Everyday Paleo, Day 30

You know how I mentioned yesterday that I felt like Sarah was pulling out the fireworks the last few days? Well, brace yourself for the finale, cuz it's pretty spectacular.

This morning my eyes opened at 8:38. Apparently the human alarm clock (Grace) was sleeping in. It rained all night, and it was still overcast outside, so the darkness problem made her own internal alarm clock go on snooze. I wanted to make muffins for visiting teaching this morning, but didn't want to be clunking around the kitchen and waking up Grace or Andy (who took the day off to work on sealing the roof). Finally, Grace got up at 9, and I started on those muffins (blueberry flax). They came out just in time to cool and bag and bolt out the door at 10 am. Got visiting teaching done, and was home at 11:20. Andy was getting Grace ready for our parent-teacher sit down at her pre-school. We took care of that, and also decided to try the dentist next door to her school since we haven't seen ours in a few years (he was unable to accept the new insurance we switched to, which is sad cuz I loved him & his office. Legal amount of novacaine and a movie screen in the ceiling? Yes, please!). So I'm scheduled for my first check up since Grace was a few months old, then Grace has her first appointment (yay, milestones!), and Andy has a check up at the end of the month.

Anyway, the point is I didn't get breakfast till about 12:30. Leftover pork tenderloin, mashed cauliflower, and poached eggs. Mmmm!

Got Grace down for a nap, and I laid down too. Napping is fantastic. Don't let anyone ever tell you you're too old for one ;)
When we got up, we headed out to the hardware store. Andy is still working on planting my berry bushes, so we got stuff for that, as well as things to repair the roof.
Came home & started dinner.

Dinner wasn't complicated, it was just a lot of stuff to prep and get into 3 different pans. Andy seemed a little exasperated that I was constantly asking for help, but he was instrumental in getting dinner on the table-- especially my favorite part, plantain chips (which I've never had before)
Okay, brace yourself, here come the fireworks!

Everyday Paleo, Day 30 GRAND FINALE!
Puerto Rican beef over mashed sweet potatoes with homemade guacamole & plantain chips. I am STUFFED! I mashed the sweet potatoes with coconut milk, ghee, and just a dash of cardamom. Thanksgiving Dinner would be envious. It was wicked good.

Thanks, Sarah, for a fantastic experience.

Tomorrow I will launch right into a modified Whole 30. I was going to wait til after Grace's birthday on the 9th, but I think I'm ready for a new challenge. I will be allowing bacon, butter, 1 square of dark chocolate/week, and pancakes/waffles (mainly cuz we're having them for dinner tomorrow). Yeah, yeah, I know "What's the point of doing a whole 30 then?". I'll be cracking down on my diet, and keeping you updated daily on how I'm doing.

Everyday Paleo, Day 29

Breakfast was supposed to be egg houses (see Day 11), but I was kinda "Meh". So I had bacon instead. Fed Grace and got us ready for the morning, off to playgroup. It was warm, but breezy, so perfect. Munched on homemade trail mix, and shared my Chuao Firecracker bar with the other moms there (sharing chocolate = love... and less temptation for me).

(Grace at park, cuz I totally rocked her wardrobe this morning-- a dress she outgrew with jeans, a rainbow necklace, and purple hairband)

On our way out, I accidentally smacked myself pretty hard in the face with the car trunk door. My clumsiness continues to amaze me. Monday I injure my foot, Tuesday I twist my ankle, Wednesday I give myself a black eye, Thursday I probably will burn myself, and Friday I will just tell Andy to let me die in a dark corner cuz I give up & the week isn't even over yet!
After that, we headed over to Kids Village for reading time. I met a new mom who had a girl just a few months older than Grace and they are going to be in the same class together in the fall.
When we got home, I wasn't really hungry for lunch, even though Andy generously left me a stuffed bell pepper. I got Grace down for a nap, then laid down myself. My head was hurting when I got up, and dishes and chores needed to be done, and I just felt BLAH. I hated to do it, but I asked Andy to cook.

Can I just say again "LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY!" The man delivers every time. It would seem that he's even getting into the spirit of food porn. Look how pretty he made the chicken piccata the other night, and tonight's dinner:

pork tenderloin with cherry sauce over mashed cauliflower and a side of roasted fennel

Did my man deliver, or did he deliver? I kind of feel like Sarah is putting on a fireworks show with these last few meals, so we must give her props, too!

