Primarily Primal

So yesterday I got my raw chocolate cookbook (very exciting), and today I got my coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions (my referral # is 7625207 if you ever want to try TT out). Inspired (or, honestly, just entirely desperate to get out of the stupid house), we went to Sunflower Market. I got lots of goodies. I know I should be sticking to necessities until payday, but there you have it. What's done is done. I got some hemp protein powder, chia seeds, arrowroot, almond & coconut flour, and tapioca pearls. Going to have me some tapioca pudding! I know it requires sugar, but I wonder if mashed banana wouldn't be enough flavor? Hmm...
I found a recipe for graham crackers that I'd like to make for Grace (recipe here: http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/07/26/grain-free-gluten-free-graham-cracker-recipe). Graham crackers & mac daddy butter, mmm! Mac daddy butter is my homemade chocolate macadamia nut butter, made with coconut oil, raw macadamias, and some 99% chocolate. Really tasty!

While we're on the subject of food, here are some of our recent eats. I'm having a Kentucky Derby chocolate tasting party on May 7th, and I wanted to wow everyone with homemade goodness. So I got inspired to make sweet potato chips. I got a big sweet potato and used a peeler to shaved it down into a pan of coconut oil and fried them up. OMG, THEY WERE TO DIE FOR! And yes, they lead to the picture after this one. After I fried them, I patted them dry, then tossed them in a ziploc with the DCD cocoa rub, and baked them. Outta this world, dude!

So anyway, the mind blowing awesomeness of sweet potatoes in coconut oil led me to this next inspiration. Breakfast hash! I had some leftover corned beef I needed to finish, and some organic sauerkraut. Voila! Breakfast.

I should be set until dinner, unless the draw of a raw chocolate protein smoothie from my new cookbook is too much to resist trying. Dinner tonight is bacon wrapped scallops (mine is sans bacon), with grilled zucchini & yellow squash.

And just cuz it's fun, here is some photos of Grace. These were taken after she had thoroughly enjoyed carrots & ranch. Note the ranch ALL. OVER. HER. FACE.

And me rockin' the skater tee & shorts look ;)

That's all for now. I think.

Well, okay, one more of Grace, just cuz she's epic.

Funk

The last few days I've been in a funk. Just tired and kinda cranky. Don't touch me. Don't talk to me.
Today is better. I don't know why.
Seeing Sunflower Market's ad for this week might have helped. So excited that they will have my favorite butter on sale 2/$5 (gonna stock up), strawberries 4/$5, 50% off all natural chicken, 88c for summer squash... CAN IT BE PAYDAY NOW? I wanna go shopping! I love Sunflower Market. Now if only Whole Foods or Trader Joes would come to O-Town, I'd be in heaven.

Less than 2 weeks left of Whole 30. Going to treat myself to some Fage Total and bacon May 1. I will do W30 again later this summer/early fall. Going to be even more strict. It's done me good. Today my Girls On The Run shirt, that's always run a bit small on the medium size tag it bears, isn't so snug anymore. When this happens, I convince myself that I've ruined my clothes by stretching them out. I've finally tried on this shirt so many times that it's all stretched out. That's it. That's why it fits.
For whatever reason, I freak out less when I think this.
My size 6 jeans are getting more comfortable too. They must REALLY be stretched out!

EDIT: My day just got better. I heard the mail truck coming, so Grace & I went outside to greet the mailman. I am expecting a few packages in the next couple days, but one of them came today. My Raw Chocolate Cookbook came a day early. WOOHOO! Can't wait to thumb through it and plot post-Whole 30 chocolate glee.

Recent Primal Eats & Feats

Got around to getting some pictures off my camera yesterday, and thought I'd share some recent goings on.

First of all... RIBS! A fellow Blueprinter gave me the recipe. Unfortunately, Andy accidentally burned my rack. I stomached it, and decided I deserved rib redemption. So I got another rack, and did it myself. Delicious result:

Om, nom, nom!

And just so anyone who lives outside of Utah can fully understand and appreciate the country's most bizarre weather... this picture was taken the day after a gorgeous, 70 degree, blue sky spring day.

