Delivering Moral Support Meals: Real Food for Really Intense Times

Folks in our lives need help. It just happens as a matter of course. Your friend just had a baby. Your family member just had major surgery and is recovering on the couch at home. An acquaintance you know through a group you've joined is going through a tough time.

Bring them a meal.

It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to be fancy. It doesn't even (gasp) have to be "perfect paleo".

Just bring them a meal! Make it mostly nourishing, make it today, bring it to them. Take one more thing off of their to-do list and make them dinner.

Here are some practical ideas for making them dinner:

• Ask in advance about allergies/dietary restrictions and the size of the crowd you're feeding. These are practical ways that you can make sure that the meal you prepare is appropriate to those consuming it.
  
  
• Bake and/or serve the items in disposable dishware. I get foil serving trays at Sam's Club for this purpose, and at about $0.30/each they really fill the gap. After baking something, all I have to do is pop a sheet of aluminum foil on top and it's ready to go. But though it's convenient for me - it's even more convenient for the recipient, who doesn't have to worry about washing or returning dishes to you.
  
  Avoid using plastic as a disposable option, unless you're using it to contain cold foods like hard boiled eggs, clementines, etc. that don't have an acidic sauce. (Acids in sauces and dressings can cause plastic to leach, especially if they're left in a plastic container for several hours.)
  
  
• Add any necessary instructions. Even a strip of masking tape on top of your pan of lasagna with: "30 minutes covered at 350F" can help later on when the family is figuring out how to reboot dinner.
  
  
• Serve it as fresh as possible. If your meal recipient is in your neck of the woods, making and serving foods the same day works for the best-possible taste. Most meals that were made a couple of days or more before might not be at their best.
  
  
• The slow cooker is your friend. I love slow-cooking meals I bring because it's the same amount of work to create a meal for my family and for the recipient family - I just double the quantities in my massive crock pot and divide once it's done cooking! You can also cook a large cut of meat with some veggies in the oven at low heat over the course of a day - this option being best left for cooler weather temps, of course. The doubling convenience works here as well - just double your ingredients and you've covered dinner for your family and theirs!
  
  
• Don't be afraid to stretch a nutritious meal budget-wise. Purists may disagree with me, but I don't think that there's anything wrong with bringing a family (especially one that you know isn't paleo / primal anyway) a side of white rice with their meat-and-veggie chili, or some organic corn tortillas along with their soft taco fixings. Also, when I deliver meals to others, conventionally sourced items often work just fine.
  
  There are three reasons why using budget-friendly meal stretchers can work for you if you're faced with a host of potential meal recipients:
  
  ~First, now is not the time that anyone would or should be convincing a worn-out family of the merits of going paleo.
  
  ~Secondly - most families receiving our meals already eat grains and conventionally sourced items on a regular basis; upping the sourcing standard for one meal isn't going to make any kind of practical impact.
  
  ~Thirdly - and this for me is the biggest factor - for the price of a single meal produced entirely out of organic pastured animal products and organic fruits and veggies - I could deliver three or four - or more! - meals that rely more on conventionally sourced products and maybe a bit of non-gluten grains added in. Ask me what I'd rather do in a given month with our extra resources: a) deliver to one large family a singularly perfectly-sourced meal, or b) deliver multiple homecooked often-conventionally-sourced non-industrial-oil-containing gluten-free meals to several families? In our current budget, we are fortunate and blessed to be able to chose option b) many months out of the year.
  
  
• Make them breakfast if they have their other meals being covered. Sometimes, breakfast isn't the most important meal of the day, it's the hardest to get off the ground, especially for a family with other concerns dominating. Bring a crustless quiche or two, maybe a bag of apples, a box of Larabars, or some fresh strawberries, or even a Chebe (taipioca-based gluten-free) batch of cinnamon rolls. A to-go box of coffee accessorized by a half-pint of half'n'half or (for the dairy-free) coconut milk creamer would have your recipients perking up in no time.
  
