Boneless leg of lamb
Brian says I have to post this recipe because it’s so good I have to let people know. 
It is really good, and my first time cooking lamb, too.
Too many eggs!
The PaleoPlan menu for week 3 calls for 32 eggs! In a week! For TWO people!
We decided that was excessive, and are in the process of switching out recipes.
Snatches, Sweet Potatoes, and Almost-Oatmeal
I love snatches! Get your mind out of the gutter – I mean these: 
(I just have to be very careful of my form. Even leaning an inch too far forward puts too much strain on my knees, and I have to drop the weight.)
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I also love this side dish we had for supper tonight: Sweet Potatoes with Coconut, Pomegranate, and Lime.
Of course, we substituted raisins for the pomegranate seeds and left out the limes and cilantro, but I thought it was supremely yummy that way.
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And then there’s my new favorite breakfast: Almost Oatmeal! (Generally with some sausage on the side.)
I’m not entirely happy with the name, though. While it does work as a replacement for oatmeal, it’s superbly delicious in its own right, and not due to any mimicricy of some other foodstuff. Apple-meal, maybe. Or just Yum!
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In other words, we’re into week two of the paleo plan diet, month two of Crossfit, and actually enjoying both! That might be the key ingredient that was missing in all our other plans, and will hopefully help us to see this through to solidly establishing a healthy lifestyle.
Phase change – food
(File under: Yet another new food plan…)
So, we’re trying out the Paleo Diet.
The funny thing is that I totally don’t buy the plan’s basic rationale – that our bodies haven’t evolved fast enough to keep up with our changing diets since changing from the paleolithic hunter/gathering to agriculture and domesticated animals. I think that shows a fundamental misunderstanding of evolution.
But… what I’ve been doing (quick starch/meat/sauce or eating out (grease, large portions, sugary sauces)) isn’t working. Not health-wise, money-wise, nor self-esteem-wise. I basically feel like I’ve lost my ability to know what’s good for me to eat, and obtain it. Food has become overwhelming, and since I (fortunately) have no anorexic inclinations, that means I’ve been eating too much. And mostly (starchy, sugary) comfort foods. *sigh*
Anyway.
I’ve been loving Crossfit for exercise, and they’re big into Paleo as a group, and a lot of people have seen good results with it, whether because they really benefit from cutting out wheat, sugar, legumes, and dairy, or because following any sort of strict diet encourages more attention to portion sizes and food quality. Since some people *do* have gluten, dairy, and other food sensitivities, I’m sure it’s a bit of both.
And they sent out this e-book.
With meal plans.
And shopping lists, and recipes, and FREE, or anyway paid for by my Crossfit branch and delivered to my in-box with no effort or even desire on my part.
Brian and I talked about it, and decided it might be worth a try. My big thing is that the meal plans take all the decision-making and a lot of the thought and planning out of the equation. Of course, then we put off doing anything more for a few weeks…
This weekend, we went shopping and bought everything on the Week 1 shopping list. (Did I mention there are 6 weeks worth of meal plans?) That in itself was exhausting, because it was all like: “where do we find the asparagus? the sweet potatoes? fresh rosemary? shallots???” (We never did find the shallots, but after looking them up online, I decided to substitute garlic.)
So lots of unfamiliar products, mostly in the fresh produce area where we know where to find the fruit and very little else. (I don’t “normally” buy fresh stuff, because if left to my own devices I forget what I was going to do with it, then forget about it altogether until it gets moldy or slimy or desiccated.)
Yesterday, I took a personal day off from the day job to fully clear out all the “no-no” foods from the kitchen, and then clean up the kitchen and do some rearranging to be more conducive to food prep. It took ALL DAY, and I still have a junk counter left to clear off. :-p (Why is it so easy to accumulate wild morasses of junk, and so hard to get it back under control? Entropy, probably.)
And now? Well, now it’s just a matter of sticking to it. The hardest part so far is simply sinking the time in for the food prep. Fresh foods taste way better, and they’re cheaper for the most part, but they’re much more expensive in terms of *time.* I’m reluctant to commit that time, especially when I’m already spending a ton on exercise, and those required blocks on work and sleep, and I haven’t figured out how to fit writing regularly back in yet.
But…
I’ve been getting fatter, and I’m already 40 pounds over where I want to be, and 55 pounds over where I was (healthily) in college. Exercise alone isn’t going to do it, because following my instincts food-wise just means I eat more to cover the extra energy expenditure. Being fat isn’t the end of the world, but I also don’t have much energy, and in theory being fitter would help with that. And more energy would let me fit writing back in more easily…
So it seems worth it, at least for now. Stay tuned for occasional recipes/food commentary in addition to my normal writing related posts. And hopefully you won’t be seeing a “fell off the plan, gorged on chocolate cake” post any time soon!
© 2010 Catherine Wechsler, used with permission.
