Quick Dinner and a New Bacon Lover

Quick dinners have become the norm lately.  We always have some protein and veggies in the fridge. Sometimes I have a game plan for the week, sometimes I just throw stuff in a pan, add some seasonings and call it good.  It really doesn't have to be complicated.  Honestly, it feels easier than life before Paleo.  I usually spend an hour or two one night a week working on a few things to make life easier.  This week, it meant that I made some paleo granola, taco salad stuff (pico de gallo, sliced onions, sliced olives, cut up cabbage, cooking and seasoning ground beef), slicing strawberries, starting some Cheap & Cheerful Chicken, and making mayo and tzatziki.  It really took very little time and I felt like I was one step ahead of the game for the week.

One day, I hadn't planned lunch (our big meal) ahead of time.  Usually, I have some idea of what I'm going to do.  Actually, that's not entirely true.  I had planned on making Green Chile Chicken Soup, but realized that we didn't have any carrots.  None of the veggies we had on hand sounded like they would be good in the soup, so I made a super quick stirfry instead.

I threw in the chicken I had cooked earlier in the week, asparagus, red peppers and mushrooms.  Then I added in some coconut aminos, garlic, and a little salt.  Fifteen minutes from start to finish!

And something exciting happened in house -- Sam discovered bacon!  I know that sounds a bit silly, but he's not a huge meat lover, so we're jazzed to have another protein source to throw in the mix with him.  And really, who doesn't love bacon?

A Paleo Valentine's Day

I know that I'm almost a month late in posting this, but better late than never, right?  So, Valentine's Day.  A holiday built around treats.  Not quite like Halloween, but treats are still a big part of the picture.  We knew that Jack would get all kind of junk at his class party, which turned out to be an understatement.  If memory serves me correctly (I helped at the party), each kid got a cupcake, two different kinds of cookies, four pieces of licorice, a handful of goldfish, fruit snacks, a fun size candy bar and a fruit rollup.  This is in addition to the candy that their classmates gave them as part of their valentines.  Yikes!  Lucky for us, Jack forgets about candy the minute it's out of sight (in fact, he probably ate about 3 or 4 pieces of Halloween candy total), so we just dumped it in the trash the night and I never heard another word about it!

Since we did not want to contribute to the rise in childhood diabetes in America, I gave Jack the option of a couple of different none food valentines to give to his classmates.  And here is what he chose:

I found the free printable online and we grabbed some bugs (which were actually plastic cockroaches.  Nothing says "love" like a cockroach!) and bags at the dollar store.  The girls in the class weren't super jazzed about them, but they were a big hit with the boys.

For my loves, I made some homemade treats.  For B, I made these AMAZING chocolate covered caramel dates.  Seriously, so good.  And no sugar.  Well, there are natural sugars in the dates and honey technically.  We even had enough caramel left over to make a caramel apple.  Delicious!

For my little loves, I made our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and filled up some little mailboxes that I snagged for a buck each at Target.  (Sorry for the dark pictures of the treats.  I had to take them under the cover of darkness the night before...)  Now, this might not be a popular choice among parents, but I let our boys eat their cookies for breakfast that day.  When you think about what some kids are eating for breakfast though - donuts, pop tarts, Lucky Charms - a few paleo chocolate chip cookies are definitely a better choice.  The best choice out there? No.  But I'm perfectly fine with having a little fun once in a while.

A Paleo Birthday Party

Last week, we had three different get togethers with none paleo eaters to which I brought paleo snacks -- all of which seemed to be fairly well received.  I neglected to take pictures of it all, but I'll give you the gist before finishing off with the big get together.  For the Super Bowl party that we attended, I made some deviled eggs (kind of my go-to appetizer) and bacon wrapped dates.  The next day, it was our turn to bring snack to our weekly church small group.  I baked up a batch of chocolate chip cookies (by the way, this recipe makes a lot of cookies!) and we sliced up some apples as well.

This past week was also our little Sam's birthday.  We had some friends over for some food and fun (really, more like choas - our house is small!).  Since the party was in the morning, we did some brunch foods and kept it all Paleo (minus the Capri Suns, of course, which we had leftover from a party this summer).  I don't think any of our guests felt like the food was too weird for a birthday party.  Although, they probably wouldn't have said anything to my face, anyway, would they?

