Tag Archives: paleo

Cardamom nom nom

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The other day, I was talking to my friend @wedgepizzza to see how she used cardamom pods. I had stopped by for a banana cardamom muffin back in March and it was delicious. She was baking them again that day.

I had been to the Indian grocery before we left Tulsa and bought a bag of cardamom pods that has been sitting in the cupboard ever since. Every time I open the cupboard I smell them and think I really need to do something wtih them. I love that smell!

@wedgepizza told me that she grinds the pods after she toasts them and she particularly likes it paired with banana and suggested pancakes. I told her I’d have to find a paleo pancake recipe since we are trying hard not to do flour.

Not ten minutes later, this recipe sailed into my inbox. I figured that crepes were pretty close to pancakes and got ready to make the recipe. I knew that allowing bananas to be old enough to moosh was going to be my biggest challenge since David loves them so much.

I bought a bunch of bananas and then we went out of town for a week. The bananas were ready and waiting for me to moosh them into crepes this a.m.

I followed the recipe as given but it wasn’t as soupy as it was supposed to be and we ended up with banana pancakes. Which we ate with our fingers. Delicious!

This recipe makes a lot of pancakes and we have a bunch left over. We’ll be having this again! Oh, and I forgot to add the cardamom so I will  have to figure out a way to incorporate that into something. ;-)

Paleo Banana Crepes

Makes about 7 big crepes

Ingredients:

1/2 bag of Bob’s Redmill Tapioca Flour

1 can full fat coconut milk (try Native Forest – no BPA in can)

5 ripe bananas

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 pastured eggs

Instructions:

Mix and mash all ingredients together to make a pretty soupy batter. A hand held mixer or submergible blender works well. Heat a large, non-stick pan on medium low and then cover the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of the batter. Flip when bottom is golden brown. Cook until both sides are lightly browned.

You can cut these up and eat them plain or wrap meat and veggies in them. Even though they’re banana, the flavors blend really well.

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Sugar is a slippery slope

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Last week, David asked me at the last minute if I wanted to bring the dog and come along with him on his build route. I was excited to be asked and hurriedly made sure that I packed healthy snacks for the car.

Since beginning to eat paleo, I’ve realized that I can eat in almost any restaurant and maintain the healthy eating style. Having good snacks for the car is important to keep from getting too hungry.

That first day, although I had no idea it was going to happen, or not happen as it were, we didn’t eat lunch. David told me that he’s often caught out, far from civilization at lunch time and often goes without eating.

Needless to say, by the time dinner rolled around – and it was a late dinner – I was beyond starving and any good intentions to eat right on this trip had flown out the window miles before. The healthy carrots and radishes we had brought along barely took up any space in my very empty stomach.

We saw the Dairy Queen.

What we’ve learned while driving around Texas is that even the tiniest little towns have a Dairy Queen. I could have even eaten right at the Dairy Queen but I ordered a patty melt, french fries and a Georgia Mud Fudge blizzard (medium sized thankyouverymuch) for dessert. I don’t think I took a breath until I had hoovered the entire meal and, the shocking thing is,  I still felt hungry after I was finished. :-(

The next day, forewarned by the previous day’s experience, we stopped by Walmart to get lunch. And some snacks.  Some good snacks. Into our cart went cookies and Doritos and donuts and Wheat Thins and a bag of Snickers. I was NOT going to be hungry on that day.

And then the slide started. Oh, I put healthy things into the basket too, but basically I shopped as if I was still as hungry as I had been the previous day.

Breakfast came. Instead of some healthy eggs and fruit, I chucked it all over for pancakes, syrup (extra syrup, please!) and sausage. And down the slope I rolled. Faster and faster.

Sugar and flour make me feel AWFUL. First my knees ache, then  my hips ache, pretty soon all of the joints in my whole body ache and I can’t sleep. It’s bad stuff. So what on earth possesses me to EVER eat sugar and/or flour?

Especially when we’re in a restaurant.  That should be the epitome of easy healthy eating since someone else is preparing the meal for me. But that first little bite tastes so good. And  I don’t feel bad. Not right away. It takes about three days to start feeling really bad and I can tell myself it’s not that big of a deal.

Ha!

Several years ago, my friend was diagnosed with diabetes. We went to an anniversary dinner and she was drinking sweet tea. Her daughter was trying to get her to drink  water but she insisted on the sweet tea. I couldn’t understand why she would do that to herself.

