Real Food Essentials

When discussing how I feed my family, I hear people say all the time "I don't know how you do it", "Don't you miss (insert any form of processed carbohydrate here)?" and "I'd get so bored eating meat and vegatables".  Today I thought I'd share some real food essentials with you, some tricks to keep food exciting and some shortcuts to make this lifestyle a little easier for you.

First and foremost plan your meals for the week and take a couple of hours on the weekend to partially, if not fully prepare them.  I've written a post of this before, so check that out if you haven't already.  The more you get familiar with eating real food the easier it all becomes.  I will also say that I do not have a large kitchen, which means lack of space to store things, so I really like gadgets that are compact and/or are able to serve multiple purposes.  That being said, here's a few things I believe are great investments.

In the previously mentioned post, I wrote about using a crock pot.  If you need one check out this link: http://amzn.to/1U2yBZl  I use my crockpot all the time!  It runs almost half the week, no joke! You can throw almost anything in a crock pot as you run out the door in the morning.  Just don't forget to turn it on.  That makes for a crying, hangry momma upon returning home from work after a long day, not that I know from experience.  Here are some links for some recipes to try:

• Paleo Pulled Pork Sliders
• •My Natural Family also has a post with links to over 100 Paleo Crock Pot Recipes

Another gadget I recommend is a spiralizer- http://amzn.to/1S8Ibwi I frequently use this to replace any meal that involves noodles, such as pasta.  You can also use it to make ribbon fries or as a fun way to slice apples  Here are a couple of recipes that you may enjoy with your spiralizer. 

• Brittany Angell- Buffalo Chicken Pasta
• Joyful Healthy Eats -Zoodles with Meat Sauce

During the summer when lettuce is fresh from our garden, or from local farms, we enjoy lots of salads.  There is nothing worse that watery lettuce, so a salad spinner is a great tool to have handy.  One summer ours broke, so I bought the first one I found.  It was cheap and a total waste of a whopping $4!  Do yourself a favor, pay more than $4 for a salad spinner.  Here's a nice one from Amazon: http://amzn.to/1LUaw5H

Some other kitchen gadgets that I frequently use are:

• A masher for guacamole, mashing plantains, sweet potatoes or butternut squash: http://amzn.to/1ScKZsd 
• A food processor for making paleo mayonnaise, salad dressing, cauliflower rice, butter (if you dare to make your own), and shredding/slicing vegetables or fruit: http://amzn.to/1LUcAL7 
• A stand mixer.  I have a Kitchenaid and I love it.  I have a few of the attachments including the ice cream maker and slicer.  This is an investment, but I'd say I use it a few times per week.  http://amzn.to/1LQ3Gg3 

Another thing I recommend are some good cookbooks.  Here are a few of my favorites that include some simple meals.

• Paleo Kitchen by Juli Bauer and George Bryant http://amzn.to/1KufW75
• Paleo Takes 5 of Fewer by Cindy Sexton  http://amzn.to/1JqpgHu
• Meals Made Simple by Danielle Walker http://amzn.to/1KudNFE

Now that you're all overwhelmed with amazon links and have a million tabs open, go buy yourself something nice. 

I'd love to answer any questions in upcoming posts, so please leave me some comments.  Thanks, you real food lovin' peeps!


**Disclaimer- All Amazon links listed above are affiliate links. 

above all else, be prepared

If there is one thing I've learned about eating real food it's that you've gotta be prepared. Nothing worse than getting home from work, being hungry and not having anything ready to eat. Worse yet is not even having any meat thawed, which has been known to bring me to tears before-- no joke. Anyhow, I tend to cook on Sundays and/or Mondays depending on how much time I have available. Here are some of my tips:
1.) Plan-- this is first and foremost.  Take some time each week to plan a grocery list and buy everything you need for the week.  It's bad news when you get home after a long day and realize you don't have an ingredient or four that you need for your dinner that evening.

