MeeNut Bon-Bons

These little treats are too good to be Paleo, you must try. Even little hands can master the simple task of these Paleo bon-bons. But really, what makes these yummy bites special is the LOVE that comes inside.

If you have never tried it, you must... but hide it from the children. It is THAT delicious.  MeeNut Butter is a carefully handmade Paleo nut butter: Almonds, Walnuts, Macadamia Nuts, and Pecans. YUM! But it gets even better. Our great friend, Mee, is an inspiration to my little ones as she single-handedly takes on the mass produced almond butters of our time.

MeeNut Bon-Bons

1 banana

1/4 cup MeeNut Butter

2 oz. DARK Chocolate

It's simple: cut. fill. dip. freeze.

 After freezing for a couple of hours, the banana tastes like ice cream! You can also use freeze dried bananas for a crunch. This recipe makes about 8.

Perfect for a Valentines Day treat for the ones YOU LOVE!

Paleo Tomato Soup

Soup has been my favorite thing this winter. There are some really good soup recipes out there and can be easily made paleo. Here is one of my favorites. Tomato Soup. If you look on a can of pre-made tomato soup, it is AMAZING how much stuff they add...sugar being a big ingredient. This is a great way to get your comfort food fix.

PALEO TOMATO SOUP

28 ouncecan diced tomatoes (fire roasted give a good flavor)

½ small white onion
6 cloves garlic
2 TBSP coconut oil

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup coconut milk

Sea Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onions in coconut oil until soft. Add garlic for last 45 seconds – 1 min. until fragrant. In a blender, blend the diced tomatoes. Dump ½ of puree in a saucepan. Add the onion mixture to the remaining tomatoes in the blender and blend until smooth. Add to saucepan with the chicken broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 – 10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste.

**optional – add hot sauce or cayenne pepper to spice it up.

                                                    

Also, store in a mason jar for easy leftovers!

Gestational Diabetes and Paleo

A Happy and Healthy New Year to you all! If your Holiday Season was busy like it was for our family, then you are still cleaning up from Christmas, putting things away, and trying to get back to 'normal.' We had a successful vacation with the boys and were able to see all of our families from Santa Barbara to San Diego. I am always apprehensive on how it will be to travel with our 2 young boys. (Wait...three boys...we brought our dog, D-Bo along too.) Fortunately, they had an amazing time and did well adjusting to all the new places!

However great the trip, I always love coming back home. I am a creature of habit, that is for sure. I love routine, schedules, organization, and planning. So we are home, getting things back in order and getting things ready for our new little boy coming in March!

Since we are about 2 months out, we are going to our midwife every 2 weeks to check on me and the little one. Over the holidays we also did our glucose testing. I mentioned in an earlier post that my midwife doesn't do the sugar drink method to test my glucose levels (which I love!). She came to my house, took my blood reading before I ate for the day, then returned 2 hours later to test it again. I passed with flying colors! I know that some people have other experiences with gestational diabetes, and I'm not saying that eating paleo is going to fix that everytime...but my personal opinion ... if diabetes is a concern, read up on it and try it.

I have a close friend that had gestational diabetes, while pregnant with her son, about 2 years ago. Her and her husband weren't a paleo family, however after her glucose test, and re-test, her doctor said that she needed to control her sugar-levels with her diet. If she was unable to keep them certain a certin number (i'm not sure what that number was), then she would have to be put on medication.

She, like me, doesn't like putting medication in her body. She didn't want to take the pills. So cold-turkey she cut out all carbs. I mean all, including fruit. She basically ate broccoli and brocolli as much as she wanted. She was able to manage it with diet and come very close to the blood-sugar levels that the doctor indicated. She did it for her baby and herself. Her boy was and is a very healthy 18 month old now. Its crazy the motivation you get when it comes to your children's health.

I remind myself of her dedication constantly while I'm searching for something to eat (which is getting more and more and more often since this baby is a growin!). Eat healthy so my baby will be healthy. That is my new year's resolution...We will continue to be a Paleo Eating Family for 2013!