food.

still eating like a cave-woman (and Jake like a cave-man)

Homemade Mayo -
once you make homemade mayo, you will NEVER look back.
this stuff is ridiculous.
soooooo goooooood.

most times it turns into Homemade Ranch Dressing with the addition of some White Balsamic Lemon Infused Vinegar and Penzey's Greek Seasoning here in my house.

(seriously, this crap is addictive, only make if you are prepared to be addicted)

I get my vinegar at Olive Vitality  - but I'm thinkin' you could use White Balsamic Vinegar and just add a dash o' lemon juice.


BBQ Sauce from Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook 
and if you get the cookbook and make the sauce, add liquid smoke...just do it.
(I'm thinking I'd be breaking some big rule if I put the recipe on here but I will say that her cookbook rocks and is worth every penny so instead of breaking a rule, I'll just help a sister out, yes, you want her cookbook, Paleo or not, it's got some great ideas in it - shoot, it's worth the BBQ Sauce recipes alone!)
Her blog...Everyday Paleo

Anyway, I made this as a single batch the first time but that was dumb.
It is involved and has a lot of steps so I doubled it the next time.  That was dumb too.
So, this last time, I quadrupled it and froze 1/2...that was smart...it takes me a while, but eventually I get smart.

This sauce is so yum.  Like, so.
BBQ Sauce on the shelf at the grocery store? Second ingredient is SUGAR.  Almost every time.
Lots and lots of sugar.
no good.

Arbor Teas
Organic, Fair Trade and with that combo, the cheapest I've found so far.
I have loved this company for years now but have fallen back in love with them through this process.
I got rid of all forms of sugar (natural, fake, all) for 30 days and to me, coffee without sugar is just wrong.
Still knowing I wasn't mentally ready to give up the caffeine or 'warm thing to hold' in the mornings, I switched back to black tea.  I have done this a few times but this may be my last...I think I'm on black tea for life - it's just yummier to me and (shocker) my stomach doesn't hurt after I drink it.

I drink it with full-fat coconut milk as the creamer.  Like, the kind in the cans.
I'm a fan of the Thai Kitchen organic brand, it has guar gum but that is a natural root so it's ok, it's super smooth and that guar gum helps keep it from separating.

In the afternoons I'll have some plain black iced tea just to keep some sort of flavor in my mouth - fends off the sugar demon's a bit.

My favorite flavors are:
Apricot Black Tea
Mixed Berry Black Tea (this one is very yummy cold!)
Thai Iced Tea (a new fav'!!!!! I'm out of the 'no sweetener zone' and can use honey to sweeten this - add my coconut milk and dude, it's better than any restaurant Thai Iced Tea I've ever had, if you are a Thai Iced Tea fan, you will die!)
For the wintery months I like the Coconut and the Cinnamon flavors.

This Homemade Breakfast Sausage has become a staple.
'cept I double ALL the spices...I like some flavor!

I make it in huge batches, freeze it in the rock state and then dump them into freezer bags - I sauté them up frozen in the mornings with the rest o' my breakfast.

another staple.
make it weekly, consume with so many things!
easy comfort food:

Garlic Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes
I make four heads of cauliflower at a time - it's just yum.

Creamy Tuna Salad has now seen my fridge twice and both times I doubled it.
The first time we had out of town guest so I doubled it thinking we'd need help eating it.
The second time I doubled it knowing we would NOT need help.
I also used green grapes instead of apples because apples are not in season right now.

I also cheated and just used pre-roasted Cashews.  So sue me.
I saved 18 hrs....

I do want to try it with the raw cashews and will .... soon..... when I feel like it.  In the mean time. Roasted, just thrown into the food processor works like a charm.

The first time we wrapped it up in lettuce.
The next time we just ate it over spinach.
Do what feels right.
I'm thinkin' next time I'll have it over tomato slices...just 'cause.

The Best Chicken You Will Ever Eat.
I can't even.
Seriously.
What she says is true.
The BEST.
With the exception of last week, because of time, we have made a big 'ol batch of this and eaten all week every week of this 'new way of eating' thing we're doing.
DO NOT skip a step.
DO slather it in the homemade BBQ Sauce.
gah.
Even now I'm craving it.


Jake grills this for us, along with a Tri-Tip steak just dry brined with salt and pepper weekly, mostly.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

per the actual def. of Paleo anything that has the title "Pancake" or "Cookie" in it is probably NOT Paleo.  I know, I know.
Gluten Free, yes.
Paleo, no.
But when a girl needs her Chocolate Chip Cookie, a girl NEEDS her Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Clearly the 'no sweeteners to change your attitude about sugar' did NOT work so well for me.
A little it did.
Anywho.
These cookies are ridiculous.
Made with Almond Meal and sweetened with Honey - I used the darkest chocolate chips I could find that were still fair trade (Chocolate = big slave industry!  along with sugar actually, but I digress.. and hey, if I'm gonna digress this is a good place to digress!)
I LOVE Almond Joy candy bars (speaking of fair trade chocolate).
These little cookies were like Almond Joy's and Chocolate Chip cookies got married and had little cookie babies....babies you could gorge on eat.
Be aware though, they stare at you.
Like right now they are on top of my fridge and I can feel them staring at me begging me to come eat eat eat them.
If they are not careful I'll have to put them in the trash and cover them with hot sauce so I can't dig them out later after I decide that was horribly wasteful. (that was for you Becky!).

On a healthier 'cookie' note I did make me some
Homemade Lara Bars.

I looked up several recipes but just landed on one that told me to use equal portions Nuts, Dates and Dried Fruit.

My first attempt was
2 c. dried cherries
2 c. almonds
2 c. dried M. dates (the dates that start with an M, I don't know how to spell it ;-)

dump it all in your food processor and blend away until it forms a ball.
flatten your ball of mush out on parchment paper into a squarish rectangle thing.
wrap in plastic wrap, chill in fridge, cut into squares or circles or bows or crabs....whatever...consume.

YUM.

This recipe for apple pie ones looks good and I'll try it next. (oh, and she knows how to spell the M word)
I pinned this ladies links but a lot of them have 'no no' ingredients in them so I'll just try the ones with 'yes yes' ingredients.

can we talk about the dates?
um...I did NOT pit them BEFORE I put them in my food processor.
big big big oops.
dude. I almost burnt up my food processor.
In case you were curious, pits of dates DO NOT PROCESS.
They do make your house smell like burning rubber, but they do not process.
I had to take the entire 6 c. of stuff out the processor, dig through to pit all the dates and then start over.
good times...but don't do that.
do this:

well, do this and then take it out to throw it away!

NO, this eating plan is still not helping my hips BUT something else IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
more on that in it's own little separate post.

SO, why am I still eating like this?
I'm addicted.
I'm addicted to falling asleep so peacefully at night.
I'm addicted to the lack of sleepiness at 3pm.
I'm addicted to the clear headedness.
I'm addicted to my clear skin.
I'm addicted to the way my tummy feels...sooo good.
I'm addicted to just knowing there are NO chemicals entering my system. None.  Nada.
I'm addicted to how I feel when I work out - just strong.

Plus, duh...look at some of the stuff we've been eating...SO YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!


**NONE of these pictures are mine...they all belong to the websites I linked and they all did awesome jobs so I just went with it -