2.) Eat leftovers-- it makes life so much easier. My husband and I both take leftovers for lunch every work day. Sometimes I eat mine cold because I'm getting a little weird about microwaving, but I'll save that new found phobia for another post. 

3.) Use some common ingredients in all the meals you are cooking for the week-- this could be meat or veggies or both.  You can brown a couple pounds of ground beef and use one pound for meat sauce with spaghetti squash and season the other pound to make taco meat for salads.  Here's another thing I've learned, sweet potatoes are versatile and delicious with almost anything. They are a great source of nutrients and a healthy source of carbs. You can top them, chop them, bake them, fry them, roast them, spiralize them, I think you get the point by now.
4.) Stick to the basics-- I love consuming a paleo version of comfort food as much as you, but I tend to save those meals for special occasions or the weekend.  Meat and a serving or two of veggies with some healthy fat is definitely the way to go during the week. 
5.) Use your crockpot-- if you don't have one, buy one.  Enough said.
6.) Get over stereotyped meals-- breakfast doesn't have to be cereal, eggs, pancakes, etc.  I recently found out that I do not tolerate eggs, which pretty much turned my world upside down.  However, in the last 3 weeks my breakfasts have consisted of leftovers from dinner the night before, along with some broth and kraut.  Once you can let go of the what you feel like you should be eating at a given meal, it's actually easier.  Put some randomness together if it sounds good to you and eat it up.  I promise it will be good.
Last but certainly not least....
7.) Stock up on safe snacks-- this is vital!  If you're hungry and there are not any safe options for you, you're likely to stuff your face full of your kiddos popcorn or your husband's pretzels. I'm sure we've all been there before, or maybe that's just me.
So, there ya go!  Now go get prepared and eat well!


 

the grocery game....

I have often been asked what I buy and where I buy it.  I'll be honest, I'm not as good as I used to be about finding a good deal.  In my defense it's hard to find a deal on fresh, organic, real food.  There are probably 1-3 coupons (usually store coupons) for things I buy, as opposed to when I was a huge coupon clipper, buying all kinds of processed, GMO filled, chemical crap storms of food. 
Anyhow, here's where I buy what....most of the time.

Meat:  I have several local farmers that I get meat from or have gotten meat from in the past.  They are:

• Probst Family Farm - located in Bluffton, Ohio.  They are my go to for soy free chickens and eggs.  They also have other amazing products, so check them out!
• Luginbill Family Farm - located outside of Pandora, Ohio.  I have gotten beef and pork from them in the past.  They have a variety of pork products that I haven't been able to find other places.
• Yellowbird Foodshed - They are my go to for beef and pork (and produce, but we aren't talking about that right now).  Love, love, love what they are doing!!  Connecting amazing farmers with consumers who care about the food they eat with local and sustainably grown food! #whogrewyourfood
• When I buy fish, I usually buy it from Kroger.  We are not big fish eaters, mostly because somehow I often forget it exists, it's weird.  When we do eat fish we typically eat salmon.  I've experimented with other fish, but it usually is less than delicious.  Fish buying tip-- always buy wild caught fish.

Produce: 

• Yellowbird Foodshed - The CSA boxes this summer were amazing! 
• Grocery Store - I buy organic 98% of the time.  However if I can't find organic produce from the store I will utilize the dirty dozen list. 
• Farmers markets - unfortunately these are seasonal :(

Other groceries: (I apologize in advance for this portion-- no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't organize it, quite to my liking)

