OMG Sweet Potatoes...

Over 5 weeks into the Paleo challenge and I am finally starting to understand that, in many ways, eating this way is much simpler than how I used to eat. For instance, when I go to 'throw together' a quick meal, there are loads of meats, veggies, and spices to choose from. Tonight I threw some chicken breasts in a pan with olive oil and garlic, while cooking a frozen veg mix in a pot. Then, at the last minute, I thought, "huh. Why not a bit of sweet potatoes?". It was out of this thought that the OMG Sweet Potatoes were born.

Each time I cook sweet potatoes I cut them smaller and use more coconut oil. These 2 ingredients are made for each other, trust me (especially extra-virgin coconut oil, which is more flavorful).

So this evening, I cut them pretty small and threw only 1 potato in the pot at a time so that every bit was sizzling in the lake of coconut oil (med-high heat, and covered). Then, from no influence of my own, but rather of the favor of the almighty lord directing my hand toward the last, and most sacred ingredient, I grabbed the curry powder and sprinkled it throughout the pot liberally. Oh man, stirring around these 3 ingredients together, I knew I had touched on something divine.

They turned out much spicier than I would've imagined, but the spice, flavor, texture, and everything about it was just so balanced and satisfying. I suppose there is a slight chance that I was so hungry that I am overreacting about this, but go ahead and try it for yourself. See if this doesn't become your new favorite side dish.

Simple. Delicious. Spicy. Sweet. Welcome to OMG Sweet Potatoes.

You're welcome.

a quick update...

Soooo........................ I got lazy. I stopped thinking ahead, shopping ahead, and meal planning. My new ritual this week was to stand with the fridge door wide open while calling out to Luke desperately to figure out what we were going to eat for dinner. The few things I had planned well, turned out tasting like crap. So, I finally printed out some recipes from my favorite paleo sites, and went to Costco, and will be going to Trader Joe's tomorrow for some staples. (By the way, TJs has the CHEAPEST quality products! Especially never buy olive oil anywhere else.) So, here is how my grub has been tasting lately:

BAD

Paleo Pizza: I did not follow the recipe of my friend, Lisa, but found another (for no good reason at all), and it was not good. I ate it, but it was not good.

Coconut Ice-cream: A complicated process of egg yolks and coconut milk first cooked together then frozen (then added berries), this did not turn out well. I kept feeling like I just wanted to add sugar; it was bland. However, when I let it thaw in my fridge, it tasted like a rich yogurt.

Lesson Learned: Don't try to eat 'healthy' junk food. Just eat healthy, and then when you really need to, splurge and eat a real slice of pizza or a real serving of ice-cream. Of course, I won't be doing that while I am on this challenge, but in 3 1/2 more weeks, I will be eating ice-cream.

GOOD

Meat: after much 'bad' food that I cooked, I begged Luke to take over on some meals, because I couldn't eat my cooking anymore. And man, does he know how to cook meat. One night, he perfectly cooked pork chops (pan seared then roasted), and another night he mastered flank steak on the stovetop. The wonderful revival of my taste buds also revived my desire to plan and cook delicious meals. Thanks, Luke!

Roasted Chicken: the perfect roasted chicken recipe found at Elana's Pantry, and it was actually easy to follow. Next I will take the carcass and make some stock for some recipes I have set aside to make later in the week

Taco Salad: always a favorite meal of mine! This time, I finely chopped the cilantro and just mixed it in with the greens, and also mashed up avocado all throughout the salad, and the flavors were just bursting. And it was an easy meal to pack for work; just microwave the taco meat and pour some salsa on top.

Veggies: highlights include cooking brussels sprouts in bacon fat, and roasting chopped up sweet potatoes in coconut oil.

Lesson learned: when some mysterious liquid in the bottom of your oven catches on fire, pour baking soda on it. Also, make Luke make more meals.

these are a few of my favorite things....

Oh man, I have been delighting in some tasty treats recently and think you would enjoy them, too. Keep in mind, I am not a very good cook at all and have not been making gourmet or intricate dishes at all during this paleo challenge, BUT some of the simplest food combinations turn out to make the most delicious meals.

Desserts:

I had to start with dessert. I have been indulging in these great treats about every other day.

Banana dipped in almond butter:

This is by far my favorite paleo treat

Seriously. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it.

Although the image of dipping a banana in a jar of almond butter makes my friends giggle, that is exactly how I eat it. I don't mess around with slicing, spreading, or using utensils. Just dunk it!

Whipped (coconut) cream & berries:

My genius friend, Julie Rex, came over the other night and we decided to make paleo smoothies for dessert. She poured coconut milk in my blender, and seconds later, we were screaming with delight at the magical whipped cream texture that happened in my blender.

After adding a dash of cinnamon and some coconut flakes, we ate our whipped cream on top of mixed berries while discussing all the amazing things we wanted to try to accompany this wondrous ingredient we had just discovered.

Other:

All other food fits in the "other" category, since desserts were the most exciting part of my eating experiences as of late.

Buffalo Wings:

I found this recipe which turned out more like breaded baked chicken than buffalo wings, but it was delicious! The chicken is breaded with almond meal and seasonings, and the texture and taste was surprisingly similar to regularly breaded chicken.

But I wanted hot wings, dangit, so I added a healthy dose of Frank's hot sauce to the breading mixture for about half of the chicken, and it turned out amazing.

Oh, and it is important to know that 220 degrees celsius is about 420 degrees fahrenheit. I made the mistake of just guessing, and it took me a long time to cook my chicken.

Salad:

We made some interesting salads this week! Throw a bunch of crap on lettuce and you've got yourself a meal!

Hamburger patty, fried egg, avocado, and hot sauce on greens (made by Luke) turned out so unbelievably delicious! Gotta love salads that taste like fast food.

Leftover buffalo chicken, salsa, avocado, and hot sauce on greens, with a bit of olive oil, also turned out amazing.

Hardboiled eggs, black olives, and avocado with oil & vinegar on greens, tasted pretty good, but I was hungry an hour later. Maybe I needed to add more eggs.

That's it! Hope you got some good ideas!

2 weeks down, 6 more to go!!!

Well, so far, so good. I am actually really enjoying the paleo food and feelin' pretty good. However, I find myself, from time to time, thinking about doing this strictly for 6 more weeks and become terrified. But, what is 8 weeks out of my entire life? I have eaten like shit for 31 years, I think giving my body a break for a couple of months is fair.

Meal Highlights:

Meat: Oh, thank God for Crying Rock Farms! I bought 4lbs of various delicious pork sausages. I had brats and mustard for dinner a couple of times, used the spicy chorizo for a soup recipe I found, and am thawing the breakfast sausage for a special morning this week. And I still have the polish sausage links in the freezer. Words cannot describe the taste of fresh, natural pork without all the crap that most companies shove in as fillers. Ah man.

Spaghetti: Yes, we ate tons of spaghetti.....spaghetti squash that is. Shout out to William Turbyfill for teaching me how to make use spaghetti squash as a healthier alternative to spaghetti noodles. Throw some sauce on that shiz, it is delicious. I personally like the texture of the squash over noodles, but some find is a little crunchy almost. This is a very simple, hearty meal, that I could eat almost every day.

Soup: Predicting that I would get sick of eating salad everyday for lunch (even though it was yummy), I decided to make a huge batch of soup. I made spicy sausage and sweet potato soup (recipe found at paleodietlifestyle.com), and it was pretty simple to make and full of flavor. I doubled up the recipe and saved 2 giant freezer bags full in the freezer. I even made my own stock out of "knuckles". Yeah, I don't even know what animal they belonged to, but they were recommended for stock-making by the lady at Dave's Market, and they were cheap.

