Tiny's paleo meal plan #2

So, guys, what did you think of last week’s meal plan? Doable, right? Now that we’ve started, let’s keep going. I’m posting next week’s meal plan ahead of time, because my weekend will be ridiculously swamped.

We are still trying to balance out each meal with a portion of protein, a portion of healthy fat, and we fill the rest of our plate of with veggies. I also want totalk to you about fruit. It’s a great source of fibre and vitamins, but in the absence of almost all sugar, fruit will start to taste sweet again to you, sweet enough to become your replacement for sugar. If you keep eating fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth, It becomes very hard to kick your sugar addiction.

Healthy as it is, fruit still contains a lot of sugar, and it will spike your blood sugar, leading to an insulin spike in your bloodstream. In the end, you’ll end up feeling hungrier. That’s why it’s a good idea to include fruit as a part of your meals, but not necessarily as a snack. If you do want to include fruit in your snacks, try to combine it with some protein and fat. A hard boiled egg and some cashews, for example, would be perfect for that.

And remember: snacks are not a requirement. We are going to stop measuring out perfect portions. We want to learn to listen to our bodies. If you are hungry, you should eat. If you’re not, that’s OK too. I do try to carry something convenient in my purse if I’m going to be on the road, so I don’t get caught starving and within reach of a bakery full of goodies that will hurt my body.

Good options are: portion-sized packets of apple sauce (not very eco-friendly, but they can sit in my purse for ages and just be there when I need then), a little container of cashews, dates, date-and-nut bars (you can find all sorts of brands, but I very much like Nak’d Bars, or Larabars as they are apparently called in the US), for portable protein, you could go with beef jerky (make sure it is sugarfree, this is hard to find) or if you live in the US, you have access to Epic Bars, which are made from meat).

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So what’s for dinner?

Saturday

Grocery day, again.

Breakfast:

Improvised omelet with tomato and mushroom slices with bulletproof coffee

Lunch:

Salad with arugula and baby spinach leaves, prosciutto, and toum

Dinner:

Steak with a Hasselback potato that means business and cucumber

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Sunday

Prep day.

Sunday morning breakfast:

Paleo Pancakes with whipped coconut cream or coconut yoghurt

Lunch:

Nom Nom Paleo’s Crispy Swoodles with Bacon (we had zoodles last week: zucchini noodles; this week we are having swoodles: sweet potato noodles)

Dinner:

Mel Joulwan’s Paleo Gingerbread Pork Stew

Prep:

Make a big pot of thick veggie soup to carry to work with you, or to have for breakfast. Pair with two hard boiled eggs, and add a little olive oil or ghee for your portions of protein and fat. Weekly staples are, as always, hard-boiled eggs, and a bowl of chopped up veggies to toss in a pan for a quick breakfast omelet, and frittata muffins for another portable lunch.

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Monday

Breakfast:

A big bowl of the soup you made on Sunday.

Lunch:

Tuna salad on apple and cucumber “toast”

Dinner:

Nom Nom Paleo’s Garbage stir-fry with curried cabbage.

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Tuesday

Breakfast:

Spinach Omelet with avocado, sprinkled with lime juice.

Lunch:

Leftover stir-fry

Dinner:

Nom Nom Paleo’sCracklin’ chicken with Mel Joulwan’s Citrus cauliflower rice

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Wednesday

Breakfast:

Frittata muffins

Lunch:

Soup with a couple of hard boiled eggs (prepped on Sunday, remember?)

Dinner:

Pan fried duck breast with mushrooms and onions: I added a link on how to work with duck breast. It’s not exactly budget friendly, but I wait until right after a holiday, when supermarkets are trying to get rid of their surplus, and stock up when it’s on discount. They keep quite well in the freezer. The recipe says to finish it off in the oven, but I tend to do it in the pan. Turn the heat down and cook on lower heat until it’s done. The duck fat can be used to sautée your veggies while the duck is resting. I use one breast for two servings, but you I try do make some extra, for lunch tomorrow.

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Thursday

Breakfast:

Breakfast hash with veggies and ground beef/pork (this can basically be anything; I chop up a batch of veggies every few days to toss into omelets, and for this, I add the same veggies to pan fried ground meat; when the bowl is empty, I chop up different veggies to prevent food boredom)

Lunch:

Mason jar salad with leftover duck breast Cold duck breast tastes simply divine with some orange or pomegranate in a salad. If you can add some thinly shaved fennel to that orange… Divine. I promise.

Dinner:

Slow cooker paleo hobo dinner All of your prepping can be done the night before. You can follow the instructions and cook them in the oven, or you can do as I do, and pop them in the slow cooker on low for six to eight hours. Cook an extra portion to carry along to work, to heat up in the microwave.

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Friday

Breakfast:

Some more of your divine soup, with leftover cracklin’ chicken to nibble on

Lunch:

Leftover hobo dinner.

Dinner:

Zoodles with spaghetti sauce

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OK, we made it through another week. I want to discuss some basics that I ended up buying fairly quickly. Real estate is a precious commodity in Tiny’s tiny kitchen but there were some things I was willing to sacrifice storage space to.

• For making cauliflower rice: you could grate it, but that makes a huge mess. Huge. Trust me. A blender is a much better option. If you have the time to let it drain properly, blend your cauliflower florets with water in your blender, pour everything through a fine mesh sieve, and your done. Mess free. The cauli rice will retain moisture for quite a while though.
• For zoodles, swoodles and other assorted oodles: A spiraliser. This tool is worth its weight in gold, but it’s way way cheaper than that.I also use it to shave fennel or to slice onion very very thinly in literally seconds. Do try to look for a model that allows you to stick a pin through your veggies to support the weight of heavy or harder veggies like potato, sweet potato or fennel.
• If you really can’t spare space for a spiraliser, you can also get a handheld julienne peeler. This works just as well, but requires more elbow grease and more time.

So, that’s all she wrote for now, folks. I Must go and cuddle with my dogs on the sofa. ;-)

Hugs

Tiny