Whole30 - Day 2: Paleo Cookbooks

A friend of mine who eats paleo style, met me recently and shared some ideas and some wonderful books, which I am currently pouring over. The first one, Robb Wolf's "The Paleo Solution," is one that will take some time to digest because it has a lot of detailed information about the "why" of eating this way. I'll likely post something about his book at a later time. Here are the two books that are helping me with my immediate need of changing the food coming out of my kitchen. I've pulled a number of recipes and ideas from these books, in addition to several websites, like www.EverydayPaleo.com.

1. Make it Paleo, by Bill Stanley and Hayley Mason

2. Paleo Comfort Foods, by Julie and Charles Mayfield

To begin with, they both have sections that lay out what you should stock your pantry with. After a trip to the commissary, Trader Joe's, and Whole Foods, I found everything I needed and was up and running. Obviously, it has been helpful to have many of the staple items on hand. I had to look carefully at labels to make sure I didn't pick up any products that contained things like sugar (in practically everything in some form), soybeans (surprisingly even in spray oils), preservatives (if it's packaged, it has it) or stabilizing agents like carrageenan (found in coffee creamers, chocolate milk, processed meats, etc.). It took a little time initially, but it turned out to be quite easy to avoid all those things...I simply skipped the entire middle section of the store! :)

Some of the staples now occupying my pantry as a result of the guidance of these cookbooks, include:
almond meal
coconut flour
unsweetened coconut
coconut oil
coconut milk
coconut aminos
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar
all natural salsa
all natural salsa verde
sunflower butter
hot sauce
capers
olives

My list isn't nearly all-inclusive, but just a handful of things in my pantry now. I realize there are a ton of coconut products on my list. It's amazing how useful coconuts are! The coconut aminos actually taste like soy sauce and are so much better for you, sans soybeans. I'll blog in the future about coconut versatility.

The rest of my kitchen and pantry are taken up by copious amounts of produce - and we DO go through it all: eggplant, squashes of every kind, kale, spinach, beets, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, wide varieties of peppers and onions, garlic, to name a handful, and about a gazillion kinds of fruit. Our plates are so happy now and I've even learned from these books how to replace my rice with grated cauliflower. Will the brain cell growing never end? :)