What I’m Eating. . .

Posted on May 9, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

Real Food, Pregnancy Style. . .

There is some slight deviation from purest Paleo here. . . I’m okay with that.

This is yesterdays food log. . . I’m on a sugar detox again (oh joy!). I’m determined to avoid the Glucose Tolerance Test that is standard at 28 weeks of pregnancy, so I will also be taking my blood sugars as soon as my supplies arrive. This will allow me to be well armed when I visit the OB next time! I’m not sure if this is a good ratio of calories/fat/carbs for pregnancy, but I will give it a few days of logging my diet and seeing how I feel and then I will decide if I need to increase or decrease anywhere. My feelings are that I should be around 100 grams of carbohydrates each day and I wonder if at that amount I need to be decreasing my fat intake some? This is my food log from day 2. . . today is day 4. I’m irritable by late afternoon and just want to crawl into a hole. . . I question if I’m getting enough to fuel my growing baby. I definitely don’t want to gain a bunch of weight and I’d be happy to not gain another pound in the next 17 weeks. . . but, I want CHOCOLATE!!!!!!!!!!

I welcome comments/suggestions from other paleo (ish) peeps who’ve gone through a pregnancy eating outside the S.A.D. box. . . Keep in mind, I went into this pregnancy with an extra 25lbs (35 if you ask me, but my R.E. insisted 25 would have been the most I should have lost). If I was a skinny girl, I’d definitely be eating more calories and aiming to gain 25lbs. . . but that’s not me. In my past pregnancies, I’ve gained ZERO. . . however, that wasn’t due to my stellar eating habits (I was SAD back then), but because I was violently ill for the first 5 months which resulted in a loss of about 20 lbs which I then gained back at a steady 1lb/weekly average over the remainder of the pregnancy. Those babies all weighed between 7lbs8oz and 9lbs7oz.

Breakfast 7:30am- 2 egg scrambled (home grown) w/ 1 TBS Parmesan and 2 wedges of orange (half of a small orange) & water

Calories- 215 Fat- 13 grams Carbs- 9 grams THM would call this a S meal even with my small portion of orange, as the carbs stayed under 10 grams.

Morning snack 10am- 2 mozz cheese sticks, 1/2 cup carrots, and more water

Calories- 190 Fat- 12 g Carbs 7 grams THM- S

Lunch at 12:30pm- lean turkey burger, slice cheddar cheese, 1/2 cucumber, 1 TBS ranch, & water

Calories- 360 Fat- 19 grams Carbs- 5 grams THM- S

Snack 3:00pm- Banana Smoothie (banana, 2 Tbs heavy cream, cacao, vanilla, ice, water)

Calories- 205 Fat 12 grams Carbs- 27 grams THM- CROSSOVER

Dinner 6:30PM- Tri-tip steak, 1/2 c. black rice, pat of butter, green salad, 1 Tbs ranch, & more water

Calories – 544 Fat- 24 grams Carbs- 42 grams THM- CROSSOVER

Daily Counts- 1514 calories, 90 grams fat, 90 grams carbohydrate

The Plan & Day 48

Posted on April 28, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

Really. . . today is day 48. I’m a slacker. I also haven’t done great budget wise (as in I didn’t keep track). A new month is around the bend and I vow to pull my grocery money out and NOT use my debit card. That way I have more accountability.

I am getting better at soaking grains and prepping other nourishing foods. Today, I made BUTTER from our raw, grassfed milk. Talk about yummy, yellow, beautiful butter!

As you can see, we had nearly 3 cups of cream which we shaved off the top of 1 gallon of milk. In the end, I got 1/4lb of cultured butter and a pint of buttermilk. I cultured the cream overnight on the counter with a dollop of plain yogurt so that we would get lots of beneficial enzymes into our finished project. Once the cream cultured overnight, I placed it in the fridge for about 5 hours to halt the culturing process. During that time, I also placed the bowl of my Kitchen Aid mixer into the freezer so it’d be nice and cool for the preparation. Technically, you should warm the cream back up to room temp prior to pouring it into the cold mixing bowl, but I skipped that step. I turned the mixer on as high as I could without splattering the precious cream everywhere. Then I add some Himalayan pink salt. I processed the cream until it was thick and chunky. Then I poured it through a fine mesh strainer to separate the buttermilk. I used a large spoon to help press the excess liquid from the butter. Then I placed the butter ball into a couple of coffee filters (cheesecloth would have been best) and pressed some more until all the liquid was out. I then placed it into the mesh strainer again and poured filtered water over the butter and repeating my pressing/squeezing until I had a beautiful, yellow, mound of pure cultured butter. I wrapped my finished product in parchment and placed it in the fridge to be used at will (after taste testing, of course!).

