Hello blogfriends!
I managed to spend only $54 this week. We had Karney's Paleo stuff, Taco Salad, Steak with Shrimp and All Day Paleo Stew. We had asparagus, spinach, mushrooms tomatoes and romaine lettuce for our veggies. I bought a big bag of broccoli that we didn't get to yet, and we have four heads of romaine left so this weekend's shopping was even less than last week ($48) and that includes some dates and prosciutto that I bought to make hors d'œuvres for a little party tonight. We bought a huge bag of red potatoes(for M since I am not eating potatoes due to the saponin content) We still have meat left in the freezer, so no meat purchase this week--although I am tempted to go to Safeway because they have lean ground beef and chicken breasts for $1.79 a pound right now...But I am sticking to my plan not to spend anything extra, and we have perfectly good meat in the freezer that we need to use up.
I have a recipe to share with you as well. We go over to my cousin's a few times a month, and I try to bring something to contribute to the meal. Yesterday, she mentioned I could bring the hors d'œuvres, so I have been searching for a good snack type Paleo food that will be yummy and will go well with red wine and beef stew. I found a prosciutto wrapped dates appetizer idea over at Nutty Kitchen, which sounded delish, so I adapted it a bit by replacing the walnuts with toasted pecans. I got the prosciutto at Costco--a double package costs $13.89, which is very cheap for prosciutto, (hopefully it is not waxy and tasteless). Quality of food is just as important as cost. These are a little expensive though, so I probably won't make them too often...
Anyway, I will let you know how they taste, but I am expecting them to be particularly yum and am feeling astonishingly insouciant about our little dinner party tonight. :)
If anyone has a good (and inexpensive) recipe for paleo/primal hors d'œuvres that travel well, I am in desperate need of ideas. The Superbowl is coming up, and we have been invited to visit some friends and spend the afternoon with them. I cannot think of one thing that would be a good side dish or appetizer that is not expensive to make. (Marinated asparagus is my standby, or cold marinated vegetables--peppers mushrooms and eggplant, but they do get pretty spendy--around $20 for a platter). I'd really like something more in the $10 range. I'm sure I can come up with something, but my brain is a little tired lately...
One of my standbys that everyone seems to like is stuffed mushrooms. get the little button mushrooms and carefully remove the stalk, which leaves a handy dandy little cavity into which you put a little pesto. Then top that with a little cap of cottage cheese. Wrap the mushroom in a little scrap of streaky bacon and secure with a toothpick. (Or not.) Bake for about 15 mins until cooked and eat hot warm or cold.
ReplyDeleteYuk! NOT cottage cheese! Gah! Where did that come from?! I mean CREAM cheese, of course! Cottage cheese would be just nasty.
ReplyDeleteJudith! Great idea. I make a similar mushroom with a tiny cube of brie and pesto on top that I bake until it is all melty and luscious, but it would be even better with bacon! And I have cream cheese in the freezer atm...
ReplyDeleteWell, M just shot that one down--he is adamant about not eating cheese right now. :(
ReplyDeleteHow about kabobs marinated in mint,garlic, olive oil and lemon, then skewered and grilled with onions and other veggies.
ReplyDeleteCan you have hummus with crudites?
Rosaria--
ReplyDeleteNo hummus because it is made of beans, but maybe moutabel with crudites. I have never tried this, and am still unsure as to whether I should eat eggplant, but I have heard of it made with zucchini before as well. I'd have to leave out the spicy peppers, but I'll bet it would be great without them as well. I've been wanting to try moutabel for a while, perhaps this is a good opportunity...
Hey Sara I have been gone for a while now and came back to check things out here on your blog.
ReplyDeleteI see you too are slowly figuring out what to take out. Dr. Cordain has papers on the nightshades but he charges for them. Based on past experience, Dr. Cordain usually has the science to back up his statements.Taking out all nightshades is harder and blander! There are in all sorts of seasonings especially the salt free ones.
You can google and pull a lot of nightshade stuff up.
What are night shades?
eggplants
all tomatoes and potatoes
green and red and yellow peppers etc
all those hot spicey peppers
Many spices have them like:
paprika
curry
red pepper flakes
if it is hot and spicy it probably has nightshades
It took me forever to find an actual lemon pepper that didn't have salt! They really should call it Lemon salt and pepper! Whole Foods sell it under the brand Frontier. I tried to make my own but failed miserably. This one has lemon peel, black pepper, garlic, onion and citric acid. I think I put it on everything!
One of my big mistakes was fructose. I ended up with gout. I guess what happens is when you go on this diet and restrict things and then eat a bunch of it your body reacts stronger. So I had to look at the fruit I was eating. Figs and dates are fructose bombs. OMG big time. Here is a great link to Cordain's site and glycemic index of fruits:
http://www.thepaleodiet.com/nutritional_tools/fruits_table.html
I was eating dates and clementine oranges after going sweetener free and it took me over the top with gout in right big toe joint and right index finger. Not untypical for overweight folks who go on Paleo diet since our ability to process insulin is messed up I think they call it metabolic syndrome.
Also sweeteners turn off our ability to know when we are full so we eat too much and fatten up like we are going into winter hibernation. The fruits tend to ripen just in time to get fat to make it through the winter.
Have you seen The Bitter Truth yet on utube? A must watch.
I have been going without salt for a while and had some sausage that was lower salt and no sugar gms and within an hour last night I noticed I felt deflated in a way. Very odd. Cordain says if you want to sleep better or want to avoid exercise induced asthma take the salt out.
I don't know about you but I am running out of good cheats since grains bring on eczema, milk makes me stuffy, salt makes me deflated, too much sugar makes gremlins in my toe and finger.
I wonder how many out there are doing on this autoimmune diet if they are following Dr. Cordain's vision? I wonder how well they are doing? I would love to share and swap recipes.
Hey Alice--
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your gout! In Cordain's books he says that if you are trying to lose weight that you should avoid dried fruits. He also points out that modern fruits are much sweeter than paleolithic fruits. I try to eat mostly fresh fruit in limited quantities, (such as one grapefuit a day) and save things like dates for special occasions. (I might add that I only had one of the proscuitto wrapped dates above).
I have also learned not to use pre-mixed seasonings. I mix them myself so that I don't have anything in them that shouldn't be there.
If you want a yummy treat that makes you feel like you are cheating, try a fruit and coconut milk smoothie--if you put it in the refrigerator it thickens up like whipped cream. (I like ripe strawberries in mine.) :)
Yes, Dr. Cordain has lots of info about nightshades. You can read most of what he has written specifically about nightshades in the Raw Paleo Forums. I think a lot of autoimmune sufferers tend to avoid all nightshades, but sweet bell peppers for example are very low in capsaicin, and ripe tomatoes have very low levels of tomatine. Cordain has stated that "for Paleo Dieters my advice would to be to eliminate or drastically reduce potato consumption and for autoimmune and allergy patients to be cautious with the consumption of tomatoes, chili peppers and eggplants." Having them once in a while is probably fine, but not everyday, maybe once or twice a week? Anyway, that's what I am going with.
Hi again Sara! You can omit the cream cheese and just have the pesto and bacon and the mushrooms are still good. Of course there's still the parmesan in the pesto ... damn!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I was thinking Judith--I can make my own pesto without parmesan too, just fresh basil garlic, pine nuts salt, pepper and olive oil. It sounds yummy!
ReplyDelete