Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 - January Catch-up and Coconut Milk Crepes
Hello there! Sorry for the long silence; the holiday season was for us, as I’m sure it was for many of you, a very busy time. Besides working tons (we both work retail or retail-affiliated jobs) and preparing Christmas gifts, we also had a few days to visit with my brother and sister-in-law and a week-long visit with Gil’s family in Missouri, both of which were lovely.
In the two weeks since we returned from that trip, we have both been trying to settle into healthier routines and work towards some of the goals we had been putting off. One of my main goals has been getting our little apartment and various aspects of our lives organized, so that I can spend my time on the things I really want to be doing without feeling constantly overwhelmed. I dove headfirst into this project and am still in the thick of it; I plan to tell you more about it and some of the solutions I’ve come up with soon.
Another goal we are both concerned with is eating nutritiously and conscientiously. To that end, Gil has been asking me for months to try the Paleo Diet, which he has been on quite happily for the last year or so. The diet cuts out sugar (other than in fruit), grains, legumes, and dairy. Robb Wolf explains it in detail, so if you want more I suggest browsing his site.
Long story short: I agreed to go Paleo (a.k.a. give up my beloved bread and cheese) for 30 days, beginning January 6th. I do believe that I dreamt about eating bread, cake, or cookies every night between January 6th and January 10th. Clearly, I was/am addicted. Or the Paleo diet is completely wrong and grains contain nutrients we all need that my body is clamoring for. Can you tell I am confused about what to eat these days?
I can say that I almost immediately felt a pronounced up-tick in my energy level. My first several days back at work I was amazed that I never reached the level of unbearable fatigue I was used to experiencing. Since then, I have had a few “down” days (probably days in which I didn’t eat enough, period), but mostly I have had the same steady energy level. This is, obviously, an unqualified “plus” to this diet.
Another good thing about trying this diet (although it often feels like a bad thing when I am short on time or just want something fast) is that it is forcing me to be more creative about my food. When you are limited to pretty much meat, eggs, fish, vegetables, and fruit, all of your old standby meals fly out the window (or at least mine did)–sandwiches, quesadillas, pasta, pizza, burritos… even rice bowls! None of them are “allowed” on the Paleo diet. So in order to not get bored, I have had to think outside the box of food I’m used to eating.
Here is an example. In the last few days, I had been enjoying warming up some frozen berries and eating them with coconut milk for breakfast. I knew I wanted to somehow add an egg or two to this meal to get some good protein in there, but for some reason fried and scrambled eggs have become unappetizing to me. Last night as I was falling asleep I had a brainstorm: what if I made the egg into a thin crepe that I could top with the berries and coconut milk?
So today, I tried it.
I beat one egg and about a tablespoon of coconut milk together.
I poured this thin layer of crepe-batter into a greased, non-stick skillet and cooked it for just a minute or two on one side and an even shorter time on the other. Until it looked, you know, “crepe-like.” (Technical term.)
At the same time, I warmed up my berries.
Finally, I plated the crepe, topped it with the berries, drizzled it liberally with coconut milk and finished it off with some dried coconut on top. Yum yum yum!
I am not ashamed to admit that I ate two of these this morning. Never have two eggs been more painlessly eaten.
Anyway, I’m sure many of you have better techniques for making crepes, and I’d love to hear them in the comments if you do, but I am nonetheless proud to have successfully created something delicious (and Paleo!) to eat for breakfast. Of course… I can’t eat the same thing every day, so… I guess I’ll need to put my creativity to work again on finding another Paleo breakfast I love. Let me know if you have any ideas.











