Month: June 2016

This Week with Our Paleo Family, June 28, 2016

Hello there! It seems like forever since I wrote a weekly update. I guess we’ve been busy. Doing what, I’m not exactly sure.

Oh, yeah! I’ve finished all the regulatory hoop-jumping and am now all certified and official with the cookie baking business. That’s what’s been keeping me busy. My first gig is at Harmony Farms Natural Health Foods store in North Raleigh!!! They used to have a paleo baker supply their store, but she quit recently, so they were super excited to have another local, paleo baker. If you want some of my cookies, but don’t have time to make them yourself, you can stop by the store or order them directly from me. I’m not shipping just yet, but we can arrange delivery or porch pick-up. Just email me at elizabeth@ourpaleofamily.com if you’d like to place an order.

The kids just got back from a week at camp and so this week will be detox for all of us. I need to wean myself off all the independent time and they will need to re-adjust to real life with actual vegetables and fruits in their diet – and gasp – responsibilities. Please pray for us. 🙂

More exciting news is that I will be doing a Facebook Live show this coming Wednesday night on Facebook.com/kidcasts. If you are interested, be sure to “like” that page so you’ll receive notice of the show. I will go live as close to 8 PM Wednesday as possible, That’s June 29th, 2016. If you can’t watch live, it will be available for watching afterward. This is sure to be better than Downton Abbey, I promise. Ok, don’t hold me to that. If you’re a regular reader or a long time paleo-er, there probably won’t be anything new for you here, but might still be fun to watch. I hope it will be fun to watch. And informative. What in the world am I thinking??? And what kind of world are we living in where any old Joe can be on “TV”? I’m not sure if this is amazing or scary.

Back to real life blog business: this past week I posted a couple simple recipes for you – homemade avocado oil mayonnaise and creamy balsamic salad dressing made with that mayo. Both are super simple and so much better for you than anything you’ll find in a bottle or jar at the store. I know making your own condiments can seem daunting, but it’s not hard, not time consuming, and the flavor and health benefits are totally worth it.

Creamy Balsamic Pic

This week, I’ll be cooking up some simple meals on the grill that will be perfect for your Fourth of July get-togethers. I’ll get those recipes posted for you ASAP. Plus one of my favorites: roasted vegetables. This is something we eat all the time, but I’ve never posted the recipe. I guess that’s because I don’t really consider it a recipe, it’s more of a method. But if you’re not roasting vegetables, and especially if anyone in your family does not enjoy vegetables, you have to give this method a try. Roasting brings out all the natural sweetness of your veggies. Plus, it’s super simple and very hands off.

And what would summer be without popsicles? I have an easy and really delicious paleo popsicle recipe for you. If you don’t already have popsicle molds, run right out and get some so you’ll be ready!

One quick tip for this week if you have kids home for the summer who might dare to utter the words, “I’m bored,” have a chore list or jar ready to go and just hand it over. Back in my waitressing days, my manager would say, “If you have time to lean, you have time to clean.” Same concept here. If you have time to complain about being bored, I’ll give you something to do that will keep you busy because I have more to do than I have time for! I realize that sounds really simple and basic, common sense even, but it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment feeling like we are responsible for our kids’ entertainment and happiness. We’re not! Unless they’re babies and toddlers, they can entertain themselves.

That’s about it from around these parts. Just to recap:

  • Paleo cookies for sale from Harmony Farms in North Raleigh or order from me directly
  • Facebook live on KidCasts page this Wednesday at 8 PM
  • Simple recipes for Fourth of July coming up later this week so check back

If you’re traveling this weekend, stay safe, and have fun!

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Paleo Travel plus Virginia Creeper Review

I’m waking up fresh off a weekend away with my best guy. We had a marvelous time, the kids had a marvelous time with their grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin. As I sat down Monday morning to catch up on the newspapers we missed while we were away, I was so saddened to read of yet another tragic hate crime. The continued loss of innocent life is just staggering. It leaves me longing for Heaven. My heart and prayers go out to the families of all those affected. Come Lord, Jesus.

