Monday 14 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 12, 13, 14

Day 12:
Brekkie:  Eggs, bacon, coffee and Coconut Flour pancakes
Lunch:  Leftover spaghetti squash and meatballs
Supper:  Chicken in Romanescau sauce, sweet potatoes, beets and squash

Day 13:
Brekkie:  Coconut Flour Pancakes (see recipe above), banana, coffee
Lunch:  Last of the spaghetti squash and meatballs (it was a LARGE squash!)
Supper:  Marry Me Roast Chicken, baked sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, salad

Day 14:
Brekkie:  Hard boiled egg, coffee
Lunch:  Leftover chinese take out
Supper:  Mulligatawny soup

Ok, first things first.  The pancakes?  AMAZING!  When I looked at the ingredient list and saw all the liquid in comparison with the 1/2 c of coconut flour I thought there may have been a misprint.  But there wasn't.  The coconut flour expands and makes for an almost soft cookie dough texture with makes these pancakes fluffy and tasty.  Took a few flips to get to know how long to cook them, but they turned out amazing.  They are the new Saturday (and Sunday) favorite!

Friday 11 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 9, 10, 11

Day 9
Brekkie:  Apple and almond butter and coffee
Lunch:  Soup day at work - Chicken noodle broth with vegetables
Supper:  Spaghetti squash with chicken meatballs

Day 10
Brekkie:  Grapefruit and black coffee
Lunch:  Leftover spaghetti squash and meatballs
Supper:  Quick Chinese Takeout (from the cookbook Everyday Paleo For Families)

Day 11
Brekkie:  Apple and black coffee
Lunch:  Avocado, green tea (wasn't feeling well today....)
Supper:  Slow cooked roast beef, sweet potatoes and spinach salad

Recipe of the week for me has to go to Wednesdays Spaghetti Squash with Chicken Meatball Sauce from the cookbook Everyday Paleo for Families.  I'd never cooked spaghetti squash before so it was an experiment in the kitchen (which the hubs was kind of nervous about), but it turned out great.  The only person who had qualms with it was the wee dude.  He said the spaghetti was 'too hard', as he's used to the soft regular noodles that we used to have.  Well, get used to these buddy!  LOL!

The fave of the week for the hubs goes to the Quick Chinese takeout.  Who knew that 2 ingredients to be so well recieved when you add some seasoning!  Seriously.  Ground beef with shredded cabbage!  Add some chinese 5 spice, some ginger, some coconut oil & aminos and he went back for seconds!

Oh, and the gingerbread cookies?  They turned out a'ight...if I make them again I'll double the spices.  I like my gingerbread spicey, and these ninjabread men were not.  If you're a gingerbread men conniseur then you need these...seriously...

Tuesday 8 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 7 & 8

Day 7
Brekkie:  Grapefruit and black coffee
Lunch:  2 apples and 2 tbps of almond butter, handfull of baby carrots
Snack:  Green tea
Supper:  Paleo Joe

Day 8
Brekkie:  Grapefruit and black coffee
Lunch:  2 apples 2 tbsp of almond butter (what can I say....I was too lazy to make myself lunch again!)
Snack:  3 paleo chocolate maple cookies, 1 banana (ya...binge...)
Supper:  Asian baked chicken, spinach salad with avocado and lemon apple thyme dressing

Well, day 6 I said I was going to make something for supper that I didnt actually make.  Instead I made a 'Peanut' Sesame Stirfry.  It was so yummy and the hubs even commented that he felt 'full' afterwards.  Thats been his one complaint about the Paleo plan.  He works in construction and is constantly moving all day long and sometimes the Paleo plan meals arent what he's used to to keep him 'full'.  I used a precut bag of stir fry veggies with a few extra carrots, celery stalks and broccoli florets thrown in.  There was so much that the hubs had enough to take for lunch the next day!

We've been on this transformation for a week now and although the noticeable changes are minimal, they are still apparent.  I'm sleeping better, my skin is clearer and I have more energy.  On my way home today I was thinking 'how would my body react if I had a slice of pizza right now?'.  There probably wouldn't be a huge nasty reaction as of now, and maybe it was just a cheese craving talking, but it didn't really appeal to me to find out!  LOL!

Now off to try my hand at making these bad boys!  Can't wait to see how they turn out!

