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 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.