We made Pumpkin Muffins (from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook), had cups of fruit salad (bananas, kiwi, oranges, pineapple) and deviled eggs with bacon (get it? Bacon and eggs? :))

Obviously, the party was Toy Story themed.  I made some little cupcake toppers to make the muffins seem a little more exciting.  If I'd had more time, I would have made some frosting (from this post) to make them a little more cupcake like.  As it was, I ran short on time and since it was a brunch party, I thought it would be fine to just skip it.  Not worth stressing over!

Jack's (and Sam's!) Favorite: Mashed Rutabaga & Carrots

Our kids LOVE mashed rutabaga and carrots.  Actually, at our house, we usually call it swede and carrots.  Both my mom and my mother in law are British citizens and that's what the Brits and Scots call it.  Swede (pronounced sweed) rolls of the tongue a little better than rutabaga, doesn't it?  If you're looking for a rutabaga at the grocery store, you'll find it right next to the turnips.  They actually look like a turnip, but the color is slightly different.

We made this last week to go with a pot roast that we tossed in the crockpot on one of those lovely rainy Oregon days.  Both of the boys devoured their swede and carrots before they even touched their meat.  Although Sam usually feeds himself, he has yet to master (or even begin to show interest in...) the use of utensils, so Brandon and I tag teamed feeding him.  There's nothing worse than a hungry Sam, so we do what we have to do around here to keep the kid fed.

 

Mashed Rutabaga & Carrots

2 medium sized rutabaga
4 large carrots
2-4 Tbsp Kerrygold Irish Butter (made from grass fed cows milk)
Salt to taste

Peel and chop rutabaga and carrots into 1 inch pieces.  Steam or boil until soft and drain if needed (if you boiled them).  Mash with butter and add some salt to taste.  Pretty simple, huh?

Paleo Zuppa Toscana

Last week we got a bunch of kale in our CSA bin.  My favorite way to eat kale is, by far, this recipe.  It's basically a copy cat of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana, but without the potatoes and cream.  Although we didn't this time around, you could easily add some parsnips to this recipe to make it feel a little closer to the real thing.  You could also add some heavy cream or half and half if you don't mind a little dairy.  However, it definitely doesn't feel like it's lacking anything to begin with.  It's good and simple.  And very fall-ish.

Kale is a good source of calcium.  This is important to note if you have kids and don't eat dairy.  Cooked kale is a great way to get some calcium into those little bodies.  In this particular soup, the kale really takes on the flavors of the soup and doesn't have a heavy, mushy, bland taste.  And if you're pediatrician gives you a hard time about your little dude's calcium intake, rest assured that, if they are eating some greens and nut and seeds and a little fish, they are doing just fine.  Contrary to popular belief, there are other sources of calcium besides milk!

Paleo Zuppa Toscana

1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (links or ground is fine)
5 slices bacon, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, torn into bit sized pieces
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup water, as needed

In large soup pot, cook bacon and sausage.  Add in onions and garlic and cook until soft.  Add in kale and stock.  If you want you soup to be a bit "soupier", add in the water.  We tend to like our soup a little on the thick, stew like side, so we skip that.

If you are going to add in parsnips, wait to add in kale until the soup is about finished.  It only needs a couple of minutes to cook and this will keep it from getting overcooked.

If you are going to add in any cream, add that in toward the end as well.

Paleo Cauliflower Fried Rice

This is definitely one of my favorite go-to meals.  It's quick, easy, and tastes like regular old fried rice.  I generally throw some bone-in chicken thighs in the crock pot the night before, essentially making this recipe.  Then I shred some cauliflower in our food processor and chop up a bunch of other stuff--cabbage, peppers, onion, and broccoli this particular time.  And then I grab the secret ingredient: Coconut Aminos. Like I've said before, this stuff tastes exactly like soy sauce, but it's made from coconuts.

Since we don't have a pan big enough to cook all of the veggies at once, I usually do it in two batches.  I threw the chicken, onion and peppers in the first batch and fried it up with some coconut aminos.  Once it was done, I set it aside and tossed everything else in the pan with a little more coconut aminos.  Once that was done, I just mixed it all together -- pretty quick and simple!

If I'd had more time, I would have scrambled up some eggs and added those in as well.   This is also a great recipe if you've got some leftover meat as well.  I'm thinking it would be a great meal to make with leftover pork tenderloin or even Thanksgiving turkey.  At the same time, it could easily be made without meat too!  Super easy and versatile.

