I’m not really the type of girl who posts photos of her food daily…  it has a little to do with not wanting to take the time to do it and most to do with the fact that I remember photos as I’m taking the last bite.  Oops.

Oh well.

We are really liking Paleo/Whole 30 type of eating and believe we’ll stick to the main jist of it all even after the month is over.  We’ll move over to a more Paleo way of eating (right now, we aren’t cooking with ANY sugars…not even agave, stevia, etc) and we won’t feel bad if we sometimes have a little cheese or just a little bread or a piece of cake.  I’ve actually been looking for recipes like these for a long time (over a year) and just figured out recently that it’s classified as Paleo/Primal.  I had an idea of how I wanted us to eat in my head but didn’t know what to call it!  I love that we found it and it’s so much easier when it’s lumped into a category…makes it easier to find recipes!

Anyhow, let’s link you up with some goodies we’ve tried, shall we?

Budget Friendly Balsamic Mustard Chicken and Oven Roasted Veggies by Everyday Paleo – This was an EASY meal and absolutely DELICIOUS!  The kids gobbled it down as fast as they could and wanted seconds!  We will definitely be cooking this again…plus, it was easy and pretty inexpensive!

For “desserts,” we occasionally have kiwi, grapefruit, pineapple, banana, etc.  On a couple of occasions I actually have made (and loved) the Fruit Parfaits and Fried Banana Pudding from Sarah Fragoso’s Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. (Sidenote: We really really really like her cookbooks!  The 2 “desserts” didn’t use any “natural” sugars…it was just preparing the fruit/coconut milk/spices we were eating separately to make something that seemed more like dessert!)

Buffalo Beef “tacos” – For the adults, we season beef with Frank’s Hot Sauce and wrap in large lettuce leaves with tomatoes and avocados.  For the kids, we omit the hot sauce.  We serve them with sauteed veggies and are good to go!  Quick and easy!

Buffalo Chicken with Veggie Strips/Fries – Bake chicken wings, coat with Frank’s Hot Sauce.

For veggie strips/fries:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F

2. Cut carrots and zucchini/squash into strips of about 3 in long and about the width of your pinkie-ish.

3. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and a light layer of olive oil.

4.  Season with salt and pepper, cumin, and paprika

5.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until tender, turning about half-way through.

6.  Eat.

Yummy Chicken Pasta – my mother in law informed me that the photo for this one looks “disgusting,” so I’m working on creating a new one for you… but, I urge you to try it.  It’s really really good.  It’s another one of our favorites!

More Southwestern Frittatta – We also took this to a gathering and it was a pretty big hit!  Love having leftovers for lunches and suppers!

Breakfast for Supper - Eggs, bacon, tomatoes, sauteed veggies

And, if you’re like me and “on the go” for breakfast/lunch and don’t have time to whip up a culinary wonder every time…check out this link for some GREAT time saving tips and ideas!!

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Steven and I planned a super-special treat for the girls last night!  After chores were finished, we began mixing up a few ingredients so the girls could make their own ice cream!  Since sweets/snacks are “treats” over here, they were SUPER EXCITED.  Not only was it dessert, but it was FUN!  They loved it!!  (And asked to have it again for breakfast…we had a smoothie instead )

Here’s the recipe we used to make our ICE CREAM (recipe makes one serving, so we doubled it):

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup salt- we used table salt in one and the larger granules (Himalayan red salt, but you can use rock salt ).  You can use both, but the larger salt WILL make ice cream that is thicker/more frozen.

• Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
• 1 pint-size ziploc bag
• 1 gallon-size ziploc bag

Instructions

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.
2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it’s done.
3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too! Serves 1.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Wash and dry Kale leaves – then, separate leaves from middle vein and tear leaves into 1-2 inch pieces.  Cover a pan with parchment paper or tin foil.  Spray with a little olive oil (we have some in a squirt bottle) and drizzle with about 1 tsp salt or to taste.

Cook for 10 minutes.

EAT.

Note:  For those of you who like spice or more flavor, feel free to experiment with your favorite herbs and seasonings…and then come back here and let us know what you experimented with and how they turned out!

This is a great recipe INSTEAD of potato chips!!

DIRTY DOZEN:

1

Apples

2

Celery

3

Strawberries

4

Peaches

5

Spinach

6

Nectarines
– imported

7

Grapes – imported

8

Sweet bell peppers

9

Potatoes

10

Blueberries
– domestic

11

Lettuce

12

Kale/collard greens

CLEAN 15:

Lowest in Pesticide

1

Onions

2

Sweet Corn

3

Pineapples

4

Avocado

5

Asparagus

6

Sweet peas

7

Mangoes

8

Eggplant

9

Cantaloupe
- domestic

10

Kiwi

11

Cabbage

12

Watermelon

13

Sweet potatoes

14

Grapefruit

15

Mushrooms

1.  Sugar is the primary dietary cause of the obesity epidemic.
Fat doesn’t make you fat.  But sugar that turns into fat will.

