Paleo Breakfast!

When you have a lot of dietary restrictions, food prep becomes your best friend. I like to have breakfast ready and waiting for me in the morning because when I get up I have to take my herbal meds and it's very time consuming. I have herbs to take before I can eat. Then, I have other herbs I have to take with food. It's this big ordeal every meal time. And when I first get up in the morning the last thing I want to do is cook. I want to take my meds, eat, then take the rest. Period. So, since we don't eat grains and oatmeal and cereal are both out, I have to prepare ahead of time so I can have healthy breakfasts at my finger tips (or at least in my freezer). I try to spend one day a week in the kitchen preparing foods that can stay in the freezer and be taken out the night before as needed. This is quite difficult when you have an illness because I get fatigued quite easily and standing on my feet is tough. Thankfully my wonderful husband is such a big help to me.
I try my best to have variety and change it up as I go. My toddler asks me each night at bedtime what's for breakfast and again in the morning. It's like a surprise each day. Here's a glimpse of what it takes to feed us breakfast for the week.
We call it "baking day", and typically it's on a Tuesday. This is actually very strategic, as I pick a day of the week with nothing else going on. I have to be very careful not to plan more than one thing on any given day because once I've done one thing, I'm pretty much down for the count. "Baking Day" usually starts off with making coconut milk.

This is because many of my breakfast recipes require it, I need it for smoothies for the week, and it's a great fat! Search my blog for my coconut milk how to!


Once the coconut milk is finished I start the baking process. I try to double recipes a lot to cut down on time...mostly our favourites get doubled.


Here is one of my favourites, banana bread! (this recipe is also on the blog)

We eat this with grass fed butter, yum!

Here is another of our favourites, blueberry muffins! These are lightly sweetened and have lots of that yummy, fatty coconut milk.

Now, even though these are one of our favourites, I don't make a double batch (well, actually I do, but a double batch of these only makes 12 muffins because the original recipe makes only 6). But, I only make the 12 because they have a lot of almond flour in them and I try not to consume too many almonds. It's easy to consume too much when using almond flour. We also do not make them every week but they're a great treat in the morning.

Here is the recipe!

https://livinghealthywithchocolate.com/desserts/paleo-blueberry-muffin-grain-free-gluten-free-low-carb-997/

I tried something new this week... I made this chai coffee cake, but instead of adding the topping from the recipe, I just sprinkled it with blueberries because I felt the topping would be too sweet for a breakfast. I think the topping would be delicious, but I would sub maple syrup or honey instead of the coconut sugar. https://www.theroastedroot.net/chai-spiced-paleo-coffee-cake/

The last thing I made for breakfast this week was a yummy grain free "granola bar". I totally need to do this more! And, I need to make a bigger batch. I love that I didn't have to bake it so I made it while I had something else in the oven and cut down on time. This will also be great for summer when I don't want to be running the oven so much.

We will eat these in the morning with a side of berries. I didn't use a recipe for these, just threw together a little bit of almond flour, sprouted sunflower seeds, tons of shredded coconut, almond butter, ground flax, coconut oil, and raw honey. Mix until it's the consistency you want and add things as needed. Easy peasy. Press into a glass dish greased with coconut oil. So good.

Well, that's what it takes to feed the kiddos and I breakfast for the week. My oldest has been asking for me to make cereal so I plan on mixing up some grain free "granola" soon.

I'm always looking for new ideas; do you have any great paleo breakfast recipes to share?

Just Part of the Journey

It's been a rough couple of days in this house. When you have an autoimmune disease, and people in your house come down with the flu, extra precautions are taken to keep it far from you. So far it's working...

On Tuesday night I put my toddler to bed ( he still sleeps in my bed) and after he had been sleeping for a couple of hours and I headed up to bed myself, he started to cry. This was just as my head had hit the pillow and I was ready for rest. I tried to console him and then he sat up and threw up all. over. my. bed. I quickly rushed him into the bathroom to clean him up and my hubby came to help. He kept our little guy occupied while I cleaned up the mess. Then, I brought him back to bed hoping for some of that rest I mentioned earlier. But, after only a few minutes in the nice clean bed, he threw up all over again. Let's just say, it was a long night.

Wednesday, our middle child wasn't feeling well (thankfully no puking from that one). And Thursday the oldest was hit.

I've had the diffuser going non stop for the past few days. Thieves is my best friend at the moment and I've got my trusty Digize on hand at all times. I absolutely love my oils!! I'm convinced that these life savers have kept this illness from lasting longer than it could have.

