Menu Monday: "Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking..."

"Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity."

-Voltaire

I have decided that I want to try to post our menus for the week in hopes that it will keep me honest about sticking to them. We always start the week with good intentions, but life happens and some evenings it is just easier to run through the drive-through on the way back home from activities than it is to cook something. However, I feel horrible when we do this, and so does SC, and if AC is home, he does too. He recently mentioned that he really wanted to get healthier by doing a Whole30 and starting the Couch to 5k program, so we are going to do it as a family.

If you are unfamiliar with the Whole30 program, it is a kind-of detox designed to get your body back to rights by eliminating anything that could be causing it to run improperly, including all grains, legumes, dairy, alcohol and sugars. It also includes eliminating things that are normally found in processed foods like MSG and sulfites, and the focus is on eating real, whole foods instead. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, I would suggest you check out/purchase the book It Starts with Food.  

If you read my page about eating paleo you will see that the Whole30 is more than what normally constitutes paleo because it is designed to be a reset for your body. Then, after 30 days (or longer if you don't feel optimal), those following the paleo lifestyle try to eat paleo about 85% of the time. However, I notice a huge difference in the way I feel when I make those non-paleo choices, so my ideal would be closer to 95%. At the moment, with the fast-food funk we have gotten into, we are maybe paleo only about 50% of the time and I feel run down and get extra irritable.

So, here is our menu for the first week, days 1 - 7 of the Whole30. Many of the recipes I am going to try I have linked to, but I recently got a new cookbook called Primal Cravings that I am giving a try, so some of the recipes can be found in there. Unless otherwise listed, lunch will probably be either leftovers from dinner the night before, or a salad for AC and deli meat (organic, no preservatives) plus veggies and fruit for SC and I. Breakfast is usually eggs, bacon, veggies and fruit in some combination.

DAY 1

Monday 6/24

Tikka Masala Chicken Wings

Primal Cravings, pg. 118

DAY 2

Tuesday 6/25

Simple Herb-Crusted Salmon

DAY 3

Wednesday 6/26

Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs 

(see pic at the top of page)

DAY 4

Thursday 6/27

Chile Verde

DAY 5

Friday 6/28

Shrimp w/ Garlic Sauce

DAY 6

Saturday 6/29

Lunch: 

Crispy Chicken Fingers

Primal Cravings, pg. 112

Dinner: 

Steak & Veggies

DAY 7

Sunday 6/30

Lunch:

Easy Mexican Salad

Dinner:

Pan-Fried Pork Chops w/ Parsley Butter

I would love for you to join up with our family doing the Whole30 for the next thirty days. Please comment below and let me know if you are giving it a try, plus any paleo recipes you want to share.

**This post contains affiliate links.  Please read my disclosure statement.

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food."

George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman

One of the things I miss most about Ireland was the ready supply of Irish brown soda bread with every meal or tea.  So, though it isn't paleo, I decided to attempt to make my own to go with my chicken soup tonight.  I found so many recipes online like this one, this one and this one.  I didn't really like any one specifically, so I cherry-picked a little from each and this is what I came up with.

IRISH BROWN SODA BREAD

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 tbsp molasses

1 1/2 tsp finely ground sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk both flours, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients.

Mix 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, melted butter and molasses together.  Pour into the well of dry ingredients.

Use a fork to mix the wet and dry ingredients until it becomes difficult, then begin mixing with your hands.  You will need to start slowly adding the last 1/2 cup buttermilk, 1 tsp at a time.  Once most of the flour is pulled together, dump the dough out onto the counter and knead a few times until it forms a ball.  It will still feel fairly dry, and will be flaking off in places.

Place the dough ball on the parchment-lined baking sheet and score dough with a sharp, serrated knife in a cross pattern.

Bake at 375ºF for about 40 minutes, until the outside has browned lightly, and tapping results in a somewhat hollow sound.

Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling, unless you want to eat it warm!  Consume with IRISH butter (Kerrygold, found in most grocery stores) and IRISH jam (probably found online, though I got mine in Ireland).

**This bread can also be made without the molasses and it still tastes good, just less rich, and you may want to cut the salt to only 1 tsp.

Top Ten Tuesday: "Cookies are made of butter and love."

"Cookies are made of butter and love." 

Norwegian Proverb

With Christmas fast approaching, I am going focus on ten dessert recipes that I would love to make in the next week (though I may actually only get to one or two).  These recipes are all going to be paleo, because that is how we are trying very hard to eat (though it is so easy to get stuck in the fast-food rut when AC is out of town), but they all look delicious!  Here they are, in no particular order, with links to the recipes and pictures from the creators' websites:

1. Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (with white chocolate icing)

2. Gingerbread Cut-outs

3. Double Chocolate Cookies

4. White & Dark Chocolate Peppermint Bark

5.  Cran-Apple Crumble

6. Apple Crisp

7. Chewy Molasses & Ginger Cookies

8. Chocolate Chip Cookies

9. Pumpkin Spice Cookies (with vanilla & cinnamon icing)

10. German Apple Pancake

For the record, I have made the Chocolate Chip Cookies at number eight and they are delicious - very close to "the real thing."  

