Truths: The Final Day

Well, here I am. Day 30.  I challenged myself to eat a ninety percent Paleo diet for a month, and I did it.

Truth: It wasn't even hard.  I can honestly say that I never felt deprived or like I was missing out on something.  Sure, I craved Qdoba once and was punished for it; and I over indulged on leftovers from the Super Bowl party and paid for that too; but, neither of  those where due to depravity, they were just me giving into a craving.

Truth: I am 100% shocked that, as of today, I lost 8.6 lbs. in one month without ever feeling hungry.  I am also very excited that I lost a healthy amount of weight in that time period. I know that I could safely still lose another 5 pounds or so, but I certainly am not going to actively try to. I am really happy with my weight as it is now. 

Truth: I have flabby skin. Losing that eight pounds has created flabby skin. By eating a clean diet, I am only doing 50% of what I should be doing to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  I also need to exercise regularly.  I could try to say that I don't exercise because I have three kids, I don't have the time, or I don't know what to do, but really I just don't like to.  I will never understand the people(my father) who literally cannot function for the rest of the day unless they workout in the morning.  That is one bug I am never catching.  I do enjoy running outside. I enjoy it a lot actually, but I enjoy it when it is the right conditions for running.  You know 60 degrees and sunny with a slight breeze. The reason I enjoy running so much is because I do it for me and me only. I don't time myself or watch my pace; I just go out there and enjoy being alone and choosing what songs I want to listen to without anyone arguing with me to change it.

Truth: I have no rhythm. This is not a surprise to 99% of you.  You have all seen me dance or prance or exercise before and cannot deny that I am a half Jewish, white girl whose got no moves.  My lack of rhythm is the only reason I have been putting off starting CrossFit classes for the last six months.  Well, that, and the fact that they are ridiculously expensive.  Almost all the Paleo blogs I follow mention CrossFit training as an integral part of their daily lives. It's hard to look at CrossFit success stories and not want to spend whatever it takes and look as stupid as possible, if it means looking like some of these women on the blogs with their rock hard abs and toned arms.  But, let's be real.  That will never be me because I am not that strong willed and will never be able to commit to working out as often as they do.  However, I am going to try a free Saturday class and see how I like it and how much I embarrass myself while participating.  If all goes well and I enjoy the class,  I will spend the money on the classes because I'm worth it. 

Truth: Today after shoveling I ate half of a chocolate chip cookie with my banana sundae. I figured I needed the carbs :)  I am going to cheat sometimes, but if this month has taught me anything, it's moderation is key.  I can have Qdoba every once in a while but probably without a vat of cheese on top of my nachos; I can eat cake but probably not half of a cake; I can even have a pop occasionally but not a Big Gulp.

Truth: Today's meals were super boring which is ridiculous considering it is the last day.  I should have made a Paleo feast, but Paul has class tonight so I never cook on Wednesdays.  I had a baked potato and fruit for lunch and a delicious but still boring salad for dinner with chicken, avocado, grapes, apple, cucumbers and green olives.  However, I was very excited about last night's dinner.  I ate so much food and was so full, but I could not fathom wasting any of it.

 My dinner last night: a grilled shrimp and Citrus salad, roasted broccoli, baked potato and some extra grilled shrimp with cocktail sauce. I could eat grilled shrimp everyday.

 Paul's dinner last night

Truth: I don't really enjoy blogging. I love being held accountable, and I love showing and telling all of you about my day. I hate the actually act of sitting at my computer and typing.  Most posts this month have taken me one to two hours to write and that is just time I don't have. One, I clean at night so I can be with the kids during the day. Two, after about an hour of cleaning, I sit on the ouch with Paul to watch TV or talk about our day without constant interruption from the kids.  Blogging took away from both of these night time rituals.  I know many of you asked if I would continue to blog after the 30 days and I am so touched that you want to hear from still, so I will continue to blog but not as often.  I will post when I have a really great Paleo meal or when the kids and I do something really fun or when Austin gets his ears pierced...just kidding.  I cannot commit to every night because that's practical.  Here is a pic of what the kids did today. Austin was to busy to be bothered for a picture.

They spent an hour outside with our neighbors trying to dig a tunnel through the snow to bring their sled through.

 

Truth: I cannot begin to thank all of you for your support throughout the last 30 days.  Knowing that so many of you were rooting for me made it so much easier to stick to the diet and cook.  I also am so grateful to all my friends who cooked Paleo friendly meals and snacks for me when we were together.  I know I already thanked all of you, but you all deserve another shout out for being so amazing! I also cannot believe how many of you were waiting for my posts each night or morning. That just blows my mind.  Thank you.  Thank you. Thank you. 