Not to gloss over that exceedingly sad news, but I do have something really fun to share with you. I don’t really have a bucket list, but I do, of course have a mental list of experiences I’d like to enjoy, places I’d like to see. I guess that is a bucket list, huh? Biking the Virginia Creeper has been on that list for about 5 years now. There is just something about being out in nature that makes me feel alive. I know that sounds cliche, but it’s true. Add to that one-on-one time with my sweet husband and you have all the ingredients for something won-duh-ful.

For those of you not in the know, the Virginia Creeper is an old railroad bed transformed into a bike path. The total length is just under 34 miles. It runs from White Top Station, Virginia to Abingdon, Virginia. For you North Carolina folks, the trails lies just north of the NC line. The trail intersects the Appalachian Trail at several points so you will run into hikers, bikers and maybe even some horses along the way.

This was such an amazing experience, I wanted to share it with you. I’m going to give you the play by play of our weekend along with all the details on how we ate mostly paleo on this trip. If you’re really only interested in what we ate, I’ve added those parts in bold so you can skim through. I’m so sorry I didn’t take pictures of any of our food. I guess I’m not that kind of food blogger. I never think to photograph my food in a restaurant. I’m just thinking about eating it. Especially after riding my bike 40 miles!

Let me start at the beginning: last Friday morning, my husband and I took off for Damascus, Virginia, the mid-way point on the Virginia Creeper. We rented a little cabin right on the trail for the weekend.

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Inside the cabin – perfect space for two. Totally rustic and comfortable at the same time. Forgive the unmade bed.

As soon as we arrived Friday, it was about lunch time and we had a 40 mile bike ride ahead of us so we decided to eat lunch in the cabin. We sat on the back porch swing, overlooking the Creeper Trail and a lovely, flowing creek. I think they call it a river, but it wasn’t a big river.

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The view from the back porch – Creeper trail below and the bubbling river. Porch swing + rocking chairs + fresh air = happy girl.

I packed gluten free bread, roasted turkey, almonds, apples and some homemade paleo cookies just thinking we might need to eat lunch at the cabin. And I’m really glad we did! The ride was a more strenuous effort than I expected and when we reached the top (our initial lunch plan) it was after three o’clock and the station was closed.

Because Chris has diabetes, we always travel with snacks, even if it’s just a short trip, so we were loaded down with a healthy trail mix (almonds, pistachios, raisins, mixed dried fruit, Unreal Brand peanut chocolate candies) to snack on, but we certainly would have been in a bit of trouble if we had not eaten ahead of time. Not to mention, we would probably not have had the energy for the ride.

It took us about three hours to ride from our cabin in Damascus (the 15 mile mark on the trail) to White Top Station (mile 33.4) and then about a mile further to the North Carolina line (just to say we did it).

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See the smile? It’s fake. I was wiped out by this point.

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For the most part, the ride from Damascus to White Top was flat or uphill. I believe the elevation climb was a total of about 2500 feet. We did not see another sole riding up the trail with us. When we sat down to rest after riding to the official end of the trail, another guy had arrived at White Top Station so apparently he was behind us the whole way, but far enough behind that we never saw him. We’re fast, I tell you.

We stopped several times along the way to give our backsides a break from the bike and just to enjoy the scenery. Oh, who am I kidding? We stopped because we needed a break, but the beautiful scenery was a bonus. There were lots of spots with benches right on the trail (which is right beside the river). The weather was pleasant with a cool breeze and low humidity. It was an amazing day. I’m told fall is even more spectacular. Adding that to the bucket list!

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See how pretty? This was the view almost the entire ride.
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There are a total of 40 (I think) trestles you cross along the path.

There are two old train stations on this leg of the trail. We only made it into one of them – at Green Cove. It was part store, part museum highlighting the history of the Virginia Creeper Line which was active from the early 1900s through 1977. It was a fascinating and fun look back at this part of our country’s history.

Very important information: there are bathrooms along the trail. Three stops from Damascus to White Top and one stop from Damascus to Abingdon.

After a nice rest at the top, it was time to descend the 20 miles we had just climbed. And then collapse! The first part of the trip back was truly all down hill and we had to apply our brakes to keep in control. What a relief it was to not have to exert so much effort. But we were sore! Our shoulders were sore. Our hands were sore. Our derrières were extremely sore.

About an hour and a half later, we rolled back into Damascus, hopped off our bikes and into the jacuzzi/hot tub in our cabin. Never has a hot tub felt so nice!

