How's Paleo Going? Check out this "Rice" Recipe!

Alright - so I've been eating this Paleo diet since January 2.  Thirteen days.  It feels like I've been eating this way for much longer.  I suppose I have settled into a bit.  I was starving and tired the first few days - suffered a couple of bad headaches (my body releasing the craving for processed foods, I guess?) - but now I'm used to it and my cravings for cheese and starch have subsided.  I reach for a piece of fruit or a (large) handful of almonds instead of a double serving of crackers.  And you know what?  The fruit tastes wonderful.  I think our taste buds get abused by all the junk we eat on a day to day basis and when you take out all the stuff with ingredients that you can't pronounce, your taste buds go back to the way they were intended to operate.  And an apple which used to seem boring, becomes juicy, sweet and flavorful - you can feel your little taste buds dancing on your tongue again!  I feel fantastic.  I no longer experience that 2:30/3:30 dip in energy that I used to experience and that in and of itself is reason to continue eating this way, in my mind.  I need all the energy I can muster for my kids alone!  I have allowed myself a glass (or 2) of red wine most nights - hey, a girl's gotta have some sort of vice! 

As far as the food goes... I've had some wows in some of the dishes I have made - and then I've have quite a few days where I'm bored with cooking this way.  I'm a big lover of food - all kinds of food - so adhering to this way of eating puts a bit of a damper on my culinary creativity.  I'm limited to vegetables, meat, and fruit.  Eating this way has taken me from living to eat to eating to live.  I haven't been 100% strict because to be a true Paleo, well - you may as well raise your own livestock and grow your own vegetables.  After the first 10 days, I allowed myself some cream in my coffee, which I now enjoy every morning.  And the other night, Matt and I were at a neighbor's dinner party where she served her famous chocolate chip cake. Normally, I would have offered to help serve it and pass out plates (so that I could sneak an extra bite in the process); instead, I enjoyed one bite.  And surprisingly, that was enough!  I enjoyed that bite and really didn't want anymore than that.  Instead of focusing so much on food, I find myself focusing more on everything else - the conversation that comes with meal time... things like that. 

Will I continue to eat like this forever?  Likely not this strict - but keeping aspects of it, absolutely.  I like not feeling bloated - ever - in my stomach area.  I like not having spikes and dips in my blood sugar and this is a big deal for me as we have a history of diabetes in my family.  And being that I had it while I was pregnant with Brooke, well, I need to be even more careful when it comes to my diet. 

I ran a 15K (9.3 miles) race on Sunday - the Hot Chocolate Run.  Matt and I ran it and I must say that I was really nervous prior to the race start!  I wasn't sure if this diet of ours would give us what we needed to finish the race. We had a nice plate of bacon and eggs (and avocado) for breakfast - no bread, no carbs.  And we ended up having a really great run!  We didn't run super fast, and we stopped at every drink station along the way where we took a few swallows of Gatorade (I'm sure this is not on the Paleo diet but the carbs sure gave us what we needed to finish!).  Aside from being sore from not training properly, we had a great race!  We ran it with friends of ours and capped it off with a nice brunch - and that is what makes it so fun!  Being outside, doing something active and healthy, and enjoying it with friends is what makes it such a fun experience.  We hope to go something like that once a quarter this year.  For all you Atlanta folks, the Color Run is coming in April, I believe.  It's a 5K - would be a great family outing!

So - I'd like to share with you a WOW meal.  I read that one can use cauliflower to make "rice."  So, I made my own simplified version of "gumbo" over "rice."  And boy was it fabulous - no real recipe here - just a little of this and a little of that.  I cut up some organic chicken and browned it in some olive oil with salt and pepper.

After the chicken was cooked, I removed it from the pan and put it into a bowl to reserve for later.  Then I sauteed red bell pepper and onion (both chopped into small pieces).

I cooked it until it looked like this (about 8 minutes):

Then I added cut up Andouille sausage (YUM):

I cooked that until the sausage was well cooked - almost brown in some areas.  I put the chicken back in along with some diced tomatoes - a little salt and pepper - and I let it simmer on low in a pot for about 30 minutes. 

Now for the fun part - the cauliflower "rice."  I cut up a head of cauliflower into chunks and put the chunks into my food processor.

I pulsed it until it looked like this:

Then I put the cauliflower into a covered microwavable safe dish and microwaved it for about 6-7 minutes.  I added no water (the cauliflower has water in it already) - no nothing!  Out it came and I put some into a bowl (as if it were rice) and spooned the gumbo mixture on top...

We thought we'd died and gone to heaven!  We ate it for the next three days!  Matt had no idea until I told him that he was eating cauliflower and not rice! 

So, if you're looking for a low carb rice replacement, look no further than cauliflower!  It was fantastic!!

If you're considering trying this out, it's really quite easy.  Have some good snacks on hand all the time - dried fruit, almonds, cashews, fruit of all kinds, veggies... and you can always find something at restaurants that will work - namely salads or meat and veggies.  If everyone ate like this, we wouldn't have the obesity problem we have in our country.  It's all related to sugar - and I don't mean just the sugar in sweets, but the sugar in processed foods. Our bodies were not made to consume all of that. 

Off my little soap box I jump... I'm off to take Matthew to the doctor to see about his separated shoulder.  Who knew that basketball can be rougher than football?