Nutrition in 100 Words

Back in April, I ordered a few items from Steve's Original which included some PaleoKits and PaleoKrunch cereal.  Both were very tasty, but what I loved even more was a card they put inside my box that sums up my experience over the last year and how my mindset has changed in regards to food.  It was titled "Nutrition in 100 Words" and I thought I'd share it on here.

Eat real, unprocessed food,

as close to nature as possible

and listen to your body.

Pretend the modern supermarket doesn't exist.

Choose foods that could be grown, hunted, or gathered -

nothing packaged or processed.

Support local farms when possible.

Eat animals, marine life, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and

fruits.  Eat plenty of healthy fats from pastured animals,

fish, coconut, avocado, olives, and cold-pressed oils.

Drink water.

Incorporate traditional, nutrient-dense foods:

fermented vegetables, organ meats,

and homemade bone broths.

Above all, ditch the "gurus", "programs", and "diets"

and get back to basics.  Connect with your intuition

and allow it to guide you.

I love it and just had to share!

A Week Around Our Table

Whenever I tell someone that we've gone Paleo, one of the comments early on in the conversation is "Well, what in the world DO you eat?"  Are you kidding?  We eat a TON of stuff!  And, might I add, we eat good-sized portions.  I eat until I'm full, but that doesn't mean I gorge myself.  Without all of the fillers that I was used to, I have become extremely aware of my body and what it is telling me.  When I am full, I know it.

OK, that was a side tangent, but the purpose of this blog is to copy what I found on Everyday Paleo when I was first starting out.  Seeing all the great stuff she made in a week made me understand how delicious and attainable this lifestyle truly was.  If it does it for you, great!, but if not you can hopefully enjoy a few of the recipes whether you are Paleo or not.

Note:  We eat breakfast and dinner together everyday, but our lunch is usually leftovers from the day before.

Saturday

Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs with local eggs, local pork sausage, paleo grits from my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook (awesome gift from my bro/sis-in-law), and a nice cup of black coffee

 

Lunch & Dinner:   Creamy Cabbage & Double Smoked Bacon Soup made with local pork and bacon.  This was so good that we ate it for both meals.  You HAVE to put the spicy brown mustard on it.  Like Oktoberfest in a bowl!

Sunday

Breakfast: Sweet Potato Latkes (with local eggs & bacon), grilled bananas, avocado, and a cup of black coffee

Lunch:  We had lunch at my parents house.  My mom has gone Paleo (woo-hoo!) so we had some awesome ribeye steaks, roasted vegetables, and a great salad.  Yum!

Dinner:  Paleo Lasagna made with local beef and pork.  This makes SO much.  We ate on it all week which comes in handy when your husband likes to eat 5-6 meals a day!

Monday

Breakfast:  Sweet Potato Hash made with leftover sweet potatoes and local sausage

Lunch: Leftover "lasagna"

Dinner:  Pizza Soup made with local sausage, Applegate pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers, and black olives.  Don't add as much liquid as they suggest if you like your soup chunkier/heartier.

Tuesday

Breakfast:  Sweet Potato Hash again (I was really feeling this dish this week!), unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon added, avocado, peppermint tea

Lunch: Leftover Pizza Soup

Dinner: Spiced Chicken with Pineapples and Peaches and broccoli (forgot to get a picture of it at dinner)

Wednesday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with local eggs, local bacon, unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon added, Earl Grey tea

Lunch: Leftover Spiced Chicken

Dinner:  Paleo Fried Chicken and Collard Greens (both from my Paleo Comfort Foods cookbook) and Fried Apples

Thursday

Breakfast:  Paleo Oatmeal, local sausage patties, avocado, Earl Grey tea

Lunch:  Leftover fried chicken, greens, and apples

Dinner: Beef Goulash made with local beef and chocked full of veggies

Friday

Breakfast:  Bacon, scrambled eggs, banana...lame, I know, but I was in a hurry

Lunch: Leftover Goulash

Dinner:  Made a stir fry with venison, onions, and green peppers (made it with cauliflower rice last week and it was so good!), roasted sweet potatoes, some mango slices, and a glass of wine.  

Whole30 January was over so I enjoyed a nice glass of wine and also made a little treat for our small group that night...Raw Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites  Certainly a treat and not something I'd eat every night, but what a great occasion to share them with friends.  Good thing we shared too because I could have eaten them all just by myself!

So, there you go!  That's a glimpse into a week of our life.  I will say, this past week didn't have nearly as many veggies as we usually eat.  I love to get veggies in any chance we can and you'll see them mixed in a lot of stuff, but I usually like to have more than I had this past week.  

