breakfast and lunch

     Even though I did break down and buy a box of Peanut Butter Cheerios, I have been trying to be good and not eat them for breakfast every day.  It's just nice to have something quick during the week, especially since I've not slept well the past few nights (I guess when Jon is traveling I am sleeping with one ear open, and I hear every little sound...it worked out good the other night, however, when Nathan's sleep talking woke me and I decided to check Zach's blood sugar...he was 54).  This morning I made myself a cheese omelet with 2 eggs, about 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar, and then topped it with that yummy chipotle Tabasco sauce.  Since I had a tomato I had a slice with some salt and pepper, plus a half of a navel orange (BJ's, they're good!).  Very satisfying, and I felt like my body was really happy with me!

Lunch yesterday was coconut curry chicken nuggets, sweet potato spears (dipped in melted coconut oil and baked on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil for about 30 minutes at 450 degrees, turned halfway during cooking), and the Brussels sprouts I blogged about last time.  The kids dipped the spears and nuggets in some ketchup, but I think some sort of yogurt dipping sauce would be good with the chicken.

Sometimes, I just feel inspired...

Brussels sprouts, really?

I have heard numerous family members comment on how they used to hate Brussels sprouts until they had them prepared this way.  I'm pretty sure I posted on this before, but perhaps not in as much detail (I'm obviously being too lazy to look back at previous posts).  Any-hoo, it deserves to be posted again, nevertheless.

Best Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients:

• about a pound of Brussels sprouts, I get mine in a 3 pound bag at BJ's in the produce section
• about 1/4 cup coconut oil
• a couple tablespoons of butter
• a couple tablespoons of soy sauce
• a little sea salt
• a good heavy skillet

Directions:

     Wash sprouts thoroughly, maybe remove any dirty-looking leaves (sort of like you'd do with cabbage or lettuce, which they look like a miniature version of). Cut them in half (such that you have two equal parts).  Heat your oil over medium-high heat until hot and almost popping, then neatly place the sprouts cut side down to cover the bottom of your skillet.  Check them after a few minutes using a fork, and when sufficiently browned turn each one over, cook a few more minutes on that side.  If the oil has mostly absorbed at this point, add a couple pads of butter to the pan to keep it moist, and toss the sprouts around a little.  Add a little soy sauce, not too much if it's not low sodium, and just a little salt.  Toss a bit more, and then they're ready to be devoured!  Seriously, we have them with cheeseburgers instead of fries.

strawberry goodness

We've gone strawberry picking a couple of times this year, most of which I froze, some of which we had with whipped cream or plain, some of which Jon had in his Cheerios, and some of which I used for making this dessert.  I tweaked Elana Amsterdam's Very Vanilla Cupcakes recipe a little (if you get her almond flour cookbook, the original recipe is delectable!), put about a tablespoon of whipped strawberry icing on top (roughly 7 grams of carbs, not too shabby), then topped that with a half of a strawberry.  They're very rich and moist, and would be good with coffee for breakfast.  Since I did use vegetable oil (I have also made them with melted coconut oil, even better) and sugar, these are definitely shmaleo.  Here is my revised and therefore original (?) recipe:

Strawberry Almond Flour Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 cup vegetable or coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Directions:

     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.  In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks until pale yellow, then whisk in the oil, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice.  In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks begin to form with a handheld mixer, then gently fold egg whites into the mixture.  

     In a separate bowl, combine the last three ingredients, then gently fold that into the egg mixture.  Put about 1/4 cup scoops into muffin cups, bake for about 20 minutes, or until slightly golden brown on the edges and the tops spring back when touched (or toothpick comes out clean).  Cool on a wire rack, then frost, etc.  I stuck mine in the freezer overnight, they were sort of refreshing that way!  FYI, I have been bolusing Zach about 25 grams for one, and he doesn't even spike.

we're back!

