Don't Knock it Until You Try It

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While I like vegetables, I struggle to get my 5-9 servings a day. Honestly, I know relatively few people who don’t have trouble. I am sorry, but I am going to choose coconut butter over asparagus EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. J

However, in eliminating all grains and dairy from my diet, I have made a concerted effort to boost my veggie intake. One way I have found to do this is by including veggies in snacks.

Right now, my favorite veggie snack is....(no judging please)

Lettuce

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Pecans

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And Strawberries (if available).

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I make little lettuce wraps with a couple diced pecans inside. I am not lying, it is delicious! I even made Chase try one and he liked it (THIS IS MAJOR).

The key to achieving deliciousness is to use FRESH lettuce—none of that packaged stuff. Also, did you know this head of lettuce cost all of $1.01. Plus, it will last all week, unlike the bagged lettuce mix that gets slimy in 3 days.

Honestly, the best purchase of 2011 was my salad spinner. I do not know how I lived without this! It cost all of $10 at Homegoods and is KEY for making Kale Chips and salads. 

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Right now I have been keeping lettuce all cleaned and dry in the spinner, so when I open the refrigerator I remember to pack this as a morning or afternoon snack. I am going to experiment with other fruits. Chase suggested grapes, and I think he is definitely on to something.

Are you good at eating vegetables? How do you get your 5-9 servings?

A Day in My Paleo Life

Today I left the house at 5:55 AM and do not get home until 7:45 PM. It is going to be a LONG day. Since today is sheer chaos, I have decided to post everything I ate yesterday. This is a pretty good example of my daily eats.

At 5:20 AM, I fixed a banana coconut milk smoothie. I muffled the blender with a giant blanket so I would not wake up Chase and all of our neighbors. It worked surprisingly well!

 This consists of:
1 1/3 frozen bananas 
1 1/2 cup unsweeetened coconut milk 
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Easy Peasey! 

Each morning I take care of three kids and help them get ready for school. There mom leaves for work early, so I work two hours each morning from 6-8 AM. This is the same family mentioned in THIS post. 

At 7:30 I gobbled up some almonds in order to have some energy before my run.

I typically head straight to the gym and run. Today I did 6 miles. I am still super sore from the race so I am hoping to get rid of some lactic acid. 

Post-workout (10:30) I had a tangelo. It was AMAZING. I have been craving citrus, so I am happy oranges are coming back!

Monday's are my easy day and I have a couple of hours to run errands and clean the house/do laundry. Yesterday I did the latter! The house now sparkles!

I fixed lunch around noon and had:

Kale Chips

Apple slices with Almond Butter

Chocolate Chips! :)

Then I headed to the twinnies house. I also take care of two 13-month-old twins. I have been with them since they were 2 weeks old. They are the girls in the tutus in THIS post. I did not show their face for obvious reasons. But their little bums are too cute, as well!


This month I have off from teaching, which is actually perfect because I have needed to work almost double hours with the twin. That is where I am from 9AM-7PM today!


At the twins, I had another tangelo for a snack. I am officially addicted!

 I also had more almonds.

When I got home, around 7:30, I had a bowl of Paleo Chili. It was delish. 

For dessert, I had more apple slices with almond butter and this beauty:

 And that concludes the a Monday in my Paleo life! :)

Paleo Pumpkin Chili

The past week I have been scouring cookbooks and websites for Chili recipes. We take chili VERY seriously in my house. My Mumsie makes the best chili ever. The prospect of making a chili without beans or corn was a bit daunting. 

I decided to glean from a myriad of recipes, adding things I liked and subtracting ingredients that either sounded intolerable or were not "paleo friendly." In the end I was very satisfied with the outcome. 

This is a very tomato-ey (yes, I completely made up this word). I, however, LOVE tomatoes, so this was a win. Plus, this recipe was easily made in the crockpot--double win!