We got cleaned up and headed into Abingdon (the town at the official start of the Virginia Creeper Trail) for some dinner. I would say that this area was not particularly paleo friendly. None of the restaurants even had a gluten free menu, but they were all accommodating and the staff seemed very knowledgeable about what contained gluten and what didn’t. If I were trying to eat entirely paleo, it would have been possible, but certainly very boring. My attitude while on a special trip like this is to avoid gluten at all costs and as for all the rest (dairy, soy, legumes, refined sugar, other grains) just go with it.

We found a little place for dinner called Rain. I really had my sights set on the filet mignon with lump crab and some sort of seafood sauce served over mashed potatoes and asparagus. But alas, the seafood sauce contained a roux (a flour, butter mixture used to thicken sauces) and I figured that sauce would make the dish. So Chris had the steak and I tasted a bit of the steak without the sauce (awesome!) and ordered myself the ahi tuna with rice, roasted tomatoes and asparagus. This meal also came with a basic house salad. Nothing special, but helped fill the vegetable quotient for the day. It was amazing and actually a perfect mix of hearty, but not heavy. Did I mention that I wore my heart rate monitor on the ride and burned just under 2000 calories?

After dinner, it was pretty late so we headed back to the cabin, took another soak in the jacuzzi, then hung out on the porch swing sipping a gluten free hard cider. Now listen, I hardly ever drink alcohol. In fact, wine is on my “red list” for foods to avoid. But I really wanted a little something else after dinner and this cider sounded so refreshing. And it was!

Day 1 over and we collapsed into bed.

Saturday morning dawned just as beautiful as Friday. I brought eggs, bacon and carrot, raisin paleo muffins from home (see Practical Paleo for the recipe). This was a really hearty breakfast to start the day. Oh yeah, coffee too, of course! Did I even have to mention that?

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We really are that happy.

Then we took off down the trail. Ahhh, down. The section of the trail from Damascus to Abingdon only has an elevation change of less than 1000 feet. The lowest point is somewhere in the middle of this section so it was a good balance of up and down. Though it really just felt flat the whole way. Which was fine by me! The section from Damascus to White Top was almost entirely wooded, running alongside the river. The section from Damascus to Abingdon is a little bit wooded and still does follow the river most of the way. But there is also a lot of farmland on this leg of the trail. You would be at the base of a mountain range (actually, they call them knobs not mountains) and have this beautiful view for miles around. Hay bales, tractors, gentle slopes. It made me want to put my hair in braids and run down the hill just like Laura from Little House on the Prairie.

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Just looking at these pictures makes me want to go back!

We made it into Abingdon at lunch time, parked our bikes at the end of the trail and walked, I mean hobbled, a few blocks to an old hardware store, converted to the Bone Fire Smokehouse Restaurant. Almost everything here was gluten free so I had lots of choices. I chose smoked chicken, brisket, green beans and potato salad. The potato salad was not very good so I ended up skipping that, but I inhaled the meat and green beans. My sometimes gluten eating husband had a brisket sandwich (homemade hoagie roll) with housemade potato chips. His carbs looked really good!

Then we strolled a little ways down the street to Anthony’s Desserts for a sweet treat. They had lots and lots of choices, but the only gluten free offering was the ice cream. They didn’t seem ashamed of this either. Tsk tsk. I usually don’t like mint chocolate chip, but their’s was very good. Or maybe I just really wanted something sweet. I had such a huge serving that I couldn’t even eat it all. Chris had a blackberry swirl cheesecake that looked amazing.

After a stroll through down and a rest in a lovely little park, we made our way back to our bikes and headed “home.” This section of the trail, at 15 miles, but mostly flat, took us about two hours to ride each way.

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There were lots of scenic resting points. This one, at the Alvarado Station, was a memorial that included benches and swings. So peaceful, it was hard to leave.

