We were out late last night at a fancy fundraiser with friends and weren’t in bed until 1:30. Clearly, I wasn’t about to start a blog post. Five hours later I was up, coffee with half-and-half and maple syrup (decided to continue that) in hand, prepping breakfast before snowshoeing this morning.

So, to review…

Friday:

Breakfast: (coffee with h&h and maple syrup), half a sliced apple with almond butter, leftover cauli-rice and pesto eggs, ginger kombucha (it’s a fermented drink, instead of sauerkraut)

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Lunch: leftover bacon and pumpkin pancakes sprinkled with pecans and a drizzle of maple syrup; Andrew had two andouille sausages and leftover green beans

Afternoon snacks included a soymilk latte with half the flavor syrup (total Paleo fail; I asked for almond milk and they didn’t have it, and then it just ended up being way too sweet anyway) around 3:30 and then some veggies with cauliflower hummus mixed with avocado and a few almonds on our way downtown around 6:45

Dinner: I went into the event open-minded and alright with not sticking to the challenge depending on what was offered. Our friends took us first to Sea Bar for their beef-on-weck roll (cooked beef surrounded by rice and rolled in thinner beef topped with caraway seeds and salt and drizzled with a horseradish mayo–it was devine). At the event, I sampled multiple cheeses, had a small amount of macaroni and cheese, beef on weck (again, excellent) and a salad. I finished the evening with a giant piece of blueberry cheesecake. It was so yummy. Despite the splurges, I felt fine and didn’t feel like I overate, so, score one for me! There is no photographic evidence of my transgressions. And props to Andrew for attempting to avoid the bread…until he didn’t.

Saturday:

I feel like today was a roller coaster–both circumstantially and willfully.

Andrew and I had plans to snowshoe bright and early, so I got up early and made us a hearty breakfast of eggs, sweet potatoes and sausage. I had a little kombucha with mine.

After two hours of trekking through the woods, we were treated to a wonderful meal made by our friend and snowshoeing companion, a co-worker of Andrew’s. He and his wife had made us beef and barley soup, cornbread and brownie. None of it was Paleo, but it was all delicious 🙂

Later that afternoon–after a soak in the tub and a nap–I made us smoothies using my homemade yogurt, almond milk, protein powder and some fruits and veggies since we had ‘lunch’ at 10:45.

After spending some time with hadrian at the dog park, we visited the Nyes’ house, where bacon and nuts were waiting for us. But, before you think we were better than we were…there may have been some glazed nuts, chocolate covered pretzels and a handful of caramel popcorn involved. At least it wasn’t much.

At this point on a Saturday night, after debating about going to see a movie or stay in, we were DANGEROUSLY close to ordering a pizza (for real), but we rose to the occasion and I pulled off the meal I’d planned to have:

Roasted chicken with asparagus–fantastic! So glad we did that.

Afterward, we cleansed our palettes with clementines while starting our Redbox, A Walk Among the Tombstones. Odie jumped in the photo at the last minute!

We popped some popcorn mid-movie, which isn’t very Paleo, but maybe. If they had corn, couldn’t they have popped it?

It’s 8:45 p.m. and Andrew and I are on the couch, sketching ideas for a new front door. I’m sipping Sleepytime tea and Hadrian is whining to go out. Again.

But I love this. (Minus the whining.) We’re at home (not out), on the couch in jammies, well before bedtime, and the TV isn’t on. I don’t feel guilty about eating a giant bowl of ice cream (because I didn’t), and I won’t go to bed with a stomachache. I’ve already even soaked my tired muscles in a bath with Epsom salts and rolled out. My nails are freshly painted. Why can’t every night be like this??

Anyway.

Breakfast: I keep forgetting to include my morning coffee! Every morning, I enjoy a cup of coffee with 2 T of CoffeeMate Natural Bliss. That equates to 2 servings, equalling 70 calories and 10g of sugar. But, according to the ingredients, Natural Bliss is simply milk, cream and sugar, just pre-mixed. Two servings is a bit of a splurge, so my goal is to get to just 1 T. For the last two days, I’ve used 2 T organic half and half with 1/2 T molasses (yesterday) and 1/2 T maple syrup (today). Both tasted acceptable and only slightly sweet. While I suppose they would both be fine options and certainly less ‘processed,’ it’s much more convenient to use the creamer. A Paleo/Primal option would be to use just cream, but I need a little sweetness. Don’t mess with my morning coffee! So, I think I will use the Natural Bliss (since it’s already in my possession) and consider the half and half/maple syrup option for down the road.