Also, giving credit where credit's deserved, Andy (being the Golden Boy extraordinaire that he is) won his company's yearly prestigious coin award for exemplary performance. So proud. My guy rocks!

After dinner, I completely spaced Primary presidency meeting, despite reminding Stacey about it at playgroup. I blame the imaginary concussion! We went to Sunflower for some berries (on sale, woo!), and Grace's pool deflated right after she got out of it yesterday, so we bought her a new pool. New AND improved. It has a water sprayer thingy & water slide. She's going to LOVE it! Andy is getting a tarp tomorrow to lay on the grass & protect our investment.

Everyday Paleo, Day 28

Breakfast was Spring Scramble (see Day 12). I took pictures again, though, cuz I don't think I had everything the first time around

After breakfast, I got Grace dressed cuz she wanted to play outside. It was awful warm & I thought it might be good to finally hunt down her kiddie pool in the shed. I've been meaning to do it for at least a week now.
By the way my toe is feeling better today & I only suffered a twisted ankle during this endeavour!
In case you're wondering: Yes, I am a total klutz. Thank you for asking.

While she was playing, I got brave and went inside to throw on my tankini for some quick tanning & vitamin D absorption. I only laid out for 15 mins with some SPF 12 on, but it felt good... except for the profuse sweat. I started getting hungry & dragged Grace (kicking and screaming, the poor little puddle duck) into the house for lunch which was *drumroll* coconut shrimp.

Okay, so, if you don't like shrimp, you should probably look for the unsubscribe link on my blog. Jus'sayin. Bacon & shrimp are probably 2 of my favorite foods.

I garnished it with butter & key lime juice. Very yummy!

I got Grace down for a nap, and vegged. When she got up, I ran to Walmart for some soil & bigger pots for my poor, withering squashes. Needless to say, they are going to be a lot happier now!
Once we got home, I started with dinner. Sarah suggests stuffed peppers for this evening. I've made stuffed peppers before, but never like this. Our biggest frying pan (which can probably hold about a gallon of stuff) was very nearly full, and I looked down at my 6 peppers & thought "No way is this all going to fit!"
Guess what. It did.

After dinner, we went for a quick walk (about 1 mile). I jogged 1/4 of it. Andy gave Grace some Talenti Gelato while I showered. This stuff is even more delicious than ice cream. I don't have it often (it's pricey in both cash and carbs), but it's one of those things that's definitely worth the indulgence, and it has a very short ingredient list on most of their products (BO-NUS!)

Off to watch Beastly. Have been wanting to see it.

Everyday Paleo, Day 27

First thing's first.
I dropped at least a pound of frozen chicken, if not more, on to my toe this morning from about 5 feet (the freezer). It's the part that connects my toe to my foot. I didn't think much of it as first, other than "Ow, ow, ow!", set the chicken out to defrost, and moved on with my day.

Breakfast was pancakes, and ham was suggested, so I had bacon, hahaha. Now, I like my egg white flax pancakes (they are a lot lower carb), but these bad boys were just as tasty and won a place on my recommended list. Nice and thick and addicting!

Grace had a big breakfast too. I swear some days the kid has a hollow leg!

Lunch was supposed to be leftover albondigas soup, but I had to run my brother in law on a few errands. I figured I'd be back by 2 and have lunch. Nope. We got home at 4. At that point, there wasn't much point in having lunch, since dinner was going to be served in an hour or two.
Except that my foot was becoming noticeably more uncomfortable... and bruised. I don't have full range of motion at the moment, but I can move, it's just not so fun. I asked hubby to cook and he delivered!

Dinner was chicken piccata over cauliflower fried rice. IT WAS RESTAURANT QUALITY! I loved it. It took nearly two hours to cook (my poor husband), and I ended up finishing eating dinner around 8:20. I highly recommend this dish, despite its lengthiness. So worth it.

If my foot isn't better tomorrow, I'll be paying my chiro a visit. He can fix anything!

Everyday Paleo, Day 26

So my idea to combine the butter chicken & curried veggie last night was a resounding success! Music in my mouth to the tune of mmmm, mmm, mm!

