Meal Plan Week Of February 17 - 23

I have a slight obsession with my crockpot! Crockpot cooking keeps our family eating healthy on hectic days. This week in The Mullins house is going to be especially full, so you will notice the common denominator in my dinners...the crockpot. I'm also throwing in a few after dinner treats this week for those of you with a sweet tooth. You can refer back to last weeks menu for my go-to snacks and lunches. Please join me in a salute to the crockpot...making meals easier across America! Happy Cooking!

Breakfast
Apple Streusel Egg Muffins ~ This recipe comes from Balanced Bites. Diane Sanfilippo is the founder of Balanced Bites as well as the author of Practical Paleo. If you're looking for an easy read that defines what Paleo is all about and is chockfull of awesome recipes, I highly recommend it! I typically make 2 batches of muffins at a time so that we can eat them for breakfast 2-3 mornings on the go.
Paleo Banana Pancakes ~ Scroll to the very bottom of the post for a recipe your kids will LOVE!
Scrambled Eggs with Nitrate Free Bacon and Blueberries
Easy and Delicious Sausage Fritatta ~ Great recipe from my favorite cookbook, Everyday Paleo.

Dinner ~ Just a reminder that I typically cook 4-5 meals per week and then we eat leftovers or go out the other nights.
Marvelous Meatballs ~ Yet another recipe from Everyday Paleo. My son LOVES meatballs and these are his favorite. It's his birthday this week so I'm making these for his special meal!
Chili Cilantro Lime Chicken ~ The flavor of this recipe is SO great! One of the many benefits of slow-cooking is the fact that the meat has time to soak up all of the flavor of your ingredients. I'll be serving this with avocado and a garden salad.
BBQ Shrimp and Smothered Okra ~ Fit Paleo Mom is a woman after my own heart! She has several cajun recipes on her blog that frequent our kitchen table.
Slow Cooker Pulled Pork ~ Pulled Pork is such a great meal because there are so many ways that you can serve it once it's done (Lettuce wraps, over smashed plaintains with avocado, with eggs for breakfast). This week I will be serving it with sweet potato fries. ENJOY!

Desserts ~ Just a few of my favorites
Sweet Potato Brownies ~ You will LOVE these...won't ever need to buy a box mix again!
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream ~ Yes you heard me right!
Decadent Fruit Dip ~ Great to serve at parties or just to keep on hand for when that sweet tooth makes an appearance.

Meal Plan for the Week of February 10-16

I'm so excited to share my Family Meal Plan with all of you! Meal Planning is crucial in my ability to: a) stick to my grocery budget, b) make one trip per week to the grocery store and c) stay committed to a Paleo lifestyle. The #1 most important tip that I can share for those of you wanting to Eat to Live is to BE PREPARED! If you don't have healthy snacks and ingredients on hand, you will grab the next best thing which usually includes sugar and flour for me(insert stomach ache here).

Click on the name of each recipe to be taken to the site that the recipe was found on. Happy Cooking!

Breakfast: I typically only prepare 2-3 breakfasts per week and then eat leftovers or scrambled eggs with bacon(nitrate free of course) for the rest of my meals.
~Sarah Fragosa's Everyday Paleo was the first Paleo cookbook that I purchased and I use it on a weekly basis. Her recipe for egg cupcakes are a staple in our house! Make a couple of batches and keep them in the fridge for a great grab-and-go breakfast.
~Easy Peasy Pancakes

Lunch: Convenience is King when it comes to the Lunch Hour for me! I love to make as many lunches at the beginning of the week as possible and store in mason jars or tupperware. Here are a few ideas to get you thru this week
~Take smoked salmon with cut up avocado.
~On Sunday, prepare a large crock-pot of chili, or home-made soup to have for lunches for the week!
~Prepare a salad with any vegetables you can find in the kitchen, and throw a source of protein on top – leftover chicken, beef, pork, hard-boiled eggs, can of salmon, etc.
~Lettuce Wraps - sandwiches made in wrapped lettuce instead of bread.