In addition to the butter, I started a batch of buckwheat sourdough starter and a 1/2 gallon of Raw milk kefir (we had excess and today was fresh milk day!). Go Mama Grok!

This weeks produce haul. . . I was too tired to remove it from the box for a photo. . . let’s just say it’s gorgeous and included a watermelon, pineapple, mushrooms. . . and so much more. I spent $50 ($5 of which was donation). . . once again, all organic. Delish!

We are starting on the Trim Healthy Mama plan (THM). The book was written for women, but the principles work for both genders. The plan does allow certain grains (soaked or properly prepared are preferred). I will share more about this plan in the coming days. . . right now, I’m figuring out how it works best for us. Here’s some of the meals we’ve enjoyed: Fried egg whites with soaked steel cut oats and frozen cherries (Mama), Fried egg whites with sprouted (flourless) toast and apple slices for Daddy, a lovely dinner for everyone of buttered shrimp, salad, and grain free cheese “balls”.

And with that, I bid you good-night!

Day 36

Posted on April 15, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

Today marks day 36 in our 100 Days of Real Food Challenge. I missed my order for produce this week. . . UGH. I forgot to get online until Sunday evening and the order had already closed. Boo.

In other news- tonight we enjoyed two Draper Free Range (hormone and antibiotic free) rotisserie chickens. After dinner, I started a big pot of chicken stock. The chickens were $10.99 each. I will get about a gallon of stock and we enjoyed a full dinner from the chickens (with salad as the only side).

We picked up our first 2 gallons of RAW, local, grassfed milk today. Oh my. Just look at that thick layer of yellow cream!

Look at that shelf. . . eggs from our chickens and milk from our cow. The way we are able to obtain raw milk legally is by buying a herd share from a local farm. We own part of the cow and therefore get our share of the milk each week. Our monthly fee covers maintaining, feeding, milking, etc. . .

On that note. . . isn’t she precious?

We are very excited as we prepare for Kelsey Anne’s First Holy Communion coming up in a couple weeks. This is a snapshot from her photography session last week.

BEEF!!!!!!

Posted on April 11, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

This week’s co-op orders- $170 (including donation) for ~30lbs of local, grassfed beef. In the produce world, the above was procured for $50 (including a donation). Even if I bought nothing else this week, my family could eat well on this haul.

On the meat front, we got 6 NY strip steaks, ~2lbs of sirloin steak, 12 lbs of ground beef, 2 large roasts, 2 lbs of stew meat, leaf fat for lard, and bones for broth. This is a minimum of nine dinners with leftovers for breakfast or lunch. (Steak omelets, yum!)

With the addition of a couple cups of rice or beans, and maybe some oats this would round out nicely for our family of 7. We are also now getting 2 gallons of local grassfed RAW milk each week ($20). That brings us to $240 for the week, leaving $10 for rice, beans, & oats (if that’s your thing). Our eggs are free so we will enjoy those liberally.

Granted, we aren’t really going to consume 30lbs of beef in one week. . . but the point is, we could eat ORGANIC, local, grassfed, RAW, etc. . . for $250 or less (for our family of 7!).

On the horizon, I have 8 local, pastured, broiler chickens on order for $11/each (approx). The first batch of chickens isn’t set to arrive until May sometime. Even if I roast two for dinner, we will then strip the leftover meat, make bone broth, and enjoy at least a soup dinner and a lunch or two off the chicken.

So, what exactly would you eat if this was your weeks shopping?

