Comfort Food at its Finest:Day2

Let it be known that my children did NOT eat cake for breakfast this morning.  They didn't ask for it and, though I want it gone, I could not justify offering it to them as an option.  Peyton had a waffle with peanut butter, and Austin had a fiber one bar.

Paul and the kids had no school again today, so we spent the morning in our pjs watching movies and playing games.  I looked through my menu for the week and decided to make pot roast tonight since it requires 4 hours of cooking time and a ton of chopping all of which would be a little difficult to do if I was running around all day with the kids. At 12:00 I sent Paul out for tomatoes because I thought for sure I had some in the pantry from the Dominick's 50% off sale, but I didn't.  Now, if the recipe called for peanut butter I would be covered. I bought four giant sized jars and ten small.  In my defense though, both my husband and my daughter would eat a single jar in one sitting if I let them.  So, off Paul went to the store.  I will talk about the cooking process later on in this post because it was kind of a pain. 

At about 1:30, we decided that our children were going bonkers and that we needed to get out of the house for the first time in three days.  I had been showering everyday but putting pajamas back on each time. I was ready to feel human again too.  Paul suggested Costco because if it were up to him we would spend his entire paycheck at Costco.  On what?  It doesn't matter. Today he got excited about a large throw rug, a set of 4 plastic bins, a coloring book, a wire shelving unit, a project desk that was as big as the kids' bedroom, and dark chocolate nut clusters. Guess which one we came home with?

Before I tell you about my day of eating, I wanted to touch upon one of my favorite parts about Paleo which is the complete and utter disregard for calories!!!  One of the only ways you will be successful on Paleo is to forget about calories.  I realize this is close to impossible for the majority of the  population, but really and truly you have to stop thinking in calories or weight watcher points.  This was incredibly hard for me the first time I tried Paleo.  I had been trained to eat an 1800 calorie a day diet and to count carbs, sugars, etc.  It was so freeing when I finally stopped worrying about the numbers and just started enjoying the food.  On Paleo you eat real butter, avocado, bacon; you cook with oil and you can have chocolate!!!  The key is to balance these foods with plenty of fruits and veggies and to watch portions.  You can have bacon for breakfast, but not a pound of bacon more like 2-3 pieces.  Eat all the guacamole you want as long as you eat it on a salad or with jicama or cucumbers. 

The downside to eating all these delicious but sometimes fattening foods is that if you cheat by eating carbs, dairy, excessive sugar you may actually gain weight.  I lost 14lbs last time I followed the Paleo cleanse and spent the entire time eating bacon and avocados; however, I never cheated.  My goal this time is to feel healthier not to lose weight which is why I am following a Paleo lifestyle rather than a hardcore cleanse.  With that said though, I do still hope to lose a few pounds.  I won't cheat with any of the major offenders(wheat, dairy, alcohol), but as you all know I will not be giving up my non-dairy creamer which makes me a cheater.  Ultimately, each person needs to follow whatever plan works best for him/her.  Even if you don't lose a ton of weight, I promise that you will feels 10 times healthier than you were before trying Paleo. 

Here's what was on the menu today:

Biggest accomplishment today:  I wasn't even tempted by the cake today. I still didn't throw it away, but I didn't want to eat it either.
 
Breakfast: Wasn't hungry but forced myself to eat a banana.  I also had two delicious cups of coffee.

Lunch: I had the exact same salad as yesterday, but I added about 6 oz of the leftover rosemary balsamic chicken from dinner last night.  The chicken was tastier cold. The rosemary flavor wasn't as potent. 

Dinner:  So, even though the pot roast wasn't a crock pot recipe it was a set it and forget it recipe.  However, like most crock pot recipes I come across it requires a shit load of prep work before entering into the crockpot/dutch oven. The amount of chopping that was required for this recipe was insane.  It took me close to 30 minutes. It should be stated that I am an idiot when it comes to chopping which may explain why it took me so long.  I never pick the right knife. The pieces never come out as small as I intend for them to be.  It is usually a disaster. Because I did not injure myself or Peyton, who was sitting at the counter "helping," I consider my experience in the kitchen a victory. So after doing all this chopping, you have to sear the massive piece of meat before adding it to the pot.  Ridiculous.  The entire meal was almost abandoned after I chopped all the ingredients and then read the part about it needing to go into a dutch oven which I do not own.  I decided that my Calpholon stock pot would have to work.  But then I talked to my mother, who is in sunny Nevada for a month, and she was worried that the handles may melt.  Shit.  Now what?  I then brought Paul into the kitchen, and he assured me that our handles were made out of metal. Thank God, I didn't just  cut all these f-ing vegetables for nothing.  So pretty much after that it was smooth sailing.  I followed the rest of the recipe except for the rosemary and thyme. I learned my lesson last night.  We do not like fresh herbs, and I wasn't about to ruin this meal after being in the kitchen for close to an hour preparing it. I did, however, throw in some basil because while on the phone with my mom she said that she used to put basil in her pot roast.  My mom is an awesome cook, so I trusted her.  Here a few pics of the before:

 

I did flip the meat over twice during the 4 hours of cooking.  I set the timer at 3 1/2 hours but then decided to let it go for another 30 minutes.  The house smelled awesome, so we didn't mind waiting a little longer.  While at Costco we bought the two pack of Reesers pre made mashed potatoes for $5.99, so that Paul could have mashed potatoes with his pot roast.  We had never tried them before but figured it was worth six bucks.  I tasted a small forkful when I was heating them up and was really impressed by how good they were.  I had a half of a smashed sweet potato with my pot roast instead.

Four hours later and it was finally time to take the roast out of the oven and serve it.  Upon searching for pieces of meat, that were so tender that they were falling apart in the pot, I stumbled upon all of this and nearly vomited:

After all that prep work, I found myself staring down at a bowl of what to me looked like someone's small intestine. GAG!!!!  I know that all this fat is what gave the roast and the stock such incredible flavor and made the meat so tender but it still grossed me out.  However, after going on a search and rescue mission for all of  this fat, we were left with melt in your mouth meat. 

                                  Paul's bowl with the Reesers mashed potatoes underneath. 

 

This pot roast was to die for. Paul and I loved it. Absolutely worth the time and effort I put into preparing it.  I will be making this again.  The kids were happy to have "steak" that was easy to chew, but Austin complained that the strings were getting stuck in his teeth.  They both ate their whole portion including all the veggies which were also tender as can be. 

 

Snacks: I had about 10 chocolate chips and one of these:

Yep, no project desk for Paul today. Instead we came home with these delicious Paleo friendly treats!!!  Bonus for me!  $9.95 for the bag. 

 

I am also getting ready to make myself a dark chocolate almond milk, frozen bing cherry, and banana smoothie for a treat while I watch Paul play Mario Kart.  I may throw some baby spinach in there too.  Thanks to my Ninja my smoothie will be ready to drink in like 30 seconds.  I am hoping to start drinking these for breakfast instead of coffee as a way of limiting my coffee mate consumption. 

 

I think tomorrow night I may try shrimp scampi.  I have never cooked shrimp before, so I am a little nervouso. I typically over cook all chicken and seafood in an attempt to kill all possible bacteria/diseases, so any tips would be appreciated. 

 

Until next time...

xoxo