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.