Will This Really Work?

I feel like I am eating so much food. Will I really lose weight by eating Paleo? Interestingly I feel like at meals I am getting full...and I actually LEFT FOOD on my plate. But even so, I am not really watching my portions and of course am not counting calories so how can I be sure this will work? Ideally, I want my muscle to show, but I still have that weight loss goal in my head. To lose one pound a week I need to cut 500 calories a day and I certainly don't feel like I am doing this, especially when I snack on nuts! I really need to relearn to read my body's hunger signs and to honor them.

Well on a positive note, food today was delicious:) Here are the recipes below adapted from everydaypaleo.com:

EGG MUFFINS

12 eggs whisked well

2 green onion

2 zucchini

3 big handfuls of spinach

1/2 a jar of roasted red and yellow peppers (no liquid)

8 slices of COOKED bacon

sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 and grease with olive oil two muffin pans. Whisk all your eggs in a big bowl. In a food processor throw in the green onion, zucchini, bacon, and peppers and process until finely chopped but NOT smooth (yuck…). Add this mixture to your eggs. Throw your spinach into the processor and finely chop and also add to your eggs. Mix the egg mixture well and using a 1/4 measuring cup, fill the muffin pans (you’ll be able to make 20-22 cupcakes). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the eggs are set in the middle.

This next recipe called for coconut flour or almond meal, neither of which I had. I saw almond meal at the store-- a whopping one pound bag for $12.00. YIKES. So I opted out, and figure 1/4 cup in a 4 serving meal wouldn't be the worse thing. I did it, I used Panko instead. I think I'll take to the internet to find some cheaper almond meal.

My husband would not stop raving about these!

MEATY Mushrooms (sorry the photo doesn't do the meal justice)

4 BIG Portobello Mushrooms

1.5 lbs ground beef

1 lb ground spicy Italian turkey sausage

3 celery stalks diced

½ green bell pepper diced

½ red bell pepper diced

1 red onion diced

Diced mushroom stems

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp tarragon

6 crushed garlic cloves

Pinch of sea salt

Black pepper to taste

1 egg

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup coconut flour (or I’m sure almond meal would work just fine too!)

Preheat oven to 400. Use a moist paper towel to gently clean the mushrooms. Remove the stems and set them aside and carefully scoop out the feathery insides of the mushrooms with a spoon. Rub the outsides of the mushrooms with olive oil and place cap down in a large glass baking dish. Dice the bell peppers, onions, celery stalks, and mushroom stems. In a large soup pot brown the sausage and ground beef, add the bell peppers, onions, celery, and mushrooms and cook until the veggies are tender. Move the meat/veggie mixture to a food processor and add all the spices, the egg, olive oil and the coconut flour. Process until the mixture is finely chopped but NOT mushy, it should be chopped fine but still chunky. Scoop mixture into the mushroom caps – make them really full. Spoon any remaining mixture around the mushrooms and cook your stuffed mushrooms in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbly.