Recipe: Susan's Breakfast Casserole

Susan is a newer member to the Paleo Lifestyle in the Real World Face Book Page but she's been a friend for a lot of years. She's a mean cook, and she described her newest creation on the boards, which I'm sharing with you (with her permission, of course):

"This morning I found myself without a plan for breakfast, so I decided it was time to make a Breakfast Casserole for the week.

 I sautéed up:

·         an onion

·         bell pepper

·         zucchini

·         shredded sweet potato 

·         ground turkey 

 With copious amounts of:

·         cumin 

·         chili powder 

·         oregano

·         salt and pepper

 Spread it in a casserole dish and topped it off with:

·         10 eggs

·         a small can of spicy tomato sauce.

  

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes until cooked through.

 

This is key for me as I don't wake up early enough to make breakfast each day before work. So when it comes out of the oven, I'll go ahead and cut it into 8 squares and put each one in Tupperware, so I can just grab one out of the fridge each morning as I leave the house. It's ok cold, or I can heat it up in the microwave at work.

Picture from "What's Cooking America" website.

Thanks, Susan!

Recipe: Joie's Autumn Fruit Compote

Joie doesn't post much, but that doesn't mean she's not out there working the clean eating. We speak daily, and I'm starting to just take some of her ideas and post them here (with her permission, of course), because she has some *Rawkin!* ideas for clean-eating chow.

 Take this one for example: 

 Joie's Autumn Fruit Compote

·         1 very ripe pear or apple, diced

·         Several very ripe strawberries, sliced

·         A couple of shakes of pumpkin pie spice.

·         Stir to blend.

·         Put in a baggie and let marinate several hours for afternoon snack.

HOLY NOM!

*licks spoon*

 

Rachael: Meal Ideas: What Do You Do With Scrambled Eggs?

Crazy egg chairs that I had to share. From www.wilwheaton.tumbler.net

Is it the breakfast of Champions? Is it a quick way to get some protein in your gut first thing in the morning? Are you getting sick of eggs for breakfast?

I go through bouts of eggs / no eggs for breakfast. My go to when I do want eggs is scrambed with cut up chicken, chopped bell peppers, broccoli if I have it, and if I'm feeling primal instead of paleo, a pinch of Parmesan cheese.

I put out the question on our companion FB page: What do you put in your eggs?  I didn't get much of a response, but here is what I did get:

• smoked ham, green peppers and sweet spanish onions
• whatever's in my fridge. The best things are usually leftovers. 
•  Almost anything, as long as it's topped with salsa/Shriracha!!
•  I was in the mood for something sweet today so my one son made a very thin egg pancake and topped it with apple slices, a few chopped grapes and a bit of cinnamon. Then he folded it over like an egg crepe and finished cooking it. It was very good actually because without spices the egg was basically tasteless. 
•  I'm pretty boring with my eggs, I think. Love spinach, sausage, onions, peppers, etc. Add a little feta, Romano or Parmesan cheese. 

Here's an article on Making Great Scrambled Eggs, from The Paleo Diet Lifestyle.  It's a basic tutorial on making the eggs themselves, and leaves you to your own imagination as to what to put in there.


So what do you think? Have you got a great way with eggs that you'd like to share?


For those of you that do not want to eat eggs every morning for breakfast (we all get tired of the same thing, trust me) here's 20 egg-less paleo breakfasts, a very thoughtful blog post from www.paleononpaleo.com.

Rachael's Recipe Review: TPM's Paleo Fudge

Hello,

if you folow us on the the Face Book companion page, you know that I've been talking a lot about this recipe for Paleo Fudge.

I was (and still am) a wicked sugar addict and a chocoholic from waaaaaay back, and I was hoping to find a recipe that would allow me to have a bit of the evil monster, and yet, not break the glucose bank, so to speak.

My fellow blogger, Sara, had found this recipe for freezer fudge (from The Paleo Mom), and tried it out on herself and her family. It was a hit. She's made it several times in the last couple of months, and every time cuts back a little bit on the honey. No one seems to notice.  She also adds things like almond butter, coconut flakes, nuts, etc.

I decided to give it a try myself, but I made it plain, no add-ins of nuts, coconut flakes, etc.  I am usually not a fan of fudge in general, especially not with nuts in it. Call me a purist. And that's my mistake.