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef (you could easily sub in bison/turkey/chicken/soy crumbles)
1 large onion (diced)
2 tbsp. coconut oil
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes (use only 1 if you prefer less tomato-ey taste)
1 (4 oz) can tomato juice
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
2 tsp. sugar/honey/agave (optional, but it helps cut the acidity)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (if you do not like spicy, omit this)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (again, if you do not like spicy, omit this)
1 zucchini (diced finely)
1 sweet potato (peeled, and diced)
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin


1) Saute minced garlic in 1 tbsp. coconut oil and add ground beef. Cook over medium heat, until browned; saute onions, if desired (you can simply add raw onion to crockpot)

2) Add wet ingredients to crockpot

3) Stir in spices

4) Cook for 3 hours on low and then add sweet potato, zucchini, and pumpkin.

(I liked the sweet potato and zucchini to be a bit firm in my chili, if you want them soft, add them at the beginning). The pumpkin can be added at any time.

5) Cook for 2 more hours on low

6) ENJOY!

Chase is a chili connoisseur and he loved this, so that is definitely a promising endorsement. 

Do you like chili? Are you a fan of chili con carne, Chili with beans, or Cincinnati chili (sweet chili over spaghetti)?

Weekend Update

This weekend was a total Frugal Frog victory! I realize that our morale is high because it is just the start, but I will take it!

Friday, we did just as I planned and watched "Suits." 

On Saturday, we did not do any discretionary spending. We ran the most miserable race ever.  (Which I actually just found out that I was 9th overall and the 3rd woman finisher...however, this was a completely ABYSMAL race. By the 15th hill, I began walk/running which is 100% abnormal for me.)

After the race it would have been SO easy to stop for brunch on the way back from the race, as we had to travel an hour there and back, but Chase was a champ! He literally fled temptation and did not eat lunch until we got home. 

Saturday afternoon I did some grocery shopping at Price Rite. I adore grocery shopping. It is my happy place. I get giddy to try new things, which can be problematic on the pocketbook.

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Price Rite is a market that has ridiculously good prices, however the selection can be hit or miss. I got out of there with the bulk of our week's meals accounted for spending a mere $23. Um, AWESOME! I made sure to stick to my list, which is something I am not always good at doing. 

Saturday night, Chase and I tag-teamed dinner. He was in charge of ambiance and I was the cook. 

I think he did a pretty nice job!

As suggested by the owner of the Bison farm, I cooked the bison burgers on the George Foreman grill (a remnant of my college days). It was seriously the easiest process ever--I greased it with a bit of coconut butter and cooked each burger for 3-4 minutes. For my burger, I added some sliced onion to the top and bottom. The grilled onion tasted insane combined with the sliced avocado on top of my burger!

We also had a salad and baked sweet potato fries. And let's not forget about the non-alcoholic wine. :) I actually only had one sip and then I realized it was totally flat--boo!

This dinner was so fun, incredibly delicious, and completely frugal! It tasted so much better than anything we could have ordered at a restaurant. 

Our Saturday night entertainment ended up being a lovely walk around our neighborhood. The weather was perfect and it was utterly relaxing. 

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Today, the threat of thunderstorms prevented us from going on a nature walk with our "little brother." Instead, we went with Plan B and used a Groupon to go bowling.

For lunch, we took our little brother to Sam's. 

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He stinking LOVES that place. (His favorite activity is to travel around the store with Chase and collect the free food samples!). The total cost of lunch was $7. Not too shabby. 

Tonight, I will be diving into a bowl of delicious Paleo Pumpkin Chili (Recipe to come tomorrow!) and peruse my *Free* library loot!

Magazines, Chick-Lit, and DVD's.

Doesn't get better than that. By the way, I will never buy another magazine. The Bethlehem library seriously has every single magazine known to man!

Presently, we are watching "The Last Samauri" with Tom Cruise.

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Does anyone else have trouble watching Tom Cruise now? Somewhere in between divorcing Nicole Kidman, jumping on Oprah's couch, and condemning Brooke Shield's for taking anti-depressants, I began to loathe him. 

What do you think of Tom Cruise? Do you love him, loathe him, or not care at all?