We’re going Paleo!

(Edit: I wrote this Sunday night and accidentally posted it in the wrong spot. Read as if it were yesterday night.)

Just for three weeks.

Or maybe longer 🙂

Tomorrow is the start of the annual ’21-Day Paleo Challenge’ and Andrew and I thought it would be fun to give it a try. (Seriously–I barely even had to twist his arm.)

Andrew has a friend at work who is into Paleo and I always enjoy talking to her about her eating pattern. (Of course I do.). We’ve started making some better choices in the new year (Andrew is back at the gym–yay!) and we figured this challenge would be something healthy and fun to try. And who knows? Maybe we’ll like it! It is a lot of meat…

While I’m not usually so gung-ho about a diet that excludes food groups (two!), I feel Paleo is a bit more of a ‘lifestyle’ eating pattern than a diet. The more I read about it, the more I realize it’s less about ‘eating like a caveman’ and more about avoiding anything processed, which does include grains and dairy, at least here in our country.

My mom gave me Practical Paleo for Christmas and I’m loving it. The author, Diane Sanfilipo, includes a bunch of 30-day meal plans, which I was dying to try. When I heard about the challenge, I figured the timing couldn’t be better. I’m going to try to stick to it 100%, at least for as long as our budget allows–meat is pricey!

The challenge starts tomorrow, and I’ve already made our breakfast and prepped our lunch, which I’ll share tomorrow. I’ll also share more along the way about the Paleo eating pattern and what I think.

And, in honor of the big day tomorrow, Andrew and I decided to really cut loose and indulge in more bread and pasta in one meal than we’d had all month–we went to Olive Garden for lunch.

Wish us luck!

snovember

So, we had a giant snowstorm back in November. You might have heard of it.

It started snowing Monday night, and I was definitely stressed about having to drive into Buffalo the next day to go to the hospital. I knew if the Buffalo Public Schools were closed, I’d also have the day off. However, the snow was expected in the Southtowns, not Buffalo, so we weren’t sure what was going to happen. Moog rarely closes, so Andrew anticipated going into work.

I woke up around 5:30 with texts on my phone about school being cancelled, so that was a relief. Otherwise, I’d be the lone student who couldn’t make it in…and have to make up the missed time on my own. Later in the morning, we heard Moog was closed as well. By mid-morning Tuesday, the accumulation was growing and it snowed virtually all day. We were out three times to shovel and snow-blow, and that was just to keep it manageable. When we weren’t outside, we were parked on the couch trying to rest up before heading out again just a few hours later. There may have been hot chocolate and episodes of The Walking Dead involved…

Wednesday morning we awoke to sunny skies and not a flurry falling. It was almost surreal. It felt as if we were in the ‘eye’ of the storm, knowing more snow was coming. We spent the day relaxing and visiting the Nyes’ house. That night, we did a quick shovel and snow-blow of the driveway to clear the six or so inches that had fallen the previous night.

The snow returned with a vengeance Thursday, and we were out three times that day to keep up with it. Keep in mind that when it snows this much overnight, the first person up with the dog has to shovel an entire path just so they can relieve themselves. Not fun.

It finally stopped snowing sometime that evening while we were out doing our final clear. By that point, I’d had it with shoveling. I didn’t have anywhere to throw the snow anymore!

On Friday, yet another snow day, Andrew decided we needed to clear the snow off our side roof, which is above our laundry room. To get to it, he used the ladder as a walkway on top of about 3-4 feet of snow.

Shoveling off the roof:

That night we decided to get out of the house–for something other than snow-blowing–and we headed to Main Street to see Mockingjay at our local theater.

Afterward, we walked all the way down to the other end of Main Street to grab a beer before heading home again. I think I made a pizza at home, too…

Our last day of snow removal was Saturday. You can see Andrew’s head on the top of our roof in the photo below. He shoveled all the snow off our roof…and let it all fall right in front of our back door (a.k.a. the door we actually use). I could have killed him. I spent the afternoon trying to get our car out of the driveway, which has been snow-blowed but not quite wide enough all the way down. A kind neighbor came and helped me while Andrew cleared the roof, and then Dad Layer stopped by and the three of us (sans Andrew) attacked the snow piled in front of our door.

If I never shovel again, it will be too soon. (Disclaimer: We’ve already had more snow. It was too soon. Definitely too soon.)

And to think: Buffalo (the city) got, like, NO SNOW. Seriously. Maybe a few inches. We got 90.5 inches. NINETY-POINT-FIVE. Seven and a half feet of snow. In three days. #snovember

a tale of two bundts

I made two spice cakes last week for Andrew’s mom’s birthday. Spice cake is a favorite of hers’ and I found two different recipes. Since Andrew and I enjoy a good taste-test, he encouraged me to make both.

Well. I gladly accepted and used this as a perfect opportunity to purchase the spiral bundt pan I’ve been eyeing for like a year. (BTW it’s AMAZING.)

I made King Arthur Flour’s brown sugar spice cake in my old pan (the nondescript one without ridges) and Joy the Baker’s Araby Spice Cake in the nifty new swirl one.

The

The verdict: ???

Honestly, neither was what I expected. Both were more dense (I suppose I should have expected that) and neither were terribly flavorful. KAF’s featured nuts and ginger, while Joy’s secret ingredient was cocoa powder. Joy’s glaze was better. Overall, I think everyone preferred KAF’s version.

Bottom line: still looking for a winner!