Here is my little guy taking one of MANY showers over the last couple of days. He's such a trooper, the poor thing. He kept telling us he didn't want to puke anymore and he just broke my heart. But, he's thankfully right back to normal. My husband and I have been super dosing ourselves with vitamin C and are determined to not catch this bug.

My amazing husband stayed up half of the first night doing the laundry for me while I tried to rest with the toddler. So, today I finally got to the folding and putting away of the mounds before me. Mom life can be so glamorous sometimes, right??!

I'm hoping and praying that we're at the end of it all. But, I'm still pumping the house full of Thieves to purify the air, keep germs at bay, and strengthen our immunity. I've been walking around with my spray bottle of Thieves cleaner, spraying down everything in sight. We've been taking daily walks to get fresh air and eating right as always. I'm super thankful it has passed everyone so quickly and I'm convinced it is because of proper care.

I'm being extra diligent about taking care of myself right now because if mom gets sick, well, not a lot is going to get done. So far, so good. Hoping for a more restful weekend :)

Keeping it Real

When I first started this blog I promised I'd be sharing the good, and the bad. I sometimes worry that I'm inaccurately portraying my life as something it isn't by my posts: beautifully plated food pictures, wonderful recipes, nutrition facts, and tips.  But the reality is far from perfect. I don't want to make it seem as though this is easy for me, or that I've got it all figured out. I'm not well today, it's nearly 6:00 in the evening, I haven't fed my family, and I'm sitting in my bed blogging while the kids watch Netflix on the iPad. Like the title of my post says, I'm just keeping it real.
I haven't been well for a few days...this illness is unpredictable and presents itself in many forms and has its own schedule it seems. It doesn't wait for my work to be done to rear its head. And, on top of that, I recently started a new protocol of meds that's been hard on my mind and body. I've been so blessed with amazing people in my life that help. My husband  has been keeping the house clean, helping with the kids, and emotionally supporting me. My mom came over yesterday and did my laundry and took me to get a few things I needed. She's been stopping by with groceries, and even cooked an amazing Easter meal for all of us this afternoon and kept the kids at her place for the afternoon while I rested at home. Friends have been understanding that I've been unable to keep plans, and hold me up in prayer.
It has been a tough week and I've really been struggling. But, I'm making it through because I know I'm not alone. And, I'm learning that a big part of my healing is taking the help when it's offered and allowing myself to take time for myself. Nourishing food is so crucial to our healing. But, so is rest and taking care of yourself emotionally. As a mom, it's hard to take time for yourself without feeling guilty. But, we're no good to our family when we are sick or just plain burnt out. I'm learning that. I still need to be told to stop, or to slow down. And, I don't always listen. But, I'm trying to listen more because I'm starting to understand how important this is to my healing.
I'm trying to live one day at a time (sometimes one minute at a time) and understand that I can't do it all or be it all. I don't need to because He is. This post is quite fitting for today. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Because He defeated death on the cross, we are given new life in Him. And, because of that, I don't need to be everything because He is everything. I don't need to depend on my own strength because He is my strength. When I can't make it through, He gets me through. I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful I serve a God who makes a way when there seems to be no way and gives me hope for another day. So, when I'm feeling like I just can't go on anymore, He reminds me that in Him I can do all things.

Paleo on a Budget

So, as I have said before, I've had many people tell me that they think it's great that I eat the way I do but that they never could. One of the reasons people think they couldn't do it is because they cannot afford it! We are a homeschool family of 5, and let me tell you, we are not rich. We sacrifice other things because food is important to us- food is life; it is our medicine, because without nourishing food we would be paying in other areas for sure. We often laugh that our grocery bill is higher than our mortgage, and it's true. However, we definitely have to be wise and stretch our food to make it work or I'm sure I could spend far more. Can you be paleo (or primal, keto, healthy) on a budget? Absolutely!!
Today, I want to share some budget friendly meals that are both nourishing and affordable. Eating healthy doesn't have to break the bank. The key is to include a protein, healthy fat, and some good veggies to each meal. Think about the money you'll save from eliminating soda, junk food, pastas and breads, and processed food; that stuff adds up!! You really can do it, and you can't afford not to.
If possible, try to find grass fed beef and farm grown chicken and eggs. If you look around, you can find some great local sources and save money by not shopping in the stores. I've developed some great relationships with local farmers that will deliver right to my door! If you can't afford to buy all organic produce, check out the "dirty" and "clean" list to determine which fruits and veggies have the least amount of pesticides and purchase non organic produce from that list. I hardly ever buy organic avocados for this reason.

Ok, so... let me show you what some great, healthy, affordable meals look like.