Got Andy up at 10 (love dog-piling him on the weekends with Grace, and playing as a family for the next half hour), got him fed, and he started helping me pull lunch together. Everyday Paleo Pizza. This was a good experience for us because now we know that meatza is far superior in taste, and we really don't miss the crust on meatza, but this paleo pizza was good in its own right, and Grace chowed down willingly.

As soon as it was in the oven, I set to work on preparing dinner. It was going to take an hour to prepare, and I didn't think we'd have time when we got home from church before going to stake choir practice. I'm glad I did, cuz I just wanted a nap when we got home from church.

Have you ever come across a food whose name you're not quite sure how to pronounce? I had that quandry. Dinner was Albondigas Soup. "Al-bon-di-gus?" "Al-bon-dee-has?". At choir I mentioned it to my friend & she said "Albon-deehas". Aha!
However you say it, it was pretty tasty. Spicy, but tasty.

It calls for 2 lbs of ground beef for the meatballs. I don't know about you, but ground beef is expensive here, but I can get ground Italian turkey sausage for $1/lb. To soften the blow of the cost, I did 1 lb ground beef & 1 lb Italian turkey sausage. It helps cut the cost of spices, and cuts back on fat if that's a concern of yours (not me, I love fat. Fat is delicious! Everyone should learn to embrace it and eat some).
I used a similar trick to help cut the cost on the pizza. It calls for 2 cups of almond flour. Almond flour is hello expensive ($10/lb), but flaxmeal is not. So I used 1c almond flour, and 1c flaxmeal. Tasty, especially with the rosemary from my garden.

Best of all, my blood sugar was 95 before dinner. Haven't seen it that low in a while. Now if I can just figure out how to get it that low in the mornings!

Everyday Paleo, Day 25

The menu today was veggie curry hash, leftover stew, and better butter chicken. I wasn't really hungry for breakfast, so I made the hash for Andy. There is leftovers for tomorrow, so I will take a picture of it then (and explain more in a moment).

Was not impressed with the stew last night and still wasn't hungry, so I didn't have much of a lunch either (a few nibbles of Grace's Greek yogurt, and a nap). We went grocery shopping. Would you believe we got a week's worth of groceries for less than $70? I was thrilled. That NEVER happens. Don't ask how it happened. I think it just worked out that we had 90% of the ingredients in the house already and just needed fresh veggies.

Dinner was better butter chicken, which I had Andy cook. He was a prince about it and did great.

Have you ever had one of those meals that you don't like at first bite, but then it starts growing on you? This was one of those dishes. It came down to forcing ourselves (okay, MYSELF) to leave leftovers for breakfast in the morning. The menu doesn't call for leftovers, but I thought it would go fantastic with the hash as a protein source.

To further increase his prince-like spectacular epicness, Andy is outside transplanting my flourishing berry bushes into the ground. I am so lucky to have such a nice guy for a hubbins.

Everyday Paleo, Day 24

Breakfast was Frittata For All (see day 7), and lunch was supposed to be leftover jambalaya, but there wasn't any, so I had some heavy cream & protein powder. Andy came home early so we could take Grace to Cars 2. She did pretty good, only ran around once, and threatening to take her home & put her to bed settled her right down every time.
Dinner was garlic beef stew & acorn squash.

Kinda meh for me.

Off to bed! Sorry so short.

Everyday Paleo, Day 23

Breakfast was chicken sausage and sauteed spinach with bernaise. I got an apple chicken sausage pack, and steamed the spinach in the microwave. I boiled the sausage, and made the bernaise at the same time using double boiler, double duty method. Water was boiling chicken AND the pot of bernaise. Don't ever say you don't have time to eat healthy, cuz this meal took all of 10 mins. Even Grace ate it.

After breakfast, we went to Sunflower Market to get the last of our groceries. I went on a crazy shopping spree and stocked up on some vitamins that were on clearance, as well as a few other things. Good times.

Came home & started my lunch of portobello mushroom sandwich. The menu says to do turkey, avocado, and arugula, but the recipe says chicken breast, bacon, and avocado. You can guess which one I picked!

The gorgeous dressing oozing out the side is my homemade chipotle mayo. If this sandwich was human and I was single, I'd marry it! Never need bread again, tyvm.

Dinner was "Who Needs Rice" Jambalaya, made with shrimp & white fish. It was very good, despite my julienne-ing frustrations and multiple skin lacerations.

