Orange Chicken

The kids don't help me plan meals and then won't eat what I make.  Finally, something they like!

Totally ripped off from Health Bent, thanks Brandon & Megan.  I think you'll like their Paleo Orange Chicken, too.

photo cred: Health Bent

Ingredients:

• 1lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I use Rosie organic, free range), cut into bite size pieces
• 3T coconut oil
• juice of 2 oranges - taste them, if they aren't sweet & orangey, neither will your final dish, trust me
• zest from 1 orange
• 1 t fresh ginger
• 3T tamari (wheat-free soy sauce)
• 1t chili garlic sauce or sriracha
• 3 green onions, chopped

Directions:

1. In a saucepan add orange juice, zest, ginger, tamari, chili sauce.  Cook over medium heat until it boils.  Reduce to a simmer until thickened.
2. In a large skillet heat coconut oil and add chicken pieces.  Cook until chicken has a nice, brown crust.
3. Add chicken to sauce and stir to coat.
4. Serve topped with green onions.

Mac & Cheese

Who doesn't crave mac & cheese every now and then?  I do, at least once a month.  It's also still one of my kids' favorites.  So, I started thinking about how I can make my own and make it healthy and still delicious.  Voila!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb brown rice elbow pasta (or what ever shape)

Cheese Sauce:

• 2 C. raw cashews, soaked for 2-4 hours
• 1/4 C. melted Kerrygold butter, or ghee, or olive oil
• paprika, salt, garlic powder to taste
• pinch of cayenne
• 1/4 - 1/2 C water
• 2 blocks of raw cheese, grated (to make this dairy free you can substitute the cheese for nutritional yeast)

Directions:

1. Cook your pasta according to package directions.
2. While your pasta is cooking make sauce.
3. Drain cashews and add to food processor.
4. While the processor is on add butter and seasonings, blend until smooth.
5. Add enough water to make it a creamy liquid, kinda like cake batter.  It will thicken as it sits.
6. When pasta is done, drain and add back into pot.
7. Add sauce and 3/4 of cheese, stir until well blended.
8. Pour into a buttered casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
9. Bake at 350˚ for about 20 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly.

I had cooked, leftover broccoli so just before I drained the pasta I added the broccoli to the hot water to heat it up and drained it with the pasta.

This is good enough that I am putting it on my Christmas Eve and Christmas Day menus.

Eating Out

Ever have those days when you are worn out and don't want to cook?  Do you find yourself stressed about where you can take your family to eat healthy, fits-your-lifestyle food?

Me, too!  There are very few places we can go.  Our friends from PaleoPlan.com have put together WeWantPaleo.com, a website where you can ask restaurants to serve paleo food.

We're slowly starting to see more restaurants understanding and embracing that people care about what they put in their bodies. You can see this with the slow increase in gluten-free options available at more and more restaurants. While it's a good start, it's not that hard to offer even just a few Paleo options, since most of them already have fresh and whole foods; dairy, grains and legumes are easily left out.

I'd love to have the same confidence eating in a restaurant I have when Brad or I cook at home but without the effort and clean up. When we do go to restaurants I'm not good at ordering specifically: "please sauté my vegetables in butter rather than canola oil" or "please exchange my potatoes for veggies".  If only you could order straight off the menu and know it would be great!

Update:

Here are some good options we've found for eating out:

Chipotle: Food With Integrity
Wahoo's: Wild Caught Fish
Freebird: Food Story
Panera: Hidden Menu

Do you have a favorite restaurant that already has some great paleo meals?  If so, I'd love for you to share with us!

Eat This!

Before we stumbled upon Dave Asprey, The Bulletproof Executive, we complained a lot about not feeling well, being unhappy with our body weight, and (especially the kids) our tummies hurting.  Today, we don't hear that kind of complaining.  

These infographics are directly from Dave's blog, The Bulletproof Executive.  If you enter your email address, you get free access to his toolbox, including the diet, these infographics, and shopping lists.

We still eat like this because it makes sense to us and we've seen significant changes in our physical appearance and how we feel on the inside. 

We're still working through what the best things are for us to eat as individuals. Because we are all different, what works for you may not work for me.  For instance, I can't eat raw almonds, unless they are skinned.  So, even though it is in the green section of what to eat, I need to stay away. 

