Wednesday, October 2, 2013
I changed my blog website, join me there!
I've updated to a Word Press blog, join me at www.oneluckycavegirl.com for more!
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
Simple Sunday Dinner, 9.29.13
This was our dinner last Sunday night. I couldn't find my good camera, it must have grown legs as things tend to do in our house, so these images were shot with my iPhone, which is fairly apparent!
I was just winging it, throwing together some things I had on hand, which happens a lot. We love spaghetti squash. Before we made the change to paleo, and therefore no grains, we ate pasta at least once per week. It was easy to prepare and everyone liked it. Now we use substitutions for grain-based pasta noodles. Usually that ends up being spaghetti squash because Mother Nature made this awesome tasting, noodle-like plant that pretty much tastes good paired with everything! We have also used julienne sliced zucchini and yellow squash as a noodle replacement. I've also seen carrots done this way, but I have yet to try it since we love spaghetti squash.
My husband's parents had a very successful garden this year and gave us a bunch of spaghetti squash from their garden, which we are putting to good use. I now have to make two squash for one meal, one isn't enough for my hungry, growing crew anymore, but that's OK because then we have leftovers for lunch for a couple days!
I cut the squash length-wise, scooped out the seeds and put it in a baking dish with about 1.5 inches of water in a 350 degree oven. I usually cover with foil and sometimes salt and pepper, but since the cave husband actually put this in the oven for me, those steps got skipped, (before you think I'm badmouthing my husband, I'm not, that was on me since I didn't even mention that he should do that) but the squash turned out completely fine! It takes between 30-45 mins to get the desired tenderness, you want it tender, but not falling apart, and not crunchy. Then you just take it out and use a fork to separate the strands of squash and put into a bowl, scooping all the flesh out until you reach the skins. If you have a compost or better yet, pigs, the skins can be put to good use!
While the squash was cooking, I used 2 jars of bottled marinara sauce (I said this was simple! I like Costco's marinara, I just went to get more today and they didn't have it, I was very sad, I hope they bring it back. Whatever marinara sauce you use, if you don't make your own, try to get the cleanest possible sauce, without sugar and with just a few ingredients that you can pronounce!) I combined the sauce with 2 lbs of ground beef which had been browned. We don't drain it, that fat is good for you, don't you know! The fat in healthy cows, as well as other healthy animals who have been allowed to roam outside in the sunshine and munch on grass growing from the ground is full of easily absorbed vitamin D! We get vitamin D from the sun and so do they, and they so kindly give it to us in their fat! I get 100% grass-fed and pastured meats whenever possible, after all, we don't eat grain and don't want the animals we eat to be consuming grain either. It makes them sick, since it's not their natural diet and causes all sorts of problems, thus making things like antibiotics necessary, then we eat that animal and we've now consumed man made hormones and other icky things, so there's my plug for grass-fed beef, it won't be the last.
Then I made some asparagus, which isn't something we eat a lot. But I think that's about to change! I didn't like asparagus growing up, so I have sort of avoided it, silly me, it's so good! Only 1 out of the 4 kids actually truly liked the asparagus, but they all had some. I just threw it in my grill pan and drizzled some olive oil on it and fresh ground salt and pepper, I used grinders for both salt and pepper. I really like the pink Himalayan sea salt, it has a whole bunch of naturally occurring minerals in there along with the salty goodness, and there is nothing that can replace the flavor of freshly ground pepper! I did add some cheese to the asparagus. We will occasionally have good quality dairy when we can get it (not ultra-pasteurized and from grass fed cows, and totally UN-pasturized, if we can find and afford it). I grated some Kerrygold Dubliner cheese on the asparagus, and it added a nice flavor, but this can be left off if dairy is not something you tolerate. Dairy is not strictly paleo, but we feel that dairy from grass fed cows (Kerrygold is a company that uses grass-fed dairy for their products) is a good source of nutrients and can add nice flavor to things, but we do use it very occasionally and I had some on hand, so I thought I'd add it in for a nice flavor. I cooked the asparagus until the color brightened up, and it was still crisp, but not raw and crunchy.
Finished meal, ready to go!
My finished plate, I added more to it, this wasn't quite enough, I also had seconds of the asparagus, it was really yummy!
This meal made enough for us to put the leftovers in containers in the fridge, about 4 lunches worth for my husband to take with him to work during the week. I like to do this a couple nights per week, so he has something ready to go when he leaves very early for work in the morning.
And now, just for the heck of it, a picture of our puppy, Axl and our 5 year old, Owen, at the gym hanging out while I got in a workout, they love it there!
I was just winging it, throwing together some things I had on hand, which happens a lot. We love spaghetti squash. Before we made the change to paleo, and therefore no grains, we ate pasta at least once per week. It was easy to prepare and everyone liked it. Now we use substitutions for grain-based pasta noodles. Usually that ends up being spaghetti squash because Mother Nature made this awesome tasting, noodle-like plant that pretty much tastes good paired with everything! We have also used julienne sliced zucchini and yellow squash as a noodle replacement. I've also seen carrots done this way, but I have yet to try it since we love spaghetti squash.
