Here are some easy snack ideas to incorporate into your routine:

• Nut butter* on apples or veggies.
• Beef jerky.* 
• Hard-boiled eggs. The only way I can get my kids to eat the nutrient-rich yolks of hard-boiled eggs is if we make deviled eggs.
• Cheese slices or sticks. The protein, casein, and the sugar, lactose, in cheese can be hard to digest, so you may want to avoid dairy.
• Smoothies or shakes. We like doTERRA’s shake powder because it has an herbal ingredient that helps manage the release of the stress hormone, cortisol.
• Protein bars.* Rx bars are good, clean eating without added sugar.
• Veggies and hummus.*
• Meatballs.
• Edamame.
• Cold meat. Grilled chicken and ham* taste just as good cold as hot.
• Trail mix with nuts and seeds. If you can use soaked, raw seeds that have then been lightly toasted, they will be easier on your child’s digestive system.
• Grain-free granola. Click here for our recipe.
• Toasted chick-peas.
• Fat bombs. Search Pinterest for a variety of recipes. Look for those that are “Paleo-friendly.”
• Chia seed pudding. Like fat bombs, there are endless possibilities. Check out Pinterest to get started.

*Some kids may be sensitive to the chemicals and additives used to preserve commercial products. Look for preservative-free or organic varieties or make your own.

What are your favorite snacks for your kids?

Disclaimer: I sell doTERRA products and may get a commission if you purchase shake powder through the link on this site.

You know that time when you repainted the living room with a paint sprayer and then had to repaint a bunch of other things because paint sprayers don’t obey the best laid plans of tape and plastic? Kind of like Winter didn’t get the memo about Spring being here? And then you were hosting 20 people for a Seder a couple days later? And you should be cleaning and grocery shopping and cooking, but you decided blogging was a phenomenal creative avoidance?

No? Oh, shoot. That’s me. Today.

So quickly, here are 3 things I’m loving right now. Then I’m off to figure out how to roll my dining-turned-kitchen table back to the dining room and find the leaves I took out and then find room for 12 more people.

Podcasts

One week, I’ll highlight specific ones, but for now, I’m just going general. My favorite genre is the conversational ones. They itch my extrovert itch. It’s like ready-made friends in my car whenever I need them. Besides listening to them, I also like hosting them and being a guest on them. I was recently on a new one called Adoption Conversations and will am scheduled to appear with the Collared Chicks next month to chat about micro church.

What are your favorite podcasts?

Sledding

I have to confess. I actually wished for a serious enough snow event where we could go sledding at our favorite local hill. I guess I’ll have to be more specific about in which season I want said event in the future. Either way, we enjoyed getting out yesterday for some good old fashioned fun with some local families. Now it can be flip flop weather…ASAP.

Caveman Meat Bites

Ty and I do better when our bodies have a steady stream of high fat/protein snacks and water. These meat bites are great because they’re not messy, or too chewy/hard for his braces, and they pack easily. Plus they don’t have any of the filler and junk that we’re trying to avoid. So many wins. Click the banner above (affiliate link) for 20% off and free shipping on orders $50 more.

Ok, I’m off. Before you jet, too…

What are your favorite things right now?

So this Friday’s favorites:

Baking Bacon

We (I mean, “I”) try to be as Paleo as possible. I head believes and my joints are huge fans. I’m working on firing the tastebuds that absolutely CANNOT resist the giant chipless chocolate chip cookie my sister keeps making. #behindmesatan

The part of Paleo that my whole person loves is the bacon. Duh! But gone are the days of slaving over the skillet ruining that dry-clean only shirt that you couldn’t resist at the local church’s free clothing day. I bring you baking bacon.

Just line a sheet pan with foil and lay out a single layer of bacon. Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until evenly crispy. Less time for thinner slices, more time for thicker. Remove the bacon to a paper-towel lines plate. Wait for the bacon fat to congeal, and then save it for making eggs or just roll up the foil and toss it. No washing dishes!

If You Only Knew

I had two amazing women on my podcast this week talking about this book. It’s a quick, but powerful read.

2 Notable Holidays

My dad is such a big kid. His favorite holidays are Groundhog’s Day and National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Not sure how it worked out, but they happen to be the same weekend usually. He’s doing extra miles on his hand bike this week to make room for the extra calories because of course Groundhog’s Day is celebrated with Dirt–that dessert with pudding and cookie crumbs and whipped cream and gummy worms and…and…and. Basically it’s like Diabetes in a flower pot. And, yes, we make it in a flower pot and serve it with a shovel. And then 12 hours later, we’ll all be eating ice cream for breakfast.

What are you loving these days?

This week I bring you:

A Paleo Compliant Snack: Dang! Onion Chips

Even if I wasn’t attempting to be Paleo, I would still gorge on these. If you are better at Paleo than me and craving a crunchy, compliant snack. You’ll need to buy stock in these ASAP. I linked them to Amazon, but if the price tag puts you in immediate shock, just know that I got mine as a free gift in my last box from Thrive Market. A genius move, really, because now I’m hooked. However, I’ll only pay $3.79 a bag for them there, so there’s that.

