Day Five: Recipes

Breakfast
Salty Lemonade again for breakfast. I cannot tell you how amazing this beverage is for breakfast. I crawl from bed bleary eyed and grumpy. I sit at the breakfast table with my salty lemonade, and by the time I'm done I'm awake, alert, and almost chipper. Incredible. I'm also not hungry for about 2 hours after.

Jolene's Salty Lemonade
16oz warm water
1T lemon or lime juice
1t Sea salt or Himalayan salt

Lunch
I ate out with a co-worker today, so I had to improvise. I got a sweet potato, grilled salmon, and grilled green beans. Are green beans really a bean? You can eat them right off the plant! I called it good enough and it was quite a tasty lunch.

Snack
Almonds and a cup of coffee.

Dinner
Paleo Shepherd's Pie from Neely at Paleo Plan.

There are so many variations on shepherd's pie it's a bit of a craps shoot as to whether you'll get what you're expecting. This shepherd's pie is delightful, robust, well spiced, and quite savory.

Modifications:

• recipe calls for onion salt, but I used onion power and then added Sea salt.
• Herbs d'Provence instead of Italian seasoning. I prefer to add my spices separately so I can tailor to my own palate.

I may never get over the noxious smell of cooking parsnips. How can anything so tasty smell so bad? The mushrooms I used weren't optimal (white beech), so I recommend sticking with something more traditional.

Dessert
Holiday grapes from Whole Foods.

The only grape juicer and sweeter than the Scarlotta, this grape has a very short harvesting period. They are shamefully expensive and worth every penny.
I am coming to understand why people on the Paleo diet don't complain about the Paleo diet.

Day Four: Recipes

Breakfast
Salty Lemonade (16oz warm water, 1t Himalayan salt, 1T lemon juice). It was everything you can imagine it being. It was also more energizing than a cup of coffee and really set me in a positive mind frame for the day.

Snack
Dry roasted almonds

Lunch
I attended an off-site meeting with a catered lunch. As luck would have it, I was able to pilfer a chicken breast and mixed vegetables for lunch. Sure, neither we Paleo-prepared, but it's close enough for me. I avoided the potatoes, gravy, cornbread, and apple pie. If that's not a success, I don't know what is.

Snack
Half a Honeycrisp apple

Dinner
Paleo Chicken Alfredo from Jason at Paleo Plan.

I was wary of this recipe because it's Alfredo with no cheese or cream. I'm an Alfredo snob, a side effect of having my daughter's Dad make the stuff from scratch for me (he trained as a Chef in The Broadmoor, and then hopped through the kitchens in New York). I was prepared to just make myself a smoothie if this didn't pan out.

Let me tell you something: This is the best Chicken Alfredo in existence. I'm serious, I wouldn't change a single thing about this recipe. Now, we did not make it with kelp noodles as the recipe suggested because I have hang-ups about wet seaweed, neither did we have it with spaghetti squash. Instead, I found grain-free dairy-free sweet potato gnocchi. I could serve this meal to non-Paleo people and they would never know. It was amazing.

Day Four of Paleo was successful. That dinner was epic, ya'll, and the recipe will become a repeat offender on this blog.

Day Three: Recipes

Breakfast
Breakfast consisted of eggs and bacon and a glass of Holy Grale. I wasn't feeling well Friday, my daughter is home sick today, so I opted for more kale than usual and the juice was incredible.

Snack
I returned to the Egg-free, Grain-free Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins. Apparently they are an acquired taste, or perhaps they improve overnight, but today those muffins hit the spot today.

Lunch
Greek yogurt mixed with honey, almond slices, and fresh raspberries. I know that dairy isn't Paleo, but I also know that my stomach appreciates the probiotics. Or at least I'm hoping that helps with what I'm dealing with at the moment.

Snack
Scarlotta grapes are another favorite in my house.

As with apples, a few years ago we took a tour of the grape varieties available in our markets. One result of this experience is the Scarlotta grape. They are the biggest, sweetest, juiciest grapes I've ever eaten. I can only eat a handful because they are so rich. Scarlotta grapes are purple balls of joy.

Dinner
Because I felt sick and now my daughter is sick, I've opted for the ultimate comfort food: Chicken Soup.

Jolene's Chicken Soup
1 small, whole chicken, sans innards and giblets
1/2 pkg baby carrots
1/2 head of celery
1 medium yellow onion
1 cinnamon stick (whole)
Sea or Himalayan salt
Black pepper
Herbs d'Province

Add all ingredients to a crock pot. Add water until the ingredients are covered by the water. Cook on low for 7 hours.

After 6 hours, take out the chicken and cinnamon stick. Throw away the cinnamon stick. Bone and skin the chicken, adding the meat back to crock pot.

 In celebration of Paleo, I decided to try to make dumplings to go with my Chicken Soup. After pilfering through the Internet for recipes, I decided to try the following:

1c Coconut flour
4 eggs
1c water
Sea salt or Himalayan Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder

Mix all ingredients until dough is sticky. Turn crock pot on high. Press dough into balls then set in crock pot. Dumplings cook in 20 - 25 minute

The soup was exceptional, as always. The dumplings need a little bit of work. The flavor is good, but the consistency isn't exactly what I was looking for. The dumplings were a little mealy, and not as fluffy as I'm accustomed to. It may be the this is just the consistency of a Paleo baked good, but I'm not ready to stop trying. In my former life I was a very accomplished baker, so I'm confident I can master either an ingredient or a technique to yield the results I want.

