RECIPE - Sweet Potato Lasagne

A couple of weeks ago i found a sweet potato lasagne recipe on pinterest (see original recipe here).

It looked really good and I was excited to try a recipe that had a vegetable substituted for the noodles.

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Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 chopped red pepper
2 chopped yellow pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
pinch of salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
3 cups tomato sauce (I used homemade)
1/2 cup water
2 Handfuls of spinach leaves
1 large sweet potato

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Cooking Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Cook the meat and spices.
3. When meat is cooked, add peppers, tomato sauce and water, let simmer for 10 minutes.
4. While that mixture is simmering, peel and slice your sweet potato. I used a mandoline (get one!).
5. Grease a lasagne pan with some coconut oil.
6. Layer meat sauce, a layer of sweet potatoes, then sauce, sweet potato, sauce, spinach, repeat until all ingredients are gone. This doe not have to be precise really, any layer order would work. I got mine mixed up. Cover baking dish with foil and bake for 30 mins.
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After 30 mins, remove the foil and bake for another 15 mins. Let cool and serve.
Serves 6.

I made recipe, and although the photo from the original post looked like lasagne, mine looked nothing like it once cooked. It was more like a casserole. which was just fine. It was my first time replacing a noodle with a vegetable and that part of the recipe was highly successful. I will do that again for sure!

What I will do differently next time:
Use more spinach and fewer peppers, I found using  peppers overpowered the other flavors. Also next time I will transform this recipe into a goulash. I remember that being one of my favorite recipes as a child. I will have to look up what spices to use and will slice the potato into potato chip size slices instead. And when making a goulash, I will cook in the crockpot and let you know when I make it for sure!

Paleo tips to get started

I woke up this morning and decided to start my Paleo journey today! I had originally decided to start Monday, figured it would give me time to get really prepared. But since I have already started the blog I felt it made no sense. There was no reason I had to wait. Plus, it would give me a good opportunity to start right away on tips.

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Tip 1: If you’re not completely prepared, start anyway. A little change is better than none at all!

Driving in to work today I had to stop for gas. Driving up to the station I literally got happy thinking I would buy a diet pop! Wow I thought, this really is bad. What am I thinking (well, clearly I was not, buying a pop for the car comes naturally, instinctively). I resisted... Yay me. that was definately a huge step for me. I am indeed ready to start.

I have no lunch planned out for today and will have to go to the cafeteria/restaurant at work. I know there are options I can work with. As long as I have a healthy protein, a good fat and veggies, I'm good.

Today I’ll have a hamburger wrapped in lettuce. No ketchup (contains sugar). I will have mustard and even sprinkle a little olive oil on it for the good fat I need and probably order a slice of avocado to with it as well. It won’t be organic grass fed as I'd prefer, but with little notice one has to go with the best option rather than just give up. I feel good about that option. It’s easy and affordable and Paleo. Instead of diet pop, I’ll have tea (I keep a stash at work). And for a snack later in the day when I feel restless and want a snack, I'll have a few almonds (a great snack option, just don't go overboard).

I decided to start today without realizing I had plans to go out to dinner and the ballet with a friend (I am so cultured). That’s gonna be more of a challenge... We’ll be eating at an Italian restaurant.
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What to do when you go out to eat on paleo?
Tip #2: look up the restaurant online and check out the menu, decide on a meal so you are mentally prepared and strong when you get there. 

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Tip #3: ask for your meal to be prepared a specific way, mention food allergies (they’ll be more likely to get it right if you do). I will get either a steak or chicken, cooked with not oil or spices (who knows what oils they use and most spice mixes have sugar). on a bed of lettuce. To ensure no cheese or croutons end up on my salad (living in Idaho they ALWAYS do), I will mention an allergy or intolerance. And again, I will have tea with dinner (no pop).

I feel good I have a plan and quite frankly if I hadn’t started the blog, I’d just go with the flow, probably have some pasta I’d regret later...

Are you ready to start? Do you have good tips for those unscheduled day you want to hare? I'd love to hear them!

Happy Friday,
Hilary

Lasagne with Sweet Potato "Noodles"

Here's a little teaser-the first recipe I will post. I figured the first two posts were a little wordy.

Stop back soon!

-Hilary

What is Paleo?

What is Paleo? I have gotten asked that a lot over the years. And in the past when I have started to get a lot of questions and had people (almost) scoff at it, not understanding how or why I would want to cut certain things out of my diet, I let it wear me down (because really, no one likes to be scoffed at or be told their way of eating is weird and unnatural). And eventually I would just revert back to the old way of eating.

Hmmm, just because I choose to cut sugar and pasta out of my diet, it's unnatural?!

Paleo in a nutshell is clean eating. By clean eating, I mean no processsed foods, no pasta, no grains, no dairy, no legumes, limited fruits, no sugar, no dairy and no alcohol (that's another I struggle with, I so enjoy a good glass of wine).

What to eat: grass fed/organic beef and chicken, fish seafood, fresh fruits and veggies, eggs, nuts and seeds, healthy fats/oils: olive oil, coconut oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, macadamia and avacodo oils.