We went to Walmart after dinner for some basic household necessities, then put Grace to bed, and here I am tickety tapping at you.

Hope you had a full and delightful day!

Everyday Paleo, Day 22

We had a full day today. Grace slept in, which means I slept in. Sleeping in is great! I got to work on breakfast as soon as she was up. The menu today called for eggs over easy, BACON, and bedtime blueberries.

Grace helped me make the blueberries. In hindsight, I now realize I should have taken pictures of her helping. She is such a spaz, but she's also one of the sweetest kids you could meet, and my secret wish is that she grows into a spazzy, affectionate teenager.
I plated the whole shabang just for looks, and gave my portion to Grace (which got mixed into her Greek yogurt), but put it all in a ziploc for *drumroll* PLAYGROUP! I also made some trail mix for myself using almonds, golden raisins, sunflower "nuts" (the seeds minus the shell), and the last of my Amano cacao nibs.
I was a little frazzled cuz Grace was taking her sweet time eating breakfast, and my neighbor stopped by to borrow our ladder just as I was fixing Grace some eggs (the girl packed away bacon, eggs, AND yogurt, ZOW!) & we ended up chatting for a bit. We were running very behind. When we got to the park (around 10:30/10:45, when it was supposed to start at 10), we were one of the first ones there. Stress goes poof! Gone.

Grace made a new friend at the park. They were holding hands, running around together, and rescuing eachother from various parts of the bigger slides. So cute!
After playgroup, we went to Grace's preschool for reading time. This time I came armed with "Lightning" snacks (dried fruit with Pixar's Cars characters on the package). Grace sat riveted through 2 books. HOORAY! My mission is to find more Lightning snacks for this purpose.

We stopped at Winco on the way home to start our shopping for Wed - Sat, and finally got home around 2. Grace ate a cup of no sugar added applesauce, and a couple bites of chicken before letting me know she wanted to go to bed (gotta love "Mommy, I tired. Bedtime!"). My lunch was chicken breast with leftover chimichurri & veggies. I was still kinda "eeeek" about the chimichurri being bitter, so I smothered it over my chicken before baking the chicken. It made a night and day difference! I was especially excited about the vegetables. I threw a Birdseye Steamfresh mixed veggie set into the microwave, and easily demolished the whole bag. It's, like, my entire day's allowance of carbs, but oh so worth it on the deliciousness scale.

When Grace got up, she was upset that she was wet & sticky (it was really warm today, so she was all sweaty), but I got her cleaned up, gave her something cold to drink, and headed out to Maceys to continue our shopping. Got a few extra things (discovered that gelatin has 0 carbs. I see some 0 carb pudding in my future), and made our way home by 5:30. Started dinner of steak chile rellenos with avocado dressing.

Sarah, you hit the ball out of the park with this one! Who needs burritos when there's steak chile relleno to be had? Never need a burrito again, tyvm! Even Andy said this bad boy was restaurant quality. There was 1 left in the pan, and I wanted it, but being the epic wife that I am, I deigned it for Andy's lunch tomorrow.
If you don't know what it is, it's an anaheim chile stuffed with steak, tomatoes, red bell pepper, and other nom noms.

I wanted to go to Sunflower Market after dinner to finish shopping and get Grace a balloon (she loves SM for that very reason), but Andy needed to work, and I was feeling tired myself. You know you're "done" when you lay on the couch for a minute and don't want to move the rest of the night.
So we put Grace to bed. She was soon up and a little distraught about being too warm, despite being dressed in boyshorts and a tank top. I took all the blankets off her bed, and set her up on just her sheets, opened her windows, and tracked down her fan. I gave her 1 blanket in case she gets too cold, and put it by her feet. Let's hope she'll be comfy! I hate summer heat.

Everyday Paleo, Day 21

So apparently I'm a dyslexic idiot cuz I don't think to stop and read instructions prior to preparing the food.

This morning was scrambled eggs with salsa. However, I got too gung ho over the salsa and didn't read that you're supposed to cook the jalapeno & tomatoes prior to running them through the food processor. I also didn't read, until it was too late, that Sarah only recommends using HALF the jalapeno.
So now I have this blow-your-head-off salsa. Oh well, it was tasty & tamed down a little by the scrambled eggs. I had a side of sliced avocado as well. Grace enjoyed scrambled eggs, sans salsa.