  
• Cover them with a freezer meal for "who knows when". You could make any of the following, and deliver it ready to be popped in their freezer (don't forget to label and add instructions!):
  
  ~ Eggplant lasagna. I cook up the slices in single-serve squares (about 3"x3"), and stack them 3 or 4 high layered with cheese and sauce (you could make it a meat sauce). This way, if the recipient needs only one serving, they can "break off" one serving of eggplant lasagna and warm it in the microwave without having to defrost/oven warm the whole thing.
  
  ~ Twice-baked potatoes. This make-and-freeze recipe from Joyful Abode lends itself well to a kitchen with a vacuum sealer.
  
  ~ Shepherd's pie, with either cauliflower faux mashed potatoes, mashed white potatoes, or mashed sweet potatoes. Mashed white potatoes are the most budget-friendly (even organic white potatoes are still fairly inexpensive) and the traditionally used item here.
  
  



Here, Primal Palate's Dark Chocolate Coconut Cake,
as made for my husband's birthday a while back.

• Add a sweet touch. It could be as simple as a bar of Green & Black's 85% dark chocolate to round out their meal, a drool-worthy fruit salad, or a batch of home-churned sorbet. Adding something dessert-y isn't always necessary, but I think that as the capstone to a warm, lovingly-prepared meal, a sweet finishing touch can help a frazzled family to feel a little more human again. Seek paleo and primal blogs with naturally, minimally sweetened recipes - by trying to keep refined sugars minimized or (better yet) out of the equation entirely, you'll ensure that you're not setting up your recipients for a sugar-crash.
  
  
• Offer other ways to help. As you deliver the meal, be sure to ask if there are other ways the family is needing help. Maybe an able-bodied adult could stop by one weekend afternoon and mow the lawn - or perhaps for their kids to come hang out at your place for a while one afternoon so that the grownups can rest. The meal delivery is multipurpose - you get to bring them needed food, but you also get to touch base and offer them some human contact.
  
  
• Make your delivery efficient. Though it's tempting to hang out and catch up for a spell, delivering your meal, offering to help in other ways, and letting them know with a hug that they are in your thoughts and/or prayers is probably the best way to go. A hungry family already worn thin by life's demands will be grateful for your quick visit, but even more grateful to then dig in to the meal you've prepared!
  
  

What tips and tricks do you have for delivering "Moral Support Meals"? Do you have any freezer-meal-friendly recipe links to share? Do tell! :o)

~

End of Summer Catchup

Caught my 20 month old red-handed - she climbed up on a chair in order to grab a little of the the Kerrygold in the middle of the kitchen table. Can't say that I blame her, though. :-p

Things are cooking up, as it were.

• Preschool's kickoff is coming up very soon - you saw the week's worth of day camp lunches I packed for my preschooler earlier this month, and that's a little sampling of the lunches that will be captured in the weeks and months to come.
  
  Related: Just for fun, I'm planning on branching out a little bento-art-wise bit by bit, so my practice efforts will probably show up in my preschooler's lunches.
  
  

• I've signed up for Crossfit, as I mentioned. My intro class is around the corner and I still almost pass out from nervousness at the prospect. I still haven't figured out - if I sign up for an early morning workout-of-the-day slot - how I'm going to sneak out of the house without waking my daughters.
  
  Related: I need to get back into my menu-planning groove. Even though it's a little taxing dreaming it all up in one go, having it "done" (and my grocery shopping "done") later in the week will make things a lot easier for me when I'm trying to adjust to the new schedule.
  
  Related: I need to get to bed earlier, because once the o'dark-thirty WODs begin, my 11 p.m. bedtimes aren't going to cut it anymore.
  
  
  
• I've signed up to manage my MOPS group's meal delivery for postpartum moms for this coming year. I had meals delivered to our house - several dinners' worth - both times I delivered my daughters and it. was. AWESOME. I loved having that backup so much that I am now a regular meal-bringer for postpartum moms, ergo volunteering to help get the meals delivered made sense.
  
