Good Morning Caveman,

So in October of last year I tried out this whole Caveman/Paleo-fad for a short stint. Walker and I were headed to Cabo and vanity got the best of me. So for 3 weeks leading up to the trip I jumped on the “Bread is Bad” bandwagon and became an angry she-man of a person. Poor soul. Don’t get me wrong, it totally worked, and I recommend it if you want to challenge yourself. But beyond 3 weeks (and without a goal like Cabo dangling in front of you) I imagine it would be much more difficult. Luckily I had a roommate who was doing it with me, because if I saw her whip out a sandwich while I make yet another salad, I would likely have had a temper tantrum right there on the kitchen floor. Take out grains, rice, beans, dairy and refined sugar and what are you left with? Believing that vegetables can replace noodles and ice cream is the work of Beelzebub. It’s a sad, sad place.

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Murphy of course loved this new phase in life. Endless meaty smells wafting from the kitchen? Tasty scraps to clean up afterward? Yes, ma’am.

All in all I learned a few tricks along the way and to be honest, I still use some of them and have never felt better. I feel like I have read everything under the sun. One day meat is bad; then bread is evil; dairy is killing us; and our own toothpaste is giving us cancer. Trying to keep up has me anxious and wandering the aisles of the grocery store in a slight panic.

Here are some Paleo (gluten free) breakfast tricks I’ve learned that I think are awesome and hope you will too! I’ll check in another time and share a few dinner recipes too. Can’t overload all in one day, easy does it.
Disclaimer: Neither of these are very pretty meals. Think brown, and round. I can’t bear to bore you with photos of bad looking food, so a comic has been uploaded instead 😉

Paleo Pancakes

So this bad boy took a LONG time in the making. I started with a recipe I found on Tina’s blog and while it was good, I couldn’t get over the slimy texture and the banana-meets-egg taste. So with the help of Elise, we created the best gluten-free, healthy pancake ever. The end.

-1 medium banana (it’s VERY important that this banana is not brown or green or too large. Small/Medium and yellow. For serious. Trust me on this.)
-Blueberries (frozen is fine)
-TBS of almond meal (similar to almond flour but a little courser. Trader Joes has a great one)
-1 egg
-Walnuts (however many you want!)
-Tsp- TBS of nut butter (doesn’t seem to make a huge difference on how much)
-Tsp Chia seeds (although if you don’t have these you can use more almond meal, or even protein powder. Helps to thicken)

Directions:

It’s very important that you mash the banana first. Don’t peel it yet! Mash it in the peel. There you go. Pretend someone is watching and you should feel slightly embarrassed. Perfect.

Now add everything. Keep mashing and mixing. If you use frozen blueberries you could zap ‘em for 20 sec. But it doesn’t seem to make much of a difference.

Now the tricky part. Take a good size frying pan and use Pam, or whatever chemically induced cooking spray you have in your pantry. Turn the heat to medium and let it heat up for a sec. You have enough batter for three small pancakes. I recommend three small ones because they are easier to flip.
My biggest tip on this part is to let them really cook so they are flip-able, but of course don’t overcook them either. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve messed this up.  All I can say is it is a perfect science. Good luck friends.

Top with cinnamon, honey, almond butter and/or agave!

Paleo biscuit

This was also stolen shared from Tina’s blog as a way to have that morning biscuit without the added carbs. I like to make at least one meal a day carb-free. Seems to work for me and my bod.

-¼ cup almond meal
-1 TBS butter or margarine
-1 tsp baking powder
-dash of salt

Directions:

Soften your butter first in the microwave, maybe 8 seconds or so. Add in all the other ingredients and mix together. Zap it for 90 seconds and you have the easiest, healthiest biscuit ever. Enjoy with honey!

I’m happy to share a few more recipes soon.
But first, try these and tell me what you think!