I took the morning off from the gym in favor of getting some things done around here. I made a meal to bring to a friend who had twins…four months ago. I figured it’s not like life really ‘calms down’ at any point (she also has two older kiddos), so why not? I cleaned my desk, did dishes, made some banana bread with chocolate chips to bring to my friend as well (don’t worry, the leftover loaf went in the freezer!), made Paleo pumpkin muffins, did more dishes and prepped lunch for Andrew and myself. Whew! It was a glorious, productive, stay-at-home kinda morning.

Breakfast: I tried the other porridge recipe, Tahini-Pumpkin, but didn’t love it. Next time, I would sub almond butter for the tahini. It’s so bitter to me!

Mid-morning snack: Same as Tuesday–plain yogurt with raspberries and maple syrup.

Lunch: Leftover Chinese Five-Spice Lettuce Cups. Mine turned into a salad with some avocado.

I had a busy afternoon–dropped the meal off with my friend and. Is ited for a bit, then straight to a story interview, followed by the gym around 5:30. I snacked on some almonds in the car between stops, and I’d brought a small glass of kefir in the car for after my workout.

Dinner: Thanksgiving in January! Thanksgiving meatballs (pork), roasted sweet potatoes, roasted Brussels sprouts and homemade cranberry sauce.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite as yummy as I though it would be. The cranberry sauce was very tart (recipe from the Paleo cookbook), the Brussels sprouts were somewhat bland and not the greatest texture (they’d been frozen) and the meatballs were just alright. Good thing sweet potatoes can be relied on to always be fantastic!

To end the night: Lemon Ginger tea!

Double-digits!

I think I’ve cheated (it’s so hard not to!) enough times that I don’t really feel deprived, while at the same time I wish I felt, well, deprived. We’re eating way too well to feel like we’re really missing anything. I mean, come on! We’re eating bacon and beef and yummy salads and veggies…

Breakfast: Pesto eggs and bacon before kickbox.

Lunch: Andrew had a work meeting, so I was home alone. Tuna with a small apple and almond butter.

Snack: Homemade hot chocolate! Almond milk, cocoa powder, brown sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg. So good!

Dinner: I threw together some corned beef veggies and broth I found in the freezer with some pastrami and sauerkraut. Homemade applesauce on the side.

Later in the evening, I snacked on some salted caramel peanuts and some of Andrew’s popcorn. I haven’t been feeling as ‘svelte’ this week, and I think it’s because of all the later-evening snacking. No more!

We’re about to start a movie, so I’ll make this short and sweet.

Breakfast: I tried the ‘coconutty’ porridge, made with almond butter, unsweetened coconut, coconut milk and maple syrup. Pretty good, although the ‘large serving’ wasn’t all that large and lacked protein.

Mid-morning snack: I chose to stay home to get some ‘to-do’ items checked off the list instead of going to kickbox, and found I was hungry around 10:30. I mixed up some frozen raspberries and a drizzle of maple syrup on plain homemade yogurt.

Lunch: I met a friend downtown for lunch and we ended up at the Hilton Garden Inn restaurant, as she works inside the building and baby, it’s cold outside. I got the tomato soup and a Cobb salad with balsamic dressing. I honestly didn’t even notice I was eating the cheese until I was two bites from being done. Paleo-fail, but everything else was right on.

I had a very full afternoon with a trip to campus to meet my advisor and turn in my application for graduation (!!!), and while I packed a gym bag anticipating I might go straight to spin at 4:30, the timing just didn’t work out. I was leaving school way too early to hit the gym, but by the time I got home I didn’t have enough time to do anything productive before I’d have to leave again. So, I decided to cut my losses, make a cup of coffee and sit at the computer and tackle more of the to-do list.

Dinner: I made Chinese 5-Spice lettuce cups with cilantro-lime cauli-rice. Pretty good! Cauli-rice is my new favorite thing. Simply grate and sauté!

After dinner, Andrew and I ran an errand and then decided to rent a movie. Well, this time it was Andrew’s turn to cheat. I talked him out of ordering pizza, but just barely. He’s currently digging into a Luigi’s Italian Ice (so much for trying to avoid refined sugar) and has a french bread pizza heating up in the toaster oven. I chose the most Paleo options at Tops that I could: Black Cherry Greek froyo and super dark chocolate.