New Recipes

Day 15 ~ Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I've tried 2 new recipes!  Last night with our grass fed beef brats on the grill, we had Mashed Cauliflower from The Paleo Mom.  Neither one of us was impressed with it, BUT... in it's defense, I didn't use "traditional chicken broth" (more on that in a minute*) and I forgot to drain it before I started mashing it!  So... I will try it again.  But not for a while. :) 

I also made the blueberry cucumber smoothie from yesterday's post this morning.  It was a little too "cucumbery" and it made A LOT.  I added about tablespoon of honey to sweeten it up (I DID taste it first to see if it even needed it).  I will probably make this again, but with only one cucumber which will reduce the cucumber taste and the overall amount of smoothie that it makes.  It was very "refreshing" and would be perfect on a hot summer day.

*About my chicken "broth".  I often buy those little 5lb chickens when they are on sale and toss them in the crockpot.  It's really simple, just clean the chicken, season it and toss it in.  You don't have to add anything to the crockpot with it (although sometimes I throw carrots and celery in just for fun!)  The chicken is always moist and delicious.  This leave about 2 cups of liquid (chicken juice?) in the crockpot which I sometimes use to make soup or gravy.  Last time I just poured it into a plastic dish with a lid and froze it for later use.  This is what I used in our Mashed Cauliflower last night. 

Tonight I'm putting a new twist on an old favorite!  Will post pix and recipe tomorrow!

Blueberry Cucumber Smoothie

Totally going to try this!!!!!

http://paleodietlifestyle.com/blueberry-cucumber-smoothie/

Going grocery shopping after work...  can't wait to try this!

a few of my favorite things...

Day 14 ~ Tuesday, April 10th 2012

One of my favorite things on earth is ranch dressing!  Of course there are recipes for homemade paleo ranch dressings/dips!  It looks like I will have to master the paleo mayonnaise first... Here are some recipes that I found!

http://www.paleotable.com/2011/01/paleo-ranch-dressing.html?m=1

http://www.fivestarpaleo.com/2011/02/fresh-ranch-di/

http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/02/recipe-paleo-mayo-and-ranch-dip.html?m=1 

I will post on here when I try it out! 

My first day without using My Fitness Pal (yesterday) felt like coming down from a crack binge.  I admit, there were SEVERAL times throughout the day that I was tempted to go ahead and enter all my food and exercise.  I think I'm obsessed!  I especially wanted to enter the 2 miles I walked at lunch and the 1.3 miles I walked after work!  I love to brag and feel good about exercise :)

Health and Holidays

Days 10 thru 13

I'll make this quick.  The last 4 days have been sucky.  I spent Wednesday night and Thursday writhing in pain.  I had a colonoscopy on Friday (the Demerol was nice!)  Saturday was a bit better and Sunday was ok.  Of course, Sunday being Easter, I over-ate and even splurged and had some pie and ice cream!  I did fill up on vegetables, deviled eggs and ham as well! 

I look forward to getting back on track today.  I have decided to take a break from using My Fitness Pal for this week.  I need to concentrate on EATING THE RIGHT FOODS and getting my health in order.  I want to try "freezer cooking", so I looked up some good Paleo Crock Pot Recipes this weekend.  I haven't looked too closely at them, but bookmarked the following sites:

30 Nights of Paleo Crock Pot Meals

PaleoPot

Paleo Secrets

Reflections and Corrections

Day 9 ~ Wednesday, April 4

In a previous post called Introduction, I showed off my fancy pie chart in My Fitness Pal and talked about percentages of calories from fat, carbs & protein.  I should mention, those guidelines are more Zone Diet, than Paleo.  Most Paleos don't count calories (or carbs...etc.).  I did find one guideline that states that you should eat a gram of protein for every pound that you weigh (daily).  I also found something stating that about 75% of your daily carlories should be fat.  So... I should probably just throw away My Fitness Pal and just EAT.  Or I might go crazy trying to "eat right"!  I still have an addiction to my scale and will probably continue to use My Fitness Pal as a "food journal" so that I can see where I am making improvements...etc.

In yesterday's post I mentioned that everyone's interpretation of Paleo is different.  So here's what paleo means to me (Right now, my views/opinions are subject to change!):

• It means eating whole, natural, unprocessed foods of a high quality, rather than processed, unnatural, low quality foods.
• It means not drinking "crap".  In other words, no soda, sugared teas, fruit juices (other than the occasional organic stuff), and limiting my alcohol intake (special occassions only!)
• It means knowing about and caring about where my food comes from.
• It means trying new vegetables and fruits often!
• It means eating so that I feel good and have optimum health.

ps... I had a teeny tiny bit of brown sugar today!  I was dying for some oatmeal... :) 

First Week!

So, yesterday marks a week since "day 1".  It's not a week of me eating "strict paleo", but it's a week of me educating myself more, and making big strides to be "more paleo".  Through my research I have found that what it means to be "paleo" differs from person to person to person.  So this blog should be called "My Path to MY Paleo" :)

Here are a few things I would like to note (and some I just want to brag about):

• After only a few days of not consuming artificial sweeteners, I have NO sugar cravings.  Trust me, I've been tested!  I made an entire batch of cake pops without so much as licking my fingers!  I am still eating some sweet foods, such as fruits, berries and honey, but I don't crave anything sweet!  This is AWESOME!
• This born-and-raised-in-the-dairy-state girl left the cheese off of her burger last night (and the bun of course)!  I am still on the fence about whether to include dairy in my diet or not.  Some people say they have seen the best results without it and others are "paleo plus dairy".  I will see...  Either way, the grass fed beef that I have been getting is so damned tasty, it needs no cheese!
• I did add a tablespoon of this amazing local honey that I got to my smoothie yesterday and it was delish.  If you look closely at the photo of the ingredients in the blender, you might be able to see the golden deliciousness of the honey...

Experiments

Day 6 ~ Sunday, April 1
Today I made my first frittata. I used bacon & Spinach and being a girl who was born and raised in the dairy state, I topped it with cheddar cheese. My husband turned his nose up when I told him what I was making. He even said that "eggs and spinach don't go together". He liked it. :)


I could not for the life of me get this photo to rotate.  So, cock your head to the right when viewing it, please :p



I also made my own vinnegarette dressing. It's a little sweet and "wangy" for my taste, but I can blend in nore ingredients before I use it again.  I purchased organic extra virgin olive oil and organic balsamic vinegar and added some other items that I had in the kitchen using this recipe.

Yesterday we went to a movie. I am a sucker for movie theater popcorn and I didn't resist. I did, however, forgo the soda for a bottle of water! Go me! Also, on the way to the theater, Hubby drove through Dairy Queen and got ice cream. I resisted :). I am also making a double batch of cake pops this week. So far I have baked the cakes, blended them with frosting and not tasted a single bit of it! Not even a lick off my fingers. I really think that not using artificial sweeteners has given me more will power over sweets. And it hasn't even been a week yet!