Summer Yumminess: Strawberry Shortcake with Strawberry Coconut Whipped Frosting

I promise we don't just eat sweet things at our house! :) I have a list of awesome dinners waiting to be blogged about, but last night, this was on our table and I have to share about it:

I found this Basic Shortcake Recipe through Pinterest and loved how simple and versatile it sounded! You can make this cake with any kind of berry, even mixed into the batter. There's an apple version with apple slices baked on the top of the cake which sounds perfect for the cold months! And as always, it's completely dairy, grain and sugar-free.

Then I found this Strawberry Whipped Frosting Recipe that also sounded super easy, and not being a huge fan of plain whipped cream, I decided to use this for my shortcake instead. Mine didn't firm up as much as the photos on that site look, but perhaps I didn't beat it long enough. I had a hungry bunch waiting for me to finish making the cake but even in it's runny consistency, it tasted amazing! (Note: they add beet juice for color, but even without it, mine still had a pinkish tint to it.)

It was a great success! And the best thing about Paleo desserts is that with all those good, healthy ingredients, the kids (and the mom) ate the leftovers for lunch the next day! :) Shhh!

So easy, even my 3-year-old helped!

Dutch Babies!

My babies are not Dutch at all, but they love these "fluffy pancakes"! I'm not really sure where the name came from and I think people call these different things, but basically, this is a fluffy type of pancake that is baked in the oven. This paleo version is SO quick and easy, I've made it probably close to ten times in the past month! Even on some Sunday mornings before church...that means it's easy, people!

Here's the link to my new favorite breakfast: Grain-Free Dutch Babies

Sorry, I don't have a picture, but click on the link for a great photo by one of my favorite recipe sources, The Unrefined Kitchen.

Yum, enjoy!

Pre-Paleo-Ing: Part 2

Time flies so fast during and between holidays! This post is way over-due, but I'll try to make it happen while one of my kids is in the high-chair eating strawberries and the other playing with trains. (Ha! By the end of this post, both have been bathed, had snacks and are now napping!)

In Part 1 of this little series of why we changed our diet, I told you a little of my logical reasonings behind our choices. I'm not all that scientific or medically savvy like my husband and many other people, but there are plenty logical and obvious reasons I found to give this diet a try.

That simple choice, though, was followed by a not-so-simple change of mind! When you've been  working hard for years to learn to make whole wheat bread from scratch and always shop whole grains, brown rice, raw sugar and all the other "better" options for your family, it is very hard to switch to NO grains, plus everything else! I soon realized that my Top 30 Meals list I had been working on for the past year or more wasn't going to work! I had to basically start from scratch, again, and re-learn everything. For a few weeks I felt like I had no clue what to do in the kitchen, and I felt like I might die because there were no comforting brownies or quesadillas to reward myself with at the end of a long day! (I little bad habit I had.) I also felt like I was always starving! "How can this be good for you if I never feel full?" I would ask.

Well, after having done this diet change for just a few months now, here's what we have learned. There so much, but I'll make each section as short as possible because I hope to dedicate a post (at least) to most of these thing later on.

We feel better!
The combination of summer and moving caused us to go through a not-so-great eating habits season. We were eating a lot more "quick" food and desserts. We started noticing how un-satisfied and rather yucky we felt after eating. For a while I constantly felt sick to my stomach and I was always tired. Always. I blamed it on our two kids who had not learned to sleep through the night, so I was up 4 or 5 times every night. My husband, who works nights, was obviously tired a lot, but even on his days off, he often was dragging and would easily get sick.

After cutting out grains, legumes, sugars and most dairy, we started feeling better very soon. We felt more energy, more satisfied and practically eliminated those "after eating" feelings. The kids still wake up at night occasionally, yet I usually feel much more ready for the day when I wake up. I remember I used to wake-up in the mornings feeling like a truck had hit me the night before, achy and exhausted. And then I would drag along all day hoping for a nap or bedtime. Now I feel like my sleep has been more restful and I have much more energy throughout the day. My husband also seems a lot more energetic on his days off, accomplishing more things he wants to do. Several weeks ago, we were served lunch at a meeting we attended. It was all pasta. We didn't feel good the rest of the afternoon! That's when we first noticed what a difference it has made.

