Lunchbox #124

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Scrambled eggs
• A Bubbies dill pickle
• Slices of Kerrygold cheese
• Two Clementines
• A single square of 90% Lindt dark chocolate

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Lunchbox #123

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• A pepper and cheese omelet
• A green tomato
• Two Clementines
• Baked cubed potato, tossed in mustard and sour cream
• A single square of 90% Lindt dark chocolate

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Hanging On - First Week of Crossfit

Hanging in there.

I've started Crossfit!! At last. I'm approaching the hump of the first week after Sunday's rampup. I have never in my life - even in competitive high school and college sports - been as sore as I am this week. My glutes and hamstrings are on FIRE. My husband makes fun of how long it takes me to get up and down the stairs (and in all fairness, he's been making it up to me by taking on a lot of housework this week due to my semi-incapacitation). Have I mentioned how challenging it is to keep track of a boisterous still-nursing toddler while aching from head to toe?

Also? The actual workout of the day starts at 6 a.m., which means that I must arrive at 5:45 for warmups, else I face the penalty of 25 burpees. This means that I wake at 5:15 now to make that happen, and thus I'm trying to get myself to bed much earlier - around 9 p.m. So my evening free time has suddenly been shifted to the morning for the WOD, and I'm waiting hopefully for the day that I can climb the stairs normally again.

This week's lunchboxes and other thoughts will be posted this weekend. In the meantime you might catch nuggets from me about how things are going on Twitter.

Lunchbox #122

Today, my husband's lunch featured (left to right):

• A quarter roasted chicken
• Sliced local tomato
• Two Clementines
• A blueberry muffin (I used the Elana's Pantry gluten free coconut flour recipe, subbing coconut oil and maple syrup)

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Lunchbox #121

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Strips of leftover roasted chicken, with mustard for dipping
• A blueberry muffin (I used the Elana's Pantry gluten free coconut flour recipe, subbing coconut oil and maple syrup)
• Fresh slices of green peppers
• Two Clementines

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This Weekend, Throw Yourself a Primal / Paleo Gluten Free Grain Free Oktoberfest aka "Mocktoberfest"

Now that Oktoberfest has officially kicked off in Munich (as of last weekend, through October 3), might I suggest checking out my "Mocktoberfest" recipes for German potato salad and gluten free grain free Schnitzel? Cuddle those bad boys up next to some gluten free beer and you'll be in the mood for festivities in no time. :)

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Lunchbox #120

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Sliced liverwurst
• Sliced cheese
• A local pear (teeny, cute! hee hee)
• Fresh sliced green pepper

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Update on the Paleo / Primal Christmas Gift Baskets

I am getting irrationally excited. Slowly things are starting to come together for my paleo and primal gifts - and having my gift ideas - for stuff to make and stuff to buy - in the back of my head on Pinterest has definitely helped to organize me.

My inlaws and parents are two classic examples of gift recipients who already "have everything". That means I have fun dreaming up some paleo / primal and natural consumables for them.

Remember me saying that having ideas for what you want early on can help you to be aware of discounts that happen between now and Christmas? The half-price voucher for Abe's Market (still available in limited quantities as of today) caught my eye. Abe's sells 2-packs of PaleoKrunch and 2-packs of my all-time favorite lip balm - a ginger lemongrass lip balm made by Great Marsh Skincare. I was able to bundle some PaleoKrunch and some lip balms to get free shipping, and order them all at a deep discount.

I've also had some time to collect what I need - this week I went on a booze run and bought the potato vodka and bourbon - as well as the glass corked bottles at Michaels - so I could tackle the homemade vanilla. (A dear friend of mine had - thank you!! - sent a large pack of vanilla beans to me as a gift earlier this year...ahhh she knows me so well.)

So, this is what I've started to collect/make so far:

These are so pretty and simple to make!