What goodies are you going to be making this week for Christmas?  Share with us in the comments, then check out other Top Ten Tuesday posts here:

**I have not been asked to review or promote any of these recipes, or the blogs or websites I got them from, nor am I being compensated in any way for linking to them from P2P::W.  I have made recipes from the ones I link to in the past (with great results), so I am not fearful to recommend these I have yet to try.

Top Ten Tuesday: "when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

"We can only be said to be alive in those moments

when our hearts are conscious of our treasures."

~Thornton Wilder

In light of the Thanksgiving holiday approaching at the end of this week, I decided to focus my top ten on the food I am looking forward to both making and eating.  You can read more about part of the family tradition on my father-in-law's cooking blog There's a Hippy in the Kitchen.

1. Apple Pie - This pie I make myself, and was lovingly dubbed "Christmas pie" by a friend when I attempted to make a traditional 4th of July apple pie.  Instead of a fresh apple flavor, I managed to recreate Christmas in  a bite, though it is not necessarily a bad thing.

2. Cherry Pie - This is the pie my mom makes that is her grandmother's recipe, and has been something I look forward to every year since I was very young.

3. Bread - My brother-in-law has a knack for baking bread and whichever recipe he brings to our feast will be absolutely delicious.

4. Mom's School Rolls - Yes, these are the rolls you remember from the elementary school hot lunch line.  My mom has worked in a school cafeteria since my brother and I were in elementary school and this is one of the great recipes she has brought home with her.  There is nothing like these fluffy rolls.

5.  Butter - Last year at Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law brought out a butter churn from her mother's house, something they used to do all the time on the farm.  We had a blast passing it around, whipping heavy cream until it turned into butter.  It was delicious. This year, I plan on bringing butter to dinner, but I will be using my Kitchenaid mixer instead of doing it by hand.

6. Turkey Gravy - I am not a gravy fan at all, unless it is turkey gravy.  I love it on my potatoes, but not so much on my turkey.

7. Mashed Potatoes - AC makes the best creamy mashed potatoes, and I am looking forward to sampling them before we head to my in-laws house.

8. Cranberry Mousse - This is my father-in-law's famous recipe and Thanksgiving would not be the same without small bowls of this pink deliciousness decorating the table.  Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it on their table this year!

9. Green Beans - There is nothing special about these, but they are my favorite vegetable.

10. Turkey - I am a dark meat eater, because I typically find that the white meat is too dry (even when it really isn't). Yes, I know this is last on the list.  It just doesn't compare to all the other foods.

I asked SC what she was looking forward to eating for Thanksgiving and she said "mac 'n' cheese."  Somehow, if the message gets passed along, I bet BOTH grandmothers will have this offering, just for her.

What are you looking forward to eating on Thursday?  Leave a comment, then check out other top ten lists at:

**This post contains affiliate links. Please read my disclosure statement.

"And then there is California."

There is science, logic, reason; 

there is thought verified by experience.  

And then there is California.

-Edward Abbey

This past weekend I traveled to San Francisco to meet AC after the Oracle OpenWorld Conference.  We had a great time together, and got to do some touristy activities.  

On Friday, we took the boat across to Alcatraz Island.  It was really neat to hear the audio tour, as told by a former prison guard.  However, I think much of the tour would have been better relayed through visual displays on the wall (to be read at leisure), or even a television documentary.  I was also amazed at how small the cellblock area was.  I had made assumptions that it would be very large, but it was only three short hallways, and three stories tall.

The coolest part of being on Alcatraz Island was that we had an unobscured view of the planes practicing for the Fleet Week shows.

Saturday we took the opportunity to head south of San Francisco to Stanford University.  Being from Texas, we love to watch football, and AC is a big fan of Stanford, though more specifically their band and the unofficial mascot, "the tree."  

We picked a great game to go to (they played Arizona), and had great seats, only three rows up in the corner of the endzone, that only cost us about $25 total.  AC was thrilled he could purchase SC a stuffed tree as a souvenir.  

We also went to a number of amazing restaurants, including Fog City Diner; Tiernan's Irish Pub, where I had a delicious shepherd's pie (which has made me impatient for January and Ireland);

TOWN restaurant in San Carlos, where we got to sit at the kitchen bar and watch the executive chef do his work; and Sear's Fine Food, where we had the most delicious breakfast (eggs Benedict for me) before heading to the airport, and saw actor Johnny Depp as he was leaving.

Of course, no trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to Hubert Keller's Burger Bar (we went twice), and were thoroughly disappointed we could not get in to Kokkari, a devine Greek restaurant, due to the massive amount of people traveling to San Francisco for the weekend due to a large number of events in the city.

I also discovered a local bookshop called Alexander Book Co., which made me wish we had more (or any) independent book shops near our home.  This shop is the epitome of the local, independent bookstore, and I had extreme bookstore jealousy.

All in all, we had a great time spending time together, but we very much missed SC, who stayed at Grandma's house.  It is good to be home!

Feel free to leave comments in the form of suggestions, advice or opinions about anything I have posted here.