Despite contrary sentiments I noticed on Facebook, I was quite sad to see the end of 2014. For us it was a great year – one of strength, stability, growth and success. Perhaps most importantly, we felt healthy and strong, committed and comfortable with our paleo lifestyle. On the flip side, we’re looking forward to carrying this into 2015 and making this year just as great.
The holidays were the perfect time for us to unwind, relax and hang out with family and friends. There’s not much that can compete with sleeping in, mom’s (paleo) cookies and dad’s fresh squeezed oj 🙂 Did we keep it paleo through all the parties and travel? Duh, totes. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorite things and what we ate.
Santa knows us pretty well. These are a few of the awesome gifts we think you should know about:
- Mala Beads: These are beautiful, handcrafted pieces. I got the Strengthening Agate Mala for its ability to ground and balance emotion as well as its healing properties
- Mascara: This is my go to mascara that is gluten free
- Salad Spinner: This has saved me loads of time in the lettuce washing department
- Cast Iron Skillet: We’ve literally used this every day since we got it
- Smart Wool Socks: Amazing, comfortable and feet don’t get sweaty or cold. We also love the Defeet brand.
As for food, we don’t travel light. We ordered groceries ahead of time from www.doortodoororganics.com and www.freshpicks.com. We packed the car with the food, a box of our spices and even a crockpot. Here’s what we feasted on:
- Christmas Eve: Paleo Chili from Against All Grain cookbook.
- Christmas Day: Eggs*, Bacon, Avocado and Fed and Fit’s Blueberry Scones.* Grass Fed Pot Roast, Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies and Paleo Pumpkin Pie. For the pie, I used this crust and this filling.
- The next 2 days were spent in Peoria, where we ate leftover scones, more avocados, salads and veggies. We also had a new pot of Chili and some Grass Fed Italian Beef (Thanks Dave!) We went out to eat one night where we ordered burgers with no buns and a side salad. Chuck also finished off the rest of our cookies on the drive down when I fell asleep! We had some backup larabars, renola and almond butter if we needed it.
*I have a sensitivity to eggs so I don’t eat them. My accommodating mom made the scones by substituting one banana for the egg and they turned out amazing!
We hope you had a wonderful holiday as well. Happy New Year!!
Me Paleo. 
Happy New Year to you two — I’m interested in how you use your crock pot, we have one but I will only use it for meals that don’t require the cook sautés or fries ingredients on the stovetop before putting it in the crock pot. I avoid the stovetop, too dangerous! Let me know if the crock pot recipe you mention in this post doesn’t require the use of a stovetop
Hi Beth – Happy New Year! We have lots of recipes that don’t require use of the stovetop. We just made a chicken one yesterday that was really easy and I think you’d like. For the chuck roasts we just cut up a few veggies and put it in the crock with the meat and some broth. Chuck will sometimes sear the meat first, but it’s not necessary. I’ll have him send you an email with recipes. He said he would also be happy to come over anytime and sear your meat for you and/ or give you a demo of recipes. 🙂