Archive for ‘Food’

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March 22, 2012

How Quickly We (read: I) Forget Food {Quality} Matters

It’s been a long while since I’ve been in the blogging mood. I tried to post a bit last month, and if you read those posts you would know I’ve been working through some personal *ish.

Truth is, I’m pretty sure it was only going to be a matter of time before some tough blows added up and I would need some professional help. The thing I was wondering is why now? Why eighteen months after my preemie was born and my daughter moved in with her Father? Why almost two years into gainful employment after a painful stretch of unemployment?

I’ve decided three things made my crazy start when it did:

1. Making the switch to Paleo in January 2011 saved me from my own sort of emotional crazy only temporarily until I slacked off (in addition to healing some real physical health stuff).

2. Eating lower quality food when I started to reevaluate our budget (not grassfed, etc) made me care less about what I was eating (and made it less palatable in some ways).

3. Getting lax on eating Paleo over the Holidays because I cared less about the quality of my food (see #2) and because I felt like the weirdo that couldn’t “relax” and “live a little!” at family functions resulted in hormonal imbalances and strong (bad) food cravings to combat them.

Based only on what I’ve read on the interwebs, I’m pretty confident that I’m hormone sensitive. Eating conventionally raised meats messes with me. It just does. And once I start feeling off, I make bad food decisions. I was probably still 80%+ Paleo from December to February, but that 20% was filled in with some nasty stuff. No bueno.

I’m on the road to feeling better thanks to a few smart decisions, including seeking professional help via a therapist and babysitter, and laying off the coffee (which I’m pretty sure was making me bitchy)! After putting my gym clothes on for the first time in a month and seeing my less-svelte self, I had a realization: my food has got to get back to the good stuff. Not just eating “paleo,” but high quality food. My health is worth it*.

The other day I downloaded the 21 Day Sugar Detox from Balanced Bites. Kinda like these Paleo Gods, I like the idea of following a program. Diane’s Sugar detox is well laid out and has really simple recipes. I’m gearing up for it now, but I’m going to “officially” get started with a new group at the beginning of April so I can experience the whole group effort and motivation thing. I’m excited!

So yes, this post was written with one foot in my mouth. I realized I said “Paleo on a budget is possible” and I’m kinda back tracking. For anyone wondering, we did manage
to save a fair amount of money when I was being super strict about our food budget. I don’t plan to go crazy and have no food budget, but when I’ve done some additional math to determine a smart budget that allows us higher quality food, I will post on that. In the meantime, our first order from US Wellness Meats arrived yesterday, and I’m jazzed to make lunch soon!

Thanks for being patient these last couple of months… Mojo coming back slowly but surely! :)

Posted in Food, Mommying | 3 Comments »

January 18, 2012

Recipe: Paleo Sweet and Sour Stir-Fry

Ingredients:
1 pound meatballs or ground beef, browned
1 can pineapple chunks, juice reserved
1/2 bag frozen onion and bell pepper blend (or roughly 1/2 fresh onion diced and one bell pepper diced)

Sauce:
1/3 C cider vinegar or coconut vinegar
1/4 C Honey, Grade B Maple Syrup or Palm Sugar
2 Tablespoons Gluten-Free Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoons Gelatin (optional, but will make the sauce thicker. I don’t mind the sauce thin though!)

Method:
Brown meatballs or ground beef. Remove meat from pan. Sauté onion and pepper. Add pineapple and sauce ingredients. Heat to boiling then reduce heat to thicken. Add meat back to skillet for 5-10 minutes to let flavors blend. Serve over Super Simple Cauliflower Rice. Enjoy!

Posted in Food | 2 Comments »

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January 10, 2012

Recipe: Sweet Potato Spinach Curry

Recipe: Sweet Potato Spinach Curry

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (you could also use cubed chicken breast/thigh- it is delicious either way)

2-3 cups fresh spinach or kale
-or-
1/2 bag of frozen chopped spinach or kale

1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables
-or-
3 cups of your favorite fresh stir fry veggies

1 tbs curry powder

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
-or-
2 cups cooked, mashed sweet potato

Balsamic Vinegar to taste

Method:
Brown meat in skillet over medium high heat. Remove meat from skillet; reserve fat if using grass fed, or drain pan and add two tbs coconut oil. Add fresh or frozen vegetables to skillet and sauté vegetables in fat until soft.

If using fresh sweet potato (not mashed), reduce heat to medium low, cover pan, and cook until potato is desired level of tenderness.

If using mashed sweet potato, add to vegetables an reduce heat to medium low.

Pour meat back into skillet and stir to combine. Add curry powder (1tbs more or less to taste) and let flavors combine for 5-10 minutes.

When ready to serve, drizzle balsamic over individual servings and add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

This recipe was inspired in part by this recipe.

