Re-Starting on the Paleolithic Diet

After returning from a cruise where we were tempted with every kind of food under the sun (well, okay, don’t take that too literally), I decided to weigh myself to see what kind of damage had been done after a week of moderate restraint.

Arriving in the bathroom, I looked at the scale and scowled at it. Yes, I had eaten bread on the cruise although not a lot … Yes, I had had some desserts (one being a cheesecake that was simply too sweet for me to finish) … Yes, I had had hot chocolate … (You wouldn’t expect anything less from a chocoholic, would you?)

But it was time to weigh in. One thing I learned about weighing yourself is that you have to be as light as possible so empty the bowel and remove all clothing for a true weight. lol

Our scale is one where you have to touch it with your toe then wait for it to show “0.00” before getting on.

I know no one cares about my scale.  I’m just procrastinating in letting you know my weight gain, uh, loss?

Naw — I gained 2 pounds and  was quite pleased as that’s exactly what I thought I had gained.

Now we’re back on the Paleolithic Diet full time instead of part-time. Since I’ve already had day-by-day postings of a lot of  paleolithic meals I decided to post a few new recipes on one post that we’ve tried this week. (Hope that works for you all.) Breakfast and lunch continue to be quite simple since I tend to eat leftovers most of the time although we did have a new tuna salad recipe (see below).

Tuna Salad
Tuna Salad

This tuna salad was quite good and since my son made a lot of it, I had some for breakfast one morning and some for lunch twice. Regular mayonnaise was used in this salad although you could make a paleo mayo that is more friendly to this diet.

Next we had a really really really delicious soup. Don’t let the name “Mulligatawny Soup” deter you from trying this soup. Totally delicious!

Mulligatawny Soup
Mulligatawny Soup

The soup was served with an orange cranberry bread. It was “okay.” We need to work on tweaking it a little I believe. The crust was semi-burnt but the bread was quite moist.

Another day we had roasted chicken which was also delicious. It was served with mashed potatoes.

Chicken
Roasted Chicken

Oh … are you wondering about the mashed potatoes when we’re not eating potatoes on this diet? Doesn’t it look delicious?

Mashed Cauliflower
Truffled Cauliflower Mash

Actually, this recipe is called truffled cauliflower mash and it tasted very good. I’m not sure I would have noticed they weren’t potatoes except that it has a wee bit of a different taste to them. It doesn’t taste like cauliflower though.

And here’s what the actual dish looked like …

Roasted Chicken with Cauliflower Mash
Roasted Chicken with Cauliflower Mash

Can we all say yummmm???? (laughing)

I’ll be posting more pictures and recipes as time goes on although I think we’ll be making some of these recipes over again so there may not be as many new ones as I’ve previously posted.

The paleolithic diet is not about losing weight for me but about eating more healthy. Weight loss is a bonus.

Since I was a vegetarian for over 20 years, it does feel like I’m eating a lot of meat.  Once I start cooking on my own, I’ll try to incorporate more veggie type dinners.

Have a fun day!

 

 

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Return from A Sabbatical

Monday evening I returned from a very short sabbatical in which I went to New Orleans and took a cruise to Mexico, Belize and Honduras. It was very nice and relaxing.

The neighbor across the street told me that we picked the best week to go as it was very cold while we were gone. I might have to take issue with him as today was quite cold with the wind chill a -18° degrees. Tomorrow will not be much better with a high of 2 degrees. The north wind that comes from Canada makes all the difference in the world as to whether it will get extremely cold or just cold.

During my time away, I did fairly well trying to stay on the Paleolithic diet but there were times throughout the day when I simply wanted a piece of bread or — quite honestly — a hot chocolate.

I’ll be posting pictures soon of our escapades and also of the day we spent in New Orleans. Mardi Gras has not started yet but the Superbowl is this weekend so there were plenty of people out and about. We even attended a dog parade — of all things!

Tonight I just want to sit in front of the fireplace, watch TV and stay warm.