Another very successful Paleo day.

Day Two: Recipes

Breakfast
Fried Eggs and Sweet Potato Hash from Jason at Paleo Plan

To add extra spice I made this recipe with Aidells Cajun Style Andouille. While the recipe says fried eggs, I found over-easy preferable. The recipe also says it feeds two but I found it feeds three. There is still a very large serving leftover after my daughter and I ate.

Also for breakfast is my favorite beverage: Holy Grale juice. There are recipes all over the Internet for this delightful raw juice. I've played with red kale, green kale, and several varieties of grapes. My favorite, and what I made this morning, is green kale and green grapes. Sweet, refreshing, and more of a pick-me-up than a double shot of espresso.

Lunch
Egg-free, Grain-free Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins from Cat at Paleo Plan

The muffins were not ideal. They over-cooked outside and under-cooked inside. The texture was unexpectedly dense and 1t of all-spice is entirely too much for my palate. The recipe has potential and I'll try it again, but not until I've practiced with Paleo baking a bit more. The addition of walnuts will likely help, as will omission of the frozen fruit.

Also for lunch: an Envy apple.

A few years ago I took a tour of the apple section, purchasing a different type of apple every week. I bought Honeycrisp apples last because I thought the $2.99lb price point ridiculous. Now I consider the price worthwhile. I'm a devout Honeycrisp apple fan, eating one every day of their short season. Envy apples are very much like a Honeycrisp in firmness and sweetness, but Envy apples little less sweet and a little more firm. Possibly a perfect apple.

  

Dinner
We ate at a friend's house tonight. They made a pork and green chili stew. I couldn't have asked for a better dinner, and it aligned nicely (if not perfectly) with Paleo restrictions.

Dessert
Chocolate Chunk [Paleo] Cookies from Gina at Running to the Kitchen.

There was a dough consistency failure in this recipe (trend of the day, apparently), but this time the dough was too soft. The cookies mushed into one solid cookie. Aside from that, these cookies are epic. If I hadn't made them I would never have known they contain no dairy, no sugar, and no gluten.

Substitution replacing the chocolate with unsweetened carob chips worked well. I prefer my chocolate bitter, so I will use unsweetened carob or cocoa chips for my chocolate substitutions in all recipes.

A successful second day of Paleo.

Day One: Recipes

Lunch:
Chicken breast grilled with red onions, red bell peppers, and green bell peppers. Sauteed spinach with Himalayan salt, black pepper, onion powder and garlic powder.

Snack:
Paleo Lemon Bars from Kara at The Primal Home

These are very lemony and very good. My daughter became fully supportive of the Paleo diet after this delightful snack.

Dinner:
Pork roast, onions, carrots, and celery in the crock pot for 8 hours.
Paleo Cornbread from Kelly at A Girl Worth Saving

The Paleo Cornbread is perfect. We slathered the slices in raw honey and it couldn't have been better. Delicious, moist, and the caraway added something delightful. This will be a repeat recipe in my house.

What a successful first day in the Paleo diet.

Dessert
Paleo Hot Chocolate from Jennie at Easy Paleo

Modifications to this one: Instead of 3T cocoa powder, I used 1/2C vegan carob chips.

Day One: Breakfast at McDonald's

I refused to buy groceries this week in anticipation of today. I've been preparing myself mentally for Day One of the Paleo diet all week. By "mentally preparing" I mean I've been eating the last of the rice, pasta, cereal, bread, and lapping up the last of the vanilla syrup I use for my lattes. I woke up this morning with the realization that it was time. I tossed out everything left that didn't fit the Paleo lifestyle and immediately took down the trash.

I committed to having a pleasant breakfast on the way to the grocery store, so this morning I enjoyed my last experience at McDonald's. I savored a Western Burrito and Non-fat Vanilla Latte while my daughter munched a McGriddle and Fruit 'n' Yogurt Parfait. It was a delicious breakfast and I experienced an ounce of grief in the knowledge that I won't have it again.

For about a year I've been waffling between starting Paleo and continuing my normal American diet. I know from previous fasting experiences that my body responds to grain-free eating with absolute joy. I know when I cut out processed foods and sugary treats my energy increases, my skin clears up, I have more energy, and weightloss is effortless.

Knowing these things, I still eat the normal American diet. I eat it because it's convenient and I'm a single mother. I eat it because it's within my price-range and after a full-time job, full-time school schedule, volunteering, and running, I'm exhausted. Those were my excuses. This week falls during a slow week at work, a slow week at school, and conveniently when my pantry and fridge are almost barren.

After my delicious McDonald's breakfast, my daughter and I went to Sprouts and King Soopers where we diligently followed the carefully prepared list. I know the key to a diet change is interesting and easy meals, so I selected several tantilizing but simple recipes from the internet. We're both excited to try them out.

This blog will contain my reflections on the Paleo diet, amazing (or horrible) recipes I try, and an evaluation in 30 days as to whether this is sustainable for me and my daughter.