  What does that have to do with paleo eating? I'm planning a series in the coming weeks on what to do on the delivery end and what to do on the receiving end of moral-support meals.
  
  

So, that's what's happening in my neck of the woods. What are you preparing for as the school year is gearing up?

Menu Plan

Yesterday morning: Sliced mango and leftover chicken,
whole milk on the side.

Wow, we made it through March! It was a very rainy March for us - and it's still rainy today, hence the playlist.

I was shocked at how much money we saved on groceries last month with my husband being the primary grocery shopper -- enough to have him involved in grocery shopping a lot more often from here on out.

Also? My preschooler is more or less geared now toward the idea of whole foods for breakfast; I can't remember the last time that she asked about breakfast cereal, and I consider that a milestone of some sort.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

Monday:

Leftover beef brisket soup, absolutely
loaded with leeks and mushrooms.

Breakfast - Hot tea for me, bananas and leftover chicken with mango for my girls
Lunch - Liverwurst, smoky autumn beef brisket soup using leftover beef roast
Dinner - Flank steaks on the grill - it's grillin' weather, baby, YEA! :)

Tuesday:
Breakfast - Hot tea for me, milk and fruit for my girls (I meant to get some protein in for them, too, but the morning got ahead of me!)
Lunch - Leftover beef brisket soup, Dubliner cheese
Dinner - Chebe Pizza!*

Wednesday:
Breakfast - Onion and cheese omelette
Lunch - Fasting for me, probably
Dinner - Chuck steaks under the broiler, baked Brussels sprouts with butter

Thursday:
Breakfast - Frozen blueberries, warmed with cinnamon, served with cottage cheese
Lunch - Lamb shoulder simmered in tamari and butter
Dinner - Salmon filets, coconut oil veggie stir fry

Friday:
Breakfast - Whole milk yoghurt with liquid whole leaf stevia and vanilla extract
Lunch - We're visiting with a friend and her daughter! She's providing the chicken for grillin', I'm supplying a loaded salad and maybe some Green & Black's as a special treat :)
Dinner - Bacon and eggs

Tonight's Chebe crust pizza, which I made using the
very simple and low-carb Victoria tomato basil sauce.
It is, quite simply, delicious.
I would be proud to serve it to company.

*Look away if you are dogmatic -- I saw Chebe Bread Pizza Crust Mix as somebody had mixed and baked it up on another paleo blog (it's tapioca flour based, very short ingredient list, came highly rated). Drumroll...this means that yes, our household will have the occasional pizza night! (I haven't been contacted by Chebe with any review requests; I discovered and bought Chebe of my own initiative, and am glad that I did!) I did some Googling, and discovered that Chebe also sells frozen pizza crusts with the same ingredients as the dry mix ... but unfortunately the wet ingredients added in the frozen crust include (ick! so bad for you) canola oil.

Definitely some leftovers going with my husband
and daughter in their lunches tomorrow.

But now that I know that the tapioca flour crust won't "die" while waiting in a freezer, I hold out some hope that I could make the dry mix (as I did tonight) fresh at home with Kerrygold, but then press it flat and and add some toppings, and finally freeze it for when unexpected dinner company drops in, or those nights when we arrive at home after some long trip with nothing in our fridge, or in case of nausea/illness/recovery when something simple and fast is needed. Hmmm, maybe that is a case where a vacuum sealing appliance comes in handy -- as it did for Joyful Abode when she cracked open some frozen vaccum sealed twice baked potato skins that she had made with her postpartum recovery time in mind.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Thanks for supporting Primal Kitchen at no additional cost to you! All opinions expressed here are honest and my own.

Celebrating Special Occasions While Sticking To Your Low-Carb Weight Loss Goals

Though special occasions are often reserved as perfect times to let loose and indulge a little, it would appear that I have a dilemma - a good kind of dilemma. Special occasions come too frequently!