Truth: Tomorrow I am going to eat PIZZA.  Why??  Because FINALLY my mother is coming home!!!!!  It is tradition whether she is gone five days or five weeks that her and Dan order pizza the night they come home.  Clearly, we will be joining them since they haven't seen the kids in 41 days, but who's counting?  My plan is to bring a large, chuck full salad and to only have two to three pieces of pizza.  If nothing else, I should be able to keep to this plan because I remember how I felt after the super bowl leftover binge and do not want to feel that way again.

Truth: I am addicted to banana sundaes and may never need ice cream again. Seriously.  I even found several non dairy gelato recipes on my favorite Paleo blog that use bananas as the main ingredient. I have my eye on a chocolate hazelnut gelato recipe. I will be making it this weekend I'm sure. 

Truth: I'm all out of truths.  Thank you for a great 30 Days!!  I will probably post my final weight tomorrow and a synopsis of my reunion with mom and my face off with the pizza. 

XOXO

Three Days of food...Cheater, Cheater, Boeater

I am three days behind on the blog, and I apologize.  It was a very busy weekend. We spent Saturday getting ready for our Super Bowl party, and last night I was too exhausted to function let alone blog!  Today was another busy day; we went to gymnastics, school and dance. Here is a quick recap of my last three days of eating and activities.

 This is how I caught the two of them watching TV while Paul and I were cleaning on Saturday! Love!

Saturday was leftovers for lunch and for dinner we had pork chops on the grill with sweet potatoes and a salad.  It was snowing and 17 degrees outside, but I was determined to eat something grilled.  I had to sweep the snow off the top of the grill before turning it on. Luckily, we have it hooked up to the gas line in our house, so it turned on without any problems.  I snacked on fruit snacks and made myself a banana sundae which is my new favorite thing. 

Sunday:  We spent the day turning the garage into "the man cave." 

 

The house was divided into three distinct areas:

Zone 1: Basement.  This was the kids' domain.  They had their own food, the Wii, and a million toys down there.  The eight kids ,ages 2-6, played extremely well together the entire night.  The highlight for me was watching them bust out Just Dance 2014 and shake it to Daft Punk's "Get Lucky"  and Will.i.am and Justin Beiber's "That Power."  I tried to video, but the damn flip was out of juice!  I took pictures but they came out blurry.  They were breaking out some really fantastic moves.  Only four of them were technically playing the game, but all eight of them were dancing. 

Zone 2: Main floor:  This was the mother and baby unit.  There were five women total.  Three of us have babies under the age of one, and the other two are pregnant(one due next week and one due in May).  We had the TV on but honestly didn't watch much of anything.  We were excited when Bruno Mars came on, but of course this was when we had a security breach and were invaded by  zone one's inhabitants!  Therefore, making it very difficult to hear or see the half time show.  But, just like the rest of the game, the half time show was pretty boring so missing parts of it wasn't all that disappointing. 

They may have infiltrated our space, but the two of them were so stinking cute all night with their turtle talk and ninja moves that we didn't care!

Zone 3: Garage aka the man cave.  This is where the five guys set up shop. They had a 135 inch screen, couches, heaters, food and beer.  They were pretty happy.  The garage only got up to 44 degrees, but all of them seemed comfortable out there.  It was like they were in New Jersey! 

The game may have been a disappointment, but our food buffet certainly wasn't.  We had soooo much food!  We had mozzarella sticks, pizza bites, buffalo chicken bites, dilly bread, crab Rangoon, salsa and guacamole, taco dip, Mediterranean feta dip, fresh fruit, stinky pretzels, onion dip, cheese and crackers, basil pesto bruschetta, brownies, cake cookies, cookie pops, Costco cookies, decorated butter cookies and sugar cookie fruit pizza. OMG!!  It was sooo hard to stay good and follow Paleo, but with the exception of ONE crab Rangoon, I met all Paleo requirements. I spent the night eating fruit, carrots with guac, and paleo chocolate chip cookies.

Everyone left and forgot to bring their plates with food home with them.  This left us with a ton of leftovers which presented a problem.  I knew that I would not be able to resist all these goodies two days in a row. I wanted to throw everything away, so I wouldn't be tempted to eat any of it today but I couldn't bring myself to toss all that delicious looking food.  I should have.

