Beet-y Smoothie Goodness

What? Beets in a smoothie? Hell yes. Beets in a smoothie.

I didn't taste a beet until I was probably 25 years old. Damn my mother for never giving them to me when I was little! But I guess if both your parents don't like something, there is no way they are going to be feeding it to their kids. Now that beets are a part of my daily life I enjoy them in all sorts of ways, including in my smoothies.

This recipe is a take on a smoothie, called the "Napa Valley Smoothie" that they serve at my gym. I decided to take it upon myself to create it at home, and save myself $7 a pop.

you can find these in the veg section of your grocery store - near pre-packaged salad items

It all starts with the beets. I either roast my own beets (with a little avocado oil for 50 minutes at 400 degrees, wrapped in tinfoil - usually I add salt and pepper, but not for ones going in the smoothie) or buy these bad boys at Whole Foods or Wegmans. Throw them in the blender with either a splash of water or OJ and puree. Basically you are making baby food, so when it is a smooth consistency that gives you flashbacks to sleepless nights, you know it is good to go. One of these packages yields three smoothies in my house. I keep the leftover puree in a little tupperware container in the fridge for next time. 

beet puree deliciousness. 

Next I add a handful of frozen strawberries and one banana. Then a scoop of organic vanilla protein powder, and a sprinkling of shredded, unsweetened coconut. I like the texture the coconut gives to the smoothie, but some people I know don't like "things" in their smoothies (my kids) so use your judgement. 

As for liquid I use a splash of organic OJ, and then some unsweetened vanilla almond milk. The final thing I add is two teaspoons of Fish Oil. Fish oil? And beets? Vomit you say? Well, I would say vomit too if fish oil actually had a fishy taste. I use this amazing product a few months ago and have been using it daily. 

It tastes like melted lemon ice cream, and it adds the perfect zing to my creation (well, my take on the gym's creation). 

So here it is: 

Beet puree

Handful of frozen strawberries

One banana

One scoop of vanilla protein powder

Unsweetened shredded coconut

Splash of organic OJ

Unsweetened vanilla almond milk

2 tsp of Lemon Zest Fish Oil

And because I have been really into editing videos lately, I decided to create my own recipe video ala Tasty. Check it out!

Beet Smoothie from Jessica Trach on Vimeo.

Living Clean: We're Back baby!! Whoo Whoo!

Hubs and I fell off the clean eating train hard around September of last year. Sure we were eating well during the weeks...at dinner...but the rest of the time it was madness. Or, like we used to eat. We are once again starting to eat Paleo as of yesterday - no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no gluten, etc...only things that came out of the earth or had a mother at some point. Moooooo.

The fridge has been stocked with grass fed cuts of meat and tons of veggies (peeled and cut and ready to grab) and all the crap has been thrown away (or eaten before we left on vacation last week).

Game on!

One of the things that I struggled with our last go around at clean eating was what to drink. I know that is silly - drink water! - but that gets so damn boring. Last year I gave up soda (and still have to this day) and I developed some serious digestive issues when I drank carbonated drinks, so I was drinking a lot of homemade iced tea. But yesterday at Costco I came across the most wonderful thing!

They are now selling this package of 4 glass pitchers that come with an infuser tube inside of them. So you stick whatever fruit, herb, etc. you want in the infuser tube and the water takes on that flavor. See my creation yesterday of mint, limes and oranges at the right.

Ok, so this isn't anything new, and you are all probably rolling your eyes at how excited I am about this, but I am really excited!! It is so nice to have a drink alternative that is ready to go in the fridge.

Also at Costco (at least at our Costco in Dedham, MA) they now have a dedicated organic food section. There you can find all sorts of wonderful organic products - like a vat of Coconut Oil (you'd be surprised how fast you can go through one when eating Paleo). We also bought some KIND bars for a special treat every now and then. Check out your Costco to see what organic products they are offering - they are really catching up with the rest of the world!

So now that we are back to being Cavemen, stay tuned for all sorts of new recipes and annoying posts about eating clean from yours truly.

Anyone else deciding to "eat clean" this year?

Living Clean: Remastered Curry Chicken Salad

My mom is known for her chicken salad. Whenever friends would come over in high school they would ask for her chocolate chip cookies (that were just Nestle Tollhouse but for some reason were the best cookies ever) and her chicken salad. It is a pretty simple recipe, that I have made hundreds of times, and passed on to many a friend over the years: chicken, apples, raisins, walnuts, grapes, mayo, curry powder and salt and pepper.

The thing that makes it so delicious is the curry mayo, which is simply Hellman's Mayonnaise and curry powder. I could eat Hellman's mayo by the spoonful, and I have. I know some of you just threw up in your mouth, and the others are nodding in agreement at having eaten mayo like ice cream before (ok, not by the bowlful or anything - just a spoonful!).

When we started eating Paleo it was hard for me to give up the Hellmans - nothing you make at home compares. But I became accustom to my homemade mayo after I found the right mix of ingredients - one egg yolk, dash of salt, juice from half a lemon, a tablespoon of water (because I use one of those handheld immersion blenders) and one cup of walnut oil. I have tried using macadamia nut oil (most expensive and least flavorful), avocado oil (gave the mayo a green hue and tasted too much like avocados), almond (too nutty) and hazelnut oil (reminded me too much of coffee flavoring).

Now onto my remastered Curry Chicken Salad!

For the chicken I will either cook an entire free-range bird in the crockpot (sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook on low for 5 hours) or I will get the plain or brined rotisserie chickens from Whole Foods if I am lazy (which is most of the time). I decided to swap out walnuts for healthier almond slivers, and I added diced scallions for a delicious oniony crunch. And instead of raisins I used unsweetened dried cherries.

