Ack!!

Ack!!! I'm missing in action! Actually, family is in town and I haven't had a chance to write! I fell off the whole30 wagon a tad, but knew it was going to happen all along with family visiting. I set myself up for it, and know it. But! I'm sticking with paleo from here on out and will do another reset aka Whole30 maybe every six months, or if I feel one is needed sooner, then I'll do it, I feel SO much better eating this way, After my gallbladder gone wrong surgery three years ago, I thought food seriously hated me, yet I love food. I'm glad to know I haven't had any issues since doing this at the end of April. Shocking! Actually, wait, rewind.. The only time I've had issues is if I completely derailed and binged on something like dairy or gluten. Then I had issues. I don't have any food pics for right now, but if you follow me on Instagram at Paleoeats808 I have some there! 

I am really excited about camping this weekend! I'm food prepping tomorrow, and I was just looking at recipes my four year old saw bacon wrapped dates and asked me to make them. Sure!! I love that sweet and salty combo! So making those!! I always think of my dear friend mom when the combo of bacon and dates come up. Every time they had a holiday party she would make them with water-chestnuts stuffed in the dates. Thought it was the strangest thing ever, till I tried a water-chestnutless one. Yeah. Tasty. And her tangerine speedo. It was a drink people!! I'll update more after camping!! Have a great weekend!  

Prep, prep and more prep.

One thing about paleo is the mass food prep. It sucks. Not gonna lie. But, it's totally worth every single second and I learned that today by eating a bite of a macaroon. 

The fam and I woke up early, Jesse wanted to hit up some garage sale at7. He took the kids, I tackled breakfast. I made Paleomg's strawberry, banana, chocolate chip muffins (NOT whole30), and a scramble with eggs, sweet potatoes, green bells, onions and bacon. Everything was delish!! The muffins, score!! 

Then off to the farmers market we went. This is where it got ugly. 

I have a major sweet tooth, or had a major sweet tooth. I LOVE French macaroons. That crispy outer cookie, the creamy center, flavors like lilikoi, or salted caramel are my weakness. We rolled up to the market, and like heavenly angels singing down, there was my favorite macaroon place... I bought two. One lilikoi, one salted caramel. I bit into the lilikoi one first. The texture seemed different, the yummy center.. Not so yummy, but overly sweet, and you could taste the butter. Something had to be wrong. I took a bite of the salted caramel, pure butter, oily tasting yuckiness. What?!?! Is it true? Have my taste buds changed?! I wasn't sure how to feel at first. But now, now I'm good. That crap isn't supposed to be in my body. Strawberries are sweet, and delicious. Apples alone, or with sunbutter, a perfect dessert! I even want my creepy mango and coconut cream thingy again! I think I'll be fine from now on knowing these are my choice desserts. 

I hurt my butt. Not sure what happened. I noticed lately my posture sucks. I've been trying to stand up taller, not slouch, and this morning something happened to my tailbone. But I'm on ice. Kids are with Jesse at a pool, I want to be in a pool, it's so hot out!! But I've been ordered by Jesse to stay on the couch. So I'm looking up recipes for camping. 

This was from last night: 

Lesson of the day? Prep your food. Takes forever, but at least you know what you are putting in your body. 

\m/ 

I got big bush and I can not lie

Yeah, you are now either singing "I like big butts" or you are thinking "what is she talking about?!". My tomato plant and basil bush are taking over the world!!!! Ok, not the world, the planter box. See?? 

See that green thing in the lower left hand corner? That's a kids plastic bat. Compare that to my bushes. I counted 10+ tomatoes today, and many, many buds. Tomatoes for life yo. Now the basil. I read to cut the flowers off. I didn't. And look what that got me?! Yeah bountiful basil. I actually was going to cut it off today when I went out to get some basil, but I couldn't. Know why? Bees. Not that I'm scared of bees, but it's the whole bee shortage thing. Protect the bees! I just knelt there watching the little guy go to flower to flower doing his thing. I've never taken the time to watch one. It's quite amazing. So I didn't cut the flowers. If the bees like it, and my plant is doing dandy, then I'll let it be(e). 

