Spring Break (aka Week with my Dad)

So, as previously stated, my Spring Break was a week full of hosting my father at my house and cooking paleo for him or making him eat mostly paleo when we ate out.  However, he adamantly refused to give up his morning coffee, complete with Cold Stone Creamery coffee cream...wah wah wah :(  Oh well, doing the diet a little bit is better than not doing it at all.
The first night my dad was in town, I didn't have time to go to the grocery store before he got there, so I made him dinner out of leftover Paleo Cajun Meatloaf, steamed asparagus, and sauteed portabella mushrooms.  The first dinner was a success....my dad really liked the meatloaf!

Day #1: Dinner

On the second night I made a repeat dinner, but one my dad had never had (Braised Chicken Thighs).  I paired the chicken thighs with steamed broccoli and raw organic baby carrot sticks.  The verdict from the father...another success!

 Day #2: Dinner

On the third day, I made salads for lunch with flank steak on them.  

 Day #3: Lunch

For dinner that night, I made Paleo Tacos with ground turkey and steamed bell peppers.  We ate almost all of the ground turkey, but I ended up with just enough leftover to add to my lunch salad for the next day.  Another meal that my dad liked, but he really liked the homemade guacamole that I added some jalapeno pepper to!

Day #3: Dinner

On night #4, my dad picked out a recipe that he found online for Foil Baked Salmon with Basil Pesto and Tomatoes. We headed to the grocery store and bought all of the needed ingredients! My dad actually made the basil pesto for me while I was teaching a riding lesson so I don't really know how labor intensive it was, but the rest of the recipe was a breeze to make!

Dinner before baking

 While the salmon was baking, I steamed some white asparagus and whipped together my own recipe for mashed "faux"tatoes (aka mashed cauliflower).  I steamed the cauliflower and then threw the florets into the food processor along with some freshly ground pepper, some salt, chives, ghee (clarified butter), and some chicken stock that was leftover from the last time I made chicken soup. So below is the final product...

 Day #4: Dinner

 Now here's the funny part, I've made mashed cauliflower 3 times now and this was the first time I didn't go straight off of a recipe, so I was taking a bit of a gamble.  They actually turned out better than I had expected, however, I couldn't finish my serving due to how spicy they were. My best friend happened to call me just as I was cleaning up after dinner and I was telling her about how spicy the mashed "faux"tatoes were and when I said that I think I put too many chives in the recipe she started laughing at me.  Laughing at me, can you believe it?! So apparently chives aren't spicy, but I couldn't just take her word for it, so I made sure to taste test a chive on its own.  And yep, she was right.  So the only thing I could figure out was that I just put way too much ground pepper in. It was so spicy I couldn't even eat it as leftovers the next day. Whoops!  The salmon, however, was very good and the basil pesto and tomatoes were delicious on it.  My dad did a very nice job picking the recipe!

The next day, I made another salad for lunch, this time with chicken breast. 

Day #5: Lunch

If you're wondering where the rest of the meals are, some of them we ate out for and some I simply forgot to take pictures of, but everything was quite delicious and I'm glad my dad got to try paleo, even if it was only for a week.  At the end of the week, he even lost 3 lbs! I considered the week to be a success and it was fun too cook for someone for the week.

 

I'm still alive!

I had to laugh a little when I read my last post and saw that I apologized for not posting in 2 weeks.  Well, this time it's been about 3 weeks since my last post, so I have a lot to catch you up on!  However, I will post the past few weeks separately so you don't get stuck reading the longest blog ever!

Let's start with March 6th, shall we?  That evening I had dinner with a couple friends/co-workers who I chaperoned an alternative Spring Break trip with last year to New Orleans.  We had been talking about how much fun we had and how great the food was, so we decided to do a little Cajun cooking of our own.  I had found a  recipe for Paleo Gumbo, but the recipe was much too labor intensive for the amount of time I had, so I decided to go with a recipe that I had found for Paleo Cajun Meatloaf.  It was extremely easy to make and it's perfect for leftover meals since they are mini meatloaves made in a muffin tin.  See below.

