Hey, there! You might see a lot of posts from me in the coming days because my family has deserted me. And I don’t mean they’ve given me yummy desserts. I mean they’re off to various camps (even my husband) so with an absence of actual people around here to talk to, I’m talking to you. I guess technically, I’m talking to myself since I can’t see you, but I do imagine that I’m talking to you.

After discussing it with myself for a while, I decided it was time for another What We Ate Wednesday post. Why don’t I choose one of these posts for a week when we’ve eaten at home every meal and I’ve made extravagant dishes? Because that’s not real life, that’s why!

Here’s what meal time has looked like for us this past week:

Wednesday, June 29th

Slow roasted lamb shanks, primal spanakopita (there’s cheese in there so it’s not paleo), cucumber and tomato salad

I’ve been busy lately cooking for the ebook that’s coming out this fall. Almost all of the recipes have been created now and I am currently in the process of writing them up and editing. My goal is to have this to you by mid-September because my first “holiday” is fall. I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for our hot and sticky summers to end. We definitely celebrate fall around here like it’s right up there with Thanksgiving and Easter. One of our favorite activities in the fall is visiting the Greek Festival and eating and eating and eating. We can’t eat those foods anymore thoug so I set out to remake all our favorites. That’s where this lamb shank and spanakopita come in. These recipes alone will be worth the price of the book!

Thursday, June 30th

Wednesday night I did my first Facebook live show over at Facebook.com/KidCasts. I’m trying to get the video up here, but having some difficulties. You can check it out at KidCasts though. And my next show will be next Wednesday at 8 PM so please tune in for that. The topic: budget paleo!

So for dinner tonight, we ate what I cooked the night before: citrus glazed chicken thighs, sautéed veggies and white rice.

Friday, July 1st

The kids did their end of school year presentations to their grandparents tonight so we had a family dinner. I try really hard to keep the meals simple when I’m entertaining. I want to enjoy my guests. I do what I can ahead of time and otherwise try to keep things quick and easy. Tonight we had:

grilled burgers with bacon and mushrooms, plantain buns (same as plantain chips, just bigger), grilled zucchini and broccoli, watermelon and this amazing apple galette (basically a pie made flat rather than in a pie pan). Recipe coming soon for the apple galette.

Saturday, July 2nd

I needed to feed my boys well before they left for Boy Scout camp so I made one of their favorites: Eastern style BBQ pork, cole slaw, fruit and some leftover bacon queso dip (recipe will be in the ebook). Sorry I don’t have a picture of this one. Here’s the coleslaw. 🙂 And the queso dip. Soooo good!

Sunday, July 3rd

Just me and my girl for dinner tonight. I gave her some choices of restaurants and she chose Wendy’s. She eats the grilled chicken wrap without the tortilla and a vanilla frosty with french fries dipped in it! She swears it’s delicious. Children are weird.

At Wendy’s, I always order the half size apple pecan chicken salad and a junior burger without the bun. The salad is almost enough for me, but I always want a little more protein, which is why I get the burger.

Wendy’s is definitely a contamination hazard if you have a serious gluten allergy, but we do fine with it on occasion.

Monday, July 4th

Didn’t cook today. Mom and dad took us out to a place they like that has a burger special on Mondays. I had a lettuce wrapped burger with tomato and mustard and steak fries on the side. Here’s my lesson learned on this particular day: I need to be more assertive in restaurants. I wanted the sautéed vegetables, but they said it was a mix of zucchini, peppers and onions. I really shouldn’t eat zucchini or peppers and because most restaurant salad contains some sort of preservative that makes me very sick, I went with the steak fries for my side. I’m sure they had another vegetable they could have prepared had I just asked. I will ask next time. Yes, I do love fries, but I don’t want to eat them very often. And when I do, I want to make sure they’re fried in a dedicated frier and definitely gluten free. These were not.

Tuesday, July 5th

Kate had wings Monday night so she ate those leftovers tonight. I have been working on a fish stick/nugget recipe so I ate those. Some were made with salmon, some with tuna. And homemade tartar sauce. Sautéed squash and mushrooms on the side. These fish sticks taste ok, but they’re kind of dry. You definitely need a dipping sauce. I’ll keep working on it. You’ll get the recipe when they’re just right.

When the boys are gone, I cook really simply.

Looking back over this week, it appears I did really do it up in the kitchen. Those were some pretty elaborate meals for around here. This next week will be really simple with just us girls at home. It’s freeing, but at the same time, I miss cooking. I hopped into the kitchen just this afternoon after working on the ebook for a while, because I just NEEDED to cook something. I’m working on a sugar detox friendly granola. Not quite there yet, but I’m working on it.

I hope you enjoy this look at what we ate this past week and maybe find some inspiration for your own meals.

Don’t forget: Our Paleo Family cookies are now for sale in Raleigh, NC at Harmony Farms Natural Health Foods Store and directly from me through the website. Just visit this page to shop.