Let me just say, wow. This turned out even better than I had expected! I have also eaten it for breakfast and lunch the last two days it is so good. The scallions really add a new depth of flavor to an already simple but delicious salad (did that sound like a line out of Top Chef?)

Here is the crazy simple recipe (including the recipe for my mayo) for you to try yourself!:

Living Clean: Salted Honey and Fig "Cheesecake"

This week I decided to give a new dessert recipe a try. I am truly a sucker for visually beautiful things: I buy wine based on the labels (not always the smartest method), I am constantly interrupting my daily life and taking photos of things I see that I found appealing (whether it is a broken sign or shoes displayed on a wall) and I am not afraid to tell someone to their face if I think they have the greatest skin (hair, smile or even face) I have ever seen. So when I came across the photo below on Pinterest, that also linked me to a Paleo-friendly cheesecake recipe, I knew I had to try this out.

How pretty is that photo? Of course, it helps that the bloggers at ahouseinthehills.com are also photographers (and beautiful people themselves- not that that helps, just a coincidence). And then I happen to walk into Whole Foods on Monday and they had figs displayed right in the front I knew this was going to be my next experiment. 

Where to start...

I knew that something that was labeled as dairy-free was obviously not going to have cheese in it, so how could it be called a cheesecake? I will say this, it resembles a cheesecake in physical appearance only. My end result did not taste anything like a cheesecake (which is obvious after you read the ingredients) but it was a tasty dessert nonetheless! 

I won't go into the step by step process, which you can find by clicking here, but I will say that it was a fairly simple recipe to make. You will use your food processor, your blender (or Vitamix if you have one - I do not) and a 9 inch spring form pan (this I did not use so I wasn't able to get a good all around photo like above. Other than that you don't get much else dirty. 

My end results (via busted iPhone)

So the recipe itself...it consists of a lot of nuts. There are walnuts and pecans in the crust (along with dates, almond flour and spices). Let me talk about the crust for a second because it is absolutely delicious. I had a little extra and stood there and ate it with a spoon. It tastes like the crumb topping on an apple crisp - and that is exactly what I am going to use it for the upcoming weeks! The "cheesecake" part of the recipe is made with soaked cashews (you need to do this overnight to make them soft so plan accordingly), almond milk, vanilla and a few other things. 

I will be honest. When I first tasted the cake "batter" (I use that term very loosely) I was not impressed, but I pressed on and layered it on top of the crust and waited my two hours for it to freeze in the freezer.  I then added the figs, honey and salt to the top and dove in for a bite...

...and it wasn't bad! Actually, it was pretty delicious! I am a sucker for anything that is sweet and salty and this had the right balance of that for sure. If I was hosting a dinner party I would definitely make this again for my adventurous friends. 

My slice of dessert goodness

Here are my only issues: 

- As I previously mentioned, I do not have a Vitamix (which is what the creator of the recipe recommends for good reason), so my cake was still a little crunchy as I couldn't get the nuts full pulverized no matter what I did. I would recommend using Vitamix if you can, or even manually tampering the mixture to get it even more smooth. 

- I checked on my cake in the fridge today and in the spot where I took a slice there was a lot of liquid. I don't know if this is because it was frozen for a bit yesterday and sat in the fridge overnight, or if because the cake is just settling, but it doesn't look to pleasant today. That is not to say that I won't be trying it, and enjoying it again today! This might be due to some error on my part as well. 

So in summary I totally recommend my more adventurous/foodie readers to give this one a try. It is certainly like nothing you have tasted before, and is a nice sweet treat to end your day with. 

Recipe of the Week: Nomnompaleo Asian Chicken Thighs

I actually got my act together this week and made something for dinner other than a grilled piece of meat and some veg (which is what we are having tonight for dinner, but whatever). I decided to go to my favorite source for all things paleo, Nonompaleo.com. One of my readers told me to try out the Asian Chicken Thighs, so that is exactly what I did.

I will be honest - I am a chicken breast kind of girl. I don't mine picking apart a rotisserie chicken, but I am not partial to eating chicken meat off the bone. Now ribs, I can handle, but there is something about little tiny chicken bones in my mouth which kind of gives me the willies. But I have never been disappointed by a Nomnompaleo recipe, so I figured I would put my feelings about tiny bones in my mouth (insert male member joke here :) aside and start cooking.

I won't do a step by step on here, as Michelle of Nomnompaleo has ridiculous detailed (and beautifully photographed) step by step instructions on her website, so click here for the full recipe. 

I will say that if you don't eat a paleo diet, you will find that you have to but a lot of ingredients that you don't normally have in your pantry (toasted sesame oil, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, to name a few). Basically all you do is combine the ingredients in a food processer and pulse until they become a marinade. Put the chicken in a plastic bag, pour in the marinade, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours, and then cook. Very very simple.

And very very tasty.

Here are my only comments:
- I used only 3 pounds of thighs, and still felt like I didn't have enough marinade. Maybe when I marinate things I use more liquid than I need to though.
- I cooked the chicken for 40 minutes at 400 degrees and still didn't have that crispy skin like Michelle says you get in the recipe. I left it in there for 3 more minutes and a few got a little crispy, but I was looking for that fabulous crispy chicken skin you get on whole chickens. It is probably something to do with my oven though, which is fairly old and cooks thing pretty unevenly.
- The thighs are not as good the next day. As Michelle says in the recipe "eat immediately."
- There is definitely enough for 4-6 people in this recipe so if you are making it for only 2, I would half the amount of chicken, but use the same amount of marinade. As I said, the leftovers were good, but not great.