OK, time to get back on track with our paleo shmaleo diet!  I've not stepped on the scale since we've been back, but I feel as if I've probably put on a few during our stay in Florida.  My mom makes it her mission to fatten me up while we're down there, thanks, Mom!  Dessert every day?  You bet!  I did run a few times, once almost 3 miles, which is the most I've done in a long time, but my knees sure complained about it.  Zach ran high after a Chick-fil-A trip on the road on the car ride back, so he and I did the treadmill at the hotel, which brought his BG down beautifully.  For breakfast yesterday morning they had made to order omelets that were delicious, so that helped keep blood sugars in a normal range.  I can tell my kids aren't accustomed to eating the way they did while we were in Florida, Mychael (my oldest, age 14) said he felt kind of yucky, and Jordan had diarrhea the last couple of days (may have been the water, too).  She had a sharting problem the last day and a half, then on the ride home she said, "Mommy, I have good news!  I can fart again!" You really wanted to know that...

When I have a minute to put thought into an informative post, I will do so.  For now, I need to finish up a little homeschool, run a bunch of errands, and get the big boys at school.  Tonight will be my easy go-to weekday meal of stir fried cabbage with sausage (you'll find the recipe in my first entry, I do believe), and fried apples.  Gonna be eating some extra mandarin oranges this week to fend off this cold that followed me home...

sorry, but yuck

Tried the avocado brownies recipe I mentioned earlier, and unless you plan on eating the batter raw (you know how brownie batter is almost universally better than the baked version?), I wouldn't waste my almond flour.  They were a gelatinous epic fail...

I am going to experiment with another brownie recipe on the same website which uses coconut oil as the fat instead of avocados, because it also uses honey as the sweetener.  Trying to steer away from sugar, in general, and I find I'm craving it less.

I probably won't post for a couple of weeks, as the kids and I are headed to visit my parents in Florida on Thursday, WOO-HOO!!!  Have a wonderful week, all.

a little creative

     Our weekdays during the school year are pretty full contact, with soccer, karate, ballet, baseball, and "church," not to mention having two kids homeschooling and two kids in middle school at a charter school!  So, typically, I don't feel like going to much trouble with weekday meals, but because it is my heart for dinnertime to be nourishing not just for the body but also for the soul, I garner the energy and willpower to put forth thought and effort into what I put on the table.  I am so thankful for the wonderful and creative paleo recipes I come across on the plethora of blogs out there in cyberspace, these people rock!  Every once in awhile inspiration does come to me and I come up with (what I think is) a Shannon original, even though it's probably not all that original.  Here is a "recipe" I made one day earlier this week when my husband wasn't home for dinner, but the kids inhaled it:

Smothered "Burgers"

• First, I cooked about 5 pieces of bacon until crisp, then removed the bacon from the pan.  
• I then sautéed a sliced yellow onion, and some red bell pepper strips (I had cut up and frozen the pepper previously) in the bacon grease, seasoning with some sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Sometimes, when recipes call for peppers and onions, I use the frozen variety you can get at the store, it's actually a very economical way to go.  
• Anyway, I removed that from the pan, keeping it warm, then placed 5 hamburger patties (made with 90% lean ground beef) in the pan with what was left of the bacon grease, covered the pan, and cooked until done.  I added a slice of cheddar cheese on top of each burger after I'd flipped them and they were almost cooked, long enough to melt it.  
• I put a hamburger patty on each plate, topped with a slice of bacon and the sautéed veggies, and put a little dollop of ketchup on the side (optional).  Also, that chipotle Tabasco sauce was killer on my burger.  
• I served the smothered burgers with the fried apples I mentioned in another post, and what a yummy combination the sweet and salty was!  

I can't describe to you that wonderfully satisfying feeling I get watching my kids thoroughly enjoying a meal I've prepared for them.