-Roast w/ carrots

-Roast w/ baby reds & carrots

-steak w/ avocado & chard

-steak w/ carrot fries (fried in lard!)

-stew w/ veggies & a cup of rice

- bone broth

- lard

-hamburgers w/ mushrooms and green beans tossed in lard

-hamburger soup (bone broth, ground beef, leftover veggies, garlic)

-meat balls & fresh fruit salad w/ sliced cucumbers

-ground beef fried with diced tomatoes, garlic, green onions served over sauteed green beans (or rice)

Breakfast? soaked oats, leftovers, bone broth. . .

Lunch? leftovers, bone broth soup (over rice if you need a carb). . .

And don’t forget that glorious RAW milk. . . cream (whip on top of fruit salad!), butter, KEFIR!, homemade mozzarella. . . make a breakfast smoothie with kefir and leftover fruit. This is in no way a deprivation diet!

In reality, we are spreading the meat purchase out over the month and will add some chicken, fish, etc. . . BUT you could eat well on these foods only.

Day 27 and Where Has my Budget Gone?

Posted on April 6, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

I’ve been busy. . . sorry for the silence around here.

I ordered 30 lbs of local, grassfed beef to the tune of $170 and it will arrive this Tuesday with my produce co-op. Last week, I only spent $30 on produce ($25 co-op box + $5.00 needy donation). Here’s the haul minus a few missing items:

It’s not as impressive as it should be. . . we were missing a chard bunch, a lb of grapes, a couple cara cara oranges, and something else (I should get credit for these items, so my price will drop). Anyway, we did receive a big head of red lettuce, a leek, 2 cara cara oranges, 2 avocados, a bunch of rainbow carrots, a mango, 1 lb of crimini mushrooms, 3 lbs of red potatoes, 4 pink lady apples, 5 bananas, 2 tomatoes, and a bunch of basil. All organic.

Here’s the belly today. . . 17 weeks. Wondering where this kid is going to grow for the next 22 weeks considering how HUGE I am already. . .

Easter morning breakfast- I made these yummy in the tummy grain free cinnamon roll donuts. They were a huge hit, however I didn’t even eat a whole one. . . my belly wasn’t liking the sweetness in the morning or something. The kids and Daddy were happy to finish them off. No modifications, except I dipped them in a glaze.

For Easter, we also made these sugar cookies from Against All Grain. I’ve decided that Wilton’s cookie pans are my go-to for grain free cookies. No rolling and cutting and oh so carefully transferring. . . instead, I just pressed a ball of dough into the mold and baked. . . We couldn’t find cacao butter in town, and with no time left to order from Amazon, we ended up going with canned frosting (I know!!!!!). The cookies were delicious. . . I will make them again.

The frosting on the cookies was our only dietary deviation for Easter. We enjoyed steaks on the grill, twice baked yukon golds (contained healthy full fat dairy), a delightful garden salad, and tasty fruit salad. No grains in sight.

And my newest way to make veggies. . . I chopped everything and placed them on a jelly roll pan, topped with pastured butter, & Braggs seasoning. I roasted them until nice and tender. The platter was almost empty after dinner. . . the kids gobbled them up! In the future, I will likely stick with EVOO and a lower roasting temp, but I was in a hurry and knew that butter was better at higher temps.

Back to the budget. . . with Easter, I lost track of our March expenditures. Oops. Back on it! For the first week of April, I’ve done almost no shopping while I’m waiting for our co-op orders this week.

In other news, we visited a milk farm where we are purchasing herdshares in order to obtain (100% grassfed) raw milk. So excited. The kids are beyond thrilled. It was a fun (and very muddy) adventure. We will start receiving our milk within a week or two (depending on the production as the cows are increasing supply this Spring). I’m going to start with two gallons each week, this will work out to about $10/gallon. I’m already spending $8-9 gallon for pastured organic (but otherwise industrial) milk so it’s not a huge increase. If you don’t know the value of raw milk, read all about it at RealMilk.

I’m amazed how just in the last month, our quality of food has increased (more organic, more local, more grassfed) and yet, our budget has NOT increased. The co-op is amazing. However, I can’t wait to buy a chest freezer and purchase a 1/2 cow as that will be even lower cost for us!