A Book: The Road Back To You

If you hang around me or got my blog email note yesterday, you know my current obsession is knowing my Enneagram number and the number of all those around me. PJ tried to have an intervention with me yesterday when he realized I was taking another test in between chapters of this book. I both the e-book and audiobook checked out from my library right now, but obviously, Amazon won’t steer you wrong here, either.

A Fun Activity: Escape Rooms

My fear of failure kept me from trying these earlier because, “What if we failed to get out?” I know. I’m really no fun. But we ventured in last summer and found out we’re actually really good at them, so now we’re hooked. At the last one, they asked, “Have you done one of these before?” And we answered, “A half dozen around Baltimore, 2 in Pennsylvania, and 1 in Utah.” If you ever played games like Myst growing up, it’s like an in-real-life version of that. Even our too-cool-for-anything-but-screen time teenager readily accepts an invitation to tackle an escape room.

What are some of your favorite things?

[bctt tweet=”Focus on what you CAN eat rather on finding substitutes for what you can’t. #paleo” username=”corkboardblog”]

But sometimes you just need a solid bread substitute. In the past, we’ve found that Paleo breads were either too dense or were more like dessert breads rather than sandwich breads.

Then I found this recipe that used cashews and whipped egg whites. It calls for probiotic to “sour” it. What I really wanted was to be able to use my grain-free sourdough starter, so I experimented and am here to report back so you can have awesome, healthy, grain-free, sourdough bread.

What you’ll need:

20 oz. raw cashews
(I get mine through Thrive Market, but then I also found these if you’re an Amazon person.)

1 cup water

1/2 cup active grain-free sourdough starter

4 large eggs, separated

2 TBS. water

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt (use something unprocessed with all the extra trace minerals still in it).
Real Salt or Pink Himalayan Salt are solid choices

Loaf pan

Butter

Tapioca or Arrowroot Starch

Parchment paper

The Night Before

1. In a food processor or powerful blender, blend the cashews, water, and starter together until very smooth. Use a rubber scraper if necessary to scrape the sides and incorporate all the cashews.
   (We have a Ninja blender).
2. Transfer to a large glass bowl. Cover and leave in a warm place overnight. The dough needs to be at at least 85 degrees but not more than 110. I either sit mine next to my crockpot (if I’m cooking something) or in my oven with just the oven light on.
   

On Baking Day

1. Preheat the over to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease the loaf pan. Dust with starch. Line with parchment paper. I usually use a piece that lines just the bottom and long sides of the pan with an inch that hangs over on each side. (I still hadn’t trimmed the paper in this picture.)
   
3. Beat the yolks with the 2 tablespoons of water. Reserve about a tablespoon in a small bowl for brushing the top of the loaf later.
4. Add the yolks, baking soda, and salt to the dough.
5. With clean beaters, beat/whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form.
6. Gently fold the egg whites into the dough.
7. Transfer the dough to the loaf pan.
8. Brush gently with the reserved egg yolk mixture. (Parchment still not trimmed. I promise that I did that before I put it in my hot oven and burned my house down ;))
   
9. Bake at 325 for about 50 minutes. The interior of the bread should read at least 200 degrees F.
10. If the top needs more browning, turn up the oven to 375 and bake another 5 to 10 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and turn onto a cooling rack. Wait at least 10 minutes to cut.
    
    

This bread is the closest thing to a white bread substitute that we’ve ever had. It’s not too dense and doesn’t have a strong flavor. It’s perfect for sandwiches, almond butter toast, and even french toast.

What would you put on a Paleo sandwich?

If you subscribe to the theory that bread and cheese are the hardest things on our digestive systems because of the gluten, lactose, and casein, then pizza is absolute worst invention E.V.E.R…except that it’s so much fun to eat!

In my book, there is no acceptable cheese substitute, so we just take a digestive enzyme to break down the lactose and move on. However, after a lot of experimenting and Pinterest-ing, we did find a crust substitute that’s worth making.

Don’t even start about that cauliflower crust thing :/ I love me some roasted cauliflower and even caul-rice, but it was not meant to be crust!

My go-to crust uses this recipe as inspiration.

Ingredients 

1 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch/powder/flour (it may be called different things depending on the brand, but it’s all the same)

1 cup cassava flour

1/2 coconut flour

1 tsp Real Salt or some other unrefined salt

1 can full fat coconut milk

1/2 cup coconut oil (use refined if you don’t like the taste/smell of coconut oil)

2 eggs (you can sub this for a gelatin egg if necessary)

1 tsp each of onion and garlic powder

Directions:

1. Mix dry ingredients first. Then add wet ingredients. Combine thoroughly.
2. Divide dough into 2 balls. This freezes well as dough or after baking so you can mix once and bake twice!
3. Roll out a ball of dough between two pieces of parchment paper. No thicker than 1/4″.
4. Transfer the dough/parchment sandwich to a baking sheet (I prefer stones) and remove the top layer of parchment.
5. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit until desired doneness.