• Homemade vanilla extract. AndreAnna has the tutorial - if you make it in the next couple of weeks or so, it will have enough time (8 weeks) to steep and be ready to use by Christmas! Don't worry yet about fancy labeling or ribbons - just get those vanilla beans and booze a'brewin' and you can worry about decorating later.
  
  
• PaleoKrunch, ordered on Abe's. A nice real food gift that anyone can appreciate.
  
  
• Ginger Lemongrass Lipbalms, ordered on Abe's. The half price voucher makes 2-packs of these $6. $3 for an all natural lip balm is a steal - and a would be a great Christmas gift alone, or combined with a bottle of homemade vanilla, for teachers, hairdressers, and others who support you and your family throughout the year. It would also make an inexpensive stocking stuffer!
  

What Christmas gifts have you started to make or collect for your loved ones?

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Lunchbox #119

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Leftover strips of steak with mustard for dipping
• Salad with fresh local tomato, organic green peppers, mozzarella, dressed with olive oil and kosher salt
• Bubbies pickle (no sugar or corn syrups in these pickles! wahoo)
• Chocolate yoghurt = whole milk organic yoghurt, cocoa powder, and a touch of maple syrup

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Lunchbox #118

Today, my husband's lunch featured (left to right):

• A huge amount of leftover steak
• A banana
• A salad of fresh local tomatoes, organic green peppers, and mozzarella, dressed with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper

Today, Half Price on Paleo Krunch at Abe's Market via Eversave Voucher

Eversave has a good deal today for Abe's Market, which is a natural goods online store. $25 buys you $50 worth of credit at Abe'sMarket. That makes a lot of natural and organic products half price if you keep your total close to $50!

You can get a good deal on PaleoKrunch this way - because Abe's sells PaleoKrunch in cereal (2 tubs/pack) and granola bar format. PaleoKrunch is a granola-type cereal, but without grains, refined sugar, or any industrial oils. In fact, the ingredients are as follows:

Almond meal, shredded coconut, raw sunflower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, almond slivers, coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract

Yum!! This looks like the perfect item to have on hand for when nostalgia for a bowl of cereal strikes, or for going camping/hiking, or pretty much anywhere you need a fast and grain-free sugar-free natural foods fix. Even better with the significant half-price discount!


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Have you tried PaleoKrunch? What other products on Abe's Market caught your eye?



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Lunchbox #117

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Leftover stir fry beef and squash (yellow and zucchini)
• Half an apple, carved with a little funny face (If you cut across the mouth until it's barely hanging on the bottom, you can flap his lip open and closed to make him talk!)
• Cheese cut in flower shapes (see more on the inexpensive cutters that made these here)
• Cubed cantaloupe

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Lunchbox #116 - How Does Your Garden Grow?

With liverwurst, and Kerrygold, and cucumbers all in a row!

A while back, in my DIY bento cheese moon and stars tutorial, reader Arual asked in a comment if cookie cutters might also work for the same idea. Reader Courtney in Oki also alluded to this.

I answered that yes, they definitely could, though I didn't have any of my own small enough to make stars for the boxes in my daughter's lunchbox.

But there was something else; I was laboring under the misconception that buying specialized bento art tools was an expensive proposition. Arual and Courtney had gotten my gears turning, and suddenly after a little browsing, I found some cute stainless steel bento mini cutters - 4 for around five bucks. Wow!

So here, you see the results of my first go with them:

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Some liverwurst (~ 2 slices' worth), Kerrygold cheese, and cucumber slices, all prettied up with the aid of some inexpensive stainless steel bento shape cutters (seen at right).
  
• Organic whole milk yogurt with frozen red raspberries and a few drops of whole leaf stevia concentrate
  
• A banana

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Lunchbox #115

Today, my preschooler's lunch featured (clockwise):

• Leftover chicken breast with a maple-mustard sauce
• A banana
• A mini-trail mix: few chunks of dark chocolate, tiny pieces of cinnamon maple flax cracker, and some pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• Baby carrots with a homemade dip (= sour cream + balsamic vinegar)

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