Paleo diet Archives • Page 5 of 6 • Ant & Anise

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 9

I’m trying to keep a phrase from The Paleo Mom in mind today: It’s only effort until it becomes routine.

How very true. When I reframe my thinking from egads, this is hard to looking at all the foods that are Paleo friendly, I realize that much of my pre-challenge diet was, in fact, not so far off from Paleo. (Well, the less strict versions, anyway.) Lettuce substitutes for bread for a quick lunch — like julienned ham or chicken wrapped in butter lettuce leaves, with a touch of mustard. Yum. Main course salads with grilled chicken or salmon on top, along with other vegetables or some nuts. We do that already. So what’s so hard about this again?

With this mind shift, I set out to make a Mexican-themed dinner, something we do pretty regularly. Guacamole (always homemade) is a regular pre-dinner nibble, and assemble-your-own quesadillas or fajitas let even the pickiest eater find a combination of ingredients that work. With no crispy corn tortilla chips to help, ahem, hoover down the guacamole like we normally do, I decided it would work as an accompaniment to the main dish: Deconstructed steak fajitas. With the strip loin, and a few grilled peppers and asparagus that we had kicking around in the fridge begging to be used up, this felt like a 4 star dinner in an upscale Mexican cantina. I honestly didn’t miss the tortillas at all.

Kris' Guacamole

Yield: 1/2 cup

I've been making this for years and really don't measure the ingredients anymore, so use this recipe as a general guideline. The keys to success are to start with fresh ingredients -- bottled lime juice or prepared garlic are definitely out -- and make it just before you eat it.

Ingredients

1 ripe avocado, cubed
1 clove garlic, minced
1 fresh lime
dash of Tabasco sauce (or substitute a pinch of ground cumin and chili powder)
kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste
optional add-ins: a couple tablespoons of minced red onion, chopped cilantro, or chopped tomato

Instructions

In a small mixing bowl, combine the avocado and garlic with a fork (or spoon, if you prefer a chunkier consistency).
Squeeze the lime into the bowl along with a dash of Tabasco sauce and mix together. Season with salt and pepper and taste it. Don't be shy with the salt.
Once you're happy with the seasoning, feel free to add in some minced red onion and cilantro, or some chopped tomato. Serve immediately.

Notes

It's preferable to make guacamole just before serving, as the surface will start to oxidize (turn brown) as it sits. If you do make it ahead of time, refrigerate it and cover the surface directly with parchment to minimize oxidation. This recipe easily doubles as written but if you're making a big batch (over 3 avocados), scale back the garlic a little...unless you're looking to ward off all the vampires in your neighborhood.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 8

Okay, I’m ready to try eggs for breakfast again. I thought I’d try the eggs in ham cups from Paleo Comfort Foods because they looked so good in the photo, and the chunk of ham I bought a few days ago keeps staring at me in the fridge. It also reminds me that I really should give Janet and Jenny their cookbooks back soon. (Both Make It Paleo and Paleo Comfort Foods are good resources for recipes so far. Both have simple recipes and appealing photographs, although I find the index in Paleo Comfort Foods to be very poor. How does that happen in a cookbook?)

It feels like the last few days have been tough in some regards, but I must admit that embarking on this challenge has brought a certain zing into my culinary life. While it has closed some doors for a while — notably on the bread front, which I’ve whined about probably more than I should — it has opened others.

Discovering coconut flour has been worthwhile, and not something I would have known existed otherwise. I haven’t used it in a big way, not yet, but when I opened up the package and took a whiff, it smelled so pure and well, coconutty, that I felt instantly transported to a tropical beach, cool drink in hand and sand between my toes. Realizing that almond meal is a pretty decent stand-in for all purpose flour, at least in something with a heavier texture like muffins, is pretty cool as well. Thank goodness I’m not allergic to nuts, or Paleo-friendly baked goods would be that much more challenging.

Eve, your squash pancakes with smoked salmon and cream cheese schmear were such a treat tonight. A squeeze of lemon, some capers and chives on top…very tasty. I should come over to your place for dinner more often, especially if you’re serving bubbly.

Eggs in Ham Cups

Serving Size: 2-3

From Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie & Charles Mayfield.