Monday:  I don't know how, but the scale said exactly 120.0.  I did it! I met my goal.  I was pretty excited, so what did I do?  I completely and totally gorged myself on everything Melissa brought last night. She is the devil.  I ate 4 mini crab rangoons, 2 small pieces of fruit pizza, and one and a half cookie cake pops which are huge!  Surprisingly and unfortunately, I did not feel sick right away so I kept eating.  However, about three hours later I had about a 20 minute stint where I felt like I was going to vomit.  I can only assume this was due to my binge eating.  I can actually say that, though the food was really, really yummy, it was not worth it.  I am pretty mad that I celebrated by eating the very foods that I avoided to get to my goal.  I had eggs for dinner because I was so uncomfortable I couldn't imagine eating anything else.  I definitely learned a lesson in moderation today. 

 The adorable and mighty tasty chocolate chip cookie pops.

Unwrapped and ready to eat. Get in my Belly!

Back on track tomorrow with maybe only a small bite of fruit pizza if it's still around.  Laura sent me a recipe for Paleo granola bars that she says are amazing, so I am going to make them some time this week.  Tomorrow I will be stocking up on produce and meat in preparation for our next set of winter storms.  I do not want to have to go out in the snow.  I am hoping to prepare two really good Paleo meals these next two days in celebration of the completion of  30 days of almost 100% Paleo eating.
XOXO

Paleo Chocolate Chip cookies

I did it. I actually followed through on a promise.  I made the Paleo chocolate chip cookies I talked about making like five days ago.  Peyton was my little helper and also a little bossy.  She told me exactly where to put each cookie on the cooling rack, and if I put it somewhere other than where she said to, I got yelled at.  Other than baking the cookies and going to hockey, our day was pretty low key.  We played Belle's birthday party for two hours, read books, and played a little TMNT Wii.  We ended the day by watching two episodes of Chip and Dale's Recue Rangers on the big screen while munching on candy and popcorn. Obviously,  I only had a handful of popcorn and truthfully did not even want the candy.  The kids are finally asleep and we have a ton to do to get ready for Sunday; so I apologize, but this post is going to be pretty short. 

Breakfast:  Coffee. 1 cup. We overslept this morning and had like 8 minutes to get Austin ready and out the door in time for school.  Then I had to shower and get Peyton, Brayden and I ready to go to gymnastics 40 minutes later. So, I had no time to eat, but I promise I fed all of my kids!

Lunch: Leftover pulled pork with pickles and a pear. I know the pulled pork is three days old, but my future sister in law, who just so happens to be a nurse, told me that as long as I heat stuff up enough there is nothing to worry about. The heat kills any lingering bacteria.  I'm not sure if this is true or not, but there was no way I was throwing away that delicious pork. 

Dinner: Paul had the last of the pulled pork on a Kaiser bun with Colby jack cheese and pickles.  The kids had chicken fingers, Alexa tater tots and green beans.  I had a salad with baby romaine, craisins, green apples, blood orange, and clementine with balsamic vinegar that I mixed with Dijon.  We also had some Alexa fries.

Snacks: I had a few chocolate chips, one cookie and am planning on making a banana sundae in a few seconds.  The cookies were very easy to make and the directions were easy to follow, but I did make a few changes to the recipe.  The reviews said that the cookies were too salty when following the original recipe. After reading the reviews, the author did cut the salt down to 1/2teaspoon, but I was still skeptical so I did 1/4 teaspoon instead. I also did 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup melted coconut oil instead of all coconut oil.  The cookies were extremely sticky and difficult to roll towards the end of the batch, so I was worried about how they would turn out. However,  they were perfectly cooked after 13 minutes in the oven.  We let them cool for about three minutes before we grabbed one to try.  Austin couldn't get enough of them; he ate three.  Peyton ate one and a half; she is not really my sweet eater, but she did say she liked them.  Hot out of the oven, I thought they were great.  They were soft, a little chewy and chocolaty which is everything I look for in a fresh home baked cookie.  Don't get me wrong though, they could never be compared to a Nestle Tollhouse cookie, but they were certainly delicious given the limitations we face when sticking to a Paleo diet.  I have not tried a cookie yet now that they are cooled and put away, but Paul has.  He said they were like little sponges. He's not sure if that is a bad thing or not.  He just thinks the consistency is strange.  I'm going to take his word for it until tomorrow when I try one because tonight I want to have a sundae instead. Worse case scenario, I will just heat them up in the microwave if they end up tasting better warm.  Don't worry, they won't go to waste. 
http://www.crossfitcu.com/foodie-friday-best-paleo-chocolate-chip-cookies-yet/

 My taste testers

They look like they would be gritty and grainy but surprisingly they weren't.

 Their "we just ate yummy cookies" happy faces.

Their "someone tried to take our cookies" mad faces.