Jack's Favorite: Make-Your-Own Taco Salad

In honor of Jack's first full week of kindergarten (which has been an adjustment for all of us), I wanted to make a fun meal.  If you ask Jack what his favorite meal is, he'll say Make-Your-Own Taco Salad.  I'm sure it has to do more with the fact that he gets to assemble it however he likes than the actual flavor of the meal.  It's actually a great meal to have kids help with too.  Jack can slice olives, help me make the salsa, and cook up the meat.  He's  a great helper in the kitchen.  And just an all around great kiddo.  Now I'm getting sappy.  I'm feeling proud and sentimental (and tired) as we've all adjusted to having a kiddo in school.

Okay, on to the food.  This meal is a great one to serve to non paleo eaters because it's not too different from a typical taco salad.  If you don't shy away from dairy, you could also add some sour cream or cheese as well. 

This edition of Make-You-Own Taco Salad contained:

-ground beef seasoned with homemade taco seasoning
-red cabbage
-olives
-salsa (working on a recipe for this)
-guacamole (in reality, it was just mashed up avocado mixed with a bit of salsa)
-salsa verde (working on a recipe for this too)

You could also chop some tomatoes, onions, cilantro, pepper -- anything really!  Jack loves to pile stuff on his plate.  We tell him that he needs to pick at least two veggies, but he usually ends up with more.  Sam (18mo) had some olives, meat and avocado.  And Brandon and I had a little of everything in case you were wondering.

More Larabars

The other day I was perusing the Larabar website and was inspired to make a couple of new kinds of Larabars for the kiddos...and Brandon.  And truth be told, I was inspired by a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup too.  Those things are so horribly bad for you, but they are addicting.

So, one rainy day last week, we dug through our cupboards and came up with enough stuff to make some Coconut Cream Larabars and some Almond Butter and Chocolate Larabars.  We improvised on the dried fruit because all that we had was a limited amount of dates and some prunes, but you could obviously use something else.

Almond Butter and Chocolate Larabars

2 1/2 cups nuts
16 medjool dates
1/2 cup prunes
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
1/3 cup almond butter

Combine nuts and cocoa powder in food processor and process until you have a course meal consistency.  Set aside.  Again in food processor, combine remaining ingredients until well mixed.  In medium bowl, combine date mixture with nut mixture.  Once combined, roll into balls.

Coconut Cream Larabars

2 1/2 cups nuts
1 1/4 cups shredded coconut
16 medjool dates
1 cup prunes
1/4 coconut oil, melted

Combine nuts and coconut in food processor until it reaches coarse meal consistency.  Set aside.  Combine dates, prunes and coconut oil until well combined.  In medium bowl, combine date mixture with nut mixture.  Once combined, roll into balls.  If you're feeling fancy, coat them in a little shredded coconut.

What our kiddos actually eat...

I thought I would try to give everyone an idea of what our kiddos actually eat on any given day, so I've been taking pictures when I remember...which is probably 50% of the time.  So here's a picture laden post of our cuties stuffing their faces.  I think it will give a fairly accurate picture of what they eat usually, with the following exceptions:

1. They did eat out three times these last couple of weeks.  Once at McDonalds (chicken nuggets, fries, and a cheeesburger of sorts-a McDouble maybe?), once at Red Robin (Clucks and fries.  And boatloads of ranch.) and once at a Mexican restaurant (quesadilla, beans, rice and lots and lots of chips and salsa).  When we eat out, we let Jack pick what he wants to eat and we don't make a big deal out of it.  There are times that he will choose better than others, but we want him to make his own choices.  And he will be the first to tell you how some of those choices make him feel, most of the time with a little more info than you bargained for.

2.  Surprisingly, there are no pictures of the kids eating hot dogs (good, all beef, nitrate free ones) or salmon burgers, which happens at least a couple of times a week.  We've just had lots of other leftover meat so we haven't had to break out our old standbys.

3.  These pictures do not do justice to the huge mess that Sam (18mo) makes when he is eating.

Sam having some breakfast of scrambled eggs, banana chips, and zucchini bread.

Jack having scrambled eggs and a smoothie for breakfast.

Jack enjoying some zucchini lasagna, which he loved.

Sam having some chicken.  Please don't mind the seriously crazy outfit.  He's wearing a shirt that Jack made him for Christmas, a blue cloth diaper and some crazy striped baby legs that barely fit over his chunky thighs.

