Whole30

Starts tomorrow Jan 1st, 2013!

I'm going to post my progress here... not expecting any weight loss of course, just trying to maintain a healthy pregnancy and get a grip on my sweet tooth. 

Recent Meals

Wow, I've been pretty bad about remembering to photograph our meals! But here is one from a few nights ago. We had one of our favorite Everyday Paleo Recipes: No Bean Chili. It's pretty fool-proof and the ingredients are easy to keep on hand.

Because this picture definitely isn't gross looking.

 This morning I threw the ingredients for Everyday Paleo's Pork Loin and Butternut Squash Stew. I love the crock pot for easy weekend meals, especially since my work hours are usually too long for most crock pot meals.

Do I ever make anything not from Everyday Paleo?

That doesn't look pre-digested at all

It was very good, and even my husband liked it. (That is saying a lot)

Today I also made Paleo Breakfast Casserole. I based it on this recipe from Technically Paleo, with a few changes. I doubled the amount of eggs, added two packs of chicken breakfast sausages and swapped out the jalapenos for a green bell pepper.

Food stylist material?

I was skeptical about adding turnips since I don't think I've ever eaten them before, but I must say I really liked this a lot. I am not hard to please.

That's a great blurry picture.

Oxtail Stew and Burgers and Fries

Tonight for Dinner, I made Oxtail Stew in my crockpot.

 I was really excited to see oxtail in my health food store's meat case, so I snatched up all three packages. I love oxtail! It's super fatty and gets really tender when cooked for long periods of time, making it a perfect slow cooker dinner. I had sweet potato fries on the side.
 

Winter lighting is not my friend.

 
My husband, Jim is not an adventurous eater and doesn't like fatty cuts of meat, so I made him burgers and baked french fries... 

Who needs vegetables?

 

Oxtail Stew  

(based on this recipe by Bi-Polar Paleo)

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 T coconut oil
• 4 oxtail pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 3-5 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2-3 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups broth
• salt, pepper
  
  Directions:

1. Heat the coconut oil over medium-high heat.
2. Brown the oxtails on all sides. Place them in the slow cooker.
3. Season the oxtails with salt and pepper
4. Fry the garlic until fragrant.
5. Add vegetables to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes until they begin to brown.
6. Add just enough broth so you can easily scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pan.
7. Pour broth into the slow cooker.
8. Add vegetable mixture to the slow cooker. Do not stir.
9. Secure the lid and cook for 4-5 hours on High.

   

   Happy Holidays!

   
   

Breakfast for Dinner

Tonight, I was in the mood for eggs when I got home from work (woes of being a Saturday Librarian), so I made bacon-egg-sweet potato scramble. I made a second skillet with white potatoes for my husband, who is not a sweet potato fan (blasphemy!).

Ugly but delicious

 This is one of my favorite quick meals, just dice up a sweet potato and a few strips of bacon and fry them up together until the bacon is crisp and the potatoes are soft and have a little bit of char on them, then scramble in as many eggs as you want. Delicious!

Clarissa liked it too

Meal Planning

Since I am super busy and a working mom (not too mention pregnant and my husband doesn't cook!), meal planning is a really important to keeping me and my family eating well. Every Friday, I sit down and figure out what recipes I want to make for the following week along with a grocery list and then I usually do my grocery shopping on Saturday or Sunday. I rarely have time to go to the grocery store more than once a week and right now I do the majority of my shopping at Trader Joe's. 

 I try to plan faster meals for nights when I get home at 6:30 and have less enthusiasm to cook and more involved recipes for days off or days when I get home at 5:30 (my work schedule is always shifting around). Unfortunately since I am usually out of the house for 10 hours at time, my crock pot doesn't see much love. Must get a programmable one someday I suppose!

 

This week I decided to do all of my meal planning out of the Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook instead of using lots of different cookbooks and web sites. 

Here is what we've been eating this week:

Sunday – Scrumptious Seafood Chowder (p. 96)

Monday – One Pot Chicken Drumsticks  (p. 124)

Tuesday – “Chinese Take-out” (p.44)

Wednesday – Sloppy Joes (p. 144) with asparagus

Thursday – Fend for yourself night (I usually work Thursday evenings)

Friday – Chicken Cacciatore (p. 120) with spaghetti squash

Saturday - Leftovers

25 Weeks Pregnant

I am in my 25^th week of pregnancy, due late March with our second child, a little boy. So far, my pregnancy has been really easy, much easier than my first pregnancy.  When I was pregnant with my daughter, I gained close to 50lbs, had terrible heartburn and physically felt awful.

I did have morning sickness and food aversions in my first trimester, but I was able to get through it. I didn’t eat quite as well as I would have liked early on as a result and ate out too much. However, at this point I am feeling great and sleeping well (would be better if I didn’t have a toddler!).

I have gained a bit more than I would like so far, but I am trying to accept that as being how my body handles pregnancy and I’m not concerned about losing the extra weight afterward.

Excuse my make-up free face and 1940s bathroom!

Favorite breakfast

Today I had one of my favorite breakfasts: bacon, over-easy eggs, cherry tomatoes and asparagus with kerrygold butter. Fast and delicious!

We had One-Pot drumsticks from Everyday Paleo Family cookbook for dinner tonight, which were pretty good, although they took a lot longer to cook than the recipe indicated. I think I may have overcrowded the pan though. Forgot to take a picture!

Scrumptious Seafood Chowder

Seafood Chowder from Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo Family cookbook. 

Very yummy! Included all of my favorites: sweet potatoes, coconut milk, bacon and shrimp. 

Ingredients
2 T. Coconut oil
1 med. onion, diced
8 bacon strips, diced
5 celery talks, diced
5 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
1 can full fat coconut milk 
2 c. chicken broth
sea salt and black pepper
1 (10 oz) can of clams, liquid drained and set aside
1 bay leaf
1 lb wild caught shrimp, shells and tail removed

Directions 
1. In a large soup pot, saute the onion in coconut oil over medium heat for 4-5 minutes

2. Add the diced bacon and cook until bacon is crisp, stirring often

3. Add the celery and sweet potatoes and saute for 4-5 minutes more.

4. Add the coconut milk, chick broth, clam juice and black pepper and bring to a simmer. 

5. Add the bay leaf and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are soft. 

6. Gently mash the cooked sweet potatoes to help thicken the chowder, leaving some of the potatoes chunky. 

7.  Add the shrimp to the chowder and cook for 5 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and tender. 

8. Drain and the clams and chop them into small pieces; add them to the chowder and stir until they are just warm. Serve immediately.