Trying Paleo

Along with working out at the crossfit gym with Frank lately…we’ve slowly been changing our diet. It’s called Paleo (or Caveman diet/Zone..they are all pretty similar). Basically you cut out all processed foods, gluten/starches, legumes, dairy, sugar, to name a few. Eat lots of veggies, eggs, grass fed/organic meats, fruits/berries, nuts. To make it easy, you knock off the bottom level of the food pyramid (breads and grains), and the dairy. I’ve still been eating a little dairy now and then…creamer in my coffee, and very limited cheese. And of course we have “cheat” times where we’ll eat a pizza and dessert! We’re trying to limit those cheats to just once or twice a week. So far we’ve been doing this about 4 weeks and feel great. I’ve actually been cooking Paleo dinners for about a year. Now we’re getting a little more serious about it.

I didn’t just walk into this blindly, though. I researched a ton online, read a book about it…and I’m still researching...it all made sense once I understood how our bodies process different types of food. I’ve had a really hard time eating veggies, pretty much my whole life. There were about 3 or 4 veggies that I would eat, and I did not eat them often. Same with fruits and fish. The past couple of weeks I have been forcing myself to try all sorts of different foods, and I am realizing that they aren’t as bad as I thought, and I actually feel a lot better eating them! This whole way of eating has been a wake-up call…I’ve realized that I can do without breads, pastas, and sugar. Yes, it tastes really good…but doesn’t really make me feel all that great. Just in the past few weeks my energy level has shot waayyy up. I no longer get drowsy in the afternoons at work, I feel great after eating a high protein breakfast every day (I would skip breakfast a lot before), and I just overall feel a lot healthier.

Frank is really reaping the benefits of this. He has trimmed up a ton and looks great! I’m really proud of him and I’m glad we’re in this together and supporting each other.

We’ve tried all kinds of new recipes lately. Just last night I made these (but used spinach instead of zucchini): http://everydaypaleo.com/2011/06/03/family-style-frittatas/ . It’s a breakfast meal, but we had all the ingredients on hand so we had breakfast-for-dinner. The leftovers went in the fridge and tasted really good reheated in the morning.

Just thought I’d share. Sometimes I think we’re a little crazy but it really has made a world of difference. Last weekend I did cheat quite a bit with my beach trip. Of course, this weekend I’ll probably indulge a little too since I’ll be in TX for my friends shower and wedding planning. Wedding cake tasting? Yeah, I can’t quite pass that up! And I'm sure a few celebratory drinks will had to celebrate her birthday too :). For the most part, however...I think we'll be sticking with this.

Stuffed Flank Steak

Last week I made this stuffed flank steak recipe that I found in an old H&G Grilling magazine from last year. It was yummy, the filling was a mixture of feta, spinach, and bacon, along with some spices. It looks kind of fancy but was not really difficult at all. I’ll definitely be making this again sometime soon, maybe when we have company. Frank has been working out at a crossfit gym off and on for about a year so now, and while he’s been doing those workouts we’ve been trying to eat as “paleo” as possible. Which is basically the caveman diet, where you just eat meats, fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. Nothing processed, little to no carbs, and no sugar. We all know I can’t follow those rules! I try to, for dinner at least. And this recipe proved to be a good paleo dinner for us. Not sure if feta cheese falls in the “do not eat” category, if it did then we may have cheated just a tad. Oh well, it was worth it!

yummy yummy

This past weekend was a busy one. We really did not get as much done with the house as we had planned. I have been painting door trim which proves to take a while, especially when you have 22 of them and they all need 2 coats. On Saturday Frank lead a missing-man formation flyover for a funeral  for a Tuskegee Airman who passed away. It was right over a church in downtown Montgomery, I could hear them flying from home that morning, but it was just far away enough that I couldn’t see it. Frank's squadron is the heritage squadron for the Tuskegee Airmen (Tuskegee Airmen History), so it was a pretty neat honor that they got to do this flyover. Here is a slideshow of the photos from the funeral- In photo 14- Frank's flying the jet 2^nd from the left.

Funeral Slideshow

Saturday afternoon we went furniture shopping. We went to three stores but didn’t buy anything, we just can’t decide on what we want! Frank’s sister’s family is coming from MI to visit us in about a month, so we’ll definitely need furniture before then! It’s getting to the point where we will just have to throw down with something and go with it! Saturday night we went to our neighbors house from some home-cookin’. It was very good, as usual, and fun hanging out with all the neighbors.

Sunday we made it to a late morning Easter Mass and then did a little work on the house, not too much! Then that evening we met up with two other couples for our Easter Dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse. It was good to spend time with some other younger couples and get out of the house for a night. All in all- it was a relaxing weekend for the most part.

As of yesterday Frank is now an F-16 IP (instructor pilot). He’s the youngest pilot at their base who is certified to do what he’s doing, which is kinda neat. I know he is very relieved to be done with the instructor course (he’s been working on it since Dec.). It’s a huge weight off his shoulders. He’ll be leaving for Vegas this weekend for 2 weeks (for "work", of course!), and I’ll be out there the 2^nd weekend of May for his sister's bachelorette party – fun! :)

Armed and ready for the weekly weekend booty kicking

Well…I didn’t get the laundry room painted, but the baseboards are caulked and the pool pump is working! So tempting to go swimming, but it’s still just a little too cold. I probably could have gotten more accomplished last weekend, but I spent some time hanging out with friends on Sat. night. So…the laundry room took the back burner :).

The other night we were watching TV and Frank pulled up my blog on his phone and started reading it to me…so irritating! It's like watching a video of yourself or hearing yourself talk. I hate hearing what I write, haha! He secretly likes my blog, I know it.

This week has been good- Frank got home from Vermont a day late on Wednesday, and it’s been really nice having him home. His first night back I made this really, really DELISH lemon chicken dish for dinner:

I had every intention of taking a picture of it before we started eating, but it smelled so good that it didn't least 2 seconds before we started digging in. So this photo is stolen from the website!

It makes me very happy that I can cook again. We still don't have all the kitchen stuff unpacked, but I have enough for the basics. This was super easy to make and very yummy. I used about 5 thin sliced chicken breasts and we had no leftovers! We’re a bunch of oinkers!

So, so glad it's Friday, even though that just means that we're about to get our booties kicked by the house this weekend. We have big plans for blowing insulation in the attic, along with some electrical work and a few other small jobs. Wish us luck...