Paleo Intro

*Please note: I am not trying to convert anyone! I believe in this 100% but food is a sensitive subject and people are entitled to eat what they want.

Several people have asked me to share our new Paleo lifestyle, so I'm back to blogging with information about some big changes we've made since I talked to you all last. As most of you know, a little over a year ago, we gave up gluten in our house. That was definitely a big change for us, but the results were fantastic. We both noticed how much more energy we had and we didn't feel nearly as sluggish.

Around that same time, our dear friend Faith and her husband told us about their plans to go paleo. When she first told me about it, Mark was all about it. He wanted to dive right in, but my first thoughts were the same that I've heard many others say to me when I talk about going paleo: "There is no way I could go without grains/all forms of bread or pasta/dairy/cheese/corn/beans/sugar!" After listing those ingredients, I already know I have some people who have checked out. I honestly don't blame you, it's hard at times!

Faith shared the following video on her blog and it was a real eye opener for me. The creator of the video says they are frustrated with repeating themselves over and over again and I am not, but I think this video sums up most of my reasons for switching over.



Another conversion factor was when I started exploring the Everyday Paleo website (also suggested by Faith) and I started to see all of the things that you CAN have! We love to eat fresh or organic any chance we get so this lifestyle seemed to fit pretty well with us. I am also really happy to have the least picky husband ever! He will eat anything I set in front of him and he'll eat a ton!

Our dinners usually consist of some type of meat and LOTS and LOTS of veggies (3 or 4 a night). I would like to in the future give you a week long list of what we eat to give you a better idea of how it works for all meals of the day, but for now, you can check out the one that Sarah did on Everyday Paleo. Her "required reading" section gives her testimonial and lots of other good info (how to do paleo with kids).

Also by request, I am going to list all the things that are staples in our house and things that we have gotten rid of.

Staples:

Organic meat (beef, pork, chicken, seafood)

Every type of vegetable we can get our hands on (easiest being broccoli, asparagus, cauliflower, green beans, spinach...we have a variation of these every week)

Nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios)

Every type of fruit we can get our hands on (bananas, apples, pears, dates, plums, kiwis, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc.)

Avocados (we eat at least 2 a week)

Eggs (lots! from our CSA)

Almond milk

Coconut milk

Coconut oil (you'll hear me talk more about this later. This and olive oil are all I cook with)

Honey

Vinegars

Lots of spices (be cautious of blends...sometimes there are hidden chemicals)


What we steer clear of:

Dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, sour cream)

All grains (bread, pasta, rice)

Peanuts

Beans

Corn (Boo! You know how much I love it!)

Potatoes (Double BOO! I'm Irish! Although several articles I've read allow sweet potatoes)

Ketchup

Sugar


Biggest challenge: Eating out!

Greatest benefit: Probably the healthiest I've felt in my entire life. Not that weight should be a key factor at all, but I have lost 10 pounds in the last month since going paleo. I get very full from meals, but never feel gross.

Do what you will with this information, but I will be sharing recipes that fit within this lifestyle that I find delicious. You can take it or leave it!

If you have questions, lay 'em on me! I love answering questions about going paleo!

GF Peanut Butter & Nutella Cookies

Oh. My. Gosh!

I can't even tell you how good these are! Mark made me these cookies for my birthday (all I wanted was a meal made just for me & he DEFINITELY delivered!)

I even had Molly try these cookies and she agreed that they do not taste GF at all and taste so much like the real thing. Plus, it's got Nutella. Anything better than that? I think not.

He got this recipe off of Tasty Kitchen.

You need:

1 cup sugar
1 cup creamy Peanut Butter (don't use homemade...don't think they'd stick together as well)
1 whole egg Beaten
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
9 teaspoons Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. Into your stand mixer add sugar, peanut butter, egg, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined.

3. Measure approximately 1 tablespoon of dough. Roll dough into a ball and place onto cookie sheet. Gently press dough ball down using the palm of your hand. Continue forming balls until dough is gone. Space approximately 1″ apart.

4. Bake for approximately 8-10 minutes. Using a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, GENTLY make an indentation in the middle of each cookie. Fill each cookie with a "dollop" of Nutella. Return tray to oven and continue cooking for 2-4 minutes until golden. (I don't think Mark put them back in the oven, but they turned out just fine!)

5. Transfer cookie to a cooling rack and allow to cool.

So good! These are a repeat for sure in the Bennett household!

Steak with Onion-Blue Cheese Sauce (GF & Organic)

Probably my favorite recipe! I've shared this recipe with several people because it's so darn tasty, but it is SO easy! And frankly, easy works best in my life right now. This is straight from my favorite lady, The Pioneer Woman.

