Paleo trial and error report

I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but I am still adhering to a (mostly) Paleo way of eating. You can read more about the whys of that in this post. I did quit for a few weeks, but started feeling cruddy and went back to it. Also, our 8-year-old daughter Natalie was complaining frequently of stomach-aches and since she's no stranger to food sensitivities, I cut dairy and gluten from her diet also. The stomach-aches disappeared. Then we went out of town for a few days for an Army "Family Wellness Retreat", where the food was contracted by the hotel. All the kids' meals were things like Mac & Cheese, chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers. By the second day, her stomach was hurting and she couldn't even eat her dinner. So, now I know! My stomach wasn't thrilled after that trip either, even though the grown-up meals weren't quite as gluten-filled. I'm sure they were cooked in butters and oils and things I no longer eat, though. We were so happy to come home (the full-size bed in that hotel had a lot to do with that too, haha!)

Aaaaanyway, now that I've been doing this for awhile and have collected some great books and resources, I thought I'd share the ones I like best and a few I don't like much at all ;)

I only keep cookbooks I use and I do prefer using books to online recipes, although I do that also. Cookbooks are just so pretty, though, ya know?? Such is the case with Gather: the art of Paleo entertaining. I just got this one recently and it's the most beautiful cookbook I have ever laid eyes on! The recipes are great too, I can't wait to try out some more. These cute little flapjacks were really tasty:

The kids called them mini pancakes and dipped them in pure maple syrup.

At the same time I ordered that book, I also bought Eat Like a Dinosaur. This one is invaluable if you have a family and are trying (like me) to take the kids off of the normal kid fare and closer to a gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free way of eating. I am there with Natalie, but am still working on it with the others. We will get there! Slowly, but surely. We made the graham crackers from this book last week and they made a ton and were really yummy. I even made P.B.&J.'s with them.

Hands down, my most favorite and most-used Paleo cookbook so far, though, is The Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook. It was the first one I bought and I have used the heck out of it! It has tons of kid-friendly ideas and recipes and everything I've made has been excellent and well-received. My favorite is her curry chicken salad, which I eat on cucumber slices and the kids eat between green apple slices, sandwich style.  I make this amazing mango salsa from her book too and we eat in on fish or chicken or chips (told ya we are *mostly* Paleo ;) or just by itself. The whole book is just awesome; if you're considering starting to clean up your diet, this is the book you should start with!

Next up, the New York Times best seller, Practical Paleo . This is more than a cookbook, it has a TON of info for people who are getting started and/or dealing with health issues that can be solved through diet. I haven't bought my own copy yet because it's pricey, although it seems to be coming down on Amazon, so I'm going to order it. It's funny, because when I first started eating this way, I flipped through this book at the store and thought most of it looked complicated or not-tasty. Then months later I got it from the library and everything in it looks tasty and easy. Ha! This just goes to show that life change is a process. Don't overwhelm yourself and try to turn your diet upside down overnight!! That's a recipe for failure and frustration, in my opinion. 

Just the other day, I made the lemon blueberry muffins from this book and they were excellent, my family thought they were dessert, haha! That could be because I whipped up some homemade lemon curd (which, yes, has sugar in it--there's that *mostly* caveat again). 

These sweet potatoes are also from this book... I ate the leftovers on eggs the next day. Yummy. 

Sweet potatoes are a definitely a family favorite. I think these chips are from my favorite book, Everyday Paleo, but almost all Paleo cookbooks contain Sweet Potato chip recipes. We fry them in coconut oil and then lightly salt them. Soooooo good, they disappear like crazy whenever I make them. 

Now for the few cookbooks I have not had good luck with. Paleo Slow Cooking looked so promising, but I've made about five things from it and only one was good (the chicken curry). I feel bad saying that. To be fair, I haven't tried any of the soups, which the slow cooker is best at. Soup and chicken. Other meats just aren't as good cooked this way, I guess. I even tried the berry crisp, but it was super bland. And our palettes aren't sugar-loaded either, so that's saying something. 

I also picked up The Gluten-free Almond Flour Cookbook . I cannot even comment on the recipes in this book--they all look delicious and probably are--but I haven't tried them. In the front of the book, she says that only certain brands of almond flour and coconut flour work for her recipes and incidentally, the ones I have access to do not work. I could order them online, but I don't feel like I should have to work that hard or plan ahead that much. That may seem dumb. But, we only use cash for our weekly needs, so I really do have to plan to order things online. Eventually, I probably will, especially for birthday parties and entertaining purposes. But, for now, the other books have enough "treats" in them that I don't think ordering food online is really necessary. 

And one more, Well Fed hasn't been very helpful. It's very clear that this couple has no kids. The meal recipes are not very kid-friendly at all and most recipes require a make-ahead of several other of the recipes. Ideal for people who work, I think, and can spend the weekend on the "weekly cook-up", but too much prep and complication for me. 

Whew! This is a long post! If you've stuck with me thus far, I'd like to share that most of what we eat every day is a non-recipe. You should have seen the bunless burger I ate last night--topped with BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato, red onion, a boiled egg and sliced avocado. Mmmmm, am I making you hungry? I also keep frozen salmon patties on hand for similar lunches:

That's lemon garlic aioli on top. 

And egg toppings?? Don't even get me started. Casey and I are really diggin' Pepperocinis lately. SO yummy on eggs, along with halved grape tomatoes and sliced up salami. 

Okay... time to go make some lunch :-D 

Summer. Finally!

Since June hit, it feels like Summer has finally arrived! School is out, the pool is IN, woohooooo!!

However, it is reeeeaaaaally starting to hit me that we are moving in less than three months. Across the country. Thankfully, I'm not stressing (today, haha), but knowing this is the last Spring in our beloved house here has had me savoring every moment.