Let me take a second to address what I mentioned earlier, the constant hungry feeling that seems to come with this diet change. The first couple of week you will feel hungry ALL the time! Why? Because if you're if you're replacing all your usual snacks with fruits, veggies and nuts and suddenly there are no grains or dairy in your meals, of course you'll feel hungry. It takes a couple weeks for your body to adjust to this new way of eating. That is why they recommend eating and snacking very often, basically whenever you feel hungry! Because eventually, the goal is for you to teach your body to eat until you're satisfied and then stop. You know that feeling of "I want more and more" when you're eating something gooey delicious like pizza or cinnamon rolls? And then, after you eat more, you wish you hadn't? That's the unsatisfied feeling I'm talking about. Your body needs to learn to eat only what it needs, and before long you'll feel satisfied and healthy.

Dessert still exists...
...and it doesn't have to be fruit drizzled with honey! There are literally tons of recipes out there, they just use different sweeteners and types flours. A whole new world opened up to me when I discovered that something I always knew I shouldn't love as much as I did, could be loved again! :) We all have our pre-conceived ideas of what healthy desserts taste like, and in some cases it can be true, like the ginger snap cookies I made that tasted and looked like dog biscuits! But there are also many awesome delicious recipes and I'm very excited to continue experimenting and finding Paleo-friendly desserts that I can make for unsuspecting non-Paleo guests...and they won't even know! ;)

Find New Favorites
For a while, I was trying to find replacements for some of our all-time favorites. Soon I discovered, especially with breads, that it is better to find new favorites. Banana bread or blueberry muffins with all these new ingredients just aren't going to be the same as before. I think there are some recipes that get pretty close, but in general I've found that there are also a lot of new things to try that are so good, they have become new favorites.

Planning is Essential
If you are not used to cooking much at all, this might be a pretty big transition. Restaurants and grocery stores usually don't have Paleo-friendly ready-made options. The whole premise of this type of eating is going back to the basics, which means, cooking. I love cooking and I'm used to it, but I've also relied a lot on last minute things like pasta, quesadillas or sandwiches at times. I've quickly learned that with Paleo, last minute doesn't work. It takes a lot of planning ahead, which I love. I'm a planner at heart. But it's definitely hard if, like most people, you don't have a lot of time. I'm quickly learning and gathering many tools to help this whole process be more efficient and quick! I can't wait to share them soon.

Budget
Another big question, can we afford this? Eating Paleo-ish means a lot more produce and meats...the expensive things. And if you want to get into baking and desserts, whew! Alternative flours and sweeteners are expensive! I'm not going to lie.

We already were used to sticking to a strict budget. We love Dave Ramsey's teachings and use the enevelope system and all that. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, google Dave Ramsey please! You'll be glad you did.) So changing our diet has just been a continuation of careful budgeting and planning. We also just moved to a more expensive state, so altogether, we have increased our grocery budget a little. Honestly though, it hasn't been as much as we thought because we used to spend so much on milk, cheese, yogurt, cream cheese, ice-cream, bread, chips, tortillas...so many things that we don't buy anymore. So it evens out a little bit. I've also chosen to be pretty careful in baking. There are tons of types of flours out there and I get the feeling that if you're really going to try to imitate a donut or pastry exactly, you can use all these flours and probably accomplish that. But I've decided, for simplicity and budget's sake, to stick to the two most common flours I've seen mentioned: almond and coconut, and to experiment until I find my 5-10 favorite desserts or breads and just stick to those.

Eggs, snacks, kids & other things...
So much more to share! Like realizing that I need to buy about three dozen eggs every time I go to the store now! (What else is for breakfast on a grain-free diet most days?) Or what to snack on all day long? Or what about the kids? Or trying to learn to make meals that will still taste good in my husband's lunch later, since PB&J (his old choice, not mine!) isn't an option anymore. Or what about when we go to friend's homes?