My son Carter is mainly paleo, I'd go as far as saying he's 90/10 (take that 80/20). The other day he asked what was for lunch. I said "chicken and.." He jumps in "broccoli? Can I steam it? Can I make a smoothie too? By myself?".. Ok back up. This kid always had an interest in cooking. When he was a baby, he was mesmerized by Ina Gartens voice. Kid you not. He loved Chopped, and CupcakeWars, and Sweet Genius. But.. We don't have tv (cable, we have a tv for Netflix, and DVDs). He also got into Aina in Schools, which is a program at his school that teaches you about gardening, nutrition and sustainability. The Kokua Foundation (http://tinyurl.com/l8xg5gu) is behind the Aina in Schools program. It's amazing. Chef Ed Kenney of Town (http://tinyurl.com/kl88xj) came to the school and taught Carter's grade how to make pesto. They served it up with Chef Ed's amazing homemade noodles, and it was love at first bite. After that day in class, Carter bugged me to take him to Town. I told him he could go there on his last day of second grade, and that we did, and he ordered the pasta. 

Aina in Schools is amazing. Kokua Foundation is amazing, and Towns food is amazing. But, my kid, he's outstanding. You know what he wants to do? He wants to write a book of healthy smoothies, and treats that he thinks kids will enjoy. He actually made his first one up today! And yes, he got to steam his broccoli the other day too, but he said it wasn't as good as mine. ;) 

So watch out for guest posts by him! Remember he's 8. :) 

Next school year, I'm helping with Aina in schools, Carter is really excited for that! I am secretary on the PTO and co-chairing the health and wellness committee (name change coming soon), whew! Both kids will be in school, I might as well dive in volunteering! 

This shot cracks me up. Bear with her helmet, watering the green house. That planter box next to her? That's where the tomato and basil are. This pic was taken in March. Crazy! 

Till next time! 

SWYPO

If you've done a Whole30, you know what that means. For those that haven't, it's a term the authors came up with called Sex With Your Pants On. Basically meaning no food that fools you into thinking you are eating something bad. Like pancakes, crepes, donuts, muffins, cookies, brownies, ice cream, bars, cake, you get the picture! Even if its made with all Whole30 ingredients. It's a big ol no no. Enter these: 

I made these for my kids. Or at least that was my intention. Husband ate them, kids ate them, bestie ate them, and yes, I ate them. And I don't feel bad. I don't feel like I need to run to a bakery. I know that's not the point. It's to slay your sugar demons. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I've done a whole30 recently, I know I can do it. This time isn't about a reset, or a challenge, I guess it's more of a way of eating for me. 

Next week we have family coming to town, and they want to (as I call it) "eat the island". I play tour guide for anyone that visits and show them the yummy things on the island. This time however I'm not worried. I know what foods I don't want to eat. I know I want a shave ice, and really living in Hawaii in summer doing a whole30, shave ice should be allowed. Then after family leaves, I'm going camping! Über excited for that! 

Oh!! Finished yoda (finally! Been lagging) today! 

Yay for itty bitty Yoda! 

The cookies above are from here: http://tinyurl.com/llr9ghh

Taylor of Taylor made it Paleo is adorable! I just want to pinch her cheeks! Swear, again, I'm not 80. 

What the what?!

Tried blogging last night and blogger decided it hated me and only let me write like 1/4 of what I wanted to say. I was all pumped on the entry too. I'll try to recapture my enthusiasm again. 

The other morning I woke up, got my coffee and checked my phone. Was going through emails, FB, then on over to check on paleoeats808 Instagram (do you follow me on IG? You should!) I'm scrolling. Then I see IT. My picture being used by someone else. First thought "what the?!" Second thought.. "Oh snap!!". The crew over at whole 30 used my picture for their book anniversary! Holla!! I was so excited I think I jumped. Here's a screen shot: 

Yeah. That happened. 

I'm actually sitting on the beach right now like this: 

Trying to block the sun, wind, and random rain so I can blog looking like a madwoman. 

Yesterday I went on a picnic to the beach. Carter's swim team had practice in the ocean yesterday and besties fam and mine decided to have a picnic and watch the fireworks that go off every Friday night. 

I made something. No. I made the best thing I've tasted to date on Whole30. It was this: http://tinyurl.com/65hqsrp

The Clothes That Make The Girl "Pad Thai"! Ohhhh emmmmm geeeee. So good, I made it again. Here's my pic: 

So forking good. 

Tomorrow is Father's Day. We have a day planned for my husband. Yay! He wants pizza from a certain place that in my mind, is the best pizza on the island. Sure hope I can find a salad! 

Now that I've written "fathers day" I'm a mess. My dad passed away a little over 2 months ago. Dealing the best I can, but one can never fully deal. 