We made it back to the cabin in time for a jacuzzi soak, some hanging out on the porch and then time to get ready for our night out. We had tickets to a show at the Barter Theater, but beforehand, of course we had to eat dinner. This day’s ride only burned about 1300 calories, but that’s still a lot and we were rightfully hungry! We chose 128 Pecan for dinner. Again, no gluten free menu, but they were very accommodating. I chose a pan sautéed chicken breast topped with garlic and butter (lots of butter) wilted spinach and smashed red potatoes. My dinner also came with soup or salad and because salad at restaurants often makes me sick, I chose the soup, which in this case was tomato bisque. I think sometimes restaurants don’t know what to do with someone who doesn’t want flour, so they fall back on butter and cheese for flavor. Do they really think that white flour has flavor? All that butter wasn’t necessary, but it was delicious. The next morning, my stomach was a little queasy, but I recovered fast. Gluten stays in your system an average of 6 weeks, wreaking havoc all the while. Dairy is out of there in 24-48 hours.

The play was great fun, but even after two cups of coffee at dinner, I found myself nodding off. A good night’s sleep was in order.

Sunday morning brought more glorious weather, though a little warmer than the past two days. Damascus is a definite trail town. All three towns on the Creeper Trail have a different feel. Abingdon feels like a wealthy, old town. There’s a fancy hotel, antique shops, the theater, and lots of nice restaurants. White Top is an old whistle stop for sure. Not much there besides the train station. Damascus is a through town for the Appalachian Trail and consequently has a decidedly hippie vibe to it.

We figured we couldn’t be so close to the AT and not hike a portion of it. Plus, we were up for more activity, but didn’t even want to look at our bikes. We found a “4 mile” loop hike that involved two local trails plus the AT and would spit us back out in downtown Damascus, near the only restaurant this whole trip that supposedly offered gluten free products.

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This hike. I have some feelings about this hike. I think I’m a good sport and I truly love hiking. I’m so thankful that even with all my foot pain, I have good boots, good orthotics, good trekking poles and I am able to manage some moderate hiking. This trail was uphill for two straight miles (felt like much more). But worse than that is that it followed a stream and we were literally swarmed with bugs this entire time. I’ve never encountered anything like it. On top of that, the trail was extremely rocky. Not big rocks that you climb over, but the small to medium sized ones just perfect for twisting your ankles. We made it to the top though and eventually met up with the Appalachian Trail, which was much more pleasant terrain. There was still some climbing, but it was mostly downhill or flat with a couple lovely views. And we left that blasted stream and all those bugs.

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I think this view is called Cookoo Knob. See the girl? She’s the cookoo one!

What felt like days later, actually it was just three hours later, we made our way back to our car, drove to the cafe I had read about and settled in for lunch. Mojoe’s Trailside Cafe did indeed offer gluten free bread and could make any of their sandwiches gluten free. Both Chris and I had the daily special Philly Cheesesteak, which included peppers, mushrooms and onions. It took a long time, but it was worth the wait. We downed lots of iced tea and just enjoyed the air conditioning while we waited for our food.

We did a little shopping in town for souvenirs, then headed back to the cabin to pack up. There we found the cleaning crew impatiently waiting for us to clear out. I guess another soak in the jacuzzi was out of the question! The guy who manages the reservations, Dave, was super friendly and told me we could checkout whenever we wanted to. I guess he was wrong about that. Oops. We had zero cell service anywhere near Damascus and when we were about halfway home, I got a bunch of voicemail messages. One was from Dave. Here’s part of the message, “Well, Elizabeth, this is Dave. I guess the folks checking into your cabin are here and the cleaning folks are ready to clean. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could you maybe check out? I don’t want to put you out or anything, but just whenever you can get back, we’d appreciate it.” Dave is a good guy and we would rent from him again. But we would definitely check out before heading out for the day!

We stopped for dinner at Wendy’s on the way home for a bunless burger and fries. I know their fries are contaminated because they fry breaded chicken in the same friers, but I took my chances. This was my last splurge meal of the weekend and I wanted to enjoy it. I had eaten pretty well the whole weekend. A couple Gluten Flam back home and I knew I would be fine. Oh yeah, we had some of those paleo chocolate chip cookies in the cooler and enjoyed those on the drive home as well.

If you enjoy biking, the outdoors, adventurous getaways with your special person, I highly recommend the Virginia Creeper and the River Trail Cabins in Damascus, Virginia. I would very much enjoy a weekend away at a fancy resort with fancy meals and fancy clothes and maybe a fancy spa service or two, but an outdoors-y weekend in a beautiful setting is really much more my speed.