Some of the quick answers are: eggs aren't bad like you've heard before, the kids are doing great and we snack on apple slices, veggies sticks, summer sausage and other delicious things. We've decided that since this diet change is an option that we have chosen for our health, not for any allergy or intolerance, we don't need to offend anyone or become "legalistic" about it. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with the family and we are very much looking forward to vacation and awesome mexican food with my family in a couple months. Also, we give ourselves reward treats every now and then. We don't go pig out on greasy fast food, but ocassionally we'll get ice-cream or chips and salsa or something that we miss. Some of the experts on this diet talk about that or about adjusting your eating habits to 85% Paleo and "normal" for the rest. With family and friend gatherings or the occasional restaurant visit, that usually takes care of "the rest".

Meals at our house these days are a constant experiment. My husband is very gracious and helps me rate dinner every night, should it make it on our new top 30 list or not? I have to admit that a lot of recipes lately have been "not", but many have been so good that he asks me to make them over and over. It hasn't been easy to change, but we choose to give it a try and explore what options and possibilities there are. So far we're loving it! (And so much for a short post...sorry!)

Thanksgiving Weekend & Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Unfortunately, at this point, I'm not going to give you amazing Thanksgiving alternative recipes. We didn't even have a regular Thanksgiving meal this year because hubby had to work, nevertheless, we had a really wonderful day before his work shift, just relaxing, playing with the kiddos and watching (or trying to watch) movies. If you have little kids, you know how that goes. We got through "seeing" most of a movie without being able to hear much until we finally gave it up. Haha.

Soon after this Thanksgiving weekend is over, I'll continue my Part 2 of our Pre-Paleo-ing journey. You can read Part 1 here if you haven't. Meanwhile, I'm going to do some gluten/dairy-free baking experiments in the kitchen with my mother-in-law. We're trying scones, brownie bites and cookies today. I'll let you know if they're amazing, although I can tell you right now that the cookies are because I've already made them before. These Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are very easy to make, absolutely delicious and dangerously addicting! And they come from another Paleo-cooking wife and mom who has many amazing recipes on her website. I asked her if I could link her decription of "why Paleo" from a Christian perspective because she says it so well, so here it is! It's short and to the point, so go check it out.

Pre-Paleo-ing: Part 1

So maybe you've heard about this Paleo diet thing...I know many people who follow it, but most people I know haven't heard about it. As I mentioned in the introductory post to this blog, I'm still learning about it and most of my information comes from my husband, the nurse, who is actually reading "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf. Have I mentioned I'm a stay-at-home mom with two kids under 3 years old? No time to read. So he reads, then explains things to me, and I get most of it (some of his medical words go over my head) and write what I learn here. :) This is why we are "pre-paleo-ing". We haven't completely adopted a full Paleo diet...we're actually still questioning some things, keeping an open mind, but wondering why...like no dairy? Zero? Nada? Haven't gotten to that part of the book yet. But I get it: we overdo dairy. Too much of anything isn't good. So for now, until I understand that part of Paleo better, we have cut way back on our dairy intake, like switching to Almond Milk and sometimes, I don't include cheese on the grocery list. (I never thought I'd survive!) I'm getting ahead of myself though...

Before anything else, the Paleo diet as I understand it, is going to sound terrible to you right now. Here it is: Eat meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts. Don't eat grains, dairy (and eggs are not dairy), sugars, legumes, or anything processed or artificial. The end.

How awful, right? :) Well, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a weirdo and I love desserts and pasta and bread and cheese...that sums up my favorite foods in the world. So why would I be ok with this?? Read on...

As you can tell, I don't claim to be a nutrition, Paleo, diet or medical expert. I'm just a wife and mom, always wanting the best for my family and willing to sacrifice something if I learn that it isn't good. I didn't always think like this, but marrying a nurse has really opened my eyes to a lot. Paleo is kind of new, but the concept isn't. Maybe you've heard of eating whole or real food, or shopping mostly around the outer aisles of the grocery store, not the middle (that's where most of the junk is). Maybe you've watched Jamie Oliver or other people that really stress eating fresh food, not fast food, and not eating anything that has a bunch of words you can't pronounce on the ingredient list. All of these people, books, diets, methods, whatever you want to call them, are basically saying this: WHAT are you eating? What is actually in that package you just opened and are feeding your kids? Why would you put something in your mouth with ingredients you don't even recognize? Do you wonder why there are so many symptoms and diseases these days that weren't around before?

