Last Sunday, we made mussels (with hard cider and bacon) and served with rutabega and sweet potato fries and some sausage.
Thursday night before going to bed we put a pork shoulder in the slow cooker to have for dinner on Friday. We were planning to do the second CrossFit Open first thing Saturday morning so we knew we needed to get a good meal on Friday night. We had pulled pork, sweet potato fries and a salad. Yum!
We made a salad tonight with a bunch of stuff we had in our fridge and some leftover salmon from Sunday night. Highlights include bacon (because it’s always a highlight), a soft-boiled egg and Tessamaes Zesty Ranch Dressing.
Just a quick post showcasing some of the tasty treats that we made this weekend:
Saturday afternoon, we made some quacamole. It’s pretty simple…smash (can’t think of a more technical term) a couple cloves garlic, a chopped jalepeno and salt in bottom of molcajete. Add avacados and smash some more. Garnish with chopped cilantro and tomatoes. We sliced some carrots to dip into the gauc.
For dinner on Saturday, we made Italian Sausage with Peppers and Onions following this recipe.
First thing Sunday morning, we made coffee. One of my new favorite coffee drinks is a coconut milk americano. Pretty simple: warm coconut milk and water in a sauce pan and pour over two shots of espresso. Enjoy the rich, thick deliciousness. I like making mine really hot so it lasts a long time.
We decided to make a morning treat and baked scones. I had found this recipe a while ago and have been looking for the right day to try it - and today was the day! We made them with orange and cranberries. Plus bacon and scrambled eggs made a full breakfast =). (Note: these scones didn’t make it the whole day…probably a good reason not to make these too often!)
For an afternoon snack, I made some sweet potato chips. Pretty simple: 1) slice sweet pototoes thin (I used our mandeline slicer), 2) heat coconut oil in frying pan over med-high eat, 3) cook sweet potatoes in batches until lighty browned, 4) place cooked chips on paper towels to aborb excess oil, 5) sprinkle with salt, 6) ENJOY!
Sunday dinner we made Braised Salmon in Pinot Noir and Mashed Cauliflower and Parships. The salmon turned out well and vegetables were really good too. If I made the mashed vegetables again, I’d swap out the nutmug for something else - perhaps black pepper or chives? The nutmeg would probably be good if pairing with the orange chicken from the link.
And for the FINAL treat of the day, we put our new kitchen toy to work and made pumpkin ice cream from Paleo Ice Cream. We probably went a little overboard with all the treats today, but I was really in the mood to make a lot of tasty things so I went for it =).
As you read about Paleo eatting (or likely many other ways of healthy eatting), you’ll learn that planning and being prepared is essential: plan your week of meals ahead, cook for the week on the weekends, pack snacks to make sure that you always have healthy options on hand, etc. As I explore how to eat the way I want to eat day-after-day and on-the-go, I am learning the necessity of being prepared. This month presents a particular challenge for me with three trips for work when I’m traveling 2-3 days of three consecutive weeks. So what am I doing? Doing my best to plan ahead and be prepared. I’m packing my breakfasts for each day plus some snacks.
Breakfast Casseroles are simple to make and pack easily. For my trip last week, I followed this recipe, substituting chorizo for the ground beef and skipping the spices (since chorizo had enough of it’s own spice). I also used 50/50 sweet potato and rutebega. This week, I experimented a little bit more and used 1 lb of grass-fed beef and 1/2 lb of italian sausage. For vegetables, I used onions, kale, spinach and sun-dried tomotoes. For seasoning, I used red pepper flakes and herbs de provance.
Onions and kale:
With beef and italian sausage:
Everything in the pan, except the eggs:
Done!
Snacks Here are a few things: Homemade granola, we’re experimenting to find the best recipe for us, but started with this recipe. Jerky. Carrots. Pistachios.
Quick post with some pictures of food and links to recipes.
Cod “Enchiladas” We followed Sarah Fargoso’s recipe with no modifications. We served it on top of some shredded and braised cabbage. I’ve been trying to think of new ways to incorporate fish easily into our meals. This was made with frozen cod and it turned out great! It’s not the most attractive meal, but it tasted great.