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 16

I had an early morning errand to run so I made a quick banana blueberry smoothie for breakfast today. I only managed to drink half of it because it was too cold (I like most of my drinks at room temperature).

Brrr … it was cold outside today. The north wind seemed unrelenting and it took my breath away. By the time I got home, I was really hungry. I scrounged around inside the refrigerator and found some leftover eggplant dippers that I devoured. Then I finished my morning smoothie (a little odd I know since it was now warm).

Dinner rolled around pretty quickly and it was absolutely scrumptious. We had chicken pumpkin curry sliders, thyme garlic pan grilled asparagus (with tomatoes) and thyme roasted sweet potatoes. One can’t go wrong when they have sweet potatoes thrown in with dinner — my favorite!

Paleolithic Dinner
Paleolithic Dinner

I’ve been getting used to drinking more herbal tea with a tad bit of honey added.

And let’s not forget to drink water! Lots of water!

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 15

Breakfast this morning was a cherry scone with slices of an orange and a tall glass of a banana and blueberry smoothie with coconut milk that I made in the blender. Delicious!

Breakfast
Breakfast

I used to have these smoothies for lunch in the summer but they taste just as good in the winter.

For lunch I had leftovers from previous days, i.e. red cabbage and chicken apple salad.

Paleo Lunch - Cabbage and Chicken Salad
Paleo Lunch – Cabbage and Chicken Apple Salad

Recently, I bought a large bag of the small clementine oranges and snack on those every now and again.

We decided to go out for dinner and did a search on the internet for restaurants that serve food that we could eat and found that Ruby Tuesday in Oak Park Heights has a gluten free menu. The same menu also lists entrees that are soy free, dairy free, etc. And they also have a salad bar. Woohoo!

The waitress was very informative and quite cheerful. She did not seem hesitant in speaking with us about what our options were.

For dinner, I decided to have a salad with the petite sirloin and sliced tomatoes that were in a balsamic vinaigrette. Everything was perfect.

Salad
Salad – Ruby Tuesday
Petite Sirloin with Sliced Tomatoes
Petite Sirloin with Sliced Tomatoes in a Balsamic Vinaigrette – Ruby Tuesday

Later in the evening, I had a few sweet potato chips that I found at Whole Foods– just because I wanted to. (hehe)

 

 

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 14

Here we are two weeks into this diet, trialled because our son – the cook, decided to offer to do all the work for us.  So far, I’ve lost 4.5 pounds and my blood pressure (which normally runs high) has become normal.

Today is an “easy” food day. I had leftovers from yesterday’s breakfast spanish style casserole.

I added an over easy egg and an avocado.

Spanish-style-breakfast-casserole with avocado
Spanish-style-breakfast-casserole with avocado

It was quite filling and the avocado was nice and ripe.

For lunch today, I had a fruit smoothie that I made in a blender. I used one very ripe banana, about a 1/3 cup of frozen strawberries that I had in the freezer, a handful of fresh blueberries and about a half cup of coconut milk.  After drinking that up, I had a handfull of unsalted sunflower seeds.

Dinner was spaghetti!!!!! I’m just teasing you. (she smiles)

Today was vegetarian day so we had zucchini spaghetti with fresh marinara sauce and eggplant dippers. I can’t say that this tasted anything like spaghetti but it was good and filling. That’s what really counts, eh?

Zucchini Spaghetti with Eggplant Dippers
Zucchini Spaghetti with Eggplant Dippers

Onward!

 

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 13

I woke up this morning and put the already-made spanish style casserole in the oven after cracking three eggs over it. I wasn’t sure I was going to like it because it had green peppers in it but I was mistaken. It tasted great!

Uncooked Spanish Style Casserole Paleo Breakfast
Uncooked Spanish Style Casserole Paleo Breakfast

After 20 or so minutes of cooking in a 450° oven it was ready for eating.  Yummm!