Ok. Can't write any more today. My happy fun post took a sad turn in .5 seconds. I need to crochet a yoda hat. Yes, I crochet, and no I'm not 80. You can see some of my stuff (not stocked, mostly customs) at www.etsy.com/shop/licahawaii 

Till tomorrow! 

Waaaaambulance

Waaaa. Headache at its finest right now. Gonna make this short and sweet and probably not add food pics. Shocked? I know right?? 

So it's summer. Yeah, we got that. What do typical family's do on summer vacation? If you said camping you win a virtual high five! I just got done making the reservations. Maybe that's why my head hurts? Could be. We have never been camping since having kids. Shocker. We used to desert camp all the time when we had dirt bikes, I have a strong feeling this will be different. 

Now I need food advice. Bestie is going too and we will be on day 26. Soooo close to the end of Whole30. So we need camping whole30 ideas. 

Oh! Day11. Swear I had a ton of energy today, hardly touched my coffee, and worked out. By work out I mean 1.5 mile run and some kettlebell stuff. I think my kettlebell is too light. I didn't feel like it did much. Then again I started low. *ahem* 5lbs*ahem* 

Head killing. Nighty night! 

Ack!

I'm lagging! Not meaning to lag, just this silly thing called summer is getting in my way! It's actually getting in my way so badly that its exhausting me! I mean, over seven hours on Monday with this view?? 

Totally feel bad for me. That's Carter on his new skimboard! Then after a few hours at Three Tables we moved on to this view: 

Look! There he is again! 

See?!?! Exhausting. 

Now that my one reader hates me.. Oh wait!!! She was with me!! Haha!! HI friend! Here is my food from Sunday (that was another beach day, I'll spare you the pics):

 

Oh!!!! Monday I made three ingredient knock off bars. Check it: 

One cup nuts, one cup dried fruit, one cup dates! Whizz or whirl, whatever, just mix it in the food processor and set in wax paper in the fridge for an hour! Shazam! Or take the easy, no time on hand route, my way, shove 'em in the freezer for 15ish. Cut and serve! 

Rest of the food.. Swear I had tuna, and avocado too with lunch! 

Tuesday was another rough day.. It included a pool. At least tomorrow (weds) is cleaning day! 

Cheers cheers! 

It was the weekend yo!

It was a busy yet relaxing weekend! Nothing exciting happened, and that's great! 

Friday: typical Friday of running errands! Hit up whole foods in the morning pre-breakfast. Bad idea. Seriously. They hardly had anything I could eat! I got a sweet potato, red bells, hard boiled egg, and artichokes. Umm yum? Not the best combo, but it held me together till lunch. Kids on the other hand had a chocolate raspberry pastry and a blueberry muffin. Yeah. I stared. I drooled. 

Then off to Costco next! Stopped by Ross first, got myself a veggie steamer! Holla! The little joys. And!! BFF was there and we went to Costco together, holding hands and skipping along the way... Wait. That so didn't happen. I don't deal well when people touch me. Personal space people! Got my Costco crap, and got home to make lunch! Grilled chicken, guac, hot sauce, and a pickle. 

Chilled the rest of the day. Hahaha!!!! Not. I meal prepped the crap out of my kitchen! I made mayo, I made spicy nuts, I made pulled pork, I made breakfast for the next day, got lunches ready, and baked goods for the swim meet on Saturday. Then whisk the kiddos to swim! After swim, burgers were made, with bacon, avo, and sweet potato fries. 

Saturday was not my friend. Not only did we have to get up at 430 am, my face got burnt. See this is an issue. I don't normally burn, I maroon. My family is known for our tans. We can't help it! It's in our awesome genes. Anyway. Back to why I woke up, swim meet. Hubs and I signed up to help, Carter was swimming one relay event, and Bear, well Bear played. I consumed too much black coffee, I did have a frittata in the morning, pork and pickles (if you can't tell by now, pork is on the menu again this week) for lunch, and dinner.. Dinner was AMAZING. I made rack of lamb. Heck yeah. First time baby!! I served it with cauliflower mash, and balsamic reduction. Nom nom nom. 

I hit up old navy Saturday night for the sale on running shorts. $5!! I mean dang. That's a deal and I really like those shorts! While I bought running shorts, my kids and hubs wanted Dairy Queen, so I stared and drooled at them too. Too much of that going on this weekend! What can I say? It's hot? It's summer? All of the above? P

Here are food pics!

This was our sunset on Saturday night. 

