Practical Paleo

It's no secret that Drew and I have been living an unhealthy lifestyle for quite some time. And unfortunately it's not as interesting as "Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll." Nope.. it's mostly been about some really bad and not satisfying food and watching too many NCIS or Law and Order marathons together instead of pushing each other to go outside and do something.

Portland has been a huge blessing. We're surrounded by healthier options and beautiful landscapes. Dog parks alone have been a huge saving grace. [We will not talk about the escapades of Casandra's visit this weekend and how we ate our way across the PNW... But in a post soon I will talk about how much joy Casandra's visit brought me :)] However, then we were faced with my car accident and cross fit stopped and so did eating and preparing our own meals that consist of more than tater tots and sandwiches.

A few posts back I told you that we were going to take some time every week to cook a few meals out of this book "Practical Paleo." Drew had to visit Galesburg for work and then of course we celebrated my birthday hard... So we hadn't had the chance to jump into it. But here we go!

Practical Paleo is recipe book by Diane Sanfilippo. I bought it a while ago and loved the sound of the recipes but hadn't actually worked on anything from it. A few weeks ago, Drew and I sat down and went through the book and tagged some pages that we found interesting. 

While Drew napped, I wrote the recipes we wanted to try on popsicle sticks and put them in three separate mason jars. There weren't an equal number of entrees, sides, breakfasts and desserts... So I think entrees have their own jar, sides, and then breakfast and desserts are together. The idea is that we'll pull one stick from each jar and those are recipes we have to try that week. This week is Chocolate Mousse, Lamb Lettuce Boats and Quiche. (pictures below) 

Moo-Less Chocolate Mousse

Lamb Lettuce Boats with avo-ziki sauce

Swirly crustless quiche

Tonight I will be going to the store to by the ingredients and tomorrow night we'll start cooking.

During Casandra's visit, she was telling me about how she also wants to get back on track (again, her visit to Portland did not help that idea once we met up with Drew... I did take her to the Cultured Caveman food truck though!)

In our conversation about getting back on track and accountability she was telling me about this book: Make Ahead Paleo. My fear was that with how many hours I'm out of the house, how do I pack lunches and dinner? So we are both going to try this book sometime this week and hold each other accountable for our meals.

I'm excited to start feeling better again. I know that this way of eating makes me feel better. It's just so easy to be busy with life and go to the drive thru. Or order pizza. But I am learning that I do have dietary restrictions (hello, lactose intolerance) and that to keep eating foods that make me feel crappy is stupid. So let's try a different alternative and feel GOOD! Plus, Voodoo doughnuts twice in one weekend is ffaarrrrrrrr tooooooo much! (but so good!) 

More updates as the food is being made :)