Fuel : Lunchtime salad

Coach T says that if i'm still hungry, it's because i need more fat in my diet.

I love chicken skin and bacon as much as the next guy, but I've got eight children and there just plain isn't enough skin to go around :)...

Other great ways to increase your fat intake is: olive oil dressings, butter slathered on roasted meat, nuts (salted or not) and nut butters, coconut oil.

But one of my favourite fat sources is avocado.  It's full of minerals, has a delicious, smooth taste, can be added to eggs, sandwiches or salads, and fills you up!

Plus, I find that as mom i can either feed me or feed the troops, and eight little mouths certainly outvote my paleo tummy...  So i end up making carby foods for their breakfast, and grabbing quick whatever i can find to fill my tummy as they get going.  This morning (and lunch) it was a peach and some leftover ham!

This salad is super easy to make with leftover salad, taco fixings, or to just make up for a one person salad bowl.  A plain oil and vinegar dressing is great, but add in some mashed avocado, and a little dab of dijon mustard, and it's a whole 'nother world.

One more delicious trick is grinding up sesame seeds into a paste in the blender, and using the pea sized chunks as "croutons"...

Fast and easy!

Fuel : Proteiny, savoury eggs in a muffin tin!

Like most things in life, the inevitable craving for carbs can fixed with the judicious application of bacon!

Coach T loves these little "muffins", which are super easy to bake and are super tasty!

We tweaked this recipe from allrecipes.com, so it's always a little different...

Bacon and Eggs in a Muffin Tin

Preheat oven to 350.
Bake bacon on a cookie sheet (this reduces the mess!) till well done but not completely crispy. 

But a little knuckle of butter inside each muffin cup.
Curl a bacon slice around the inside of the muffin cup, and break some up to make a "bottom", too.

Sprinkle a little cheddar in each muffin cup, then break an egg into each one.  Top with jalapeno bits and a little more cheddar, and any leftover bacon crumbs.

(Coach T likes to switch up what cheeses he uses, or add in onion instead of jalapeno, or red peppers, too)

Bake in preheated oven for ten to fifteen minutes.

Delicious!!!  I have frozen these so he can grab them for a quick breakfast (when he isn't doing the intermittent fasting, which i guess will be another post one of these days...) :)  But in general, they go way too quick to save.

Fuel : Dinner Guests

So, apart from working out and nursing my baby and homeschool planning, i also am geared up for  hospitality.

I know it's not a strength for me, but i think i have found a game plan that might work :)

 (Why is this important to me?  Mostly bcz the Bible says it's a big deal.  And i believe the Bible)

So - my first step is inviting over "easy" people.  I will eventually get around to lepers and orphans (i hope!)  but for right now, i need a lot of practice with people who won't judge - and luckily my life is full of just that sort :)

Secondly, i asked for help.  My friend Amanda has cooked for huge crowds and was able to give me some really practical pointers about choosing food/selection/drinks and ways to make that end of things smooth.  (Check out my other blog for deets!)

But in this blog, on this post, i thought i'd share what is working for me, paleo wise, in having guests over.  Because it just seemed like one more insurmountable  hurdle - to have people over, but serve "plain" paleo food.  No matter how good it makes me *feel* to be in ketosis, i do not feel like a paleo chef yet!  My object is to get 'er done, and make it pretty later...

So, today, we invited over a fun family after church and here is what we served (sorry, no pictures!)

Cold roast beef with a horseradish mayo and a chili aioli (and butter)

buns

bagels

greek feta and apple salad

grapes

deli meat

cheese, sliced

chips

mixed salted nuts

pink grapefruit pop

diet coke

milk

and for dessert -  two kinds of pound cake, tuxedo cake, and our guests brought a pie and black forest cake as well.

This is very doable!  Instead of a bun or bagel, i used a knife and fork with my meat, and dipped it into the dips.

Salad, fruit, cheese, and nuts rounded out my plate, but there were carbs for regular folk :) and chips for the children.

Coffee and dessert for all who wanted it (but I'd rather stay paleo!)

It wasn't the fanciest ever table, but there was plenty to eat, plenty of variety, and best of all, no stress on my part about food, or what to eat, or feeling deprived *or* like a bad hostess...

I'd love to hear how other paleo mamas handle hospitality!

Fuel : Simple, Clean Suppers

I feel a little guilty blogging about meals i didn't make (except for the chicken!).  Coach T loves cooking and is a lot less utilitarian than I am.  Still, he makes meat, a veggie, and that is it.  No breads on the side, no carbs, but still... tasty!