Because I have to say that I at first I was disappointed. It tasted like eating chocolate flavored butter.

Alone.

The coconut oil was very rich, and with nothing to break it up, like the nuts I eschewed, it was really not very appetizing.

At first.

I kept the batch I made in the fridge.  I decided that I'd eventually melt it down and make something else out of it, but DaMan and I kept nibbling on it. Usually after dinner, when the sugar monster rears it's ugly head.

I found that in small pieces, it was tolerable.  And it did help me from craving the sugary stuff. I grew to appreciate the fact that a small piece would do me well for the night.

That same batch is still in my fridge. We still nibble off of it. And I still plan on melting it down and doing something else with it. I just haven't figured out what yet. But I'm happy with it, and grateful to The Paleo Mom for blogging about it.

Then my other compatriot who also is involved with this blog, Joie, tried it earlier this week. Joie isn't addicted to the sweets like Sara and I are. But I got this message from Joie after she made her batch:

Ok, holy crap. Did the Paleo Fudge/Chocolate thing. OMG.
Coconut oil, unsweetened cocoa, raw honey, a splash of vanilla, lots of unsweetened coconut, assorted chopped nuts and a little dried fruit.
This will take care of my dark chocolate fix!
Why didn't you force this down my gullet earlier?????

 So, I think that we can all safely say that the Paleo Freezer Fudge is a hit.

Picture from www.thepaleomom.com

Recipe: Joie's take on Paleo Stuffed Peppers with a Pureed Cauliflower side

OMG these turned out so flippin' NOM! Who needs the rice filler?

I followed and tweaked this recipe... .The Caveman Gourmet's Stuffed Bell Peppers

I did a pound each of lean beef and Italian sausage

And my pic looks JUST like that one!! 

I served with pureed cauliflower.... (cauliflower, a bit of coconut milk, butter, garlic, chives, salt, pepper, some Parm cheese and a dab of coconut flour to tighten it up)

Rachael: Update

I haven't updated in awhile.  Reason being, I haven't kept to Paleo very well lately in the last few weeks.  I was battling illness, then I went away on vacation, and I just haven't been able to buckle down and just plain do better than I think I should be doing.

However, I realized that I'm selling myself short.  Compared to the crap I've been eating in the last couple of decades, I'm doing pretty well. At least the scale and my latest blood work tell me so.

Since embarking on the Paleo style of eating, which I believe we started at the end of May, beginning of June I have:

Lost 25 lbs.and dropped almost one whole point on my A1C. That's big news!

If you are not familiar with the a1C, it's a blood test that shows a diabetic's blood sugar average levels going back for the past 3 months. How they gauge it goes something like this:

if you test at a 6.0 or under, you are considered a non-diabetic
if you test at 6.1 to 7.0 you are considered a diabetic with well-controlled blood sugar.
if you test at 7.1 and higher you are considered a diabetic with uncontrolled blood sugar, and are at risk for more severe complications as time goes on.

To give you an idea, in 2008 when I wasn't taking any medication or watching my diet at all, and was hospitalized with a leg injury, my a1c was 10.2. I was put on insulin while in the hospital, and converted to diabetic meds upon my release.

Since then, my numbers have gone down, but way slower than I'd like. I've had my meds adjusted over the years, and have made half-hearted attempts at controlling my diet, with mixed results.

Insurance will only pay for this test once every 6 months. So the previous time I'd had this done was in February 2012, and tested at an 8.2.  It was again, and improvement over the last test, but still not where I or my doctors wanted it to be.

So when I took the test again at the end of August, I knew that it would cover the entire time I'd been working on going Paleo (end of May/early June).

I tested out at a 7.3.

It's pretty amazing to have dropped almost a full point in 3 months.  My doctors were ecstatic and frankly, so was I.

I need to keep reminding myself that I am within .3 of being considered well-controlled.  If any of you know me personally, to be considered well-controlled with anything in my life is highly improbable. *snort*

As I said though, I've been letting life get in the way of my eating correctly for my body, and even though I don't have weight gain to keep me in line (yet), I have had some joint pain. I need to listen to my body, and not continue to make bad food choices.