Using a fairly loose definition, see how many special occasions fit into a year for our family:

• Celebrating local relatives' birthdays, including my own family's birthdays: 10 parties/year
  
• Celebrating the birthday parties of my daughters' friends, and local family friends: 10 parties/year (at least!)
  
• Celebrating New Year's, the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Eve/Christmas Day: 12 parties/year
  
• Anniversaries, Mother's Day, Father's Day: 6 get-togethers/year
  

I could go on and on tallying up the ways that we could celebrate, but guess what? The above alone adds up to 38 parties or get-togethers in a year. If I were to take each of these special events as license to exercise my 80/20 rule...well...I'd be doing so approximately 3 out of every month's 4 weeks throughout the year!

Here I want to emphasize that without a doubt it is a wonderful thing - an enormous blessing - to be able to rejoice in so many milestones and special occasions. The excuse to gather and celebrate with friends and family is priceless.

However...none of these celebrations come without lots. and. lots. of. FOOD. Deary me - the cakes, the cookies, the sweets! Of course many do also come with delicious primal / paleo-friendly party fare like steaks (grilled in the summer, yum!), nuts, veggie trays, and so on.

But here's the reality for me (and I'm betting for many of you!): My body reacts to sugar like a recreational drug user suddenly encountering another high. Simply put: I cannot eat such a significant amount of cake and ice cream (or pie, or crumble, or...well...you get the idea) on average three times per month. What's the big deal? some might rightly ask; It's such a small proportion of your overall food intake, and you can be disciplined the rest of the time.

Well, yes, and no. Objectively, it is a relatively small amount, having a carb spike once per week or so. But there are reverberations from that one sugary indulgence. For one, I personally cannot indulge in much of something so sweet and not immediately develop immense sugar cravings that will last for days afterward. Also, horking down a bunch of sugar can compromise my immune system for more than 24 hours. And, folks? I have a four-year-old in preschool, who also accompanies her one-year-old sister to the church nursery every Sunday. In other words, our household has regular and persistent pathogen exposure. I need every bit of immune strength I can muster, because if there's anything worse than a household of sick kids, it's a household with sick kids and a sick mom, amirite?

So here's how I tend to handle celebratory occasions:

• Skip it. Simple - enjoy other foods present (and if you're low-carbing, go for cheese, nuts, coffee with half & half, etc.), or fast altogether.
  
  
• Enjoy a very small amount. If you consider this an occasion worth the cheat, eat one or two bites, very slowly, and then back away from the cake. I probably personally wouldn't do this with a gluten-based cake (wouldn't want to risk the digestive reaction) unless social circumstances all but dictated it, but I did it this way at my daughter's 4th birthday party -- she had a gluten-free marshmallow cake that we had special-ordered.
  
  
• Offer to make or buy a treat to bring. You could dig into any of the myriad paleo / primal friendly dessert recipes on the blogosphere. Most of them may not be low-carb, but you know what the ingredients are and can indulge knowing that you won't suffer as huge of a blood sugar surge that a trans-fat-iced Costco cake would give you. Even better? Bring some very dark chocolate, or a bowl of fresh berries and some unsweetened (or stevia-sweetened) whipped cream - all delicious and fairly low-carb!
  

How do you deal with your frequent special occasions while keeping on track for your weight loss goals?

Charmed Inspiration

Nicely matches my itty bitty sample from Crisco..

I have met so many cool and colorful personalities in the online primal / paleo world. One such gal, whom I've mentioned before, is now in maintenance after 6 years spent dropping 111+ lb. - and she is a working mother, to boot!

She didn't do it all as a paleo eater - but she went paleo to drop the last few body fat percentage points, and now she is a ripped triathlete!

I am always so impressed by her dedication, her persistence, her sheer chutzpah.

She's given me a lot of advice (at my request!) about exercise and food journaling, which has been so helpful. One day on PaleoHacks she mentioned that she had a kettlebell necklace. I, of course, being obsessed with charm jewelry, added a comment to that thread asking where she found such a piece of jewelry. She had found them on Etsy for a steal - and had actually bought quite a few with friends in mind over the holidays.