*Crying Rock Farms is just a short drive away in Orting, Washington. Look for them at farmer's markets and the Pike Place Market. They also have rabbits, chickens, and other little cute delicious creatures.

quick tips...

I do not have time for a full entry, but want to write some great tips that have helped me during my first delicious week of the paleo challenge:

-Trader Joe's light coconut milk is the best for coffee (to replace cream). Just pour right outta the can, keep it in your fridge, and it won't chunk up like the thick stuff.

-Broccoli makes a great substitute for rice. We poured a chicken curry dish over a bed of broccoli and it did not taste like anything was missing. But, I am pretty sure the broccoli was the culprit in giving me mad gas.

- Have hard boiled eggs on hand for a quick protein.

-Save the fruit for dessert. Although this might be enabling my dessert addiction, for now, it is so great to approach a nice (very small portioned) dessert of frozen raspberries and coconut milk (or something similar), with the satisfaction of knowing that I hadn't had any fruit all day. Eventually, I will probably want to get out of the 'dessert' mindset, but for now, it is glorious for my fruit serving to cap off my delicious day!

Hope someone finds this useful, inspiring, or at least a not-wasted way to waste your time.

first 2 days of paleo

Meals:

Bfast: mostly eggs, a little fruit, and coconut milk in my coffee, although today I ate 'spinach-egg muffins" which are like mini-quiches. Mmm...

Lunch: mostly salads with chicken, veggies, olives, etc.

Dinner: bunless burgers with grilled onions, avocado, and tomatoes, with a side of sweet potato fries. Then last night, we had taco salad with seasoned ground turkey, homemade cilantro vinaigrette, homemade salsa, and grilled veggies. Delicious!

Snacks/desserts: frozen banana blended up with coconut milk, coconut flakes, and a dash of vanilla. So much like ice-cream!

How did it go? Delicious, satisfying, great. Although, I did seem to struggle with fatigue a little.

Things to consider:

Time: In the future, I will not always want to take the time to prepare homemade salsa and homemade dressing, so I need to make sure plan meals that are simple sometimes.

Also, it takes a lot of time to plan far ahead (look up recipes, go shopping, prep ingredients, etc.) So I need to make sure to set aside enough time for success.

Processed foods: many already jarred dressings and sauces should be paleo friendly (without loads of additives, sugar, etc.) but it has been hard to find. But, the food revolution is all about staying away from processed foods, so this will be a great way for me to start living that way. I don't need no corn company to fill my meals full of byproducts that are completely unnecessary and possibly slowly killing me!

The Paleo Challenge

Hey.

My gym is having a 'paleo challenge' where we all eat according to the paleo diet for 8 weeks. In a nutshell, you eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, and seeds (also known as 'whole foods'). You do not eat sugar/sweeteners, legumes/beans, dairy, or grains/rice (and we are also cutting out alcohol for this 8 weeks).

The main points of paleo:

Humans before agriculture, when we were hunter/gatherers, show little or no signs of disease, cavities, bone weakness, and had low rates of infant death, amongst other signs of healthy living. So many people have tried eating as they used to back in those days, and have found significant changes in their health and performance.

But many people who want to do this for just a short time period are looking just to reset their bodies, to cleanse their systems of foods that spike their insulin, give them unnecessary cravings, cause fatigue, or other problems. Then, after this cleanse, they can introduce different foods back into their diet to see how it affects them. My goal is to follow this strictly for 8 weeks, then at the end of it, slowly introduce back in some forms of dairy and a little alcohol again, start using sweeteners sometimes, but to stay off of grains as much as possible.

But look for yourself if you are interested:

Basic info. on Paleo Diet

whole 30 guidelines and reasons for trying this out for 30 days (or more)

Before/After pics of people who have completed an 8 week challenge at their gym.

Gosh, I wish I could go on, and on about all the info. I have gained about this over the last few weeks, but I cannot at this moment. So check it out, let me know if you have any questions, and I will try to continue to post things often throughout this challenge. Peace.