A paleo diet requires variety — at least for me. Having salmon is a real treat especially when it’s paired with tender asparagus. Yum!
Lemon Dill Salmon with Asparagus
The original Lemon Dill Salmon recipe was paired with cauliflower rice and kale but I much prefer the simplicity of having Roasted Asparagus instead.
I find that the simpler the meals, the better my taste buds understand what it is they’re eating. And we all know that we want to satisfy our taste buds, right?
For me, salmon is king. (Hey, I just made a funny joke … I wonder if I’m the only one who got it?) hehehe
My husband brought me a Lara Bar as a snack from the store and I wasn’t very impressed with it. Perhaps it was the particular kind but it felt dense and heavy on my tongue.
My son, on the other hand, made paleo “Lara” bars at home and these tasted delicious. They are meant to be eaten as a snack in between meals or even as a dessert and can contain pineapple, apples, cherries, etc. And they are healthy!
Paleo Snack Lara Bars
Either way — homemade ones seem (to me) to taste a lot better than the store bought ones. So if you’re looking for a really good paleo snack — make a homemade “Lara” bar!
I would never have thought to put pumpkin and chili in the same recipe — not in my wildest dreams.
This pumpkin chicken chili was actually good although it was quite thick and, although the recipe didn’t call for it, we included squash with the ingredients. I think next time I would water it down just a tad. Otherwise, good chili!
Pumpkin Chicken Chili
When I was asked what I wanted to have with the chili I automatically said cornbread although I knew that we were keeping corn out of our paleo diet for right now. My son did find a recipe for “corn” bread though that actually tasted very good and was quite moist! I was surprised how much I liked it.
Grain Free Cornbread
It doesn’t look much like cornbread though, does it? That’s okay. The important thing is that it tasted good, right?
Pumpkin Chicken Chili with Paleo Cornbread
This meal is great on a cold winter night which is just what we’re having.
Snow fell overnight and we woke up to at least 8 inches of snow.
Here’s the driveway. Our snow plower didn’t arrive until later in the afternoon and he was a most welcome sight. At one point he rolled down his window and said “I’m running out of room to put it.” Â Then he shoveled some my way. Â (laughing)
Minnesota Snowstorm
And it continued to snow and snow and snow. Â I’m not sure how much actually fell but it was a LOT. I shoveled the walkway to our front door (in case someone sends me spring flowers to cheer me up).
Minnesota Snowstorm
Then I put some salt down and the walkway was a big contract to the snow banks that border it.
Front Walkway and Snow banks
The snow goes way over my head in some places. Of course, that does include snow from previous days. Here’s the side walkway that I shovel so I can get the mail easily.
Walkway
Around the outside of the house we have large chunks of ice that hang dangerously. Fortunately, they are in places that we don’t walk near.
Overhanging Ice
I am officially tired of snow and am looking forward to the “warm-up” in a couple of days.
Here’s a paleo dessert that you can sink your teeth into — a strawberry and apple crumble. It does taste a little different than the blueberry crumble I used to make in my sugar laden days, but this tastes great nonetheless. The crumble (top) uses macadamia nuts, coconut flour and a few other ingredients. (I love coconut so have not been having problems eating recipes that contain the flour.)
Paleo Apple & Strawberry Crumble DessertPaleo Apple & Strawberry Crumble Dessert
It really is yummy!
One thing I have found on the paleo diet I’m on though is that I don’t really have a need for dessert after dinner as I get full enough on the meal. So — although I have always liked desserts, I don’t seem to eat them as much as I used to.
That’s a good thing, right? Even if the desserts are healthy!
Awhile back, I wrote about the guanabana seed that I brought back from Puerto Rico and that has grown into a nice little plant outside of its tropical environment.
But when we went on a recent cruise, my husband brought the heat down in the house to 55° fahrenheit which left the house here in Minnesota a tad bit chilly.
When I returned, the guanabana had lost most of its leaves.
A Dying Guanabana Plant
I thought for sure we had killed it but I continued to water it and hoped and hoped that it would be revived and, guess what? New leaves are starting to sprout. Woohoo!
Reviving A Guanabana Plant
It’s not out of the woods yet though but I’m hoping that those small leaves will come back healthier than when they left.