Basically, we've become accustomed to eating what we're given without questioning anything. Maybe us humans are too trusting, but there are companies out there way more interested in your money than your health and just because the label says "Vitamins and Minerals" does not mean it's good for you. That usually means they took everything good out of it and then added it back in an unnatural way.

But how can you know who to trust? It seems like every couple years there is a new diet trend. That's what I think too and that is why we are taking this Paleo thing slowly. But the thing about Paleo is that from a medical point of view, my husband has seen the positive results in people's symptoms just by changing their diet. There are so many diseases that people don't realize have a lot to do with their diet...things you would never imagine, like ashtma or blood pressure problems or migraines or even difficulty getting pregnant! Those are only a few that I remember right now. My husband and I have seen first hand the incredible difference in a couple of our relatives that took on a Paleo-style diet for just 30 days!

So why does this seem to be working for people? Because, similar to the "real food" or "whole food" movements, it's going back to the basics. Back to eating the way people did before there was anything processed or artificial. Paleo itself is based on the idea that this is how cavemen ate in the Paleolithic Era, 2.5 million years ago. STOP right there! We don't believe that. We believe that God created the Earth, animals and humans, as it says in the Bible and that was NOT millions of years ago. We don't believe that there was a time when people evolved from monkeys and lived in caves and wandered around hunting and gathering whatever they found to eat. In the Bible it's clear from the very first people on the planet that they knew agriculture; they worked their land and raised their animals. Yes, there was hunting, but it wasn't as if they had no plan and just wandered aimlessly trying to survive.

However, the basics are still the basics. But what about grains and dairy? And beans and rice? There sure is a lot of bread mentioned in the Bible! Yes, but bread then was different from now. There has been research made on what all the genetics in agriculture have caused in our food and from what I understand, grains in our day and age, in our country, are not at all like what they used to be. As I've said, I'm no expert and you can go research all this yourself, but I like logic and that makes sense to me. Grains have been so genetically changed that they are no longer actually good for us. Are they 100% bad? Or is it just the excess that we are used to that is bad?

I don't yet know. But here is my logic about grains and dairy. Just look at what the typical meals are in our culture. Breakfast: cereal and milk, yogurt, oatmeal, bagels and cream cheese, pastries, pancakes. Lunch: Sandwich, chips. Dinner: Pasta with bread sticks and cake, pie and/or ice-cream for dessert. Do you see it? Grains, dairy, grains, dairy, grains.... Yes, we throw in the occasional salad or fruit, and usually there's some meat somewhere. Or we think drinking orange juice gives us our fruit intake for the day. I'm not pointing fingers, because this was us. We thought we were being healthy because everything was whole grain and made from scratch. But excess is still excess. So I get that, and that's why I'm giving this a try.

In Part 2 I'll tell you more about how my "healthy thinking" has had to change to a "new healthy thinking" and how that has practically played out in our house. Also, we feel better! In the short time we've been doing this (and not even 100%) we have noticed a difference! So come back and I promise to make the next one shorter!! :)

Introduction to My New Apron

Let me tell you a little bit about myself and my kitchen. You want some coffee? :) Ok. Well, I'm a stay-at-home wife and mom; I love homemaking and expressing creativity in as many ways as I can, from cooking to crafts to decorating to the way I play with my kids. They are 2-and-a-half and 9 months old, by the way, and they are very fun and very busy. One of my favorite things to do after they go to bed is sit with a warm cup of something and listen to the silence! :) That's probably because I'm an introvert. My husband, on the other hand, likes to crank up lively music while he helps me clean the kitchen after they're in bed. Opposites do attract. We are getting closer to our 5th anniversary in a few months and honestly, every year just keeps getting better! Our kitchen is just one little proof of that. Want to guess what my greatest achievements in the kitchen were during our first year of marriage? Banana bread, quesadillas and pasta (noodles with the store-bought jar of sauce). We probably ate those things three times a week at least! But somewhere along the way, I started trying new things I soon realized that I loved cooking! I've never been a spontaneous throw-things-together-in-a-pot-and-voilá kind of cook, but I feel like I'm pretty good at knowing when a recipe will turn out great and I'm good at following directions...I can do that! Sometimes I get adventurous and even tweak the ingredients a little to my liking. Wow, right? For someone who started out with quesadillas, I'd say that's pretty good.

