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Filed Under Cooking Groovy,Paleo Lifestyle on March 20, 2012

It’s week 3 of Paleo-eating and we’ve had some bumps in the road.

First of all, my son has given it up. Or rather, I am letting him eat non-Paleo outside of the house. It was just such a battle with him and frankly, not worth the aggravation. The dinnertime combative discussions against Paelo were exhausting. I am disappointed because he would have benefited the most from a Paleo diet, but I do have control over what he eats in the house as long as I am buying the groceries and cooking the meals. He won’t reap the most benefits, eating pizza on the weekends and Paleo at home, but at least it’s something.

I have more control over my daughter’s diet and she’s hanging in there. We went to an event with cupcakes present and I let her eat one, but she didn’t eat the pretzels that were there; she had to make a choice between the two. I’ve had a talk with her about making wise choices and I hope that she is listening. I do want to make this a (mostly) lifestyle change for her.

I confess that I had a cupcake too. They just looked so good and I love cupcakes! But it was not a wise decision; to my surprise I was sick later on that day. Note to self Funkidivagirl: you can no longer eat a whole cupcake. Maybe a few bites, every once in awhile. Maybe.

But all in all, despite a defecting teen-ager and forbidden cupcake, Paleo continues to be a positive experience. For instance, my kids are now eating a more substantial breakfast. Before Paleo, my kids ate carbs for breakfast: cereal, french toast sticks, bagels or toast. These were things that they can make themselves and didn’t take up too much time. Now they eat bacon and eggs, but I make them in advance in the form of Egg Muffins. I friend turned me on to them and then I goggled a few recipes. This is what I came up with:

EGG MUFFINS

Ingredients:

Eggs (quantity depends on how many you want to make; 1 egg per Egg Muffin)

Cooked Meat (bacon, sausage, ham, ground beef, whatever)

Chopped Veggies (whatever you like)

Coconut Milk (optional)

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook your meat. I use bacon for my kids, about a 1/2 slice per Egg Muffin, but you can use sausage, ham or ground beef instead. Crumble the meat.

Beat the eggs. I use 1 egg per Egg Muffin. For instance, if I want to make 10 Egg Muffins, I use 10 eggs. The big kid eats 2 Egg Muffins for breakfast, so 10 Egg Muffins will be enough for 5 days. *I use half egg whites when I make them for myself, but they do not cook the same and my kids don’t like it.

A friend suggested adding a little coconut milk to make the Egg Muffins a bit fluffy and I thought it was a nice addition (when I remember to do it).

I use silicone muffin cups because I find that the Egg Muffins slip right out. I place these on a cookie sheet. You can use muffin pans instead, but I would imagine you would need to spray them with oil.

Put a little meat in each cup. Put some veggies in there as well, if you like. My kids like spinach, but you can use bell peppers or whatever you have on hand.

Pour the eggs in the cups. I leave a little room because the eggs do rise a bit when they cook.

Cook the Egg Muffins for 15-20 minutes. The first time or two you make these, watch them. Set the timer for 12 minutes and if they are not done, check again every 2 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the middle. My Egg Muffins take 22 minutes.

Let them cool completely on a wire rack before transferring to the refrigerator. I try to make the Egg Muffins on Sunday or Monday night for the school week. I put them in a air-tight container in the fridge and in the mornings the kids just pop them in the microwave for about 40 seconds.

Egg Muffins are great anytime of the day for a quick protein meal or snack, even if you don’t eat Paleo. Try them and let me know what you think!

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Filed Under Paleo Lifestyle on March 16, 2012

On the first day of Paleo eating my daughter came home from school and wanted a snack. Oh dear. I had thrown away her beloved pretzels (Annie’s Organic Honey-Wheat, but still, they were wheat) and she didn’t want an apple, the only fruit we had in the house.

Although I’m not much of a snacker, my husband and kids are, so I learned that I had better get some Paleo-friendly snacks in the house and fast.

After perusing Mark’s Daily Apple Primal Blueprint Snack List (Primal is similar to Paleo, although I don’t quite know the difference yet), I went grocery shopping for some snacks.

For Girly: pistachios and dried fruit. This week we have mango and apples. They are unsweetened, but still taste sweet enough that Girly doesn’t feel deprived.

For The Boy: smoked salmon (something I never buy) on cucumber rounds, carrots dipped in guacamole and Lärabars. (Psst: there’s a coupon in the Whole Foods flyer.)

For everyone: fruit. I eat blueberries every morning.

As for me, I will grab a handful of almonds as a snack. The Lärabars will be nice to take in my purse – just in case I’m hungry when out in the world and tempted to make non-Paleo food choices.

Everyone’s happy and there’s not a grain to be found.

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Filed Under Paleo Lifestyle on March 14, 2012

The other day I was starving for lunch when I realized that I didn’t have a single Paleo thing in the house to eat. In fact I had very little food because it was Monday and I go grocery shopping on Monday afternoons. So I called in an order to a local restaurant (jerk turkey burger, no cheese and I didn’t eat the bread, with a side salad). And then I went grocery shopping to find these wraps that I saw on Nom Nom Paleo. Whole Foods didn’t have them, but my neighborhood health food store did.