I hope the travel food information is helpful to you. As I said earlier, I certainly could have eaten mostly paleo if I had wanted to. I’m sure plain chicken, beef, pork or fish, sautéed vegetables and salad would have been available. But food is fun and an important part of vacation for this family and I wanted to enjoy some special foods. Trust me, today it’s back to our typical meals of healthy meats, lots of veggies and the occasional starch in the form of rice or sweet potatoes.

Gluten free is so common now, you can probably manage to eat well at most restaurants and avoid at least that one bad guy. If you’re really set on staying paleo, just be prepared to eat kind of boring food. Or be “that person” and bring some of your own stuff. There’s no shame in toting your own salad dressing, coconut aminos, avocado oil mayo and the like. You do what you gotta do!

My last tip for paleo travel is to rent a place with a kitchen whenever possible. If you can even cook one meal per day, you will be so much better off than if you have to rely on restaurants 24/7. Breakfast is super easy with eggs, bacon, fruit, make ahead muffins, juice and coffee. Lunch can be deli meat, veggies, fruit, nuts and avocado. It doesn’t have to be complicated.

Enjoy your summer travels! If you have great tips for eating well on the road, please share in the comments. There is a lot we can learn from each other!

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Friday Favorites, Volume 2

Welcome back for another installment of Friday Favorites. It’s been fun for me to think outside the box (the food box, that is) to give you some of my favorite things. I just can’t write that phrase without singing the song from Sound of Music in my head. 🙂

  1. For your summer reading pleasure, I highly recommend Janet Oke’s Canadian West book series: When Calls the Heart, When Comes the Spring, When Breaks the Dawn, When Hope Springs New, Beyond the Gathering Storm and When Tomorrow Comes.

While at the homeschool conference, I attended a workshop about media and how it is influencing us. The speaker gave us three criteria to use when choosing what to consume in terms of books, TV, movies, music, internet, etc.: truth, goodness and beauty.

Is the story true?

Is it holding up morality as something to pursue?

Is it beautiful?

Janet Oke’s books are not true, but they are good and they are beautiful. There is a Hallmark Channel series now by the name of When Calls the Heart, which is based on this series. As with most situations of books being turned into movies or TV, the books are so much better, though the TV show is also very well done and I would say meets these criteria as well. If you’re looking for a nice story that will be uplifting, relaxing and enjoyable, look up Janet Oke.

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2. Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Bread, specifically the Mountain White variety. There are paleo bread recipes, but honestly, I don’t like any of them. When I want bread, I want something that really tastes and acts like bread – and doesn’t cost me $20 in ingredients to put together. Canyon Bakehouse to the rescue. It’s easy to send with the kids if they need to pack a hearty lunch and it makes a nice crunchy slice of toast for a breakfast treat every now and then. I find this locally at Whole Foods in the freezer section with all the other gluten free bread. My favorite part about Canyon Bakehouse is that they don’t use canola oil!

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3. Cuisinart mini food processor/chopper – If you’ve read any of my recipes, you’ve certainly see that I recommend using a small chopper/food processor like this one often. I use mine to chop nuts, garlic, ginger, or vegetables. I use it to blend small batches of smoothies or pancake batter. It’s easier to get out and deal with than the big food processor. When you don’t have the time or don’t want to take the time to chop by hand, this little kitchen helper comes in really handy.

Cuisinart Mini Chopper
Cuisinart Mini Chopper

4. Coconut Aminos – I can’t sing the praises of this condiment enough. This is your paleo-friendly soy sauce alternative. A coconut derivative, that doesn’t taste anything like coconut, but provides that extra something your dish is asking for, that’s coconut aminos. I add it to almost all of my sauces, salad dressings, and of course, anything with an Asian flare. See it shine in my Asian stir fry recipe or the Summer Salmon Salad I just posted this week. You can find this at Whole Foods, on Amazon, or at Thrive Market (best price is at Thrive). See more on Thrive Market below.

