Not Quite Jumpin' Jack Flash

... it's a gas, gas, gas!

OK, so it just smells like gas, of a particular type.

Why?

Oh, just some vegetables I cooked up as part of our supper tonight.  It's important when eating Paleo to include lots of vegetables in out diet.

Innocent.

Cute.

Little.

Stinky.

Vegetables.

Yeah, those.

Brussels sprouts.

Yummy!  If you never liked them before, I challenge you to try them this way.  It's the only way DH will eat them.  Hah!  It's pretty much the same way we make kale in that it requires bacon, butter, and onions.  To see how we fix kale, click here.

Start with a large pan.  Cut two strips of bacon into pieces, about 1/2 inch.  Also chop half an onion.  Slice about 1/4 stick of butter.  Put these into a large skillet, and turn the heat on low.

Cut off the stem ends of a package of Brussels sprouts.  Of course I think to check the amount on the package - after I've thrown away the package and taken out the trash.

Cut each Brussels sprout into quarters, lengthwise, so the leaves will stay attached to the core.

Add the Brussels sprouts to the pan, cover, and cook on low, stirring occasionally.

When they start to soften and some of the edges appear slightly charred, they are done.

Unless, of course, you want more edges charred.

They taste great, but after I took the dogs for a walk and came back into the house, it smelled like someone had been passing gas, and lots of it.

DH insists the he can - literally - fart around tomorrow, since he works at home, and not bother anybody.  I, however, risk offending people where I work.  Oh, boy ...

Recent Paleo Food

We've been trying to eat Paleo, and do best when we are at home.  Mark's Daily Apple is one of our favorite web sites for information.  He has a section on the sidebar called "Primal 101" that is a guideline for people who want to eat this way or to learn more about it.

Here's the side dish we had recently with supper.  Kale is a nutrient-dense, green, leafy vegetable, that we can only seem to tolerate when it has bacon in it.  Instead of parboiling it before preparing the dish, I rely on the water left inside the curliness to steam the kale in the skillet:

1. Cut up two pieces of bacon, and sautee slowly in large skillet with butter and/or coconut oil, some chopped onions and/or garlic, and 1/4 cup shredded coconut.
2. Cut up half a bunch of kale, rinse and drain two times, and add to the skillet.
3. Stir in 1 cup coconut milk and a few shakes of powdered curry.
4. Cover and cook on low for about five minutes.

For breakfast this morning, hubby made No-Carb Coconut Biscuits (click here for recipe), with chopped (cooked) bacon and shredded cheese inside:

Sewing and Eating, More of it

Yesterday I made a sample napkin holder.  I had intended to make it in the style of these baskets on Debbie's blog, and I drew the pattern here:

After thinking about it and discussing it with my cousin, who I invited into the creative process, I changed how I wanted to do it.  The calculations are shown here:

The sides are made from the long strip which is folded at the top.  This strip encloses plastic canvas pieces.  The bottom is a double layer square of fabric which is attached to the bottom of the sides.  The bottom encloses a piece of craft foam.  I cut the fabric pieces and did the sewing, while my cousin cut all the plastic pieces.  Here is my first napkin holder for the kitchen:

Even though St Patrick's day was yesterday, we had a very St Paddie's day breakfast today.  The crust of the quiche was nut meal and egg.  The quiche filling was eggs, spinach leaves, and sea salt, blended.  There was cheese sprinkled on top, but it got cooked into the quiche.


The biscuits were made from this recipe.  They are made with mostly eggs and coconut flour, and they are very good.  This was a mostly paleo meal, except for the little bit of cheese:

Today, I went out with DH to buy a step ladder, and we had burgers at Steak n Shake - no fries, no bread, no cheese, but all the other condiments!  Then we went to JA's to get buttons and a zipper.  We got a small pack of very sturdy buttons for the next time I need to replace buttons on his shorts.  We got a 30" light-weight nylon zipper so I can make a cover for the wedge pillow I bought last weekend.

After that, cousin and I laid out in the sun to get our natural Vitamin D and to sweat out the toxins.  The day is not yet over!

Doggies Gone Paleo

The dogs "went Paleo" before the people did at our house.  Here's Marco:

... and here's Sarge:

We looked for grain-free dog food, and finally found it at our local Ace hardware:

The dogs love it.  Marco Polo, the older dog, gets more energy from this food than he did with grain-filled dog food.  Besides, since when did dogs harvest grains to eat?

"Mommy, why are you just standing there and not letting us inside to see what's cooking?"

Eat Paleo, Wear Red, and Sew a Little

Here's a picture of a typical type of dinner we eat on the paleo diet.  This was from one night earlier this week.  It was basically a roast and a catch-all of vegetables that had been cooked in the crock pot:

Where I work, many people choose to wear red on Fridays, in support of our troops.  It's a habit that would be hard for me to break.  Here's the outfit I wore today -- M5893 with a thrifted shirt worn as a jacket:

Last, but not least, I sewed the lower skirt pieces to the middle skirt pieces.  I pressed each seam flat, first on one side ...

... and then I pressed the other side ...

... then I pressed each seam up:

I also trimmed each seam by about half:

The next step will be to topstitch each seam from the right side, but I will save that for a later day.