• Coconut milk or almond milk, can be a great dairy free replacement.  However, many of them contain additives that are not so hot!  Thickeners such as guar gum or xanthan gum can be bothersome for some people.  Other additives like carrageenan are inflammatory, so you may not be doing your body any good by using these dairy replacements.  When I'm looking for coconut milk for recipes I organic canned coconut milk (I like to buy this one which is BPA free- Natural Value ).  This milk in my opinion would not be good for just plain drinking.  The cream separates to the top and is a not smooth because it does not contain additives.  There are also lots of resources out there with recipes to make your own nut milk or coconut milk.  I personally have not done this, but if you want to try, you totally should!  I'd love to hear about it.  Maybe you'll inspire me!
• My kids love cliff kids fruit snacks, and I'll admit I eat about one a week as a treat.
• I also buy nuts, nut butter, plantain chips, dried fruit, organic applesauce, baking supplies (organic vanilla, nut flours, tapioca starch, coconut, etc.) from various places. If I can't find it locally I will check amazon, or I also order thru a co-op several times per year. 
• I love Trader Joe's and Whole Foods.  Unfortunately, or fortunately for my bank account, there aren't any within an hour and a half from me.  I do visit them when I am near, however it's easy to buy junk food at these stores too.  Sometimes you can get good deals on produce and meats here, and I almost always stock up on things like organic pickles, coconut milk (we use Trader Joe's Light Coconut Milk for coffee creamer), nuts and some organic frozen veggies to have on standby at home.    

I sure hope someone reads this.  Sadly it took me a long time to write this post....like 3 months!  Kidding-- I really just started it two days ago, but I've clearly had writers block for quite some time. 
My goal for 2015 is to blog regularly, so let me know what you'd like to read about.  I'll see what I can do! 

being a paleo parent

Ok, so a few weeks ago I sent my kids off to preschool.  I had originally requested C to stay gluten, dairy and nut free, but thought since her skin had cleared up we would try grains again, simply for ease.  Unfortunately within a week, the eczema (or some other autoimmune rash-- see below) was back, so now I am packing snacks for her each day.   She generally eats the fruits or vegetables that are part of the snack, and then whatever I pack her.  Here are some of the snacks I have been packing.

• Trader Joes Coconut Chips
• Organic Raisins
• Plantain chips (I tried homemade, needless to say Trader Joe's are better, but I'll keep working)
• Trail Mix with sunflower seeds, coconut, raisins, Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips, dried apricots, etc.
• Papaya Spears
• Dried Unsulfured Apricots
• Banana Bread (which I kept nut-free and added some chocolate chips)
• Coconut cookies (from the 21 Day Sugar Detox)
• Clif Kid ZFruit Rope (I used to buy Annie's, but they were just purchased by General Mills, so I will not buy anything of that brand anymore-- we vote with our $$ and I will not contribute to a company that sells GMO "food".)

Thankfully the school staff has been open and willing to work with me on all of this.  I know some schools don't allow food to be brought in unless it's prepackaged, but so far that has not been the case for us.

I'm not even sure that what is popping up from the grains is eczema.  It's more bumpy than rashy, and it really doesn't seem to bother her as far as itchiness.  What I do know is that it's dry and rough, and it's cleared up with the steroid ointment that we have for her eczema. I read a post from Paleo Mom, who had a form of psoriasis and followed the autoimmune protocol to help clear up her skin.  If you are interested in learning more, read her post.  The autoimmune protocol is very strict and I'm praying we don't have to go that far EVER!!
I've had a lot of people ask why I won't just use steroid ointments on C's eczema if it helps.  The answer for that is that these ointments have lots of adverse side effects that can be long lasting.  Read a brief overview here.  The crazy thing is that I already see some of these side effects on C, and she's 3, I can't imagine what continued use would bring.

Canning

Hello again!  That is if anyone is out there, reading what I have to say ;-)  I've been busy prepping produce for winter.  Do any of you can or freeze to save fresh produce for the snowy season?  I usually freeze shredded zucchini and can salsa and tomato sauce.  This year I also made pickles and am going to freeze beans. 
In making tomato sauce last night I discovered a simple recipe made better by a simple antique contraption called a food mill or maybe it's called a strainer.  I really don't know, it was Zach's grandma's and when she passed away, it was passed on to me.  Regardless of it's name, it's genius!! Here's some pictures of the tomato sauce I made yesterday.  A recipe similar to the one I used, can be found here.  After I put my tomatoes in the pans I added olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic.  I thought about adding some basil, but decided against it so that the sauce is more versatile when it's all done.  Anyhow check it out!