Overall I recommend giving this a try. I think it would be am amazing dish for a party, as they are really easy to eat with your hands (and not as messy as Michelle leads you to believe in the recipe).

Living Clean: The Dirty Month of July

For the first 6 months of this year my husband and I pretty much ate a 90% Paleo diet. We were sugar-, complex carb-, gluten- and dairy-free most of the week. We did cheat here and there, especially when we went out to dinner, but for the most part we were living a pretty strict Paleo lifestyle.

The results were amazing - I lost 25 pounds and two dress sizes. My husband is the thinnest he has been in 15 years (I don't even want to know how much he has lost because I will be totally jealous - damn men and their easy weight loss). We felt great: more energy, better sleep and neither of us got sick during those six months. Then July came...

...and we fell off the wagon - hard. Half of July we spent away from our house - our safe haven, where we always have a stocked fridge and pantry full of clean cooking condiments. We started off our vacations trying to be good (packing trail mix and other healthy snacks) but then we quickly found ourselves indulging in potato chips and Helluva Good dip (and it lives up to it's name friends). We were basically on an all-carb, all-sugar and all-processed food diet.

And I went from exercising 4 times a week to once or twice if I was lucky when I was at home and basically not at all while on vacation. The fact that I was recuperating from sinus surgery at the beginning of the month didn't help the situation either.

After a month of eating like we used to and lying around like slugs we felt like shit - fat, greasy, lazy, soft, jiggly shit. I can't believe that before January this was the way I used to eat! Whatever, whenever. Never reading labels, never caring about what I put in my mouth, and eating until I felt sick. No wonder I have always battled with my weight. You eat crap, you feel like crap, you look like crap. Simple enough.

So as of this week we are once again back on the wagon. The fridge is stocked with grass-fed meats and organic fruit and veg, and we are back to making (90%) of our meals ourselves. This week we have put the grill to work overtime -

- Veal chops with a dry rub of Chipotle pepper, minced garlic and dry mustard (with grilled zucchini)
- Shrimp with Old Bay seasoning (with tomato and onions sauteed in ghee)
- Grass-fed burgers with dry mustard, minced onion, dijon mustard, salt, pepper with grilled onions and baked sweet potato fries

And tonight is steak tips (pre-marinaded and purchased from Whole Foods - not paleo, but this is where we aren't being as strict as before) and grilled eggplant that I received from the Boston Organics delivery this week. I will let you know how that goes, as they are the skinny bright purple eggplants, and I am a little scared of them!!

My goal is to try a new recipe from Pinterest each week, and then report back to you all with my comments and photos of the results. So stay tuned for more updates and recipe info in the very near future!!

(Mostly) Paleo Chocolate Coconut Whipped Goodness

So this isn't the best photo of the deliciousness I made last night, but it was late and my camera needed to be charged, so this is the best I could do with my phone.

I have had this can of full-fat coconut milk in my fridge for a couple weeks and decided to put it to good use and try and make some whipped dessert goodness last night. I used an immersion blender and whipped it up the entire can of milk until it was pretty thick (next time I will whip it in actual mixer to make it a little stiffer). I then added a little less than 1/4 cup of unsweetened organic cocoa powder and blended it a little longer. While it was tasty, it wasn't very sweet so I went ahead and added in one packet of Truvia. This made it so much better!

It placed it in a tupperware container and popped it in the freezer for 15 minutes and it firmed up to almost a frozen yogurt consistency.

And it was delicious! And M enjoyed it immensely. We called it "healthy chocolate pudding."

I think it would work perfectly on top of berries for dessert.

So simple! Try it out.

Dinner Tonight: Salmon and Roasted Veg

I just made the simplest, most delicious dinner tonight and had to share for all you busy Mamas out there. Of course I thought about posting it after I ate it, so I didn't think to take a photo, but here is what I made...and M ate it all up!

For the veg (I say veg because Hubs loathes the word veggies :):
Two heads of broccoli
6 carrots, peeled and cut into "fry" shape (or sticks)
Avocado Oil
S&P

Put everything on a baking sheet, drizzle oil, add S&P and cook at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Check

In case you forgot what a piece of salmon looks like

it at the 20 minute mark, and give it a stir.

For the fish:
1 pound of wild Salmon (this was enough for me and M and to have a little leftover)
Avocado Oil
1 Lemon (1/2 sliced into somewhat thin pieces, 1/2 for squeezing)
Dill
S&P

Line a baking sheet with tin foil (enough foil so that you are able to wrap up the salmon like a present). Place salmon, skin down, on the foil. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with dill, salt and pepper. Squeeze half a lemon worth of juice over salmon. Place the sliced lemon on top of the salmon. Wrap up fish nice and tight in the tin foil so that it is totally covered and sealed.

At the 20 minute mark for your veg, place the salmon on the second rack in the oven and cook along with the veg for the remaining 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

And Voila! Everything is done at the same time...and is crazy delicious!!

Living Clean/Paleo: You could...you just don't want to

I am no expert on weight loss, eating right, or health in general. I am just an average sized woman (ok, bigger than average at 5 foot 9 inches tall) who like most women reading this, has struggled with her weight for the latter part of her life. I have tried all the fad diets, lost and gained too many pounds to count and fluctuated from a size 10 to a tight size 16 (after baby #2).

When I was younger I thought I was fat. I was not. Looking back at pictures of myself, in a bikini, I can't believe I ever thought I had a weight issue, but then I look to my left and right and see my skinny mini friends in their string bikinis and remember why I felt that way. I was not as thin as the girls I was friends with (and have always been the biggest of my friends) but I was not nearly the beast that I thought I was at the time.