But I also need to remind myself that I also don't eat like I used to.  I would say that my bread intake is less than 5% of what I eat. Or to put it another way, breads and processed carbs are in maybe 3-4 meals a week, instead of in every meal.

At 3 meals a day, 7 days a week, then a bread product (whether it be a tortilla or something like that) 3-4 times out of 21 meals is a heck of a lot better than what I was averaging before.

It's a balance not to beat myself up too badly, and yet not to let myself "celebrate" too much for what I have already accomplished.

And I really need to be more active here and on our companion facebook page in order to keep myself accountable.

Joie: Introducing Others to Our Paleo Journey

Joie ~~  introducing others to our journey~~

A girlfriend of mine at work was looking.... bigger. Not seriously overweight, but bigger.   And in pain.   So I asked her the questions...eating habits, how much tylenol (DAILY) yada yada.
She was interested.
But not enough to give it serious go.  "I can't let go of my diet Coke! Carbs are my life! No one can do this!"
Uh huh.

2 weeks ago she had a mild heart attack.  She's in her early 50's.  After her trip to the emergency room and being put on nitro glycerin pills .. she hunted me down.
"Please, Joie, can I borrow that book again?  The doc said if I'm lucky enough to MAKE it to the emergency room again.. I need to change my life!  And everything you were telling me... I swear your words were coming from his lips!"

This was enough of a scare for her to start the plan almost cold turkey.   She cleaned her kitchen, donating a lot of things to Houston's Waste Management.
Zero soda. Zero breads.  Zero dairy.  All of it.  She's exercising 20-30 minutes a day.  She is now in love with my Leslie Sansone.
I did tell here 100% compliance is  not mandatory.  But she's taking this seriously enough that it's all or nothing for her right now.  Maybe later she'll try the 80-20 school of thought.

I asked her a week into this, "When is the last time you took your tylenol?"
She stared at me.   Looked at her calendar.   And teared up.
"Not since I came home from the hospital.  OMG, Joie.  I've not had ANY.  I haven't even thought about it because I guess I don't NEED it now."

We hugged.  She's one of the lucky ones where the doctor is encouraging her to do this.
And she is now experimenting with foods and telling everyone who will listen when they ask her "you look better.  Why?"

All hail St. Paleo.
:)

Lola...Paleo Einstein?

Lolas Journey:Einstein  Is reported to have kept several sets of the same outfit in his closet so that he could simply grab an outfit without having to think about what he wanted to wear.  I am approaching Paleo the same way.  So far, I am happy eating the same things as it keeps me from thinking about the food too much right now.  I am trying to switch gears from food being "entertainment" to food being a "nutritional necessity".  Making food less of an "event" and learning what "comfortably full" and "satisfied" feels like.

I am in the swing of my Paleo adventure.  I have tightened my belt a notch (sometimes 2 depending on the day !!!!)   The scale has not reflected too much of a change but I FEEL a difference:  Less tired, less logy, less mood swings, less bloating..MORE FOCUSED.  

I have been doing Paleo about 80-20% minimum... 100% on a good day.

Typical day consists of:

Breakfast:  Hot soup.  Yup. You heard me right. :) Italian Wedding soup MINUS the pasta or Beef and Tomato Soup (both with copious amounts of garlic and red pepper )

Lunch:  Poached chicken, lettuce, artichoke hearts (sometimes a bit of feta cheese in there)... with olive oil/red wine vinegar and pepper.

Dinner:  turkey sausage with broccoli and mushrooms (and garlic) OR Turkey burger salad with melted feta (theres that crazy feta again!), -your basic turkey burger cut up on a plate with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and thousand islands dressing.  Yesterday I ate out at Red Robin and chose the Avo-Cobb-O salad !  I usually get the southwestern chicken but it has corn and black beans so I bypassed it for something else.  I did indulge in 2 mozzarella sticks and a handful of sweet potato fries. :)

I have been eating fresh fruit salad as well:  watermelon, mango, strawberry, kiwi and some  pineapple.  I readily admit Ive been eating too much of this. (my son is enjoying this as well !) Ive also been eating some vinegar based coleslaw after work before dinner time. (again..my son is diving in and enjoying this instead of cookies after school !)