And, yet, here I am basically doing the same thing.  Although I just want to keep feeling good and flexible, I’m still hurting myself by giving in to that first bite that will push me over the edge and down the slippery slope.

I’m going to try really hard not to do that anymore. :-)

 

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She ain’t heavy, she’s my…

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…well, she is me.

And how would I really know how heavy I am? David persuaded me to leave my scale behind when we moved to Amarillo. His justification was that the RV isn’t so big that we have room for every little thing and he thought the scale would be better off in our bathroom in Bartlesville.

Well, it’s not JUST a little thing. How am I supposed to know if I’m gaining tons of weight here?

True confession time: I will admit that I’ve been addicted to the scale for many, many years. I have a history of disordered eating that I like to think I’m finally past. There are two things I can’t seem to let go of, though, and one of them is the scale.

Last weekend David had to attend some meetings in Dallas and I made plans to visit with my friend, Denise. I had a brilliant idea:

So I got there and even though I had eaten breakfast, had coffee, was in clothes, I was still 5 lbs less than I was when we left Bartlesville. My day was so HAPPY!

While I realize that basing my happiness on a scale number is ridiculous, I can’t tell you how terrified I was that I was just gaining weight hand over fist.

One of the things we decided prior to moving was that we would never have sugar or flour and anything “bad” in our RV home. There have been days when it’s been tough, usually David is gone and I’m missing him and a nice slice of chocolate cake sounds like a good idea.

But I haven’t given in. David almost did. And it crushed me.

When we were shopping on Saturday, all of a sudden, I saw a package of flour tortillas in the shopping cart.

Me: Are you really going to buy those and bring them into the RV?

Him: Yes.

Holy cow. I was crushed. I mean seriously, I felt betrayed. It must have been on my face like my emotions are a lot and he eventually put the tortillas back on the shelf. I thanked him.

We have been eating mostly Paleo since November of 2010. What I know about that is that we feel so much better when we eat this way. But I have a big sweet tooth and an incredible ability to follow a bad idea (foodwise) to it’s hurtful (oh my aching joints!) conclusion. I knew that if those tortillas got into the RV, it would be the beginning of the end.

David travels and I know he doesn’t eat as healthfully when he’s on the road. He really needs to let that be the only time.

We are heading home for Labor Day weekend. I will visit the scale and it’s very likely I will bring it back with me. I can always store it under the mattress. :-)

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Fudge babies

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Ever since I decided to kick the sugar out of my diet once and for all, I’ve been doing pretty well.

Except for a small incident involving Lyndzee Vieweg and a shared piece of chocolate cake, that is. Shhhhhh!

Anyway, mostly I haven’t wanted anything sweet which is unusual for me. But yesterday I wanted a cookie. Badly. I started looking around the internet for paleo sweets and remembered Fudge Babies.

These little goodies are not only easy to make they are totally not bad for you!

You will need

  • 1 cup of walnuts
  • 1 package of dates (mine were 227 grams)
  • 3-4 tbs cocoa
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Place all ingredients into the food processor and whir them up. Form them into balls and voila! Almost instant chocolate paleo goodness. Nom! :-)

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21 Day Sugar Detox – Week 1 recap

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Whew! I did it. I finished one week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox.

If you’ve followed along, you know that we started eating a paleo diet back in November of 2010. I did pretty well with that until this summer when we found out that Nikki was pregnant. Geoff was in Saudi and, like the good mother-in-law that I am, I ate along with her. Oh it was fun!

But I didn’t feel good. All of the reasons why we chose to change our eating habits came flying back into my face. I was tired, my joints ached, I was gaining weight.

I tried really hard to get back on track. But then came Pinterest with all of those delicious recipes (my baking…nom nom nom board was my most popular) and Christmas and I just couldn’t manage to be more than 50/50 on Paleo. I was slipping into a sugar hole.

Unicorn came back from Saudi and went to a project in Little Rock. I had disentangled from EVERYTHING in my life in order to go to Saudi and I was kind of at loose ends trying to figure out what to do.

I stumbled across the Daring Bakers Challenge. And joined it. Then I found Tuesday’s With Dorie which is a group baking their way thruogh a Julia Child baking book. I joined them. And then I found Project Pastry Queen. I bought the book and joined them.

My thought was that I would bake the items and give them away. But I didn’t know anyone in Little Rock to give them to so I either ate them or threw them away. Both bad choices.

I was back and forth between Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma babysitting for my friend’s twins and the birth of our glambaby, Aniston.