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Coconut Aminos

5. Thrive Market. I wrote about Thrive way back when I first started the blog. You can read the article here. In short, Thrive Market is a membership shopping site full of healthy ingredients and health care products. It’s like Costco and Amazon and Whole Foods all rolled into one. I buy almost all of my paleo pantry ingredients from them: coconut milk, maple sugar, arrowroot, coconut aminos, to name a few. I also buy most of my health and beauty care products from Thrive: soap, shampoo, sunscreen and even mineral makeup. If you have never checked them out, I highly recommend it. You can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the ad in my sidebar (or at the bottom of your screen if you’re reading this on your phone). You will get one month free. If you like the service, sign up for a year. All the details are available on their website. One great thing about Thrive is that for every new membership, they give a membership to a family in poverty, who could not otherwise afford some of these healthy ingredients. After using the service for close to a year, I can say that I have never had a bad experience with the products or customer service.

So there you have it, another installment of Friday Favorites. These products/services/entertainment truly are some of my very favorite things. I am not compensated in anyway for sharing my opinion. If you do sign up for Thrive through my link, and eventually start a paid membership, I will receive a small commission.

I hope you find something here that will become one of your favorites too!

This Week with Our Paleo Family: June 5, 2016

I’ve just returned home from three days away at the North Carolina homeschool convention, while my amazing husband held down the fort at home. It’s a huge commitment to go, primarily in terms of time away from home, but it is a financial commitment as well. But it is oh-so-worth it. I only go every two to three years, but I always come away so encouraged. Here are some of the golden nuggets from this year’s conference that I want to share with you. These points don’t just apply to homeschooling. In fact, I only attended one seminar that specifically talked about homeschooling. Most are general life and family seminars. Do you ever lose patience with your kids? With your spouse? Are you too hard on yourself? Do you set too high of standards for you and your spouse and your kids? Sit down, take a deep breath and be encouraged.

  • Children love to feel needed. Start giving them responsibilities while they’re young when they have the heart for it, even if they don’t yet have the skills.
  • More ammunition against bickering (see my earlier post here on the same topic): Proverbs 6:16 and 25 says, “Here are six things God hates, and one more that he loathes with a passion…a troublemaker in the family.” Have your kids memorize and recite this verse as often as necessary.
  • Read to your children – often. A recent study showed that reading to your children gives them a bigger advantage in life than attending a major university!
  • Help children to own their choices. For example, you say, “You have have 25 minutes to play that video game.” Don’t remind them they have 10 minutes left…5 minutes left…1 more minute. Let them manage their time. If they go over, in a calm tone of voice, you say, “You chose to play that game for more than 25 minutes so (fill in the blank) consequence.” Calm is the key here. Show no emotion. The responsibility is their’s.
  • A trick for teaching delayed gratification: your child has 30 minutes to watch TV each day. Tell them that if they turn it off two minutes early today, they can have four extra minutes tomorrow.
  • Speak to their hearts. Who deals with tattling? Every minute of every day, perhaps? Here’s a technique to try: Tattler comes to you and starts in on their sibling and you say, “Are you telling me this about your brother because you are concerned for him and you think we should pray for him? Or are you telling me this because it feels good to tattle/judge because you’re not feeling so good about yourself right now?” You’re stepping back out of the situation and again, putting the responsibility on the child to own their actions. At the same time, you’re addressing heart issues and not just the issue of one more instance of tattling.
  • This one’s for the ladies: your husband is not a mind reader. If you’ve had a particularly rough day with the kids, tell him, “When you get home, I’m going to need 15 minutes to myself or you’re going to see me on the evening news.” He will give you those 15 minutes if at all possible.
  • And for the men: Women like flowers. And jewelry. And chocolate. Pick one of those three, or all three, and you will not go wrong. Ever.

Don’t you think that’s a good one to end on? 😉

Being at the homeschool conference was such a huge blessing, and I am thankful to have gone, but now it is back to real life. My children just yelled down from upstairs, “Mommy, I’m making a huge mess.” Deep breaths. Time to try out some of my new tactics.

I mentioned briefly in my last post that I would be the featured guest health expert on a radio show out of Honolulu. That show aired this past Saturday night, our time, and will be available for you to listen soon. Keep checking this link. It’s a short program, just under 30 minutes. The host is Dr. Jackson, an ER doc who has opened his own medical practice with the purpose of trying to keep people out of the emergency room through wellness coaching. He told me that paleo comes up in conversations all the time so it was a joy to talk with him and give his listeners some basics regarding paleo living.

Also coming soon will be some Facebook Live videos. Super exciting! It may not be Food Network, but all my childhood dreams of having my own radio talk show and TV show are about to come true. Be honest now, who didn’t walk around with your toy microphone interviewing all your stuffed animals? Or sit in your room with your clock radio/tape deck recording your own show? You know you did.

