Wish every weekend was like this!

I don't even know where to start with what a great weekend we had.  Cave Daddy made plans with his parents to have the kids sleepover at their house last night, so I took them to the park after naps yesterday (along with the other 300 moms and their children whom were there), and we played for about an hour before heading to Gigi and Pops'!  Bam Bam got Clowney tackled by a pack of 6-8 year olds and I was that mom who was ripping the older boys off him and tossing them to the side, because my baby boy was on the bottom of the pile of a bunch of big boys!  If you are the mother to any of those boys, I apologize, but seriously, he got hit hard and I seriously was just trying to get to him to check his neurological status at that point.  Turns out the worst thing that happened to him was his shoe fell off during the tackle and he was terribly upset about that.  Fun day at the park in this beautiful spring weather here in SC!  We rode around with the windows down and loved it.

After dropping the kids off, Cave Daddy and I took advantage of our evening off and went to dinner at Za's.  I almost had a panic attack driving there, because in the past I've always gotten the spinach artichoke dip and chips for an app and the shrimp scampi for a meal, and we almost always get dessert when we go out.  But I'm supposed to be doing 30 days of Paleo....I had some serious internal arguments and deliberation amongst myself on the ride about "I'll just have a cheat meal, it's fine".... "but gluten seriously makes me feel so awful and I feel so terrible when I eat meals with gluten and dairy in it, after the fact...." "but I love that food....ahhhh....".  It was an incredibly empowering experience to make healthy choices at dinner that still were delicious.  We had seared tuna for an app and I had the Greek salad with blackened salmon...and it was SO good!  I felt so much better today than I would have had I chosen the first option.  Just another reminder that I can make healthy decision, and that the reason that I do, is because I feel better when I do and I am happier.


I will post about our morning in the next post.  It's one of it's own.  Let's just say it was a wonderful part of the weekend, enough so to deserve it's own post.  On our way to pick up the kids, we grabbed lunch at Zoe's. I had the Greek salad with chicken (I will never get tired of Greek salad) and Cave Daddy had a a Greek Chicken Pita with a side Greek Salad (we all know the pita wasn't Paleo.... ) After we picked the kids up, we all came home and napped.  After naps we just played outside for a few hours.  The kids and I walked up and down the street and visited with all the neighbors.  Which is one of my favorite things about our street.  There is so much camaraderie amongst everyone on the street.  It's wonderful to watch them all watch our children grow up, to see everyone pitch in and help us raise our children, and to hear our kids shouting hellos to everyone by name as we stop to visit and chat.  When the weather is nice, nearly half the neighbors are out, either in the street, or congregated in one or two of the yards.  It is seriously unique and something we never want to give up.  I could go on and on about all the kind things that everyone does for one another on a regular basis to help each other out in a time of need.  If we ever move, we're taking everyone with us.  Later, we went and got Daddy and strapped the kids in their wagon and walked over to Whole Foods to pick up supper, which was for sure, blog-worthy. 

On the menu was : grilled mackerel, ribeye, paleo lo mein, and paleo egg rolls.  We nearly died it was so good.  Cave Daddy still hasn't stopped talking about the egg rolls, said that he would never eat an egg roll again unless I cooked it, and continues to say that "blogging this recipe just won't do it justice....you gotta experience it..." Please keep in mind that this is a man who loves good food. 

For the mackerel, I seasoned it with salt, pepper and tony chachere's cajun seasoning with lemon juice sprinkled over it; for the steak I seasoned it with salt, pepper and onion powder, and Cave Daddy grilled it.

Paleo Lo Mein- cut a head of white cabbage in half.  Lengthwise, with your Pure Komanchi 2 knife, slice the cabbage in the thinnest slices you can (really its your preference depending how you like your 'lo mein') I sliced ours in probably 1/8 in. slices.  Place in your cast iron frying pan with 3 tbsp of coconut oil, 3 tbsp of coconut aminos, and just enough salt and pepper to taste.  Cook down until the cabbage is softened.  In a separate cast iron pan, sautee very thinly sliced red onions and mushrooms, then add to the cabbage mixture.

Paleo Egg Rolls - take the skin from a chicken, place in a cast iron frying pan with coconut oil.  Dice cabbage and carrots and place in the center of the chicken skin.  In a separate bowl, whisk one egg and pour over the vegetables/chicken skin (this helps hold everything together when you go to wrap it, plus adds flavor, and it is called an egg roll...).  Wait until the skin gets a bit crispy, then remove from the pan and roll up lengthwise.  Tie cooking twine around the roll to keep it in place, then return to the pan and fry on all sides until you can remove the twine and the roll stays in place.  The chicken skin adds a ton of flavor to this egg roll.

Beginning to cook the egg roll

Cabbage Wrap at the top- same as the egg roll recipe but use a cabbage leave in place of chicken skin.  Not nearly as crispy as the chicken wrapped egg roll, seen below the cabbage wrap.

May I just tell you that this is the happiest girl on the planet now that I have found a way to have lo mein and egg rolls that are Paleo.  Seriously.