Dinner: This used to be the meal that stressed me out the most. With two kids and a full-time job, I just don't have the time or energy to create a Paleo masterpiece. But, I have found some amazing recipes that are simple, kid-friendly and delish! I typically cook 4-5 nights a week and then we eat leftovers the other nights. In a couple of weeks I will share some of my tips for eating out and sticking to your caveman lifestyle.
Zucchini Spaghetti(Zoodles) & Meatballs- NomNom Paleo is one of my favorite recipe sites and this is a meal that my whole family requests!
~Skirt Steak Fajitas- I LOVE me some Tex-Mex and could probably have guac and salsa with every meal of the day...FOR REAL!
~Spice Rub Crockpot Chicken- I try to do at least one meal in the crockpot every week...typically crockpot night falls on the day that we have the most after-school activities. There's nothing like coming home from a jam-packed day to a home filled with wonderful smells and dinner waiting to be served!
~Herb Crusted Salmon- Salmon is a great source of Omega 3's and is loaded with great health benefits! This is a simple and tasty recipe that is great served with broccolini or asparagus.
~Paleo Beef Veggie Chili- I actually prepare this recipe in my crockpot. Nothing like a great Paleo Chili for some good ol' comfort food!

Snacks- Eating to live means fueling your body properly and snacks are key to maintaining your fuel level! Below are a few snack ideas to try this week.
~Apple slices with nut butter – peanut butter is out (since peanuts are actually legumes, not nuts), but almond, cashew, or macadamia nut butters with crisp, tart apple slices are all delicious Paleo diet snacks.
~Cucumber cups – cut a cucumber into slices about 2” thick, hollow out the centers, and stuff with tuna or salmon. These are perfect finger food for a party, since they’re not messy to eat.
~LARABARS – most commercial energy bars are full of grains and toxic chemicals, but LARABARS are nothing but dates, nuts, and spices. They’re great for a quick Paleo snack on the go.
~Hard-boiled eggs – eggs aren’t just a breakfast food! Hard-boiled eggs are simple to make and travel well for a protein boost on the go.

You can find the Shopping List for this week's recipes on my Shopping List Page. ENJOY! Don't forget that food is fuel! "Take care of your body; it's the only place you have to live." Jim Rohn

Eat to Live?

So...what does it mean to eat to live anyways? Ann Wigmore said that, "the food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." When I began researching the Paleo diet, I was amazed at the effects the food I was consuming was having on my body. I'll share more of my personal testimony another time, but for now, I'd like to give you a brief explanation of what Paleo is all about.

The Paleo Diet is based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars and processed foods were not part of our ancestral menu. I learned everything that I know about Paleo from Robb Wolf and Dallas & Melissa Hartwig. I highly recommend checking out their sites to learn about the science behind why the Paleo Diet is so vital to fueling your body properly.

Below are a few of the MANY health benefits that you can expect on the Paleo Diet(and by diet I mean way of eating, not a temporary fix to lose weight).

Welcome!

Welcome to Eat to Live! The goal of this site is to help my Paleo Pals maintain a caveman lifestyle in the midst of the busyness of life. Over the past few months, I have been creating meal plans and shopping lists for a few friends and have found so much joy in sharing my passion for eating to live with others. That joy and passion were the launching pad for this site.

Each Friday, I will post my family's meal plan for the week along with a shopping list. The recipes I share are not original! I love to duplicate what others have done WELL and will give proper credit to my favorite Paleo bloggers! A couple of times a month I will share how and why I went from a foodie that lived to eat to a woman who is dedicated to eat to live. Feel free to ask questions as I will share a Q&A post once a month.

Another passion of mine is Crossfit. Paleo and Crossfit go together like almond butter(no peanuts on Paleo) and jelly. :) CrossFit is a training program that builds strength and conditioning through extremely varied and challenging workouts. Each day the workout will test a different part of your functional strength or conditioning, not specializing in one particular thing, but rather with the goal of building a body that’s capable of practically anything and everything. CrossFit gyms are generally no-frills affairs with 4 walls and a padded floor, and so they are often called a “Box.” The Box that I work out at is Lakeshore Crossfit. My coaches will be featured here monthly to share their fitness tips.

Tune in this Friday to get your meal plan for the week...it will be so easy a Caveman could do it!