Paleo Pad Thai

Loving these simple food journal posts!  They are easy to do and keep me accountable.

Breakfast:

My husband was home this morning for breakfast.  He makes the best egg scrambles.  Usually these include ham and a ton of cheddar cheese.

This time it was just grassfed beef, egg, and spinach.

Plus a steamy cup of coffee with coconut milk.


Gym:

One of my little ones wasn't feeling well this morning so we stayed home.  I was supposed to do weights and cardio at the gym.

That's my normal workout schedule.  I try to do yoga on Thursday mornings and sometimes that Saturday workout just doesn't happen.

Lunch:



Leftovers from last night!


This time with guacamole on the top!

Dinner:


Paleo pad thai.  Another blogger recipe.  This one was from Tina at Carrots n Cake.


I've made it a few times in the past couple weeks.  It's delicious!  I follow everything exactly but add whatever veggies I have on hand.  It also keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Favorite Paleo Recipes

Simple post!

Breakfast:


The last bit of that southwestern frittata.

Plus regular coffee with coconut milk.  Out of the can not the carton.


I dump the can in my salad dressing shaker and keep it in the fridge.  Makes it easy to pour into my coffee!

Gym:

Today was supposed to be a rest day but I decided to do a yoga class instead.  I love yoga.

Snack:

Grapes and almonds.  I took about 20 pictures of this and could not make it look pretty.  Seriously though... Can anyone make a bag of grapes and almonds look pretty?

Lunch:

The last bit of frittata base, spinach, roasted sweet potato, and melty coconut butter.

Snack:

A closed palmful of mixed nuts.

Dinner:

Southwest meatloaf...

and cauliflower "mashed potatoes".

My husband and I both LOVED both of these recipes.  It really felt like we were eating meatloaf and mashed potatoes!  We both agreed that it would be a good meal to make for company.

Another Round

Let's try another round of my food for the day.  I actually love it when bloggers do this.  It's my favorite type of blog to read.  I get so many ideas from other people!

Breakfast:

I've been eating these paleo pancakes like crazy. Just about every other day.

One beaten egg, 3/4 small mashed banana, 1/2t cinnamon, and 1T chopped walnuts.

Cooked in a pan just like a regular pancake...


Low and slow is the key.


Topped with raw almond butter...


that other 1/4 of banana and a sprinkle of walnuts.

It almost tastes like banana bread!

Gym:
Combat! (No that's not my gym but that's exactly what we do)

Snack:
I get out of the gym at a weird time and I'm usually starving!  By the time I get home it's usually 10:45-11.  I really try to eat lunch with the kids at 12.  Most of the time I just wait until 12 to eat.  A lot of times I'll grab a really small snack.

My favorite snack is just a single date cut down the side stuffed with almond butter.  It's like a treat!

Lunch:

Lunch is a hard one for me.  Gone are the veggie sandwiches and yogurt cups.  I really don't like salads so I usually have a bowl of random things for lunch.

Today was leftover beef mix (minus the egg) from the frittata I made the other day. Mixed with cauliflower rice.  Plus a few handfuls of spinach.


And iced green tea!

Cauliflower rice- 1 cup of grated cauliflower

+ 1/4c water microwaved uncovered for about 6 minutes. Stir halfway.

Cauliflower rice!

I didn't eat an afternoon snack and dinner was unpictured.

Let's see if I can get another post out tomorrow!

What's your favorite sweet treat?

A Typical Day

First of all holy pancakes! All I've seen today are paleo pancakes. I guess that bag of almond flour in my cupboard will get some use... Finally.

I've been snapping pictures with my phone of things I've been eating for awhile now. As I was snapping today I decided to go ahead and do a food journal entry. I can't let all those pictures go to waste! So here's what a typical day of 90/10 paleo looks like.

Breakfast:

Southwestern Frittata from Everyday Paleo.  This recipe is amazing.  It reheats really well so I just keep it in the fridge for an easy breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Paired with fruit for breakfast and veggies for lunch or dinner.  Strawberries this morning!

Gym:

Today I worked out with my personal trainer.  We did lawnmower rows (45lbs-10reps-3x with 30sec rest between sets), decline chest press (30lbs-10reps-3x with 30 sec rest between sets), and assisted pull ups and tricep dips (I can't remember the weights on these!).  Plus 30 minutes on the arc trainer.  It's amazing what videos you can find on the internet!

