Primal Eggplant Parmesan - Grain Free, Sugar Free, Gluten Free

Tonight's dinner was delicious! We are so spoiled with our garden in the backyard - cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, jalapenos, bell peppers, watermelon, and tomatoes. I think we even have potatoes. I can't wait for the tomatoes to finally come in! (I have to say though, I am pretty sick of zucchini!)

We had a few eggplant in the fridge I wanted to cook before they went bad. I love eggplant. I'm one of those weird people that doesn't have a problem with the texture, and absolutely love the eggplant for its versatility. My husband, on the other hand, doesn't love eggplant. In fact, he was pretty sure he hated it. But tonight, I think I may have won him over.

Primal Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:
2 small or 1 large eggplant
3-4 eggs
1-2 cups almond meal (I use Trader Joe's)
1 tbsp oregano
1-2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Marinara of your choice (I used a mixture of Trader Joe's Roasted Garlic Marinara and Muir Glen Organic Italian Stewed Tomatoes)
Fresh Mozzarella cheese
Fresh basil (we had it in our garden)
Butter/coconut oil/cooking oil of your choice

Procedure:
1. Peel and slice eggplant into about 1/4 inch slices.
2.. Set up your breading station. Start by cracking eggs into a shallow/flat dish or tupperware and whisking the eggs with a fork or whisk. In another shallow dish/tupperware, mix together the almond meal, oregano, salt and pepper.
3. Start heating a large, shallow pan on medium/low heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Now to start "breading"! First, dip the eggplant in the egg, making sure to evenly coat both sides. Let the excess egg drip off the eggplant, then place the eggplant in almond meal mixture. Evenly coat both sides of the eggplant.
5. Place each eggplant slice in the pan, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Brown on both sides. Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 330 degrees. You'll use the oven to ensure your eggplant is cooked all the way through and to keep it warm while you cook the remainder of the eggplant.
6. Continue to bread the rest of the eggplant slices while the first batch cooks in the pan.
7. After the first batch is browned, place the slices in a baking dish and place them in the oven. Continue to place the eggplant slices in the baking dish in the oven until you've cooked all the eggplant.
8. Once all your eggplant is cooked and in the oven, start heating your marinara sauce on the stove. Combine marinara of your choice and any additional spices. I only needed to add basil - the Roasted Garlic Marinara and Italian Stewed Tomatoes made a delicious, chunky sauce.
9. Bake the eggplant for 10 minutes, turn off your oven but leave the door closed. Leave the eggplant in there for another 5-10 minutes.
10. Slice the mozzarella into 1/4 inch or thinner slices.
11. Remove the eggplant from the oven. Layer eggplant with a slice of mozzarella in between. Top with marinara sauce, and basil for garnish.
12. Enjoy!

* I want to mention, as a disclaimer, that while I do mention this recipe is sugar free. There is naturally occurring sugar in the tomatoes. What I mean by "sugar free" is that there is no added or processed sugar in this recipe.

A Slippery Slope

I've done this way too many times.

I started off my week with a commitment to really clean up my meals and avoid sugar and grains. I'm more than a little ashamed to admit that I didn't make it through the week. Sugar has its way of creeping in. 

I've battled (and am still battling) an addiction to sugar. I really struggle with it, and it has taken a lot of prayer, focus and commitment to come to a place where I feel comfortable around sugar. I can pass up sugar with a lot less focus and effort than before.

This doesn't mean that sugar doesn't create problems for me. I hope that you can find this as a comfort; you are not alone if you struggle with food. We turn to food for so many different reasons - we're happy, sad, angry, lonely, stressed, hurt or any number of other emotions. Modern food has addictive properties - there are people in the food industry whose sole purpose is to find out what makes food products palatable and addictive - and so not only do we have emotional ties to food, but there are neurological ties to food as well. Sugar has been demonstrated to trigger the same dopamine receptors in your brain as heavily addictive drugs like cocaine. In a lot of ways, it feels like we are set up for failure. But please don't be discouraged.

The first step in avoiding the slippery slope and downward spiral of less-than-clean eating is to recognize what triggers you to make that poor choice. This can take a lot of work - often our triggers are hidden within emotions, habits, and our lifestyle. Next, recognize if and how you can avoid or reduce your triggers. Can you walk away? Does prayer give you strength? Does meditation or a quick walk take your mind off your trigger? Experiment with different strategies and find what works for you. And last, discover what drives you to overcome your addiction or food struggles. Why does it matter to you? How is it affecting your life? Defining what inspires you to overcome your struggle will be the one thing you can always turn to when you feel like you are failing.

But most importantly, remember you are not a failure. You are not alone, and there are many others struggling in ways very similar to you. I am one of them. Find your inspiration and stick to it. And rely on your support system to keep you in good spirits.

God bless my friends, and stick it out. You can do this!

Get Ready, Get Set, Get Prepared.

Ok, so I forgot to take pictures of my food prep. It wasn't pretty, so you didn't miss much! I'll do my best this weekend.