My husband's parents had a very successful garden this year and gave us a bunch of spaghetti squash from their garden, which we are putting to good use. I now have to make two squash for one meal, one isn't enough for my hungry, growing crew anymore, but that's OK because then we have leftovers for lunch for a couple days!
I cut the squash length-wise, scooped out the seeds and put it in a baking dish with about 1.5 inches of water in a 350 degree oven. I usually cover with foil and sometimes salt and pepper, but since the cave husband actually put this in the oven for me, those steps got skipped, (before you think I'm badmouthing my husband, I'm not, that was on me since I didn't even mention that he should do that) but the squash turned out completely fine! It takes between 30-45 mins to get the desired tenderness, you want it tender, but not falling apart, and not crunchy. Then you just take it out and use a fork to separate the strands of squash and put into a bowl, scooping all the flesh out until you reach the skins. If you have a compost or better yet, pigs, the skins can be put to good use!
While the squash was cooking, I used 2 jars of bottled marinara sauce (I said this was simple! I like Costco's marinara, I just went to get more today and they didn't have it, I was very sad, I hope they bring it back. Whatever marinara sauce you use, if you don't make your own, try to get the cleanest possible sauce, without sugar and with just a few ingredients that you can pronounce!) I combined the sauce with 2 lbs of ground beef which had been browned. We don't drain it, that fat is good for you, don't you know! The fat in healthy cows, as well as other healthy animals who have been allowed to roam outside in the sunshine and munch on grass growing from the ground is full of easily absorbed vitamin D! We get vitamin D from the sun and so do they, and they so kindly give it to us in their fat! I get 100% grass-fed and pastured meats whenever possible, after all, we don't eat grain and don't want the animals we eat to be consuming grain either. It makes them sick, since it's not their natural diet and causes all sorts of problems, thus making things like antibiotics necessary, then we eat that animal and we've now consumed man made hormones and other icky things, so there's my plug for grass-fed beef, it won't be the last.
Then I made some asparagus, which isn't something we eat a lot. But I think that's about to change! I didn't like asparagus growing up, so I have sort of avoided it, silly me, it's so good! Only 1 out of the 4 kids actually truly liked the asparagus, but they all had some. I just threw it in my grill pan and drizzled some olive oil on it and fresh ground salt and pepper, I used grinders for both salt and pepper. I really like the pink Himalayan sea salt, it has a whole bunch of naturally occurring minerals in there along with the salty goodness, and there is nothing that can replace the flavor of freshly ground pepper! I did add some cheese to the asparagus. We will occasionally have good quality dairy when we can get it (not ultra-pasteurized and from grass fed cows, and totally UN-pasturized, if we can find and afford it). I grated some Kerrygold Dubliner cheese on the asparagus, and it added a nice flavor, but this can be left off if dairy is not something you tolerate. Dairy is not strictly paleo, but we feel that dairy from grass fed cows (Kerrygold is a company that uses grass-fed dairy for their products) is a good source of nutrients and can add nice flavor to things, but we do use it very occasionally and I had some on hand, so I thought I'd add it in for a nice flavor. I cooked the asparagus until the color brightened up, and it was still crisp, but not raw and crunchy.
This meal made enough for us to put the leftovers in containers in the fridge, about 4 lunches worth for my husband to take with him to work during the week. I like to do this a couple nights per week, so he has something ready to go when he leaves very early for work in the morning.
And now, just for the heck of it, a picture of our puppy, Axl and our 5 year old, Owen, at the gym hanging out while I got in a workout, they love it there!
Where we are, how we got here and where we are going.
I racked my brains about what to call this blog and in turn, what to call myself for this blog. One Lucky Cavegirl came to me the other night while driving with my kids. I was trying to come up with something that reflects our lifestyle and how I feel about it. Well, I'm one lucky cavegirl indeed, so it stuck! I am blessed to have a wonderful cave husband and FOUR rambunctious, handsome, and charming little cavemen. Plus two awesome paleo pups! I am a very lucky cavegirl!
OK, this blog is mostly for me. Selfish reasons aside, I do hope that it gets read by people and above all, I hope it helps people. I've been thinking lately that I need a way to write down my thoughts about all the things I learn in my quest for better health for my family. I also wanted somewhere to keep my recipes and what works and what doesn't, what we liked and what we didn't. Using this format, I can post pictures of food I make, any changes I would make from the original recipe and hopefully inspire myself and others to make quick, easy meals that taste great and nourish ourselves and our loved ones. Attention; I will ALWAYS give credit to recipes that aren't my original work. I understand that other Paleo bloggers and authors work very hard to create their recipes, so I will always give credit where credit is due. I will also post changes I make to any recipes created by another person, but also include links and credits to the original recipes.
