Primal Journal-deMuralist page 2

[demuralist]

So my first attempt at snack bars was last week, just before I decided to go primal. But here is the recipe I used...

1 cup almond meal
1 cup chopped almonds
½ cup flax meal
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup Peanut butter
½ cup coconut oil
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup of"Stirling" SF vanilla syrup (erythritoll)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 Cup chocolate chips

Mixed it all (except chocolate chips) together, put it in an 8x8 pan covered with no stick foil, baked at 350 for about 20 minutes. pulled it out and while hot sprinkled with the chocolate, let it melt and then spread it like icing. These were very crumbly the first day, but after chilling held together pretty well.

http://primaljourney.blogspot.com/p/...b-recipes.html

[demuralist]

today's batch...

1 cup almond flour
1 cup chopped almonds
½ cup flax meal
1tsp baking powder
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup peanut butter-it is what I have
½ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon Raw honey (depending on taste)
maybe 20 drops of Stevia Vanilla
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

mixed it all together and baked at 350 for maybe 20 minutes. This one is cakier. I think the next batch I will try using the Almond Butter instead of Peanut Butter. Maybe go back to the Almond Meal, and probably add the "Stirling SF syrup back in. The chocolate chips are going to have to stay for them to actually eat them, I understand there is primal choc, but the mini chips really work well here.

I am trying to replicate a breakfast bar (non-primal) I used to make for them and these are really close.

[demuralist]

Well rats....shin splints. DH says I tried to do too much too soon. I started doing a 30 minutes walk through our neighborhood on Monday, it is kind of hilly. But I would probably have been ok if I had not also spent several hours at the high school back and forth and up and down the stairs trying to find and collect all the things I needed to get all of the bulletin boards looking decent. So he says I need to do stretches and stop the walks until I heal and then start back slowly. So when the healing is done I think I can go back to the 30 minute walk-maybe a less ambitious route.

The good news is, I am pretty sure yesterday was pretty clean. We went out to eat, Mexican, and I ordered the beef fajitas, drank water, didn't touch the chips or tortillas, ate mostly the beef with the guac, sour cream and pico de gallo-yummy.

B: coffee, cream, protein powder, 2 eggs, 2 sausage
L: spinach, mushrooms, tomato, salmon, flaxseed meal, olive oil, vinegar
D: beef, onion, tomato, pepper, sour cream, guac, pico de gallo
S: a few tastes of the breakfast/snack bar in progress-have no idea how to develop a recipe unless I give it a taste

[Pebbles67]

OOOH Thanks for posting your recipes.

Good job at the Mexican restaurant. I love the feeling of staying Primal in a potentially non primal situation.

[demuralist]

DS thinks does not care for the bars, because you can taste the coconut, and he doesn't care for coconut. Gonna have to do another recipe search I think. I like them though, so I will make a batch that is totally primal (almond butter instead of PB and no choc chips)

Food Today:

B: coffee, cream, stevia, 2 eggs, 2 sausage
L: leftover from the restaurant-steak, onions, tomato, and half an avocado
S: one of those bars
D: pork roast, roasted cauliflower, broccoli, tomato

Except that I don't know what is in the sauce on the fajitas, I did well, I think. I am going to go to Whole Foods this weekend and get some protein powder sweetened with Stevia to see if that makes a difference, till then I am dropping it out of my coffee.

the shin splints feel like they are getting better, I think I will be able to go back to my 30 minute morning walk by next Monday.

Also, on Saturday morning I am going to put up my chin up bar and start on the 5 essential moves, with my 16 year old son. He is on the rifle team and just moved up to the next level, and the rifle is heavier, so he needs to build some upper body strength.

[demuralist]

I think I did pretty well yesterday, I ate when I was hungry, stopped before I was full, and I think I stayed primal.

B: coffee, cream, stevia, 2 eggs, e sausage
L: spinach, flaxseed meal, salmon, olive oil, cider vinegar, half an avocado, a few mushrooms, jarlsberg cheese
D: the last of last night pork roast, a bit of ground beef with onions and tomato, mushrooms sauteed with a splash of cream, broccoli

The shin splints are getting better so I think I will be able to start walking again by Monday! So excited, the chin up bar goes up tomorrow!!!

