Tag Archives: TJs

Paleo Bites 6/17

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Finally Friday! For breakfast I made a scramble with pastured eggs, tomoatoes, red onion, and spinach. I topped it with guacamole and a side of sauerkraut. I had two large cups of one of my favorite Mighty Leaf teas, Vanilla Bean. My scramble reminded me of how not great Trader Joes produce is. It may be convenient, but nothing has any taste to it.  I don’t buy much from the inside aisles at TJs, the only things I can think of right now are salsa verde, diced tomoatoes, and sometimes nuts. I should probably just stock up on these items once in a while and buy my produce only at the farmers market.

I forgot to take a picture of my lunch, but I had leftover tacos in salad form and a side of strawberries. Trying to make tacos at my desk usually ends up with me cleaning up a mess, so I’ve been sticking to salads instead.

And now a confession, in the afternoon I got really tired and grumpy. And I broke down and had a diet dr. pepper and some cheeze its. Moving on…

After picking up almost 30 boxes and packing supplies for $30 (thank you craigslist!) on my way home from work, I made a really simple dinner. I sauted half a bag of kale as a side to go with a stir fry of grass feed beef, broccoli slaw, spinach, fish sauce, and salt and pepper. Easy and filling. Then I went to bed at 9pm.

 

 

Paleo Bites 5/20/2011

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Ahh Friday. Such a happy day. I made a quick scramble of coconut oil, three eggs, spinach and salsa for breakfast, with a side of jalapeno sauerkraut. Since it was Friday, I stopped in for a Starbucks treat. I had a decaf Americano with a splash of heavy cream.

For lunch I finished a bunch of leftovers: TJs spicy jalapeno chicken sausage with tomatoes and spinach, half a baked sweet potato, and two broiled zucchinis. I was still hungry (apparently starting to run again is changing my appetite), so I had a veggie tray from Grab N Go. This did include some ranch dip.

It was beautiful out so the love and I decided to start our date night early. I thought I was going to be working Friday night, but plans for the weekend changed and we were able to use a Groupon at Troya for dinner. We were over an hour early to the Sunset so we

stopped in at an Irish pub for a drink (week drink count = 1; red wine). We made our way to dinner and it was great! We shared lamb dolmas for an appetizer. There was no rice in them, just currants, pine nuts and lamb. I then had a glass of chard (count = 2) with my kofte and chicken kebabs. All day I had thought about this and at the last minute totally forgot to order no rice, extra greens. Of course, I ended up eating the majority of the rice. But, at least I didn’t touch the bread on the table that looked delicious. I need to remember to take pictures of my meals when we are out.

After dinner it was still early so we had a mini bar hop of two more places where I had a vodka soda (3) and red wine (4). I then woke up this morning and swore off more than two drinks in a night, again. Someday I’ll learn. Maybe. On the way home we stopped and got a small order of grilled spicy chicken tenders.

Paleo Bites – 5/18/2011 & 5/19/2011

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I’ve gotten a little behind in my posting. Mostly because I didn’t take very many pictures since I’ve eaten leftovers all week. Yesterday I started the day with a new breakfast meal. It’s hard to see in the picture, but they are pancakes of a sort, with egg, spinach, pork, and coconut flour. I used ground pork from my meat CSA and the Breakfast Seasoning spice from Penzey’s. Oh. My. Gosh. I can’t even tell you how good that seasoning is and how sad I am that there is sugar in it and I can’t knowingly order it again. Back to the pancakes – they were okay, but a little dry. Not sure if I overcooked them or if that is just coconut flour. I’ve never cooked or baked with it before.

For lunch I had pulled pork with a sweet potato that I baked the night before.  A little later, I was still starving so I ate the rest of the pulled pork. For dinner I had leftover pork mixed with broccoli slaw (just shredded broccoli and carrots I buy from TJs) and topped with guacamole and salsa. I also had a cup of chicken broth to keep the germs away. I went for a run (first time in I don’t know how long!) and managed 3.4 miles! After picking the love up from SFO I had one small “pancake” before going to bed.

Breakfast this morning was the same as yesterday, but I am finally back to decaf-only black coffee. Phew. Took a few weeks, but I like it much better this way! For lunch I had some blackened cod that was in the work freezer from last week. I also had 1/2 of a giant sweet potato and two broiled zucchinis. I ate a Larabar in the afternoon out of pure hunger. I really don’t think they taste good at all. I’ve been drinking a ton of water lately and feel really good. I’m much less snacky in the afternoon.

For dinner I created a 10 minute TJs meal. I sliced up and threw a package of spicy jalapeno chicken sausages in a pan, added a can of organic diced tomatoes and threw in half a bag of spinach. It wasn’t the most amazing thing ever, but it worked and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

I have quite a few fun meals planned for the weekend, not to mention a lot of sleep and hopefully a lot of time out in the sun.

Paleo Bites 5/16/2011

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I started the day at 3:30. Please understand this as you read my list of transgressions. On a non-food related note, we’ve decided that, aside from one July flight that is already booked for early Monday morning, we are flying Sunday nights. There’s an end to all this craziness in sight, so skipping a few Sunday nights might help us keep our sanity.

