3 Paleo Tips

Changing your diet is always hard.  Initially, I was miserable with the Whole30 program and my switch to paleo.  Now that we completed the Whole30 we are sticking with the paleo diet.  Here are 3 tips and tricks that helped us complete the Whole30 and stick with it.

Cauliflower Rice

The first time I ate cauliflower, EVER, was in January.  We made a curry and instead of rice, we used a recipe from Well Fed, to make cauliflower rice.  It enhanced the flavors of the curry.  I realized that I never ate rice or pasta necessarilly for the flavor they added to the dish, but rather as a sauce soaker upper.  Now whenever I’m making a dish and I want to have something soak up a sauce, I use cauliflower rice.  The other week we made pork souvlaki from Michael Symon which has a delicious marinade.  Instead of pasta or couscous, I made cauliflower rice with some fennel seeds, fresh garlic, and italian seasoning to soak up the extra marinade.  Definitely don’t miss regular old rice anymore.

Just Use Chicken

I grew up eating a lot of pasta.  In fact, I still eat it, kinda.  I’ve found that if I’m craving a comforting tomato sauce pasta dish, I can just cook up some chicken breast with salt, pepper and garlic and put tomato sauce right on top.  I’ve used this technique with a couple of different sauces and it’s a great way for me to still enjoy those “pasta” dishes and sauces with eating any pasta.  Another favorite is pasta primavera.  We follow this recipe but instead of roasting the zucchini with the rest of the veggies we make zucchini noodles.

Licorice Root & Herbal Tea

When we first made the paleo switch I was always thirsty and sick of drinking water.  I tried seltzer water with lemon or lime which helped somewhat.  Finally I started making more herbal tea for something flavorful to drink.  My favorite is mint tea with licorice root.  Licorice root actually adds sweetness to the tea.