Day 13: Recipes and the joy of Paleo

Breakfast
Salty Lemonade. Eventually I will try something else for breakfast, but I love this kick this gives to my morning.

Snack
Yet another Paleo Candy Bar from Paleo Plan.

Lunch
Leftover Chicken and Dumplings.

(photo credit: Pragmatic Paleo)

Dinner

A throw together:

• Chicken breast covered in Old Bay Seasoning
• Layer on bacon
• Layer on sweet potatoes
• Layer on carrots
• Sprinkle with sea salt and cinnamon
• Bake in Corningware on 350 for 35 minutes

Served with grilled spinach.

Food used to consume my life. I thought about it all the time: What am I craving? What can I eat? When can I eat again? Can I have seconds? How big is the portion? Will there be a dessert opportunity? Now, food is a constant state of being sated. Since I started Paleo, my energy doesn't deviate, my stomach never growls. When sometimes forget that I haven't eaten in several hours. I can be too distracted to notice hunger. This is a new experience for me, and an entirely pleasant one. For example, right now, dinner is still cooking. I haven't eaten in almost 8 hours, I am able to identify that I'm hungry, but I'm not scouring the kitchen, I'm not pre-eating.

Fascinated. Thrilled. I love Paleo.

Day 11: Grocery stores and recipes

Breakfast
Salty Lemonade.
Coffee

Lunch
Chipotle salad - lettuce, double steak, medium salsa and pico
Apple juice

Snack
Paleo Candy Bar from Paleo Plan

Dinner
Steak and chicken fajitas. By fajitas I mean thinly sliced meat tossed with onions and bell peppers and spicy seasoning.

At my local grocery store, the produce and the meat department are right next to each other on the east side of the store. I could arrange my shopping trips so that I only have to venture into the rest of the store once a month to buy household items and my collection of roasted nuts. This is a very strange adventure I've embarked on, ya'll.

I was the Kraft Mac 'n Cheese Mom. Yes, it always had mixed veggies and grilled chicken, but I was starch-as-the-staple like so many other single Mom's. I thought there was no way I could find the time to "do Paleo," but as it turns out, Paleo is easy. It's meat and veggies in a pan; it's salads and smoothies; it's apple slices and almond butter; it's Holy Grale Juice and Salty Lemonade.

This whole "Paleo thing" is really awesome.

Day 10: Recipes

Breakfast
Salty Lemon Water
Autumn Harvest Trail mix (almonds, papaya, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried apples, dried cranberries)

Snack
Paleo Candy Bars from Jason at Paleo Plan

These I made for my daughter to take as a snack to school. They are slightly sweet and very filling. I tripled the recipe to ensure enough for both of us for the week. I'm thrilled for such a tasty and healthy treat to send her. We used carob powder over cocoa powder and the chopped nuts we used were almonds (her preferred nut type).

Lunch
Skyr (Icelandic yogurt), 1/4c blueberries, 1/3 banana

After I finish the yogurt we've got in the house, I'll be removing it from my diet altogether. This is the only diary I currently consume and I believe I can eliminate this category altogether. I was keeping the yogurt to help with some digestive difficulties I was having, but the lemon water in in the morning seems to have remedied this issue.

Snack
Raw almonds

Dinner
Boulder Sausage Company brats, sweet potatoes & carrots. I put them all in a pan and cooked for 20 minutes. A family favorite.

Post-run Snack
Marinara sauce with turkey

While my meals for the day were fairly boring, my hunger for the day was almost non-existent so I wasn't motivated to do much in the way of cooking. Sweet potatoes seem to be the most requested item in my house, which I find interesting. Since they are nutrient rich, I'm fine with providing them.

Day 9: Recipes

Breakfast
Over-easy egg over a hamburger patty and grilled spinach.
Salty Lemon Water

Lunch
Sugar-free marinara with turkey over spaghetti squash

Dinner
Jolene's Chicken Bake
3 chicken breast fillets
3 slices bacon
1 sweet potato
1 zucchini
Emeril's Original Essence

Directions: Grease a small pan with coconut oil. Add chicken breast fillets. Spice with Emeril's Original Essence to taste. Layer bacon over chicken. Layer sweet potatoes over bacon. Layer zucchini over sweet potato. Bake @ 350 for 25 minutes.

Dessert
Chocolate Chunk Paleo Cookies from Gina with Running to the Kitchen

This is a repeat recipe, and I cannot speak highly enough for it. They are just as good as the real thing, ya'll. Just as good.

Day Seven: Recipes, McDonald's, and Jack in the Box

Breakfast
Made my usual Salty Lemonade this morning, but added 1T of Sea salt instead of 1t. Don't make that mistake. Yuck.

Snack
Autumn trail mix.

Lunch
McDonald's for lunch, and let me tell you that all I wanted was a hamburger. A Big Mac, or a Quarter Pounder with Cheese, or the new Cheddar Bacon Onion Burger. Instead I ordered a Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad, didn't use the dressing, picked out the tortilla strips, corn and black beans.

The salad was freshly prepared, as usual, but it wasn't as riveting as, say, the same salad with crispy chicken and the Southwest Salad Dressing. I feel good about my choice.

Snack
Holiday Grapes, again, and then some roasted almonds.

Dinner
Dinner we decided to celebrate our first Paleo week with Jack in the Box. I survived 1/3 of a Spicy Chicken sandwich before I took off the bread and just ate the chicken. I ordered Chili Cheese Curly Fries (a limited time offering) and survived three bites. I managed 2 sips of an Egg Nog Shake. I spent the rest of the evening feeling slightly ill and bloated.

So not worth it

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.