So, we have been taking baby steps toward eating a paleo diet, and one of the first things I did (right after Christmas) was to stop buying anything potato chip-y, white potatoes (I confess, I have bought one bag to do some mashed potatoes, my kids were ecstatic), rice, pasta, and cereal. We have a good supply of plain Cheerios from a BJ's trip, but that's about the only thing my Zach can have without having a super spike with his blood sugar. Still, I typically will make omelets, bacon, scrambled eggs, or a recipe I absolutely love that I recently discovered, almond flour coconut waffles.
That's breakfast. Lunch is a little more challenging, especially as far as what to pack my two older boys that attend middle school at a nearby charter school, and I confess they're a bit spoiled. Every couple of weeks I make a huge batch of chimichangas (using flour tortillas...I know, I know), so that I can send them with one of those, a piece of fruit, and some kind of treat, whether a piece of chocolate or homemade almond flour brownies. I have come across some recipes for making homemade tortillas with coconut flour, which I just need to take the time to make. Sometimes they get leftovers, and as a matter of fact, Nathan took leftovers from last night's dinner, the curry dish I mentioned in my last post. I would love some ideas on what to pack in kids' lunches that are paleo-friendly, so feel free to leave comments.
Dinner is when I really get to play, and it has been a tremendous amount of therapeutic fun to explore and prepare new, healthy meals for my family. Can I just add, too, that to get the most out of preparing dinner for your family, it should become a special time of day to look forward to. What I mean by that is pour yourself a little wine, if you enjoy wine, cut a piece of cheese or two, put on some music that you feel adds to the mood, and let cooking for your family be a wonderful experience. Oh, and did I mention that you should ban children to another part of the house? This can make it less than relaxing and rejuvenating...although I do make exceptions to my own rule since my daughter also enjoys that time of day to be with me and help in the kitchen. Sometimes, however, it is necessary to have that time be alone time to get the full benefit. I find that if I can be focused, I am aware of the aromas I am creating on a completely different level...this has to be experienced, it can't really be explained. I guess you could say it is my Zen time, much like folding laundry at night when the house is quiet and still.
Snacks consist of raw fruit, nuts like pistachios (or as my nephew adorably calls them, mustachios) and almonds, cheese, lunch meat (nitrate and nitrite-free, except we occasionally indulge in beef jerky, yum!), and popcorn. Also, might I add that I almost always carry bottled water with me anywhere I go, because thirst is often mistaken for hunger, and we're less likely to drive through somewhere or pick up other snacks because we feel like we're hungry. Plus, it gives you energy.
You can probably gather from recipes posted thus far the types of things in my pantry. I use coconut oil if a coconut-y flavor is okay in a recipe (you can buy more refined coconut oil that doesn't have the flavor, but we really like the organic extra virgin stuff), even replacing butter in brownies with it. We recently bought 5 big jars of coconut oil from vitacost.com at a great price, FYI, and we buy blanched almond flour in bulk from Honeyville. Next on my list to get is coconut flour, coconut sugar, and Sunbutter, and I buy a big container of Hershey's baking cocoa about once a month at BJ's for homemade brownies. Obviously, that's not the extent of what I have on hand, but I thought I would just mention some of the staples.
I will leave you with a recipe that we all love, make substitutions or changes to suit your preferences (my husband adds a splash of soy sauce, which I realize is not paleo but again, we're not purists...yet). The fried apples are so yummy, no added sugar, and my kids literally fight over them. Happy cooking!
Sausage-N-Cabbage Noodles With Fried Apples
Yum! This recipe is up next for sure!!
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