One simple thing we do with a lot of our veggies is roasting a la Jamie Oliver.  (Click the link for the recipe!) In one of his shows, he had a huge pan of cut up veggies and poured on a "big glug" of olive oil, tossed it all up with his hands, shook generous coarse salt and pepper on it, and threw it in the roaster with his meat.  It looked beautiful, and when we tried it out, it *tasted* wonderful, too!

So, we tend to roast veggies a lot.  Some, like the sweet potatos in the top photo surprise us with how delicious they are later on, cold.  We left the skins on, and they were delicious cold as boats in our bedtime snack.

The pork ( top photo) is just marinated and cooked in a chimichurri sauce, and the chicken (second photo) was "fancy" - Coach T asked me to mix seasoning salt with butter and lift the skin all over the chicken and stuff in the seasoned butter.  Usually i just use a lot of seasoning salt and make sure to baste but the added butter did make the meat extra tasty!  They end up tasting just like the rotisserie chickens you buy at the supermarket!

The tomato and mozzarella salad is his summer favourite, and I love it too!

Here is the recipe:

Coach T's Summer Tomato and Mozzarella Salad

6-8 ripe tomatoes, cut into 1" cubes
2-3 cups mozzarella, cut into 1" cubes
2 tsp basil
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste


optional add ins: pine nuts, and feta :)

Fuel : Affordable Fuel for a Big Family

I've talked to a few other moms (of bigger families) who've been to the blog and wonder how it works, feeding everyone paleo.

First of all, we don't.  We figure we'll go bit by bit, and i'm still baking (!) for the little ones.  (it helps if you think of it as making kid chow :) - not meant for adult consumption)

So, the children still eat homemade whole grain (and sometimes white!) bread, biscuits, potatoes, corn...  But gradually we are converting our pantry and buying habits to include them.  It helps that paleo seems to be "all the good bits" anyway...

Except to our one extreme carboholic child :)

Anyway, one thing that's made a difference in our food budget was an offer from friends.  We don't hunt (yet) but friends are outfitters, and had a moose where the hunter didn't want all the meat.  So she called me out to her place, i brought the children, and we cut that moose up :)

Haven and the incomparable Mrs. Davis

It was seriously a lot of fun, for all the children - where else do you get to see a giant carcass suspended from a hook in the roof, or get to chop up huge sides of meat, or grind your own burger meat, and then wrap and stamp it?

Now, many months later, we are still eating that moose!  And tonight we had probably the best steak we've had in many months...

Costco has great prices and great quality, and we're able to buy sizes commensurate with our family, but a little wild meat thrown in there gives variety, and  is just as delicious as store bought!  Try it!

Fuel : Snack time

If you've tried to  lose weight before, the idea of a bedtime snack may not seem like a good idea.  But if you've been in the Zone, you'll know where we're coming from.  Three meals, two snacks, all balanced carbs/protein/good fat.

This is what Coach T made me for my bedtime snack.  Mmmm....

Being paleo doesn't mean following all the Zone rules, but we do find they mesh pretty well, and following the Zone may be better if you are the type of person who likes to count calories, or measure portions, or who is apt to cheat :)  just a tiny little bit!

Right now, we're loosely following Zone/Paleo/ketogenic diet rules - low carbs (and good carbs over refined, no white sugar/flour), adequate protein, and high(er) fat.  It's so delicious!  And, i lost another pound this week :)....

Fuel : Paleo Pizza

I smelled dinner cooking and it smelled like.... Pizza Hut!

What on earth?  So delicious... so forbidden...

But when T called us upstairs to eat, there was something decidedly unpizzalike on the table.

The bacon definitely made up for the lack of crust - it was crunchy, and salty and delicious.  The chicken was seasoned using a bottled cilantro/lime marinade (we also love Tyler Florence's Ultimate chimichurri sauce if you prefer making from scratch).

And over all, melted cheese.  Everyone ate it and loved it :)

Coach T's Paleo Pizza

Cut up ten chicken breasts into bite sized pieces.  Throw them into a casserole dish (9X13 pyrex baking dish, ungreased).  Slather them in chimichurri sauce, or italian salad dressing, or whatever marinade you like.

Bake until almost cooked through.  Cut up half a pack of bacon.  Shake over top the chicken.  Cook again till bacon is crispy.  Drain liquid.  Cover in shredded feta and grated cheddar.  Bake until cheese is bubbly and golden.

Even the littles ones loved it!

Fuel: Greek Meatballs!

I'm going to try to alternate food and exercise posts - hopefully something is helpful, and if not, at least it pleases my OCD mind to have some sort of balance here!

Tonight's dinner was a winner, at least with me and Coach T.  The littles were a little indifferent - i think because of the olives.  Next time, maybe i'll make a batch of plainies for them..