Posted in Food, Minimalism, paleo | 2 Comments »

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January 2, 2012

Recipe: Paleo Ground Beef Curry

This recipe was buried in a post from a few months ago, so here it is again in an easier to read format.  Enjoy!

Recipe: Paleo Ground Beef Curry

Ingredients:

-1 lb ground beef
- 1 package frozen stir-fry vegetables (I find the broccoli stir-fry is usually the one I can count on to be legume-free)
- 1 package frozen spinach
- scoop of yellow curry paste whisked with coconut cream and a bit of water to taste.

Method:

Brown the ground beef. If using grass-fed beef, remove the meat from the pan but reserve the fat to stir-fry the veggies.  If using grain-fed beef, drain the fat and rinse the meat in a colander. Then add a tablespoon or two of coconut oil to your pan. Now you should have a pan with beef fat or coconut oil. Add the frozen stir-fry veggies and spinach and sauté until cooked. While the veggies cook, whisk together curry paste, coconut cream, and water. Make as much sauce as you like. I usually end up making 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup per pound of meat. Add sauce to vegetables, then return meat to pan. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 5-10 minutes to let the flavors blend.

If cooking this for a freezer meal (OAMC) allow to cool, then spoon into freezer safe containers and freeze. I usually take this out of the freezer a full twenty-four hours before I want to eat it, then microwave to warm. Super simple!

 

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December 19, 2011

Traveling with Toddlers: How to Enjoy your (Holiday) Vacation with Young Children

Last year, we had a six-month-old preemie, so we didn’t go anywhere in the winter. We politely declined invitations for out-of-state holiday celebrations and family gatherings mostly because we didn’t want to expose our littlest guy to germs, but there was a small sigh of relief. Having an excuse to avoid driving 5-6 hours in the car with multiple young children, and having to drive from obligation to obligation as a sleep-deprived-horrible-mother felt kinda nice.

This year we don’t have an excuse to stay home, and to be honest, I was kind of wishing we did. At least until last weekend.

This past weekend, we decided to take a quick trip out of state to see some extended family that we haven’t seen in far too long. Initially, we opted out of the trip because we would have to drive up Friday night and come home Sunday afternoon. Driving for 5-6 hours for less than 36 hours of family time sounded crazy. It. Was. Crazy. But it was awesome and totally worth it. This time, I think we gave ourselves an advantage. We started the trip with our eyes wide open….saying to ourselves:

“Hey, this is crazy. We will not get enough sleep. The kids will not be on their regular schedule. There will be food we know isn’t healthy. Our kids will want it. It will be okay. Getting to see our kids with family and enjoy time with other adults is worth it.”

Well, all of the above happened. I tried to bring some healthier food options, which the kids did eat, but they also ate all of the other food. I cringed a little, but explained why we don’t usually eat this way, and that it may make them feel a little bit sick. I think as they age, they will be more in tune with their bodies and opt-out of the junk food, but at 4, 2 and 1, I forced myself to not freak out.

The trip was great! So great, that we decided to go visit different relatives out-of-state for Xmas even though we were originally planning on staying home.

With that said, traveling this weekend for Xmas will be our third weekend in a row of travel. Somehow, I have learned more in these back-to-back trips than all of the traveling we’ve done in the past year. I guess that’s probably because traveling so much to different states every time requires a plan to not loose my mind!

Five Ways to Mitigate Stress When Traveling with Kids (especially if you happen to be a Paleo Minimalist):

1. Consider Food Before You Go.

If you are eating Paleo or anything different from SAD, try to bring healthy snacks and even healthy meal options if possible. If you are visiting family and you feel comfortable, ask if you can cook and/or buy some groceries. Recently, I offered to make eggs for everyone for breakfast instead of the sugary cereal and milk that was being offered. Everyone wanted eggs and appreciated the home-cooked meal. Win-Win.

2. Stagger Kids Bedtimes

If you are sharing a room with your kids, or your kids are sharing a room with each other (and they don’t usually), stagger bedtimes. This is one we’re working on during our next trip. The novelty of being in a new place and being in a bedroom together is more than little (tired) minds can handle. Don’t make the mistake I made and assume that they will pass out because it is past their normal bedtime and they are exhausted. Even if your kids usually go to sleep at the same time, try to stagger sleep by at least 20 minutes for each kid.

3. Know When Your Kids Travel Best

For us, that means getting in the car between 8am and 10am. Maybe your kids travel well at night…they sleep in the car, you love the silence, and you can function on less sleep than usual. That last part is critical. If traveling at night means you don’t get enough sleep to be a good parent the next day, don’t do it! If you can’t avoid traveling at night, try to do it on the way home from vacation. Having your regular routine, food, beds, etc, makes it easier for everyone to have a good day when you’re overtired from travel.

