Favorite cookbook

Do you have a favorite Paleo cookbook? I do!  It is Well Fed .  Hands down it has the most delicious recipes.  Last night I made the pad Thai recipe.  It was time consuming as I doubled the recipe and also did not prepare very well for it (should have made the sunshine sauce in advance, though I did grill the chicken the night before.). But it was all well worth it.  My kids even loved it!

Next time I plan on adding a little fish sauce to make the flavor more authentic. The lime juice and fresh cilantro added a nice touch as well.

I decided that I am going to cook my way through the book.  I have made quite a few of the dishes, but I am going to try all of them now.  You know, like that girl who did the blog about cooking all of the recipes in the Art of French Cooking.  Except these recipes are much easier and no one is going to make a movie out  of my experiences.

There is a Well Fed 2 book out as well!  Alas, I do not own it yet.  Yet.

Oh- I couldn't find any sun butter without sugar or nasty canola oil added to it, so I made my own.  It was easy, just time consuming.  I only added salt and EVOO.  It is really yummy. I will make my own from now on.  :)

On another note, have you ever tried pumpkin seed butter?  Sounds yummy right?  WRONG!  I paid $18 for a jar and it was foul.  I know we were expecting pumpkin pie, but it didn't even taste like yummy roasted pumpkin seeds.  Don't buy it!

Take a chance eggs

What do you do when there's not much in the fridge?  You take a chance and create something new!

My ingredients:

Two eggs

Ground turkey

Butternut squash

Homemade Paleo mayo

Salt

Garam masala spice

Chopped sundried tomatoes

Pre-cooked chopped onions

Bacon grease

I cooked the ground turkey in a little bacon grease and seasoned with salt and garam masala (no idea how this would turn out.). Set aside.

Cooked the frozen butternut squash on the stove.  While that was cooking I scrambled the eggs in a little bit of bacon grease and added the onions (they had been sautéed in- wait for it- bacon grease! ) When it was almost done cooking I threw in the ground turkey and sundried tomatoes.  Then I scooped it on a plate next to the butternut squash and drizzled it with the mayo.  Omg it was good!!

Tasteful Tuesday

I took the kids to the San Diego Zoo yesterday.  I LOVE that zoo.  I practically grew up there.  My daughter thought I was just partial to my zoo because I grew up in San Diego.  After all, we have been to zoos all over- including Tokyo, Singapore, Washington DC and Seattle.  After our visit yesterday she conceded with me.  It is IS the best freakin' zoo there is.

Why the zoo story?  Well it was a last minute trip which means I broke up with my Whole 30-ish. I will be back at it tomorrow.  I would say today but this evening I had pizza.  Whoops.  By the way, my stomach wasn't happy with me this morning.  It really is necessary for me to follow a Paleo lifestyle because if I don't I pay for it!

This morning I did start the day off right with my sweet potato and yam fries topped with two sunny side up eggs and homemade mayo. Very TAsty Tuesday indeed! 

Breffis and sweet potatoes or yams?

Know what I discovered upon moving (back) to California?  

Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing!  What I had been calling sweet potatoes and the East coast grocery stores called that as well were actually YAMS!  I really thought they were one in the same.  

But upon visiting the local grocery store I found two bins- one with sweet potatoes and the other with yams.  The yams have more color. If you look at the picture of my sweet potato fries you will see they almost look like regular ole' Idaho white potatoes (they have paprika on them hence the color.) But they are not.  And I think they are a little sweeter than yams.  Very yummy in either case.

My breffis (breakfast) (as we jokingly call it in our house), consists of leftover sweet potato fries and a chicken thigh.  I topped the chicken with two sunny side up eggs and added a good measure of homemade mayo on the side.

Here's to making it a great day. :)

Apples are yummy and yes I am back (again)

Haven't blogged in a while, blah blah, two moves, major life changes, new state (California!!). You know, life happens.

I am on day eight of my Whole 30-ish.  I hate Whole 30 because it restricts from eating out or doing anything unplanned.  But I needs it!  Seriously, I was looking and feeling like a big pile of stinky doo doo.  My eating was just too far off track. Let me tell you I feel a world better and even look better after just eight days.

So Whole 30-ish.  The "ish" means I went out to eat (twice so far), and ate as clean as possible- but I don't know if the bacon had sugar in it (probably) and the cranberries in my salad did for sure.  I did my best.  I am not considering it a cheat because then I think I need to let loose and eat crap.  

Oh- the apple.  I was still hungry after my brunch of chicken salad with an avocado so I grabbed an apple on my way to run errands.  That Apple was delicious.  

Know what I love the best about eating clean?  That eating something as simple and fresh like an apple is so rewarding and delicious.  Get all of the toxic sugar and fake sugar out of your body and your taste buds can appreciate nature's real desserts.

Seriously, it was a damn good apple.  (That's Apollo doing his "look at my soft white bellay come pet me" pose.)

Now go eat an apple.