Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Local Food (and our paleo journey)

    So, I've sat down to write this post a couple of times, and every time I do I don't know where to start :) So don't mind me if I just jump right in....
     I don't know if you've noticed (I know all my blogging lately has been sporadic!)but my recipe sharing has gone downhill in the last few months.This is (partly) because I've been learning a whole new repertoire of recipes in following the Paleo (or Paleolithic) diet. Honestly I hate calling it a diet cause it isn't just a weight loss diet, it is a lifestyle change. If you haven't heard of the paleo or primal diet here's the gist of it:

Enjoy:                                            Avoid:
Meats                                            Grains (not just wheat)
Vegetables                                     Legumes
Fruits                                             Dairy
Nuts                                              Processed foods
Seeds                                            Alcohol
Healthy fats                                   Starches

    Now, I'm not going to give you a full synopsis of the diet, there are a bunch of resources you can check out if you are interested and I am by no means a professional at this whole thing. What I do want to share is why I am doing this (and why I'm "dragging" the whole family along with me :)

   Over the last three or four years I have become more and more aware of our impact on this earth in a environmental sense and (like a lot of people) more and more aware of the impact of our "conventional" food  and farming systems. All that coupled with my long held dream of having a farm and my hubby and I's wanting to grow more of our own food has taken us on this path to finding a piece of property large enough to be able to grow/raise our own food. The paleo/primal "diet" encourages the freshest most healthy sources of food possible, and what could be more fresh than growing and/or hunting it yourself?


(these fish we had awhile ago were very fresh and local, Gabe caught them in the lake we live close to (2 minutes away close!)


   Another reason we started doing this is definitely for health reasons. I personally need and would like to lose a few pounds (so far, down 15 yay!) Also, over the last few years I know a few of my relatives have been diagnosed with celiac disease as well as there being history of diabetes on both sides of our family so our "going Paleo" is a preventative measure as well.


(Yummy healthy dinners like "Build your own Salads" full of healthy fresh veggies, lots of protein and healthy fats derived from nuts and seeds and olive oil.)

    As for "dragging the whole family along with me" I didn't actually have to drag Pat into it at all, he made that choice himself  :) As parents it is, of course, our job to feed and take care of our children's health to the best of our ability. We believe this is the healthiest way of eating there is, so why wouldn't we feed our kids the same way we are feeding ourselves? There hasn't really been much complaint from our kids (except the odd grumble about not having cereal in the mornings) but instead of cereal most days, they have breakfasts like this,

(Homemade local applesauce with shredded coconut and walnuts on top, fresh local sliced peaches, homemade sausages)
(local free range eggs with avocado chunks and a little sprinkle of organic mozza cheese (we allow the kids to have dairy occasionally) with homemade local applesauce) 

    Some of you may be wondering what in the world I pack in their lunch kits and just as an example, last night I made a lovely chicken curry (which I really wasn't sure how it would go over with the little ones) But, they LOVED it! So much so, that it was all gone and they all asked for it in their lunches today and since I had enough ingredients to make it a second time I threw it all together in the crock pot last night for it to cook while we slept. Voila, fresh chicken curry for their lunches this morning (along with cauliflower rice and carrot slices from my moms garden) round that out with some fruit and some nuts for a snack and that was lunch today :)

    So, there you go, a little info about what's been going on in our kitchen and lives lately, if you have any questions let me know in the comments or you can check out my email address on the Contact me! page above.

Have a great day!
    

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