I currently work a part time job and I am looking to either add another part time job or change to a full time job, so I am spending some time this week cleaning up my resume. It has a huge variety of stuff on it, just trying to make it easy to see how diverse I am without making me look flighty!

[demuralist]

So the number is getting smaller on the scale, which, even though I don't technically care what I weigh if I can be healthy and fit back into my wedding dress-realistically I have to lose weight to do that. So for now the number is a piece of information I am using to determine if I need to tweek something or if I should or stay the course. Because I feel certain that even when I find something that works now, it will change as I get smaller. So I will continue to weigh daily (for now) and measure monthly. My ultimate goal is to scan a photo of my before (it is a photo of me sitting on poor Santa's lap) and an after photo that will be me in my wedding dress (or this other green dress I wore for a celebration of our engagement). I am also going to continue to keep track of my foods on this journal. I like it here because it is about what I am eating and not about how much or the macro nutrient percentages or the calories or the carbs. I like that it is freeing.

B: coffee, cream, stevia, 2 eggs
L: spinach, salmon, 1/2 avocado, oil, vinegar, flaxseed meal, jarlsberg
S: 10 macadamia nuts (DS had a rifle match that would extend late, pizza available there-not an option for me)
D: (very late-10pm) broccoli, mushroom-onion-ground beef mix-1T butter, mascarpone with SF syrup

I feel like I am starting to do a better job of listening to my body cues, eat when hungry, eat what I want, stop when I am no longer hungry. Now if I can just teach my self to slow down so I don't miss the satiety cue I think I would have this down pat.

[Pebbles67]

Great Job! Keep it up.

[demuralist]

Thanks Paula!

So yesterday dh came home with an printed article from his "Wellness Center" talking about the best healthy cereals-talk about contradictions! But even worse the author talks about the percent of added sugar and how much is ok in a cereal-one of her top 10 had 43% which she explained was ok because it had raisins in it. Years ago when I did a diet in which I seem to remember that it was suggested not to eat anything in which sugar was in the top 5 ingredients (and not to eat anything with more than 5 ingredients). Everyone of the cereals the author listed in her top 10 had sugar as the 2nd or 3rd ingredient. I went ballistic. So I made dh his own blend of cereal. He refuses to give up oats so I used them, but there was a whole lot of great stuff in there, nuts and coconut etc and toasted it. I did add some raw honey, but in a batch that made more than a store bought box of granola only 1/3 of a cup-I added some stevia to water for added sweetening power. Problem is, he thought it was so yummy he is likely to overeat it.

I am slowly sneaking my boys toward Primal, by the time I get done-and it may take a year-they will be totally primal! At the very least, they will no longer be eating from packages, cans or boxes at my house-I can't control what happens when they eat away from home.

Yesterday I found a fantastic Whey Protein Powder. It is the Jay Robb brand-pricey but fits in with the Primal (well except that I am using powdered protein at all!) uses dairy whey from non-hormone cows, stevia as sweetener. It still uses lecithin (ie. soy) but basically has very clean ingredients and FANTASTIC taste. DS drinks an iced mocha for breakfast every morning and I use Chocolate Protein Powder mixed with coffee and cream, so this will be perfect for him.

So, my eating...

B: coffee, cream, stevia, 1 egg, 1 sausage
L: coffee, cream, protein powder (had to taste test it!), and 1 ounce of almonds
D: shrimp and scallops roasted with tomatoes which liquified and made the whole thing like a tomato based soup-YUM! I had added a few squirts of hot sauce, perfect.
S: a few bites, to adjust the homemade cereal recipe.

[demuralist]

I have been trying to find treats for my boys (DS & DH) since they are not totally committed to the Primal move. So tonight I made "Maple Bacon Butter Bites" FED - Fitness in an Evolutionary Direction: Caveman Cuisine: Maple Butter Bacon Bites I had one-too rich, NEVER thought I would ever say something was too rich. It is still sitting in my stomach. Thinking I am going to stick to simple for myself.

B: coffee, cream, eggs, mushrooms, rondele (all done with it now-so yummy probably not primal)
L: salad, salmon, flaxseed meal, oil, vinegar, avocado, jarlsberg
D: beef ribs (disappointing flavor with homemade bbq sauce), salad with vinegar, oil, mayo, some grated parm
S: one of the bacon/chocolate bites-mistake, sitting heavy.