Here's what ya need:
2 steaks (ribeye, sirloin, something somewhat thin)...got these from our CSA
6 Tbs organic butter, divided (I said it was easy...not healthy)
1 whole organic yellow onion

1 cup organic heavy cream

1/2 cup organic blue cheese, crumbled

Salt & pepper

Salt and pepper both sides of the steak and then grill it in 2 Tb of butter. The recipe calls for medium rare, but I lean closer to medium.

Saute onions in 4 tablespoons butter over high heat. Cook for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dark and caramelized.

Reduce heat to simmer and pour in cream. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, or until reduced by half.

Stir in blue cheese until melted.

Serve steaks on generous portion of sauce.

I added the Pesto Potatoes as a side. We also had corn on the cob with paprika & tomato slices with mozzarella cheese, balsalmic vinegar, and fresh basil. Yum!!!

Pesto Potatoes (GF)

OK, easy, EASY recipe!

This is a recipe that a co-worker made for our back-to-school cookout. She just kinda rattled off what she did and I just took it back and made it without any real measurements. Aren't the recipes where you just throw stuff in the best recipes??? You can't go wrong with this one. These pesto potatoes make an incredibly yummy side dish!

You'll need:

-potatoes (cut up as many as you like)

-red wine vinegar

-olive oil

-pesto

See! Told you it was easy!

Boil your potatoes until they are fork tender. Remove the water, but return the pot with the potatoes to the stove top on low. Let the heat dry the potatoes out some and let the steam escape from them. Add a splash of red wine vinegar and a splash of olive oil (just enough to coat the potatoes). Keep them on low heat for just a little bit longer to let those flavors cook in a bit. Add the pesto (as little or as much as you like....I always like a lot!) and stir it all up. Voila! You're done!

Steak with Blue-Cheese Cream with Onions & Pesto Potatoes

(Look for steak recipe in the near future)

My Ode to Corn

Oh my, I don't think I can tell you how much I love corn!

With our CSA, we've been getting at least 6 ears of corn a week. Some may get tired of all this corn, but not I. I usually run out before I get to try all the recipes I want and have to wait until the next week. There was actually a week where I bought 3 or 4 extra ears of corn at the Farmers Market just because I needed them for all of my ambitious goals for the week.

Corn is such a versatile plant and is truly an amazing thing in and of itself. So much of our world relies on corn since every part of corn is able to be used. I did learn an interesting fact this week. The minute that corn is picked, its kernels begin the process of turning to starch. Therefore, corn is best used (and sweetest) within the first couple days after it's been picked. Does that mean you can't use it later in the week? Of course not. But it sure does make you wonder how long it's been since it's been picked when you buy it at the grocery store. Just another reason to go local and support your friendly farmer neighbors!

I've used corn in at least 2-3 meals a week, but I thought I'd share my favorites that I've repeated a couple times already this summer.

The recipe for Corn with Bacon and Green Onions was definitely a hit on the 4th of July, so we ate it again for my dad's birthday alongside some Spinach-Walnut Chicken. I believe this dish is an excellent compliment to any meal...that is if it doesn't steal the show!

Another absolute favorite is Summer Stir-Fry! This is originally from Pioneer Woman and it is absolutely delicious! You could easily do it with chicken instead of shrimp, but oh boy, that shrimp is so yummy! My friend, Faith, saw this recipe the same time I did and we made it within a week of each other. Once she told me how truly delicious it was, I just had to make it right away. We've both had to limit how many times we make it...it's just that good! You can check out the recipe here on her blog or you can scope out the original over at Pioneer Woman.


Summer Salsa is an absolute must! Got this recipe from Faith last year and it is so refreshing! Please take note that it is not a spicy salsa, but a sweet one full of great CSA vegetables. I recommend it with some organic blue corn chips for an awesome snack!

Finally, I'm leaving you with Fire Roasted Corn Salad. This is a recipe from a little ole gourmet cooking store that I love and I just think this is such a tasty side dish! It's got everything I love in it!

You need:

• Juice of 3 limes
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• Coarse salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 ears of corn
• 3 cups cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved
• 1/2 cup diced red onion
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 lb. feta cheese, diced

NOTE: I halved this recipe and still made plenty for just the two of us. The only thing I didn't halve was the feta cheese because, well, I think feta cheese is fantastic and should be used liberally.

In a bowl, whisk together the lime juice, ground cumin, and chili powder. Pour in the 3/4 cup olive oil in a slow, steady stream while whisking to make a vinaigrette. Season with salf and pepper. Set aside.