Paleo Easter, Day 19

Posted on March 29, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

This weeks organic produce from the co-op. I spent $60, which included a donation toward a family box for a co-op member that couldn’t afford a box this week. I spent another $5.00 at pick up adding on more oranges. Remember that carrot craving I was having. . . well, I bought six pounds. . . that should last us a while!

We received: tomatoes, crimini mushrooms, kale, asparagus, yams, kiwi, oranges, grapefruit, pears, apples, blueberries, carrots, & avocados. . . not pictured, I also got 3lbs of strawberries.

What I’m learning- we are buying too much produce in a week. I need to stop getting the CSA style box and just do build your own so I can hand pick our produce. The kids are kiwi’d out with my large purchase last week and then the extras this week. . . and we only go through maybe 2 avocados a week now that the babies have decided their avocado love is over (I think it’s a texture thing?). I don’t ever use raw tomatoes, but hubs will when we do sandwiches or burgers (seldom). . . so these beauties need to either become salsa or pasta sauce. . . darn, should have caught that last week we had cilantro, romas, & onions in the box. . . it was just calling out for salsa and I missed out!

I’ve pre-ordered about $150 worth of grass fed beef from the co-op which should arrive a week from Tuesday. It’s at least one month’s worth of beef. The co-op is definitely enabling us to get more organic, grass-fed food than our dollars could afford otherwise!

I wanted a treat the other day, so I made some brownies. Only they were so not bad for you, that I let the kids eat them for breakfast! I used a recipe over at Paleolicious. . . since I have a scale, I didn’t bother to convert the recipe. Sorry. I didn’t top them as she did. . . but I’m sure that would have made them fab. As they were, I found them quite tasty and not too sweet. More bar like than brownie. The kids gobbled up the pan, so the consensus says, “yes”.

And yet another goodie to break up the monotony of Mama proclaiming, “veggies or fruit and protein!”. This tasty treat was actually a biscuit recipe that I pressed into an 8×8 baking dish instead of rolling and cutting. It provided more of a coffee cake feel than a biscuit this way and anything called cake gets the kids attention. The recipe was from The Urban Poser. The only thing I changed other than the shape was to use lemon extract instead of zest. I just drizzled some in as it blended, so I can’t say how much but the end result was lightly lemon and not too almond-y.

I’ve had a couple of these breakfasts this week. My co-op order of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free oats arrived (5olbs!). Personally, I don’t believe a few servings of properly soaked non-wheat grains each week is going to cause damage. This bowl of delicious slow cooked oats is topped with fresh organic strawberries (from my co-op) and a drizzle of organic heavy cream. I really wanted to add a few almonds but baby isn’t liking nuts still (not since our vomit in the mouth episode at the aquatic center after I had just consumed pistachios).

And that brings us to our topic: Easter Dinner. I went to MoC tonight to round up the fixings for Sunday’s Easter Dinner. Hubs decided on steak, fine by me! I opted to add fruit salad, Nana is doing garden salad, and the kids voted for twice baked potatoes (fringe Paleo, I know!). So. . . here’s the shopping list from tonight.

5# Yukon Potato $2.99

Painted Hills (Natural, Grassfed) Eye of Round Steak (6 pieces) $12.59

Painted Hills Sirloin Tip Steaks (4 pieces) $13.88

Applegate Roast Beef $4.99*

Applegate Turkey Breast $5.99*

Applegate Ham $4.99*

Bananas $3.11

Frozen OG raspberries $3.99

Nancy’s Cultured OG Cream Cheese $2.69

Nancy’s Cultured OG Sour Cream $3.99

OG Valley Provolone Cheese $4.39*

OG Valley Heavy Cream $3.29

OG Valley Pasture Butter $3.50

Tillamook Butter $2.50

Sourdough bread $4.79*

Udi’s GF bread $4.99*

GF Matzo Crackers $6.99**

*Daddy Grok’s sister and her beau will be joining us for lunch on the run tomorrow. Due to our hectic schedule, I don’t have time to prepare anything so cold cuts it is. . . hence the bread purchase and the not so budget friendly lunch meats. Hey, it’s a holiday, right?