 

Tonight I will be spending my time planning my menu for the big game. I am hoping to include some foods I can eat, so I can feel like part of the party. I see a whole lot of guac and veggies in my future!  I think I might also try to find some decent fruit like some melons and pineapple. I am six days away from completing my 30 days of Paleo; I certainly don't want to blow it now!!! 

 

XOXO

Breakfast For Dinner

Today was pretty low key.  We had plans to meet Dianna and Maggie at McDonald's for lunch and some play time. Unfortunately, Lydia got sick last night, so Dianna couldn't make it. Boo.  But Maggie and I still went with the kids and spent two and a half hours gossiping and trying to keep my kids from watching Tom and Jerry on the TV in the play land. We suggested they act out Tom and Jerry instead by chasing each other through the tubes. This seemed like a good idea until Austin grabbed onto Owen and swung him into a wall. Yeah...lesson learned by us mommies. I think next time we will have them act out a less violent cartoon.

After leaving McDonald's, the kids and I went to Wal-Mart to get some Super Bowl supplies and then we headed home. Paul has Snowboard/Ski Club tonight, so I decided to do breakfast for dinner rather than cook.  And yet, again, time slipped away from us, and I didn't get a chance to make those damn cookies!!!!  I would make them now, but Peyton would kill me for doing it without her. She is my little sous chef complete with her own set of baking tools and bowls.  I am not even going to promise that I will make them tomorrow because I'm sure I won't have time. Tomorrow we have gymnastics, school, and hockey. Fridays are crazy at our house!

Overall, we had a really fun day, but a pretty boring day as far as eating goes!

Breakfast: Coffee. 2 cups. Nothing else.  I think I have suffered more than kids by Paul being back at school and not making breakfast for us :)

Lunch: Clearly, I was not eating at McDonald's. I don't even trust the chicken that comes on the salads. Plus, I am so spoiled with salads that I make at home that I knew I wouldn't even enjoy a salad from McDonald's.  I brought an apple, a pear and two clementines with me.  It was like a little fruit plate.  I also brought some pistachio bark to have as a treat when the kids were having ice cream.  I did not miss eating a cheeseburger, fries or nuggets AT ALL.  I wouldn't be sad if I never at McDonald's again. I'm pretty sure that there is literally nothing on the menu that would even come close to being Paleo friendly. 

Dinner:  Breakfast.  I rarely eat breakfast at breakfast, but I LOVE breakfast for dinner.  Tonight the kids had magic eggs with cheese, rye toast, and yogurt.  I made myself a mushroom and ham omelet that I topped with spreadable fruit. It was the best looking and tasting omelet I have ever made. I almost always break the omelet when I am trying to flip it and then have to turn it into a scramble instead.  Not today, today I flipped my omelet seamlessly.  I made a three egg omelet so it was all I needed to feel full. 

Snacks: Pistachio bark, a few chocolate chips, and I am going to make myself a banana sundae soon.

Confession: I had a small Dr.Pepper today at McDonald's.    So, So mad at myself.  Was it good? Yep. Does that make it worth it? No.  I am the worst promise keeper ever.

XOXO

Paleo Grocery Shopping 101

Here is  a breakdown of what I buy to stock my pantry and fridge when I start Paleo and where I find it all. I also gave an example of what I typically eat for meals.  The first thing you should do is browse Paleo friendly websites, blogs or cookbooks for some really good dinner recipes.  I typically try a new recipe 3-4 times a week for dinner.  Then I make sure to have leftovers for lunches or for the following night's dinner.  Remember, Paleo is an investment not only of your time, but of your pocket book as well.  Starting Paleo is expensive because you most likely need to clear out your pantry and fridge and start fresh with preservative free items. But, as I said before, it is an expense worth investing in because I promise you that you will feel a thousand times better after following Paleo strictly for a week.  If you are trying Paleo to lose weight, make sure that you take note of the limitations I listed on food quantities.  Also, a major cheat, like pizza, could completely destroy all the progress you've made and cause you to gain weight.  Cheat with a few extra chocolate chips or bake a Paleo friendly cake if you are feeling deprived or like you want to be "bad." My other advice is to avoid attempting to replicate something you love, like pizza, by using a Paleo recipe.  Paleo is wonderful, but a Paleo pizza will NEVER come close to tasting like a "real" pizza so do not set yourself up for failure or disappointment. 