Right after breakfast, I set to work on the chimichurri sauce for lunch. I read ahead this time and prepared it according to directions. Alas, I was disappointed that it was very bitter. I don't think chimichurri sauce should be bitter, should it? I had it over a chicken breast and steamed kale.

I had to muscle my way through the kale on the last few bites.

After Grace's nap, she said she was hungry, so I pulled out some strawberries. I split what was left between us (4 each), and had mine with some coconut milk. Delish! Held me over til dinner.

Dinner was delicious, but kinda dinky & pathetic, portion-wise. It says it serves 3 people, but I could have easily eaten the whole thing by myself. Our dinner was served on tea saucers. I didn't have any lemon, so I used key lime instead.

It was gone in 6 bites, no joke. We went for a walk afterwards, and now I'm kinda hungry.

Off to distract myself until morning.

Everyday Paleo, Day 20

I just couldn't bring myself to eat any of the pot roast for breakfast! When I thought about it, my stomach churned. I had some custard instead. This time it was coconut milk custard with raspberries & cacao nibs, hot out of the oven.

I am pleased to say that Sarah redeemed herself at lunch. She had a burger patty with baba ghanoush on the menu. I wasn't sure that we had any ground beef, so I took out Italian ground turkey last night instead and made burgers with that. Grace was more than willing to chow down on a burger and some dried apples.

Mine was more simple. Just 2 patties with baba ghanoush. Prior to Everyday Paleo, I had never even heard of baba ghanoush, but it's delicious to be sure AND fun to say!
I think it would go great with just plain pot roast, or even roast leg of lamb & mint.

While Grace napped, I set up our new Roku. It's so cute and awesome. We are going to be fast friends. I also ran 2 loads of dishes through the washer and made a batch of coconut bark. This week's set is EVCO, shredded coconut, coconut cream concentrate, liquid vanilla stevia, and cardamom.

Isn't it pretty!

Dinner was Thai shrimp soup. I love shrimp.

It calls for quite a bit of broccoli, which I ended up not having quite enough of, so I improvised with a mixed veggie pack from the freezer. Yes, those are taters, precious!

The first thing out of Andy's mouth was "Mmm!". I was stunned. The recipe calls for 2 cans of coconut milk. Andy LOATHES coconut milk. He should totally have a Primal blog called "Andy Hates Coconuts". You can imagine how happy I was when the man went back for seconds. The stalks of lemongrass were not really edible, but they were fun to chew on and suck out the oils inside. It makes me want to make some sort of cold summer drink with them.
Sarah, you have officially redeemed yourself for the day! Yesterday never happened.


Tomorrow is Tuesday and hopefully I'll get my circulars. I love planning out my grocery trip!

Everyday Paleo, Day 19

First of all, Happy Fathers Day to all my Grok Brothers & daddies.

Aside from breakfast, today's menu was Fail-button worthy. Let's start with a positive note though.

For breakfast, leftover egg cupcakes were on the menu, but we ate them all, so I got to do my own thing again. Yay! I made Andy pancakes with homemade whipped cream and strawberries, with scrambled eggs and bacon. He seemed to like it. I was drooling over the pancakes, and totally jealous Andy was sharing a few bites with Grace.

I had baked custard for my own breakfast, using heavy cream. SO GOOD! I put some raspberries on top as well. I must say that HWC makes a huge difference when making custard. So much smoother in texture than coconut milk. Plus, it rained all night, and there's nothing quite like a hot breakfast on a rainy day.

I was going to start lunch when Grace insisted on a shower before church. I heard Andy laughing and he called me into the bathroom. Grace had taken off her pants and undies and put herself in the tub. No getting out of showering now!
Normally she wants daddy to wash her, but today she let me shower with her so we could go to church squeaky clean. She even scrubbed me while I scrubbed her. It was very sweet and innocent. I wish she could stay that way forever.

After shower, I got started on the big production of skillet ginger citrus chicken and kale. Andy was already slaving away on dinner (pot roast). I must not have seasoned lunch enough cuz it was really bland. Fail 1.

Andy needed thyme from the garden, so I went outside to get a few branches. However, the planter had flooded and uprooted half of my plants. I was stressed and alarmed. I bailed my poor babies out, and added a whole new bag of soil. Andy says he will drill some drainage holes. I hope they survive.