**When I found the GF Matzo I knew my troubles were over. My youngest will be celebrating a passover dinner with her First Communion Class and she is GF. I was trying to figure out how to come up with a Matzo. . . now I don’t have to.

Organic Valley and Nancy’s products are local to Oregon. Yay.

Wondering if it was worth buying the cultured cream cheese and sour cream considering these will be used in our twice baked potatoes. . . I’m sure the heat delineates any health benefits. . . but, we will likely have leftovers which we will use unheated.

Obviously, this meal will include quite a bit of dairy. I’m not sure how to avoid it and create the dishes the family desires. That said, the cultured dairy is much more acceptable to the bodies of my dairy intolerant children. . . so maybe we won’t experience any issues following this indulgence.

Day 15, What’s up Doc?

Posted on March 25, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

I’m craving carrots. Hence the title. Too bad we finished off our TJ’s stash and the produce co-op doesn’t arrive until tomorrow. Darn this no extra shopping trips, thing!

This weeks produce haul (once again all organic) cost $60. $7.00 of that was directly to help with needy boxes, so our food was $53. I will post pictures after pick up tomorrow. . . I’m anticipating it being tasty! We are getting strawberries this time!

I just want to reiterate- carbs are not my friend! Today, I ate slow cooked oats for breakfast and then a stuffed potato for lunch. . . I feel CRUMMY. The reasoning behind this was I didn’t go shopping yesterday and my normal ham or other desirable meats were not in the house. The pregnant belly is still picky about what it will accept and salami wasn’t happening. . . ditto on eggs. Anyway, all day I’ve felt just plain ick! Even though the potato had chicken and cheese on it. . . it wasn’t enough in comparison to the carb load. Thankfully I have a pork roast in the crock pot for dinner. . . I plan to hit the grokery later for another Beeler’s ham and some organic ground beef and maybe a few bananas (none in the box this week). I need to make my menu (I’m slacking) but I’m going to try to use up what’s in the freezer/fridge/pantry as it’s the last week of the month and that seems like a good plan!

In addition to my produce purchase I spent $14.99 on 5lbs of aged cheddar cheese at Costco. So, this weeks total to date is $74.99 (including the donation funds).

Sunday was a rare sleep in day as Daddy Grok was out of town so we didn’t do morning church (we do his church in the am, and Catholic Mass in the pm). It was lovely to lounge around in bed until 9am! Around 11am, I decided food was called for and I wanted PANCAKES. And remember, what baby wants- baby gets! So, I made this recipe from Real Sustenance. . . Extra Fluffy Coconut Flour Blueberry Pancakes. I omitted the sugar and used frozen berry blend instead of blueberries. The result was delicious! They do contain 1/2 cup of starch. . . I decided the fluffy factor required its presence. I will make them again. However, since they contain starch I will add a protein side in the future.

Here’s my 15 week belly pic from Saturday. . . baby is the size of a navel orange. The belly is much larger.

And here’s the finished birthday cake. . . my original plan included a second tier but pregnancy exhaustion won out. It’s still cute.

Paleo Pregnancy

Posted on March 24, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

Well folks, Mama Grok is officially 15 weeks preggars. Yeah! The great news is that the nausea is greatly reduced and I’m back on the no grain bandwagon. . . (except for my cheats today).

I’m nearly finished reading Beautiful Babies by Kristen Michaelis. I’m currently listening to The Paleo View episode 31- Paleo Pregnancy. I’m lying in my bed thinking about food. . . but trying to ignore it. (As I’m typing this, I realize I didn’t get the info on signing up for the ecourse Kristen was offering with the pre-order of her book. . . not sure how I forgot that!).

Anyway, I’m a big fan of Nourishing Traditions/WAPF. . . so the book isn’t new information to me. . . however, it is a great reminder. I’m pondering the liver issue. I know I need to eat it. . . but I don’t. So, my plan is to go to our local meat market and get some ground and mix it in with our ground beef. . . meatballs? bunless burgers? 2x weekly. . . have to figure out the spaghetti issue, because that’d be about perfect!