4. Pack Light

No, you do not need twice as many pairs of underwear as number of days in your trip. Making umpteen trips to the car to bring in luggage or trying to bring way too many suitcases to the airport just invites stress, accidents and lost luggage. For a great article on what clothes you should pack, check out this one. Remember, you can always do laundry. I promise, throwing a load of laundry into your in-law’s machine is totally worth it. My favorite thing? Washing the laundry before heading home so I don’t come home to piles of dirty laundry…more on strategies for returning from your vacation stress-free another time ;)

5. Chill Out

A few days (or weeks) will not ruin your life. Don’t stress out if your kid wants the sugary cereal (cringe) like all five of her cousins. Quietly explain why “we don’t usually eat this way,” and try to let it go. If your kids can’t nap at their usual time every day, just aim for a regular schedule most days. You get the picture :) .

I love that I am writing this post the morning before our third weekend in a row of traveling. What I think is hilarious is we still have one more weekend of travel ahead after this one. I’m going try to take my own advice and chill out and enjoy it. What about you?

Posted in Food, Minimalism, Mommying | 2 Comments »

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December 6, 2011

Recipe: Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Coconut Flour Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

Coconut Flour Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

6 Eggs

1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Tsp Cinnamon

2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/2 Cup Water *or 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk *or 1/4 Heavy Cream + 1/4 Cup Water (less or more to desired consistency)

This makes 15-18 pancakes using 1/3 measuring cup as the scoop.  I use an electric griddle (heated to 325 Degrees), so greasing the griddle is not necessary.  If you are using a regular skillet, however, you probably want to grease it with coconut oil or grass-fed butter. I usually eat these with grass-fed butter (no syrup), but the kids enjoy them with some Grade B Maple Syrup and occasionally Primal Whipped Cream. Enjoy!

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December 5, 2011

Recipe: Paleo Chicken Nuggets- Take 2

My poor kids and their texture issues.  Lizzy does well, but she wasn’t a Vegan from birth.  Carl does okay now because he is four and a really sweet kid that is willing to try a lot of different things.  Champ eats almost anything, but he has been eating Paleo since he started with table foods and he is only eighteen months.  Jude, on the other hand, is at a really rough age (2 years, 9 months), birth position (middle boy), and has the distinct disadvantage of being Vegan since birth until roughly a year ago.  His texture issues are profound.  Any regular meat sends him into fits and screaming.  Any type of chicken nugget, however, he will generally inhale.  Hence, my obsession with paleo chicken nuggets and attempts at making them healthier, bit by bit.  This recipe sneaks in a few extra veggies, too!

Paleo Chicken Nuggets 2 (Baked or Fried)

Ingredients:

-2 Cups cooked chicken breast or thigh, shredded

-2 Eggs (if you use chicken breast, which tends to be drier, you may want to add in a third egg)

- Scant 1/4 coconut flour

- Coconut Oil

-1 Cup bagged coleslaw (chopped finely if your kids have texture issues like mine)

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients and mix well with hands. Form into small nugget shapes (makes about 16 nuggets).  You can bake or fry (see below), but they are fantastic fried!

Bake at 400 Degrees for 20 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet (flip halfway through if you want, not required)

-or-

Pan Fry in coconut oil at medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes each side.

Enjoy!

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Posted in Food, paleo | 5 Comments »

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December 4, 2011

Recipe: Simple Paleo Meatloaf Topping or Ketchup

Hands-down, the best Paleo Meatloaf Recipe out there is Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo Meatloaf. Tonight, I made it with half pork and half ground beef and it was fantastic! If it ain’t broke, don’t fi x it, right? What about a simple addition? When I first made Sarah’s recipe, I was really missing the ketchup topping my Mom used to add to our meatloaf growing up (gross, I know).  I tried something new and I think it is WAY better than ketchup or any other meatloaf topping out there.  Two ingredients.  Can’t beat that, right? Enjoy!

Paleo Meatloaf Topping or Simple Paleo Ketchup

Ingredients:

- 6 oz can of Tomato Paste

- 1 to 2 Tbs grade B Maple Syrup

-Water to desired consistency (if making ketchup, I recommend adding a few tablespoons of water.  If this is simply a meatloaf topping, just skip the water)

- Salt to taste (optional)

Method:

Dump tomato paste in reusable container and mix in maple syrup.  Spread on top of meatloaf in final minutes of cooking or spread on slices of meatloaf once served.

Posted in Food, paleo | 2 Comments »

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December 4, 2011

Paleo vs Four Hour Body: Part 2

As I said in my last post comparing the Paleo Diet and Four Hour Body (4HB), the diets are very similar. The biggest difference, in my opinion, is the consumption of legumes in Four Hour Body. However, another difference is scheduling a binge or “cheat day.”

