A First Paleo Attempt (Tilapia + Curried Portobello & Kale)

My good friend Katie has been rockin' the paleo diet for some time now so we've been talking about it a lot. I've mentioned this diet (read: lifestyle) in many other posts before as it's a really easy way for me to find recipes: no soy, dairy or sugar. I've even recommended the diet to friends and family who are experimenting with diet changes.

After all of that, I thought I'd try it for awhile.

I am not going to attempt a 100% paleo diet, or even an 80/20 for the time being. I will, however, attempt to incorporate more paleo-focused meals into my diet, if and when I can. My ultimate goal would be to try to do a 80/20 (or even 100%) change for a small period of time as a sort of "detox" to see whether this might be a route I'd be interested in pursuing on a longer term. My immediate goal is to a) start to have a bit more energy and to generally feel better/good all the time and b) kick my carb and grain addiction.

Anyone that reads this blog knows that I (we) love pasta. I could eat it everyday, twice a day. I don't ever really have a meal without adding rice, potatoes or pasta. Our plates have always felt like it's been missing something if it didn't have one of those. Again: I'm not looking to cut these items out, but I'm ready to make the mental shift into believing that a full plate of meat and veggies is enough to fill me up. Craving pasta all the time is not at all the best thing.

So we'll see how it goes. I thank Katie for telling me to try it out. I'm not going to go into it any more right now, as I'm still doing research and still in the midst of deciding how often I would like to - or need to - cook this way.

Luckily, I've got this pretty awesome hubby of mine that is uber supportive and got me to get right to it last night. He whipped up some tilapia for the two of us while I got to work on a hearty side dish.

Here's what we came up with. As I'm still doing the research, I think this is just about fully paleo-friendly. For any paleo people out there, please let me know if I missed something!

Coconut Flour Tilapia
from J's recipes
1. In a bowl, mix together 1 egg with a little bit of the following items:
- lemon juice
- tobasco (like a dash - probably considered processed, and therefore not paleo)
- basil
- thyme
- chilli powder

2. Dip each piece of fish (we had 2 fillets) in the egg mixture. Then, coat in coconut flour.
3. Pan fry (note: the coconut flour will turn black-ish, but it doesn't taste burnt).
4. Right before the fish is done, splash a wee bit of white wine in the pan.

Curried Portobello Mushrooms and Kale
I basically stuck to the recipe from Food Fitness Fresh Air, but made a few small changes. Here is what I did.

1 tbsp EVOO
1/2 of a large yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
2 portobello mushrooms, cut in 1-inch slices
1 bunch of kale, stems removed and sliced

5 tbsp of diced tomatoes (juice and tomatoes)
2 1/2 tbsp of curry powder
1 tbsp of raw honey
2 tbsp of water

1. Mix the sauce together and let sit.
2. Cook EVOO, garlic and onions for about 2 minutes.
3. Add in portobello mushrooms and sauce mixture and cook until the onions and translucent.
4. Add kale and cook mix for about 6 more minutes.
Serve!

I'll call this meal as "paleo as it gets" in our house. Even if I've missed an ingredient or two, I filled up without rice, potatoes and pasta!