What I’ve learned this past week of returning to my fully grain free ways. . . I’m pretty sure that my gluten free grains were causing my migraines. Maybe it’s a blood sugar thing? I don’t know. What I do know is that today I cheated because we were at a birthday party and the only gluten free item on the menu was pizza. . . and there was cake. . . anyway, I haven’t had a migraine in days (since stopping the GF grains) but today after eating pizza it was BACK. YUCK. I had thought this was a possibility when I noticed day after day going by without a headache (and no grains in my diet). . . today confirmed this.

Honestly, I’m hoping that this return to healthier eating will also stop the weight gain. I’ve gained 9-10 lbs already and that’s hitting me hard! If I can stall out my gain for the next 10 weeks, then I can gain 1lb/ week for the duration of the pregnancy and still reach an optimal weight gain. I hate this obsession with food. . . but I know something has to give and that my body doesn’t do carbs well. I won’t limit my veggies or even my fruit, so baby will still get plenty of carbs needed for growth. I’m just not doing it with grains. . . because my body doesn’t like those. They make me fat, sluggish, and leave me feeling icky.

I am eating a lot of cheese right now. I’m okay with this. Baby likes it. . . my blood sugar stays stable. . . I like little chunks o’ cheddar with diced natural ham. This has been my go-to snack. I just wish that natural ham wasn’t so pricey! The other morning, I nibbled on left over carne asada steak from dinner alongside my cheddar. I know cheese is a grey area in the Paleo world, but I’m pregnant so don’t tell me not to eat it or I may go preggo-crazy on you.

I’m drinking water. . . but I was bored with water so I tried a “Vanilla Dry Soda” yesterday. . . I didn’t love it, but it did break up the monotony of water. My goal for this week. . . drink at least two cups each day. I’m hoping this will help me learn to like tea.

On the no grain/paleo while pregnant front: I’m getting a lot of feedback “doesn’t baby need carbs?”, “that can’t be healthy”, “as a nutritionist I can say, don’t cut carbs now it’s important for baby”. . . blah blah blah. Guess what people. . . I’m a nutrition geek. I haven’t completed a “program” yet, but I have studied until my eyes bleed. . . I’m up on all the current information. More importantly, I know how my body responds. I know that carbs do not make my body happy. I know that I managed to produce three healthy babies in my previous pregnancies in which I took in/kept down almost nothing for the first 18 weeks. I know I’m healthier this pregnancy- probably in large part due to my higher nutritional status at conception this round. Also, I don’t want to develop gestational diabetes and guess what? This “diet” is really similar to a gestational diabetes diet. . . you know, the one prescribed by the nutritionist when your GTT comes back in the “uh-oh” range. I’m ahead of the game because I don’t want to reach that point. Plus, I don’t like feeling yucky.

Okay. . is it just me? Podcasts kill me. . . I really want to get into them but it’s a lot of talking and I lose focus really quickly. I’m trying. . . maybe I will hop over to the co-op and order next weeks produce. Mmmmm veggies.

100 Days of Real Food – Day 11

Posted on March 21, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

First up: Dinner tonight. . . Oh Yum! We cleaned up every last bit of this tonight. I prepared thin cut (carne asada) steaks, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and Asian salad. . . then we wet rice paper wrappers, filled them up and enjoyed. The kids love these make your own meals. It is a lot of prep work for Mama, but since everyone loves it, that’s ok. I put the carrots into the food processor, then fried for a minute in butter on the stove top. . . cabbage was chopped and cooked in butter until tender, ditto mushrooms. The salad was torn up into bowls and topped with a dressing made of wheat free Tamari (coconut aminos would be a good option), olive oil, rice vinegar, & red pepper. I realize the wrappers are made of rice and therefore a carb. . . if I ate 7 wrappers (as if), the carb load was 59 grams. We all ate 2-3 wraps filled with lots of veggies and some meat. Everything was drizzled in raw, heart healthy extra virgin olive oil.

Snack for the kids this afternoon: sliced organic pears & apples with a nut butter dip. I made this with fresh ground peanut butter + a bit of honey + cinnamon + a dash of vanilla = yummy.