Brownies & Ice Cream!!!! Believe it or not, these are 100% Paleo. Definitely a treat because they have a fair about of sugar (honey) in them. Brownie recipe is from Civilized Caveman. I just discovered his blog recently and he definitely has some great stuff. Ice cream recipe came from Paleo Ice Cream: 31 Healthy Recipes for the Primal Sweet Tooth.
I found this recipe for pancakes a little while back and have been dying to try it. We tried this morning and the pancakes were so simple and turned out great (we’ve had less than good success with other paleo pancake recipes in the past). Jon even said we could probably serve these to people without telling them they aren’t ‘normal’ pancakes!
We paired these pancakes with some breakfast sausage and sunny side up eggs for a Sunday morning brunch. We topped the pancakes with some grass fed butter and delicious homemade maple syrup from my brother, who lives in central Maine.
So, what’s this butter coffee thing about? It’s pretty simple: butter + coffee = butter coffee! Why? Because it’s delicious. And because as you start to reduce your carb and sugar intake, it’s really important to up your intake of quality fats to keep you satisfied, full and energized.
You can experiment with how you want to make your butter coffee. I keep mine pretty simple with just grass-fed butter and coffee. Others add coconut milk, coconut oils and other things. Here is an example of a slightly more complex butter coffee.
Here’s how I make my butter coffee. Pre-heat blender by filling with the hottest water from the faucet. Grind beans and make coffee (we have a simple pour-over setup or sometimes we do french press). Empty water from blender and add one to two tablespoons of Kerigold (any unsalted grass-fed butter should be fine). I like 1.5 tablespoons per 8 oz of coffee, but experiment with what you like best.
Enjoy the creamy, frothy goodness that is butter coffee!
Good quality and recently roasted beans important too. We either get our beans from our favorite roaster Counter Culture Coffee. We have also found that we can get freshly roasted beans at Whole Foods from a local roaster Ceremony Coffee Roasters
And…here it is being poured into cups:
21 days with no legumes, grains, dairy, alcohol and sugar and I did it!
I really think that’s the best part - just knowing that I did it. It’s empowering to know that I took control of my diet and kept control for three whole weeks. Cooking and enjoying healthy and unique foods with friends and family has been very important to me. But food has also been a bit of a crutch at times. A year or so ago I realized that food wasn’t just for enjoyment itself, but it also fuels my body to do all the other things I enjoy: hiking, working (yes, I said working - I have a lot of pride in the work that I do), lifting heavy things, etc. My main goal of doing this detox to do some self exploration to see how what I ate, slept and felt would change. Some of the major pluses:
So, what’s next?
We’ve recently added something new into our breakfast rotation: hash (or something very close)! What’s fun about hash is that you really can make it whatever you want. Sometimes I make it with the eggs mixed with the vegetables or serve with fried eggs on the side. Typically, the main ingredient of a hash is potato. Potatoes are a definite NO when eating strictly Paleo. When I make hash, I’ve used either rutabaga (looks just like a potato, tastes sort of like cross between a potato and a turnip) or sweet potato. Below are two examples of hashes that we’ve made in the past few weeks:
First one was made with rutabaga, sweet onion and italian sausage with eggs mixed in with the vegetables. Rutabaga in the pan (cooked in bacon grease):
Rutabaga, onion and sausage:
Add in the eggs:
On the plate with roasted red pepper sauce:
Second one was made with leeks, sweet potatoes and italian sausage. Leeks and sweet potatoes are a great combo if you’ve never tried it. Here are the leeks, sweet potatoes and sausage in the pan together:
On the plate with two fried eggs:
There really is so much you can do with this. I’ve made some with rutabaga, sweet onion and chorizo which was really delicious.
While at lunch one day last week, Jon had carrot pudding for dessert at an Indian restaurant and realized that it was pretty simple and might be easy to make 21-day-sugar-detox “safe”. We generally followed this recipe with a few modifications. Here’s my recipe. See link above for more detailed directions and a lot of pictures.
Ingredients
Directions
Possible variations:
About Tina Fink