So without further adieu here are all my lists:

Costco

• Stretch Island Fruit Chews(my Costco sells these, but I have heard they are hard to find. Jewel sells them too, but in smaller quantities.)
• Nitrate free bacon(it is cheapest here if you eat a lot of bacon. if you don't, Oscar Mayer makes nitrate free bacon that is sold in most grocery stores)
• Frozen fruit
• Unsalted Nuts(cashews, almonds)
• Dried fruits(cherries, craisins, pineapple)
• Cage Free Eggs
• Dole Banana Dippers

Produce Market(Caputos, Tony's, Cermak, Joespeh's)

• Boar's Head lunchmeat but the seasoned(Cajun, chipotle, etc) varieties are not nitrate free
• Good EVOO
• Good plain balsamic vinegar
• All fresh fruits and veggies

Grocery store

• Chicken Stock/broth(Imagine brand located in the organic/health food aisle)
• All meats(grass fed, cage free, free range, and/or organic are best)
• All beef Nitrate free hot dogs(Applegate Farms or Oscar Mayer)
• pickles
• whole grain mustard(Dietz and Watson)
• Coconut oil(spectrum brand)
• Plain, Vanilla or Chocolate Almond Milk(Blue Diamond or Silk Brand)
• grass fed butter(if you can't find it buy Challenge brand full fat butter)
• Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips
• Alexia simple recipe frozen fries(limit to a small portion once a week)
• Heinz Simply Ketchup
• Grade B Maple syrup(if you plan to bake or make pancakes)

Common Spices used in Paleo Cooking:

• cumin
• cayenne pepper
• Thyme
• rosemary
• onion powder
• Kosher or sea salt
• cinnamon
• ginger
• dill
• basil
• Fresh herbs are always best, but they go bad quickly. If you will not use the whole package of fresh herbs within 4-5 days then just use dried herbs instead.

My Weekly Menu Options:

Breakfast:

• Eggs with grass fed butter(scrambled, over easy, over medium)
• Omelet with veggies or ham or bacon or a combo of all three. NO CHEESE.
• bacon or nitrate free sausage(must contain only natural ingredients)
• Fruit(banana, apple, pear, orange,etc)
• Smoothie(1 cup frozen fruit, almond milk to desired thickness, 1 cup raw baby spinach, and a banana)
• Coffee

Lunch:

• Lunch meat rolls with toppers(avocado, lettuce, pickles, mustard, tomato, onion, etc)
• Citrus salad(craisins, green apples, oranges, cashews, avocado)
• Cobb salad(lunch meat, egg, avocado, veggies)
• House Salad(veggies, olives)
•  I add leftover steak, chicken, or shrimp from previous meals to any of the above salads for some extra protein.
• I make my own balsamic vinaigrette or use straight balsamic vinegar.  There are Paleo recipes for Caesar, Greek and Italian dressings as well.
• Apple with almond butter
• Leftovers from previous meals
• Tuna fish with a tab of mayo, relish, and egg wrapped in romaine leaves with a little spicy mustard(you can substitute the mayo for avocado to be 100% Paleo)
• Eggs and bacon
• Nitrate free hot dog or sausage(Gilberts or Aidell's Brand. Choose a flavor without cheese) boiled or grilled with Whole Grain Dijon and Simply Heinz ketchup
• Homemade guacamole with carrots, celery and jicama as dippers

Dinner:

• Any lean protein(chicken, fish, pork, lean cuts of beef) on the grill simply seasoned with salt and pepper or marinated in a Paleo friendly marinade.  Served with roasted or steamed veggies and 1/2 sweet potato with real butter and cinnamon. NO sugar.
• Any Paleo dinner recipes I find appealing
•  Taco salad with lean ground beef and homemade taco seasoning served on romaine with salsa, guacamole, olives and black beans.
• Roasted whole chicken(Greek, lemon, Garlic) with 1/2 russet baked potato
• Limit potatoes to 2 total per week for weight loss
• Mom's spaghetti sauce over roasted veggies or chicken. If you are feeling adventurous try spaghetti squash.  I personally do not care for it but know lots of people who love it!

Snacks/Sweets:

• Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Chips( no more than 10 a day)
• Stretch Island Fruit Snacks(1 package a day)
• Dried fruits and nuts(limit to 1/4 cup a day)
• Fresh fruit with organic heavy whipping cream(whipped of course and add vanilla for more sweetness)
• Natural popcorn(limit to once a week)
• Dole Banana Dippers(1 package a day)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Beverages:

• Coffee. No SUGAR. Should be black, but we all know how I follow that rule. Limit to 2-3 cups a day
• Tea(Iced or Hot) unlimited amount. Sweetened with honey or agave only
• WATER
• Sparkling water-Unlimited
• 100% fruit juice. Limit to 4oz a day to see weight loss. 
• Almond milk. Limit to 1-8oz glass a day to see weight loss

Baked Goods:

• Use Almond, Coconut or Arrowroot flour for baking. I use Bob's Red Mill brand
• Maple Syrup(Grade B is best, but Grade A is good too) and honey to replace sugar
• Coconut oil or real butter to replace Canola or Vegetable oil
• Only dark chocolate
• Limit baking to once every two weeks unless others will be helping you eat it!!!