:)
Foodie Mama


Sunday 6 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 4, 5, 6

Day 4:
Brekkie:  Grapefruit & coffee
Lunch:  2 apples dipped in almond butter
Snack:  Green tea and carrots
Supper:  Naked burgers (no bun), sweet potatoes and salad

Day 5:
Brekkie:  Eggs, bacon and coffee
Lunch:  Tuna, salad and avocado
Snack:  1/4 c mixed nuts
Supper:  Steak, steamed broccoli, sweet potatoes, salad
Dessert:  apples and berries

Day 6:
Brekkie:  Scrambled eggs and coffee
Lunch:  Greek salad (no cheese, no creamy dressing) grilled chicken breast
Snack:  handful of mixed nuts and green tea
Supper:  coconut crusted chicken fingers and veggies

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day around here.  We were looking forward to spending some final time with the hubs bro before he had to go back home, but the brosky came down with that nasty stomach bug!  So no KEG for us last night.  To make up for it, I searched online for ways that restaurants cook their steaks and I think ours turned out pretty good at home.  Not as good as someone else doing it for you, but still pretty good!

Today (day 6) was a true test.  Our church is currently holding its Sunday gatherings in a movie theatre attached to the mall.  We had some running around to do afterwards in that area of the city so going home for supper was not happening.  It was our first time eating out while on the paleo challenge and I think we did pretty good.  Before we left the house we asessed what restaurants were in the food court and came to the conclusion that the greek place was probably the safest to eat at.  I ordered us 2 greek salads with grilled chicken, no feta cheese and no creamy dressing.  They were able to dress the salads with an oil and vinegar dressing and it was delicious!

With the hubs getting ready for the week ahead at work, I'm currently standing in our kitchen getting things ready to make another batch of paleocookies.net 's chocolate maple cookies.  I'm thinking of making a double batch.  If all goes well I'll post pics on tomorrows blog.

Eat well!
foodie mama :)_

Thursday 3 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 2 & 3

Day 2
Brekkie:  Paleo Energy Bar, coffee
Lunch:  Mulligatawny
Snack:  green tea (steeped)
Supper:  Salad, avocado, paleo energy bar

Day 3
Brekkie:  Paleo energy bar, coffee
Lunch:  smoothie & carrots
Snack:  green tea (steeped), carrots
Supper:  grilled flank steak, steamed broccoli, salad
Dessert:  sliced apple dipped in almond butter

So far we've been doing pretty good.  My husband asked me tonight if I noticed any difference.  I think my skin is brighter and clearer and I'm noticing a bit more energy.  When I asked him he said besides his back pain subsiding (which is apparently common when you cut the wheat) the only other thing he's noticed is that he's hungry.  LOL!  He's also used to taking cookies to work every day (somewhat healthy ones that I would make from scratch), so we decided to find a recipe online for paleo cookies.

www.paleocookies.net is the site we came across!  We made the chocolate maple cookies and they are awesome!

Tuesday 1 January 2013

31 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 1

Tore it UP in the kitchen today.  I feel as though I've spent the entire day cooking, stirring, baking and mixing.  If you're not into cooking things from scratch, then the Paleo diet probably isn't for you. Thankfully my kitchen is one of my 'happy places' (Banff/Canmore and Siesta Key Beach being a few others).  Here's the rundown of what was created and consumed today:

Breakfast:  Egg, bacon and black coffee (simple)
Lunch:  Tuna 'Tacos'  (tuna in a lettuce leaf topped with cucumbers and tomatoes).  
Dessert:  Paleo Energy Bars (from the cookbook '500 Paleo Recipes' from Dana Carpender)
Mid afternoon:  Steeped green tea
Supper:  Crockpot rotisserie chicken (recipe courtesy of Heidi Dean), green salad, sweet potato chips (sweet potato slices tossed in coconut oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.  baked in the oven). 

The challenge truly comes tomorrow.  At work we've got something we call 'Soup Club'.  Every Wednesday throughout the winter one person is designated to bring soup for the members of our soup club.  Well tomorrow is my day and seeing as though I'm on the paleo challenge, guess what they're getting?  Yep, paleo soup!  I found a recipe in my cookbook for a paleo Mulligatawny.  Currently its simmering on my stove right now, and if it tastes half as good as it smells.....ooooooh boy!  Even the hubs commented on how good it smelled (and he doesn't like different spices!  lol!).  

Sidenote:  when I went grocery shopping yesterday I thought my bill was going to be through the roof because of all the stuff I needed to start this paleo journey.  I had to buy coconut flour ($5.99 for a small bag), but that was nothing compared to the almond meal/flour I needed to purchase for the energy bars....$15.99 for 453 grams!  But I had made my list and stuck to it.  While I was at the checkout, dreading the impending number I was pleasantly surprised when she told me my total.  When I subtracted the fact I bought a pair of jeans for the wee one, a few Christmas items that were 75% off AND a basic food processor, my bill came to pretty much the same as I would've spent any other week!  

So yep, I guess today went pretty well.  On to tomorrow!