I used ground pork because it's delish :) but you can use lamb, beef, deer, moose, whatever you have on hand (can you tell we are Canadian?)

This recipe makes enough to feed a family of ten - so, half it if you are a normal sized family or scale down to suit your household...

Paleo Greek Meatballs

2 lbs ground pork

1 c. flaked feta cheese

4 eggs

4 tsp dried parsley (i didn't have any fresh)

3 tsp dried onion (again, no fresh)

1/2 c. olives, cut up into little bits

3 tsp greek salad dressing

Turn the broiler on in your oven.  Mush all ingredients in a big bowl till well mixed.  Using olive oil, grease a few baking dishes - cookie sheet, cake pan, pyrex baking dish (i used all three!) and form the mix into balls, placing on the pan.  Broil on one side until bubbly and just browning.  Flip and brown the other side, and then move each batch to a cookie sheet at the bottom of the oven.  Once all meatballs are cooked, move cookie sheet up to the top rack of the oven to get nicely golden and sizzling with melted feta.

Serve with greek yogurt tzatziki (we just discovered a new favourite from Costco!)

and a side salad.

This side salad is just a small head of romaine, chopped up small, 1/3 of an English cucumber, 1/2 a tomato, chopped up small, a few handfuls of feta cheese, and greek salad dressing.  You can adjust proportions and ingredients according to what you like - i would have added olives if i'd had any more pitted olives!

           As a mom, this way of eating sometimes seems more expensive - after all, where's the filler?  It's just meat and veggies (and a dip!) - but what i've found is that while the ingredients can be more expensive, you don't need to eat a ton to feel full (because there is plenty of fat to satisfy, and plenty of protein to give you energy).  The carbs from vegetables give energy without a sugar high and collapse later on, and although it seems strange to have a meal on purpose without a starch on the side (!), you really don't miss it at all.  Now, if i have guests, i might still serve a starchy side, just because some smaller guests may be picky and only want carbs (my sixteen year old!), but as a family we don't miss the rolls, rice, noodles etc... and i tend not to even have a lot of those carbs in the house, as the littles will want them and they're pretty tempting when we're running low on time.  Fresh veggies or fruit is just as quick as grabbing a bun or toast, and better for you in so many ways!

Day Two...

I'm fighting something off - headachy and feeling weak... But i felt like this before we started, so i'm not blaming the paleo diet... it's just making me glad i have a husband who can and will cook! Hooray for the weekend!

So this is what we did today - meal by meal :) - we'll see how far we can push this...

Breakfast:

omelette with leek, and a little ham. No cheese - so it didn't hold all the ingredients in, but mmmmm it was delicious anyway!

and tea - brown rice gen mai... i'm not sure if it's paleo :) but i'm assuming it is - and i sweetened it with stevia - again, not sure of it's paleo-ness, but it's an herb...

Lunch:

Beef curry - left over roast beef with ground almonds, indian spices, olive oil, garlic. The little ones had Mr. Noodles :) but that's all we ate and it was delicious...

Dinner:

Beef heart - we'd never bought it before, or prepared it before, but to our surprise, all the children ate it up and asked for more. T just sauteed it in olive oil with seasoning salt. For sides, he had canned corn for the littles (not paleo) - and a big bowl of delicious cherry tomatos, plus beets he had sauteed with a little garlic salt and left in the warm oven to rest, and carrots he had boiled, and then left to absorb some butter in a pot...

I'm feeling really nice eating this way - but i am a little worried about this week - cooking for eight or nine three times a day, AND keeping it all paleo? Not sure how it will work out... I do miss the little amount of white bread i was "allowed" on the Zone (as "unfavourable carbs") - and i miss dairy... Especially cheese and sour cream! But T says we will have one cheat day a week, and i'll just have to make it a dilly :) - Perogies with sour cream and bacon and Hagen-Dasz for dinner? We'll see!

Meanwhile, i'm off to prep school work for the week and make a menu for tomorrow. I usually like to have weekly menu, but i think just going one day at a time until we get the hang of this way of eating will be less overwhelming...

T has a coworker with celiac disease - and he has to eat this way all the time - it makes me realize how simple food can be, and at the same time, what a huge amount of "convenience" food is eliminated this way, as well... What we are eating is healthy, but it does take time to prepare, more so than our "quick meal" days where T picks up frozen pizza :) or i bake three loaves of bread for lunch (french boules) and give it to the children along with fruit and cheese and a lot of butter...

Quick paleo lunches? Maybe i will stick to paleo for me and eat eggs for lunch, too... We'll see...