Prepare your corn. You can either grill it by brushing some oil on them and turning them over a medium-hot fire until lightly charred for about 10 minutes.....OR if it's absolutely sweltering outside and you really don't feel like creating a fire and grilling, boil your corn until cooked. You don't have to do it for too long because you don't want to overcook your corn until it's mushy.

Using a knife (or a corn zipper) cut off all of your kernels and place in a large bowl. Add your tomatoes, onion, cilantro, feta, and the vinaigrette and toss to coat evenly. I think it's great when you serve it immediately, but I also like it when it's cooled down. Makes a great side dish.


And yes, all of these recipes were made with organic ingredients and were all gluten-free...except for that Vanilla Porter in the above picture. That's just full of gluten!

I love corn!

Now go buy some and share some more yummy dishes with me!

Thai Green Beans (GF & Organic)

OK, confession....last week, I was in a major cooking slump!

I started working on my classroom to get back into the school year which is all too quickly approaching and by the time I came home...I just didn't wanna cook.

I think this is totally human of me and it was honestly nice to have some days off where I was 100% lazy. We did go out and enjoy some Japanese food one night which was absolutely fabulous! But I'm back in the routine this week and had some pictures/recipes that I wanted to post up here that fell to the wayside also last week. Seriously, what am I going to do once school starts. It's like I have to completely reorient myself with that way of life again!

Made these green beans as a side dish a few weeks back. They were featured as the recipe of the week on Simply in Season's website. My friend, Faith, has this cookbook and I loved it, but I have yet to purchase it. I've been using their recipe of the week for a few months now and they always turn out great. They always feature what is in season at this time so it's very helpful with my CSA.

For this, you need:

• 5 cups fresh green beans
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 Tb. ginger root, peeled and minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 3 Tb. GF soy sauce
• 2 Tb. GF Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1 cup extra firm tofu, crumbled (optional)
  

All vegetables/ingredients were organic. As a side note, the tofu is completely optional and would be just fine without it. I understand being skeptical, but my hubs is always wanting to try new stuff so I went with it and it was very good. I would recommend not only because it tasted good, but because it is so good for you! Totally up to you though.

Steam your green beans 8-10 minutes until they are bright green and lightly crunchy.

Get your onions, ginger, and garlic all chopped, peeled, and minced.

In the sesame oil, saute onions, garlic, and ginger over medium heat until the onion is tender. Takes about 5 minutes.

Add your soy sauce and sweet chili sauce. You can measure it out or just add to taste.

Add your tofu (if you choose) and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add your green beans and stir to coat them with the sauce. Simmer over medium-low heat for 5 more minutes.

You can eat these over rice if you want to make a whole meal out of it, but we served it on the side with some chicken and potatoes and saved all the leftovers for lunch over the next couple days.

Spicy Chicken with Tomatillo and Pine-Nut Salsa (GF)

Mark really wanted to try tomatillos this week. Therefore, I obliged and found a recipe at Tasty Kitchen that I thought we'd both really enjoy. Tasty Kitchen is becoming my "go-to" on great recipes!

This recipe called for the grilled chicken to be marinaded and then you just make the salsa as an addition. I chose this because I already had some pine nuts left over from when I made pesto.

For the first part, you need:

4 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/3 c lime juice (I didn't have enough lime so I added lemon and it tasted just dandy!)
2 T. olive oil

1 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. garlic salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 dash of salt & pepper each

Mix all of those ingredients together and put in a plastic bag with the chicken. The recipe said to let it marinade for at least 30 minutes. I would let it marinade a couple hours to get the good flavor in there.

You (or your hubs!) will grill this chicken when you are ready to eat.

For the salsa, you need:

4 whole tomatillos
fresh cilantro
1 bell pepper (any color, I chose green)
1 fresh jalapeno
2 T. pine nuts
2 T. lime juice (or lemon)
1 tsp. sea salt

I was thrilled to use some fresh cilantro from my very own herb box! The smell was unbelievable and it was better than any cilantro I've bought in the store.

I am HORRIBLE at gardening, but my cilantro was the most productive in my attempt to grow something outside my kitchen window. I can't tell you how excited I was to use this!

Chop up your cilantro and add it to your diced tomatillos.

Dice up your green peppers and jalapeno and add them to the party.

Squeeze in your lime/lemon juice, add your pine nuts, and your sea salt.

Mix all of that together to make some deliciousness!

Serve the chicken and salsa on some seasoned rice and enjoy!

Mark and I absolutely cleaned our plates on this one. I just kept trying to get bites that included rice, chicken, and salsa together. The flavors went so well together!

When we finish eating, I always ask Mark, "Repeat?" He lets me know if it's worth keeping the recipe or not for another time.

This is definitely a "repeat" in our house.