Eating the soup in the morning gives me something warm to start my day with and I can make a huge pot of soup that lasts me the week.  No thinking in the morning.  My son has also started eating soup in the morning before school which beats eating cereal and milk ! YEY !!!!

Times I have veered:  Movies...I ordered popcorn...a big ass popcorn.   Ive had some chocolate Belvita or Apple Cinnamon Belvita in the evening.   Still enjoying coffee in the morning with flavored creamer and I have not given up diet soda yet....YET. (thats a tough one!)  I usually drink one during lunch at work.

Im not drinking enough water either.  Need to work on that.

New for this week:  I started taking fish oil capsules to combat aches and pains from work.

The adventure continues!!!!!

Sara: "I couldn’t believe I was paying that much $ to eat that pure CRAP"

Yesterday, I was feeling lazier than usual. I love cooking, but just didn't feel like it last night.  I texted Rick (my husband) and told him I wished payday was already here because I had zero desire to cook. 

He wrote back, "Pizza night?"  I don't take much convincing to not cook AND eat pizza!  We wrote a check, picked up the pizzas and chowed down.

I slept horribly - I spent most of the night in some kind of intestinal distress.  I can't even tell you how many times I ran to the bathroom.  I joked with Rick this morning that I was on the "Pizza Diet" - you just eat pizza...and then spend the next 12-24 hours crappin' your brains out!  (ew - sorry!)

Last night, when I couldn't sleep, we were emailing each other while he was at work. I told him I was regretting the pizza.  In his next email, he said something pretty groundbreaking.



photo credit: http://danielctw.com



"I don’t blame you on the pizza. The other day when I took the boys to McD’s, I was sitting there thinking about how I couldn’t believe I was paying that much $ to eat that pure CRAP. It was awful. That’s the last time I’m eating there."

It's true!  We spend SO MUCH money on crap and then try to say, "Ohhh...I try to eat paleo, but it's just so expensive."  Instead of spending $20 at McDonald's for lunch, spend $20 on a couple pounds of grassfed beef that can be used for at least two meals (more, if you have a smaller family).  It's amazing when you think about it.

My favorite example is chicken nuggets.  My kids have a strange love affair with chicken nuggets that I will never understand. I recently discovered Ian's brand frozen foods. I'm not touting this as Paleo-friendly food - I discovered these before I decided to try the Paleo way of doing things.   Still...read this description of their chicken nuggets:

Our beloved best-seller, Ian's Allergy Friendly Chicken Nuggets are a classic childhood favorite, made with wholesome antibiotic and hormone free skinless and boneless white chicken breast meat. We've made them with no wheat, no gluten, no milk, no casein, no eggs, no nuts and no soy, so they're friendly for all kids of diets!  Easy to prepare in the oven or microwave.  Also available in a 20oz Family Pack!

Ingredients:

Chicken nuggets (skinless, boneless no added antibiotics or hormone* chicken breast with rib meat, canola oil, potato flakes, water, sea salt). Coated with batter: (water, yellow corn flour, corn starch, baking powder, garlic powder, sea salt) and breaded with cornflake crumbs (milled corn, cane sugar, sea salt). Cooked in canola oil. Chicken raised without added antibiotics or growth hormones. *Federal regulations prohibit the use of added hormones in poultry.

http://www.iansnaturalfoods.com

So, yeah, there are some non-Paleo ingredients.  But compared to McDonald's chicken nuggets?  No brainer.  It's easy to see which one is better for your body.  Ian's nuggets are "expensive," though.  $6 for 3 servings!  (That's the best price I've found so far - at Sprouts.)

However, if we're willing to spend $4.50 on a happy meal, then maybe we need to step back and re-evaluate our priorities.  I'm just as guilty of this as anyone.  It's hard to get out of the "quick fix" mindset.  It's cheaper and better for us to have something like Ian's and some fruit at home...then go to a park.  But McDonald's has been ingrained in our minds - and our childrens' minds! - as this great "treat".  The food comes in a fun box and when you're done, you get to go play on the indoor playground!  Who cares if every single thing about the meal is sub-par?

photo credit: http://frisco-tx-homes.com

I'll tell you who cares.  I do.  My husband does, too.  You should, too!

