Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Garden Elves

...built this while I was at mom's.




And by garden elves, I mean very macho ones. Named Joe.

In the three hours I was at mom's he bought paving stones and put them up as well as the fence and garden gate we picked out last night.

I am so in love I can't put words to it!! And despite the late planting and late frost this year, we have veggies coming up inside!!

All in all, it's a lovely day!

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Little Things


So, I am a huge fan of finding joy in the little things.

And here is the newest little thing that brings me joy. My tiny desk orchids are budding! I keep looking at them every day, anxiously awaiting their bloom and I am so thankful that I still am able to find awe in such simple things!!



What is your simple joy today?

Monday, June 6, 2011

Paleo On a Budget

Okay, I'm sure people are getting sick of the paleo-blogness focus of my blog lately and I assure those interested in faith, art and the life that is mine, I will be posting some art stuff soon too!!

However, I wanted to disperse the rumors that eating paleo is expensive.

It is not.

There. I've said it. Paleo eating is not expensive. Stop saying that it is. You're not right, let's get to the facts...finding in-season meats, veggies and fruits as well as other necessities for a paleo-kitchen are relatively cheap. With cans of coconut milk around a dollar and a quarter, meat sales all the time and constantly rotating in-season produce, finding a week's worth of food can be around $100 a week for our family of two. That boils down to about $2.33 per meal. Which is absolutely more affordable than the average $5 combo from your favorite fast food joint. And vastly more healthy and satisfying.

I just left Kroger today, and though it is not the only grocery store our family frequents, I wanted to comment on the sales there this week. They have several buy-one-get-one free meat deals and huge post holiday savings. For around $35.00, I got enough meat to feed us lunch and dinner for well over a week. That is less than one dinner out for the two of us at any decently stocked restaurant.

  • 5 lb Spare Rib - $12.60
  • 2 2lb Shoulder Roasts - $11.03
  • 8 Pork Chops - $6.59
  • 3 lbs Bacon - $4.59

When you can find buy-one-get-one meat deals, you can really get a LOT of value, so long as you cook.

And that, if I might say, is the biggest problem with eating paleo on a budget or fixed income. Not cost, but time. If you want to eat right, make the best use of your budget and groceries, you're gonna need to prepare your own foods.

Now, you may ask what we can do with this. And as I am typing, Joe has made steak and onion omelettes, and is searing a roast, preparing stock for stew so he and I can have stew for lunch during the week.

So lunch made of stew with one of the roasts, which will last Joe and I about three days. So around six lunches for $5.50 plus some veggies for the stew. We will likely have pork chops with apples and onions for diner a night or two, and ribs which will be plenty for dinner with enough leftovers for lunch.

So what am I getting at? The real struggle is not the price of eating paleo, but the effort involved in planning, cooking and reheating the food you cook when you do.

My best recommendation for people struggling to eat paleo is to get a few cookbooks, watch a few videos, take a few cooking classes and you will be shocked how cheaply you can eat....and eat well.

You just have to cook, or be kind to someone who does. You will be doing yourself a huge service.

In fact, I will be providing some videos on simple staples for cooking.

I hope this motivates people to get out to the grocery, stock up on deals for items that can be frozen and get in the kitchen!

Friday, June 3, 2011

Paleo-lady

So things have been pretty rough lately. Trying to get back into the swing of life post-wedding was far more difficult than I expected. While we were gone almost a full week from most day to day activities, the world kept spinning and we jumped back into everything with both feet.

It's taking me some time to find my stride again. I have several projects I'm working on and I am running around like crazy to try and complete them all.

Also, I have started my personal training program with my hubby/trainer. I've learned a very valuable lesson. Never hire your partner to be your personal trainer. It's dangerously easy to grouse and complain to him in a way I never would with a relative stranger. My pride would be way too strong to admit pain or failure. But with Joe, I can't help it. When something hurts, I tell him, when I feel awkward, I complain, when I feel too exhausted to listen to his wisdom, I shoot him, what I can only imagine is a death glare. I don't like it. I want to be a good sport and work hard and do my best, but since I am so familiar, he gets my worst. I am working to get rid of that and focus on improving myself.

As far as the Paleo Diet goes, I'm doing pretty well being paleo almost 100% since Tuesday. It's not as easy as I had hoped, but I am learning about a lot of options for snacks and meals throughout the week.

Also, a theme song...that I've loved since I was a kid:

Captain Vegetable!!