2.  Sugar causes hormonal and metabolic imbalance.
Swinging insulin and cortisol levels in the body, which decrease then increase blood sugar, not only cause your system to crash but set up a cascade of abnormal hormone functions that lead to premature aging and illness.

3.  Sugar is your fast track to diabetes.
On the Standard North American Diet, it is only a matter of time before insulin receptors burn out, unable to handle the onslaught of sugar.

4.  Sugar increases the acidity of the body.
All disease thrives in acidic environments.

5.  Sugar causes inflammation.
Inflammatory enzymes are elevated on higher-sugar diets.  Inflammation is at the heart of 98 percent of disease.

6.  Sugar is the primary reason for high cholesterol.
Your body’s innate healing system, which uses cholesterol, goes into high gear when the body is traumatized at the cellular level by high sugar, insulin, and inflammation.  The solution to high cholesterol is not to lower it forcefully but to remove the interference in the body causing it to rise in the first place.

7.  Sugar leads to heart disease.
Elevated inflammation in the arteries increases the risk of high blood pressure, hemorrhage, stroke, and heart attacks.

8.  Sugar is an anti-nutrient.
Your body’s expenditure to manage sugar is greater than the energy it gains from it.  If you think you are better off eating a chocolate bar, or piece of white bread, than going hungry – think again.

9.  Sugar is a known toxin.
Like all toxins, your body is constantly trying to eliminate it from the bloodstream.  You can assist your body by not giving it more sugar to handle.

10. Sugar promotes cancer.
Feeding cancer cells their primary fuel is like pouring gas on a fire.

Join the conversation and learn more over HERE!

*From Dr. B.J. Hardick, Kimberly Roberto, and Dr. Ben Lerner’s book: The solution to the dangers of Modern Nutrition – MaximizedLiving

Those of you who know me, know I am a committed health freak who NEVER sways.

(Haha, okay take a moment to go change your pants from laughing so hard…)

Anyways, I spotted the film above on Netflix and was admittedly intrigued.

So, I dug my Breville Juicer out from beneath layers of dust and tried Joe’s MEAN GREEN juice…

MEAN GREEN JUICE:

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger

It was… well… GREEN.

Have you tried it?  What did you think?  Are you going to do the 10-30-or-60-day juice cleanse?  Do you have any favorite juice recipes?

Over the past month or so, my hubby and I have gained a little weight.  Not a lot, but enough to give us that kick in the behinds to do something about our less-than-healthy habits.  A couple of weeks ago, I began doing some strength exercises 3x a week (Okay, I know some of you are thinking BIG DEAL, but for me it is.  I HATE exercising, but have found a routine in this and tomorrow will be the end of 3 weeks and going!)  Today, I will add in cardio if my bum leg allows, but baby steps, right?

Along with the exercising, we also decided to give our food a makeover.  Food makeovers are kind of scary.  They can be even more scary when you’re on a super tight budget and things just don’t fit right (we may have to expand that part of the budget and take off elsewhere.)  But, we agreed to go to the store and get what we needed to see how long these things would last us.

Here’s what we bought*:

• 10 ct Mission whole wheat flour tortillas….  $2.62 (3 packages)
• Healthy Life 100% Whole Grain Bread …..$1.77 (we bought one loaf and had one at home)
• 1 dozen eggs… $1.64 (2)
• GV plain nonfat yogurt 32 oz….$2.00 (2)
• GV 1 gal 1% milk….$3.48 (2)
• GV 1 gal 1% chocolate milk….$3.84
• GV medium cheddar block (1 lb)…$4.44 (3)
• Brummel and Brown Yogurt Spread (instead of butter) (15 oz)…$2.38
• Tyson All-Natural Chicken Breasts (3lb)…$7.98 (2)
• Medium Shrimp (14 oz)….$5.48 (2)
• Great Value turkey bacon (12 oz)…$2.48 (2)
• Sara Lee deli oven roasted turkey breast (6.98/lb)… $7.12
• Deli Roast Beef ($6.18/lb)… $6.12
• Bunch of asparagus ($2.84/lb, 2 bunches)…$4.48
• Marketside sugar snap peas (8 oz)…$2.50
• Dole Leafy Romaine (10 oz)…$2.78
• Granny Smith Apples (1 lb/ $1.37)….$4.08
• Grapefruit …. $.54 ea (2)
• GV frozen whole strawberries (1 lb, no sugar added)…$2.36 ea (3)
• Bananas (1 lb/$.52)….$2.65 (for about 14 bananas)
• GV peach halves in cans (29 oz)…$1.76 (4)
• Smucker’s natural chunky peanut butter (16oz)…$2.34 (2)
• Light Ragu Tomato and Basil (1lb 10oz)….$1.76 (2)
• Rotel-mild (10 oz)…$.98 (2)
• GV dry chickpeas (16 oz)…$1.42
• GV light red kidney beans (16 oz)…$1.16 (2)
• GV black beans (16oz)…$1.12 (2)
• Simply Grapefruit juice (59 fl oz)…$3.00
• Simply Orange juice (59 fl oz)…$3.00
• Quaker 1-minute oats, plain (42 oz)…$3.98 (2)
• Fisher Almonds, unsalted (16 oz)…$8.72
• Ortega 40% less sodium Taco seasoning (1.25 oz)…$.62(2)
• GV whole wheat spaghetti (13.25 oz)…$1.00 (3)
• Swanson Natural Goodness Chicken Broth, 33% less sodium (32 oz)…$2.46
• Hodgson Mill Milled Flax Seed (12 oz)…$2.08
• Whey Protein powder in vanilla and chocolate (2lb)…$14.68 (2)