We're pretty serious about this.  This is our new food pyramid. It's working for our family. 

Now, it doesn't mean you won't see me at a graduation party eating tacos, rice, beans, and red vines.  Or that I won't enjoy a glass of wine.  Or that I won't have a slice or two of churro cheesecake at the birthday party and the next day at the potluck.  I'm not a saint and you shouldn't judge.

 

What it does mean is that for the most part, we make better eating choices today than we did a few months ago and we feel and look better for it. 

 

Come on, try it with us!  Let me know what you decide and how it changes your life. 

You Gotta Start Somewhere

Me, October 2011

The health of our families is important to all of us.  My family is learning to eat food for good health and striving for fresh, organic, whole foods.  What we're doing is working for us and I want to share our findings with you.

 

2012 started off with a cleanse.  We ate fruit, vegetables, and plant-based fats for a week then slowly over 3 more weeks added legumes, gluten-free grains, and seafood.  I thought it was a good, healthy move.  Then I chose to continue with no meat.  After 5 weeks I was so sick I couldn't even take my favorite yoga classes.  I was weak and tired and overall yucky.  Then there was my husband who at this point had started bulletproofing his diet.  He was losing weight and his body shape was changing.  Still my head said, "he's a heart attack waiting to happen and I'm making better healthy choices".  Clearly, I was wrong.

Me, end of May 2012

When I first joined Brad on his eating plan I needed to learn what my boundaries were so I could create nutritious after school snacks and healthy meals for dinner.  I was very overwhelmed with all the new information.  I was looking for something or someone to tell me what to eat.  I needed recipes and fresh ideas.  

I truly felt set free when I realized there was an outline on how to eat:  

• Bulletproof Coffee in the morning
• Healthy fats and proteins when I'm hungry
• Healthy fats, proteins, and organic veggies for dinner

I could work within these boundaries but there were still so many questions.  What about fruit?  What about brown rice?  What about nuts? What about... Aren't these things supposed to be good for you?  We've been trained all our lives to eat the food pyramid.  But I'm here to encourage you to set those notions aside and try something different.   

Dave Asprey's site, The Bulletproof Executive, offers 14 steps to eating more healthy.  Change is tough so start out doing what you can.  But as Dave says, "the more you do, the better it works.  However, you'll be healthier and stronger by making even the smallest changes."

1. Eliminate sugar including fruit juices and sports drinks that contain high fructose corn syrup, honey, and agave.

2. Replace the sugar calories with healthy fats such as grass-fed butter, ghee, and MCT or coconut oil.

3. Eliminate gluten including bread, cereal, and pasta.  Do not make the mistake of resorting to gluten free junk food, which can be almost as bad.

4. Remove grains, grain derived oils, and vegetable oils such as corn, soy, and canola.  Also remove unstable polyunsaturated oils such as walnut, flax, and peanut oil.

5. Eliminate all synthetic additives, colorings, and flavorings.  This includes aspartame, MSG, dyes, and artificial flavorings.

6. Eat significant amounts of pastured, grass-fed meat from big ruminant animals such as beef, lamb, and bison.  Pair this with low-mercury fish, eggs, and shellfish.

7. Eliminate legumes such as peanuts, beans, and lentils.  If you must have your beans, soak, sprout (or ferment), and cook them.

8. Remove all processed, homogenized, and pasteurized dairy.  High fat items can be pasteurized, but they should be grass-fed.  Full fat, raw, whole dairy from grass-fed cows is okay for most people.

9. Switch to grass-fed meat and wild caught seafood.  Eat pastured eggs and some pork, chickens, turkeys, and ducks.

10. Switch to organic fruits and vegetables.  This is more important for some plants than others.  You can check out the What's On My Food website for details about pesticides.

11. Cook your food gently, if at all.  Incorporate water into your cooking whenever possible and use low temperatures.  Do not fry or use a microwave.

12. Limit fruit consumption to 1-2 servings per day.  Favor low fructose containing fruits like berries and lemons over watermelon and apples.

13. Add spices and other flavorings.  Favor herb based spices such as thyme and rosemary over powders. Use high quality ones, recently opened.

14. Enjoy your food.