Long story short, just a short time later, I was opening my mailbox to find a small envelope containing not one, but FOUR of these adorable teeny tiny pewter kettlebell charms, which are smaller - about the size of a pencil's eraser. I soon came to the conviction that I wouldn't wear any of them until I met some mini weight loss goals - which I then proceeded to set for myself.

Last week I hit the first minigoal - 1/4 of the way through my overarching goal! I was so stoked to put on my single bitty bell. It's a great reminder to me of this gal's surprising, touching gesture of support - and that if she did accomplished her truly huge (pun not really intended) feat, then my more modest feat can be tackled, too!

Staying Primal / Paleo with Healthy Eating During Church & Social Gatherings

I see primal / paleo-style eating as the best way to take care of the bodies that God gave me and my family; it's a matter of stewardship.

That said, it's not a huge leap to start wondering:

How do I keep to my primal / paleo-style eating goals within an active church and/or social life?

I've been what I'd describe as a fairly active churchgoer throughout my adult life, and the broad point is: in order to avoid blood-sugar-spiking grains and sugars, you plan. Here are some tips that dig a little deeper in this bit of advice on navigating church and social events that could otherwise derail your eating goals:

Teas, coffees, breakfast events: These are very common in American church life. Prayer breakfasts, men's sunrise breakfasts, pancake breakfasts, women's tea-and-testimonies, brunches, breakfast potlucks, and Sunday morning gatherings (like Sunday School/Adult Bible Fellowships) can be nutritional minefields. At best, you might find a relatively unadulterated fruit tray straight from the grocery store's produce section. But more typically, you'll find muffins, cookies (yes, cookies!), even cakes leftover from some prior event. Add to that pancakes, French toast, scones...sounding familiar? Get to the coffee/tea end of things, and what is on hand? Sugar, non-dairy creamer (which is full of hydrogenated oils, aka trans fats!), and (blech) Sweet'n'Low.

When you had a chance to plan ahead:

• Eat protein before you get there. Sure, you might find a sausage quiche or egg casserole at the event. But odds are good that it contains gluten via added bread or a crust. Save yourself the trouble by having a little quality protein before you leave. If it's an early event and you're pressed for time, plan the night before: make a batch of bacon so it's ready to grab and go, and you can even have a couple of pieces on the drive over. Other pre-event protein options are: a bowl of whole milk yoghurt or cottage cheese, pieces of cheese, or leftover meat from the night before.
  
• Bring reinforcements. A little bag of macadamia nuts. A Tanka bar. Whatever high fat and/or protein-heavy snack you need to nourish yourself! And if you're worried about others' reactions, don't. The truth is people are so preoccupied with their own meals/snacks that they are very unlikely to notice or ask about yours. And if they do? Shrug your shoulders and cop to having food sensitivities. You might get a few pitying looks, but the conversation is likely to move on from that subject pretty quickly.
  
• Bring your own coffee. Brew yourself some coffee at home in a travel mug or disposable coffee cup, add a hefty glug of heavy cream, and head to your event! You'll get a good dose of steady, filling energy.
  
  When you didn't get a chance to plan ahead:
  
  
• Eat condiments. Well, this sounds a little sillier than it is. But if you didn't plan ahead, and find yourself in a tight spot and feeling hungry and tempted, a few spoonfuls of the plain full fat cream cheese brought with the bagels, or the peanut butter set by the toast is way better than eating the bagels or toast themselves! (And yes, I know peanuts don't qualify as primal given their legume status, but they're still a whole lot nutritionally superior than sugar or grains for a person in a moment of weakness.)
  
• Fast. If you are used to primal / paleo-style eating, by now you might have had some success with fasting. Especially if it's an early-morning event, you might have luck with this. Say, "Hi!" to someone you haven't caught up with in a while when others are milling through the food selection. Or take your seat, and if grilled, just say that you sometimes don't get hungry until later in the morning.