It wasn't until I went to college, stopped dancing and started eating whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, that I started to pack on the pounds. For 4 years I ate cheesesteak after cheesesteak (after pizza, after calzone, and sometimes in the same day) and never worked out. There was one summer, after sophomore year, that my mother actually got me a personal trainer to try and get me back into shape while I was at home. It was a quick fix, but as soon as I went back to school I gained whatever weight I had lost in those three months back in one week of nightly peanut butter sundaes.

After college my weight really fluctuated, with two periods of weight loss (around 30 pounds each time) and lots of weight gain in between. I was going to the gym most days, but still eating whatever I wanted, so the weight never stayed off. I joined Weight Watchers at one point and lost 30 pounds, and joined a dance studio and danced my ass off (literally, as I went down two dress sizes). But then the weight came back on, I started having kids and yada, yada, yada...there I was this January weighing more than I ever had and my size 16 clothes were tight on me.

It was in January, as you all know, that we began our Paleo adventure, giving up carbs, sugar, dairy and gluten. It was a struggle, but we powered through and the weight started to melt off. Then I hit a plateau, and didn't lose anything for a few weeks. It was then that I started working out again. I joined a local pilates/barre studio and now go 3-4 times a week to cardio barre classes, and let's just say I am red faced and dripping with sweat after each work out.

A few weeks in to working out again I noticed incredible changes to my body.  Things were tightening and shrinking, and I was actually ok with seeing myself in the mirror naked again. The combination of working out and eating right was once again burning my body fat and getting me back in shape.

So what the hell is the point of this post? Here it is...anyone can lose weight. There is no magic pill or gadget you can buy to help you lose weight fast.

Just follow this simple equation: stop eating crap + start sweating = weight loss. 

Obvious right? I think so.

Every time I tell people how I have lost these last 25 pounds they always say "Oh I couldn't do that," or "how do you not eat pasta and bread?" or "I couldn't give up cheese.." And to that I say, "you could, you just don't want to."

No one is force feeding you that brownie. You can survive without eating all that cheese. Just don't do it. Just don't put crap in your mouth!! Or more importantly, don't buy it in the first place.

I struggled tremendously when on vacation with my family this past weekend. I ate chips with salsa, I ate salty nuts, I ate a couple of skinny cow ice cream sandwiches...and a burger with a bun. I had Hellman's Mayo - and it was delicious. I fell off the wagon hard, and I felt like complete shit. I was shocked at how fast all that crap I used to eat affected my system! Now I am back at home and struggling like I did in the beginning of eating Paleo, but I am determined to get back on the wagon and back to feeling as good as I did just one short week ago.

I can't see myself ever going back to eating processed calorie-filled foods I was eating BP (or before paleo :). Sure I will cheat here and there but this is not a diet for me, it is a lifestyle change. Eating this way, in combination with working out has done wonders for my body, my spirit, my attitude, my sex life...I could go on.

Back to the point of this post...It is not easy to lose weight, but anyone can do it. It is not rocket science. Stop eating processed calorie-filled foods and start working out. I am not saying you need to eat Paleo like I do, but find something that works for you. Stop making excuses. It will take time, and it will be hard work, but just shut up and do it. Find the time to work out - wake up before your kids do and go for a walk or a run. Stop buying the crap you usually buy at the grocery store. Start taking care of yourself now while you still have the chance.

And don't get me started on what you are probably feeding your kids (yes, this I will judge you on because it is under your control). That is for another post...

For now, put down the diet soda and stop eating those pretzels. And take the stairs.

Living Paleo: Be Prepared

My Paleo update: It's hard to believe that we are in our fourth month of living Paleo. I've lost 20 pounds total (hubs has lost more than that), but haven't lost anything for the last three weeks. My weight seems to be hovering around the same number, going up and down here and there by a pound, but not consistently down anymore. About 4 weeks ago I started going to Barre classes, and have noticed a crazy difference in my body (things are definitely tightening up) but the number on the scale remains the same. My nutritionist friend reminded me that metabolic and muscle memory are for real, and my body has probably gotten used to eating the same foods, of which I am totally guilty. This past weekend I pinned a whole bunch of new recipes that I am excited to try and review for you all on here, so hopefully with the new menu in combination with working out I will be shedding my last 15 pounds I want to lose in the next few months. Fingers crossed!!

In this post I wanted to talk about how to make living a Paleo lifestyle easier for yourself, as the main food preparer. My main complaint of eating this way will always be that it is time consuming. There is menu planning, multiple shopping trips to Whole Foods, lots of prep and lots of cleaning (this I leave to my husband most nights). Some days I just want to order a pizza and not have to dirty the stove but then I remember how great it feels to look in the mirror right now, and I heave my Lodge cast iron pan onto the stove and start cooking.

I try to keep my fridge and pantry stocked at all times, so that even if I don't feel like making a big to-do over dinner I can whip something up pretty quickly. There are certain things that I always have on hand:

- Grass-fed ground beef: Whenever Whole Foods has a sale on their grass-fed beef ground beef I buy enough to make one dinner that week plus enough to freeze for a future meal. I divide it up into portion sizes and freeze in ziploc bags.
- Organic chicken breasts from Costco: Good ole Costco sells a package of organic chicken breasts that contain 6 breasts, in 3 little packages. So easy to divide and freeze
- Bag of frozen wild-caught shrimp (from Costco)
- Bag of frozen Tilapia filets (Costco) - these aren't wild caught, but I don't care as they are so delicious fried up in some coconut oil
- Container of fresh crabmeat (Costco)
- Coconut Oil (unrefined) - Costco sells a giant container for $15
- Avocado & Macadamia Nut Oil (both I get on Amazon.com)
- Some sort of curry paste (read the ingredients and choose one that doesn't have sugar, and whose ingredients you are all familiar with)
- Coconut or Almond Flour - dip some chicken in a beaten egg, coat in flour and pan fry. Always a quick and easy dinner
- Canned Coconut Milk

My Boston Organics Delivery!