I'm hitting the hay! Oh, am I the only one that says it "haaaay" in my head, or outloud? Yeah. Just checking. Night yo! 

Holy moly guacamole!

By George!! I have pinpointed something very important today!! I have had stomach issues since having my daughter in 2008. The drs ran some tests (no allergy testing!) and then figured it was an umbilical hernia and my massively separated abs (caused by ginormous kids) so they sent me to a general surgeon to fix me up! Great! Well that was till I got to the surgeon and he decided that wasn't what was wrong with me.... 

Long (really long) story shorter, they took my gallbladder, severed some bile ducts and sent me home with bile leaking through my system, even though I demanded something "wasn't right" when I was in recovery. I know my body pretty darn well, I mean I deal with it daily. After a two week stay and MORE botched surgeries to "fix" the first issue, I told them to leave me alone and let me go home... They did. But, I had to check in daily via phone. Fine. 

Fast forward to almost three years later, still have the original stomach issues and needless to say, I hate going to doctors, so I try to find this trigger on my own. Guess what?!? 95% sure I know what it is!!! After being on one whole30, I felt fantastic, then went mainly paleo with a few off the road days for 10days, now I am back on Whole30 (day 5) and yesterday I had nuts. Not something I have normally as a snack. My BFF wanted spicy nuts, so I made some for her, and taste tested. Then my stomach started. Didn't think anything of it, I was drinking a "Bucha" and thought it was that, so I gave it to my kiddo. Then today, more nuts were wanted, made more, taste tested, repeat. But no bucha today, just gut wrenching pain. 

I seriously look like I'm four months pregnant. Thanks nuts. 

Darn you nuts. And toss in a darn you gluten too. It's not as bad with gluten, but its close. But!!! At least I'm 95% sure I know the cause, and what to stay away from. Oh. I made energy bars from Marks Daily Apple today for a bake sale tomorrow thinking I could eat those and be dandy at the swim meet. Yeah no. Darn you nuts!!!! 

Here is the food I ate yesterday that didn't cause me to give it the finger.

Meal one: ok this is funny. Whole30 posted the picture of Ryan and the quote. I couldn't bare to make him

Sad, so the kids got paleo pancakes with strawberry coconut sauce, and I got bacon curried coconut cream spinach. 

Meal two: ground beef, pickles, and whole30 ranch drizzled (drenched). 

Meal three: burger, bacon, onions, and avocado dressing, also a side of Brussels sprouts. 

Darn you evil nuts!!!!! 

Want to see what I did yesterday in case you missed yesterday's blog about me relaxing and being at a pool? Yeah.. Torture. It was hideous. 

Tomorrow shall be interesting! Big swim meet, the hubs and I are helping, no clue what we are doing with the kids, one kid is swimming one event, the other will be left to her own devices. Okay not really, she will help me at the snack bar! Till tomorrow! 

\m/ <-- Shaka! 

Boring!

Day three was pretty un-eventful. Right at this very moment, I can't even think of what I did yesterday. How sad. Maybe my brain is foggy. Seriously? I had to look at pics to jog my brain, and ask Carter, who just went to bed, what we did. That's sad. But now I know! We did boring stuff, a little food shopping, little food prep.. Yay, fun. Maybe I just blocked it out. Here is food I made for day three: 

Breakfast- frittata with bacon, spinach, and hot sauce, and a side of fruit. 

Lunch- kale, chicken, strawberries, blueberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and whole30 avocado dressing (can be found in the book It Starts With Food). 

Dinner: crockpot chicken in franks hot sauce (soooo yummy) find it here: http://paleopot.com/2013/01/slow-cooker-chicken-wings-5-super-varieties/whole30 Ranch (in book) and sautéed zucchini and bell peppers. 

I could write about day 4 now too since its late here in Hawaii and I'm done eating for the day. But I'm exhausted. I did too much relaxing today. Sad for me huh? It sucks being a SAHM with kids on summer vacation. I had to go to TWO pools today. Oh the agony!! But I am at one of those pools every day since Carter is on a swim team, and Bear takes lessons. But still. The horror of being at two pools!! 

Day two!

Day two done! 28 more to go! 

I am menu meal planning for my grocery store(s) trip(s) for Friday. I'm stuck. Maybe I need some new blogs, new recipes, new ideas? I know. You are thinking "uh she's on day 2". I know! But.. I seriously just got done with my first whole30 on may26. I need some fresh ideas! 

