First Week in

So M and I have been sticking pretty closely to our healthy eating goal.  We ate out once this week and both stuck to our Paleo guidelines when we ate.  I am IFing most days and eating after 3pm.  I managed to save a few dollars by shopping at Safeway last week, but today's shopping trip went over budget--(mostly because I did not stick to my shopping list.)  I need to come up with easy weekly menus and actually stick to them.  So far We did primarily eat what I planned for last week, except that M is not fasting mostly, so I ran out of food a couple of times and had to improvise--I was also sick which meant I wasn't feeling like cooking as much as I usually do, so we ended up eating a rotisserie chicken once.  All said and done though, we each lost about 1.5 pounds this past week.  That's pretty good considering that I pretty much ate everything in sight after 3pm most days, and was not very good about keeping my carbs in check or cutting out the alcohol...

Rule for the future:  Only have wine/spirits when out on a "date," over at my cousin's for dinner, or playing our Tabletop RPG with our friends.  This should cut it down to about once per week--saving  us money and the detrimental affects of alcohol on willpower.

So far the most popular recipe I have made is the simple stew I made last Sunday.  I made it again today when M requested it.  It is one of the easiest recipes I have and truly delicious!

Simple Stew

4-5 pounds pork shoulder with a nice layer of fat on top--cut in 1-2 inch chunks  
1-2 large sweet onions, cut in 1 inch chunks
5 large carrots, scrubbed and cut in 1 inch chunks
2 T. dried thyme
2 T. dried basil
2 T. dried oregano
1 small can tomato paste
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Brown pork in its own fat for 5-10 minutes in large stew pot on medium high.  Add in carrots and onions, herbs, salt and pepper, and stir.  Cook for 30 minutes, then add in the can of tomato paste, cover and continue to cook.  After 30 minutes, take lid off pot, reduce the heat to low and continue to cook for 2-4 hours.  The longer you cook, the better it is. :)

This makes a lot of stew, so if you don't want to eat it for three days, I advise freezing half for another time--it freezes very well.