If you have all of those things in your freezer and your pantry, you can make dinner pretty easily. I always accompany my meat with a veg at dinner, and lately our veg has been courtesy of Boston Organics delivery service. Every Thursday morning a green crate arrives on our doorstep filled with locally grown organic produce. Thanks to Boston Organics I am now a lover of parsnips, celery root and bok choy - all things I had never had before signing up for the service. If you live in the Boston area I highly recommend signing up for Boston Organics delivery STAT!

My last bit of advice for being prepared is to always have the following kicking around:
- homemade trail mix (unsalted nuts and sugar free dried fruit - all found at Whole Foods)
- snack sticks (you can find these "slim jim" type snacks online on different paleo sites, but I cheat and get the turkey sticks they have at Whole Foods. They contain raw sugar but I don't eat them enough for it to matter - at least that is what I think :)
- Hard boiled eggs - Cover the eggs with water (about an inch above eggs), bring to boil, cover the pot, turn off the stove and put on a timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes dump out the water and put them in an ice water bath. This way you don't have that ugly green ring around the yolk!
- Paleo Mayo - I found the best recipe for an immersion blender version on seriouseats.com. Click here and watch the video for 2 minute mayo further down the page.

If you have those you have instant breakfast (hard boiled eggs & snack stick), lunch (egg salad), or a quick snack you can grab and take with you - this is important if you are a busy mom like me and can barely find the time to make yourself something to eat between changing diapers and cleaning up after your kids.

I have some amazing new slow cooker recipes I tried that I want to share with you all but they will come in a separate post later this week!!

Living Paleo: Going Strong

UPDATE: I added one section about drinks

I have had a few request to write another Paleo post...so here goes!

Two months down living without carbs, sugar, gluten, dairy and legumes. 16.5 pounds lost, without breaking a sweat - literally. I have yet to find time in my busy schedule to start working out again, so I can only imagine what I would have lost so far if I was exercising! But things have been going great.

The first thing people always ask me is "have you cheated?" Yes, I have cheated, but I can count on one hand how many times I have strayed! Ok, maybe both hands. I stick to the Paleo guidelines we have created for ourselves* every day of the week, and occasionally when out at a restaurant I will go off course and get something I am craving. I don't feel bad about it at all because I am right back on track the next day. I will say that I have had one piece of pizza in these last 8.5 weeks and it tasted gross to me! I was shocked. It is amazing how your body gets so used to eating clean that it rejects the processed gross foods you used to eat.

Had a bit of a challenge last week while in Florida without my husband. I strayed a little here and there - had a Caesar salad at lunch twice, and had cheese on a bun-less burger while out to dinner - but for the most part I stuck to the Paleo guidelines. Thankfully I was at my parents house and could run to Whole Foods when needed - I can't imagine doing this while on a real vacation and having to eat out for every meal, which is what my husband struggles with when he travels for work.

A reader asked to explain what I eat on a daily basis, so here are some of my meal ideas (these are not all eaten at once of course, just different ideas for breakfast, lunch and dinner):

Breakfast: 
- 4 slices of bacon & some variation of eggs most days. I get our bacon from uswellnessmeats.com as I cannot find sugar-free bacon in any store. I usually do 3 eggs over easy, but some days I will get veg out and chop it and make an omelet or scramble.
- If I don't feel like dealing with the stove I will get out my muffin tin and line the cups with proscuitto ham and crack and egg in it, and then bake at 350 for 12 minutes (I like my yolks runny).
- I do get sick of eating the same thing so some days I will change it up and make a smoothie for myself and M, using frozen bananas, strawberries (or pineapples and mango) and coconut milk. I was adding in raw organic honey, but last week M told me "Mom, I don't like honey anymore," so I don't add it now. On days when I am really hungry in the morning I will have bacon & eggs as well as a smoothie. I like to be full (but not uncomfortable) at each meal so I don't have the urge to snack.

Lunch: Lunch is always a hard one for me. I am usually trying to put two screaming children down for a nap around lunch so I don't get a chance to eat until 1:30 at the earliest. At that point I don't feel like making a big production and cooking, so I usually do something small.
- If I have leftovers from dinner the previous night that is my go-to.
- I usually have one rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods (the no salt flavor) hanging in the fridge so I have something I can just grab and eat (also a good snack).
- I am not a salad girl at all, mostly now because I haven't found a good paleo dressing I like, but sometimes if I get lettuce in my Boston Organics delivery I will whip up a salad with whatever veg I find and put chicken or crabmeat (I always keep some on hand in the fridge - from Costco) on top and put some balsamic vinegar on it.
- If I do have the time cook at lunch I love this recipe for krab patties from my girl at nomnompaleo.com
- As of late I have been whipping up some mean guacamole (recipe to come) which I will eat with homemade sweet potato chips (recipe will be with guac post)
- I usually have some roasted beets kicking around so I will slice those up and have them solo with balsamic vinegar and s&p
- Sometimes I am not hungry and will just eat some cantaloupe wrapped in proscuitto ham. Delish.
- My other go to is a tomato salad with cherry tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes and proscuitto with balsamic, and some s&p