I find a lot recipes that work well as is, but I often change recipes to suit our tastes and dietary needs and the ingredients I have on hand. And sometimes I just make them up as I go along! I hope I can inspire others to do the same.
I am sort of a podcast junkie, my husband gets a little tired of hearing about all of the new things I'm geeking out on from podcasts and books and websites, etc, so this is somewhere I can put it down, with links so I can find the information easily in one place, yay technology! I love science and finding out how our bodies work, and especially how are bodies react and use the foods we eat and the exercise we do.
Our "Paleo Journey" as so many call it, started about two years ago when my husband read a book by this really cool, super smart guy, Robb Wolf. It's called The Paleo Solution. After reading this book, we dabbled in Paleo, my husband stuck with it a bit more than I did in the beginning. I wasn't really on board right away, bread is yummy, after all. Since I do a bigger portion of the shopping, planning and preparing meals, I would say it took a full year and a half to really make the complete change to a Paleo lifestyle and eating a pretty clean diet. I have to say, dabbling in Paleo is NOT something I recommend, you will not get the results you desire, and you won't feel as good as you can. My husband saw immediate results, literally within days of starting Robb's 30 day recipe plan. He felt better looked better, slept better, and on and on, it was truly amazing! This lifestyle is still a work in progress, we have our weaknesses, after all, we're only human. One thing we almost never compromise on anymore is gluten, if we do, it's usually by accident and I will know it because of the migraine that will inevitably follow and my youngest son's skin will be one big patch of eczema, among some other, not so PC side effects. But I'm sure this isn't the last time gluten will come up, stay tuned!
I do have a full time job and four young boys, and the cave husband just opened a CrossFit Gym, in partnership with two other people, so we're busy, I will post whenever I have something to post about and when I have time, hopefully a couple times per week, even if it's just a picture + recipe of what we had for dinner that isn't an In & Out protein style burger. The new gym will definitely come up, since a lot of our time and energy is spent there.
Here is our modern cave family, minus one dog, since we hadn't added him to our family yet, he's only three months old now.
OK, this blog is mostly for me. Selfish reasons aside, I do hope that it gets read by people and above all, I hope it helps people. I've been thinking lately that I need a way to write down my thoughts about all the things I learn in my quest for better health for my family. I also wanted somewhere to keep my recipes and what works and what doesn't, what we liked and what we didn't. Using this format, I can post pictures of food I make, any changes I would make from the original recipe and hopefully inspire myself and others to make quick, easy meals that taste great and nourish ourselves and our loved ones. Attention; I will ALWAYS give credit to recipes that aren't my original work. I understand that other Paleo bloggers and authors work very hard to create their recipes, so I will always give credit where credit is due. I will also post changes I make to any recipes created by another person, but also include links and credits to the original recipes.
I find a lot recipes that work well as is, but I often change recipes to suit our tastes and dietary needs and the ingredients I have on hand. And sometimes I just make them up as I go along! I hope I can inspire others to do the same.
I am sort of a podcast junkie, my husband gets a little tired of hearing about all of the new things I'm geeking out on from podcasts and books and websites, etc, so this is somewhere I can put it down, with links so I can find the information easily in one place, yay technology! I love science and finding out how our bodies work, and especially how are bodies react and use the foods we eat and the exercise we do.
Our "Paleo Journey" as so many call it, started about two years ago when my husband read a book by this really cool, super smart guy, Robb Wolf. It's called The Paleo Solution. After reading this book, we dabbled in Paleo, my husband stuck with it a bit more than I did in the beginning. I wasn't really on board right away, bread is yummy, after all. Since I do a bigger portion of the shopping, planning and preparing meals, I would say it took a full year and a half to really make the complete change to a Paleo lifestyle and eating a pretty clean diet. I have to say, dabbling in Paleo is NOT something I recommend, you will not get the results you desire, and you won't feel as good as you can. My husband saw immediate results, literally within days of starting Robb's 30 day recipe plan. He felt better looked better, slept better, and on and on, it was truly amazing! This lifestyle is still a work in progress, we have our weaknesses, after all, we're only human. One thing we almost never compromise on anymore is gluten, if we do, it's usually by accident and I will know it because of the migraine that will inevitably follow and my youngest son's skin will be one big patch of eczema, among some other, not so PC side effects. But I'm sure this isn't the last time gluten will come up, stay tuned!
I do have a full time job and four young boys, and the cave husband just opened a CrossFit Gym, in partnership with two other people, so we're busy, I will post whenever I have something to post about and when I have time, hopefully a couple times per week, even if it's just a picture + recipe of what we had for dinner that isn't an In & Out protein style burger. The new gym will definitely come up, since a lot of our time and energy is spent there.
Here is our modern cave family, minus one dog, since we hadn't added him to our family yet, he's only three months old now.
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