     On a different note, things have normalized again diabetes-wise.  We observe this phenomenon periodically where we start seeing highs, go up on his insulin settings, only to find ourselves backing off several days later.  Believe it or not, I now have both his basal rate and insulin-to-carb ratio lower than it was before the episode, for whatever reason.  For one thing, when I was seeing the highs I did not make anything in the way of sweets, but let him have a Hershey kiss or two instead.  Also, I have had him do the elliptical machine in the basement about once a day for twenty minutes, unless he's spent time outside running around, which he has this week with the nicer weather we've had here in N.C.  So, either he was having a growth spurt (growth hormone antagonizes insulin), was fighting off a germ, or just needed to get his insulin sensitivity back (which limiting carbs and increasing exercise both will accomplish).  I'll tell you, this is an interesting experience, learning cause and effect, giving something a try and being able to observe the results.  We recently switched from the Animas pump to Medtronic's Revel, along with the continuous glucose monitor that is built into the pump (that was a huge selling point for me, having misplaced a Dexcom at a Barnes and Noble before...like finding a needle in a freaking haystack).  This has helped tremendously with fine tuning Zach's settings, this equipment is definitely earning its keep, in my book.  I also have the privilege of using a MySentry, which displays his blood sugars and trending (I love the low blood sugar/high blood sugar predicted function) on a monitor which is right next to my bed.  Zach is in the adjacent room with the outpost next to his bed.  In the five years that he's had diabetes (he turned 9 this past January, FYI), my husband or I have always gotten up a minimum of one time per night to check his blood sugar.  Now, once I feel like the sensor is reading pretty close to his blood glucose level, I don't set my alarm, except for 6:30 to get my big boys up for school.  If I wake up during the night, I glance over at the monitor and can see what his blood sugar is.  Apparently, I have the settings just right, because he's staying flat in the low 100's all night. Sweetness.  Before I had him dialed in, it alarmed quite a bit that he was low, or high.  I eventually lowered the low glucose limit to 70, and have the high set to 200.  This seems to be appropriate, and it doesn't keep waking us up unnecessarily (my three boys all sleep in the same room...thank goodness they're all heavy sleepers, for the most part).  Well, he just came in to say he feels low.  We had waffles for breakfast, no joke!  One huge waffle and 1/4 cup of syrup was 40 grams, and he still feels low.  Guess I'll be lowering his bolus some more, woo-hoo!  Thank you paleo!!!
   

holy yum

     I  just realized this is the first photo I've posted on this blog!  This little bottle is very deserving of some face time, as it has added so much love to my boring old cheese omelet I have most mornings.  I came across this stuff in a paleo recipe, and found it at my local Walmart for next to nothing.  I have always loved the flavor that chipotle peppers bring to recipes, one of my favorites being a dipping sauce for sweet potato wedges (found in the book I referenced in my last post, Paleo Comfort Foods, of which I own the Kindle version).  I've not been posting much of late, as we just switched my son over to a new insulin pump/CGM combo, and I've been working out the kinks.  Namely, he's been running inexplicably high, especially at night, so I've had to go down the line trouble shooting insulin problems, infusion site problems, insulin sensitivity problems, growth spurt induced insulin resistance, pump issues, user error issues, yada yada yada.  FYI for those interested in how this has all worked out, after approximately six consecutive days of dealing with the problem (including lots of sleep disruption), after switching him back to Novolog from Humalog, using his bum instead of his stomach for the infusion site, and having the child do the elliptical machine last night at ten o'clock for 20 minutes (mean mommy, I know), we seem to have resumed normal blood glucose readings.  A huge part of why I'm experimenting with a paleo-ish diet is for my son, Zach.  I am finding that the closer I stick to paleo, the better off we'll be.  For instance, sugar is pretty much frowned upon in paleo circles, but I still make my almond flour brownies about once a week, justifying this because they are made with almond flour instead of wheat, and I do cut back a little on the sugar.  Not.  Good.  Enough.  This week we are going to seriously limit any kind of sweets, probably just having something like a Hershey's kiss now and then to curb the crave to bake a big pan of brownies, or at the most I may try an avocado brownies recipe I came across on chowstalker.com which only uses 1/2 cup of honey as the sweetener, as opposed to 1 cup of sugar.  After I get around to trying it out on my family (on the sly, of course, otherwise my kiddos won't touch it), I'll report back and give the link.  TTFN!