Paleo Pancakes: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Posted on March 12, 2013 by chatty

Paleo Banana Pancakes

I’m still wrapping up some paleo posts here. Not every recipe was a slam sunk. For example. The web is chockful if Paleo dieters searching for the perfect pancake recipe. I was looking to make use of some almond flour and found a recipe using that, bananas and eggs for what looked like a pancake. However the texture was not so good. Even worse, the pancake leftovers didn’t star the test of time, all 4 hours.
So when life gives you mediocrity, make mediocre robot muffins!

Banana Robot Cupcakes

The kid enjoyed these. Only had enough to make two cupcakes/muffins. She ate the first one up, and would have eaten the second one the following night, had Max not interfered and snatched it when it fell to the floor. Poor muffin. Kid was retelling the story just yesterday, though this happened a month ago. Hard to forget the one that got away.

For the record, THESE are the best paleo banana pancakes.

Slow Cooker Diaries: Paleo Coconut Curry Chicken

Posted on March 11, 2013 by chatty

Coconut Curry Chicken

These pics have been in draft mode for a few weeks now. Just Just now reporting back. In my last post I mentioned I decided to end this Paleo Challenge with a bang. My last meal in this challenge was a slow cooker special. After a filling breakfast of Sweet Potato Hash and a lunch of salad, I did a slow cooker coconut curry chicken. I made rice for the family but did a cauliflower rice for myself. Kept the curry mild to keep the child happy. Filling and fun. A little watery. In a non-paleo world I would have thickened the sauce with some flour.

Sweet Potato Hash

Posted on March 11, 2013 by chatty

sweet potato hash

The Paleo challenge ended on a Sunday and while I was a terrible contestant I decided to go out with a bang. In the morning I slaved over the stove and made a big mess to vook up this this tasty Sweet Potato Hash. Yes you need to take the time to Cuisinart your tubers but can you imagine life before a Cuisinart? I can no longer remember who gifted us with this gadget, but thank you. From the bottom of my sweet potato heart, thank you.

The hash was simple. I scrambled the eggs since that’s my thing. I heart sweet potatoes. Sigh.

Recipe from nomnompaleo.

Chocolate Coconut Larabars

Posted on February 25, 2013 by chatty

The Paleo challenge is over, but i still have a few more posts that I need to post. Since ending the challenge (200 points behind the winner!) I’ve had no less than 3 doughnut halves; a mocha; peanut butter pretzels; pizza; countless Thin Mints and many more treats that I loved and missed.
A few foods I tried during the challenge tat I plan to keep in rotation:

Beets
Brussels sprouts (can hardly believe I’m saying that but they really grew on me)
Medjool dates

Regarding dates … you have to be specific, as the other ones just don’t taste as good. Medjools are sweet and sticky, and are amazing to use in bars and other sweets, though be careful. As with all dried fruits, just cause they are fruits they are not low in calories and actually dates have a lot of sugar in them.

That all said, I’m crazy about these copycat larabars. I made them twice. Super easy, requires no baking, use all natural ingredients with no added sugar. Dates rock.

these copycat larabars are made with 5 ingredients

This recipe comes courtesy of Mom’s Kitchen Handbook, via Pinterest (yes! I successfully created something I discovered on Pinterest!)

Oddly enough, while milk in my coffee continues to be a must, I’ve lost my taste for yogurt, cheese and other dairy. Will need to find additional ways to add calcium to the diet.

I’ve still got a few more ingredients in the pantry, so, cavemen and women … I will return. Just after I make a few more goodies.

Super Bowl Super Food – Slow cooker diaries

Posted on February 25, 2013 by chatty

shrimp and chicken jambalaya

I am a nervous nelly when it comes to watching my favorite teams play in big games. I fret. I groan. I yell. And I cheer, but sometime not too loud for fear of jinxing the next play. Husband hates this. So he didn’t watch the AFC championship game when my Pats were playing (pretty terribly). The Seahawks, too, when they were rockin’ the playoffs, but we did tune into the Super Bowl together. I was much more relaxed. Didn’t have much vested in the game, except to root against th 49ers. Division rivals! No way am I cheering for that team!

Enjoyed a cheat meal for Super Bowl. Paying homage to the New Orleans locale I made slow cooker shrimp & chicken jambalaya. The rice was not fully cooked at kick off, though the shrimp was just right. Of course, it being a slow cooker, by halftime the rice was just right, and the shrimp a bit overdone. Was pretty much full by then anyway. Next time I’ll either cook the rice separate, time the brown rice better, or go with traditional white rice.

Next time, Seahawks!

