The (Paleo) Eats

I thought I would share a few things we have been eating lately to give you an idea of what we are making while doing pseudo Paleo.

First up we have been using Coconut Oil instead of Olive Oil for cooking. Not for any particular reason, just that Paleo Diet encourages it. I actually bought this a long time ago when it was on sale and hadn’t opened it until this last week. No it doesn’t taste like Coconut, and yes it works about the same as Olive Oil. You can watch this video on Coconut Oil vs Olive Oil here. Supposedly its good for weight loss and metabolism.

Our Peony Bush bloomed too!

This is what we had yesterday for lunch, but once again I am reminded that I really think pork is pretty gross if it’s not HIGHLY seasoned or marinated. I had to not eat that meat, but I did eat all my Kale! The Kale is actually 3 different kinds from our garden that we picked yesterday and grilled up with onions.

This is a pretty typical dinner for work. On the left is Tuna made with non-fat mayo and dill relish. On the right is just raw veggies and a banana. I usually stagger them over my 10 hour shift.

This is today’s lunch. Its Chicken Sausage, kale, onions, and Peppers. sautéed on the stove. I add a little garlic and red pepper flakes. Its yummy and simple.

Today I feel worn out. I also feel like there is not enough time in the day to do household chores, wedding planning, working out, and socializing. Today we did manage to do a test run on our Boutonnieres, which turned out super cute! I’m excited to finish them this weekend, It’s important to finish little tasks a long the way because all those things add up.

Oh and we did do 3.5 miles this morning, so at least I’m managing to stay on top of that.

 

Yellow Squash and Black Bean Skillet

This had so much flavor I was shocked that I could make something this good and easy! We happened to have all the ingredients too, love that. It’s also a pretty cheap meal if your on a budget, and it makes tons! It also can be easily altered to be vegetarian or even vegan. And its Gluten Free, which isn’t something we focus on, but I know its important to a lot of people.

I got the recipe by searching my love of loves www.foodgawker.com for Yellow Squash. The recipe came from a blog that is dedicated to Gluten free recipes, and I only edited it a little bit. The recipe is here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 a large onion, chopped

1 Tbsp minced garlic

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1 tsp cumin

2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 can)

2 tomatoes, diced with juices saved (or 1 can)

1 large yellow squash, cut into 1/2″ chunks

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 Cup already ground Extra Lean Turkey (optional)

1 Box of Whole Grain Brown Rice Pilaf (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Saute onion in oil until tender, and then add garlic, jalapeno, and cumin and cook an additional minute. Stir in beans, tomatoes, squash, ground turkey and salt and pepper, cover with foil and let simmer until squash is very tender (about 20 min), stirring occasionally. Top with cheese. Meanwhile cook Rice Pilaf according to box directions. In a bowl put in rice and top with skillet mixture.   Serves 3-4.

NOTES:

I already had cooked the ground turkey a few days earlier so I just threw that in to use it up. I also had “Jalapeno Slices” from Sunflower Market Deli so I just used about a 1/3 of cup of those and diced them up. The Rice Pilaf was not in the original recipe, but I added it because we had a box on hand and it made it so there was enough for us to take some for lunch tomorrow.

Super easy and yummy. I will make this again for sure. Next up I have some recipes saved that I want to share with you. I feel lots of cooking will be done in the next few months! Yay!

Review: Ezekiel Bread

I’d like to repeat again, that change does not happen over night, and that health is a lifelong process. I am by no means a perfect eater, and I hope no one ever thinks I am. I’m not. I also have a few items I have yet to turn over to the Healthy Food Gods. One of these things was bread.  I have been using (for the last year) Sara Lee 45 Calorie Delightful Wheat Bread this is leftover from my Weight Watchers days where this bread rolled in at a mere 1 point for two slices! It’s hard to get better than that. Also its SUPER soft, which I love in a bread. I felt pretty bad about it, I means it’s a great bread, but it contains a few to many “un-clean” ingredients. Way more than 10 (they say you should avoid eating foods that have more than 10 ingredients, and any ingredients you can’t pronounce) so it had to go.

We were at Sunflower Market last week and found Ezekiel Bread. At first I was confused by the Holy Scripture, but then read this:

Inspired by the Holy Scripture verse Ezekiel 4:9., “Take also unto thee Wheat, and Barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and Spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of it…”

We picked up the

Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain Flourless Bread

The ingredients are amazing too:

INGREDIENTS: Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat, Filtered Water, Organic Malted Barley, Organic Sprouted Whole Millet, Organic Sprouted Whole Barley, Organic Sprouted Whole Lentils, Organic Sprouted Whole Soybeans, Organic Sprouted Whole Spelt, Fresh Yeast, Sea Salt.

The nutritional information is even better than I thought it would be.

For one slice:

-80 Calories

-0.5 grams of fat

-3 grams of fiber

-4 grams of protein.

Not bad for something that is 100% clean, and Vegan.

So of course all of that is good, but how about taste? I was a little nervous because it’s not a soft bread. It’s very dense and…hearty.  To start off with Mr. Gaunt made me a grilled cheese and turkey sandwich on our George Foreman. It was actually really good! I was surprised. I’ve tried other healthy breads before and have always found them too sweet. I don’t like sweet breads, I think they are gross. This bread isn’t sweet at all, perfect bread flavor. Obviously when grilled its crispy, so the soft thing doesn’t make much of a difference.

Next we tried a regular old cold turkey sandwich. At first I thought, yup too dense and hard, not gonna like it, but the more I at it, the more I loved it. It has a nice nutty flavor, and its so filling. I just felt like I was eating good healthy filling foods. Not to mention I have recently found a love for Grey Poupon, and that is delicious on it!

So overall I am VERY pleased with this bread. We will be sticking with it, and I will try more recipes with it: French Toast, Bread Crumbs, egg sandwiches, etc. If you have tried it, Id love to hear your opinions too.

Chips with Protein!

Umm I love chips. Did you know this? I love the salt and the crisp, all of it…yumm! I do however avoid them for the most part, because I will eat the whole bag….snack size or larger. So I’m always on the look out for a good chip that wont screw up the scale.

We were at Mr. Gaunt’s mom’s house tonight and she gave me half a bag of these Newman’s Own Organic Soy Crisps, and they are so good I had to share them with you! First of all they are soy, which is better than rice as far as I’m concerned. They kinda taste like a thin rice cake only better. The flavor she gave me is BBQ, so I don’t know about the other flavors but these are delish!

Now as far as nutrition goes these ROCK! The bag has 3.5 servings in it with SEVEN grams of protein per serving and only 110 calories! Hello! They also have 3.5 g of fat and 3 grams of fiber. In WW speak they are 2 points per serving. They are also GLUTEN FREE  and ORGANIC!

She got them at Sprouts, but I’m sure you could find them at Whole Foods or any other organic grocer. I’m definitely going to try other flavors (white cheddar anyone?)!