Dinner: Dinner is always some form of meat and veg of course. 99% of the time it is a big production, so plan accordingly.
- In my weekly meal plans I like to incorporate at least one slow-cooker meal. I love nomnompaleo's slow cooker Kalua Pig (in fact it is cooking in my crock pot right now - smells divine.)  It makes so much that you will be eating it for days - with eggs, on salad, cold or hot - sooooo good. We also love nomnompaleo's slow cooker beef and tomato stew (recipe can be found on her iPad ap, which I recommend getting NOW. NOW!)
- I like to make my own curry creations - here is my recipe for my shrimp massaman curry which you can of course make with chicken instead of shrimp (as I did last night, and just had for lunch as well)
- I do a lot of roasting vegetables - carrots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, parsnips, cauliflower, butternut squash. I always throw in a couple cloves of garlic and chopped onion with whatever I am roasting. Put the veg on a baking sheet, coat with avocado oil (or macadamia nut oil) and s&p, cook at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes (I stir it around after 20).
- The other night I cooked veal cutlets, coated in coconut flour in my cast iron skillet. A little coconut oil in the pan (wait a minute or two for it to get really hot) and then cooked the cutlets for about 2 minutes a side. So easy and so delicious!
- If it is nice out, we will grill whatever protein we have, but it hasn't been nice out lately as you all know.

Treats: I have always been a sweet lover. So it was important for me to find sweet treats that I could eat but still remain within the Paleo guidelines. Of course this is not something that you can have as much as you want of, it is a "treat" which I allow myself to indulge in here and there and I don't feel an ounce of guilt I have tried two dessert recipes so far and they were both spectacular:
- Primal fudge by Practical Paleo - easy and delicious
- Pumpkin, coconut and maple custard cups - holy cow (and M loves these!)
- If I need something sweet after a meal and don't have a dessert readily made (which is most of the time) I grab a medjool date from the pantry - those babies will fulfill any sweet craving you have!

Drinks: I get asked a lot what we drink while living Paleo. Well, water for one. Lots of it! Water with lemon, with limes, oranges, and mint. I also drink a lot of naturally flavored, sweetener/sugar-free seltzer. I need to get one of those soda makers and make my own seltzer at the rate I am throwing it back. I will also have one cup of tea a day, with one Truvia in it. I know, some Paleo people are gasping that I use Truvia, but it is all natural, and I have no problem using it once a day. I will also do the same with iced tea every now and then. There are the occasional mornings (like this morning) when I am a walking zombie and need a jolt of caffeine, so I will drink coffee. I put one Truvia in it and will use a splash of flavored coconut milk.

As for cocktails, we drink wine and either vodka or tequila on the rocks with some citrus squeezed in it.


So that is what I typically eat and drink. I should also mention that we do still drink wine and booze (tequila & vodka) but not every night. I know that strict Paleons (is that a word? Well it is now!) abstain from the sauce, but we made a conscious decision to keep off the wagon when we first started.

I do still complain about how time consuming it is to eat this way, but I feel amazing and the pounds are falling off (again, without exercising - which I will be getting back into ASAP hopefully). If you have any specific questions, comment below! I am no expert in Paleo, but have had great success and would love to help you and your family out if you are thinking about starting a clean eating lifestyle.

Remember to follow me on Pinterest too as I am always finding new Paleo recipes and pinning them (along with a million other things - I am obsessed!!)

*You will find that there are many different "guidelines" for Paleo living. Some say you can't eat certain fruits (like bananas and pineapples), others say eat whatever fruit you want. Some say you can't eat string beans, others say you can. Some say you can't eat butter, and others say you can have butter if it is from grass-fed cows...and so on and so on. You need to experiment and find what is right for you and your body. If you are eating sweet fruits, and don't find that you are losing weight, cut them out, or cut down on them. Find what Paleo "guidelines" work for you. I do eat sweet fruit, but don't eat any string beans or pea pods. I also have stayed away from any butter and use ghee in place of it. And like I mentioned, we do drink alcohol. 

Caveman Chef: Shrimp Massaman Curry

I made an incredible dinner last night. I was so proud of myself for cooking something so delicious (that I am about to reheat for dinner tonight) that I had to share my creation with you all.

my shrimp curry creation

As I have mentioned in my Paleo posts, this eating lifestyle requires a lot of cooking and a lot of ingredients that I had never used (in some cases never heard of) before we started this in January. In my cupboard you find things like coconut oil, fish sauce, macadamia nut oil, ghee, almond flour, a variety of curry pastes, thai chili paste and other exotic (at least to me) cooking ingredients. Since I am cooking at almost every meal, I like to experiment with said ingredients and create my own concoctions every now and then. Some are not as successful as others (the salmon topped with the cilantro, lime and jalepeno was not my favorite) but every now and then I make magic that even I am shocked came from my kitchen.

So last night I didn't really have a dinner plan, but I had been waiting to use my Massaman Curry Paste, so I wanted to experiment with it. We always have some sort of protein kicking around, so I grabbed some frozen shrimp and started defrosting them by running cold water over them in the sink.

I then checked the veg drawer in the fridge and grabbed everything we had left: carrots, plum tomatoes, yellow pepper, scallions, sweet onion and garlic. I began my nightly chopping of a thousand veg (I seriously think I have tendonitis in my right arm because of all this chopping! Oh and carrying around a 17 pound baby all day.) The plum tomatoes I left whole, as I love the way they taste when they cook whole. Everything else I just chopped up as usual.

Since starting eating Paleo I have only used two pans in our kitchen: our 12" and 15" Lodge cast iron sautee pans. I use them at least once a day, most days at every meal, and don't even bother putting them away after I clean them. I fired them both up, and put a blob of coconut oil in each one.