 When I started this journey, I was NOT about to give up comfort food. So, I tweaked everything I could to meet the criteria that was important to me. Here is the classic "Spaghetti and meatballs". Looks great, right??!! This dish is so simple and everyone loves it. And, there's a lot of variations as well. Bake your spaghetti squash (or throw it in the IP which is a.maze.ing. Cause it takes like 6 minutes in that thing!!) Make your sauce (with or without meat, or if you're really feeling adventurous, make some yummy meatballs), and DONE! You can puree some steamed spinach into your sauce, or I really love to bake this with some grass fed cheese to make lazy lasagna! YUM!

Speaking of comfort food, check these out!! When I think of comfort food, I think of "fried" food... which I don't eat! So, here are some great ways to give into that fried food craving, without the frying part. On the left are some "chicken nuggets"; Farm chicken breast dipped in egg, then into an almond flour coating. You can either "fry" them in a pan of avocado oil, or drizzle with the oil and pop in the oven. And, of course, you need to have fries. I always use avocado oil because it has a high smoke point. Cut up some regular or sweet potatoes, toss in the oil with a sprinkle of good quality salt, and bake in the oven! On the right is one of my favorites, burgers! I make my own patties with some grass fed beef, mix with an egg, a bit of almond flour, and some spices  (I also make a delicious homemade BBQ sauce for these babies). Then I wrap mine in lettuce but the rest of the family enjoys these just as a patty and eat them with a fork and knife. Either way, these are soooo yummy! And, you save money by not buying buns ;)

Another really budget friendly meal is cauliflower rice. Now, when I first heard about this, I was quite skeptical. BUT, you'd be surprised how good this actually is! Especially paired with some honey garlic chicken. You just take a head of cauliflower and throw it in your food processor and VOILA! You have rice! Fry that up in a pan with some garlic and avocado oil, sauté for a few minutes and add your veggies. DONE! Easy, right?

Now you might be wondering, why not just eat rice? It's healthy isn't it? Well, no. Now, I understand that not everyone has the same goals as me and that's ok. But, I'm just giving you the info and you can do what you want with it. Everyone has different goals. BUT rice has what's called phytic acid, or phytates  (as do all grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes) which are antinutrients (they interfere with the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Properly prepared (soaked or sprouted) these types of foods can be great. And, I do make sprouted rice on occasion. BUT, we're talking about budget friendly meals, and the cauli rice is definitely easier on your wallet. Skip the soy sauce and drizzle with some coconut aminos, or your yummy honey garlic sauce from your chicken.

Next up, who doesn't love a good pot roast??!! The great thing about a pot roast, or a good roasted farm chicken, is you're going to get more than one meal out of that sucker for sure. Pair that with a good healthy carb like some sweet potatoes tossed in avocado oil and some veggies, so good! I also like to do some yummy garlic mashed potatoes. Now, I need to eat these babies sparingly as they are starchy and convert into glucose in your body. But, since they're my favorite, I eat in moderation and have also found a way these can be healthier for my family and I.

Cooking potatoes in your instant pot turns a large portion of the starch into resistant starch, which is a healthier starch that isn't fully digested but is used by the body like fiber. Need another reason to eat some potatoes? If you leave the skin on, you've got yourself some prebiotics which promotes the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut!

When talking about healthy, cost effective meals soup is definitely going to make the list. After you've made your whole chicken, don't waste those bones!! Make some nourishing bone broth and then use it for a yummy soup! Such a great meal, and we love to pair them with these grain free rolls

paleospirit.com/2013/paleo-dinner-rolls/

Here is another classic: Caesar salad. I always make my own dressing (mayo, avo oil, garlic, spices). Throw in some chicken, and here I've also added some cheese crisps! Shredded cheese formed into a cookie like shape and baked in the oven until crispy and then cooled. Now, these aren't actually paleo. But, I can source a really good quality cheese (locally made and from grass fed cows) so we will eat this on occasion.

Here is the last dish I'm going to show you; we like to use butternut squash noodles. There are so many things you can do with these. We often do a stir fry with these and add either beef or chicken and whatever veggies I have on hand. I've also made an alfredo sauce from coconut cream and made these into "fettucine alfredo". It was to die for.