Ingredients

6 large eggs
6 slices of ham (preferably a quality, nitrate free source)
1-2 teaspoons coconut oil
1/2 cup mushroom finely chopped (optional)
1/2 cup shallots finely chopped (optional)
fresh chopped chives for garnish (optional)
olive oil or coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with olive oil or coconut oil.
In a small frying pan, heat 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil over medium heat. Saute the mushroom and shallots for 3-4 minutes, or until shallots have softened and mushrooms have cooked down.
Place one slice of ham in each cup. Put a few tablespoons of the mushroom-shallot mixture in the bottom of each. Crack an egg into each ham cup.
Cook for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on how you like your egg). Garnish with fresh chives, if using.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 7

Typically, I buy fresh seafood, meat, fruit and vegetables, and only a minimal amount of packaged foods, like curry pastes or a certain peanut sauce I like in my stir-frys. I make my own vinaigrettes for salad, bake my own desserts and never tire of creating new appetizer recipes. Bob does superb casseroles (always on the rather large size), a mean mushroom sauce for steak, and a bearnaise sauce that pairs beautifully with grilled salmon.

We don’t eat out a lot, and one of the reasons for that (besides the expense) is that we are both good cooks, and, more importantly, we both enjoy cooking. At the risk of sounding too boastful, our home cooking is almost always better than the food we’d get in a restaurant.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that cooking from scratch is no big deal for us, and we do it willingly. In fact, we prefer it. So the switch to a Paleo back-to-basics diet should be a pretty smooth transition, shouldn’t it? Well yes. But after almost a full week in, I’m recognizing in myself a continual anxiety in the back of my mind about it, and that surprises me.

It’s not the cooking without packaged or processed foods, or cooking simple meals with real ingredients. We do that already. I think the anxiety stems from a couple sources: It’s the shift away from former staples in my diet — cheese, bread, pasta — the things I could always rely on to bring together a quick meal. Baked mac and cheese? Lasagna? Yes, please. It’s the increased label reading to figure out if a certain ingredient is okay or not. It’s scanning menus and realizing that the only ‘safe’ thing to order is the salad, again. (Sigh.) And it’s thinking about how to work protein into every single meal, especially breakfast.

It is definitely a shift, enough to vex me a little more now that I’ve got 3 solid weeks of the challenge ahead. Tonight I quelled my anxiety a little by making a meal that has already made it into our ‘normal’ repertoire before now: chunky tomato and beef sauce atop roasted spaghetti squash, with some parmesan cheese melted on top.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 6

A lot of Paleo blogs seem to originate from people who were formerly very overweight, or ill with one or more chronic diseases, or both. By going Paleo they’ve miraculously changed their lives for the better, and now they’re blogging about their return to health (oh, and selling cookbooks, e-books, programs, t-shirts…..). Here are 3 examples of what I mean:

The Paleo Mom blog reels off over 10 heath conditions that plagued her (10! Yikes!), until she turned to a Paleo diet. With life-changing results.
Robb Wolf’s blog offers a wide variety of stories from Paleo converts: Elena conquers osteopenia! My rheumatoid arthritis is in remission! Paleo helps Suzanne get off thyroid medication! Wow!
The Paleo Lifestyle blog lists no less than 30 health changes frequently seen on the diet, ahem, lifestyle, including effortless weight loss, better digestion, and getting a famous 6-pack stomach. Impressive.

So almost a week into the challenge, I’m thinking about any changes I’ve noticed: Am I more energetic? Maybe. I’m not sure. Maybe not, then. Is my digestion any better than it was before? Perhaps. A little. Have I effortlessly lost any weight? Well, 2 pounds so far. That’s good, right? More than dropping any pounds, I’m looking forward to the 6-pack abs that are surely in my future if I stick to this. Ha!

This might get in the way of that 6-pack, but I discovered a sweet treat that seems to be allowed on many Paleo diets, except for the very strict ones that don’t allow any chocolate. That I just could not do. Eve, it’s about time talked about chocolate anyway. This isn’t the chocolate recipe that I wanted to start with, but it’s quick and helped get me through day 6.

Paleo Chocolate Coconut Haystacks

Adapted from FastPaleo.com. I made these after dinner and held myself to eating just two of them. That was hard.

Ingredients

7 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups unsweetened medium shred coconut

Instructions

Melt the chocolate in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently and -- importantly -- never letting it out of your sight so that it doesn’t scorch. (Alternatively, melt it in your microwave or over a double boiler.)
Once the chocolate is melted, remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Stir in the coconut.
Scoop out using a teaspoon and drop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave them as is, or use your fingers to mold them into little pyramids. Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and let the haystacks chill for about 30 minutes, or until they’re hardened. Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

Image courtesy of Whole9Life.com.