In the 12 inch I put 4 minced cloves of garlic and all the shrimp.

In the 15 inch I put all the veg.

The shrimp cooked in about 5 minutes, so I transferred them to the veg pan, making sure I didn't bring any of that liquid that was in the pan. Because they were frozen shrimp they tend to leave a lot of liquid in the pan that is very unappetizing if you ask me!

Now comes the fun part - the experimenting with the ingredients.

I added an entire can of Coconut Milk (my go to liquid for anything I make these days), and about 3/4 of the can of curry paste. My husband and I love hot stuff, so I knew I wanted it spicy. If you don't want it too spicy, I recommend just adding a tablespoon. Then I sprinkled everything with fish sauce - I have no idea who much, but I would guesstimate about 2 tablespoons worth. I stirred it all up carefully, so that the curry paste mixed in, and the sauce turned a lovely orange color. I finished with generous salt and pepper, and then let everything cook for about 8 minutes more, until the veg was nice and soft.

So simple. So delicious. I could seriously eat this every night.

It took only about 30 minutes from start to finish, so this is definitely going to be a recurring dish in our house!

Here is the ingredient list again:

1 2 lb bag of frozen shrimp or fresh shrimp (your choice)
1 carton of cherry tomatoes (keep them whole)
1 sweet onion (chopped - i like to keep them in bigger pieces as I love onions
4 scallions (chopped)
1 yellow (or red or orange) pepper (chopped)
2 medium carrots (chopped)
4 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 can of Massaman Curry Paste (the amount is up to your desired level of spiciness)
2 T of Fish sauce
1 can of Coconut Milk
2 T of coconut oil
Salt & Pepper

Try it! You'll like it!

Living Paleo: A Lifestyle Change

I have a very good friend who is a certified nutritionist. I was going to come up with some different name for him, but let's call him Bobby, as that is his name. Bobby isn't just a regular old heath nut, he is a health nut who used to be very overweight, but is now in the best shape of his life. As with all people who have gone through a life changing experience, (be it a born again Christian, a huge weight loss, a recovering addict, etc.) he gets a little preachy now and then, especially to those who still have his old habits of eating (which is pretty much the majority of mankind). But I can't fault him, as he has come a long way, and looks amazing and has devoted his life to health and fitness, and more importantly improving people's lives.

In the past he has posted things on Facebook that make me want to throw my shoe at his face through my computer. I would sit there, eating my toast with peanut butter and yogurt in the morning and see on my Facebook feed something like "living your life by "points" may help you get thin, but it won't get you healthy. There is a difference," or " 'I actually eat pretty health' - No You Don't'." I'd roll my eyes and think about a snarky comment to make after his status, and go about my day eating my version of what I thought was healthy.

Or if I needed to lose weight I would fire up my Weight Watchers app and start counting points again. Bags of 100 Calorie chips would line my pantry, light this, and fat-free that stocking the fridge shelves. Six pounds would come off in a month, and as soon as I started eating like I was before, oh, how quickly that would come back on.

I knew what Bobby thought was "healthy" from talking with him, and seeing him eat in front of me. I knew he didn't eat carbs, didn't have sugar and gave up dairy. Yeah, there was no way in the world I was giving up my beloved bread, and cheese! Are you kidding me? I live for cheese. Or so I thought...

But then my husband and I decided to start eating Paleo (which is basically what Bobby has been doing since he lost all his weight) and living a Paleo lifestyle requires you eat a dairy-, carb-, gluten- and sugar-free diet. I figured I would indulge my husband and see how it was to eat this way for a few weeks, maybe a month, but for sure I would go back to eating the way I was before, or even start counting points to lose weight. How was I going to lose weight eating bacon and eggs? Or cooking with coconut oil? How was I going to survive without my pretzels? Or Pirate Booty? Or afternoon cheese and crackers?

Well, my friends, 30-days of eating Paleo has come and gone in a flash. Here I sit at my computer, 12 pounds lighter, and feeling absolutely fabulous. And you know what? I don't even miss my best friend Bucheron! I thought I would be dying for some cheesy goodness, but I don't have the slightest craving. I do still crave carbs every now and again, but a few nuts in my mouth (my husband is giggling at his desk right now) and I am good to go.

And it is taking every ounce of self control that I have not to turn into Bobby and take to Facebook telling everyone that they need to stop eating the way they are eating now and start eating healthy!! I now look back at all Bobby was saying and I want to give him a hug and say "why didn't you force me to listen to you back when you were preaching to me through facebook! You were talking to me weren't you!" I want to shout it from the roof tops that eating meat and vegetables, the way our bodies were intended to be fed, makes you feel great! It gives you energy! You can eat bacon and lose weight people!! I want to tell people to look at the labels on what they are eating - most of the man made crap that is in the processed food you eat is what is causing major diseases and health problems in the world today. If it didn't have a mother, or grow out of the ground - don't eat it it folks!

What I thought would be just a 30 day fling has turned into a lifestyle for my hubs and I, and hopefully soon we will be transitioning 3-year old M to a Paleo lifestyle too. We won't be nearly as strict with her as we are with ourselves, because we don't want her to miss out on the joys of being a kid and indulging every once in a while. That is not to say that we too won't indulge once in a while, but a piece of bread every 3 weeks or so will not kill us if we continue to eat this way every other meal of our lives. Next is to transition my parents to Paleo...

It is a revolution peeps...hop on the train and get healthy. Like Bobby said, you might think that you eat healthy but I am sure you don't.

Please don't throw a shoe at me through your computer.