 

Mmmmm....meat!!!

The recipe was extremely easy and the meatloaf was nice and moist! It was also quite spicy with the sauce that the recipe calls for! Also included in the dinner was Ratatouille (which happens to be paleo friendly) and then vegetable chips and homemade layered taco dip (those were not paleo friendly but I ate them anyway and they were delicious)! :) 

 Delicious Dinner

The weekend of the 9th and 10th, I judged a horse show back home so it was kind of hard not to cheat during the day, seeing that most horse show concession stand food isn't paleo friendly. However, each morning I had eggs and bacon for breakfast and had a paleo friendly meal out at restaurants. We went to Texas Roadhouse on Saturday night and I ordered a side salad, Filet Mignon, and unbuttered mixed veggies.  Then on Sunday night, we went to the Lafayette Brewing Company and I ordered a Cobb Salad (sans cheese) with their house balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

The weekend of the 9th and 10th was probably the worst that I've cheated on my diet up to this point, so I was somewhat worried that when I jumped back on the scale when I got home, I would have gained a couple extra pounds.  To my surprise, I came home and found out that I had lost a total of 20 lbs since Jan. 13th!!!  Woohoo!  The next week was my Spring Break, and since I had no plans to go anywhere this year, I invited my dad to come visit for the week and try out the paleo diet.  To read more about this exciting week with new recipes, check out the next post to come! :)

It's been a crazy couple of weeks!

So I just realized that I haven't posted in over 2 weeks and shame on me!  My schedule has gotten increasingly busier over the past couple weeks since starting back into my master's classes and getting into the horse show season, so I haven't had a lot of time to explore new recipes.  I've still been eating well though, with exception to this past weekend (I majorly cheated...multiple times) :(

I'm back on track now, though, so let's visit some of the food that's been in my life over the last two weeks.  First, something fun.  On the weekend of February 23rd and 24th, my team hosted a weekend of shows for the second weekend in a row.  Even though I was quite tired, I still made my breakfast and lunch each day, and then ordered a paleo dinner at whatever restaurant where we ended up eating dinner.  I include organic baby carrots in my lunch almost every day and on one day over the weekend I ended up with a slightly deformed baby carrot.  After looking at it for a bit, I have no choice but to make it an Easter Bunny! How cute is that, right!?!  And speaking of Easter, I can't wait to break out some paleo cooking for the family then!

 Last Tuesday, I made a grilled chicken breast (seasoned with Emeril's Essence) on my indoor griddle, steamed some white asparagus, and sauteed some portabella mushrooms in minced garlic and ghee.  It was a super easy and fast meal.

Last Wednesday, I attempted a meal in my slow cooker for the first time since starting the paleo diet.  I made Ancho Chile Pulled Pork Barbeque.

First, I started with the list of ingredients for the rub...

Then mixed them all together...

 Then I put the rub all over the pork and placed it in the slow cooker with a bit of water...

9 hours later, I made the sauce for the pulled pork and poured a bit of it all over the pork...

I then steamed some green beans, put a little extra sauce in a cup, and sat down to eat...

So how was it?  Let's just say I won't be making this again.  I will put a disclaimer that I'm really picky about my barbeque sauce, but this sauce just didn't do it for me.  I had to force myself to eat it and the leftovers are still sitting in my fridge :(  So it's back to the internet to find a different pulled pork recipe!

Over this past weekend, I did quite a bit of cheating on my diet, but I sneaked some paleo meals in when I could.  I just keep forgetting to take pictures of my food when I'm out, but I'll try to remember in the future! Overall though, even with my cheating, I am down 17 pounds from Jan. 13th!  I wore a cardigan last night that I haven't worn since I bought it last Janurary and it's too big now!  Too bad I didn't still have the tags on it, or else I would have returned it.  Oh well.. 

Next week is my Spring Break, so I'll have more time to try some new recipes...so look for more posts soon!