There are so many things you can do on a budget. We almost always have raw, organic veggies on the side of most dishes. A smoothie packed with protein and healthy fats is served with lunch daily to nourish and fill growing bellies. It's really not as hard as you'd think. Find your groove, what works for you, and never stop learning :)

Toxin Free Mama

My journey began with a huge lifestyle change. But, I certainly didn't do it all at once. First, I started off eliminating gluten and refined sugars. That actually wasn't that hard! I relied heavily on raw honey and gluten free oats. Over time, we've adopted more of a paleo diet; we eat organic, whole food and are grain free with the occasional sprouted grain, refined sugar free, as well as dairy free except for grass fed butter and cheese (which isn't paleo, more primal because primal includes raw dairy, although what we consume isn't raw because it's not available where we live).
I've recently begun  working at eating sprouted nuts and seeds, but we're not completely there yet (I have found sprouted seeds for a reasonable price, but not nuts... but I have soaked my almonds). It can be so overwhelming! I feel like once I've tackled one thing, I learn something new and I'm at it again.
One of the things I'm currently working on switching over is our household cleaners and other household staples. I'm working on being a toxin free mama! There are so many nasty chemicals in all those household cleaners you find at the store. I've started using essential oils and I'm loving them; they are quickly replacing the conventional medicines and my "medicine cabinet" is now filled with healing oils. I've also been using an essential oil infused cleaning product that I'm absolutely loving! I love that it contains no chemicals and my kids can use it to clean the house without breathing in the toxins. And you know what that means, less cleaning for mom!!
This week I  started using a few other products as well, and I'm feeling good about my home becoming a toxin free  environment. :)

What steps are you taking to rid your home of chemicals?

Banana Bread!

This last week has been hard. I warned you, I'll be writing about the good and the bad...well, this week has been bad.
Last week a snow storm hit our city and covered us with a blanket of heavy snow. It snowed for days and, though the kids were so excited to see the white stuff that they really hadn't had a lot of this winter, I did not share in their enthusiasm.
Now, I can't blame the snow for my troubles, but it certainly didn't help being stuck in the house. I couldn't drive on the roads myself so I mostly stayed in. Kids' activities were cancelled so there were some restless kids with cabin fever as well since they weren't able to get out and play in the snow until the weather permitted.
But after the storm had passed and I thought my spirits would lift, I was hit. This Lyme thing is no fun, illness often comes without a warning. I've been fighting insomnia since last week, and it has done a lot of damage to my body. I'm tired. I'm weak. I'm just plain exhausted.
Our daughter had ballet tonight and my wonderful hubby drove her to class before heading to his men's group at the church. My mom picks her up after class which is such a blessing to me. I usually stay in with the two boys until grandma returns with my daughter and I get everyone to bed. Grandma stopped by tonight before heading to ballet and saw me struggling to keep the boys occupied while cleaning up supper and making coconut milk for tomorrow. So, she graciously offered to take the boys along for the ride. So, I'm sitting in a peaceful house blogging!! These moments are rare but when they happen, I really just need to be still.
Being this tired is very difficult. My work doesn't stop just because I'm not feeling well. Each week I try to spend a day baking our breakfasts for the freezer so that I'm not baking all the time. I try to do 6-7 breakfasts in one day and it is quite tiresome. But I do it so I'm not baking daily. Though we can't eat processed foods like cereal, I still try my best to keep it simple. We are grain free so even oatmeal is out. We do a lot of eggs for lunch, so those are out for breakfast as well. So, I've found that the best thing for us is to have some yummy paleo baked goods, like muffins and loaves, in the freezer and I just grab something from the freezer each evening and it's ready for the morning! Well, tomorrow is baking day... ugh. I'm praying for rest tonight so I have the energy and strength to bake in the morning.
I push myself too hard a lot of the time. In fact, it was baking day last week that set me off. After spending the day in the kitchen I started to not feel well, and it was a tail spin after that. So, perhaps I need a new game plan. I often forget that I can't push myself like I used to and that's tough. How do you go from being the kind of person who just goes all the time, to someone who just can't? I don't know. But, what I do know is I need to learn when I need to stop.
Anyway, enough of the "bad", let's get to something good!! Because I need to be prepared and plan ahead for breakfast, I like to have easy recipes that I can make lots of. One of our favorites is this paleo banana bread. it's super yummy, and its grain, dairy, and refined sugar free! How great is that?! It's super moist and tastes great with a ton of butter.


Ok, so just to make you come back for more, I'm not just giving you a picture of the banana bread. I'm giving you a picture of some other goodies as well ;)  you'll have to stay tuned for more recipes!

Ok, onto the recipe...

Paleo Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

3 eggs

1/2 cup of almond butter

1/4 cup of melted coconut oil

*optional 1 tsp vanilla

* optional 1T raw honey (tastes great even without any sweetener!!)

1/2 cup of almond flour

1/2 cup of coconut flour

2 tsp of cinnamon

1 tsp of baking soda

1/4 tsp of salt

The how to:

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line your loaf pan with parchment paper or grease it with coconut oil.

