Monthly Archives: February 2012

Well Holy Crap, A Real Entry.

Posted in Just Life., Paleo Diet by

I’m really surprised by how wildly real life is varying from the menus that I write. I always expect them to line up. I mean, I grocery shop based on them. But yesterday looked nothing like the menu. We’d already eaten the spaghetti squash on Saturday when we were fighting the horrible urge to order a pizza, so we made something else.

Since Adam’s been championing the cause of us watching BBQ Pitmasters, and we found pork country ribs on sale for $1.48/lb at Fiesta Market in Bolingbrook, which is real close, we had ribs last night.

BBQ Pit Masters

Making BBQ sauce from scratch was really fun. I decided not to follow any recipe and just make it from scratch based on my palate. I also remember making my life easier by choosing to only use 3 measuring devices: a 1/3 cup measure, a 1/2 TBSP and a TBSP. But then I stopped using measuring implements. AH WELL. Good times anyway. 😉

The ingredients - minus honey

One of the things I’ve loved most about being on the paleo diet so far is finding out how easy and fun it is to make some of our favorite foods that are just expensive at places when you go out to eat. Like ribs! Last night’s dinner cost about $12 for us to make, but 3 of us ate! If we’d gone out to eat, each of us would have paid at least $15 a plate. Eating well at home makes me feel very rich. 🙂

Tonight, we’re having Happy Roast Chicken instead of the scheduled soup because I forgot to buy coconut milk. (Oops!) There’s something about roasting a whole bird that always looks pretty and plentiful.

Anyway, I thought it would be good to take a moment to talk about the reality of what’s going on, over on this side of the screen. Adam and I have been doing good so far, staying within the rules. 1 week of 6 DOWN! 5 to go.

How are you doing, readers? Do you like the way I have the menus set up? Do you have any requests for next week? Today, I’m putting together recipes that I want to include for next week, so that tomorrow I can give you the menu for next week. Let me know if there’s anything special you’ve been craving. Me, personally – I’ve been dying for some burgers… so mushroom-cap sliders are definitely on the way, as are recipes for homemade ketchup and mayo. I personally don’t see the point in homemade mustard.

Hope everyone is doing well. Happy Leap Day!

2 Suggested Ingredients for the Whole46

Posted in Paleo Diet by

There are a couple of ingredients that I had to order online so that I could cook Asian style foods.

If you’re on the Whole46 with me, I strongly suggest picking up both Red Boat Fish Sauce and Coconut Secret Coconut Aminos
(soy sauce substitute). They’re both available through Amazon. You can also get the coconut aminos through two of our advertisers, Live Superfoods or Sunfoods!

Coconut Aminos

Coconut Aminos

Menu for Day 7 of 46

Posted in Paleo Diet by

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Breakfast
Eggs, Bacon, & A Sliced Apple

Eggs, Bacon & Apple

Lunch
Avocado Tuna Salad (without mayo, with double the tuna!) served in Butter Lettuce leaves or on Sesame Almond Crackers – Instead of the spices listed, add sesame seeds and rosemary!

Avocado Tuna Salad

Avocado Tuna Salad from The Paleo Periodical

Snack
Pork Rinds

Pork Rinds

Pork Rinds

Dinner
Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs – I use this recipe and add O Organics brand Tomato Basil spaghetti sauce.

Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs

Spaghetti Squash & Meatballs

Dessert
Your favorite kind of berries.

Berries! :)

EUREKA ALERT! Multiple Sclerosis is not caused by your brain.

Posted in Multiple Sclerosis by

This just in, folks, Multiple Sclerosis is not a neurodegenerative disease.

According to a study at the University of Zurich, scientists have disproven the “neurodegenerative hypothesis”, which was based on observations that certain patients exhibited characteristic myelin damage without a discernible immune attack.

In the popular, but now totally obsolete, hypothesis, scientists assumed that MS-triggering myelin damage occurred without the involvement of the immune system. In that scenario, (which is now known to be erroneous) the immune response against myelin would be the result – and not the cause of – the pathogenic process.

So How Do They Know The Lesions Are Is Not Caused By The Immune System?

Using genetic tricks, they induced myelin defects without alerting the immune defense. This means that MS can occur without the immune system’s help.

“At the beginning of our study, we found myelin damage that strongly resembled the previous observations in MS patients,” explains Burkhard Becher, a professor at the University of Zurich. “However, not once were we able to observe an MS-like autoimmune disease.”

In order to ascertain whether an active immune defense causes the disease based on a combination of an infection and myelin damage, the researchers conducted a variety of further experiments – without success.

“We were unable to detect an MS-like disease – no matter how intensely we stimulated the immune system,” says Ari Waisman, a professor from the University Medical Center Mainz. “We therefore consider the neurodegenerative hypothesis obsolete.”

So what does this mean now?

It means that it’s time to study what part the immune system actually plays in MS. Because right now, it doesn’t look like it’s a cause. It merely looks like a player in the game.

Adventures of a Stay-At-Home-Rae

Posted in Just Life. by

It’s 3:00 am. I’m thinking, I write more about the Paleo Diet in my blog than my own life, and if I remember right, that’s what my blog was about.

I’ve been looking at lot of Stay-at-home-Mom blogs, and I’m not gonna go and take a pic of every little thing in my life or anything, but I realize I’ve kind of been shutting everyone out of my world.

You deserve better, and I can give you more.

A Better Blog Starts Tomorrow (or rather Resumes Later Today).

Drop-Dead Delicious “Deadwood” Beef Stew

Posted in Paleo Diet, Recipes by

When Adam and I were watching the series Deadwood, we couldn’t help but get a hankering for beef stew. Below is the recipe that we built for ourselves, in all of its paleo glory! We absolutely love this recipe and have it at least once a month. I hope you all enjoy it as well. It’s slated to be cooked next week as part of the Whole46.

Deadwood Beef Stew

Ingredients
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into bite-size cubes
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
1-2 teaspoon paprika (I like smoked, but any kind will do)
1-2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 cups beef broth
5 oz of white pearl onions (That’s half a bag usually.)
4-5 red potatoes, diced (Substitute sweet or yams for a different taste if you like.)
4 carrots, sliced (or half a bag of baby carrots)
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 oz of mushrooms (or more!)
a few drops of Hickory flavored Liquid Smoke

Directions

  1. Place meat in slow cooker.
  2. In a small bowl mix together the arrowroot, salt, and pepper
  3. Pour over meat, and stir to coat meat with arrowroot mixture.
  4. Stir in everything else. (the garlic, bay leaf, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, onion, beef broth, potatoes, carrots, peas, mushrooms and celery.)
  5. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or on High setting for 4 to 6 hours.

Chapter 37: Being A Part of Political Affairs

Posted in Spirituality, The Tao of Rae by

The Tao always lacks positive action,
yet refrains from going to extremes in meting out punishment.

Marquis Wang (a great king) seems capable to guard it,
and thus The Ten Thousand (the masses) prepare themselves for revolutionary change:

To desire to change into something ineffable and Dao-like
and to take to suppress so as to obscure that which is not.
To suppress in order to obscure all outside influences
that man also will not desire.

No desire in order to quiet and calm.
All the land under heaven shall prepare itself to become correct.