On February 25th, faced with having to make a quick bread, a rum cake and chocolate tarts for the challenges, I had an epiphany: THIS IS NOT GOOD FOR ME!

It came down from high, I’m sure. ;-)

I had seen the 21 Day Sugar Detox and had been leaning towards doing it and it seemed like it was the perfect time. A new group was beginning on March 5.

I bought the program and got started. I’ve done the first week and it hasn’t been too hard. The night of the third day, I got a headache. I was expecting a headache but am still not sure if it came from taking the sugar out of my diet or the heinous winds we had here in Oklahoma last week.

I was flat out tired by days four through six. I expected that, too.

But I was able to stick to the program and eat no sugar. I really do feel better overall. And, I’ve lost 5 1/2 pounds as a cherry on top.

I know I can make it through the 21 days and on into the future. I KNOW how bad sugar is for me. But when I read an article saying that sugar helps to cause wrinkles, it gave me extra motivation to succeed. :-)

If you find yourself falling in the sugar hole and not being able to climb out, I suggest you give the 21 Day Sugar Detox a whirl. They have a facebook page where you can find support, answers to your questions, recipes and all manner of good things.

What do you have to lose but some pounds and wrinkles? :-)

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I really wanted pancakes

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But since we don’t eat pancakes as a rule and I had no flour or syrup in the house, I settled for eggs. Besides, when I am craving sweet things, the best thing to kill that craving with is protein.

I found a recipe at the Incredible Edible Egg website to make scrambled eggs in the microwave.

Oooh I liked that idea. A cup, a fork, no fuss, no muss. It was easy. And good!

I took two eggs and cracked them into the mug.

I added a tablespoon of water because I also don’t use milk which the recipe called for. I think you could leave this out altogether because I never make scrambled eggs with any additions when I make them on the stovetop. I think it just adds to the fluffiness of the end product.

I whipped it all together with a fork.

Then I put it in the microwave for 45 seconds.

Took it out, stirred, and back into the microwave for another 45 seconds.

Voila! Puffy, scrambled eggs. Top with ground pepper and call it breakfast. I’ll be making this again for sure. :-)

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Roasted Baby Carrots

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I have been fiending roasted carrots. Don’t ask me why. I can’t remember ever having them before but I have really, really wanted them.

On my first shopping trip in Little Rock, I found 1 lb baby carrot bags on sale four for $5.00. I bought them and tried to figure out how to roast them.

I found a recipe which I modified for size and the fact that I forgot to buy garlic powder (we use tons of garlic powder, not sure how I did that, just know that shopping here is traumatic).

So, anyway, we finally had roasted baby carrots for dinner tonight and they were delicious! Raul joined us for dinner and said that he’s not usually big on carrots but that he loved these. :-)

Roasted Baby Carrots

1 lb bag baby carrots

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Spray glass casserole with cooking spray.

Mix olive oil and spices together in a bowl until combined. Then toss the baby carrots in the mixture until they are coated. Place is prepared casserole. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are tender.

Chow down. These are awesome! In my photo, the carrots are a little over done, crispy, because I forgot the stirring part but it didn’t affect the tasty outcome.  I hope you’ll love these like we did. :-)

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Paleo Vegetable Beef Soup

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So it’s been super cold here.

Soup time!

I had been trying to think of what to do with all those (ha ha) soup bones I have in the freezer from the half cow we bought.

I’ve never used a soup bone to make soup before so I wasn’t sure how it really worked. This recipe called for 1/2 lb of beef and I would imagine we had that much beef on the bones I put in the soup. I could have just used the bones.

But, the soup is loaded with beef and chock full of veggies. It’s delicious and healthy and WARM! :-)

Paleo Beef and Vegetable Soup
soup bone
1/2 pound stewing beef
3 quarts water
1-2 bay leaves
1 small head of cabbage
4 medium to large carrots
4-6 stalks of celery
1 medium-large onion
1 can tomatoes, cut up
6 oz. tomato juice

Put a soup bone and 1/2 lb. stewing beef in a large pot and fill with 3 qts. water. Add bay leaves. Simmer 2-3 hours, Skim top from time to time. Chop coarsely the cabbage, carrots, celery and onion.  Remove bone from soup and add vegetables. Cook 30 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato juice.
Bring to a boil again and serve.

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I may have stomped my foot

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Squash is an acquired taste. I have to believe this because I love it now. But I remember a time when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old when I thought it was the worst thing ever put on my plate.