Back to food. For breakfast I had the other half of my bunless burger from Sunday lunch. I also had a cup of coffee on the plane. It was awful so I asked for one creamer packet.

I wasn’t feeling great so after taking care of a few things at the office I headed home. For lunch I made myself a spicy jalapeño chicken sausage from TJs, two zucchinis broiled with olive oil and sea salt, and some TJs broccoli slaw mixed with an olive oil dressing.

Then I ate a lot of habanero cheese.

On a good note, I made it through my first soda-free day with flying colors.

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I had plans to meet a friend for sushi at 7. She spent twenty minutes trying to find parking in my neighborhood and eventually gave up. I felt weird leaving without ordering anything, so as much as I hate to spend money eating out on my own, I ordered a seaweed salad and yellow tail sashimi to go. This is my favorite sushi place and it was terrible! The seaweed salad had maybe three bites (usually my friend and I share one) and the sushi pieces were a little on the slimy side. Sigh. I did get to try my coconut aminos as soy sauce and I didn’t taste a difference at all.

Paleo Bites 5/12/2011

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I’m a little late posting yesterday’s food mostly because I have some sort of head cold. If this doesn’t convince me that one week of clean living plus one week of crap living isn’t reaking havoc on my body, not sure what will. I’m trying to squash it as this weekend is a fun one – the love turns 30 and the BFF and hubs are meeting up with us in Seattle to celebrate. No room for sore throats and itchy eyes!

My food yesterday was pretty boring, mostly finishing up the food in the fridge. For breakfast I had three eggs fried in coconut oil and topped with guacamole. I also had a side of jalapeno sauerkraut. I enjoyed a cup of decaf with heavy cream as well. I guess I forgot to take a picture as I’m not seeing one on my phone.

Lunch was leftover brussel sprouts, beets, and blackened cod from the night before. Nothing terribly exciting. For snacks during the day I had an apple, a hard-boiled egg, and a Larabar. I also had a diet dr. pepper. I am giving myself until Monday then I’m going cold turkey with the soda. It’s getting ridiculous.

For dinner I had what looks like a very brown meal. I heated up the remaining leftover taco meat from Taco 20110513-115345.jpgTuesday and topped it with the last of the guacamole and TJs Salsa Verde. I don’t eat many processed foods, but the ingredients list on this salsa is 100% clean, it tastes great, and it’s good to have a bottle of it in the cupboard for when I run out of fresh salsa. I also tried to saute Portobello mushrooms in pastured butter. Frankly, wasn’t impressed. Maybe it was my cooking skills, but definitely not worth the hefty price tag.

I made a very sad discovery as well yesterday. From time to time, when I’m eating super clean, I notice that I still have a noisy, uncomfortable tummy. It annoys me to no end, as that is one of the main reasons I made the switch to Paleo eating anyway. It finally dawned on me that it happens when I incorprate dairy into my diet. For the 26 days I did a Whole30, I had virtually no problems. I was also 100% dairy free. I’m going to stay off dairy for two weeks starting tomorrow and see how I do. Sad day.

Bacon on My Mind

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I’ve thought about bacon more this week than ever before it seems.

On Saturday morning the love and I went to Trader Joe’s in Ballard (Seattle neighborhood). We were slightly caffeinated and ready for food. We stared at the shelves for a minute or two, spotting the turkey bacon, the beef bacon, the fully cooked bacon. No bacon bacon. We called over a Hawaiian shirt clad worker who confirmed our suspicions with the aide of another worker: TJs was out of pork bacon.

We bought the beef bacon and went our merry way. Turns out, beef bacon is not bacon. It is very thin strips of beef. It tastes like beef. It is not crunchy. It is not salty. It is not bacon. (It was slightly less disappointing on Sunday morning when I chopped it up in a scramble.)

On Sunday the love needed a haircut so I enjoyed some time at the Farmers Market. I checked it out and found three suppliers of meat/eggs. I picked one at random, Skagit Vally Ranch, and purchased a dozen large pastured eggs and a package of (humanely raise natural pork) bacon. I got home, thinking about trying my new items next week, when I realized the bacon was not uncured AND had added sugar. Sigh.

Later that night I landed back in SFO and headed to Trader Joe’s to stock up for the week. Somehow, it appears to be a Paleo epidemic on the West Coast – out of bacon in CA, too! Not willing to fall for any of the substitutes, I went across the street to Safeway. I found one option for uncured (nitrate free) bacon, but it had sugar and a few other items.

When there is not a bacon famine at TJs, they offer two uncured options with no additional flavors. One is TJs brand and one is Niman Ranch. The Niman Ranch I know is 100% natural and humanely raised. I wonder about the TJs, as it’s a fraction cheaper.

I’m trying not to be too legalistic in my Paleo quest, but I also want to make the best food choices I can (given other $ priorities in my life) as well as support farmers who are sustainable and treat their animals with respect.

Here’s to crossing my fingers my bacon is back on the shelves next week. And in the meantime, I’ll enjoy my sugar added but humanely raised bacon this weekend!

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