Shopping & Pizza

[from Jan 2013]

I have to admit I’d heard a friend of mine talk about Paleo about 3 years prior to me really knowing what it was. At that point I thought it was another fad diet. Even when Kevin came home from the gym the first night and said he’d like to try Paleo, my first thought was great “less meat more veggies”! Little did I realize what we were in for. This became not only a change in our diet but in our lifestyle. The first thing I did was called my friend Zoe and asked for info. A little while later Zoe showed up with a stack of books and a list of her favorite websites.  I spent days upon days reading everything I could find.

We decided to make the leap as a family for everyone’s benefit. We used up the last of our ‘normal’ food and implemented Paleo at the same time. Within two weeks we were totally Paleo. I remember my first Paleo shopping trip, it was kind of weird if I might say so. My cart honestly looked like I’d robbed a vegetable garden. On top of that I drew some strange looks in the store and at the checkout.

As I’ve mentioned in earlier posts we shop at three different stores for our items, by choice. The vegetables and few box / canned items we get are from Meijers. They have a great organic selection. Our meat comes from Amici Deli in Westmont.  Our nuts, ground beef, fish and a few other items come from Trader Joes.  We do not currently purchase grass fed meats due to the cost. We are working towards getting a stand-alone freezer and purchasing a large portion of a grass fed cow, free-range chickens and pork.

I read early on with Paleo that you make the choices that you can afford. I purchase organic when I can followed by the next cleanest option if it’s not organic. By clean I mean no preservatives, nothing you can’t pronounce or you don’t know what it is. You should be able to read a label and know what everything on it is….it should be food not chemicals. Our canned items are really limited to green beans, coconut milk, olives and tomatoes.

I took a snap shot of this weeks shopping trip to give you an idea of what a families Paleo shopping trip looks like. Please remember this is food for meals for 7 days, 3 meals each day (plus snacks) for 4 people. The only things missing from the veggie photo is a head of butter lettuce and a bag of large carrots and a very large head of cabbage (that photo was fuzzy and I’m not pulling all the food out of the fridge again for a photo!). This week our family will go through 34 pounds of vegetables, 23 pounds of meat, and a few other various items. Per person that is 8.5 pounds of vegetables and 5.75 pounds of meat. Since Kevin and I are on a sugar detox our fruit is less than normal. As you can see there is very little that is boxed / canned.  The nuts and seeds will last past this week as they are for cereal and snacks.

Even if you don’t want to go all Paleo, as it’s not for everyone, add more vegetables to your diet and lean meats. Maybe try one Paleo meal each week and increase with time. At the end of the day it’s meat and vegetables with some spices. You’d be amazed at the wonderful tastes you’ll discover.

While I was writing this I remembered a Time Magazine article I read years ago called ‘What the World Eats’. I remember flipping through the photos and being amazed at how few fruit and vegetables most American’s eat verses other countries. The places that stood out the most as far as a large amount of vegetables and fruits for me were Egypt, Ecuador, Bhutan, Poland and Mexico. Here is the link so you can view the photos yourself: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519_1373664,00.html

Now it’s pizza time! As I’ve mentioned before I’m often challenged by my family to find new ways to make their old favorites. The littlest one, Charlie, loves pizza. It was his first solid food, I’m not kidding. On my initial search months ago we made this a pizza from Everyday Paleo which you can find here. I recall the crust being very thick and dry. Then a month ago Adrienne, from the gym, said she’ had made the best pizza and sent me the link. I was surprised to see this same recipe pop up again. We gave it another try but rolled the dough out thinner on a cookie sheet. We piled on the sauce, all the way to the edges, and our favorite toppings. It was a hit the second time around with the thinner crust.

However in between the first and second time of trying a large pizza I had located  Paleo Pizzettes by Cavegirl Cuisine. The boys flipped over these.  They taste so much like pizza with a great simple flavor. You can find the full recipe here.

Very simply you combine the ingredients, make little patties, add your toppings and bake. Charlie can make these little things they are so easy! In fact here’s Charlie making them now:

For toppings the boys like sauce (Trader Joe’s Marinara sauce) and Hormel’s Natural Choice Uncured Hard Salami. This is a “clean” meat with no nitrates, no preservatives, etc. Additionally if I don’t have fresh oregano (which it calls for) I use ½ the amount of dried oregano and it works great.

Let me know if you have any questions on this post or any others.

Enjoy!

Yvonne