Beets are my friend. I LOVE beets. I love that it looks like a crime scene on my cutting board. I love to pretend that my hands are bleeding and freak out my kids. I also like to freak them out by saying their pee will be red. I'm kinda mean. Hey! I like to joke around! To the point. I was at whole foods (WF) yesterday picking a few items up. I noticed pre-cooked beets. Win! Kids picked some out and I seriously didn't pay attention to the ingredients. I mean, they are beets! I get home, make up a winnah of a lunch, plate the beets, then I see "honey"... Dun dun dun.. Not only do I see "honey", but I read the rest.. Wheat, soy.. Really?!?! Evil lil beets!!! Evvvvvvil. No beets for my lunch. Now to go buy some real dirty beets, you know, from the ground? Yeah. That kind of dirty. So here is today's meals... 

Meal one: frittata with Brussels sprouts, pork, and onions, and a side of fruit. 

Meal2: pulled pork (finally gone!!!!!) with pickles, and mustard (made from powder) and the evil beets I did not eat. 

And meal 3: paleomg's (www.paleomg.com) meatza, ground beef, chicken, sweet potatoes, hot sauce. And a side of creamed (coconut milk) curry kale. 

Ugh. Pics look lame. Sorry! 

Today's mission.. Gallon of water. I'm obviously lacking in water, leg cramps last night, and that seems to be the trigger. 

Till tomorrow! I'm off to play with the kiddos! Alooooooha! 

Porky the pig

My BFF is semi vegetarian. I say semi because she will eat some chicken, fish, and pork, but hardly touches red meat. She is also on day 2 with me, but it's her first Whole30. Anyway, my first whole30 I found a ranch here (www.kualoa.com) that sells meat. I ordered some (call, do not use the online service!) and she thought I could go and pick out my cow. Jokingly she asked what I was going to name it. So now every time she asks what I'm eating, I name it first, then tell her, because I'm mean like that. Usually my go to pig name is Wilbur (duh) but today that massive pork shoulder I cooked on Sunday, is named Porky. I porked out for three days, seriously we had it for dinner on Sunday, breakfast/lunch/dinner yesterday, and breakfast/lunch today and now I can gladly say "IT'S GONE!". I am usually not a leftover eater either. But dang. I wasn't letting 18 bucks worth of pork be thrown out! Here is day 1/30 eats: 

Scrambled eggs with pork, cabbage, bok choy, onions, garlic and coconut aminos. I had the same for lunch tossed in some sweet potatoes and chipotle peppers,
small apple with cinnamon, and dinner was pork, garlic and cabbage. Pretty much the same deal for all three meals, I got more creative on day 2! Swear. Day one went great! 

Aloha!

Aloha! I'll start by saying a few disclaimers. Yeah, boring I know! 

* I'm not a blogger, writer, writing person, so bare with me. I write how I talk, and I'm sarcastic. 

* I am not doing this for weight loss. But if it happens, then hey! That's great! 

* I have done a whole30 (www.whole9life.com for more info) before and on day 23, I realized the tuna in my mouth had soy in it. So.. Redo! 

* I don't crossfit, I hardly workout, if I do, I walk/jog, hike, and attempt to do sit-ups. 

* opinions are mine, and might include some friends as well! 

So that's that!! Now a tad about me and why I am doing this whole30 again, and why I am starting this blog. 

I am a mother of two, ages 8 and 4, been married for almost 10 years. We have lived in Hawaii for three years and love it here! I am a stay at home mom (sahm) and my youngest (Bear, not her real name, but some may think it is!) is starting Kindergarten, and my son starts 3rd grade this fall.. Hold me. I am very involved with the school. I eat fairly well, but I have these insane stomach pains and can't seem to narrow down what the cause is, but I am gallbladder-less (3 years ago it was removed) and pains came on before, and after removal. But when I was doing my last whole30, they went away!! Something must have worked! Since being off whole30 and eating some unhealthy items, my stomach is starting again. I can't live like that. So reworking the "diet" it is. 

Some people wonder if the whole family is doing it too, we'll yes, for the most part. I don't force them to eat it, but they also don't complain. If they want a sandwich when we are not home, they can have a sandwich. Pretty sure we will be going full paleo when this 30 days is up. 

Oh! And the main reason I started the blog? Because I was posting on other social media and people liked what I was doing, but some didn't care for my posts. I am containing it to here, and will create an IG (Instagram) account for here as well. I have a few friends starting their first whole30 with me, hopefully they will let me pick their brains.. Not to eat silly. 

So there you have it! Let the (non hunger) games begin!