Homemade playdough

I've never tried making it myself. But we did today! So fun. Food coloring and glitter made it even more exciting for the kids. So much so that quiet time today really is quiet!

Sorting beans

The older kids sorted beans today and did a pretty good job too! Carver is sick as you can see in the background. Bombie took all of fifteen minutes to sort Lima and Pinto beans into baby food jars. Hucksley had a slightly harder time and I had to help him toward the end because he got a little frustrated.

Paleo Allergen-Free Banana Pumpkin Muffins

Don't you just love it when you just happen to "throw something together" and it just works out and tastes great? Well, I love to bake (especially now that fall is here!) but before my Paleo days, stuff I just threw together looked and tasted like, well, stuff I had just thrown together. But since Paleo... aha, since Paleo...

Take today's lovely muffins for example.

Yup. That one. You'll notice that the cups around it are empty - that's because that's how fast they were gone. I even got a genuine compliment from a six-year-old. He said, and I quote, "Those were the best muffins I've ever eaten!" Yeah!

So, on to the recipe...

BANANA - PUMPKIN MUFFINS (nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free, grain-free)
Ingredients:
3 bananas, mashed
1.5 cups shredded coconut (NOT coconut flour)
1.5 cups pureed pumpkin
2 - 3 tablespoons raw honey
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 - 2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:
Mix all ingredients together and fill muffins liners almost to the top. Bake in an oven preheated to 350F for 20 - 25 minutes and enjoy!

(Makes 12.)

You Haven't Really Had a Paleo Breakfast...

.... until you've had one of these with eggs.

And what might that be? Sweet potato hash browns in a really bad picture! (I guess they're called garnet yams around these parts, but I have since learned that we don't really get real yams here and what we're used to calling yams are just really sweet potatoes.) But seriously, if you miss potatoes even a little on the Paleo diet, try shredding up some peeled sweet potatoes, fry them like you would hash browns, salt and pepper and serve with fried or poached eggs. 

Seriously. The. Best. Breakfast. Ever. :)

Best Foods can Kiss my Beater!

I have finally, finally figured out how to make fresh homemade mayonnaise, thanks to my husband's untiring spirit and my teachable nature. The only sacrifices while he was learning and experimenting were two dozen eggs and a whole bottle of olive oil, which at the time I was pretty miffed about and honestly, should not have been. But all that is behind us now.

I have been making fresh mayo lately without a second thought. And no, it doesn't completely wear out your arm like they insist in those mean YouTube videos. The trick seems to be in the emulsion. I use two egg yolks - just the yolks. (Yes, I actually throw the egg whites away or add them to some coconut milk for a drink if I feel like it.)

So, two egg yolks, a pinch of salt and about a teaspoon of vinegar go into a mixing bowl along with about a tablespoon of olive oil. (I use olive oil because I like the taste. The mayo will have the taste of the oil you use, so choose one you like.) Then, just simply begin beating it like you would eggs while scrambling them and continue until the yolks and the oil look like they're blending. It takes a little practice to "see" the emulsion forming because the first time I made it, I didn't see it until my husband said, "There. You already have the emulsion." However, it doesn't hurt to keep whipping the eggs for a few more strokes however, so if you're not sure you see it, keep going.

When you're convinced the emulsion has formed, add another tablespoon of the oil and beat it in until all of the oil is absorbed into the emulsion. The rest of the process is pretty much a repeat of this step: keep adding the oil tablespoon by tablespoon (or teaspoon by teaspoon, if you prefer to keep the amounts small, especially in the beginning of your mayo making experience). Oh, I forgot to mention - it's perfectly fine to stop whipping while adding oil. I'm not a fan of adding oil drop by drop while whipping continuously. For one, I don't multitask well (I seriously doubt anyone does!) and I end up feeling stressed. I don't like stressing over mayo. Sitting down with a cup of olive oil and an emulsion beginning to form has something quite Old World-ish to it and appeals to me. Not sure having two hands going at the same time has the same draw.

