Tag Archives: primal

This week’s meal plan (1/28-2/1)

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I think I could probably have taco night at least 3 times a week. That, and just eat green beans or potatoes to accompany my protein source. Pretty boring (but delicious). My husband could actually eat the same 3 things every week, but I feel like we should have some diversity in our meal planning. He also likes to eat a fairly strict primal diet that is grain-free and almost always without white potatoes. I like to eat that way too, so at least he keeps me honest!

Next month I am going to do something similar to the Grocery Savings Challenge, but post totals by the month. We are also ordering our eggs and most of our meat from local sources that pasture-raise their animals, so it might be interesting how much we will spend choosing quality of cost.

We have been getting some lovely weather here; the wind is a bit chilly, but a sunny 50-60 degree day is still nice! We even used the grill last night!

This week’s meal plan:

  • Monday: Grilled steaks (grass-fed! They were a Christmas gift), with baked sweet potatoes and steamed brussel sprouts with parsley butter (Strauss butter, you are amazing)
  • Tuesday: Macadamia crusted chicken breast, steamed green beans, mixed green salad
  • Wednesday: Pork chops with broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot stir-fry
  • Thursday: Italian meatloaf, mixed greens, roasted potatoes and carrots
  • Friday: BBQ chicken, 30-second brussel sprouts, avocado

Lunch: Leftovers or almond-butter smoothies

Breakfasts: Eggs and bacon or almond-butter smoothies

I’m in the middle of Spring cleaning and a teething baby, but I plan on posting recipes, Valentine’s Day ideas, and a glimpse at our bathroom remodel project coming up!

Anyone try a new recipe this week?

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This week’s meal-plan (1/14-1/18)

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It’s mid-January; how is everyone’s health resolutions coming along? How is shopping for healthy foods while trying to save money, working out?

I’m still learning and figuring out what works the best for us, what is available in our area, and how to make our meals the most nutritious they can be.

Our local farmers market is closed for the winter and so is one of the local CSA’s, so we are still a little behind with the produce.

We did find eggs from pastured hens through Craigslist, though! And we found a great grass-fed meat provider near us as well.

While I can wait for the hot weather to come back to town, I look forward to planting my first real garden at our first house! I especially want to grow and can tomatoes.

We have been getting back to eating healthy and recovering from the sugar over-load of the holidays. My husband has been working long hours and I have a wiggly 8 month old, so our meals are easy to prepare or quick to cook.

  • Monday: Chicken fajita salad (fajitas made in crock-pot)(chicken, bell pepper, onion, romaine and spinach, cheese, sour cream, salsa, avocado, lime juice)
  • Tuesday: Grilled sirloin steaks with broccoli and sweet potatoes
  • Wednesday: Chili with no beans, topped with avocado and cheese
  • Thursday: Lemon pepper chicken, beets and carrots, green salad
  • Friday: Stew with onion, carrots, and sweet potato

Lunches: Leftover dinner from the night before

Breakfast: Eggs and bacon, cheese omelet, eggs and linguica

Thanksgiving Sides with a Twist

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Thanksgiving is just a few days away and I haven’t figured out what I will be making. I also figured I should probably do a Thanksgiving post before I continue on about Christmas (which I am very excited about). Here are some recipes I found online that put a little bit of a twist on the classics.
Sweet Potatoes/yams:

Cranberry Sauce:

Vegetable Side Dishes (with seasonal produce)

 

What are you making?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grocery Savings Challenge Week 1

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Week 1 of budget grocery shopping/savings challenge has commenced! I went grocery shopping yesterday and I was a little unsure of how much I would actually save, but after all was said and done, I’m happy with the results and I am sure I will learn more along the way. In our small(ish) town there are a few places to get groceries, but only one store (Raleys) sells the dairy products we like. I was willing to go to other stores if the prices were substantially different, but if not, I was just going to stick to Raleys.

The Game Plan
The Menu
The Grocery List
The Cost

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Easy Breakfast Casserole

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My husband wakes up quite early to get ready for work and sometimes he gets tired of eating eggs and bacon every morning (and since being pregnant, I am not a fan of the smell of bacon lingering in our home, either).

Last night he prepped and cooked a simple, grain-free breakfast casserole (inspired by this recipe) and had it ready to go the next morning. It was a quick, easy, and healthy solution to breakfast!