Weekly Must Haves on My Grocery List: I buy these every week in addition to any ingredients needed for recipes.

• Romaine
• Spring Mix Lettuce
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Asparagus
• fresh green beans
• baby carrots
• celery
• Garlic
• yellow onion
• shallot
• sweet potatoes
• russet potatoes
• grape tomatoes
• avocados
• apples(Granny Smith and Fuji)
• pears
• clementines
• grapes
• grapefruit
• craisins
• Boar's Head lunchmeat
• pickles
• tuna fish(in water and white albacore)
• olives(ant variety)
• chicken(breasts, whole, thighs)
• 93/7 ground beef(organic)
• Beef(flank steak, filet mignon, or skirt steak)
• 100% juice
• Almond Milk
• eggs
• bacon
• fresh herbs

I really hope this helps some of you who are thinking about starting to follow a Paleo lifestyle.  I am certainly no expert, but I do feel like I have a handle on the do's and don'ts of eating on Paleo.  Keep in mind though, that I am following the 80/20 lifestyle which allows me to integrate potatoes, chocolate, baked goods and the occasional high fat, organic dairy into my diet in moderation.  If you want to do a cleanse you would have to eliminate far more from your daily diet.  I have done a full cleanse in the past and was successful, but I had a hard time maintaining that lifestyle.  I would like to create good habits that I know I can keep forever which is why I chose the 80/20 plan. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about any of these lists or products.  Tomorrow I will be baking those chocolate chip cookies. The day just got away from us today, but tomorrow we will have plenty of time to bake and cook!!  Today was just leftovers for all three meals. The pulled pork was Ah-mazing reheated!!  It was hard for me not to eat it for both lunch and dinner, but I refrained because I wanted some leftover so I can have it tomorrow too!

XOXO

A Day in Pictures

I am going to structure today's post a little differently by counting down to our top moment of the day...

The Fraser Family's Top 5 Moments of the Day

5. I ate a good breakfast again.  I had a magic egg with some Boar's Head ham that I tore into little pieces and half a slice of Boars Head Colby jack cheese on top with a side of spreadable fruit and two pieces of nitrate free bacon.  Daddy made the kids banana chocolate chip pancakes. They are going to be pretty disappointed tomorrow morning when daddy's gone and mommy is back in charge of breakfast. Cereal or a Fiber One bar it is!

The magic egg maker is from Harry and David but is sold on Amazon and is a miracle worker. It makes a perfect egg mcmuffin egg after 60 seconds in the microwave!  Then you just put the cheese on top, close the lid, and let the steam melt it.

4.  My iphone has not connected to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for three months. I've been to Verizon several times and they can never give me a solution that works, so today I made an appointment at the Genius Bar at the Woodfield Apple store.  They told me basically, "sucks to be you. You need to buy a new phone for $199."  NOT HAPPENING!!  They told me that it was nothing I did, but because it is outside of the warranty period, I have to pay for a new phone.  The first time I went to Verizon it was,coincidently, exactly six days after my warranty expired. So I was screwed from the beginning.  Long story short, no more talking in the car for me and no more connecting to Wi-Fi. We may have to up our 3G package since that is the only way I can access the internet on my phone even when I am in my own house! I was pretty mad when we left there, but then we went to the Disney Store for their daily activity and the kids earned a ton of FREE Monster's University pins which made them really happy.  Seeing them happy made me happy, so I quickly forgot about my asshole phone.

3. We did another mall scavenger hunt, but this time we looked for eight things since we were at a bigger mall.  I had to call in reinforcement to draw some of the pictures. You can see that Paul took the job very seriously.

I drew a few pictures too. I'm sure you can figure out which ones those are. 

 

The kids still really got into the hunt.  Austin found half of his list in the Nordstrom's children's department alone.  They redeemed their completed sheets for cinnamon sugar pretzels again. I offered Forever Yogurt instead, but they wanted pretzels. They choose the Pretzel Bitz at Wetzel's Pretzels and holy cow, they give you a massive amount. They each got their own because I had a B1G1 coupon, but they easily could have shared. I think each bag had 15 large pretzel bites.  We brought a full bag home. Luckily, the bag has reheating instructions on it, so they can have it as a treat tomorrow.

