Day 8: Back on the plan and enjoying it

Breakfast

Jolene's Good Morning Juice
1 bunch green kale
6 carrots
6 apples
1/2 head celery
2 pears

Serves 2.5 people.

Snack
Bacon Wrapped Dates from Paleo Plan.

The perfect blend of salty and sweet, this delightful treat will be a repeat in my house. Easy to make and an epic level of deliciousness. A++ grade in my house!

Lunch
Sweet Tomatoes for lunch today. Easy to stay within the Paleo guidelines when it's an open salad bar. Yes, it was hard to stay away from the other offerings (foccacia and blueberry muffins, two of my favorites), but the salad I made really hit the spot. The disastrous experience with stepping back into grains from the night before was fresh in my mind, so staying away was a little easier than it might have been previously.

Snack
Envy Apple

Dinner
Just Plain Chili from Paleo Plan

This is exactly as advertised: It's chili. I used ground Angus beef and I was very liberal with the spices. I like my chili with kick and this chili is mild. Served over Paleo Cornbread from Kelly at A Girl Worth Saving.

A recipe so nice we tried it twice! We don't have butter in my house (dairy-free, ya'll), but it's good drizzled with raw honey. 

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 Six: Recipes and Chipotle

Breakfast
Salty Lemonade
Autumn trail mix: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, dried apples, dried cranberries, almonds, walnuts. This is a delightful mix, but I wish there was a bit more fruit in it.

Snack
Dry roasted almonds and coffee

Lunch
We have a salad bar in my work building, so I helped myself to leafy greens, turkey, ham, hard boiled eggs, sunflower seeds, raisins, and olive oil. It was a singularly delicious salad, unfortunately it didn't stick to the ribs and I was hungry an hour later.

Snack
Plain non-fat Greek yogurt with organic raw honey and fresh raspberries. I created a small serving and then couldn't eat it all. It was too sweet!

Dinner
Chipotle Salad. I had lettuce, double steak, pico de gallo, and their medium salsa. It was heavenly! And reasonable (415 calories, 62g protein).

Snack
Sweet potato. Straight up, ya'll.

My food is becoming more "traditional" Paleo, which I expected. I love the simplicity of this diet plan. I love how much energy I have throughout the day, and the fact that I no longer have the massive blood sugar crashes in the afternoon. I love that I'm drinking less caffeine because I'm energized by my diet. I sleep like a stone and my running times are improving. I've not seen a single pound of weight loss, which I had hoped to, but it's only been 1 week.

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.