*These foods correspond to the ABS DIET that we are using as a base for our new “health plan”

The total kind of …no, really scares me.  It was about 4x our weekly budget.  But, I’m trying to take comfort in the fact that we’ve not eaten all of this food yet and we’ve been following the meals very closely (eating 6 meals each for 4 people).  Now, I need to find even cheaper but still just as healthy alternatives for the foods we’re buying (like, mostly cheaper fruits/veggies/deli meats/milk).  We won’t have to buy more protein powder or flax seed for a very long time, so that will cut our next grocery bill down by about $32 dollars.  And…silly me, having never cooked dried beans before forgot that DUH!  THEY SWELL!  So, we have lots of beans.  I mean, LOTS.  Tomorrow is day 7, and I just cleaned out the last of the first jar of all natural peanut butter…so we may need to look at a cheaper (but just as healthy) brand…OR find coupons.  And, of course…bananas have already disappeared!

If any of you know of where I can find these things CHEAPER, please let me know!  (Especially if it’s the same brand, or a healthier brand…)

The snow and general coldness has kept us inside.  Which means, our pantry is looking a little slim.  Actually, that’s not fair, we have lots of food – most of them just happen to be odd-ball things that we USUALLY use up with other ingredients we don’t have.  So, we’ve turned it into a game to try to come up with meals to fix that mostly come out of our pantry/freezer.  (Granted, we’re going to have to restock on cheese, eggs, milk, butter, etc.)

Last night, we had Chicken A La King (made previously and frozen) over biscuits made from a biscuit mix that someone gave to us a while back.

Night before?  Spaghetti.  Only, we didn’t have spaghetti sauce, so we used cream of mushroom soup instead.  You just season your meat with basil, oregano, salt and pepper.  Cook.  Drain.  Add diced tomatoes (rotel would be even better but we didn’t have it).  Then, in a separate pot, cook up your spaghetti.  Grease a casserole dish (13×9) and layer sauce, spaghetti, cheese, sauce, spaghetti cheese.  Mix your cream of mushroom soup with some water (check the back of the can), and pour it over the top.  Parmesan cheese goes on last.  Stick it in the oven til it’s all melted and VOILA.  Pretty good stuff.  We used deer meat instead of beef because it’s what we have.  (Thanks, Terrell!)

Tonight, we’ll be having a cornbread bar.  There’s cornbread and then there’s the “extras” – we have navy beans, chili, cream cheese, ketchup, and hot sauce.  We have more beans if we run out of all of that.

Future menu items:

Tuna patties (using mashed potatoes to hold it all together and dipped in cornmeal and cooked)
Potatoes and eggs
Ham and cheese omelets
Tuna sandwiches (without pickles/relish because we don’t have it)
Ham fried rice (frozen slices of ham cut into chunks, eggs, Worcestershire sauce all fried up with brown rice)
And whatever good treats we can come up with for venison using what we already have.  Ideas, anyone?

We’re studying about Christopher Columbus this month, and I wanted to share with you some of the great links I’ve found so far!  (I’m hoping to share pictures of our other studies and activities in a future post – we’ve been busy!)

• Activities Calendar For Toddlers (November)
• TeePee Cupcakes
• National Geographic Kids Christopher Columbus Video – good for all ages
• Mini Sailboat Directions
• Wampanoag Toss And Catch Game
• Talk Like A Pilgrim
• Banana Gobble Pancakes
• How To Draw A Turkey
• Succotash Recipe
• Thanksgiving Preschool Pack

ENJOY!