Grain-free Spicy Breakfast Casserole

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12 Days Until Christmas: Grain-free Appetizers

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I have two holiday celebrations before Christmas and everyone is to bring an appetizer. Since I am sure there will be plenty of indulgences, I am dedicated to bringing something healthy that is grain-free and sugar-free.

Here are a few finger foods/appetizers that I have either made with success, or I plan to give a try:

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Whole30 – Week 2 of Paleo Eating

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Seasoned hamburger without the bun

Saturday
Breakfast: Another smoothie
Lunch: sauteed sirloin with raw spinach with oil and vinegar
Dinner: Dinner at in-laws: Osso bucco with sweet potatoes, carrots, and mashed golden cauliflower.

Sunday:
Breakfast: Banana Nut muffins
Lunch: Leftover steak and spinach from yesterday’s lunch
Dinner: Dinner at parents: BBQ Lemon Chicken, mixed green salad, and grilled peppers and squash

Monday:
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Hamburger patty with guacamole, bacon, sweet potato chips, and salad

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Veggie Omelet
Lunch: Tuna, peppers, and spinach salad
Dinner: Halibut with garlic green beans

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Bacon and eggs over-easy
Lunch: Leftover fish and salad / tropical smoothie
Dinner: Tomato-beef soup and raw spinach with oil and vinegar

Thursday:
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with kale and tomatoes
Lunch: dinner leftovers
Dinner: Beef Stew and green salad

Friday:
Breakfast: Bacon and fried eggs
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Out – Chipotle Restaurant

Snacks: Nuts, fruit, snap-peas, hard-boiled eggs, banana-nut muffins

Notes:

This week has been harder than last week. I am a little tired of cooking at home and I am really craving pizza or lasagna!

My husband is losing weight fast, though. He has lost about 10 pounds in 12 days. Yes, some of that is water weight and bloat, but he is looking and feeling better.

 

 

Find other whole food recipe and healthy alternatives at Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday and Food Renegade Fight Back Friday!

 

Tips for making the perfect smoothie

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I love smoothies. I often have a smoothie for breakfast because it’s quick and easy and super tasty. My favorite is coconut milk, almond butter, and banana smoothie!

Tropical Green Smoothie Recipe at bottom of blog post

Here are my top 3 tips for successful smoothie making:

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Review of MDA’s Primal Tex-Mex Tortillas

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The other day Marc and I saw a recipe for primal tacos on the MDA site that left us drooling. We eat a lot of tacos and going strict paleo for 30 days makes eating tacos kind of impossible (we love those sprouted corn tortillas). So as soon as we saw that tacos may be possible we had to try!

Taken from Mark’s Daily Apple:

Primal Tex-Mex Tortillas

Makes 4 tortillas

Taken from Mark's Daily Apple

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons coconut flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Instructions:

Whisk together water, eggs, olive oil and lime.

Mix together coconut flour, baking powder, cumin and chili powder.

Slowly pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking as you pour so clumps don’t form.

Heat several tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, pour 1/4 cup of batter in the pan, tilting pan so the batter spreads thinly.

Let the batter sit untouched for one minute then put a lid on the pan and cook one minute more. Flip the tortilla and fry for 2 more minutes.

Unfortunately our taco shells looked nothing like the picture. Perhaps we should have used a pan the same size as the taco… The edges were crazy everywhere and I could not flip them whole to save my life.

They tasted more like egg than anything else. Almost like french toast and a crepe mixed together. You could probably use cinnamon and vanilla instead of the other seasonings and have a sweet treat.

I had plenty of sad pictures of me failing at making the taco shells, but for some odd reason they are nowhere to be found on my SD card. Anyone ever had that issue?

So we ended up pretty much having taco salad with pieces of the “tortilla.” They tasted decent but they didn’t look so great.

So we ate the taco shells, spinach and lettuce, salsa, lime juice, guacamole, and leftover chicken with homemade taco seasoning (or maybe just lots of cumin, garlic, and chili). When I use leftover chicken for tacos I heat the chicken in a pan with water and seasonings and shred it.

Crock pot chicken and broth

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I’ve used the crock pot now 3 times this week – still loving it. I was babysitting my 7 month old Godchild yesterday so the crock pot made dinner prep super easy. My husband loved this chicken. It was juicy and pretty much cooked in it’s own juices all day.

All the liquid in the crock pot? That's all from the chicken.

Crock Pot Chicken and Broth

Ingredients:

  • one whole chicken (preferably organic and pastured)
  • Juice from a lemon
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

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