Spanish Style Casserole Paleo Breakfast
Spanish Style Casserole Paleo Breakfast

For lunch, I had leftover Jamaican Pepper Pot stew with a slice of bread (sorry I don’t have the recipe for this gluten free bread). These were very good leftovers.

Dinner included sauteed chicken with spinach, a Martha Stewart recipe.

Sauteed Chicken with Spinach
Sauteed Chicken with Spinach

This diet really can be very simple to follow although not having dairy (except for the eggs) makes it kind’ve tough for some people.

Interestingly enough, my blood pressure is normal. I’m guessing that part of the reason is that I don’t have hardly any sugar or salt in my diet. Yes?

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 12

Today was my turn to make pancakes. The recipe was one for pumpkin pancakes made with coconut flour. They came out a tad thick so I should have added a little more coconut milk to thin them out. Other than that, they were okay along with a slice of turkey bacon and fruit.

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes
Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes
Paleo Breakfast
Paleo Breakfast

Since I ate breakfast kind’ve late, I just had 3 tangerines for lunch along with some grape juice.

Dinner was delicious! We had zucchini fritters with tahini sauce and a green bean casserole. Quite delicious!

Zucchini Fritters - Paleo
Zucchini Fritters – Paleo

We’ll probably do “paleo” for the rest of this week and then we’ll be taking a week off before getting on it again.

So far, my blood pressure continues to stay low. Very interesting …

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 11

I can’t believe it’s been almost a week since I haven’t had any bread, pasta, rice, milk, sugar or cheese. It seems quite incredible to me. I’m not sure I would have had the inclination or desire to try this diet if it weren’t for my son.

So here we are on day eleven. Woohoo! I was supposed to make french toast with banana bread but when I awoke I had a desire for fried eggs so instead, I had banana bread (paleo-style) with 2 fried eggs and 2 slices of turkey bacon.

Paleo Banana Bread
Paleo Banana Bread

The banana bread was quite good and would have worked well as french toast.

For lunch, I had chicken salad that had apples in it. So sorry — no picture because (again) the recipe was made for my husband’s lunch during the week and I forgot to take one before I had a quick bowl.

Side note:  After having almost finished the bowl of chicken salad, I started experiencing wheezing. In the past, I get tingling in my mouth when I eat fresh fruit like apples (mainly because of the pesticides on it). I didn’t expect to have this reaction though as I had had a slice for breakfast that my husband gave me. I did have to use my asthma inhaler in order to get rid of the wheezing. (Even if I clean the apple really well or peel it, I still have this reaction with some apples.)

Dinner included onion burgers (served with no bread or bread crumbs), pico de gallo, guacamole sauce, garlic aioli sauce and caramelized onions.

Hamburger - Paleo
Hamburger – Paleo

Mmmmmmm …… very good and filling. The hamburger was too big though (but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get eaten). (she smiles)

 

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A Paleolithic Diet – Day 10

Scones — today was cherry scone day. They were made with almond flour and tasted really good. I had them with a glass of almond milk. That was it for breakfast (believe it or not).

Cranberry Scone
Dark Chocolate Cherry  Scone

For lunch, I had Mexican Spanish Rice. Well, no, not really as rice is not allowed on this diet. (she laughs)  This recipe was made with minced cauliflower to mimic rice. I don’t have a picture of this recipe because it was actually made for my husband’s lunch and there just happened to be leftovers in the refrigerator. I was surprised that it tasted pretty good.  Afterwards I had a bowl of fresh fruit.

Dinner included Jamaican Beef Pepper Pot (stew) which was really really really good, Spinach Bhagi (looked like a big wet blob of spinach but tasted good also) and Puerto Rican Tostones (fried green plantains).

Jamaican Beef Pepper Pot
Jamaican Beef Pepper Pot

My son made a sauce for the plantains — very simple: 1/4 cup virgen olive oil, minced garlic, salt and pepper, all mixed together.

On occasion, I’ll have a glass of mango (my favorite) smoothie with no added sugar or tea with a tad of honey.

Blood pressure is still low on this diet. Interesting …

 

 

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