My crop, fresh from the garden!

All the tomatoes after they were in the oven for a little over an hour.  I halved them, and put them face down, then put some olive oil over them and sprinkled them with chopped garlic, salt and pepper.

This is the handy dandy contraption that cut so much work from this process.

Here's all the seeds and peels....that means they aren't in my tomato sauce and my hands didn't get burnt trying to peel the tomatoes like I have in the past ;)



Here's the finished sauce.  I let it cool in the stock pot and then funneled it into jars.  I am going to freeze each jar, so I left room at the top of the jar for the sauce to expand as it freezes.



The next post will be about flash freezing beans and I hope to have one soon about the progress with C's eczema-- I'll give you a hint....it's improving!!



a little update and an AC recipe

First of all, I want to apologize for taking two weeks off. I started this post last week and sort of forgot about it. I worked four days at school last week which is out of my routine.  I know I have a rough life, right?  Sigh!

First you'll have to read about C's eczema journey, then I have a recipe to share with you. Or I suppose if you don't want to read about diet and eczema, you can skip to the bottom for the recipe. We continue to have eczema flare ups although they are getting less severe each time. I recently started C on some milk thistle drops to cleanse her liver to see if that will allow us to make some progress that lasts. I guess I'd describe our current progress as two steps forward, one step back, so we are making progress, it just doesn't feel like it in day to day life.

Just to refresh, we are currently doing nut free Paleo with her. No gluten, no grains, no dairy, no nuts, no soy.  We also use quality foods and oils (organic, pastured, grassfed, etc) and keep household cleaners to a bare minimum. If anyone is interested in learning more about keeping your cleaners clean let me know, I'll put a post together.
 

Here is my recipe for meatloaf stuffed peppers:
(Note:  This makes 8-12 servings, so it's plenty to have for packed lunches)
 

4-6 bell peppers cut in half and seeded

1 lb pork sausage (pastured is preferable)

1 lb ground beef (grassfed is preferable)

1/4 cup of each: finely chopped green pepper, red pepper, onion

1 egg (preferably free range/ soy free)

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch (or 2) of sea salt

Ground black pepper as you wish

Preheat oven to 350. After you have cut and seeded peppers place them in a casserole dish. I used at 9x13 pan for 3 peppers and then a 9x9 for 2 more peppers. Put remaining ingredients in a bowl and stir it up. By stir I mean, take the rings off your fingers and mush it all together with your bare hands :) After meat mixture is mixed together well divide and place into halved peppers. Bake covered at 350 for 45 minutes or until meat mixture reaches 165 degrees.

I served the peppers with roasted cauliflower.  Which is pretty simple.  Just cut up a head of washed/rinsed cauliflower (I almost sliced mine so that I could get lots of flavor on each piece).  Place cauliflower on a foil lined baking sheet and brush refined coconut oil on the cauliflower and lightly sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, and garlic powder.  You could use any spices you want, I just carried my spices from my meatloaf over to my cauliflower.  Place it in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until it's done to your liking.

Here they are ready to eat!



we have another confirmed culprit!

After 3 days with one serving of dairy per day....this appeared. 

Both Legs, lit up with eczema behind her knees!

 

Ugh!  Poor girl!  Well at least we have some answers.  We will return to strict Paleo and get this cleared up before reintroducing whatever we decide to reintroduce next....probably grains again if I had to guess. 

Here's what I made for dinner tonight.  By far my favorite Paleo meal!  It's time consuming or I'd probably make it more often, but then it probably wouldn't be my favorite anymore because it wouldn't be anything special. 

chicken enchiladas made with a grain free tortilla and homemade enchilada sauce, cilantro lime caulirice, and guacamole salad

Yep, that's really all I've got tonight.  I'm tired and apparently lame.