Paleo Granny

Great excitement - after a rough day at work (don't ask), I arrived home to find a new Paleo book had been delivered - The 30 Day Guide to Paleo Cooking by Hayley Mason and Bill Staley.  Hayley and Bill (see we are on a first name basis) are the authors of one of the Paleo cookbooks that got me started on the Paleo path - Make it Paleo.  I will be reading the new book tonight (its my idea of a treat) so stay tuned for a review in Books I Like section of this blog soon.

Day 4 of my Whole30 and it is going well...except I found myself a bit tired today and a little emotional.  Hmmm...could this have anything to my strict eating plan?  Sure enough my Whole30 motivational/check-in email addresses that issue and provides ideas to get through it.  According to the email there are usually side effects on Day 3 (which I didn't notice yesterday) and that they are perfectly normal and they will pass - so stick to the plan folks - it will be worth it.  Spoiler alert - cute bear video at the end of the email.


I had found some portable breakfast options on one of the blogs I follow (sorry - forgot to write down which one) and, as I have difficulty eating breakfast at 6:30 a.m., I packed it to take to work with me.  I really liked this combination and it kept me full for the entire morning.

Small avocado, olives, almonds and two boiled eggs.

The idea for lunch was to nuke some leftover ribs in the microwave, along with the leftover Jamaican rice from Sunday but, as it turned out, I had some work fires to put out and did not get a chance to eat the ribs.  Not good - part of the plan is to eat at least three meals a day (with a snack if you feel you need it).  If you don't eat enough you risk getting too hungry and going for the wrong food, or actually gaining weight because your body thinks you are starving and stores fat so you don't - and it probably made me more tired too.

Ribs before they were nuked (not pretty - but they would have been.)

Jamaican Rice - delicious the second time around.

 I had also brought a snack, which I didn't get to eat either.

Deli beef and strawberries

Paleomg.com has a recipe for Bacon Meatballs that I have been wanting to try, so I had put two lbs. of pasture feed beef in my defrost bowl before I left for work this morning.  Juli's recipe uses almond flour which I am trying not to use so much and seasonings that bother my stomach, so I changed those things out but otherwise the idea is hers.  Bacon goes with everything - trust me.  Once I finish the Whole30 (in only 27 more days!), to prove it I am going to make some Paleo Bacon Caramel donuts as a celebration for Paleo Grandad and me.

The bacon meatballs start with ground beef - in this case two lbs. as I always make enough for leftovers for lunch - 1/2 cup finely chopped onions, two eggs and two teaspoons of Nom Nom Paleo's Magic Mushroom Powder seasoning.

Five slices of good bacon were cut into 1/2 pieces and crisped up in a separate skillet and drained on some paper towels to remove some of the fat (not that there is anything wrong with bacon fat).

Once cooled the bacon pieces were added to the meat mixture and blended well (use your hands, much easier and quicker).  I used my small ice cream scooper to make small meatballs (golf-ball size), which I put on a foil-lined baking sheet for easy clean-up.

The side dishes were baked sweet potato and rutabagas and oil and vinegar coleslaw.  The baked sweet potatoes and rutabagas cooked in a 350 degree oven.  The meatballs took 20 minutes and the baked vegetables took 30 minutes.

Here's the finished meal (Paleo Grandad "really" liked the meatballs and was sniffing around the kitchen to make sure there were leftovers for tomorrow.)

Now I'm off to read my new Paleo book.