Four Hour Body:

Tim Ferris stresses the importance of the cheat day for both psychological and physical benefits. Psychologically, he believes planning a cheat day leaves dieters feeling less deprived, likely resulting in sticking to the Four Hour Body Diet long-term. Physically, the high calorie binge day is said to prevent the body from freaking out and trying to retain fat like it would have in our caveman days to prevent starvation due to food scarcity ( I know, I’m oh-so-scientific!). We all know food is not a scarcity for most Americans, and if you are reading this post, you probably fall into the over-abundance category like me. That said, as advanced as we think we are, our brains are still evolving and some of us may need workarounds like these more than others.

Paleo:

You would be hard-pressed to find someone in the Paleo community that encourages a planned cheat day. Most acknowledge the potential need to reset the internal wiring every so many days on a regular basis by increasing healthy carbohydrate and fat intake (therefore upping caloric intake), particularly for those that may have been on a low-ish carb Paleo or Ketogenic Paleo Diet. Otherwise, I found the general consensus among the Paleo-Powers-That-Be to be the following: You gotta be super strict for at least 30 days. This will reset many of those cravings anyway. Then, if you want an occasional cheat, try to make it Paleo-ish or at the very least, keep it Gluten-Free.

So…Cheat Day or No Cheat Day? Is there a clear winner?

Four Hour Body Husband:
Hubby has been working the 4HB diet for almost a month. There have been roughly four cheat days. He has kept the suggested Binge List of cheat foods during the week and jotted down a note on his iPad or iPhone when a craving has hit, and then indulged in items from the Binge List on his cheat day. The only problem for BH has been having the family around, because up until this past week, he had his cheat day on a Saturday; he does not want to demonstrate bad food habits to our kids (I agree) and I don’t like having that junk around either. He switched his Cheat Day to a weekday last week, and while it’s a challenge getting all the specific junk he wants, the vending machines and cafeteria at the office combined with various fast food chains along the way home have worked out just peachy. His results? Still going strong and has consistently lost weight and body fat. The cheat days seem to be working for him and they actually do make it easier for him to stay on track. As a side note, he has not experienced GI upset from binge days (if he did, I’m sure he would feel differently about them).

Paleo Wife:
I have a confession to make- I participated in TWO cheat days! For me, that only meant donuts and ice cream (only, ha ha), but still…I totally ate gluten-filled-donuts. They. Were. Delicious. Unlike my 4HB hubby, however, I did experience GI upset, and had huge cravings hit during those two weeks and indulged mid-week during more than one occasion. It probably goes without saying, but cheat days do not work for me. I know the jury is still out on reprogramming cravings and what not, and maybe ingesting large amounts of white sugar and other nasty crap does not leave others fighting against their own brain like a crack addict , but it totally does for me. White sugar is my crack. There. I said it.

The Verdict:

Cheat Days Work… for some people! Once again, our little experiment at home has proven that what works for some doesn’t work for others. My husband has indulged in cheat days once per week as a 4HBer and it totally works for him. He has also been consuming legumes at almost every meal and that is working too!

Legumes and Cheat Days are officially a no-go for this Paleo Mom. I indulge in Paleo treats sometimes and I’m good with that. My favorite new completely guilt-free Primal treat? Primal Hot Chocolate….this is some seriously yummy stuff!

Posted in Food | 2 Comments »

December 4, 2011

Recipe: Primal Hot Chocolate

Now that it’s getting chilly here in New York, I really crave something warm to drink at night.  Tea is okay, but it doesn’t always do the trick.  This primal treat is totally okay every night (at least IMHO) because I usually have mine completely unsweetened.  If you like yours sweet, just add maple syrup (as suggested), palm sugar, or raw honey. Enjoy!

Primal Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

-3/4 Mug Water (already boiling or fill with cold water and microwave 90 seconds)

-1 Tbs Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

-1 Tbs Unflavored Grass-fed Gelatin
(optional, but helps make it rich and adds some awesome nutrients)

-1 to 2 Tbs Heavy Cream or Coconut Milk (full fat coconut milk will make it creamier, but regular coconut milk will work too, especially if using gelatin)

- dash cinnamon (optional)

- dash salt (optional)

- splash grade B Maple Syrup (optional- I only add this if I want something sweet, but if you like really dark chocolate *think 85-90%* you will NOT need sweetener

Method:

Start with hot water or microwave cold water directly in mug (should be pretty much boiling). If you’re using gelatin, add it first and stir well to remove lumps. Add cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until well combined. Add heavy cream or coconut milk, stir, and top with a dash of cinnamon.

Posted in Food, paleo | 4 Comments »

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