Post by mcbalz on Jan 8, 2010 21:49:22 GMT -5
This is a digest of some advice I sent to Kate and also shared with Miriam. It's not just for moms, but moms probably face the problem more than dads. Your kids, husband, wife, guests, etc., are not Paleo, or even HATE anything called "paleo" but you are committed to the practice, and you're the cook. What do you do?
Here's how I handle it. You don't have to cook two separate meals. Persistence is the key.
I am the chef at home, so if I don't think about the food, shop for it, and prep it, then we WILL be eating take-out. Which I try to avoid. But if I tried to impose Paleo AS Paleo on the wife, mother-in-law, and kid, I'd get nowhere. So I follow these principles.
1) Never call it Paleo or Zone (until, maybe, afterwards, if they really liked it).
2) Build your meal plan around meat and vegetables. You start with the question: "what will I eat?" and the answer is: meat, veggies, and fat (likely, at dinner, EVOO). I select a meat, pick out 3 veggies (or two if I'm being lazy).
3) Next question: what evil starchy carb w/ sauce will I make as a side dish for the others? I have a list of simple to make stand-bys: Spaghetti Bechamel (15 min for the pasta, melt salted butter, add flour, cream, olive oil and grated nutmeg for the sauce), Rice (20 min; I have a cooker), sugary Baked Beans, whatever. You put this on the table, don't make a fuss about it, just don't eat it yourself. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but it triggers their "this is a meal" button when combined with the meat and veggies. Or make sure you buy them bread. Toast it in the oven with butter and garlic. In other words... give them some SHIT they can call food and they will love it for you. It works for corporate America, why not a harried mom?
4) Make the meats savory, plentiful, and comforting. I love slow cooked or roasted meats this time of year. Pork shoulders, tenderloins, chuck roasts, shanks, etc. Tonight I roasted up a 5 lb Turkey Breast from Earth Fare in 1:20 min. If I know I want that slow cooked meat for dinner I start making dinner about 7:00 am. Nobody ever complains about delicious slow cooked beef!
5) Shoot for 3 veggies. Something steamed. Something sauteed or broiled. Something raw. Use these to add color to the other eaters' plates, and load up your own plate with them. Nobody complains about a plate with three colors on it (meat color, green, and yellow/red/orange is perfect).
6) Don't forget to add the olive oil and some salt to your veggies! Oil and salt trigger satisfaction responses in your eaters. Nobody complains about eating veggies that have some oil on them. If they hate oil melt some butter and put that on the table too. Then douse their veggies with it.
Finally,
7) some people can't eat veggies without some kind of nasty sauce. You can satisfy his desire for sauce on veggies by either making a simple sauce on the side (e.g. cheese, mustard, corn-starch and milk melted together, as if for broccoli, and served in a gravy boat), or better yet, by making a gravy (paleo or not) from the 'jus' that comes out of slow roasted meats. Sauces and gravies are best when they are rich with fat, rather than starch. So, you can make a gravy of course with drippings or fluid and fat, by adding a starch (wheat, corn, or a substitute flour even coconut flour -- but you use a lot less coconut flour).
But even better is to take the onions, carrots, etc., that you might cook with your pot-roast, mix them with fluid that comes out and BLEND them into a rich gravy that is... also PALEO. The pureed veggies add thickness and flavor and fiber to the 'jus' = instant awesome gravy.
I'll put up a recipe for Pot Roast and paleo gravy.
Here's how I handle it. You don't have to cook two separate meals. Persistence is the key.
I am the chef at home, so if I don't think about the food, shop for it, and prep it, then we WILL be eating take-out. Which I try to avoid. But if I tried to impose Paleo AS Paleo on the wife, mother-in-law, and kid, I'd get nowhere. So I follow these principles.
1) Never call it Paleo or Zone (until, maybe, afterwards, if they really liked it).
2) Build your meal plan around meat and vegetables. You start with the question: "what will I eat?" and the answer is: meat, veggies, and fat (likely, at dinner, EVOO). I select a meat, pick out 3 veggies (or two if I'm being lazy).
3) Next question: what evil starchy carb w/ sauce will I make as a side dish for the others? I have a list of simple to make stand-bys: Spaghetti Bechamel (15 min for the pasta, melt salted butter, add flour, cream, olive oil and grated nutmeg for the sauce), Rice (20 min; I have a cooker), sugary Baked Beans, whatever. You put this on the table, don't make a fuss about it, just don't eat it yourself. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, but it triggers their "this is a meal" button when combined with the meat and veggies. Or make sure you buy them bread. Toast it in the oven with butter and garlic. In other words... give them some SHIT they can call food and they will love it for you. It works for corporate America, why not a harried mom?
4) Make the meats savory, plentiful, and comforting. I love slow cooked or roasted meats this time of year. Pork shoulders, tenderloins, chuck roasts, shanks, etc. Tonight I roasted up a 5 lb Turkey Breast from Earth Fare in 1:20 min. If I know I want that slow cooked meat for dinner I start making dinner about 7:00 am. Nobody ever complains about delicious slow cooked beef!
5) Shoot for 3 veggies. Something steamed. Something sauteed or broiled. Something raw. Use these to add color to the other eaters' plates, and load up your own plate with them. Nobody complains about a plate with three colors on it (meat color, green, and yellow/red/orange is perfect).
6) Don't forget to add the olive oil and some salt to your veggies! Oil and salt trigger satisfaction responses in your eaters. Nobody complains about eating veggies that have some oil on them. If they hate oil melt some butter and put that on the table too. Then douse their veggies with it.
Finally,
7) some people can't eat veggies without some kind of nasty sauce. You can satisfy his desire for sauce on veggies by either making a simple sauce on the side (e.g. cheese, mustard, corn-starch and milk melted together, as if for broccoli, and served in a gravy boat), or better yet, by making a gravy (paleo or not) from the 'jus' that comes out of slow roasted meats. Sauces and gravies are best when they are rich with fat, rather than starch. So, you can make a gravy of course with drippings or fluid and fat, by adding a starch (wheat, corn, or a substitute flour even coconut flour -- but you use a lot less coconut flour).
But even better is to take the onions, carrots, etc., that you might cook with your pot-roast, mix them with fluid that comes out and BLEND them into a rich gravy that is... also PALEO. The pureed veggies add thickness and flavor and fiber to the 'jus' = instant awesome gravy.
I'll put up a recipe for Pot Roast and paleo gravy.