BUT, I did cook a whole chicken, some zucchini bread, a loaf of applesauce/banana bread (because the zucchini bread didn't turn out very well) and chopped zucchini and onions. I'll be cooking the beef patties tomorrow evening and the soup that I made has been a saving grace for lunches!

I really like to cook. I used to say that I love it, and I have an entire bookshelf of cookbooks to prove it. Lately I've been dealing with some health issues that have completely sucked my energy from me that makes it difficult to muster up the will to spend the time to cook an elaborate meal or try a new recipe. (That's a huge reason why I've decided to really get serious about my food and see if/how that makes me feel better.) To be honest, the worst part about cooking is DISHES. I hate doing dishes. They're not even that hard to do, but I can make every excuse in the book not to do them. I'll put them off until tomorrow, and then until I can't look at them anymore. Even though they never spend more than two days in the sink, I really REALLY don't like doing dishes.

The truth is, it's not always easy to be prepared. It takes planning. You have to remember to take the meat out of the freezer, to get out all the spices, find recipes and plan your menu for the week. It's so much easier to just make excuses. You're too tired, you worked really hard that day, you don't feel like cooking, you'd rather watch another episode of your favorite show on Netflix, and you'd rather just order out sushi or mexican food. (That does mean no dishes, after all.)

You owe it to yourself to be prepared. You can do it. Before the next time you go to the grocery store, plan out your menus for the following week and choose meals and snacks you can cook ahead of time. Cooking a whole chicken, browning some ground beef, chopping up a bunch of vegetables, hard boiling some eggs and making a crustless quiche is a great way to start. I'll be your biggest fan and support system!

Leave a question below or send me an email!

 

A New Challenge.

How to you spend your Sundays?

I'll be spending mine cooking and prepping food for the rest of the week. I've been meaning to start doing this for a while, and after eating tuna from a can and a cucumber from the garden almost every day last week for lunch, I think it's time to get a little more prepared.

This is week is also a time for me to really buckle down and get my food in order. Working a full time job during the week makes it easy to slip into old habits, and I've definitely done that, eating some corn tortillas, rice and (gasp!) chocolate. I'll be completing a 30 day Paleo challenge for myself, and I'm counting on my readers to keep me accountable.If you'd like to join in on this journey, but need more information, email me at mleelutz@gmail.com.

I started some broth in the crock pot last night with a mixture of chicken and beef bones. It's super easy to make (bones, water, vinegar, salt, garlic + crock pot for 12-24 hours) and has many great nutritional benefits. Diane Sanfilippo over at Balanced Bites has done a beautiful job of laying out all the benefits of making your own broth. You can find that information here: http://balancedbites.com/2011/04/easy-recipe-mineral-rich-bone-broth.html

I made a small batch of soup yesterday with some leftover chicken, broth from the freezer, and kale. This will be my breakfast for the week. I'm trying to steer away from eggs - I've been feeling nauseated after eating breakfast in the mornings and want to see if this is the cause.

I'll be cooking some beef patties to have ready to go, baking a whole chicken in the oven, hard boiling some eggs (for my husband), chopping some vegetables so they're easy to either throw in a bag for a quick snack or to throw into a pan for a quick side dish and baking a loaf of zucchini bread free of gluten/grains, processed sugar, and nuts.  I'll post some pictures later this week.

Who else spends at least one day a week prepping food? How much time does it save you during the week?

Welcome!

Thank you for visiting my blog and website! I am so excited to be able to help others - it's my passion and joy to create personal relationships in which I can push my client to reach their goals and create positive life changes that puts them on track to live a healthier life.

In your journey to live a healthier, more fulfilled life, I want to share my health and wellness journey with you as well. I follow a Paleo template, in which I avoid all grains, legumes and most dairy and avoid sugar (though that's a bit of a challenge when you love chocolate as much as I do!). I chose to live my life this way because it helps me to feel better. I don't count calories, I don't track macronutrients, and I don't have to eat every two hours. And I'm still able to achieve my goals and maintain my weight.

I used to adhere to the USDA guidelines of eating "heart healthy whole grains," lean meats, dairy and fruits and vegetables. I was an athlete growing up and thought that this was working great for me. But I struggled with regular and debilitating stomach aches. Food didn't sound good - I didn't want to eat. I lost 15 pounds and became very thin, almost gaunt. I always turned to crackers and bread to try and "settle my stomach," but never got any better. After talking with one of my clients with Celiac's Disease, I decided to try going gluten free. I started feeling a little better. I then went dairy free, and still felt a little better but not 100%. After reading about the Paleo Diet, I decided to just give it a try because it wasn't much different from how I was eating. I took the last leap of eliminating the rest of the grains and beans I was eating and started feeling better.

I still struggle with some health issues. I get dizzy quite frequently and am battling exhaustion from Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome. I can't exercise as intensely as I would like, or as often as I would like. I've been Paleo for 3 years now, and my Paleo template has changed quite a bit over the last few years. I'm still refining and changing my lifestyle to improve my health. I will continue to share my struggles and successes with you, and am excited to hear yours as well.

In Health. God Bless.

Marissa