$4.99 for a pack of 4.

I tried the curry flavor and filled it with left-over chicken breast, garlic green beans and a squirt of mustard.

Honestly I was expecting it to taste like styrofoam, but I was pleasantly surprised. I can eat these Pure Wraps! I like them! Pure Wraps will be great when I forget to eat lunch until I am starving (often the case) or the kids need something quick. Some protein and veggies in a Pure Wrap feels like I am eating a sandwich wrap, but it’s much lighter.

And much better for me too!

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Filed Under Paleo Lifestyle on March 13, 2012

Right after we got back from our Miami trip and right after I blogged about the most awesome Key Lime Pie ever, my family starting eating Paleo. This was my idea, but my husband immediately jumped on board and my kids protested for 2 days until they knew it was a lost cause. I wanted to do the Paleo detox for 30 days, but the kids talked me down to 21 days, to end right before Spring Break begins. So far we’ve eaten Paleo for a week. I admit, there have been a few cheats here and there by the kids with mashed potatoes and french fries (okay, I had a few bites too – who can resist mashed potatoes and french fries?), but mostly it’s been successful.

If you’re not familiar with Paleo, you’re not alone because honestly I’m just learning myself. Many people at my kettlebell gym eat Paleo and I became intrigued by their food conversations. Kettlebell exercisers also tend to be Crossfit exercisers and if you go to any Crossfit website, you will see a link to Paleo eating. Who knew there was a whole gym sub-culture of Crossfit/Paleo? I sure didn’t. Independent of my gym, a few other people that I respect started suggesting Paleo eating and I kept hearing story after story about how someone’s health and emotional well-being changed after switching to a Paleo lifestyle. Then I did some research myself and found that it just might be beneficial to eat this way. In it’s most basic form, Paleo eating includes protein (meat, fish,poultry, pork, etc – although I don’t eat red meat), vegetables (except starchy vegetables like corn and white potatoes), fruit and nuts and seeds. Dairy, legumes, sugar, soy and all grains (wheat, oat, rice, quinoa, etc) are to be avoided.

There’s a brief “elevator pitch” description on the Whole 9 website:

I eat “real” food – fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important – I’m careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible.

It’s not a low calorie “diet” – I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you’d imagine. Fat isn’t the enemy – it’s a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I’m not trying to do a “low carb” thing, but since I’m eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.

Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body. It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym. It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

That about sums it up, but if you are interested, google “Paleo” and you will find a wealth of information. I just purchased Rob Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution. I’m also cruising around Paleo websites and so far I’ve found 2 that I really like: Nom Nom Paleo and Everyday Paleo. I can already see that I will be using these websites for reference again and again. They both have an index of recipes. As I make them, I’ll post them here.

As I told you already, we slipped and ate potatoes and I’m not being being militant about salad dressing, which typically has some sugar in it. But for the most part, we are just eating meat, a ton of vegetables and fruit. I threw out all the pretzels, crackers and cereal bars. My daughter is a carb addict, so she wouldn’t have lasted with those in the house. I have to give her credit though; she has been bringing her lunch on Pizza Day at school. Today she packed some left-over chicken, green beans and kale chips. Last weekend she was at a sleepover and they made cupcakes – and she didn’t eat one. You don’t understand; this girl LOVES sugar! I was so proud of her!

I just told the kids last night that when the 21 days are over that we are still going to eat Paleo. Or more likely, Paleo-ish, like 80/20. The “20″ for me will be the occasional sweet (we are going to Charleston in a few weeks and I will have a slice of Buttermilk Pie) and I doubt that I will be making my own Paleo mayonnaise and salad dressing. Instead, I will cook Paleo at home and make the best Paleo choices when I eat out. I’ll let the kids eat cheese and butter in moderation. I can avoid grains, but that will be challenging for my kids. My son loves a good burger – with the bun. I hope that when they eat outside of home they will make good choices, but I won’t force them to eat Paleo. Hopefully they will figure out that their body feels better eating Paleo and will only eat non-Paleo every once in awhile. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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Filed Under Fashion & Beauty on March 7, 2012

It’s still winter in Atlanta, but forever summer in Miami, where my family vacationed last weekend. Packing for our trip, I learned that my daughter couldn’t fit any of her clothes from last summer so a quick trip to Nordstrom was in order. We only had an hour to shop, but we brought her a few pairs of shorts and then scooted by women’s shoes for me. Alas, the TOMS ballet flats that I had ordered did not fit me properly and needed to be returned. I exchanged the TOMS for these cute shoes by Splendid that practically begged to be walked along the beach. Unlike the Miami ladies, I can not stroll around South Beach in 5 inch heels.

shoes – Splendid Mandarin Slip-Ons

They were perfect for kicking around South Beach: in and out the shops, dining al fresco and running in the sand. Splendid’s tagline, “Welcome To Everyday” is so true; I have a feeling that I will live in these Splendid shoes this summer, just like I lived in my Splendid tank tops last summer.