Paleo Meals for a Week

It’s Sunday and it’s raining…again!

This article details a full week of our paleo meals: it gives an idea of what we are eating now with our family of three children – that’s those still living at home!

Saturday:  Breakfast

Fried in coconut oil: sausage (for children, gluten free) , bacon, egg, asparagus tomatoes

Lunch: Bacon, beetroot, walnuts

Tea: Supper out – dinner date: Bluebell Inn

Sunday Breakfast:

Bacon, egg, mince, fresh herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes courgettes onions (leftover from fridge)

Lunch (children only) chopped walnuts, yoghurt (greek style), banana

Tea: Roast chicken, roast butternut squash, sweet potatoes, spring greens cabbage and paleo friendly gravy

Monday: Breakfast:

Liver, bacon bits, fresh green herbs

Lunch : (children only) omelette, bacon bits cheese, butter

Tea: minced beef, cooked with tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, ginger, garlic chilli served with slices of roast butternut squash topped with cheese, grilled lightly and sprinkled with herbs

Tuesday: Breakfast:

Chopped liver fried in coconut oil with tomatoes/mushrooms/herbs

Lunch: leftover mince and veg (nuked at work)

Tea: Roast beef and paleo cauliflower cheese, purple cabbage

Wednesday: Breakfast

Fried in coconut oil: tomatoes, mushrooms and strawberries: liver and bacon

Lunch: chicken salad, dressing (olive oil and drops of balsamic vinegar)

Supper: scrambled eggs, roast pork and spicy stir fried cabbage

Thursday: Breakfast:

Left over veg; tiny bit of steak; eggs fried in coconut oil

Lunch: tin of mackerel and small handful of walnuts

Tea: Slow cooker shredded beef, jacket sweet potatoes, buttery cabbage, squash

Friday:  Breakfast

Scrambled eggs and mushrooms with butter

Lunch: Coffee

Tea: Roast pork, crackling, spicey cabbage, broccoli and roast ginger

We have three fit active sports mad and growing teenagers eating with us at home and our meals tend to reflect their needs and support their activities.  We eat together morning and evening.  If I’m hungry I eat the carbs but will always favour green leafy vegetable combinations over squash and sweet potato as this works for me.  The kids like these better and tend to avoid green leafy vegetables if at all possible (you see nothing changes across the generations)!!We eat together as a family.  No-one is singled out for special food because they are on a diet, no-one is treated different.  We value the time together.

Make it simple, make it real.

 

Related articles

• Quick Paleo Supper (paleoworks.wordpress.com)
• Bluebell Inn, Kettlewell (paleoworks.wordpress.com)

Paleo Soup and Mark Radcliffe

Paleo Bacon and Pumpkin Soup

Took a trip into town tonight to hear Mark Radcliffe (Ilkley Literature Festival)share some wit and wisdom through song memories.  He was so good, sharp and funny.  If you can, listen out for him on 6 on BBC radio between 1 and 4 in the afternoon (GMT). He talked us through Cliff Richard and the Monkees, from Canned Heat to Joy Division, through the miners’ strike and the Battle of Orgreave Colliery to The Smiths reminding us all how grim it is up North to those down South and poking fun at the price of cheese on Toast at the tea rooms down the road..

It’s been warm today and sunny although the temperature dropped this evening and I think on reflection, that bare legs and heels was a trifle optimistic given the frost we chipped off the car windscreen on the way back but hey you can’t blame a girl for trying!

So, I thought I would share this delicious paleo soup recipe which we cooked slowly this afternoon and ate before heading out.  It was a bacon and pumpkin soup.

Please note that using a pumpkin to cook in this paleo soup is considered pretty “rad” (do people still say that) in West Yorkshire and this from a girl who thirty years ago spent two days hollowing out a turnip (A TURNIP!) for Hallowe’en given that  pumpkins had not made it across the Atlantic (or something) and yes I still have the blisters.

I am pleased to report that pumpkin is now common place in Ilkley this time of year.  To make the paleo style soup you need bacon, pumpkin, celery, onion, sage and water.  Cook the bacon slowly in a large stock pan to allow it to render up the fat.  After a while chuck in some onion, celery and a large sprig of sage and let it all cook up together in the bacon fat.  Smells amazing…..when the vegetables begin to soften, add a cup of water and scrape those sticky bits off the bottom of the pan.  Add the (de-skinned, de-seeded) pumpkin pieces you chopped up whilst you let the bacon cook and about another 5 cups of water and let it all bubble up and cook down.  Later blitz it in batches through the blender.  I kept back some of the bacon chunks to garnish the bowls and served up with an optional swirl of Greek yoghurt.

So this ones for you Mark our paleo soup and a great evening.

Try it, this dish shouts Autumn to me.  The season changing, enjoy it and keep in touch.

Related articles

• Pumpkins are more popular than ever (telegraph.co.uk)
• Hugh’s Coming to Paleo Town (paleoworks.wordpress.com)