When we got home, I felt hungry, so I caved and had another custard, this time with a square of Ghiradelli sea salt soiree. I konked out on our bed around 5:30, despite Grace trying to beat me up. I wasn't really hungry for dinner, so I suppose it didn't help what happened next.
Around 6, I realized I had completely forgotten to prepare the side dish of mashed yams. Dinner was 15 mins later. Blargh. Not happening. She says they only take a few mins in the ol' pressure cooker, but not everyone owns a pressure cooker. I guess I will have to try it on a different day.

Dinner was "Perfect pot roast". Okay, in all fairness, the meat was fine. However, the sauce looked and tasted like vomit. Sorry, Sarah. This meal is an F for me. It's down on the bottom of my list along with the curry stew.
The vegetables were too sweet. Not yummy sweet either, but like bizarre, smack-your-chops-cuz-you're-not-sure-what-you're-eating sweet. The recipe calls for red wine, but we don't keep wine in the house. We tried to improvise with grapes and apple cider vinegar, so that could be part of the problem.
I choked down the veggies and meat and ran away from the table.

I am supposed to have leftovers for breakfast, but at this point I am in tears, begging "Oh, please, Sweet Little Baby Jesus, DON'T MAKE ME EAT IT!"

Off to watch Drop Dead Diva Season 3.

Everyday Paleo, Day 18

Breakfast was leftover egg cupcakes. I had mine with ketchup. I am very grateful to the Heinz company for making a "simply heinz" ketchup. No HFCS or other weird stuff, just tomatoes, seasoning, and vinegar.

After breakfast we went grocery shopping as a family. We had some splurges (I've been craving custard and there were raspberries on sale, and the naughty part of me wanted to try Lindt's chili dark chocolate, and Andy & Grace got some goodies to take to a movie tonight). The bill was about $130.

Lunch was leftover meatloaf with sprouts & bacon.

Dinner is "breaded" baked chicken with butternut squash soup. I am cooking them now since we are planning on seeing the 5:10 showing of Rio at the dollar theater, and wouldn't be having dinner until very late otherwise. This way we can just come home and warm everything up. It will work out perfectly.
If Grace sits through Rio, we might take her to Cars 2.

Everyday Paleo, Day 17

Grace slept in until nearly 9:30. Awesome. I didn't want to wake her, so I held off on preparing breakfast until she got up. Once she was up, it was ninja time. Egg cupcakes stuffed with lots of veggies. It took a while to put together, and another hour to bake them all. I ate 4.
While waiting for breakfast, I made Grace a smoothie. I used several half-eaten yogurts, blueberries, and some coconut milk. Grace loves her "smokies".

We didn't get to our morning errands till 11:30. Was hunting for stuff for Andy's Father's Day gifts, but felt like it was in vain. Either the stuff was sold out that I wanted to get him, or it just wasn't in stock/back order.

Got home at 1:30 and started pulling together my lunch. The menu called for walnut red pepper dip with raw veggies and a chicken breast. I threw a chicken breast in the oven, chopped it up when it was done, threw it over some arugula, with leftover cucumbers, and the walnut pepper stuff. Was not a fan and ended up throwing most of it away. Wasn't terribly hungry to begin with, but wanted to give everything in the book a fair shot.

Got Grace down for a nap, but shortly after some kids rang the doorbell. They were on a scavenger hunt and needed a magnet. I gave them one of ours and bid them good luck. Grace was up after that. I fought with her for 2 hours to nap. It wasn't happening, so at 4:30 I made her sit on the couch with no toys, TVs, or books until daddy got home. I'm a mean mom.
In the mean time, I got dinner started. Everyday Paleo meatloaf with a side of brussel sprouts & bacon. It's always a party when bacon is involved! We've had the meatloaf before, as well as the side dish, so everyone was a happy camper.

For the last several days I've been jonesing hard core for some custard. I've been discouraged though cuz I'm trying to stay away from dairy, and when I use coconut milk it just comes out funky in the texture department. Tastes fine, just not pudding smooth. Might have to break down and get some HWC.

Everyday Paleo, Day 16

So yesterday I was going on about how I long for a free day of just eating what I want on my own schedule. I ended up with that opportunity today. Breakfast & lunch was supposed to be leftovers from yesterday, but I didn't have either of them. I didn't know what I was going to do, and ended up having an IF until about 11a. I was hungry and made myself some egg white flax crepes with cardamom and vanilla, and bacon. SO GOOD! Also had a little Greek yogurt instead of butter and syrup. Crazy delicious. My tummy was way happy.