Yeah, lucky us. Weirdest. weather. EVER! I swear it can be 80 degrees, mid-June, and snow the next day.

And of course, non primal eats (see? I'm a little bit normal)

This is my White Chocolate Wonderful Chocolate Mousse Pie. White chocolate peanut butter mascapone fluff layered with DCD chocolate mousse in a chocolate pie crust. I submitted it to the DCD recipe contest. I did not have a single bite, lick, or taste. Yeah, it was hard.

More random stuff:

Some girls dig the Jonas Brothers, others Justin Beiber. My girl's heart throb is Lightning McQueen. Cheers to the coolest 2yo who loves pirates and cars just as much as she loves ponies and princesses, and knows the entire world is hers for the taking!

Busy Bee

Yesterday ended up being a busy day. After I posted my blog, we went outside to enjoy the sunshine. Grace drew in the driveway. Then we went to the post office, and Sunflower Market. SM had grapes on sale, 77c/lb, so we got some. I also got Grace a Larabar, b/c I wasn't sure when we'd have time to stop and eat. Tried Zico coconut water too, but wasn't impressed. It was just... funky. Went to the park after that. I am still struggling with going to park. I get bored VERY easily, which means I get antsy and cranky. Was supposed to take my best friend to a doctor appointment at 2:30, and still had a couple hours to kill. Texted her with how bored I was, she said come over early, and I somehow ended up at Thanksgiving Point with Grace instead, LOL. Got her pony ride fix in, and wagon ride, petted some of the animals, and then went to my friend's house. Grace fell asleep in car. Get to friend's house, and she informs me that her appointment is at 3:30. Yay. Anyway, we get to the doctor's at 3, and I feel relieved. Friend is convinced we're too early, I tell her that we're on time. Late, to me, is the time of the appointment. On time is 15-30 mins beforehand. So we sit and talk a sec, then go in, she has her appointment, and I take her home. It's getting close to 4 now, and I need to be to hubby's work at 4:30. Thankfully it was only a few exits, so I was there 4:30. We were going to spend time with Andy's sister and her kids who were in town from California. We went to the Discovery Gateway. I was tired, and hungry, b/c I hadn't eaten since my chocolate "pudding" incident. We went to the food court, and there wasn't really anything I could eat there thanks to Whole 30. So after everyone else ate, we went to the Hansen Planetarium. It got to be close to 8, and my hunger seemed to have given up by then. Home at 8:30, put Grace to bed, I'm exhausted, in bed at 9, asleep 10:30.
So, long story short, I haven't eaten in 24 hours. Counting the minutes now until I can dig into leftover corned beef! Snarf!

Grok on, my friends.

Of Idiocy And Desperation

So you KNOW you have an addiction when you will go to any length to attain the item you are addicted to. Mine apparently is chocolate. Yesterday I went out HUNTING for chocolate that contained no sugar. I ended up going with my friend to Whole Foods at Trolley Square in SLC. I found 99% chocolate (ingredients: cacao beans & vanilla). I thought it tasted alright. The strawberry Kombucha I was nursing helped sweeten the deal. The more I nibble at this 99% monstrosity, the better it tastes. So this morning I thought I'd try to make chocolate milk. Coconut milk + 99% monster. I thought the coconut milk would make it sweet enough to drink. WRONG. So I added an egg. Cuz that helped *rolls eyes*, and then cinnamon, and nutmeg, and allspice... and almond butter... and coconut oil... and ended up with this bitter pudding THING. All the ingredients was my hoping to make it palatable. So I start dipping fruit in. Barely tolerable. I ended up pouring the majority into my heart shaped ice cube tray. Maybe they will make okay chocolates? The rest got combined with blueberries so I could quickly choke it down.
Now I want MEAT. I have shrimp defrosting & I'll cook it up in bacon grease leftover from Grace's breakfast. Needless to say, my carb count is shot for the day, and I've yet to have lunch & hang with Andy's sister and kids tonight in SLC (which will, undoubtedly, include dinner somewhere out). Ah, adventures in Primal Blueprinting! I realize now that it's not chocolate I'm after. It's sugar. So I have a small saccharine demon. Shut up. I can quit whenever I want to. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM! *Mumbles "17 days til I can have vanilla stevia"*