Ok, this is great. Take those wet ingredients and put them all in your food processor or blender and mix it up. Easy, right? Mix together your dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then pour the wet into the dry and combine. I've also mixed the wet first in the processor and then added the dry to the processor as well and combined it in there and it works too. But, I always double the recipe to make two loaves at a time and I cannot fit it all in the processor at the same time.

Pour into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour (if you double the recipe and bake the loaves together, bake for an extra 15 minutes or so, but check to see if they need more time after that).

Make sure to cool completely before slicing or putting in the freezer. So, easy and so good!! I DO NOT recommend mixing it and not baking it right away as the coconut flour will absorb the liquid as it sits so its best to bake it right away.

Ok, the kids are back! I better get back to reality. If you try this recipe let me know what you think!

Coconut Milk!!

I get told all the time, "That's great that you can eat so healthy...I could never do that." Ok. First of all, that is ludicrous! I tell people all the time: If I can do it, you can do it. And, here's why...

I used to start each morning with coffee, full of pasteurized creamer. Then, I would drink that all. day. long. And, basically I would barely eat. And, when I did, it wasn't good. I snacked, I ate sugar and carbs, and I very rarely ate a veggie. It was bad. Anyone who knows me knows that I had terrible eating habits. We lived out of town for years, and the kids knew that every trip to town started with a trip through the Starbucks drive thru for a sugary latte. They had my order down pat. 

So, what changed? Well, if you've been following my journey you'll know that I was diagnosed with a pretty serious autoimmune disease that really forced me to take a look at my bad habits. And it was really this reality check that forced me to change. I'm not saying it has been easy, but it's absolutely necessary for my healing. I've learned so much over the past year and a half, and I'm excited to learn so much more.

So, if I can do it, trust me, so can you...

So, I've really had to change A LOT. And, because I had such unhealthy eating habits, I really had to find great alternatives to things I did enjoy (since there weren't many things I did) or I knew I would never stick to this new way of life. I'll post more on my wonderful treat alternatives. But for now, I'm going to show you this super simple way to make homemade coconut milk.

So, one of the things I chose to eliminate from our diet was pasteurized dairy. And since we cant legally source raw dairy here, I had to find an alternative. A huge part of our daily routine is smoothies. This stuff is excellent in a nice, creamy smoothie!

Why make your own? Great question! Store bought coconut milk (or any dairy free milk for that matter) is filled with additives like carrageenan, guar gum, xanthan gum, etc. What are these things exactly? Well, that's just the point. If you can't pronounce it and don't have a clue what it is then its probably not safe to consume. These additives used as thickeners and preservatives are not meant for our consumption and are harmful to our gut. And, making it yourself saves you money so it's a win-win, right?! 

Ok, the how to:

You don't need anything fancy to do this; a blender, some coconut, a glass jar, and either some cheese cloth or a nut bag (I HIGHLY recommend investing in a nut bag as it is easier, saves time, and will give you more milk).

You'll want to use 1 cup of shredded coconut to 2 cups of warm water (heat the water in a pot on the stove (you'll want it fairly warm but not boiling). Put the shredded coconut into the blender and cover with the water. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes to hydrate the coconut.

 

While the coconut is sitting, I like to get my jar ready. Put your nut bag (or cheese cloth, which is trickier) into your jar and secure at the top with a rubber band.

Blend your coconut for 2-3 minutes, then pour into the nut bag.

Once you've poured all of the milk in, carefully remove the bag and tie the top (for cheese cloth you'll need to carefully secure the top with your hands and be much more gentle as you squeeze out the milk). Now, squeeze the bag like you're milking a cow :)

And, VOILA!

Look at that creamy goodness! This should keep in the fridge for about 3-5 days, but we use it up so quickly I've never gone longer than that ;)

Now, I don't like to waste. So, I dump that coconut pulp into a bowl...

You can throw that pulp into your baking, OR you can dehydrate it for coconut flour!

I use my dehydrator and leave it in there for about 6-8 hours.

You can also use the oven (though I haven't personally done this). You'll bake for about 10-15 minutes at 250 degrees F on a baking sheet. Then, throw it back in the blender and grind into fine flour.

No waste!

We use the milk for smoothies everyday as well as to replace milk in a cream sauce, in place of milk in recipes, with homemade grain free granola, and more!

Coconut flour is great, though quite finicky, so only use it in a recipe that calls for coconut flour (do not replace it for other flours, as it absorbs a lot of liquid.

I'll be sharing recipes that call for coconut flour too, so stay tuned!

What do you use coconut milk for?