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 5

I’m a little amazed. The 2-pound weight drop is holding steady, and this is after having a huge steak dinner last night. Nothing like barbecue to get the into the caveman groove, I guess, and we did it up well: Striploin steak with a mushroom balsamic glaze, grilled asparagus and even grilled tomatoes. It was so delicious that I kept on eating to the point where I said I can’t believe I ate the whole thing. Whew.

A mini morning glory muffin and a coffee for breakfast, and I was good. And so very, very thankful to have some bread-y comfort food around the house for what seems like the first time in weeks, even though it’s only been 5 days. It definitely took the edge off. I started to think that maybe my pre-challenge strategy of stocking up on lots of very good bread just before I started (as in eating a whole demi loaf of Terra’s fig and anise bread in one day) was not a very smart thing to do. It feels now like I’m in some kind of Betty Ford bread rehab program and, I tell ya, it’s hard to go cold turkey.

I’m pumped about tonight’s dinner, which is seafood tacos — grilled halibut and prawns marinated in some olive oil, cumin and chili powder, served up with all the trimmings — guacamole, salsa, some sliced pickled jalapenos (handily sitting in the fridge and begging to be used up), some chopped cilantro, and then red cabbage coleslaw on the side. Butter lettuce leaves are the stand-in for the tortillas. Yum…very good. Extremely messy, though, but they were worth every lick of the fingers.

So two nights in a row of particularly delicious dinners. Is this just good luck? I’m feeling pretty good about this so far, but in the corner of my mind a few worrisome thoughts are starting to creep in. I’m sensing some pressure, I think. What will I be able to come up with for tomorrow?

More on the Paleo diet challenge:
Why I’m doing it in the first place
My plan for the 30 days

The Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 4

And just like that, 4 days in, it’s happened. The good-vibes-it’s-exciting-to-try-this-la-la-la phase has officially ended, and the first few things I find annoying are rising to the surface. The first one, by far, is the shopping. I feel like I’m constantly going to the store, or thinking about ingredients I need to get. One or two trips every day, mostly to ensure I’ve got enough protein in the house. It’s not like I’m eating a completely new way, but somehow there’s this added pressure to get that protein, at every meal. Or else.

Keeping a good supply of fresh vegetables and fruit is completely different, somehow. I don’t get annoyed at picking up fresh produce every day or two, since that’s what I’m used to doing anyway. So perhaps it’s just a settling in thing, this buying seafood and meat every few days.

Number two on the annoying list is figuring out what to do about breakfast. Eggs are okay, and sometimes I really enjoy them, but I don’t want to have them every day, or even more than maybe twice a week. A bowl of fruit isn’t always that satisfying for me, especially if the weather is cool out. I guess I could start to make extra meat or fish at night and just reheat that but geez, that seems a little too much of a leap from where I’m at right now.

It’s not too hard to figure out that, underneath it all, I’m still craving a warm bread-y, toast-y kind of start to my day.

What on earth can I do to bring some bread-like goodness into this Paleo challenge? I spent a good couple hours over the past few days scouring the internet for Paleo bread recipes. Not an easy fix apparently, if the posted pictures are any indication. To me they all look um, well, pretty, awful for the most part.

Not to be completely defeated, I turned to finding a good recipe for a quick bread, like banana breads or carrot muffins. Here there seemed to be a glimmer of hope. This recipe for carrot-apple-raisin muffins caught my eye, and now I’m determined to make these so I can get my bread-like fix.

Oh good, that means another trip to the store to get some almond flour. This better be worth it.

Paleo Morning Glory Muffins

From Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield. These turned out to be extremely tasty. I made mine in mini muffin tins (of course!). If you go with the mini size, they’ll take about 15 minutes to bake.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups carrots, peeled and grated
1 large apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup raisins
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey (optional)
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F and grease a standard-sized muffin pan (or use muffin liners).
Combine almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add carrot, apple, coconut and raisins and combine well.
In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, honey, oil and vanilla extract together.
Pour the wet mixture over the dry ingredients and mix very well. The batter will be very thick.
Spoon the batter out into muffin pan and place on upper or middle rack of your oven for 40-50 minutes. When a toothpick inserted into the top of a muffin comes out clean, the muffins are done.
Cool muffins in the pan for 8-10 minutes and then remove to a rack to finish cooling.

Notes

For some variety, substitute currants or chopped dates for the raisins. You can also add a little orange zest to give the muffins some citrus flavor.

More on the Paleo diet challenge:

Why I’m doing it in the first place

My plan for the 30 days

Image courtesy of HealthAliciousNess via Flickr.