Last night, I made this cake (banana blueberry cake) as a trial run for a friend who was considering the recipe for her daughters first birthday. I modified the recipe and made it almost grain free. Here’s what I changed from the original recipe: I subbed almond flour in a 1:1 ratio for the whole wheat flour, I subbed 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 starch for the white flour. I used certified gluten free oats. I skipped the blueberries because I didn’t have any on hand but I did throw in a few Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips. I think it would be delicious with blueberries. It resembled a muffin, not at all sweet but tasty and tender. With a slightly sweet frosting, it would pass for a cake just fine. Here I enjoyed it warm with butter on top for breakfast.

Dinner last night: chicken drumsticks in extra virgin olive oil & Braggs seasoning blend, salad, cucumber, & snap peas alongside buttered baby reds.

On the baby front: This book arrived in the mail today. Yay! I wasn’t sure why it was taking so long to arrive when I realized I had pre-ordered it *giggle, pregnancy brain*. Anyway, today it showed up and I was thrilled. I already finished Wheat Belly and passed it on to family to read, so I will start in on this one tonight.

Another grokery lesson: I asked Daddy to stop at the store to pick up 1 head of organic lettuce (since I never received the two that I ordered last week) and 1 head of purple cabbage to use in dinner tonight ($5.00). He also bought me flowers. . . guess I really can’t be mad at him for going out of budget and bringing home flowers to his wifey.

100 Days of Real Food- Day 10

Posted on March 20, 2013 by PolkaDotMommy

I’m shopping with more clarity. . . that’s a nice feeling. Also, I’m not running to the store every other day for more produce. I’m liking this once a week co-op order.

Look at that haul! That’s $60 in organic produce. I ordered the set box for $25 which included avocados, mini bells, Fuji apples, zucchini, bananas, cilantro, onions, red potatoes, cauliflower, and a pineapple (which I have to pick up tomorrow). I also added mushrooms, kale, more red potatoes, more Fuji apples, pears, kiwi, cucumbers, and romaine lettuce (which I forgot and have to pick up with pineapple). I also kicked in a couple dollars toward produce donation for families in the group that couldn’t afford a box this week. (This was ordered Sunday and factored into my weekly expenditures already.)

Tuesdays dinner: shrimp scampi, cabbage, mushrooms, & zucchini. . . we also chopped up a cucumber and enjoyed that cold. I added baby red potatoes as well. . . but they took longer to cook so aren’t in the picture. All the veggies and shrimp were cooked in butter. . . yum, healthy fat!

My low carb breakfast today. . . this is one of my stand by “treats” for the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I’m trying to get away from grains/carbs and today I’ve been successful! Baby is agreeing finally!

A couple hours after my chocolate “mousse” I was hungry and enjoyed some natural ham and diced cheddar.

I didn’t really eat lunch today, oops. It was a very busy day. I ate a banana and munched on a bit more ham & cheese and a few mushroom slices left in the fridge.

Somewhere mid-afternoon, I grabbed a Nancy’s yogurt at Market of Choice. . . I ran in to get my oldest a snack since I’d failed to bring one and we had a crazy afternoon. Anyway, I got the cultured full fat honey yogurt. . . so it was almost paleo. Full fat dairy (cultured), honey, peaches, locally produced. . . that’s it. It was tart and tasty and definitely took care of the nausea that was creeping up from going too long without eats. I grabbed a paleo jerky pack and a banana for K. Total $3.47.

Mama is hoping that I can stall the weight gain over the next 10 weeks. . . if I manage that, I can hope to come out of this pregnancy without an excessive amount of extra weight to lose. Hopefully removing the gluten free carbs I’ve been using to ease my nausea will help. Thankfully, the nausea is almost gone now (unless I go too long without food or have a migraine coming on).

I’m still wanting pancakes something fierce. . . I have two recipes in mind for this coming weekend. Not sure which I will make (or both?). . . apple almond pancakes or fluffy blueberry pancakes. . . decisions. . . decisions.

Grok's Big Family

Big Family. Small Budget. Grok Style.