 

2. Dinner: Pulled Pork. I put it into the crockpot at 8:30 this morning after taking about five minutes to prepare it, and then forgot about it until 4:30.  The house smelled so good.  I almost didn't make the homemade barbecue sauce because we didn't get home from the mall until 4:15, but I had spent $5.99 on Chipotle powder, which was impossible to find, just for this recipe.

I looked everywhere, and this was literally the only chipotle powder I could find. I found it at Jewel for those of you who want to make this barbeque sauce. The Mexican Beef Skewers called for it too, but I hadn't found it yet when I made the skewers.

 

I did not have any cumin or shallots, so I omitted the cumin and minced about a sixth of a red onion to replace the shallots.  I did use the maple syrup even though the recipe said it was optional.  The sauce was put together in less than ten minutes and then simmered for 45 minutes on low heat.  While it was simmering I shredded the pork.

 All the fat from the cooked pork shoulder. It was very easy to separate. It probably took me 10 minutes to pull all the meat off

The pulled meat

 I put the pulled pork right into the sauce to blend it all together.

My dinner: Salad with romaine, apples and clementines with balsamic, pulled pork with pickles, and Simply Heinz ketchup and sea salt fries.

The best fries for you if you want to be bad!

 

We LOVED the pulled pork. It was so, so good and so,so easy.  I cannot wait until summer time, so I can make this for a BBQ. I am going to start researching Paleo coleslaws because coleslaw would have been awesome on top of this pulled pork. 

1. For the last few weeks, Peyton had been begging me to let her do something very cool. I kept telling her that I had to ask Daddy first.  Well, I kept forgetting to ask Paul.  So today, while we were at the mall, Peyton asked daddy in her, "you can't say no to your baby girl" voice, and Paul said yes.  SO.....(Scroll Down)

Peyton got her ears pierced!!!!!!!  She picked out 14K Gold pink studded earrings! 

 

We went to Claire's where we ran into my cousin Jillian whom Peyton loves. Jillian told Peyton that she got her ears pierced when she was four and Peyton said, " Good. Because I'm four too."  I asked for them to pierce both ears at the same time afraid that if they did one at a time, Peyton may chicken out and not do the second ear.  They cleaned her ears, marked the spots with a pen and then told her they were just measuring and brought the guns to her ears. We thought they were just measuring too, so Paul did not have the video on and then BAM... ears pierced.  Peyton did not even flinch, she did not say ouch or make any noise at all, her eyes didn't water; she just jumped off the stool and looked in the mirror. It was CRAZY!  Five hours later and she still hasn't said a word about them bothering her. I am so proud of my "tough as nails" big girl. 

When we got home, she wanted to do a photo shoot to show off her new look.

 She cannot wait to show all her friends at school(sorry Sabrina. LOL)

 

She loves to give a crazy face.

 

So that was our Top 5 Moments of today!!!  We had a great day off of school. I'm pretty sad that everyone is going back tomorrow, but only three days left until the weekend!!

 

Many of you have been asking about what ingredients are needed to start Paleo, so tomorrow I will post the Must Have list for the first 30 days of Paleo.  We have a birthday party tomorrow, so I won't be cooking anyway.  I will just do a quick recap of my meals, but will focus on Paleo grocery shopping 101.  I'm so happy that so many of you want to give Paleo a shot and hope that I can make the transition a little easier for you by providing as much information as possible!

 

 XOXO

 

Picture Palooza

I took a lot of pictures of the food today because nothing else exciting was going on at home.  Paul and I spent all day at home with Brayden, but Austin and Peyton got to spend a couple of hours with Grandma and Grandpa Fraser at Dave and Buster's.  They were very bundled up and went straight into an already warmed up car, so the cold hardly affected them.  While they were gone, we cleaned the house a little bit and then decided to just relax. I read a People magazine, and Paul watched The Mummy Returns.  I'm not sure how many people know this, but Peyton's middle name is Evelyn because of Rachel Weisz' character Evie(short for Evelyn) in the movie.  Paul loves all the Mummy movies, so he immediately suggested Evie as the girl name when we found out what we were having.  I didn't like it as a first name but said that we would keep it on the list for middle names. To be honest, I have no room to talk; she is named Peyton because I watched One Tree Hill everyday during Austin's nap when I was pregnant with her .  I fell in love with the character named Peyton and thought the name was unique.  Once we decided on Peyton as her first name, Evelyn really sounded better then any of our other options for a middle name. So, thanks to Paul's love of the Mummy series and my addiction to One Tree Hill, we named her Peyton Evelyn which I actually think is beautiful.  Austin is named after crackers, so really it isn't all that strange for Peyton to be named after TV characters.

Speaking of crackers, let me tell you about my day of eating.