I made pumpkin ‘pancakes’ today, which were really just flourless crepes, I suppose. Pretty good but they certainly didn’t scratch the pancake itch. I have another gluten-free pumpkin pancake recipe to try that uses alternative flours (not sure how Paleo all of them are) which will probably turn out more like traditional pancakes.

I served my pumpkin crepes with some toasted pecans, a drizzle of maple syrup and some leftover bacon. I didn’t add fruit because I figured there was already plenty of sugar in this particular breakfast!

Skipped my post-kickbox bite of dried peach because I was too busy delivering some leftover beet soup over to Mr.Nye, chatting with Emily on the phone and changing into fresh workout clothes.

Lunch: I turned two leftover chicken thighs into my favorite chicken salad! Celery, toasted walnuts, grapes and mayo (not Paleo in the slightest, but I still don’t have enough bacon fat to make baconnaise, and at least my mayo is made with olive oil). I whipped it up yesterday and served it with a little leftover beet soup. Andrew had the last two chicken thighs with leftover green beans.

No afternoon snack, but I did eat the other half of the banana from Tuesday on my way out the door to spin at 4 p.m. I think I needed a snack yesterday because I didn’t have a lot of steak on my salad, and we do eat a later dinner (7:30ish), which is a long time to go without food.

I got smart and brought some almonds with me in the car to eat after the gym around 5:45. Such a good idea.

Dinner: Beef Dolmas with Cilantro Cauli-Rice (it was supposed to be lamb, but Andrew doesn’t like lamb and it’s expensive, so I improvised)

The meat was also supposed to be wrapped in grape leaves (think Greek food), but I searched and couldn’t find those. So, dinner became a bit less complicated.

The beef was cooked with onion, currants and cinnamon, nutmeg, cumin and oregano. Very unique.

I loved the cauliflower ‘rice.’ You actually grate the raw cauliflower prior and sauté it in a skillet. I’ve started using butter or olive oil (less Paleo) instead of coconut oil because I don’t think Andrew likes it. I will definitely make cauliflower this way again–much better than steaming and mashing to make ‘potatoes.’

I’m looking forward to pesto-scrambled eggs and more cauli-rice in the morning! (And my coffee.)

It was more leftovers today.

Breakfast: Chicken thighs (Andrew eats and drives to work), egg quiche and half a grapefruit. Disclaimer: I added a bit of ketchup to my eggs. Not Paleo, but it needed something.

Post-workout snack: 1 piece dried peach (a recent Trader Joe’s find that’s become my go-to bite after the gym)

Lunch: leftover flank steak with salsa and avocado on spinach with grapes

There is a dollop of homemade plain yogurt–I had some organic milk left when the Paleo challenge started, so I used some organic yogurt to make my own. I just hated to waste it. And I think yogurt is OK with Primal, so I figure it’s alright in small doses.

Afternoon snack: 2 dates, a few thai chili like cashews and veggies with cauliflower dip and black cherry tea

Dinner: Citrus Cashew Mahi Mahi (it was supposed to be citrus macadamia nut sole, but I didn’t have either of those and I had the others) with green beans and sautéed shallots (which were EXCELLENT, by the way)

At the last minute, I added the coconut/ginger/beet soup from a leftover I had in the freezer. It went well with the meal and upped our carbs, which now that Andrew is going to the gym in the evenings, is important to have at dinner after his exercise.

Another good day! I think if anything, this challenge is showing me just how many processed items I rely on (ketchup? Salad dressings?) every day. I mean, you all know that I would make EVERYTHING from scratch, but I just do not have that kind of time. Not right now anyway. And plus, who can whip up a little homemade ketchup each and every time they need some?? It’s just not realistic–hence, we have Heinz. Oh well.

This may be the cleanest I’ve ever eaten, and it feels great 🙂