Spaghetti Dinners/Bake Sales/Fundraisers: The carb train just keeps coming. And what are these events for? To raise money for very worthwhile causes. My advice? Just give the money, don't eat the food. You've helped them to raise funds and to skip the overhead of feeding you a whole load of cheap, insulin-spiking grains. Win-win!

Cookouts and pot lucks. From the first warm rays of spring through the start of the school year, cookouts and BBQ events abound. Here's how to handle them:

• Skip the buns. Bring a plastic fork if you have to, just don't eat the buns. Have your hot dog, brat, burger, whatever! Mustard is the safest condiment pick, blood-sugar-wise. Mayo is OK, but don't go nuts because of the omega-6-overloaded soy and/or canola oil that commercial mayo contains.
  
• Bring what you can eat. Some foil-wrapped salmon to set on a corner of the grill, a few premarinated chicken breasts, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Be sure to offer to do some time turning things at the grill yourself lest you saddle somebody else with the duty of cooking your dinner!
  
• Look for the veggie tray, then the chips and dip tray. There is almost always one of these around at a larger event. Stock up on those, especially the celery sticks that noone else eats, and then head over to the chips and dips. Skip the chips but load up on whatever dips you can judge as not containing gluten (queso, guacamole, salsa, etc.). Now dip with your veggies!
  
• Find the cheese and cold cuts. Even if you have to disassemble an unwitting catered Croissan'wich to get to the meat and cheese, you're doing yourself a favor! Chuck the carby outside and nosh on the fat-and-protein-filled insides. And there is no shame in taking just the cheese from the cheese and cracker tray.

How do YOU navigate these kinds of gatherings while staying true to your eating goals?

Primal / Paleo Oktoberfest / "Mocktoberfest" - Gluten-Free Schnitzel with German Potato Salad



Come to Mama.


At last, I tackled "Mocktoberfest". Being partly of German extraction - and having lived in Germany for a time, sometimes I just need a good Schnitzel. Schnitten is the German verb for to cut, so you can bread and fry cutlets of just about any meat. Popular choices are beef (especially veal), chicken, and pork. The problem? Breaded Schnitzeln are ... uh ... breaded. Hence my adaptation for those living primally who need to hearken back to the Mutterland every so often.

Today we cuddled ours up next to some German Potato Salad (recipe below) and some canned red Sauerkraut. (If you are looking for a homemade red Sauerkraut recipe, check out AndreAnna's crockpot red cabbage recipe - looks delish!)

German Potato Salad

Ingredients
3 lb. potatoes, peeled and diced into 1" cubes
1/2 cup mayonnaise (you can make your own if you're up for it)
1/2 c. crumbled bacon or bacon pieces
1/2 c. finely diced white onion (this is optional; I left it out today since my husband and his side of the family can't tolerate them)
1/2 c. melted butter (I used Kerrygold)
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
To a boiling pot of salted water, add the cubed potato. Boil for 15 minutes, then remove from heat and use a slotted spoon to spoon the potato cubes into a medium bowl. Whisk together remaining ingredients into a dressing, then pour over warm potato cubes. Allow potato salad to sit for about an hour so that flavors can meld before serving.

Chicken Schnitzel with Creamy White Wine Reduction

Ingredients:
6 chicken breasts, pounded very thin (1/2" or less)
Salt and pepper
1 cup sifted coconut flour
1 cup sifted coconut flour mixed with 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
4 eggs
4 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. nutmeg
4 tablespoons milk or cream
1 heaping teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 lb. Kerrygold butter

Directions:
Salt and pepper the chicken breasts, then dip in sifted coconut flour evenly to coat. Mix eggs, parsley, cheese, nutmeg, milk, and mustard thoroughly in a medium-sized bowl, then add 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper and 1/2 tsp. salt and mix again. In a large shallow bowl spread out the coconut flour/unsweetened coconut mix. Dip each floured chicken breast into the egg mix and then dip both sides to coat in the coconut flour/unsweetened coconut mix.