Breakfast: As promised, I ate a real breakfast this morning! Woo hoo!

Paul made the kids cinnamon sugar, vanilla French toast. They went nuts over it!

 Brayden just hung out on his mat  while we ate.

This is my breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with grass fed butter, a pear, and two pieces of nitrate free bacon.  Oh, and coffee with the forbidden cream.

 

Lunch:  The kids were out and Paul wasn't hungry, so I just made a salad with romaine, black olives, black beans, and the leftover garlic chicken from last night.   I used balsamic dressing.  Confession: we brought home the extra cheese from Qdoba the other day, and because I am glutton for punishment and I can't keep any promises to myself, I heated it up and had like six bite sized Tostitos with a drizzle of cheese on top.  I didn't feel sick, surprisingly, but I still stopped and threw the leftover cheese straight into the trash so I couldn't be tempted again to eat it. 

 

Dinner:  Brayden woke up at 4:30am to eat and when I left his room I remembered that the crockpot was set to turn off at 4:00am, so I went downstairs and reset it for another 10 hours. Then I stumbled back up to bed and, believe it or not, got to sleep until 7:50!!!  The kids slept in...all of them!  It was awesome!  Anyway, by doing that, the bone broth was ready by 2:30 today. When I strained it, I saw that it only yielded 2 cups of broth.  I was less than pleased since the tomato soup recipe called for four cups of broth.  I now realize that I should have measured out four cups of water into the crock pot to begin with, but ,in my defense, I did what the recipe said which was to fill it to just above the bones.  Twenty hours of cooking and I didn't even get what I needed.  I improvised and mixed the bone broth with two cups of canned chicken broth. Grrr.  The soup was extremely easy to make, but did take a little time due to the need to sauté and simmer all the ingredients.  http://www.primalpalate.com/recipe/creamy-tomato-soup/

 

 Before going into the Ninja

 Waiting to be blended

 Out of the blender and back on the stove to heat up

In my bowl. I had three ladles full.

 

Tomato soup verdict: I liked it but thought it could have been a little creamier. It still had a texture to it, and you could taste bits of onion.  It had great flavor though. I can only imagine how wonderful it would have tasted if I would have had enough bone broth. This is all I ate for dinner, and it completely filled me up. I do think some kind of homemade crouton would be fabulous in this soup. I may have to test out some Paleo bread recipes to use as croutons. The kids both had the soup and grilled cheese. Peyton didn't care for it, but Austin really liked it and kept saying, "Mmm. This is homemade.  It is so good.  It tastes homemade."  He must have told Paul it was homemade twenty times while we were at the table.  Paul does not like tomato soup at all, so he had the same salad I had for lunch. 

 

Snacks:  I decided to treat myself with carrot cake(Paleo version) today because the scale read 121.1 pounds today which means another 1.1 pounds lost!  However, I could have sworn the cake was made with almond flour, but no, it's coconut flour which I don't have in the house.  I ran to Jewel and out of all the Bob's Red Mill flours guess which one was totally gone? Yep, you guessed it, the coconut flour. Son of a Bitch. I came home and raided my cookbooks and none of them had any almond flour recipes that appealed to me, so I resorted to pistachio bark instead. Not at all what I wanted, but still really tasty.

I had to make my own double boiler by setting a stainless steel bowl on top of a pot of boiling water.

 After cooling in the freezer

Broken up and ready to eat

http://www.primalpalate.com/recipe/pistachio-bark/

 

I had one piece of bark today, a pack of fruit snacks and half a bag of all natural three ingredient popcorn.  Popcorn is a splurge.  Paleo doesn't really like corn because it is just a vegetable used to fatten people and animals up and has next to no nutritional value. But, even Robb Wolf, who is one of the fore fathers, of Paleo indulges in natural popcorn and corn tortillas every once in a while. The key is to stick to five ingredients or less. I also had one of my juice spritzers today using the sparkling water Paul made for me in our Soda Stream.  Making the sparkling water ourselves is going to be a HUGE money saver! 

 

 

Tomorrow I am going to make pulled pork in the crock pot and homemade barbecue sauce.  I'm pretty excited about it. I love barbecue!  Plus, it might make it feel like summer even though it will be -3 outside.  I may also try a Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe that a friend from West, who is also trying her hand at Paleo,  posted tonight.  I got so excited when I read the recipe because it calls for ALMOND flour!!!  Plus, she made them today and said they were great!  Overall, a great day of eating, but I think tomorrow will be even better.  Here are a few more pictures. They were taken yesterday morning while Peyton was still sleeping.

My two boys laid in bed together for 20 minutes and snuggled while watching cartoons

 

XOXO