The next day I felt fine. I worked a long day without any real problems. I even thought, "Hey, maybe I really can eat more types of foods than I thought I could!"
The morning of Christmas eve, I had a hard time waking up. But, hey - now I'm on vacation, so who cares? Plus, we had a long car ride to see family and I could sleep most of the way. I did my best to eat at least one helping of everything at our family Christmas party - pasta, bread, cookies, chocolate, cheese, crackers, and of course - Vanilla Coke (the nectar of the gods). I didn't quite make it to everything, but I got pretty close.
Christmas morning came too soon. The kids, of course, were up and ready to go early. By then, my brain was pretty foggy. Waking up was really hard. Once I was up, I was a bit sluggish, but overall not too bad. The day held more treats for me to indulge in, and so I did.
Waking up the day after Christmas, I already had a headache. I was awake, but exhausted. There were things to do - games to play with the kids, food to run to the grocery store to get, an entire living room of games and toys that needed to be found a home. By breakfast, I started feeling overwhelmed. The feeling of "I just might cry for no apparent reason at any given moment" started to creep in. I was making all kinds of morning-after-promises to myself.... "Never again. It's not worth it. All the sugar, all the gluten, all the chocolate in the world is not worth feeling like this." Knowing, even as I thought them that they of course are not true. I checked out of life for a few minutes, looking on line for a good deal on humidifiers. (I know, weird). Several of my tried and true coping skills kicked in : "Just move - do something. Don't just sit there and think about everything that's overwhelming you. Just pick one thing and do it." So, the girls and I headed out to do some errands.
It was a great distraction, although I did realize something. This is what SO MANY days of my life have been like. After several weeks of feeling good - really good - I had almost forgotten the wet blanket, working not to cry, when can I just go do bed? feeling felt like. So, there I was. I guess it was a bit of an experiment - to see how I'd do again on "regular" food. Turns out - not so great.
In order to get back on track, I decided that the snowy, cold weather called for some hearty beef stew. So, I got out some of the fun new kitchen supplies that my wonderful hubby got me for Christmas and got to work.
Note to self: new knives really do cut things better.... Including fingers!
Of course, you can't have beef stew without some homemade bread - so I made a loaf of Paleo bread to go along. If you're interested, here's what we had for dinner that night:
Whole 30/Paleo Beef Stew
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat (My family does not like large pieces of meat, so I cut it up to small bite sized pieces)
3 cups beef stock
1 cup water
1/2 cup red wine (optional - I just had some around from another recipe, so I threw it in)
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
1 tsp (maybe 1 1/2) salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Carrots (how many depends on how chunky you want your stew)
3-4 White potatoes
1-2 sweet potatoes (again - how many potatoes depends on how chunky you like stew)
1 cup gravy
Gravy: 1 tbsp butter or ghee
1 tbsp tapioca starch or gluten free flour
1 cup beef stock
1. In a large pot, melt coconut oil and olive oil
2. Add in the onion and garlic. Cook for 5-7 minutes
3. Add in stew meat and brown on all sides. Don't cook it completely - just brown the outsides.
4. Add beef stock, wine, and water.
5. Add all spice, basil, bay leaf, salt and peper.
6. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45- 60 minutes.
8. Add gravy. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
9. Serve it up!
Gravy
1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter or ghee.
2. As it is melting, add in starch/flour. Whisk briskly so it doesn't burn.
3. When it's all mixed/melted, add in the beef stock.
4. Keep whisking! You'll get lumps if you don't!
5. Stir until it's thickened to your liking.
Paleo Bread ( I got this recipe from a website somewhere. I have no idea where, or I would give credit where credit is due. Just know that this one is not my own.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 cups almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour (or sometimes I use all purpose gluten free flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil (sometimes I use olive oil)
1 - 2 tbsp honey (depends on how sweet you want your bread)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1. Mix almond flour, coconut flour, salt, and baking soda together. Make sure you mix it really well - use a food processor if you have one. The almond flour can stick together a little.
2. Mix in the eggs, oil, honey, and vinegar.
3. Line a bread pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
4. Fill bread pan, and bake for about 30 minutes.
5. Viola! Eat it up :)
Music of the week: Rich Mullins. I hadn't listened to him in years and decided I needed to revisit the songs that I loved starting in Jr. High. I was reminded why he was always one of my favorites. No doubt I'll be remembering to list to him more often.
I'm hoping that my hung-over-feeling will dissipate soon. I still have had a crazy head ache today and am super tired. Live and learn, right? I'm sure that I'll still have some "special" days that I eat something just because it's so delicious and I want to - but maybe not so much over-indulging next time.... maybe.
Until next time, my friends....Live well.
Becky
Whole 30/Paleo Beef Stew
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb stew meat (My family does not like large pieces of meat, so I cut it up to small bite sized pieces)
3 cups beef stock
1 cup water
1/2 cup red wine (optional - I just had some around from another recipe, so I threw it in)
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp basil
1 bay leaf
1 tsp (maybe 1 1/2) salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Carrots (how many depends on how chunky you want your stew)
3-4 White potatoes
1-2 sweet potatoes (again - how many potatoes depends on how chunky you like stew)
1 cup gravy
Gravy: 1 tbsp butter or ghee
1 tbsp tapioca starch or gluten free flour
1 cup beef stock
1. In a large pot, melt coconut oil and olive oil
2. Add in the onion and garlic. Cook for 5-7 minutes
3. Add in stew meat and brown on all sides. Don't cook it completely - just brown the outsides.
4. Add beef stock, wine, and water.
5. Add all spice, basil, bay leaf, salt and peper.
6. Bring to a simmer and cook for 45- 60 minutes.
7. Add carrots and potatoes. Simmer for another 20-30 minutes.
8. Add gravy. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
9. Serve it up!
Gravy
1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter or ghee.
2. As it is melting, add in starch/flour. Whisk briskly so it doesn't burn.
3. When it's all mixed/melted, add in the beef stock.
4. Keep whisking! You'll get lumps if you don't!
5. Stir until it's thickened to your liking.
Paleo Bread ( I got this recipe from a website somewhere. I have no idea where, or I would give credit where credit is due. Just know that this one is not my own.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2 cups almond flour
2 tbsp coconut flour (or sometimes I use all purpose gluten free flour)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 eggs
1 tbsp coconut oil (sometimes I use olive oil)
1 - 2 tbsp honey (depends on how sweet you want your bread)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1. Mix almond flour, coconut flour, salt, and baking soda together. Make sure you mix it really well - use a food processor if you have one. The almond flour can stick together a little.
2. Mix in the eggs, oil, honey, and vinegar.
3. Line a bread pan with parchment paper for easy removal.
4. Fill bread pan, and bake for about 30 minutes.
5. Viola! Eat it up :)
Music of the week: Rich Mullins. I hadn't listened to him in years and decided I needed to revisit the songs that I loved starting in Jr. High. I was reminded why he was always one of my favorites. No doubt I'll be remembering to list to him more often.
I'm hoping that my hung-over-feeling will dissipate soon. I still have had a crazy head ache today and am super tired. Live and learn, right? I'm sure that I'll still have some "special" days that I eat something just because it's so delicious and I want to - but maybe not so much over-indulging next time.... maybe.
Until next time, my friends....Live well.
Becky
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