In a large pan, melt 4 tbsp. butter on medium heat. Add breaded chicken breasts to the pan, turning after 3 or 4 minutes. Continue turning breasts every few minutes until all sides are golden brown and chicken is cooked through. (In my case, this was side A 3 minutes, side B 3 minutes, side A 3 minutes, side B 3 minutes.) Keep adding butter to the pan a little at a time while cooking in order to prevent burning; the chicken breasts will soak up a lot of the butter while in the pan.

Creamy White Wine Reduction

After chicken breasts are all cooked, add 1/2 c. cream or milk to the pan, with 2 tbsp. butter and 2 tbsp. white wine of choice. Use a spatula to scrape brown leftover schnitzel bits off of the bottom of the pan and keep stirring to combine while sauce reduces. Once desired thickness is reached, drizzle over plated Schnitzel.



Optional but fun addition: gluten-free beer. :)



Menu Plan

We're spending the last half of the week with my folks at their rented beach house! Breakfasts and lunches are more informally arranged, so I'm planning primal meals for just my family for four then. Dinners will be planned with everyone in mind.

Monday
Breakfast - Warm blackberries, whipped cream
Lunch - Chicken leek soup, made with fresh leeks and spinach and frozen pieces of roasted chicken
Dinner - Fried eggs, mashed sweet potatoes, spinach salad

Tuesday
Breakfast - Warm banana pudding
Lunch - Omelets, stir-fried sesame ginger bok choy
Dinner - Company! Roasted chickens, romaine salad

Wednesday
Breakfast - Almond meal pancakes, fruit
Lunch - Leftover chicken on veggie-loaded salad (I will freeze whatever is left for future use after this)
Dinner - Prepared by my mom - Unknown

Thursday
Breakfast - Curried egg salad, fruit
Lunch - Shrimp scampi on greens (though with something other than olive oil since sauteeing or grilling at high heat)
Dinner - Cooking for my parents, my brother and his wife, and us: Eggplant lasagna with meat sauce (at everyone else's request), salad

Friday
Breakfast - Bacon and fried eggs
Lunch - Primal trail mix (macadamia nuts, walnuts, dried fruit)
Dinner - Prepared by my sister-in-law - lamb kebabs!

I am really lucky that I have a mom (on a low-fat low-calorie diet) and sister-in-law (also conscious of fat grams consumed) who are willing to humor me on our vacation by not planning to cook meals that revolve around carbs (spaghetti and garlic bread, anyone?). Meanwhile I will be making efforts to make my cooking more flexible - sometimes adding fat after the fact, etc. so that they can eat how they like, as well. It's a bit of a libertarian philosophy. ;)

Primal Day Out

Made a fun outing today to a state park! We got a bit of sun, definitely some playtime that is so often prescribed by Mark Sisson.

On the menu for me:

Grilled Nature's Promise chicken brats (no bun, bien sur)
Spinach/tomato/feta salad brought by friends
Watermelon
Trail mix (nuts and dried fruit)

Good eats, good times with friends. :)

Menu Ideas for NonPrimal Overnight Company

Mark Sisson once addressed a reader who wrote asking what to do with nonprimal family who would be visiting for an entire week. The gyst of the reader's question was how to plan menus, which is to say:

• All primal, all the time?
• Primal plus starchier nonpaleo supplemented items?

Sisson's take was that the reader should strive to make an appetizing menu as close to all-primal as possible - in this way no compromises, yet the guests would still feel satisfied without having to face a selection of more obscure grains and pseudocereals as sides. My additional thought would be that it might be important to offer a few carbs so as not to throw your guests into low-carb flu on their vacation! (I realize some people have no effects, but for the times I've done it, carb withdrawal has been...well...let's use the word uncharitable.)