I didn't eat much for the rest of the day. Nibbled on a couple of grapes, and some of Grace's ham from lunch.

Went to chiropractor for monthly adjustment and we talked about diet and inflammation. I expressed my frustration of not losing more than 10 pounds in the last year, despite my best efforts. I've changed my diet, and the way I work out, what more does my body want? Doc mentioned digestion problems that could actually be interfering with progress, so that's something I might be exploring more in the near future.

Dinner was salmon cakes with ginger mayo. In her book, Sarah mentions how these were an epiphany for her when she first went Paleo. SHE'S NOT JOKING! I have already expressed that I'm not a big salmon fan, but these were the shiz! I could seriously eat them all day, and I'm looking forward to enjoying them again in the near future. I would also like to try the same recipe using tuna instead of salmon.

The recipe for the ginger mayo called for 2 cups of EVOO. I felt that was way too much (the mayo was already runny enough as is, and I like THICK mayo), and kept it down to 3/4 cup.

I don't know why, but I've been crazy sleepy the last few days. Not tired, mind you. I just want to sleep.

Off to veg & get ready for bed.

Everyday Paleo, Day 15

So here we are. Half way through the project. Yay! I love the food I'm eating, but I'm already looking forward to July when I can have free reign over what I eat and be more on the fly again. I think I'll start cracking down early and getting ready for Whole 30, round 2. Going to try to stick to just meat & veggies with a little fruit through Grace's birthday, and then start Whole 30 on the 10th.

Today's breakfast was poached eggs over curried hash. I'm glad I made the hash yesterday and reconstituted it today because it saved me a TON of prep work. Andy said he liked the hash, and I bet he'll love the reconstituted stuff tomorrow. It had zucchini in it, and that's one of his favorite vegetables.

After breakfast we got ready for playgroup. I can't believe we were at the park for 3 hours. It worked out perfect. I munched on homemade trail mix most of the time (cashews, golden raisins, and cacao nibs). Grace ran around barefoot, and played in the drinking fountain with some of the boys from church. One of them stripped down naked cuz he was afraid his mom would get mad at him if his clothes got wet. It was really funny... also first time Grace has seen a boy. No questions arose. She probably wasn't even paying attention. She got super soaked, so I had her go play on the playground again to dry out. She started digging in the wood chips and got her pants (and underwear) FULL of chips. I had to strip her down in the trunk of our car to shake it all out. It was awful. It was really nice visiting with other moms from the ward, and I've known most of them for as long as Grace has been alive. It's nice to feel like you're connected to something.
After playgroup, we went to Grace's preschool for story time. Today's subject was bugs. Grace loved it and did MUCH better than last week. She didn't sit still, but she wasn't running wild either.

We stopped by WinCo on the way home for some yams for dinner, and I also got Grace some Greek yogurt and dried fruit snacks (they had Pixar Cars on them, and the only ingredient is, for example, dehydrated apples). Came home, fed Grace, and was supposed to have gingered shrimp salad for my lunch, but was still plenty full from the trail mix at the park (I only packed a ziploc snack sized bag, and had 3/4 of it. Grace had 1/4).
Put Grace down for a nap, but she had trouble falling asleep. She didn't konk out til 3 or 3:30, and she usually goes down at 1:30. I took the opportunity to snooze, too. When I woke up, it was 5:30. I needed to get dinner on. Pulled together the ingredients for dry rub burgers. I was afraid they'd be too spicy with the chili powder, cumin, red pepper, and white pepper, but they weren't at all. The sweet potato fries, however, were.
Sarah, I think you have an unhealthy relationship with cayenne, LOL!
Seriously, it's been in almost EVERY recipe this week.

When dinner was done, we went grocery shopping. I had $100 in my wallet, and had to make it work until Andy gets paid on Friday. He said the other day that he's missed the quality time together shopping gave us, so I decided to drag him along. We came in just under $100. Yay!
We will go shopping again on Saturday.
He wants me to start shopping twice a week because our fridge is tiny, and things will be fresher that way. I'm afraid I'll spend more, but we shall see.

Off to bed!

