Spaghetti Squash & Basil Salad

Grain free has been pretty fun so far. Except last night the kids had friends over, so we got pizzas, and I ate some. IT WAS SO TASTY. But immediately I felt bloated and sluggish. Interesting! I love seeing how the body reacts to different foods. Anyway, the pizza did taste great but I don't think its "omg so worth it" to feel so yucky after a meal.

Wednesday evening, I made a delicious meal from Primal Palate's Make It Paleo cookbook. Spaghetti squash with meat sauce, and a wonderful tomato & basil salad. I love, love, LOVE fresh basil and I'm not really sure why I don't make this salad like, daily. I make a similar dish very often, but without the olives & fresh basil. This was so much better. Definitely going on the menu rotation.

The sauce was so so good with fresh zucchini, mushrooms, onion, garlic, tomatoes.. sautéed in coconut oil and spaghetti squash baked with garlic. I did kind of miss garlic bread, but I think next time I make this meal I will make a small loaf of bread from almond flour or coconut flour. 

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Yesterday, Sophia didn't have school so we went to the library. I wanted to check out the book "Against All Grain," but they didn't have it. They did have "Wheat Belly," and that is on my list of books to read, so not a total fail! I am trying to read one leisure book every 1-2 weeks and then one educational book each month this year. I love reading and I'm so excited that we got library cards! We had them when we lived at our old house a couple of years ago, or we applied for them, and then we never returned to the library to pick them up so they expired. Sophia loves the library! She got a book about cats and aspergers. Crazy weird pick, but its what she wanted! 

I haven't planned any of our meals for the rest of this week. Tonight will be leftover spaghetti squash. I have some chicken I need to bake but I don't think it will be anything exciting. I'm definitely going to re-make the basil tomato salad this weekend. I would like to try some grain free baking, and a friend of mine sent me a coffee cake recipe I may try! 

Until next time! xo

Sweet Potato Fries [cajun style]

With the new year comes many resolutions. I made a few but one of mine that I'm going to stick with for sure is trying to cook healthier meals for my family.

I have been reading a lot about grain free, paleo, primal diets. I used to be bread/potato/pasta free and mostly dairy free for a long time to help with eczema, so it doesn't seem too bizarre to cook that way again.

I love Primal Palate and their cookbook Make It Paleo. I have several meals planned from MIP this week. Last night we had pulled pork (open faced sandwiches on whole grain bread for Andy & the kids and on a  salad for me). As a side I made Primal Palate's cajun sweet potato fries.

I don't like sweet potatoes, at all. So, when I was getting groceries in Aldi and the only option was to buy a bag of them, I decided we would skip the fries in favor of steamed broccoli or something else. Later I was in the health food store and they had purple japanese sweet potatoes, so I picked up 2 small ones. I mean, they were purple, and what better way to get my kids to try them? WRONG-- the peel is purple but the potatoes themselves are regular-potato-colored inside. Oh well. The kids probably wouldn't have eaten the purple fries anyway!!

Since I used two sweet potatoes and the recipe only called for one, I doubled the spices for the cajun mix. However, I halved the cayenne pepper because, well, kids. I'm so glad I did because WHEW these suckers were spicy, and I LOVE L O V E spicy food!

Making them was super easy. I was really hesitant as I prepared them because... sweet potatoes are gross.

They actually turned out super delicious. Hooray! The only thing is I will omit the cayenne pepper next time (the kids said, even with 1/2 tsp for 2 sweet potatoes, they were still too hot), and cut the paprika in half. Apparently, I'm not a huge fan. Perhaps overcoming my picky eating problems should be something I work on in 2016, too!

I made this honey-pepper dipping sauce to go with the fries. There's a pizza joint downtown that I LOVE- so I tried to copycat their dipping sauce. Super easy and super delicious. Honey, crushed red pepper, and sea salt to taste. I am DYING to make a grain free pizza to dip in this!! SO good. It was a bit too much pepper with the fries though.. they were already very spicy.

Since I'm going for a "grain free" esque style of eating, I don't want to give myself a "paleo" label. I love cheese so much!! I had this delicious salad and used some honey goat cheese crumbles for toppings. I also love beer. I'm not ashamed to say it! And while I'm cutting out breads, pastas, rices, etc., if my husband takes me out to our favorite pasta place for a date, or for sushi, I won't skip out! I am trying to teach myself that all things in moderation are ok. I don't have to abstain 100% and I don't have to go full speed ahead over stuffing myself either. The food isn't going anywhere. 

PS the pork was left over pork tenderloin we had for dinner a few nights ago with friends. Andy brined 4 tenderloins for 24 hours in light brown sugar, sea salt, and water. It was SO GOOD. Next time we're going to try coconut sugar in place of brown sugar.