Living Paleo: Week Two Report

Today is day 18 of our 30 day Paleo challenge. 18 days of living dairy-, carb-, gluten- and sugar-free! I never thought I would make it past week one, but here I am on day 18 and I am able to fit into my pre-Val jeans! Now, pre-M jeans, that is another story, but hopefully I will get there soon.

I was fully prepared for week 2 to be hell (much like the second week on Biggest Loser). I heard rumors that you get really tired after a week of eating like this, and that your cravings come back in full-force and it gets even harder to eat a clean primal diet. And to those rumors I say pish posh!! Week two came and my husband and I kicked it's ass. I was able to get a little yoga in a few times and I am starting to feel like my old self again.

I had a couple of challenging moments this week. One being my first dinner out since starting this, but I was able to successfully eat a Paleo dinner - a huge accomplishment for me, the food lover. I passed on the bread (of course we went to an Italian restaurant in the North End) before dinner, and didn't even look twice at the dessert that was being shared by the rest of my girls at the table. It was the first night I was able to fit into my regular jeans, and I think I was so high on the fact that this shit is actually working I had no desire to fall back to my old ways.

I do have to complain (again) that this Paleo gig is pretty time consuming. Here I am at dinner and I have already cleaned the kitchen twice today - once for a big breakfast and once for my dynamite lunch of crabcakes, broiled squash and kale chips. The thought of dirtying up the kitchen a third time makes me want to puke (pukes a funny word - anyone actually get that reference besides my husband?)

Ok, enough about me, now on to the good stuff...the food! We have had some KILLER meals this week and I need to share the recipes with you, because they were so freaking easy to make. Again, I am obsessed with Nomnompaleo.com so most of the recipes come from her kick ass site.

- Crab Patties (holy shite these were delicious)

image courtesy of Nomnompaleo

- Slow Cooker Thai Yellow Curry beef

image courtesy of Nomnompaleo

- Slow Cooker Kalua Pig (which we made for the second time in two weeks)

image courtesy of Nomnompaleo

And on nights like tonight, where I don't feel like making a colossal mess I make my own stir-fry type dish. I cook chunks of chicken in coconut oil, use all my remaining veg in the kitchen (this time carrots, peppers, mushrooms and scallions) and fry that up in a skillet with coconut oil as well. I combine the chicken and veg, add coconut milk, a spoonful of roasted red chili paste, a couple splashes of fish sauce and lots of salt and pepper. Holy bejesus was it tasty. 

image courtesy of me and my mad
cooking skills 

Crib, Potty & Paleo...it was a big weekend for us

"Mom! I'm doing it! I'm doing it!" was the sound I heard during my proudest moment of last weekend.

And what was it that M was doing? Pooping on the potty. Giddy up! It took just a few short days and M is about 90% potty trained now. I say 90% because I still put a diaper on her for naps and night time, but we spend all day in big girl undies and only had two accidents since Saturday morning.

Our other big accomplishment was moving Val from our bed (and our arms) into her crib in her room...down the hall. It was a change we were not looking forward to, but one we knew had to come soon as with three in the bed, none of us was sleeping well. It is one of those things that we kept putting off because we thought it would be a challenge, but like most things turned out to be a smooth transition!

And the third big change is that my husband and I started a Paleo lifestyle as of Monday. What is Paleo you ask? It is basically eating like a caveman (yes I am living with a Caveman Lawyer now - there is some joke in there somewhere.) You eat everything they would have eaten back in the Paleolithic era - meats, vegetables and fruits. No processed foods, no sugar, no carbs, no legumes, no gluten, no dairy(you can eat eggs)...basically everything I was eating you cannot eat when you are Paleo.

I had read about a fellow bloggers experience with living Paleo and how it changed her life, and it intrigued me. I had been on a "diet" since the holidays, but was still stuffing my face with fat-free snacks and not getting the protein that my body needed. I mentioned the Paleo thing to my husband, who is a carnivore (this guy would eat steak for every meal if he could) and he was all over it. So we did some research, read Everyday Paleo by Sarah Fragoso and off I went to Whole Foods with a grocery list that was literally two pages long.

On Sunday we cleaned out our pantry and refrigerator of basically everything - anything that had sugar in the ingredients was trashed and you would be shocked at how much sugar is in EVERYTHING!! I will say that I did leave snacks for M, and cheese and milk for her in the fridge as I am not making her eat as we are, until our 30 day challenge is up and we make a final decision to make this a lifestyle change. But everything that was tempting me went in the trash (or in a plastic bin to be donated at a later date). Out of sight, out of mind.

We restocked the fridge with nothing but meats, veg and fruits. Seriously, that is it.

We restocked the pantry with a trail mix that I made consisting of a variety of unsalted nuts and dried fruit (without sugar), organic almond butter, raw organic honey, other organic products and a vat of coconut oil which will replace olive oil we use every day to cook.

If I want a snack I head to the vegetable drawer, not the chip bin in the pantry. It is a big change for me.

But I am loving the fact that my husband is taking this journey with me. Living with a man that is almost 7 feet tall, and has never had a weight problem in his life is challenging when you yourself are trying to lose weight. While on Weight Watchers I would make meals, but would have to double them, or add things to them to be to his liking (he is not picky, but some WW meals are not good). This is a much more ideal "diet" to be on, especially when I have my best friend doing it with me!

My takeaway from the first 4 days is that it is time consuming to eat this way. Every meal pretty much has to be planned, and most are cooked, so it is a lot of prepping, cooking and cleaning. Our goal this weekend is to sit down and write out an actual meal plan for the week so that we can prep some things ahead of time and freeze them, which will hopefully make my already busy life a little simpler!

So that is the Mama J report...stay tuned for updates on the Paleo living. Off to hunt me some dinner!