Everyday Paleo, Day 14

This morning I was supposed to have leftover pollo con salsa roja, but there were no leftovers. So I made a meal I missed from day 6, Katrina's Sausage Hash.

I think it would have been better with scrambled eggs. I didn't really enjoy it otherwise. However, there's an abundance of leftovers from it, and I'm going to use it tomorrow for poached eggs over curried hash.

After breakfast, I took my brother in law to his therapy appointment, and hit up Walmart for some new boy shorts & camis for Grace. If you're not in the know, camis/tanks & boy shorts are the way to go for summer pajamas! Can't argue with 4 sets of jams for $6. After Walmart, we went to a nearby park. There were horses across the street, and Grace wanted to say hello. There was a fairly friendly one, and I was trying to teach Grace that we always, Always, ALWAYS feed ponies with a FLAT hand. Well, she didn't listen, and sure enough, pony got her little fingers and nearly pulled her through the fence. Accidents happen, lesson learned (hopefully)
I calmed her down, we said goodbye to pony, and I let her play on the playground a few more minutes. We picked up her uncle from the doctor's and helped him run a few more errands.
When we finally got home, I got Grace settled with some cheese, grapes, and chopped ham steak. My lunch was Ginger Shrimp Salad.

I used leftover avocado dressing from last night's dinner. I must have overseasoned the salad with the ginger & pepper cuz my mouth was on fire and I had to muscle my way through it a little.
Tomorrow's lunch is leftover ginger shrimp salad. I'm not so sure I'm excited for it.

Grace went right down for a nap after lunch, and I laid down for a few minutes too. When we got up, Grace wanted eggs for a snack. So I broke down and made some baked custard for her. She helped cook it, and willingly ate it. I used cardamom. Cardamom is fantastic. I love the way it smells! Very floral & orange-y. I did eggs, coconut milk, cardamom, vanilla, and stevia. I let her have a tiny bit before dinner, but her big portion came after dinner with Daddy.

Dinner was skillet salmon with baby bok choy. I got a ginormous salmon fillet from Walmart. I swear, it's half the fish! The directions said to toss chives with fish sauce, chili oil, sesame oil, and honey, but I didn't have chives or honey so I improvised with green onion stalks and agave. The whole whale was not going to fit into a skillet as directed, so I threw it in the oven. While that was going, I softened/steamed some bok choy in a pan with coconut oil. Top with cashews
The result was this:

I haven't had salmon since my wedding reception in 2001. I hated it. Still wasn't 100% on board with this recipe, but it's always good to try new things.

Off to put my kid to bed & spend the rest of the night at primary meeting.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Play group, reading time at Grace's preschool, and grocery shopping!

Everyday Paleo, Day 13

I woke up at 8:30 this morning. My human alarm clock didn't go off. She slept in til 9, so I had a few minutes to myself. Looked in Everyday Paleo at the menu plan for the day and danced around the kitchen.

Breakfast paleo pizza. Who doesn't love pizza for breakfast? This was really more of a glorified frittata than anything else, but I am quickly falling in love with frittatas! I will one day invent a recipe for a frittata so delicious that the only name for it will be "Ta-ta, Frittata!". Cuz it will be *snarf* gone.

Isn't it perty?
It was very satisfying! I just about skipped lunch. Lunch was leftover paleo spaghetti from yesterday. I gave Grace 1/2 a cup, but she decided after a few bites she didn't want it, so I ended up having it. Other than nibbling some homemade coconut bark throughout the afternoon, I didn't eat. Breakfast was just that filling.

Around 3:45 I looked at dinner and saw that it was supposed to go in the crock pot for 6 hours on low. Crap. Luckily there was still time to throw it together on high. Pollo con Salsa Roja. Onions, carrots, celery, chicken, and enchilada sauce. By 6, I was worried it wasn't going to be done in time. I took the chicken out and threw it in the oven. So glad I did cuz it was absolutely delicious!
Andy helped me make an avocado dip to go along with it, as suggested in the book (it also suggested serving it over salad, but I didn't see that until just now).
It was fantastic.

Andy is going to a movie with his brother. Grace is already in bed. I think I will turn in early. I recently recorded Les Mis in concert 25th anniversary edition. Should be a good watch.

Random highlite of today: I was eskimo kissing Grace & told her "I love you"
Her response: "I love you most, Mommy"
*swoon*