Eating stuffed zucchini and being a little silly.  He wasn't a hug fan of the actual zucchini, so he only ate about a quarter of it.

Just being silly.

More chicken for Sam.  Notice the fork in his hand which he has no desire to actually use for it's intended purpose.

Sam's favorite snack is raisins in a ziploc bag, which he carries with him everywhere, leaving a little trail.  It's like Hansel and Gretel meets Tanzmanian Devil in our house.

Jack having snack during his rest time.  Almonds, raisins, and apricots.

Enjoying some juicy peaches.  Sam LOVES peaches and eats every last bit except the pit.  And then he is sticky as all get out.

Sam having some almonds and stealing my water cup.

A lovely lunch of chicken and apple slices.

And lest anyone think that our kids never get sweet treats, here's Jack and I at frozen yogurt a couple of days ago.  We were celebrating him starting school.  He picked out two kinds of yogurt and then piled on gummy sharks, gummy worms, jelly beans, skittles, and a M&M's.  He only ate about half of it before declaring that it was too sweet. 

Zucchini Fries

When my twin sister and I were little, my mom would order one happy meal between us.  My sister would eat the burger and I would eat the fries.  To say that I love fries would be an understatement.  Fries and chips are probably the thing that I miss the most since going Paleo.  Although my body doesn't miss them much...   

I'm not one to toot my own horn, but this recipe rocks.  I seriously could have eaten the whole batch myself.  For a french fry lover like myself, this definitely fills that fried potato craving in me.  They really don't taste zucchini-y.  They just taste good.  So good.  Man, I'm getting hungry just typing about these.

Zucchini Fries

1 medium zucchini
2 Tbsp olive oil (coconut oil would work too)
2 eggs
Coating: (you'll make 3-4 batches of this...I'll explain below)
3 Tbsp almond meal
1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 425.  Line a large baking sheet with foil, pour oil on and spread around (using a brush) to cover entire sheet. Next, slice zucchini into matchstick pieces.  We found that the smaller the pieces, the more they crisped up.  Once you have sliced up everything as uniformly as possible, dry off any extra moisture on the zucchini with a paper towel.  In shallow pie plate, beat eggs.  Set aside.  Again in shallow pie plate or dish, mix together coating mixture.  You only want to mix up a little at a time because the eggs will muck everything up if you have too much.  Next you'll want to set up a little assembly line with the zucchini, eggs, and coating.  From there, just start coating the zucchini in eggs and then dredging them in the coating mixture and place it on the baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turn and bake for another 12-14 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Granola Bars!

Last week, Sam (18mo) was feeding himself some granola and making an epic mess while consuming very little of the actual granola.  Brandon and I talked about how we needed to start making granola bars for Sam so that he could get a little more of the food into his mouth.  And later that exact same day, our new friend Carie (Hi Carie!) asked me on Facebook about making granola into a granola bar.  So, off on the hunt I went.

There are a couple of different ways that you could "construct" a granola bar.  One way would be to use the date mixture from our Lara Bar recipe and combine it with our granola recipe until you get the consistency you are looking for.  I didn't have the supplies on hand to try this way out, but I will soon and I'll let you know the results.  If you try it out, let me know!

So, what I did try out though, was this recipe.  I made them as prescribed (that's a little CrossFit reference for all you CrossFitters out there), as I usually do when I first try out a recipe.  We liked the way they turned out, but they were a little sweet for us grownups.  Don't get me wrong though, they were absolutely delicious.  It doesn't seem like you could cut the honey down in the recipe because it's crucial in holding everything together.  And if you're giving these to kids, I highly doubt they're going to have a problem with the sweetness.

Overall though, I think this is a great recipe.  They come together really quickly and cut up very easily.  I would recommend that you keep them refrigerated as they seem to keep their firmness a little better.  Although it was 85 degrees out on the day that we made these, so that might have contributed a little bit.

I wrapped most of the batch up individually and stuck them in the fridge.  They'll be great to grab on our way out the door or to toss in a lunch.  I think we ended up with 16-18 bars, which should last us at least a day or two...

***Edited to add: My sister suggested using those snack size ziploc bags instead of taking the time to wrap up each individual bar.  Great idea!