Moral of the story? If you have something you treasure make sure you take care of it even when you’re not around.
Winters and crockpots are always a good combination so we recently bought a new crockpot to allow our meals to slowly simmer.
This pepper steak was good and I have been eating it for breakfast as leftovers for a couple of days now. It is unusual to have steak for breakfast instead of cereal or toast but unusual does not mean bad. It’s quite filling actually.
The recipe calls for bean sprouts but we did not use them.
Asian Pepper Steak
The pepper steak was served with steamed broccoli and egg foo young-ish. Quite a funny name for a fritter-like pancake, no?
We included most of the recipe ingredients except for the ham so if you try this recipe, adjust the recipe to your tastes. That’s what cooking is all about — tasting and adjusting.
I am not a big fan of granola but my son is always coming up with different things we can have for our meals — including breakfast — so it was not unusual that paleo granola came into the picture as I recently threw out our Honey Nut Cheerios and other cereal that has been sitting in our pantry for awhile.
I had this granola with warmed Almond Milk. For some reason, I haven’t been able to drink Almond Milk cold. Is that unusual?
Paleo Granola
It tasted okay. The nuts in it were a little too large for me so I probably should have cut them up into smaller pieces. I’m not sure if that would have made a difference for me though as I’ve never been a big granola fan.
Overall, it is a good diversion from having eggs in the morning.
If you try it, let me know if you like it AND if you made any changes to the recipe. Thanks!
I recently took a trip to Seattle to check in on a friend who has started on hospice for the second time in a year. She looks healthy but did not remember me when she first saw me. Her dementia is getting worse and she is pretty much bed bound now.
She sits in her bed and “counts” her blanket as if she’s measuring it. Over and over again — she counts, one, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, four, five. This is not unusual to me as she was an avid hand quilter for many years and subconsciously she must be remembering those days.
While in Seattle, I also visited other friends. Most of them knew I have been trialling a Paleo Diet so they attempted to accommodate me the best they could. One couple in particular really went above and beyond the call of duty.
They made seasoned beef-filled green peppers with roasted eggplants, veggies and lemon dressing. The green peppers were absolutely delicious!
Stuffed Peppers Paleo Style
The roasted eggplants with veggies and lemon dressing was also good but a bit “juicy.” I’m including the “recipe” below but keep in mind that my friend doesn’t use a recipe and this is all from the top of her head. (Good luck if you try it!)
Roasted Eggplants with Veggies and Lemon Dressing
Dessert was baked apples. Yum!
Baked Apples
Since I had gone to visit my friends with another friend, they brought out a beautiful dessert torte. Oh! This was so tempting to me but I declined a few times and made it out of Seattle without one bite of this torte.
Torte
I had a great time in Seattle even though my reasons for going weren’t for “fun and relaxation.” It’s rare when I get to really relax because of visiting most of the people I know there.
Below is the recipe for the Roasted Eggplant …
Ingredients
2 eggplants roasted, then remove the skin and mash the pulp (make sure you poke a few holes in each eggplant so they don’t burst open)
Mash the pulp in a food processor on “pulse”
1/2 – 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3-4 green onions chopped
2 T chopped fresh mint
1 medium tomato chopped (save some for decoration)
Dressing
1-2 garlic cloves crushed to a pulp
juice of 1 lemon
salt to taste
1/4 C olive oil
Instructions
Mix most of the above together then taste to adjust for how much salt and lemon you want
Decorate with the saved chopped tomatoes
Note: Â This dish tastes better if left to marinate a little in the refrigerator
The ratatouille was pretty good but a little soggy although I’m told that’s how it’s supposed to be. I enjoyed (again) the sweet potato mash but didn’t enjoy the Indian Spiced Butternut Squash as much as my husband did. I rated it a 3 on a scale of 5 (with 5 being the best) and my husband thought it was a 5. Go figure. For me, it had a tad bit too much lemon and cardamon seeds (only 2 pods though).
Ratatouille, Indian Spiced Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Mash
Had the butternut squash been spiced down just a bit I would have enjoyed it a lot more. But it really depends on the person and how spicy they like their food, eh?
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