Is there a recipe you’d love to see me prepare live? Let me know in the comments.

One new recipe is up on the blog this week: pizza popover. I told you about this one in an earlier post and now have the recipe written up for you. If you have pizza lovers in your house, this is a fun twist on an old favorite and unlike pizza, it’s super easy to leave out the cheese and no one will miss it.

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I’m working on a fresh salmon salad recipe for you this week. My garden has started producing cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and squash. The goal is a super flavorful, quick, easy salmon bowl utilizing all the fresh veggies that are coming available now. As you know, we can get any fruits and vegetables we want anytime of year, but it’s always best to eat what’s in season. This recipe is flexible and you can use whatever veggies you like best and have available.

Later this week, look forward to the next installment of Friday Favorites. I have some real goodies for you!

The sun is shining (for now) so get out there and enjoy.

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Flourless Chocolate Brownies

Paleo brownie recipes abound on the internet, as do flourless chocolate cakes. I wondered if I could combine the two. I wanted a true flourless dessert, not one full of nut flours, rice flours and lots of refined sugar.

This recipe can be paleo or primal depending on the type of fat you use. I used half butter and half coconut oil so that I could get a little butter flavor, but keep the dairy to a minimum and it turned out great. If you love coconut flavor or at least aren’t bothered by it, use all coconut and keep it paleo.

I also topped mine with some chopped up high quality milk chocolate chips, just to balance the rich chocolate flavor of the base. You could top with more mini Enjoy Life chips, some chopped nuts, flaked coconut, or nothing at all. I don’t think you could go wrong!

These are rich and fudge-y and such a treat right out of the pan or a few days later out of the refrigerator. You could even keep some in your freezer for chocolate emergencies. You never know when one of those might happen!

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Flourless Chocolate Brownies

A rich and chocolatey treat and free of refined sugars and flours.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, Comfort Food
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 16 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil* or butter, or use half of each
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips I recommend Enjoy Life Brand
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp. sea salt
  • 1/4 cup additional chocolate chips, coconut flakes or nuts for topping optional

Instructions

  1. Line an 8 or 9 inch baking pan with parchment paper (you can use a round or square pan) and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, melt coconut oil and chocolate until smooth, stirring frequently. Add maple syrup and coconut sugar and continue to stir occasionally until coconut sugar has melted, about 5 minutes.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and vanilla with a hand mixer for one minute. Add cocoa powder and salt and beat one minute more.
  4. While still mixing with the mixer or using a whisk by hand, slowly drizzle the hot chocolate and sugar mixture into the egg mixture. SLOWLY. Once all chocolate/sugar has been incorporated, mix for one more minute.
  5. Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle with topping, if using. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until just set in the center (very slight jiggle).
  6. Remove pan to a cooling rack and allow to cool before cutting.

What we Ate Wednesday

Are you in a cooking rut? Even though I am constantly creating new recipes for the blog and book, we too seem to eat the same meals over and over again. There are good parts and bad parts to this. On the one hand, it’s great to have a stash of go-to recipes that you know how to cook and your family will enjoy. On the other hand, we all need to mix it up a bit so we don’t get bored. When you get bored with your healthy eating lifestyle is when you tend to veer toward unhealthy choices.

Every couple of weeks, I’m going to give you my family’s weekly meal plan. Most of the recipes will be found on the blog. Some will be coming in the e-book and others are ones I’m working on and will show up in one of those places eventually – once I get them just right. I hope you find this a helpful way out of your cooking doldrums.

This was a not-so-typical week for us in that we had family in town and ate a couple meals together, which I did not prepare. We also had a zoo day and ate out afterward because who can muster up the energy to cook after traipsing through the zoo in 90 degree heat for 6 hours? Not me!

Take a gander at what the Heinze clan ate this week…

Tuesday: Super bowl meatballs served over sautéed squash for me and gluten free pasta for the family. Big side salad.

DSC_3584Wednesday: Zoo day! We went to our favorite sushi place for dinner. Everything here is gluten free except some of the sauces because their soy sauce is not guaranteed to be gluten free. This is my one big splurge. I eat the sushi straight up as they serve it and take a couple Gluten Flam when I get home. I’ve never been sick after this meal. We only go once every couple of months and all four of us thoroughly enjoy it.