Well, like almost every other newlywed couple, we had a tight budget. Very tight at times. So that motivated my cooking in a completely new way. What if instead of wishing we could go to Olive Garden and get the molten lava cake dessert, I could make it at home? What if I could make most of our restaurant favorites for much less money and possibly healthier and tastier? So I tried it, and it worked! I kept expanding my "repertoire" of recipes and I was loving that it was cheap, it was homemade and delicious, and I was constantly impressing my husband. :)

But now, let me tell you a little about him...a wonderful, incredible, handsome and wise man, but with one little flaw....food is not the way to his heart. Oh, he loves food...even quesadillas and the occasional once-every-three-years mac and cheese. But the true way to his heart is... healthy food. :) I'm only kidding, of course, there is so much more to his heart than that. Yet, my husband works in the medical field and I learned early in our marriage that information about healthy eating habits would come through him pretty often and I'd have to decide what to do about it. So I decided to care about it. After all, he hasn't yet been able to get me to enjoy running or much of any exercise, so if I can cook something that's both healthy and delicious, I think that's the least I can do.

Knowing this about my husband, when I first heard some friends last year talking about their Paleo diet, I decided to keep my husband as far away from that topic as I could! No sugar or dairy or grains? Are you out of your mind? My three favorite foods are most definitely breads, desserts and cheese! We successfully escaped most conversations about that. I didn't understand or want to understand it because after all, we ate very healthy food and I made everything from scratch. What more could you ask for?

Well, during our recent move across the country, while the kids and I were visiting my folks, my husband's close friend Mike helped him load all our stuff and drive it to our new home. We don't get to see him very often and wouldn't you know that, of course, he's into Paleo! So they spent a week together, Mike telling my husband all about it. When he told me over the phone, I couldn't decide if I should stuff myself with all the brownies and sweets I could while I was at my parents' house or try to slowly wean myself off them. Both Mike and my husband aren't the type to go crazy over trends, quite the opposite in fact. Mike, by the way, is a great personal trainer and you can read his blog here. I knew that if they really believed this was worth it, I should probably pay attention.

So within the past month, I've begun this kitchen transition and let me add, mental transition, from everything I knew was healthy before to a new kind of healthy. I feel, in a way, like I'm back at that newlywed stage in my kitchen, re-learning everything I thought I knew. We are not completely endorsing the Paleo Diet...we've only just begun this learning journey about food because there is much more than just Paleo books that is pointing in the same direction as far as health benefits and results. In this blog, my hope is to share the things I'm learning along this journey because one of the greatest discoveries I've made is that there are tons of people doing this! Not just because of some books or trends, but for many health reasons. In fact, my mother-in-law just found out a few weeks ago that she is gluten-intolerant...and gluten-free foods are one of the big parts about Paleo-type diets! Also, there are literally tons of resources and recipes online that amazing people are sharing. Pinterest has become my best friend for finding many bloggers, recipes and tips on eating this way. So why do I want to create yet another blog about this? Because I'm just starting and I've had many questions along the way that I'm sure other people do too, like: So what does a weekly menu look like? Will I ever have dessert again? What do I feed the kids? Are there any recipes out there without weird, expensive ingredients? And most importantly, how will I survive without brownies and ice-cream??? :)

I have already made many great discoveries and I'm very excited to share them with anyone who is interested. Take healthy brownies, for instance. What?? I can have another piece and not feel guilty? :) Like I said, I'm not a recipe creator. I'm a very good recipe follower, though, and I will be sharing links to simple, easy and delicious recipes as well as menu ideas, tips and encouragement as I learn to re-think, re-learn and re-create the food that I love.