Super Quick and Easy Spaghetti

It's a classic.  It's cheap.  It's easy.  It feeds a lot of people.  What's no to like about spaghetti?  Okay, the pasta maybe.  But we can easily fix that.  This is the time of year for zucchini and there is plenty of it to go around.  The past couple of weeks when I've gone to pick up our CSA basket, there are always a couple of extra huge zucchinis free for the taking and I always grab one.  Of course, you can always use spaghetti squash for this dish too, but it takes a bit more time and it can cost a pretty penny sometimes.

If you've got picky eaters in your family, I would suggest that you peel the zucchini (or yellow squash or whatever you use) to "mask" (okay, maybe hide?) the initial fact that it's a veggie.  Anyone with kids knows what I'm talking about.  If it's green, some kids won't even think about eating it.  It's not a trick that we've had to employ with our kids, but I'm not above eliminating things that might prevent your kids from even giving it a chance.  I'm not condoning deception, but more encouraging a better first impression....am I starting to sound like a politician?  Anyway, I really think that the veggies in this dish take on the taste of the meaty sauce and it really tastes like a genuine spaghetti dish.  Granted, I haven't had real spaghetti in over a year, but I think I have a pretty good memory.

This is our secret ingredient.  Of course, you could make your own, but having this bad boy in the pantry means that I'm just a few steps away from a quick dinner.

Super Quick Paleo Spaghetti

1 can spaghetti sauce
1.5 pounds ground beef, pork or italian sausage (we usually use a combo of beef and itialian sausage)
3-4 medium zucchini or sqaush
seasonings: garlic, onion, basil, oregano (whatever your preference)

Brown meat in pan and season as desired.  If you are using grass fed beef, I find that I really need to season it to dull the "beefy" flavor of it.  Just a preference thing though.  Once cooked through, add sauce and heat through.  While meat is browning, julienne slice zucchini.  Or just chop it up.  Heat a little oil in a skillet and drop zucchini in once hot.  I usually do this just before I add the sauce to the meat and they both end up being ready about the same time.  Season the zucchini with a little salt, garlic and onion powder.  Serve and enjoy!


And, if you have a little more time, make meatballs!  Actually, we tend to make big batches of meatballs ahead of time, so they are usually sitting there ready to go.

One more thing...some people can have a sensitivity to tomatoes.  They are inflammatory, so if you have arthritis or something, it might be best to stay away from them.  We have found that tomatoes in large doses tend to upset our stomachs on occasion, so it's just something to think about.  And I'm sure the 2.5 mile uphill trail run/hike we did after this particular meal had nothing to do with it...

Paleo Granola

Granola is a staple in our house.  It can serve as a meal, a snack or even a dessert.  And it is definitely a must if you have kiddos around.   Jack (5yo) would eat this everyday if he could.  We've just recently given it to Sam (18mo) and he couldn't even be bothered to try to use a spoon to eat it with -- he just started using his sticky little fingers.  Most often, we serve it on top of home canned applesauce, peaches, or pears.  It could also be eaten with just a little almond milk or coconut milk.  Or maybe make some kind of smoothie and top it with this.  We also love it with fried apples and coconut ice cream.  Basically, it's good on top of anything.  It's versatile enough that you could switch up the spices (nutmeg? cloves?), nuts (walnuts? pecans?) and even add some dried fruit too.  Have fun experimenting!

Paleo Granola

10 cups nuts (we use sliced and slivered almonds most of the time)
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients together in large bowl.  Spread onto parchment paper or silpat lined baking sheet or baking dish with edges.  Bake for 20 - 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Paleo Graham Crackers

This is a recipe that I came up with one day while trying to think of more kid friendly snacks to have around our house.  I did a little research on graham cracker recipes and adapted from there and they turned out pretty good.  Our boys LOVED them.  Our littlest dude (18mo) scarfed these down and kept asking for more.  (He doesn't talk much, but he knows how to sign and say "more".  Kid doesn't mess around when it comes to food!) 

Since I went with a fairly typical graham cracker recipe, there is a bit more work than just mixing it up and tossing it in the oven.  Okay, well not that much really, just some chilling time in the fridge.  I tried several different variations of shapes, chilling times, baking times, etc.  It seems to me the only really important thing is the baking time, which will probably vary a little depending on the oven.  So, as usual, just play around with it and see what works for you.

Paleo Graham Crackers

3 1/2 cups almond meal (almond flour would work as well)
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon
7 Tbsp coconut oil (chilled)
2 Tbsp vanilla
5 Tbsp coconut milk
1/2 cup honey

Combine almond meal, baking soda, and cinnamon in bowl or food processor.  Add in coconut oil and combine until you reach a coarse meal.  In a separate bowl, whisk together vanilla, coconut milk and honey.  Add to the almond meal mixture and combine well.