One of my favorite things about Spring at our house is watching our snowball tree in the back yard come to life. I can't help but take pictures of it each year because it's just so beautiful.

When we first bought this place (our first house), we'd been living in my parents' patio home, which we are still SO thankful for because it allowed Casey to get his degree, which has been unbelievably worth the time, stress and five years of being flat broke all the time, all while having three babies in three-and-a-half years. Seriously... IT IS WORTH IT! Anyway, the patio home had a very small cement back "yard" and the neighborhood had no sidewalks. Our house now has a huuuuuge backyard with an awesome deck, surrounded by trees and a play house to boot. We were so happy to have some outside play space. And we still enjoy it so much. Holy cow, I'm totally tearing up because I'm so thankful for our time here and because it's so hard to leave! Ack!

Those are my kiddos now. And because I'm feeling this nostalgic, here's some blasts from the past...

And one of my all-time favorites ever:

And I'm praying that whoever rents our wonderful house will love it and use it as we do!

I made shorts!!!

Well, I have really been branching out in my sewing lately! I have seen some pretty cute printed shorts out there. A bit classier of a style than jean shorts. Just check out this J.Crew page to see what I mean. But, not only do I not want to pay J. Crew prices, I wanted shorts just a little longer than I usually find in stores. So, at the last JoAnn's sale, I bought a couple a couple of Lisette bottom weights on clearance (which was an additional half off). So, each of these shorts cost about $4 to make! I already had the pattern and the zippers (because if ever there's a bag o' zippers at a thrift store, I do not pass it by, I buy it ;)

Here's my first pair:

 And with a different shirt:

 The pattern is Simplicity 1617. I've already made the skirt on the same pattern, so I have more than gotten my 99 cents out of this one, ha!

Here's my second pair:

 I wasn't sure I had any tops to go with either of these, but once I took a lot, it turned out I had a few for each pair! Actually, though, this last one I am not liking in the pictures. I don't think it's the best fit for me, so it might go in the giveaway pile. See?? Everyone should take pictures of themselves in their clothes if they really want to know what they look like. Ha!

 This pattern had no pockets, so I drafted some based on a different skirt pattern I have. On the green pair, I used a cute Heather Bailey cotton for the pocket lining. It's a cute surprise in there :)

 And for the second pair, I added a ruffle, just like the pockets on my favorite yellow corduroy skirt I made last Fall! So cute.

I did not photograph the rear view, but the fit back there is perfect! Also, I tried out the fabric glue stick method for the zipper instead of hand basting in it, which was previously the only way I could get them in right! The glue was awesome, it worked like a champ and did not gunk up my needle.

I'm super proud of both of these because I took extra time in making a muslin (in two different patterns, actually--I was determined!) and the extra time paid off because I feel like I can use this as a base for all kind of shorts and pants! I have one more pair in mind to make, so hopefully I'll be sharing those soon!

I make other stuff too ;)

My summer sewing is coming along and getting plenty of wear, too! Here are a couple dress I've made and have already worn a fe times.

This is Simplicity 1612, one of the newer patterns for knits.

 I really wasn't sure about this at first, it's much louder of a print than I usually wear, but it's such a soft knit, the fit is perfect and it's really comfy, plus I got a few compliments from strangers on it that day, so now I feel better about it. The back is really cool:

Annnnnd, I haven't only been sewing clothes for summer! I simply could not resist this pattern for a new pool bag. Then, when Hobby Lobby recently started carrying several prints of laminated cotton, I knew it was meant to be. I bought a yard (way less than the pattern recommends, but the stuff was not cheap and I determined to eke it out). So, here's our awesome new pool bag (Natalie named him Hangry):

Isn't is so funny!? His mouth is a zipper pocket Ha! We love it. It's lined with the same laminate cotton, so water will not be a problem. Bring on pool time! I also got a new swimsuit from Land's End. It has an underwire AND it's really cute *gasp*. Highly recommend.

And I make other stuff too. Last week I made Play Doh because I had tossed all ours, intending to buy new and start over and then forgetting to do that. Kelby wanted to play and I wanted him to stay occupied for more than 2 minutes, so we made some.

It was fun. But super messy. I still think I'll buy new, haha! When Casey asked what we did that day and I told him, he said something like, "You made what?? Huh. Just when I thought you'd done it all." HA! Like that will ever happen ;)

around the house

Seems like we've been spending our days enjoying home lately! I uploaded photos just now and realized how many memories we make right here at home with each other and with others. Since school is winding down and the weather is warming up, we have been able to relax quite a bit, while I take random photos of it all along the way.

Here's a dress I made recently and that I really love:

Knit dresses are my Summer uniform, there is nothing more comfortable on a hot day, in my opinion. This in an older Cynthia Rowley pattern that I've made before, only this time, I omitted the waistband. 

 We had a play date last Friday. It was so much fun to hang out with a couple other mamas, just chatting for hours while our kiddos played! And the weather was perfect. This is my lovely friend Jennica and her gorgeous little one :)

 The boys...

 It is SO adorable how excited Kelby gets on mow day. He puts on his mow clothes (a hat) and follows Casey and the mower around the whole time. It's super cute. d

 Awana awards night!! These little girls are the best of buddies.

 Natalie and Mr. Al:

 The Cubbies, waiting anxiously to sing their Cubbies song:

 We are continuing some low-key school time throughout the summer. Math for the girls, mostly, but Kelby likes to spread out with his workbox.

 We have a beautiful snowball tree in our backyard and watching it come to life is one of my favorite things about Springtime.

 Today I made play doh! It was super cool, the kids helped.

I have some more sewing to share! Several things, actually, but we are going to stay busy planting flowers, playing with friends and going to the pool (starting next week, yay!) too, so I will share it when I can!