Obviously yesterday was a day of bravery (or idiocy, you choose), between the 99% chocolate, Kombucha (which was kinda tasty, despite the "May contain alcohol due to fermentation" warning), and also we went to Tucanos for lunch. Ah, Tucanos! Beloved Primal Blueprinter's paradise. I confess to getting out of control on the fried bananas. But here's my moment of bravery: I tried chicken hearts for the first time. It was one of those "Sure, what the heck." moments. Y'know what? I liked them! Not crazy, over the moon binging liked them, but they were pretty good. Chewy, very much like the lil' smokies sausages you can get at the grocery store. Now I am less afraid of offal and more curious. Andy, on his mission to Paraguay, ate all sorts of crazy things. He used to tell me that if it was cooked well (and you didn't think about what you were eating), it wasn't half bad.

Next grocery trip: buy offal.

I hope I've been able to make you smile (preferably giggle) today.

It's A Carb-A-Palooza!

So yesterday I picked up hubby from work and we went to Olive Garden for dinner. I had the mixed grill and enjoyed veggies for the first time in a week. My intention was to go back to meat only today, but all that delicious fruit in the fridge that I bought yesterday beckoned me. So I caved. Fresh blackberries in coconut milk, 2 hard boiled eggs, some almond butter, coconut oil, homemade chocolate... but it didn't stop there. We had to finish up the shopping today (executive couples decisions & all that), and I picked up some more macadamia nuts & other things from Good Earth. Munched on those on the way home. I also enjoyed an organic yellow mango. SO GOOD!
The most exciting part of my day-- buying goldenberry, raspberry, and a free strawberry plant at IFA. Summer is going to be berry awesome!
Tomorrow is fast Sunday, so I guess, subconsciously, I'm sort of food hoarding in my belly.
Roast chicken for dinner. Then back to the meat only grind for 1 more week. Everything tastes 1,000,000 times better when you're only having one food group and take a break from it ;)

Confessions of a Chocoholic

I am a chocoholic. I even work for Dove. Yeah, it's bad. There's chocolate in my house on a daily basis (at least my toddler always asks for dark, lol, she knows where the good stuff is). Unfortunately there is no Chocoholics Anonymous, b/c nobody wants to quit! Up until this morning, I have been able to resist their siren lure...

Today I confess to cheating on Whole 30. While out shopping today, I broke down and bought raw cacao butter (aka yummy dark-chocolate-smelling FAT). I tasted some when I got home. The aftertaste was definitely chocolate. The naughty baker in me got inspired. I went into the cupboard, grabbed my dutch cocoa powder, and coconut oil... but then I saw the remainder of my coconut manna. I tasted some. AHA! This would give it sweetness. I melted coconut manna and cacao butter in the microwave, then stirred in the cocoa powder. Taste. OMG, SUPER DARK CHOCOLATE! Like 90% or a little higher. My inner chocolatier got out of control, grabbed my heart shaped silicone ice cube tray and proceeded to pour the syrupy goodness into the compartments. It's in the freezer now. Pure, unadulterated, raw heart-shaped chocolate super food. Sugar free! Going to cheat tonight, too. Yup. Mixed grill at Olive Garden. Have been doing meat only for a week now. I DESERVE SOME @#%^ CARBS! Going to chow down on all the taters and fresh, roasted veggies. That's right, hosers. I'm cheating today, and yet broke no Whole 30 rules. AHAHAHA! I don't think I even paleo-fied chocolate (I don't think it's possible), they said nothing against coconut, or wholesome raw ingredients. My soul is already feeling better.

The day gets better. I found Popcornopolis while shopping at Harmons. I can't have any, but got some for hubby! Going to bring him some tonight as his treat for being #1 Dude in my World. He can sneak it into the movies. It's gonna be great!