"Cheating" while living a paleo nutritional lifestyle is SOOOOOOO easy. With a Starbucks on every corner (Vanilla Bean Frappachino, anyone?) and three restaurants on each street (Just a tiny bit of rice for my Lamb Saagwala?), failing to plan is totally a plan to fail. Even with menu planning and weekly shopping trips we have found that there are a hundred reasons to just stop and pick up SOMETHING because we are strapped for time or motivation. That is... until after we eat. Headaches, fatigue, swelling, bloating, irritability- all of these can come from a simple "cheat" in our plan.
The last few weeks have been really hard on our family. So many changes in such a short period of time have left me feeling pretty darn unmotivated to do just about anything, let alone cook three meals every single day. However, as the week went on I kept feeling worse and worse. Not just emotionally drained, but physically ill. Reading a really great blog post made me stop and realize just how excessive my "cheating" was - and gave me the strength I needed to recommit myself to our healthy eating plan. I feel better when I only eat paleo foods- sooooo, shouldn't I make time to make it happen? YES.
Now, I am not saying I will never "cheat" again. I am saying that when those cravings come, and I choose to indulge, those episodes need to be few and far between, so that I give my body a chance to deal with the crap I am putting inside of it.
Tonight we had Chicken Tikka Masala and "Rice." It was super! Not as spicy as I generally take my Indian cuisine, but that can be altered another time. This was a super base recipe to use, and I plan on tweaking it and perfecting it as I morph it to my own tastes. Better than how delicious it was, is how I feel. Energized, light, alert- not sluggish and hazy. What more can we ask for from our food?
The last few weeks have been really hard on our family. So many changes in such a short period of time have left me feeling pretty darn unmotivated to do just about anything, let alone cook three meals every single day. However, as the week went on I kept feeling worse and worse. Not just emotionally drained, but physically ill. Reading a really great blog post made me stop and realize just how excessive my "cheating" was - and gave me the strength I needed to recommit myself to our healthy eating plan. I feel better when I only eat paleo foods- sooooo, shouldn't I make time to make it happen? YES.
Now, I am not saying I will never "cheat" again. I am saying that when those cravings come, and I choose to indulge, those episodes need to be few and far between, so that I give my body a chance to deal with the crap I am putting inside of it.
Tonight we had Chicken Tikka Masala and "Rice." It was super! Not as spicy as I generally take my Indian cuisine, but that can be altered another time. This was a super base recipe to use, and I plan on tweaking it and perfecting it as I morph it to my own tastes. Better than how delicious it was, is how I feel. Energized, light, alert- not sluggish and hazy. What more can we ask for from our food?
Ingredients:
2 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb Coconut Oil
1.5 lbs Organic Free Range Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size cubes
1 Sweet Onion
2 Tb freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 (14.5 oz) can Organic Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup Coconut Milk (FULL FAT!)
1/2 Tb Arrowroot powder
Sea Salt to taste
2 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 tsp. Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tb Coconut Oil
1.5 lbs Organic Free Range Chicken Breasts, cut into bite size cubes
1 Sweet Onion
2 Tb freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 (14.5 oz) can Organic Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup Coconut Milk (FULL FAT!)
1/2 Tb Arrowroot powder
Sea Salt to taste
Directions:
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken, onion, and liemon juice; cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink (about 10 minutes). Add all of the spices except red pepper and cook/stir 1 minutes
Stir in tomatoes and mix well. In a small bowl, stir together coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and salt until smooth. Gradually stir coconut milk mixture into skillet. Stir in Red Pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring frequently.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken, onion, and liemon juice; cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink (about 10 minutes). Add all of the spices except red pepper and cook/stir 1 minutes
Stir in tomatoes and mix well. In a small bowl, stir together coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and salt until smooth. Gradually stir coconut milk mixture into skillet. Stir in Red Pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring frequently.
I served this with "Rice"
1 head cauliflower (or however much you want)
2T olive oil
Optional Spices and Seasoning:
1/2 t. ground curry
1 green onion, finely chopped
dash each of cayenne pepper, sea salt, ground black pepper
1 T. olive oil
Roughly chop and then grate the cauliflower in a food processor until it is the size of rice or couscous, either using a plain steel blade or a shredder blade. Alternatively, you can shred it with a hand-held grater, or even a knife. The key is to make it fine.
Place in saute pan and do NOT add water. Let it cook on medium heat for about 5-10 minutes until it's soft. Stir occasionally but otherwise keep covered.
Saute the cauliflower in a pan with oil and any additional seasonings you desire--salt, garlic, ginger, coconut aminos, curry, or just pepper.
No comments:
Post a Comment