My dad took the whole family to dinner at the house of a business acquaintance.  They had kids that were about our age and I remember having a good time until we sat down for dinner and were served, you’ve got it, squash.

Having never eaten squash before, I took a hesitant bite of it and promptly turned into hell child. “I’m not going to eat this,” firmly stated my dad’s formerly perfect little business bauble. “No way”. I may have stomped my foot. They were embarrassed. They told me that if I didn’t eat my squash I could not have the ice cream and chocolate cake that was on the menu for dessert.

There was no way I was going to prostitute myself for a piece of cake and ice cream by eating that squash. And I didn’t.

Clearly it traumatized me because I remember it like it happened yesterday. Every time I prepare to eat squash. :-)

But now, I LOVE squash.  Not only is it a great source of all kinds of good nutrition but there are so many delicious ways to prepare it.

Cruising around the internet the other day, I found this recipe for Roasted Acorn Squash. I found the acorn squash on sale for 99 cents at Aldi and so I got one and made this for lunch today. I don’t have a whole lot of spices since my kitchen is packed up and I just seasoned it with ground salt and pepper. But it was delicious! A very good vehicle for pepper.

Chilly day, toasty warm squash. NOM! :-)

Roasted Acorn Squash Recipe

Serves 4, as a side

Ingredients

• 2 acorn/pepper squash;

• 3 tbsp clarified butter, tallow or coconut oil;

• 2 onions, thinly sliced;

• 3 cloves garlic, minced;

• 1 tsp ground coriander seed;

• ½ tsp nutmeg;

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F.

2. Cut each squash in half, but leave the seeds in. Place cut end up on a baking sheet and roast them for about 50 minutes to an hour, long enough so that the flesh is fork tender. Remove once cooked and let cool for several minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet over a medium heat, saute the onions in the cooking fat. Cook for close to 10 minutes, until the onions are translucent and begin to be golden brown.

4. Add the garlic to the skillet, followed by the coriander, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 2 minutes.

5. Remove the seeds from the squash and discard. Spoon out the tender flesh and discard the skin. Roughly mash up the squash and add it to the skillet. Mix well. Only leave on heat long enough to blend flavors.

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Stop! In the name of health

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**Note: I do not intend to appear judgmental about anyone by writing this post. It’s strictly about me and what’s right for me.**

Yesterday, I was visiting with a friend who had just come from watching over a diabetic friend who had been having an insulin reaction. She told me that her friend was diagnosed as a diabetic at the age of eight and now, over 40 years later, this is just one of the challenges she has been confronted with in living with this disease. The concern in her eyes and voice was obvious.

While walking Rabi downtown this morning, as we always do, we saw an employee of Conoco-Phillips making her way in to work. This extraordinarily heavy woman was on one of those walker devices that also contains a seat.  She was sitting in the seat and moving her way up the sidewalk using her legs. She had to stop and rest after going a little way.

How are these two incidents related? They made me stop and pay attention.

David and I stopped eating flour and sugar regularly back in November of 2009. I had started to notice that including these items in my diet, made my joints hurt. First my knees, then my hips, then my hands. David noticed that his nose would get big and red.

When we stopped eating flour and sugar, I immediately felt better and David’s nose started looking normal. We both lost weight.

I’ve been working really hard these past few weeks trying to get everything thrown out and packed up. My diet has slid. When it’s 106 degrees and you’re loading a dumpster with garbage, a cold beer sure does taste good. There were times when I just wasn’t that hungry or didn’t want to fix something myself and I’d grab a sandwich out.

So on top of all of the over use stress on my body from the pure physicality of what I was doing, I also wasn’t fueling myself for optimal performance.

I started thinking about this last night hearing about my friend’s friend and again this a.m. when I saw the heavy woman on the walker. Now, I don’t know for sure why the woman this a.m. was so heavy she had to use that walker. But what I do know is that if I put myself in her shoes, I’m that heavy because I’ve eaten wrong and hurt my joints to a point where I’m severally overweight and unable to walk on my own. I don’t want to be that woman.

My friend’s friend has no options. She’s had to live with a lifelong diagnosis of diabetes and as much as she lives right, exercises, eats right, she still isn’t completely in control.

I AM in control. I only have to keep the sugar and flour out of my diet and I feel great, my weight decreases, and I sleep better. So why don’t I do this? Well, I am definitely more convinced than ever that I will be on top of it from now on.

I am going to be a grandma in March. I want to be able to get down on the floor and play with my grandkids.  I don’t want achy joints to be what stops me. :-)

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