Rick's also starting to notice the difference in how he feels when he eats junk.  We lose what little energy we had (because, let's face it, how much energy can one have when working full time and parenting three kids??).  We feel bloated and cranky.  I even have skin issues that flare up. And my legs swell!

When we eat right, we have an extra spring in our step.  We sleep better. We're happier because we feel better. The more we detoxify our bodies from these poisons we've been eating, the more we notice the difference when we "fall off the wagon."  Making small changes here and there can do a world of good.

My goal for this weekend is to cook ahead.  If I have a few things in the freezer that make for a quick meal, then the next time I'm feeling lazy I'll be less likely to resort to fast food.  I honestly don't think expense is the most difficult part of eating Paleo - planning ahead is.  If you don't have a plan, then you're far more likely to give in to old habits, which will likely lead to regret!

Rachael: Sweet Potato Chip + First Try = Mixed Results

photo from www.examiner.com

I'm always up for trying a Paleo version of junk food.  When I saw this recipe for homemade salsa with sweet potato chips, I knew I'd have to try the chips. I've made my own salsa before, and it's fine, but until my own tomatoes are ready for "salsifying," I can wait patiently.

But I couldn't wait to try to make chips. Crispy, crunchy, salty chips. Mmmm....

Sorry, I got lost for a second there.

I apologize, but I didn't take pictures of the process, but if you click the link above, the Amazing!Paleo chick does a great job of showing the process.



Thankfully, we'd recently purchased a mandolin to make even slicing of the sweet potatoes easy. I am not a precision slicer.

I followed Amazing!Paleo's directions to the letter, and was mostly happy with the results, except my chips did not all get crunchy. I waited for them to cool down, like the directions said, but several stayed limp, especially on the middle of the bigger chips.

So tip #1: I learned is that the skinnier the potato, the better off you are going to be for the crispiness factor. The wider the potato, the longer it's going to be to make them crunchy. Or you're just going to have to deal with limp chips. No Bueno.

Tip #2: The recipe on the blog says 10 minutes, give or take, on 375F.  The next time I try these, I'll do it longer at 325F. Lower and slower would DEFINITELY the way to go. I was in danger of incinerating my chips if I left them in longer than 12 minutes.

But I have to say, that despite the edges of a lot of the chips being burned, and the middles not being crunchy, the sweet potato chips tasted AWESOME. Seriously.

I will be making more of these. They will be a welcome addition of a treat to our Paleo Lifestyle.

Enjoy.

Rachael's week in Paleo

This week saw a huge change in my blood sugar. I’ve dropped 40 points in my AM fasting state within the last 2 weeks. Part of this was a medicine small medicine tweak that my doctor and I decided on last Friday, but I also believe it has a lot to do with converting over to a paleo lifestyle.

I have to take a minute to say that I was not able to do the 30 day lifestyle change that’s described in Robb Wolf’s book, or on other Paleo-centric blogs out on the interwebz. My brain and I (and yes, I think of us as being 2 different entities most of the time, because I fight with my brain on a daily basis) would not be able to mental handle such an abrupt cut off.

However, the beautiful thing is the farther along on my Paleo Journey I go, the less I’m craving breads and sweets. And the more fun I am having finding “new” comfort foods. For the first time since being diagnosed as a diabetic, I am enjoying what I do eat, knowing it is lower on the glycemic index than the processed foods I used to eat, which makes my insulin levels rise and fall shorter and slower levels over time.  This is an all-around health boost.

This weekend, I had to go buy new undies, because mine were all falling off me.  What a great problem to have!

I also found a new store that recently opened up called, “Greater Than Grains,” and is our city’s first ever gluten-free shop. I was amazed that the people running the store really seemed to get a totally grain free lifestyle! I was able to find several things I haven’t been able to find at the local grocery stores, like bags of unsweetened coconut flakes (for making our own coconut milk!), arrowroot powder, and they had freezer cases of organic/nitrate free meats! I cannot wait to dig into that. I will be visiting that store a lot in the near future.

All in all, it was a pretty great week. I can think of only 2 meals that were not Paleo-iferic.  That’s pretty darn good for my husband and I.  As we see the benefits we are both happier with ourselves.