Drop dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, form into a ball or rectangle (it will be pretty sticky) and wrap completely.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours or until firm.

Now, there are a couple of ways that you can do this next part.  I found that the first way worked best for me, but the second worked as well.

1. Once dough is firm, roll out about a quarter of the dough onto parchment paper or a silpat mat (I use one of these all the time and love it).  It will be sticky, so you you may use a piece of parchment paper on top while you roll.  When your dough is about 1/4 inch thick, cut with a pizza cutter into squares.
2. Roll the dough into ping pong size balls and flatten into circles.  Place on baking sheet.
**You can also use cookie cutters (roll the dough onto the parchment paper first), but the dough is pretty sticky and hard to pull up around the shapes.  I tried it, but ditched it pretty quick.  A lot of work for something that was probably not going to be appreciated by my hungry boys.  I might consider doing it for a party or something though.

Okay, once you've got everything on the baking sheets, bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-25 minutes, until slightly brown.  I know that's a big range, but it really will depend on your oven and the shape you make.  Watch the first batch and then you will have a good idea of what works best for you.  Also, if you've been working with your dough very long, you'll want to chill what you have on your cookie sheet before you bake them.

Cool completely.  When you first take them out of the oven, they may be a little soft, but they should firm up once they've had a chance to cool.  Store in an airtight container. 

Sweet Potato Chips

Oh my goodness. Chips. My weakness. And my standards are not that high either. I could down a bag of Cheetos Puffs or Nacho Cheese Doritos in no time flat. Since going Paleo, when I want to "cheat" and have some chips, I generally stick with Kettle Chips, but I'm thinking my days of buying chips are (mostly) over. The other day we had burgers for lunch and I really wanted something fried and salty to go with them. These little guys definitely fit the bill. Although, next time around, I (a former salt lover) would probably skip the salt altogether.

Sweet Potato Chips

Coconut Oil
Sweet Potato

In large skillet, over medium heat, heat enough coconut oil to have about a half inch to fry your sweet potatoes in. While the oil is heating, slice sweet potatoes as thin as possible using either a knife or a mandolin slicer. Once oil is heated, drop sliced sweet potatoes in and fry for about 2 minutes on each side. Once done, let cool on a paper towel. These taste best after they have completely cooled, but sometimes it's hard to wait. :) It might take a batch or two to get the hang of it...my first batch doesn't always turn out. Oh, and I would recommend you wear an apron too!

Paleo Pancakes and Sandwiches!

We have tried lots of different Paleo pancake recipes. Some involve using almond butter, some use bananas, other use almond meal...there are tons of possibilities. Our favorite though is the Coconut Flour Pancakes from The Primal Blueprint Cookbook. We feel like they are about as close to regular old pancakes as we're going to get.

This last week, we got two pints of raspberries and a pint of boysenberries in our CSA basket. Yum. We decided to make some berry "syrup" to top our pancakes with. This meal definitely felt a bit like a indulgent Saturday morning breakfast, but without any of the guilt.

For the syrup, we simply mashed up a couple of cups of berries and heated them on low while the pancakes were cooking. Like I mentioned before, we are trying to cut back on unnecessary sweetening things with honey, so we didn't add any this time around. Depending on how sweet the berries are already, I think a teaspoon or two of honey would be a nice addition next time.

One great thing about pancakes is that can be used to make a Paleo friendly sandwich! Jack (5yo) was super stoked about this one. We just slapped on some almond butter and honey and he was in heaven. The next day we made them again with some leftovers and we added in a little bit of our berry syrup as well. Super great little snack for the kiddos.

Paleo Crackers

As I mentioned before, I made some really great crackers for Brandon to take with him when he was out of town. One day while he was gone, I got a text from him that said "The crackers are awesome!". And I have to agree. Both of the boys loved them too, especially our littlest dude. It's nice have something that he can feed himself and that actually have some staying power, unlike normal crackers.

I can't really take credit for the recipe, as it is basically Everyday Paleo's Pizza Crust recipe, with a couple of very minor changes.

