2010

My compliments to the chef.

Posted by Stacy on Dec 21, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

Shhhh… don’t tell, but – Matt won today’s competitive company potluck! As the organizer of the potluck and as someone who’s recently won another company competition (I’ve already got a trophy on my desk from my Weight Wars win) – I skewed results in favor of another winner – so this news is going to be hush hush. But, I would advise you to try this super healthful and warming soup. He made curried carrot soup, and made it dairy-free with coconut oil instead of butter and used coconut milk instead of sour cream – so yum! And, since quite a few...

Holiday Treats

Posted by Stacy on Dec 20, 2010 in 2010, Featured | 3 comments

For years, we’ve been baking up a storm at the holidays. This year I thought we’d have to give up the tradition, since we refuse to use flour & sugar anymore. But then I found chocolate on sale at Whole Foods and was gifted jar of homemade Pomegranate Jelly; shortly after, our kitchen was a cookin’ again! We made Candy (recipe follows) and the Spunky Coconut’s Scandinavian Thumbprint Cookies! I have a friend whose son is egg-free and gluten-free; she recommended Spunky Coconut to me a while ago but we hadn’t tried any of her recipes yet. After an order arrived from...

Giving Thanks

Posted by Stacy on Nov 18, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

Growing up, Thanksgiving was always a holiday of much to-do. My vegan brother introduced me to the idea of non-traditional Thanksgiving wonders, and now I host a dinner where normal eaters, vegans and Paleo eaters all come together to celebrate family and give thanks to the life we get to live. In anticipation of this lovely family day where we sip wine and cider while enjoying the conversation of one another with our pants unbuttoned, we’re starting to get our recipes together for the Thanksgiving dinner we’ll be hosting. My MIL is bringing wild rice stuffing and a Tofurkey (for the...

Amazon Subscribe & Save

Posted by Stacy on Nov 4, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

A few weeks ago I stumbled across Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program; I had been looking into a post Joyful Abode made about Mom items through the program and realized there was a wealth of opportunity for more than diapers and wipes. I will admit it took me a few days to get my order together, price compare and commit to buying bulk up-front on a program I’d never heard any of my friends use. But once I got it all together and did some store price comparisons, I was gung-ho on the Subscribe & Save bandwagon! I found that a few items weren’t actually cheaper through the...

Pumpkins

Posted by Stacy on Sep 27, 2010 in 2010 | 4 comments

I’ve been waiting a long time for fall to finally arrive.Visiting pumpkin patches with the kids, enjoying a cool breeze and a hot beverage, and unpacking boots and turtlenecks from the storage bins are some of my favorite activities. This weekend in Northern Virginia was the first official weekend of fall.With weather in the 90’s, it didn’t exactly feel like it – but, the pumpkin patch at Great Country Farms was still ready and waiting for us on Saturday morning. While we were waiting for the hayride, Matt teased Finn a bit… The boys really enjoyed the activity of picking their...

We’ve lost a whole person.

Posted by Stacy on Sep 22, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

This morning Stacy weighed in for “Weight Wars” at work - and hit 70lbs lost! Matt has lost 33! It’s pretty simple math. That’s 103 pounds between us, in about 4 months.* An entire human being size amount of fat has melted off of the both of us. If only we’d thought to go on Biggest Loser first – then we could be rich AND sexy healthy! Plus, our children are in the “normal” ranges on the Pediatric growth chart – since, ever. And, we’re all sleeping well and feeling great. We’ve been compared to Ozzie and Harriet – this morning, I’m such...

Preparation

Posted by Stacy on Sep 19, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

One of the keys to successful parenting, and especially family Paleo living, is adequate preparation. Most chaotic moments are able to be mitigated with whatever tools you need, ready and available. I find our best days are had when our trunk is full of water cups, snacks, extra clothes, toys, books, etc. This week we’re preparing for school lunches, snacks, and more with a few drool worthy recipes from my arsenal of Paleo food bloggers. Matt has now made and we have tested for recommendation: Elana’s Pantry – Thai Vegetable Soup (um. nom. yum. great lunch food!) Joyful Abode...

Hot Pot

Posted by Stacy on Sep 9, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

The boys love a nearby authentic Chinese restaurant, Uncle Liu’s Hot Pot. They’ll eat quail eggs, octopus and anything else that comes our way – simply because they can cook it themselves at our table. After dining and studying the menu, we realized we could recreate it at home. First thing first, use a good stock. I’m not trying to get Barefoot Contessa on you – but the ingredients will be poached in this liquid, so make it good. If you’re a vegetarian, add fish sauce to your vegetable broth; if not, use a flavorful chicken broth made from a leftover carcass. ...

Curried Mussels, Not Muscles

Posted by Stacy on Sep 7, 2010 in 2010, Featured | 3 comments

We weren’t sure how this meal would go over. It was one of our first “Paleo meals”, we made 2 1/2 lbs of mussels for 3 adults and 2 children. My oldest son had 5 bowls before we cut him off. Another pound probably would’ve been the right amount, but since it was our first time feeding the boys seafood still in the shell (although they used to LOVE linguine with clams) I was worried how much we’d eat and didn’t want to waste food since seafood doesn’t reheat well. It was requested the next day by both children. Curried Mussels, Not Muscles dairy-free, egg-free,...

Lady Gaga’s Egg Cups

Posted by Stacy on Aug 18, 2010 in 2010 | 2 comments

As a working mother, my time is limited in the mornings. I’m lucky if I get to sit down and enjoy breakfast at the table one day a week. Our family makes a lot of fritatas, hard boiled eggs and almond flour muffins but these little guys are a tasty surprise that will add something special to your morning. We prefer to make these with nitrate-free apple chicken sausage inside muffin liners but we’ve adored them with buffalo cranberry and buffalo bourbon fennel sausage, too; we haven’t specified in this recipe because we’re sure they’d be good with hot pork sausage or whatever...

Some Weekend Prep Recipes

Posted by Stacy on Aug 3, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

We spent Sunday preparing for this week. It’s been so great to have breakfast pre-made and ready to eat as something you can grab on your way out the door. I think breakfast has been the hardest part about going Paleo. There’s only so many days I can have a Buffalo Jerky Stick from Cibola Farms and a hard boiled egg! We made a Crock-Pot roasted chicken which we then turned into chicken salad with avacado, nuts and cranberries. EXCELLENT over romaine. We also made Girl Gone Primal’s Bacon Wrapped Mini Fritatas. They’re so good we have to limit the children to two; the boys have taken...

Healthful Trickery

Posted by Stacy on Jul 31, 2010 in 2010 | 0 comments

I posted before about taking the opportunity to use cooking as a teaching opportunity. But today has especially been full of perfect moments to share with the children about food. We started off the day visiting our local farmer’s market – where the boys were treated like royalty, raking free goodies from the local butcher, the melon farmer and even the organic baker. Finian took advantage of a giant “sample” of watermelon and plums. Since last week was my first back at work, the boys and I spent the majority of the day together. While yard sale-ing we found a a Scooby Doo video...