Meal planning - Week 5

This weeks meal plan is hindered slightly by a planned trip out on wednesday! Bowling and dinner with some mums I know! Fortunately we will be eating at Frankie and Benny's which means a big seleciton of food, and at least I know I can stick with chicken wings and salad!

Monday - Pork Chops and roasted veg

Tuesday - Beef casserole and mashed cauliflower

Wednesday - Frankie and Benny's

Thursday - Thai red chicken curry

Friday - Chicken and bacon salad

Saturday -  Bolognese

Sunday - Roast Chicken and roasted veg

As per usual this will no doubt change as the week goes by!! Hopefully a well behaved week will show another weight loss, fingers crossed!

30 day trial

When we decided to start the Paleo diet, we said we'd give it 30 days, and see how we feel, how easy it is to do, and how much weight comes off. Because at the end of the day, our main reason for starting it was to lose weight!

It is now 30 days on, and not only has it changed the way we feel about food, but I don't think we could change back now even if we wanted to! Having had a couple of 'cheat' days along the way, it is now obvious  how much difference cutting out sugar/dairy/gluten/grains makes! I can only speak for myself when I say that it feels like I have lead in my veins after eating badly! When being good however, the increase in energy is amazing! I can now only look forward to the warmer weather so I can get out more and enjoy it with the kids!

As for the weight loss, well, I certainly can't complain! 7.5lb loss in 4 weeks for myself! And a rather enviable 13lb loss for my husband! I havent at any point put weight on, but the weight coming off has been fairly steady! And so, as we continue to learn new ways to cook our food, we will carry on and see if we can't get to target by the summer! (It would be lovely to be able to buy a flattering dress for the August wedding we're going to!)

Piece of cake!

One of my favourite hobbies has to be making cakes! This doesn't go well with the Paleo diet anymore, but luckily  I got to get some practice in last week with an order for a friend. A fairly simple order of a vanilla sponge cake decorated as a dart board, and big enough to feed 25 people. I ended up going a little overboard with a 14 inch round cake, which would probably feed about 40... I'm sure they will manage to use it!

Having made a relatively small number of cakes for people I still have a lot to learn, but with this cake I got to try out some piping for the first time, and although there is plenty of room for improvement I was pretty pleased with the result! I will need to get more practice though as I have a Christening cake to make in April...

Meal planning - Week 4

I've been a little behind getting my meal plan up for this week! I guess the days are whizzing by a bit quick!! It's hard to believe we're now on week 4 of eating Paleo, and although we may have had a bit of a bumpy start, we're definitely getting there, and so far loving it! (Well I am at least) Having been ill with a virus for over 2 weeks now, I'm looking forward to it being gone and the extra energy I'm going to have! The weight loss also seems to have hit pause, so I'm looking forward to being able to get out of the house more for walks!

And so, this weeks meal planner looks like this!

Monday  - Cottage pie with parsnip and butternut squash mash on top. So good I had it for lunch today too!

Tuesday - Pork Chops with roast vegetables

Wednesday - Beef casserole with cauliflower mash and vegetables

Thursday - Chicken and bacon salad

Friday - BBQ pork spare ribs

Saturday - Beef fillet steak with sweet potato chips

It is definitely getting easier now to come up with meals - the set of rules has sunk in and I don't have to think about it too much now!

Time to ketchup

It's easy to forget when you're on a diet that condiments are loaded with sugar, salt and fat, but there are nearly always 'healthy' options available. That is unless you are on a Paleo/Primal diet! Having read the labels on dozens of jars, I'd given up finding any that I could eat! And so, I decided to make my own!

I found a recipe for tomato ketchup and although I dont usually stock alot of the ingredients, like fennel bulbs and celery, I figured it was worth a try! It seemed pretty simple to make, and even the prep work didnt take too long, the only downside being the amount of washing up I created! The options for vinegar were Red Wine, Apple Cider or Balsamic, and I went with Balsamic as to me it seemed more 'ketchupy'. I was a little worried that the quantity of vinegar was a bit overpowering, so I would definitely advise putting it in a little at a time and tasting! As it is, what I ended up with was something not disimilar to one of my favourites, HP Brown Sauce!! 2 nice big bottles, one for the fridge, one for the store cupboard! I am hoping that these will last a while before I have to make more!

And so for dinner last night, we had homemade turkey burgers wrapped in lettuce leaves, with a little 'ketchup'! Lovely!!

Hubby now wants me to make the BBQ Sauce...!!

This weeks meals..

And now being a Tuesday, I should have already worked out what we're going to be eating for the week! I must print myself off a chart to make things a little eaiser!
So, here goes...

(Monday - Pork Chops Cauliflower mash, broccoli and carrots)

Tuesday - Rib eye steak, sweet potato chips, fried onions

Wednesday - Red thai chicken curry, cauliflower rice

Thursday - Beef casserole, roast vegetables

Friday - Stir fried chicken and veg

Saturday - Contemplating a cheat night... (maybe fajitas?)

Sunday - Cottage pie and veg

No doubt this will change a few times before the end of the week, but it's a start!

Valentine's day fail!

Bearing in mind that I have been ill for a week and a half now, it's been thick with snow, and I don't drive, you can understand why I have failed to get anything for my husband for Valentines day.. Well this year he definitely made the effort! Beautiful bouquet of flowers (from the florist too! Not just from tesco :p) and a lovely card, all ready when I came down this morning! So how guilty do I feel?? Well, I got my creative cap on and grabbed a few arty bits, snuck them into the kitchen and hey presto, home made card!! I am also going to make him a nice steak and chips dinner (sweet potatoes chips, but still a bit naughty!). I will definitely have to make it up to him another day...

Happy accidents!

 

 So this morning I had decided that rather than go without breakfast (which is my usual habit) or eat egg and bacon yet again, I would make an an effort to come up with something different. What I had in mind was a smoothie made with coconut milk and some strawberries which have sat in the freezer for coming up to a year now.. As the strawberries were frozen when I put them in the blender, I ended up with what looked like ice cream, and so with a spoonful of honey added, I stuck them in pots and put them in the freezer! My breakfast today is now a herb tea, but I am definitely looking forward to ice cream for pudding tonight!!

The chocolate cravings are kicking in!!

So I have now been on the Paleo diet for just over a week (the caveman diet for those of you not in the know!), and although I can truthfully say that I've not felt hungry at any point on this diet, I am now at a stage where the lack of anything sweet is taking it's toll! The kids food drawer is full of all things chocolatey, cadburys caramel, flakes, chocolate buttons, smarties, you name it, it's in there! And it's now becoming harder to resist!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a strict paleo dieter, my morning coffee still has sweetener and a splash of milk in, but my number of cups has far reduced, and I still have no added sugar squash in my water!! The occasional sweet potato is a life saver, and I definitely eat more fat on my meat than I think I'm allowed, but at the end of week one, I have had a fantastic 3 1/4 lb loss, and incentive to keep going a bit longer!

Todays experiment was soda bread with ground almonds! (recipe courtesy of Angela) When fresh and hot out of the oven, with lashings of butter it is pretty good, but seeing it now cold on the kitchen counter it is not so appealing! I am thinking of turning it into breadcrumbs to stuff something...

And so tonights dinner is bolognese with courgette spaghetti, plus a cheeky glass of red wine! I'm waiting until the kids are in bed before openeing the bottle as I want to savour my one glass in peace and quiet!!