Paleo Crackers (adapted from Everyday Paleo)

2 cups almond flour (almond meal would work too)
2 eggs
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp Tuscan Spice Rub
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Combine dry ingredients until mixed well. Add eggs and olive oil and stir until well incorporated. The mixture will be thick. Roll out onto parchment paper (I usually cover the top with wax paper while I am rolling to avoid a big sticky mess) and cut into squares with a pizza cutter. Bake for about 25 minutes at 350. Once cooled, break apart and store in an air tight container.

Paleo Pizza!

We are a family of pizza lovers. Although, who doesn't love pizza? Friday's used to mean homemade pizza at our house. Since today is Friday, I thought I would post about our favorite Paleo pizza. Early on in our Paleo journey, we found Everyday Paleo's pizza crust recipe and we love it. It is definitely not the same as regular old not so good for you pizza, but it makes a great substitute. Pizza is also a great thing to get kids involved in making. Jack often picks out one or two of our veggies and he's a great little sauce spreader.

And we also recently discovered this delicious tapanade (sounds so fancy, huh?) at Trader Joe's that works great as a pizza sauce.

The tapande is a great base flavor for almost any topping. We usually just add whatever we have laying around.

This time around (please ignore the spot on the camera lens...), we used Italian sausage, yellow peppers and olives. We would normally add more veggies, but we were running low on this particular day.

Slice it up and enjoy!

Veggies for Breakfast

One of the biggest changes that we've made since becoming a Paleo family is making it a point to get veggies at every meal -- including breakfast. I'll admit that it can be tricky and there are obviously days where we don't succeed, but for the most part, we have figured out how to integrate veggies into our breakfasts. You could easily just roast some broccoli and have that with your eggs or saute up some bell peppers, which we love to do, but we've been trying to "diversify", if you will. Here are some of the recent things we've had:

The other morning, the boys had smoothies with spinach, strawberries, and coconut milk, along with some mini frittatas which has peppers, spinach, onions and bacon.

This is a couple of eggs with some bacon and chard.

Our littlest dude had some avocado (which he likes to put in his hair...) and a banana one morning.

And, probably our favorite veggie to have with breakfast is zucchini. It's actually probably tied with peppers in all honesty. Here we had it with some sausage and eggs.

Anybody out there have any other great ideas for getting veggies at breakfast?

Homemade Apple Pie Larabars

One of the biggest challenges when we made the switch to Paleo was snacky type stuff for our kids. If you have kids, you know what I'm taking about. Kids like snacks. And they seems to like them even more if they come in a bar form wrapped in some kind of colorful wrapper. They're portable and they're tasty.

If you're looking for a bar that fits the above bill and is also Paleo, you're left with very few options. But, while there may only be one company (that I know of) that makes Paleo approved snack bars, thankfully they make a bunch of different flavors (not all of which are Paleo -- make sure you check the ingredients). Lara bars are made with dried fruit, nuts, and a spice or two. That's it. Pretty awesome, huh? Our littlest dude isn't really old enough to have preferences, but our 5 year old definitely has his favorite:
The Apple Pie Lara Bar. I'm pretty sure he would eat these bad boys all day long if we let him. And who would blame him? They are good. However, they cost at least $1.25* a bar.

So, after consulting a few different recipes online, we came up with one we are really happy with. We roll them into little balls, but they could be made into bars or squares or whatever shape your little heart desires. We also roll them in unsweetened coconut but that's just a preference of ours. When I give them to our almost 18 month old, I usually form them into more of a cookie shape because, otherwise, he tries to shove the entire thing in his mouth at once. We often joke that he has a future as a competitive eater.

Apple Pie Larabars

2 cups nuts (this time around, we used walnuts, cashews and almonds)
20 dates, pits removed
1/3 cup raisins
1 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup applesauce (pureed apples would probably work in a pinch as well)
unsweetened coconut

In a food processor, chop nuts and cinnamon until crumbly. I usually aim for pea size pieces, which means that there will be some smaller than that and some larger. Pour into a medium size mixing bowl. Add dates, raisins, and applesauce into food processor and process until pureed. It will be fairly thick. If it isn't moving around the food processor, you can add a little more applesauce to get it moving, but you want it to remain thick. Add the date/raisin mixture with the nuts and combine well. Honestly, it easiest to do with your hands. Once it's combined, form into whatever shape you desire. I roll them into little ping pong sized balls and then roll them in coconut. Makes about 25-30, depending on size.

*I'm aware that they sell them at Costco, but the package includes the Peanut Butter flavor, which isn't Paleo, so it kind of cancels out the 80 cents that they cost.