My Paleo Diet

I split some pitted dates (without cutting completely in half so they would fold back together easily), stuffed each with a bit of goat cheese, and then wrapped them in some prosciutto.  Delicious!  I also had an assortment of olives and pickled garlic to munch on accompanied by some sliced pepperoni.

For the main course, my wife fixed round steak and broccoli.  Most of the time we eat round steak dipped in flour and pan cooked, and then smothered in a white gravy made from flour, milk and the steak drippings.  The family had that, I just had the steak plain with no flour or gravy.  My 7-year-old son likes to cook, and he wanted to make salsa.  So he did that, and I ended up smothering my steak in it.  He’s a pretty good cook for such a young age!

Tom Yum Soup at Thai Delight in Norman, OK.  One of the best restaurants in Norman, IMHO.  Didn’t quite look like this, but close.  I had it very spicy (4 of 5 – going for 5 next time).

My version had seafood and vegetables in a very spicy broth.  One of my favorite dishes there.  But I did cheat a bit.  I ate the spring roll (fried, but quite small – about the size of a long thumb glove).  I also ate the rice noodles (forgot those were going to be there, and I couldn’t resist).

But hey!  I’m losing weight!

I had some leftover boiled eggs and some of the chorizo mix from last night’s stuffed poblano peppers (with chorizo, chopped poblano tops, chopped mushrooms, chopped onions, and garlic).  Sliced the egg and laid the slices out flat on a plate, then spooned some of the chorizo mix on top and stuck it in the microwave until I had to clean it 🙁  A little sea salt and ground pepper topped it off.  Simple and quick!

When I went to the store I saw Pasilla peppers that looked to me just like Poblano peppers like you would see in a Chile Relleno.  When I looked it up on Google, I found out that they were one and the same (Doh!).  So I made chorizo stuffed poblano peppers from this website recipe: http://www.health-bent.com/pork/paleo-rellenos-stuffed-peppers and it was pretty easy to follow.  The peppers turned out nicely and the family seemed to enjoy them.  But a couple of caveats here.

First, the chorizo was extremely spicy.  My 7-year-old wouldn’t touch it.  My 17-year-old went running for the milk, but did finish it.  Everyone seemed to like it ok, but it won’t top their top-10 list of favorite foods of all time.  Chorizo is a very sweet sausage, and almost tastes like a sloppy joe filled with hot pepper juice.  Again, it wasn’t bad, but I think as a choice of meat, it probably won’t be on my list again.  That being said, this would have made a great burger filling (back to the sloppy joe thing again).

The  poblano peppers were very mild, as expected.  So those didn’t present a big problem with the kids.  The recipe called for goat cheese and raw cheddar cheese.  I put both on the family’s (well, I used mild cheddar from a bag).  I only put the goat cheese on mine and passed on the cheddar.  Lastly, these were so spicy, I did sneak about 1 1/2 inches of milk in a toddler cup, which did the trick to cool things down.  So overall, a good meal!

I ended up working from Starbucks quite a bit today, as my daughter’s window decided that the first rainy day in weeks was the right time to not roll up all the way.  So we traded cars at lunch and I dropped off the car with the mechanic.  Taco Casa was nearby so I grabbed a taco salad with no cheese.  I resisted eating the shell (my favorite part), but I did have refried beans at the bottom of the salad.  Lots of salsa made for a fairly light but satisfying meal.

This breakfast was very similar to a recipe in Paleo Comfort Foods (see link on the right under Books), p 220.  I varied it a bit, though.  First, my ham slices were too narrow to hold the egg, so I criss-crossed two slices (after spraying some coconut oil in the muffin pan).  I then put in some hot sauce, some El Rancho extra hot salsa (made in Oklahoma – pictured above), and two jalapeño slices.  Bring on the heat!

I added the egg and then cooked at 350 until the egg whites didn’t wiggle when I shook the muffin pan.  Something like 15-20 minutes.  The yolks came out moist but firm, not runny as I would have preferred.  So I’ll have to work with this one a bit to get it right.  But even so, these were delicious!  I even added some more salsa on top, plus some Tabasco.  Nice and toasty!

Having been warned that breakfast was going to be cinnamon rolls, I didn’t even go to the cafeteria!

So I avoided the cinnamon rolls altogether.  I fixed myself about 1/2 lb bacon and 2 fried eggs with our mess kit and camp stove.  I had fixed two more eggs for the family, but no one wanted them, so I ate those too.  Yes, a bit piggish, but lunch will consist mostly of fruit and some assorted nuts.

Dinner was leftover lemon chicken, and a boiled egg, both with hot salsa.  Also a lemon and a lime.  I love the really tart fruit!

Well, we were at camp.  And I wasn’t prepared enough to fight off the meal ticket.  So we have a few fails here.  Not terribly bad, but certainly not a good Paleo day.

Saturday morning they had biscuits and gravy, and I just gave up and ate it (2 biscuits with not near enough gravy).  Didn’t realize until after I had eaten it that they did have fresh fruit available, which I could have done instead.  There wasn’t enough time to cook for myself by then.  But I did have a banana and apple with some peanut butter.

Lunch was hamburgers and potato chips.  I did eat the chips, but not the hamburger buns.  Grabbed a good sized salad and ate the burger patty with tomatoes, onions and mustard.  Plus an orange.

Dinner was spaghetti and garlic bread, which I just went ahead and ate.  About a cup of spaghetti with meat sauce, parmesan, and just my one piece of garlic bread and my son’s garlic bread crust, plus some really awful, unseasoned green beans (sorry folks, but even some artificial onion would have worked wonders).  But then I added a good sized salad and a boiled egg.

At the campfire later, I roasted 1 hot dog and ate it, plus one Dove dark chocolate bar.

Dinner was on the way to Cub Scout Camp!  We stopped at a Conoco that had a Subway inside.  Double chicken salad with the whole garden.  Oil and vinegar, salt and pepper.

I will confess, though.  At the campfire that night after we had set up our tent, I roasted and ate a hot dog.  And a dark chocolate Dove bar (probably should find a better source of dark chocolate, I’m guessing).  Oh the shame…

Leftover paleo pancakes for breakfast (they freeze well) and a couple of sausage patties.  A little grass fed butter and I’ve got flat pigs between two blankets!  Simple and quick.

Leftovers also for lunch.  Had another salad, but this time with 1/2 sliced avocado, sliced boiled egg, black and green olives, evoo and balsamic vinegar.  Also fried up some more sliced Brussels sprouts in bacon and sausage grease.