With this in mind, I started daydreaming to develop what could look like a varied primal 5-day menu plan for nonprimal overnight guests. Note that this plan does not take into account any allergies that the nonprimal family may have. Note also that it is my fantasy plan in which I do not have a nursing, teething baby and a three-year-old to manage in the midst of hosting a week's worth of overnight company. :)

Day 1:
Breakfast - Fruit salad, plain organic whole milk yoghurt, honey available for drizzling
Lunch - Broiled salmon (~20 minutes in the oven or toaster oven), big-ass salads with veggies, macadamia nuts and macadamia oil dressing
Dinner - Roasted chickens, sweet potatoes, asparagus (The bonus is that you could prepare this whole meal in the oven!), berries and whipped cream

Day 2:
Breakfast - Old, Old World Waffles, via Son of Grok, with butter, whipped cream, and stovetop warmed blueberries to top
Lunch - Grilled steaks, fried plantains, leftover fruit salad, side salads
Dinner - Roast pork loin with sage, carrots, and onions in the crock pot (make double so that there's enough pork to shred for tomorrow's lunch), homemade dark chocolate almond butter cups for dessert

Day 3:
Breakfast - Fried eggs, bacon
Lunch - "Burrito Bol" style salads, with shredded leftover pork loin (seasoned spicy), whole organic sour cream, shredded rBGH-free cheese, diced tomatoes, guacamole, etc.
Dinner - Wedding soup with meatballs, wilted spinach, and sliced carmelized onions, fruit and nut crumble

Day 4:
Breakfast: Almond butter/banana smoothies (dairy cream or coconut milk optional), Bare Fruit organic Fuji apple chips with organic cream cheese + cinnamon
Lunch: A picnic! Scotch eggs, fresh apples and pears, veggie crudites (baby carrots, snow peas, etc.), aged hardened Gouda, wine of choice
Dinner: Grilled shrimp, grilled pineapple, stir-fry, almond macaroons

Day 5:
Breakfast: Quiche, whole milk, fresh fruit
Lunch: Caprese salad, marinated and broiled rosemary eggplant and mushrooms
Dinner: Butter chicken in a silky sauce, side salads, dark-chocolate-dipped strawberries

Any suggestions/links for other company-friendly primal recipes?

Preconceived Notions

I made my three-year-old daughter a little lunch recently: apple slices with some almond butter, baby carrots, a bit of cheese, some macadamia nuts.

Then I set about my lunch: a "big-ass" salad of leftover roasted chicken and fresh veggies. Grokette watched as I stacked my bowl high. Baby spinach, a vinaigrette, macadamia nuts, diced sugar snap peas, cut steamed asparagus, avocado, and the chicken pieces.

"Mommy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I have a salad?"

Lesson learned: I shouldn't have preconceived notions about what my daughter will or will not eat. Dumb as it is, I think on some subconscious level I was operating on a pretense that she wouldn't eat a salad in favor of what I had prepared.

But - I do think that it helps for her to believe that I'm getting something different, ergo better (the grass is greener theory). So from now on, I'll try to make her a minimeal to munch on while she watches my lunch come together, and share with her at her request.

Movie Theater Snacks

This week my girls and I met up with a dear friend and her 3-year-old son - both of whom we don't get to see entirely enough! We went to see a free showing of a kids' movie at a local theater. Of course, I immediately realized that this would involve sitting in a sea of candy, popcorn, sugary soda, etc. Not wanting to be a complete Scrooge and force my daughter so sit through all that munching with nothing of her own, I strategized in advance and came with a bag of trail mix in my diaper bag. (As if there was a remote possibility of movie theater concessions having Primal snacks!) In it was:

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Cacao Nibs
• Freeze-dried bananas (Brothers brand)
• Dried organic apples (Just Tomatos brand)
• Dried organic raspberries (Just Tomatos brand)

I know that Mark Sisson says to watch out for the sugar content of dried fruits, so this was truly what I'd consider to be a "special outing" snack. Besides, it was just too addictively good for me to make often. :)