Paleo on a Budget...I was Doing it Wrong

As promised, today I did some research. My results: Trader Joe's is much less expensive than Wegmans. Well, for most things. As far as produce goes, Trader Joe's takes the cake by a long shot. Instead of charging you by the pound, they charge you for each so I can get the things I love like tomatoes, zucchini and other "heavier" vegetables without breaking the bank. The produce also just looks much better than Wegmans. As far as meat/deli meat go, Trader Joe's is slightly more pricey, but not by too much. With dairy, Wegmans is the less expensive way to go. Because of the recipes I was making this week, I needed to get things like butter and cream, so honestly it probably wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for those items. Regardless, I got out of there with $53 spent and enough food to last a week. If I wasn't experimenting with recipes this week and needed more specialized products, I would say that's damn good.

I only have one real complaint about Trader Joe's and it's the level of variety they have. If it weren't for that, I would just shop there entirely. But for things like breakfast sausages and ground beef, the variety was kind of lacking, so I will probably end up making short trips to Wegmans. Other than that, I will primarily be doing my shopping at Trader Joe's from now on. This weekend is going to be busy so I won't be able to add in trips to the farmer's market, but once that happens I may just be able to rid myself of Wegmans altogether. Stay tuned for further research.

Also got me some new gadgets today. I got myself a little 2 cup food processor. I have a magic bullet and I know those can be used for some food processing needs but my experience with it is that it doesn't get the job done evenly. It only really works on whatever is closest to the blade. I also got an olive oil mister. Drives me crazy when I'm trying to roast zucchini or sweet potatoes and I end up wasting so much olive oil because it comes out of the container all at once. Lastly I got a nice big lunchbox, which I'm so excited for. They had fancy tote bag type ones but I went with the boring kind that you can put square containers into. My next appliance is definitely going to be a waffle maker. And in the mornin' I'm makin' waffles!

Came home and got to work in the kitchen. The recipes I was making today were Creamy Roasted Red Pepper, Sausage & Cauliflower Soup, Italian Meatloaf, and another frittata.

For the frittata, I used zucchini, onion, red pepper, and tomato. It turned out a lot more fluffy this time than last. I did add a little almond milk to the eggs just to fluff them up a bit so that could be it. Probably also helps that I kept track of the time instead of winging it this time. Either way, it looks mighty delicious.

The recipe for the Creamy Roasted Red Pepper, Sausage & Cauliflower Soup is:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion
1 head cauliflower
1 red pepper
1-2 cups chopped sausage (cooked before you start making the soup -- I used Mild Italian)
4 cups chicken stock
3/4 cup coconut milk
Assorted seasonings (I used black pepper, garlic powder, salt and italian seasoning)

Chop the onion and caramelize it in a large soup pot. While the onions are caramelizing, chop up the cauliflower and red pepper into small pieces. Put the red pepper on a cookie sheet and roast at 400 degrees until it starts crinkling around the edges. Once the onions are done, add the cauliflower and the chicken stock to the pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer covered until you can easily pierce the cauliflower with a fork. Remove about half of the mixture and put in a food processor with the coconut milk. Puree until it's no longer chunky. While I was doing that, I put the sausage and red pepper in the pot and brought it back to a boil for about 5 minutes, just to mix the flavors together and to finish cooking the sausage all the way through. Once that is done, add back the pureed cauliflower, add seasonings and let cook for a few more minutes. Voila!

The recipe for the Italian Meatloaf is:
1 lb grassfed ground beef (I used 93/7)
1 yellow onion, diced
1 roasted green pepper, diced
1 cup tomato sauce, divided
1 egg, whisked
3/4 cup almond flour
Italian seasoning
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sautee the onion and roasted red pepper together in a skillet with olive oil until the onions soften. Add the onions and peppers to a bowl, along with all the other ingredients. Mix together. Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. At the 30 minute mark, take the meatloaf out and spread the remaining tomato sauce on top and let it finish baking. 

So just a few notes on these recipes:
-   The soup doesn't actually turn out that creamy, it just looks like it should be. It tastes good but I almost wonder if I should have pureed all the cauliflower. Little pieces of cauliflower kind of feel weird from a textural standpoint so I think that's what I'll do if I make this recipe again.
-   I generally don't like a lot of onion in my recipes so for both of these recipes, I used about half an onion each and left a little for the frittata. I think even that much gives just the right amount of flavor
-   For the tomato sauce, I just used tomato paste and mixed water into it until I got the consistency I wanted and added some italian seasoning to it. I think it turns out just as good. Most of the store bought stuff has soybean oil in it, which I can't have, so I went with the paste.

Everything looks really good so far! I haven't tried any of it out since I had tilapia for dinner, but it looks promising! Going to have another meal prep day tomorrow although it won't be as intensive as today. Although, having pancakes for breakfast is looking mighty delicious so we'll see what happens.

Still feeling really good! Been going to bed by midnight and setting my alarm for 9 although I've been waking up on my own by around 8. I still haven't gotten to the point where I'm ready to jump out of bed, but I'm also not going back to sleep until noon. I feel well rested and ready to start my day, even if it is a bit of a slow start. I'm still trying to figure out how to kick the mid-afternoon lethargy though. I figure that will come with time.

I think April I will officially change my membership to unlimited. I feel like I'm starting to get to that point where going 3 times a week is good, but I just know there's a plateau somewhere and I don't want to run right into it. I still have a long ways to go as far as getting back in shape but I think my body is remembering things a lot better than I'm giving it credit for. Regardless, week 2 is going great. I'm not feeling any drastic changes yet, but time will tell. That's why it's a 6 week challenge. I can't expect to be dropping 7 pounds a week like the guys do, but I'm hoping the end result is something I can be happy with.

Back to the gym tomorrow! G'night all!