For Pizza:

I like crispy crust, so I pre-bake the dough a little longer for pizza so it’s already on the crispy side. Top the crust with your desired toppings. We used pesto in lieu of sauce for this one. If you prefer tomato sauce try a heavily salted tomato paste with fresh herbs instead of canned sauces. The lack of moisture in tomato paste keeps the crust crispier. We’ve also done cheese-less versions which are just as tasty in my opinion but would never pass muster for the cheese-lovers in our family.

For crazy bread:

Bread sticks should be soft and chewy in my humble opinion, so we pre-bake the dough for this iteration a little less. Top the bread with grass-fed salted butter, fresh minced garlic, and grated Parmesan cheese. Return to the oven until everything is melty and bubbly. Cut into strips with a pizza cutter and enjoy.

The Sourdough Starter

If you have a typical, wheat starter, you can split a small amount off and start feeding it with cassava. Your sensitivity to wheat/gluten will dictate how many times you want to split it and feed it grain-free before you feel comfortable using it. You can also purchase a gluten-free starter. I’ve started seeing them in higher end grocery stores, or you can order one here. Once it’s established, feed it until you have 1/2 cup plus some to feed for next time.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Grain-free Sourdough Starter

1 cup Cassava Flour

1/2 cup Tiger Nut Flour

1 teaspoon Xanthum Gum

1 teaspoon Salt
I suggest Real Salt or a Himalayan Pink Salt for the added mineral benefits.

1 cup Coconut Milk

2 tablespoons baking soda (for water wash)

2 tablespoons melted grass-fed butter

Kosher Salt for sprinkling

Procedure

1. Mix starter, flours, xanthum gum, salt, and coconut milk in glass bowl. It will make a stiff dough.
   
2. Cover and set in warm place for 4-12 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 425F.
4. Roll out pretzels on a cassava-floured board. I made a traditional shape, but feel free to get creative. We used to make our initials when we were kids!
   
5. Bring a large pot of water with the baking soda to a rolling boil. Line a baking sheet with parchment and sprinkled with cassava.
6. Use a slotted spatula to gently lower a pretzel or two into the boiling water. Boil for one minute. They should float after about 30 seconds. If the pretzels fall apart, try freezing the formed shapes first for an hour.
   
7. Lift the pretzel from the water and allow to drain for a couple seconds. Place on baking sheet. Repeat for all pretzels.
8. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with Kosher salt.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and golden brown.

You can also experiment with sweeter pretzels with cinnamon and such. I’m more of a savory gal myself.

Do you have other go-to grain-free sourdough recipes? Please share!

Enter fried cauli-rice.

You will need:

A head of fresh cauliflower
Variety of fresh or frozen Asian veggies
An egg
Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce
Sesame oil

I kinda made this up and don’t have exact quantities. It’s a pretty forgiving recipe though. Basically make it so you like it.

What to do:

Shred the cauliflower using a box shredder on the medium side. At medium-high, heat a couple tablespoons of sesame oil in a wok or skillet. Add veggies. Just before the veggies are actually finished to your liking, add the shredded cauliflower. Create a well in the middle, add some more oil, and crack an egg into the well. Stir the contents of the wok until the egg is well scrambled and cooked through and the cauliflower is hot. Don’t over cook the cauliflower. Remove from heat. Add teriyaki sauce to taste. Enjoy.

If you’re weaning your family off of grains like me, you can reduce the amount of cauliflower and add some cooked jasmine rice.

Make slow changes.

A couple of us went cold turkey, but our family transformation is much more subtle…kind of by design. I recently stopped buying breads and pasta, but upped the amount of grain-free foods that I knew they did like. Did I mention bacon? We’re still doing rice and potatoes in moderate quantities. If I have time, I try to cut them with cauliflower to up the nutritional content. For example, potato soup that’re almost half mashed cauliflower or mixing in some cauli-rice to the standard stuff. I recommend brainstorming a list of foods that your family will eat that are grain-free and focusing on those things while quietly eliminating the other stuff.

Follow the 80/20 rule.

Simple—you can cheat up to 20% of the time. This greatly increases the chance that you’ll make an overall lifestyle change rather than just having enough steam for a fad.

1. Shred or chop veggie of choice. (I used a spaghetti squash for these photos which kind of self-shreds).
   
2. Mix in enough egg to wet all of the veggie. You can also add in flax meal if you so feel incline.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also experiment with fresh herbs and other spices.
4. Pan fry on medium-high heat until egg sets.
   
5. Serve plain or with fresh salsa.

For one of my kids, this is one of the only ways he gets veggies into his system. If I make these, he even does it without complaining!

Variations:

• Add curry spices and serve with plain yogurt.
• Add Italian spices and serve with tomato sauce

What will you try?