Anyway, as you keep going, you'll notice that the emulsion gets less yellow as you add more oil and thicker. Once you're happy with the consistency and quality, stop. Or stop when the emulsion will no longer accept any more oil. Beyond this, the possibilities are endless. You can make fresh salad dressings like Thousand Island (I made something we called the Five Hundred Island the other day because a few ingredients were missing, but it was sooo good!) or you can simply add some green onion and thin it down or add some mustard and white wine for another great salad dressing. Then again, certain people have also been known just to stick their fingers in and take big licks each time they open the fridge door. Hey, I'm not naming names!

Paleo Sausage Bake

This is a recipe my husband created and I wish I had a picture to go with it! Alas! Oh well, the proof, as they say, is in the... er... sausage (?) so go ahead and try it before you decide. The kids loved it and so did I! I could almost guarantee you will, too!

Ingredients:

1 lb. Italian Sausage

2 onions, chopped

2 zucchini, chopped

2 red bell peppers, chopped

4 roma tomatoes, chopped

1 cup white wine (we used Chardonnay)

1 tbsp. oregano

Salt, pepper, red chilli flakes to taste

Cook the sausage, then deglaze the pan with white wine after the sausage cooks. In the meanwhile, caramelize onions on the side. Add onions to the sausage. In the same pan that you cooked onions, saute the zucchini and add it to the main pan. Cook the bell peppers on the side in the same way and add to pan. Add 4 roma tomatoes directly to sausage pan. No need to cook those beforehand.

Season with red chili flakes, oregano, salt, pepper.

Cover, bake at 400 for 35 minutes.
Simple as that! And so good! The kids DRANK the "juice" at the bottom of the pan - after they finished their seconds.

Another One Bites the Dust

(With apologies for the fact that the song is now going to be stuck in your head.)

We've gone paleo. I mean we've gone completely, head-over-heels, eat nothing but vegetables, some fruit, nuts, very limited amounts of dairy (my husband has quit even that for a while), no grains, no sugar, no flour paleo. You've heard of the Paleo diet haven't you? If you haven't, just google it. I have been, for about the past two weeks and learning quickly that I could really, truly eat like this for the rest of my life.

But why give up so much other good food? you ask.

Reason #1: I'm in week 31 of my third pregnancy and about two weeks ago, I had to deal with the sad fact that although my blood sugar was normal before I got pregnant (read: while I was eating meals heavy on protein, light on carbs), as soon as I added carbs to my diet, my blood sugar started to go haywire. At first, it was fine, but especially around week 24, the mood swings, the tiredness and especially the irritation with everyone around me began to get to me. We also had a string of celebrations - wedding anniversary, birthdays, you know, reasons to eat sugar. Ugh.

Reason #2: My husband has this shoulder. For months now, he's been taking glucosamine and chondroitin in hopes that it won't hurt. But it does. Constantly. And it gets stiff and unyielding. For someone who likes weight-lifting, it's debilitating but more than that, when your inflamed shoulder won't even let you get your hands on your hips to show how angry you are, you have to rethink something in your diet.

Enter Paleo. And it has been a Godsend. In just a week, I have seen changes in my blood sugar, blood pressure and I actually have energy to do more than swoon into the couch and say, "I'm tired." For so long, my tiredness went under the garb of pregnancy-related conditions (and, yes, the high blood sugar and blood pressure are pregnancy-related but through this way of eating, the effects are greatly reduced), I wish I had done something sooner. My husband has noticed changes, too. His shoulder "feels pretty good" according to him. (Hey, he's a guy - what you want him to do? Write a blog post about his shoulder?)

I'm also reminded of something I read on someone's blog that stuck with me. She said before she eats something, she asks if she honors God in eating it. At first, I thought the idea silly. After all, isn't man given dominion of everything on earth, I thought. But lately, I've come to think there was truth in what that blogger wrote. If what I eat leads directly to me being irritable and angry with the people around me constantly - my husband, my children - whom God has given to me, if what I eat causes me to disrespect my body and causes it to reflect a lack of control, then how am I glorifying God by eating it? Am I not dishonoring Him while paying Him lip service by thanking Him for providing my meal?

Paleo is here to stay, at least in our family. I might even have some recipes! My husband made one the other day I wanted to share, but this post has already gotten pretty long, so I'll write it next week. It was so good, I was sorry it was gone. And the best part, my blood sugar barely noticed it. So, yeah, I guess you could say another one bites the (Paleo) dust, and another one's down, and another one's down...