What NOT to eat: cereal and grains, legumes (including peanuts), dairy, refined sugar, white potatoes, processed foods, salt, refined vegetable oil.

For more complete information and guidelines on Paleo, check out these links: Cordain: the Paleo Diet, Robb Wolf: what is the Paleo Diet,

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No processed foods - that's easy for me, not so much for others, as it is fast. My husband pretty much refuses to eat fast food, would rather eat cardboard than frozen dinners and so on. (I love him for that).

No Pasta - That's easy for me too, pasta makes me feel sick and bloated. The less I eat it, the less I like it. I think I eat it maybe 1-2 time a year now. My husband however, loves pasta. I will be working on how to incorporate more veggies in traditional pasta meals for me, yet keeping pasta for him.

No Dairy - easy for me, as I get older I have more and more of a lactose intolerence. I eat ice cream, I get sick. done. I have great options for dairy, ones I think taste far better than dairy ever did and I will be sharing those freely with tips and suggestions. Looking back to my childhood, I think I have always had intolerences to foods (and allergies - I'll cover that at a later date). I would often feel sick after meals and we pretty much had milk and a plate of (wonder) bread to go with each meal. Gotta love a good midwestern upbringing.

No Legumes - this one is a little harder. I LOVE peanut butter, it's my comfort food. (if I could eat peanut butter and a diet pop every day I'd be a happy Hilary-that's my name. Hi.) I also really enjoy green beans. But I do have alternates to both of those.

Limited fruits - this one is tricky. I am allergic to most fruits! (yes, if you must know it's awful to be allergic to most fruits). I do love the taste of fruit but since they make me sick it's easy. the hard part if finding fruit I can eat, because sometimes it smells so good that it makes me want it regardless of the consequences.

No refined sugar - sooooooo hard!! the body reacts the same way to sugar whether it's real or fake, my body in particular so I try to avoid it. but at work, I struggle. too many tempting sweets! I'll be working on finding a good alternate to sugar that I will actually stick to. I do have some good resources and research sites to share about this topic. It's very scientific, yet makes sense.

No alcohol - I don't drink often, but sometimes I just want to go home, sit in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine and visit with my husband. So giving it up is more like giving up the experience. I am going to have to try putting tea in a fancy glass, maybe that'll do the trick. I have to admit, once I get to my goal weight, I will add some wine back in to the mix, in moderation a couple times a month.

That's just an overview. I am not an expert, I just know what I have leaned and experienced for myself. There are great resources out there and I will share them as I go.

-Hilary

Welcome

Welcome to the first post of the Healthy Flamingo!

The goal for this blog is to keep track of recipes I have tried and liked or want to try, a way to follow other blogs with similar interests and themes and hopefully get feedback, tips & advice from others and have all my healthy eating references is one place (I have things bookmarked on 2 computers and my phone), it's getting ridiculous.

Why Healthy? My goal is to get healthy now, so I when grow old I will be able to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling lifestyle. I have this fear of growing old and not being healthy. Considering I am already technically old (41 - eeeeeek) I need to get going!

The healthy eating "lifestyle" (or diet) I choose to follow is Paleo. I first learned of Paleo back in '08. I was recovering from my 3rd (but not last) foot surgery and had gained a lot of weight. I was  planning a wedding and knew I wanted to lose the weight so I hired a personal trainer (and let me say it was the best investment ever, it was an investment in me!). I love working out and being pushed to my limits so I did very well as far as the work outs go. After just a few sessions he introduced me to Crossfit and things just got better and better. The problem was, although I was getting stronger every day, after a month the weight was just not coming off as I/we had hoped. After reviewing my (meticulous) food diary, he told me the ins and outs of the Paleo diet and had me start right away. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and did just that. At the next weigh in, I was down! yippee! I was seeing results and found it easy to follow. I had tried other diet programs before but found as I was aging I was less and less successful and more and more frustrated. I started to think (believe) my body just cound't lose weight anymore.

But was I wrong! I lost about 35lbs in just a few short months, I was back to my old self, stronger than ever, and felt great! (and I have beautiful wedding photos to prove it).

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...Fast forward to 2013
I have changed jobs, am happily married, moved to a new state, had yet another foot surgery, learned I have arthritis in both knee caps, and gained a ton of weight back... Crap.

This is where my journey begins (again). This time I have the tools and knowledge I need to get back on my healthy living track and back to eating a Paleo diet. This time I won't get sidetracked. This time, I am ready to get healthy and stay healthy. This time I will stick to it!

My big hurdle in all this is my "addiction" to diet pop!! More specifically, Pepsi Max.  I know I need to stop drinking it. I know what it does to the body. I know it inhibits me from losing weight. But I also know it makes me feel better, like a an old friend....

That said, as I write this post I am enjoying and saying good bye to my old friend; my vice, my addiction...Pepsi Max.

So here I go. Feel free to tag along with me on my journey, share your comments, pass on great recipes of your own, ask questions (share flamingo photos) and get healthy!

Stop back soon, I have some great recipes (and photos) to share already.

oh yeah, why Flamingo? I love flamingos. Simple as that.
-Hilary

p.s. I am working on a design and logo, they are not done but I didn't want that to stop me.