Paleo Diet: Week 1 Summary and Recipes {Plantain Pancakes and Coconut Milk Whipped Cream}

Here is a summary of our Paleo experience over the last six days. I meant to post this last night but I just got too tired, forgive me.

If you are not in the loop about why we are trying the Paleo diet for 30 days, get caught up here.

Neither I, nor my husband have experienced anything out of the ordinary in regards to our emotions or health after the diet change. We have both been tired in the later afternoons, which is pretty common for us anyway (as our daughter is an early riser) and we both have had a couple mild headaches on and off, but that may or may not be related to the change in diet. My husband has not noticed any improvement in his UC symptoms, but they have not worsened either. One thing that I definitely enjoy about the diet is knowing that for almost a complete week, I have put nothing but highly nutrient-dense food into my body and that is a very satisfying feeling. We both stay full longer, as the meals we are consuming offer more nourishment to our bodies. I have really enjoyed experimenting with new ingredients such as coconut flour, coconut milk and plantains.

Here is a brief summary of our meals over the last several days with recipes to a couple of our favorites:

Tuesday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and homemade KimChee

Lunch: Smoothies with mixed fruit and homemade yogurt

Dinner: Steak with sautéed zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes

Wednesday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with KimChee and Mushrooms

Lunch: Same as Tuesday. We also tried  my new favorite treat, cashew butter and made delicious apple chips!

Dinner: Spaghetti and meatballs – I made a sauce from a large can of diced organic tomatoes, shredded carrots, celery, zucchini, onions, garlic and Italian herbs. Meatballs were my usual recipe, except I used almond flour instead of bread crumbs and we served the sauce over spaghetti squash.

Thursday

I didn’t write down what we ate for breakfast and I can’t remember (sorry!) It was likely eggs.

Lunch: Leftover spaghetti dinner

Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup served with fresh avocado – without the tortillas. I just googled a recipe until I found one that sounded good. It was OK, but I wouldn’t make it again so therefore I’m not sharing the recipe.

Friday

Breakfast: Eggs… again *sigh*

Lunch: Leftover soup

Dinner: Pan fried cajun-seasoned chicken breasts with roasted cauliflower. YUM.

Saturday

Breakfast: Pancakes  **Favorite Recipe of the Week!**

Holy moly, these are the best pancakes! We made them by blending 2 plantains, 3 eggs, a half of a tsp of baking soda, 1-2 tsp of vanilla (depends on your preference) and a dash of sea salt. That’s it! You would not believe how they resemble pancakes made with flour. I don’t think we’ll ever make them any other way! 

Lunch: Healthy snacks

Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday

Breakfast: Crepes filled with mixed berries and smothered with  paleo-friendly whipped cream **Amazing!!**

We googled crêpe recipes and there are many, so pick any that suits your liking. We used frozen organic mixed berries for the fillers… I heated the berries slowly on the stove and added a little bit of honey. The whipped cream is my second favorite new recipe of the week! 

To make paleo whipped cream, all you need is a can of organic coconut milk (I found mine at Whole Foods) that needs to be chilled in the fridge. When you are ready to make the whipped cream, turn the can upside down and dump out coconut milk (reserve for future use). Dig out the thicker white portion and use a hand mixer to blend it for a couple of minutes until it reaches the “whipped cream” consistency. We added cinnamon and a touch of honey to ours before blending, but it definitely isn’t required. We LOVE this fluffy goodness  – I never see us buying the sugary store-bought stuff ever again. Warning: The whipped cream tastes good on everything so prepare to become addicted!

Lunch: No-Mayo Tuna with KimChee

I was not a fan of how my tuna turned out. I mixed it with scallions, avocado, yogurt, salt, pepper, lemon juice and more and never had a truly satisfying outcome. I ended up smothering it in kimchee and eating it that way, because let’s be real, everything tastes better smothered in kimchee.

Dinner:

Beef with homemade sauerkraut and tahini with fresh veggies on the side.

So that was our menu Tuesday-Sunday. I’ll post another summary next weekend. I post pretty much daily on Instagram, so follow me there if you’d like! Again, please share any of your favorite paleo recipes, tips or tricks in the comments below.