock pot.

Roasted Chicken with Orange and Mint:  I cooked the carrots in the crock pot with the rest of the chicken and they were really, really good.  The chicken, however, didn't have any flavor.  I liked the flavor of the carrots so much I am willing to give it another go.  What I may do is just use chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken so the chicken sits more in the seasoning.  I used quite a bit of seasoning, but I suggest if you try this you double up on the flavorful stuff when rubbing the chicken.  Just needed more flavor.

Grilled Beef with Spinach and Steak Salad turned into this.

Best Chicken Fajitas.  They are really good.  I don't want to mislead you though...it's really a salad.

Steaks with Roasted Artichokes and Asparagus.  The roasted artichokes.....fail.  Huge fail.   The asparagus tasted like asparagus usually does.  I haven't really noticed a huge difference in how asparagus tastes...  Steaks were delicious.  Steak is always delicious.

       



Sunday is going to be the day of leftovers since the hubs work schedule was changed and he has to go in at 2am....  Eating a family meal with him working nights doesn't work so well....when he can sleep, we let him.

I wish I was a better cook.

I should not try to invent recipes.  When I do, it's not good.  It's not necessarily bad, but it is not good.  Take for instance this pineapple salad I was ecstatic about.  I thought for sure it was going to be dyn-o-mite!  It was n-o-t.  It was fine, but nothing more than that.  Huge bummer.  It had potential...yet again...but came up short.  Balls.  I marinated it in lime juice, rubbed it with spicky steak seasoning and grilled it along with pineapple and lime.  Then put it over some herbed romaine salad, onions, and red peppers.  If you can figure out what I'm missing, by all means let me know.

Spice, spice, baby....

Yeah, you liked that didn't you.  What do you expect?  I live 10 miles from A1A Beach Front Ave.  Not Detroit Ave like some crazy people from Michigan always thought it said.  Good thing that wasn't me.  Nope, never, not me.

So I don't know about you, but when I first switched to Paleo there were things I didn't think about that I would come to miss.  Taco seasoning for one.  Lipton french onion soup for roasts for two.  Cream of chicken/mushroom soups for three.

Here is the good news.  You can make your own.  Thanks to a little google research, I do.  You don't need that prepackaged nonsense.  I've been making my own taco and roast seasonings for a while, but recently I wanted to see if anyone was talented enough to make a Paleo cream of chicken soup.  Guess what, someone is.  In fact, it looks like many someones are.   I haven't tried any yet, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

Here are some links to some spice mixes, soups, etc....
Taco Seasoning
Sausage Seasoning
Dry Onion Soup
Cream of Mushroom
Cream of Chicken
Cream of Broccoli 

And now to get all MasterChef on you...

I used to use onion soup for my roasts, but I do something different now-  I don't have exact measurements, but here is the combination I use:  Garlic Salt, Onion Powder, Turmeric, Dry Mustard.  I go heavy on the first three, light on the last.  But that probably doesn't help you at all, does it?  I sprinkle it on both sides, then combine Not-beef bullion cubes from Whole Foods with water in dutch oven and put in oven at 350 for anywhere from 3-6 hours.

As a side note, that picture of a huge hunk of raw meat makes my stomach churn....yelk.  I have meat issues.  Also, yes those are potatoes.  Real, red skin potatoes mashed with coconut milk and garlic salt.  Sometimes a girl just needs mashed potatoes.  Shesh.

Meal Plan

I have a difficult time coming up with meal plans for the week.  It takes me a really long time to remember things I've made in the past and liked.  There are a lot of good recipes out there for Paleo eaters, but rarely does something stand out as a go-to meal.  Also, it is August in South Florida so all I really want to eat is light, fruity type stuff and that limits my choices.  So after an hour of stumbling through my recipes and food sites, here is this weeks menu...

Monday:  Chili (not at all light and fruity, but with the hubs working nights I need something that is ready whenever he wants it to be ready)

Tuesday:  Roasted Chicken with Orange and Mint  (new)

Wednesday:  Best Chicken Fajitas

Thursday:  Pizza

Friday: Grilled Beef with Spinach and Steak Salad 
          It'll be something similar to this, but I won't really use a recipe.  I'll probably use Bolthouse Farms  Raspberry Merlot Dressing.