Snack:

Nuts!  I think there were pecans, cashew, walnuts, and almonds in there.

Not very many.  Probably a closed handful.

While taking the pictures my little one saw me and wanted them.  My kiddos love mixed nuts so I ended up making 3 of those little cups.

Lunch:

There's where my 90/10 came in.  Lunch was eaten out at Atlanta Bread Co.  I had the balsamic bleu salad which was greens, onion, tomato, apples, chicken, walnuts, dried cranberries, blue cheese, and balsamic dressing.  I'd say 90% of that was paleo.  Not the best but not too bad!

We don't eat out nearly as much as we used to so I'm just happy to do what I can when we do eat out.  

Snack:

Atlanta Bread is right next to a Starbucks.  I used to get soy vanilla lattes all the time.  I switched to dark roast coffee with cream.  Plus an occasional pumpkin spice latte.  This time it was just coffee and cream.

Dinner:

Since going paleo I've been trying to find things that all 4 of us can eat to some extent.  I wanted to be able to make some minor changes to our normal meals to accommodate the paleo diet.

I stopped by Williams and Sonoma the other day and grabbed this little guy, a julienne peeler.

Amazingly, it was only $8.  It was well worth it!

Zucchini noodles!  I just put them in the microwaveable bowl with some plastic wrap over it.  Nuked for 2 minutes.

I just used our basic meatball recipe with some organic bertolli marinara sauce.  I have yet to make spaghetti and meatballs totally paleo.  Soon enough!

Another Change of Pace: PALEO

Every time I heard about the paleo diet I couldn't say enough negative things about it. No dairy?! Where do you get calcium from? No grains?! I'd have no energy! High in animal protein and fat?! Animal protein is bad for you right? People think they know everything. I sure think I do! I hate it when people argue with you about something they know nothing about. How hypocritical am I? In the past few weeks I've fallen in love with this way of eating. Of all people I thought I would struggle. I love good for you grains and I put cheese on everything. Honestly, I don't miss it at all. I think it helps that when I started my goal was 90/10. 90% of my meals would be paleo. That left the 10% for a little sprinkle of cheese and a bite of a cookie. I think my eating has really been 99% paleo. I don't miss grains or sugar and I haven't even had a craving for it. I've never had so much energy and I feel stronger during workouts. I'm trying new foods and different cooking techniques. I noticed in the first week that the fat is melting off of my body. I've never had any diet do all of those. I'm sure a paleo diet isn't for everyone. You kind of have to eat weird things and it's a little tricky eating out. It's worth it though for me seeing the results I've seen.

My husband is totally on board. His nickname on here should have totally been T-Rex. While I've dabbled in vegetarian and even vegan lifestyles he's always been a meat eater. The decision to drag your kids into something as restrictive as paleo isn't an easy one to make. I'm not a nutritionist or a doctor. I can experiment with my body and can decide if something doesn't feel right for me. My kids are sticking to whole healthy foods including dairy and grains.

I figured I'd give myself a little bit with the paleo lifestyle before I started blogging about it. I used to use this blog as a food journal. It soon became too overwhelming with recipes, feeling obligated to post something, and blog reading. I miss blogging. I miss the simple part of it so I think that's where I'll start again. Back to the simple food journal.

So what have I been eating?

It's really just been a few simple changes and a lot of things just thrown together.


(eggs, turkey burger, salsa, avocado, spices)

- I don't drink cow's milk but I switched my unsweetened almond milk to organic coconut milk (from a can).

- I switched pasta to zucchini noodles (with help from a julienne peeler) or spaghetti squash.

- I switched our flour to almond flour which I use mainly for breadcrumbs in meatloaf or meatballs.  I'm not really in to paleo baked goods.  I think it kind of defeats the purpose of eating paleo.

- I loaded up on grassfed beef when Whole Foods had their annual 4.99/lb sale.

-  We don't buy cheese, yogurt,

I eat lots of eggs, chicken, spinach, handfuls of nuts, sweet potatoes, coconut butter, and avocado.

(greens, carrots, turkey burger tacos, red pepper, and a balsamic/evoo dressing)

I haven't quite figured out if I want to do daily entries or not.  The thought of that already sounds overwhelming.  We will see!