Paleo, Schmaleo

Posted on February 2, 2013 by chatty

So, let me take a second to explain to you this no-grains thing. I’ve elected to do the “Paleo/Lifestyle” Challenge that is taking place at my Crossfit gym. Trying it for one month. Unfortunately the challenge kicked off when I was in Chicago for work (and New York), and not to mention Kiddo’s birthday. For a quick review of what the Paleo Diet (aka Caveman Diet) is, I refer you to this handy infographic courtesy of Greatist.com and Pinteresters everywhere.

Anyway, day one of the challenge I was sitting in the Chicago office with some fellow travellers and on a whim, I announced we’d be having lunch at the Billy Goat Tavern. The one made famous from an old SNL skit with John Belushi. C’mon. I’m never in Chicago and here I am blocks from the place (ok, an $8 cab ride but still, we did walk back so it’s pretty close). I won’t go into the details of the Billy Goat, but just know that if you’re trying to stay Paleo, it’s not the ideal place to go (“Um, can I have just the burger, no bun” isn’t going to cut it here).

No Pepsi, COKE!

Dinners that week include pasta with friends, seafood (and beer) with more friends, noodles with co-workers, more beer, and a little ice cream with brother. So, in all, not a great first week to be doing this. So, there was that.

Whatev. I came home from this business trip on a Friday, and on Saturday was the little one’s fourth birthday. FOUR. I can’t very well call her the toddler anymore.

The last three years we have made cupcakes, so of course cupcakes were in order. I found a paleo cupcake recipe and decided to go all in. Coconut flour, cocoa powder, honey were the main ingrediets, and they turned out surprisingly delicious.

Robot cupcakes, paleo-style

Even the husband had one (maybe two). They were actually more brownie-like in consistency, but I wasn’t being picky here. The frosting, not so much. My timing was off after I mixed coconut oil with the chocolate and so it just turned back into, well, a chunk of chocolate. So, I gave the kid a piece of the chunk of chocolate to enjoy with the cupcake/brownie.

I find if there is chocolate in there somewhere it doesn’t seem to matter what form it is in. It’s all good.

PS: Earlier this week all of us crossfitters taking part in this challenge had to report in on how they were doing (we are tracking via a point system where basically the more strict your paleo diet is, the more points you accrue). It should come to no surprise to anyone that I am in LAST place! I might as well sit down and enjoy a Paczki.

How’s it taste? I wouldn’t know…

Posted on February 2, 2013 by chatty

Husband had leftover brown rice from earlier this week, probably because I haven’t been eating it, so he suggested making fried rice. I found some veggies and etc in the freezer and fridge and whipped this baby up. Amazing how easy FR is when the rice is cooked and cold. I didn’t have any, on account of my no-rice/no-soy phase, but the kid had some and the husband gave a nod of approval (apparently the corn was not the greatest and there was leftover pork in the fridge that I should have added but didn’t).

House Special Fried Rice made with Brown Rice

All in all, good? Yeah, sure.

slow cooker diaries: meat loaf!

Posted on February 2, 2013 by chatty

I was a little nervous about this one. The recipe I was following called for saltine crackers (it was old-school), among other things. Plus, the husband does a wonderful meat loaf, so would mine pass the husband test? I combined ground beef with pork and lamb, and did away with the crackers, but did for some reason sprinkly in some coconut flour. I put in only a little because the combined scents of coconut and ground meat was not appealing. Adding in a saucy mixture of mustard/bbq sauce gave it a nice flavor. The beauty of this slow cooker recipe was that it called to place the loaf on top of a bed of potatoes and onions in the slow cooker. I changed that from several russet potatoes to one russet, plus parsnips, carrots & sweet potato (and threw the rest into a pan with olive oil and salt/pepper to roast just before dinner)

meat and potatoes, and stuff

Verdict was a positive (and fun and easy to prepare). Although no grains were in the loaf, it came out binded together (my concern) and moist. I enjoy having a ton of vegetables as the side to enjoy.

slow cooker diaries: curry chicken

Posted on February 2, 2013 by chatty

My challenge these days are finding great recipes that I can do in the slow cooker, that are also paleo-friendly. Curry tends to do the trick. This one is tomato-based with cauliflower, peas and onions. I edited the recipe from my new favorite resource to avoid any flour/grains. Um, I think I did. It’s been a few weeks. But it tasted great and we had leftovers, which meant I’m getting the hang of portions for family cooking. No small feat for me, mind you. The family enjoyed it, that’s my litmus test right there.

curry chicken in the slow cooker

Growing up we didn’t do tomato-based curries. It was … what was the base?

slow cooker diaries: chicken cacciatorre

Posted on January 28, 2013 by chatty

I always sing that Billy Joel song in my head when I think of this dish. This was super easy. I just lightly browned the chicken and went with the flow. Must be before Paleo because no doubt I used a little flour to get the sauce so thick. I passed on the rotini but went for the lightly toasted rosemary bread instead.