Saturday:  Flex meal.  If cooking is necessary it'll probably be burgers with sweet potato fries.

Sunday:  Steaks with Roasted Artichokes and Asparagus

Enjoy.

Meal Plan: Review

So this last week got a little jumbled up.  We stuck mainly to the plan, but didn't end up eating chili and will put that on the list for next week.

On Wednesday we drove to Orlando to visit some friends from IL staying at the Disney's Wilderness Lodge and then had 20 minutes when we got home before we had to leave for a meeting at church.  Adam picked up a rotisserie chicken at Publix (have you gathered that's our go to when we need something fast?) and we scarfed that down before heading to church where we'd have to face pizza and chocolate chip cookies.  And let me tell you, it is nearly impossible for me to pass up those two things.  I love pizza and I love chocolate chip cookies.  In fact, my idea of heaven is a house that never gets dirty, on a beach where the sand doesn't stick to you, and has fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies available all the time.   Sounds pretty great doesn't it?  You can visit.

Back to the meal plan:
Monday we had the Thai Chicken Wraps.  I subbed sun-butter for almond butter in the Thai Sauce.  They are a favorite.

Tuesday we had the Slow Cooker Pepper Steak and it was a really good meal.  Adam really liked it so I'll definitely make it again.  You should give it a try too.  You can revisit the changes I made to it here.

Wednesday I shoveled in rotisserie chicken, an apple with almond butter and a coconut cream pie larabar.  Since I had a full tummy I was able to avoid those tantalizing chocolate chip cookies.  It's okay, you can congratulate me.

Thursday was the cheat day.  Loved that pizza :)

Friday I made the Puerto Rican Beef.  I used double the meat, double the spices, but keep the vegetable amounts the same.  For some reason it didn't have as much flavor as I remember it having, so next time I'll add more spices.

Saturday we had some friends over from the Mom's Group from our church.  The people in this group are well aware of our crazy eating habits so as I went to the grocery store I decided it was important we practice what we preach.  I'll post tomorrow about what we served to a non-paleo group.

Same story, different paleo site

If you have visited other "paleo mom" sites, I am sure you have read about how we despise the grocery store.  Not for the food, but for the marketing techniques they use to draw kids in to those sugary toxic treats.

Well, I'm not going to go on and on about it but I am going tell you about an interesting observation I made.  When we go to Publix Donovan asks for things at an unstoppable pace.  It is a constant conversation about what is good for our bodies, our brains, our muscles and why mom says no ten thousand times to the Lightening McQueen fruit snacks that are conveniently placed next to the baby formula (don't even get me started on the garbage that is in formula!)  So every time I leave the junk on the shelves and check out with the type of food below, I feel like the worst mom.  I mean saying no constantly makes you feel terrible.  Isn't is strange I feel bad for buying healthy food?

So my observation is this:  When we go to Whole Foods this doesn't happen.  Don't get me wrong, he still asks for things, but not even close to the amount of stuff he asks for at other stores.  Aaannnddd.... what he does ask for usually gets a YES!  They carry the same types of food: they still have cookies, they still have fruit snacks, they still have granola bars (and those did come home with us), they still have kid directed cereals;  but the packaging is different.  It's not as bright, it's not as sneaky, it's something that focuses more on the ingredients inside instead of focusing on it's appeal to kids that are going to drive their parents to psychotic behavior with the begging for things.

I had stopped going to WF's as much because it is about 25 minutes away and we began ordering our meat from U.S. Wellness and getting meat and produce from our local Terre Verde Farm Store, but it may just be worth it to go back for the other stuff.  If nothing else it will save me from having to apologize to everyone in front of us in line at Publix for our 4 year old pointing out the things they are buying are not good for their brain....I've found people don't like that.

A Family Affair.

Last night I went to dinner for my friends birthday and during a conversation she confessed her husband refers to Adam and I as the "Paleo People."  He knows our names, he just likes to call us that. It is okay....we are.