Thursday: 
Spider dogs, roasted sweet potatoes, sautéed squash, onions and mushrooms and grilled asparagus. This dinner was supposed to be completely cooked on the grill, but my grill was not cooperating, so it was half grilled and half in the oven. I had something else planned, but simply did not have time. This is when it really pays off to have some easy protein in the freezer. Yes, hot dogs are not the best, but these are Applegate Grass Fed All Beef Dogs and I can feel good about feeding them to my family every once in a while.

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Friday: I have to tell you what happened Friday. I was talking with a colleague about doing some live Facebook shows and before we could get to that, she asked if I would like to be the guest health expert on a radio show out of Honolulu – the next day! Of course, I said yes and the afternoon was spent busily getting all my ducks in a row for that interview. I will link to it here when it airs so you can all listen.

When I sit down and plan my meals for the week, I work around whatever events are happening that week, so I know when I have 30 minutes to cook, when I have two hours and when we just need to go out. I had planed two hours for this meal. Not because it will take that long to cook, but when I’m documenting and photographing each step, it takes way longer. Anyway, because of the interview craziness, I ended up with just one hour to throw this meal together. Thankfully, it turned out really well. Also, I started those green beans earlier in the day. These were “Grandma” green beans, meaning they are cooked for at least four hours.

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Saturday: Dinner with the family – grilled burgers, salad, fruit, this pound cake with strawberries and cream cheese frosting I whipped up. The cake is a family tradition and I’m trying to get it paleo. No great success yet. I’ll post the recipe when I finally hit on perfection. It looks pretty though. It did taste good, but was a bit too dense.

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Sunday: Mom and dad had us over for dinner. Learning to cook Paleo has been a little bit of a challenge, but they have really risen to it. They do use gluten free flours and mixes, but generally when they cook for us, it’s simple meats, vegetables and fruits and everything is just perfect for us. On this occasion, dad made fried chicken fingers using a gluten free flour blend, roasted vegetables (cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, carrots and sweet potatoes) and a big bowl of mixed fruit. Sorry I didn’t get a picture. I should have. My parents are both great cooks and everything looks as good as it tastes.

Monday: Dinner with the family again tonight. Boy, we really were spoiled this week! Tonight’s dinner was grilled chicken breasts, salad and fruit. Simple and delicious! My mother-in-law made a super flavorful berry pie with gluten free flour and it was a huge treat!

Tuesday: Back to reality and I have to cook. Tonight, I’m trying to recreate one of my Grandma’s recipes: Pizza Popover. It’s a hamburger mix, seasoned like pizza, topped with cheese, then you pour a popover batter over top and as it bakes, that batter rises up like a mountain range. It’s magical and delicious. As I type, this is not yet in the oven, so we’ll see how it turns out. This meal will not be paleo, but primal because of the addition of the cheese. And unlike Grandma’s version, I will most certainly be sneaking some vegetables into the mix.

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Post dinner update: so this version didn’t make the “mountains” like Grandma’s did, but it was oh, so delicious! I put the cheese in the recipe, but I would totally leave it out next time. This dish is so flavorful, I don’t think the cheese brought anything to the ballgame. And nobody noticed the heaping cup of kale I snuck in. Shhh…

Snacks: 

I made a batch of beef jerky this week as pool days are upon us. Just because it’s summer and just because you’re rushing out the door to the pool with your big bag full of towels, goggles, water bottles and sunscreen, doesn’t mean you can’t take a little time to PLAN and PREPARE for healthy snacks. Yes, these can be packaged, like nuts and dried fruit, but it’s just as easy to throw in some apples as it is to throw in a bag of chips. And for staying power, beef jerky is an awesome choice. Doesn’t require refrigeration either!

I think I used delicious about 12 times in this post. Time to consult a thesaurus.

Thanks for checking in. I’m headed to the homeschool conference in a couple days so I’ll be busy preparing some food for my husband to serve while I’m away. He’s a good cook, but doesn’t get the chance very often and he isn’t very….shall we say….efficient in the kitchen. If I do some of the work for him, the kids might get dinner before midnight. 😉 Love ya, honey.

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