Recipe for Dinner: Salmon and Slaw

Tonight I was home late because I'd gone grocery shopping after work. My lunch and p.m. snack were but a faint memory. I was tired, foot sore, and cranky.

And hungry.

But I did not want to make dinner.

People tell me that part of the problem with sticking to a Paleo-esque diet is all the prepping and cooking, and planning, and shopping...

Honey, I did South Beach when it first came out, and followed the memu in the first edition of the book for the first month before I felt confident enough to mix it up on my own. And I was cooking for 2 other people in the house who were also doing the diet - so I know from prep time. And cooking, and shopping, etc. ad Nauseum.

But it seriously, doesn't have to be a big-assed deal. Take tonight, for instance, I didn't want to cook, so I made the quickest thing I could thing of.

I made Salmon Filets and Broccoli Slaw.

Isn't this a beautiful dinner?

S
It really does taste as good as it looks, too. I know, because DaHubster is behind me making yummy sounds as I type this.

The salmon filets were cooked my favorite way - half pan seared, half poached. That sounds complicated, but all you do is get a skillet really hot, with a tiny bit of oil. Then put the filets in the pan flesh side down, cooking for two minutes. Flip the filets over, pour in chicken stock halfway up the side of the filet, cover, turn the heat as low as it will go, and let it finish cooking about 4-5 minutes. I threw some green onions in there before covering, too.

Easy, right? And it took all of 10 minutes.

The slaw took maybe 10 minutes as well, and here it is:

• Buy per-shredded Broccoli slaw from the store, and if you are so inclined (as I was), an additional bag of shredded carrots. I only used a handful of the carrots, btw.
• Slice up 1 or 2 green onions
• Mix in a bowl.

Dressing for slaw:

• 2 parts Red Wine Vinegar (or lemon juice if you don't use vinegars)
• 1.5 parts good olive oil
• about 1 teaspoon brown mustard (for emulsification)
• about 1/4 teaspoon honey (to cut the acidity)
• Spices to your liking. I used salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and oregano

Put into a jar with a lid and shake. Then lightly coat your slaw.

Viola!

Now, as far as vinegar not being Paleo, well...that's your determination to make. I use it, and I don't think there's too much a problem with it. It's technically not "of the time frame" but I haven't heard any overtly negative reactions bodily too it, so I'm not really worried about it.But if you do not want to use vinegar, lemon juice is a very good substitute.

So really, it was 15 to 20 minutes of prepping and cook time. And I have to tell you, I am not feeling so cranky anymore, now that I've eaten that.

Enjoy.

So What is this Paleo anyway?

Most of you who are reading this are friends, and so probably know that I have been spouting off about this book I read (or that my husband suggested I read), called, The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.


This book was truly eye opening for me. The author is a former Biochemist who studied what happens when food goes through your system. And he explains it in great layman's terms, with just a bit of humor, so that you are able to understand why certain foods make your body react in ways that sometimes you feel, and sometimes you don't.

I highly recommend that anyone with an interest get and read this book.

However, if you are aren't of the mind to read the book, the interwebz has a plethora of sites that you can learn about Paleo, and why eating like a caveman might just be better for you than you think.

www.robbwolf.com is the author's website, and he's got tons of information there for your to peruse, including a weekly podcast avialable there, and on iTunes.

Once you have the basics as to what the Paleo Diet offers, I highly recommend Googling "Paleo Diet Recipes."  This will keep you busy for a long, long time, I promise.

Just remember to come back here occasionally, and catch up on the gang's journey, ok?

Welcome to our Paleo Journey

Hello, and welcome to our little experiment. We are a group of online (and offline) friends who have decided to try to convert our eating habits to the Paleo Lifestyle. This means meats and veggies. It also means giving up grains, legumes, dairy, and processed foods.

We come from all over the country, and have varied backgrounds, but one thing is true for us all:

Some of us have medical issues.
We are, or have been, overweight.
Most of us have joint issues, swelling or arthritis.

And we've either discovered that the food that we eat doesn't make us feel good anymore, or are looking to eat things that will make us feel better.

None of us expect it to be easy, but we sure intend to have some fun along the way.

We'll share our goals, our successes, and our challenges.


We hope you enjoy reading about our journey.