So then the questions started coming in.  What people want to know most is whether my kids eat paleo.  The answer is...mostly.  Breakfast is probably the worst meal for Donovan to follow paleo.  He is not a huge fan of eggs and even though I give him a smoothie every morning he rarely drinks it.  He usually ends up eating homemade pancakes or waffles with some fruit.  I have tried to make paleo pancakes and waffles, but he doesn't eat those either.  I'm going to explore better alternatives and I'll let you know.  Lunch is better...it includes rolled lunch meat, fruit and/or veggies, applesauce or yogurt. Dinner is the best since he eats what we eat.  What I will do though, is give him the same food in a different way.  If we're having chili I will pick out big pieces of hamburger and serve it with avocado and some fruit or veggies.  If we are having a salad I will give him the same meat and some of the same ingredients as the salad.  If I make something I know he doesn't like, I make him chicken nuggets.  I am not that cruel.

I also make the little guys food.  I have a baby food book Top 100 Baby Food Purees by Annabel Karmel I use and highly recommend, but now he is almost 8 months I have begun to feed him what we eat too.  Here is a picture of one of our favorite meals....Sweet Steak Salad.  We all have the same ingredients, presented in different ways!

Meal Plan

Here it is....the weekly plan.

Monday:  Thai Chicken Wraps

Tuesday:  Puerto Rican Beef

Wednesday: Slow Cooker Pepper Steak
          Sub coconut oil or EVOO for vegetable oil
          Sub arrowroot for cornstarch
          Will use tamari sauce instead of regular soy sauce
          Eliminate the sugar.  May use honey, but probably won't.
          Will serve over cauliflower rice or salad

Thursday: Free Day

Friday:  Chili

Saturday:  I cannot decide.  I'll think about it more and get back to you....

Sunday:  Roast with Sweet Potatoes and Carrots
       I plan to do a post soon about making your own seasonings and how I make my roasts will be included....stay tuned.

Check back at the end of the week to see how everything turned out!

Meal Plan: Weekly Review

Are you wondering if I actually stuck to the planned meals this week?  Yes, yes I did.  The days got scrambled up a bit, but all the meals were made.  I'll give you a recap of how they turned out....

Thai-Style Steak Salad:  Delicious, as always.

Roasted Chicken with Shredded Beet Salad:  Delicious.  I was actually really skeptical of this one because the beets were raw and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about beets to begin with.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The other thing with this side dish is that we have used it in other ways....Adam has put it in eggs with a mix of sausage and apples and some other good stuff.  I planned on roasting some chicken of my own, but after a busy day and a meeting with a caseworker right at dinner time I decided to stop at Publix to get a rotisserie chicken instead.  That $6.35 was well worth it on a busy night!  I have posted the recipe for the beet salad below.

Chicken with Poblano Cream Sauce:  Ehhh...it was fine.  I had high hopes for this one, but was a bit disappointed.  There was nothing wrong with it, but it didn't have as much flavor as I hoped it would.  If you're creative and good with spices I'm sure you can figure out a way to make it really good.  It has potential.
Hamburgers with Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions, avocado and Sweet Potato Fries:  Always one of my favorites.  We eat them sans bun, smothered with all the above fixins.

Picture taken from marthastewart.com

Shredded Beet and Carrot Salad (Everyday Food: Great Food Fast- book not paleo)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 Tbls olive oil

1 Tbls honey3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
salt
1 pound raw beets, peeled and shredded
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/3 cup coarsely torn fresh parsley

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, oil, honey, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, and 3/4 tsp salt.  Add beets and carrots to bowl along with parsley and toss to combine.

Note:  I did not use honey.  No real reason why.  I didn't think it needed it.

Another Note:  I used the shredder attachment on my food processor to shred the beets and used matchstick carrots.  

Slack Line

Have you ever seen anyone walk on a tight rope.  Looks pretty tricky doesn't it.  I can tell you....it is.  

(Adam)

David recently got a Slackline and we've been able to test our skills.  It is really fun to try and more difficult than I imagined it would be.  I thought, "hey, I slalom ski so I must have some balance."  Wrong.  But that is the fun thing about this MovNat style of workouts.  You think things look simple so you think you can do it, but then you try it and you cannot.   You laugh at yourself because you're not doing as great as you think but you keep trying and don't get discouraged because you are having fun.  Then you wake up in the morning and realize you are sore. (those sentences are really hard to follow, but you get it right?) Okay, maybe you won't be sore from the Slackline because it is a balance thing, but you will be sore from climbing trees....

Here is a look at all of us