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.