“Proud Parenting Moments” Chili…

Last night I had an especially proud parenting moment. The Girl devoured London Broil steak (recipe another day) and asparagus AND asked for seconds & thirds! In a world and time where some kids only eat chicken nuggets, sweets, or anything-but-what-you’re-cooking, my kid is actually eating real food. Not only does she eat real food, but she’s eaten steak, buffalo chicken, eggs, and chili (recipe to follow). Oh, and she often prefers water.

Is she some kind of crazy kid? Yes. Did we brainwash her do be this way? If you want to put it like that, yes. You see, ever since she was a baby, we only gave her what we were eating. If she wouldn’t eat it, she wouldn’t eat. It may sound a little harsh, but we have developed a kid (though still only 3) that generally eats exactly what we eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This was/is not always easy. We have to deny our child and hear her scream when she wants something else. But we are also setting boundaries & values with our child that I hope will last a long time.

One of the hardest parts of parenting is getting your kids to eat what they should (and sometimes anything at all). I will never let my kid go hungry, but I refuse to give them crap day-in and day-out. Yes, I giver her crap sometimes. Yes, she skips meals sometimes, if she won’t eat what I’m providing. But it is the moment when she asks for more bacon a 5th time, that I know it’s all worth it.

So today the girl’s diet looked like this: scrambled eggs & bacon & extra bacon for breakfast, hummus & almonds for a snack, a cookie (yes, a real one) at the grocery store, no lunch (she refused the steak I reheated for her), and two bowls of chili for dinner. Here is the chili recipe as far as I can recall (without having measured anything:

I Don’t Have a Recipe Chili

1.5 lb Ground Beef

2 Medium Onions Diced

1 Red Chili Pepper Minced

1 Jalapeno Pepper Minced

2 15oz Cans of White Kidney Beans, Drained

2 15oz Cans of Diced Tomatoes

1 28oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes

2 Tsp Corriander

2 Tbsp Chili Powder

1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

2 Tsp Italian Seasoning

2 Tsp Garlic Powder

1 Tsp Cumin

1-2 Cups Chicken Stock

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar (optional, obviously)

1/4 Cup Cilantro, Chopped

Salt to taste (In my case, about 2 Tbsp throughout cooking)

Method:

1. On medium heat,  brown the ground beef with all the dry seasonings.

2. While beef is cooking, prepared the onion & peppers. Add to the beef.

3. Once the onions have become tender add the canned tomatoes & beans (& brown sugar).

4. Add the chopped Cilantro.

5. Add stock to thin the soup out. Let simmer on medium-low heat for at least one hour. I let it go for about 3 hours.

6. Add whatever toppings you want  and enjoy. The girl wanted yogurt on top, so I gave it to her and she loved it. Like I said, 2 bowls!

Paleo-ish “I Forgot Your Birthday” Brownies turned cake turned chocolate bread.

So, I did something the other day that I thought only happened in movies & TV. Occasionally I’ve heard rumors of guys doing this, but I always thought it couldn’t actually happen to me. But I was wrong.

I forgot my wife’s birthday.

Yep, I wrote it as big as I could on the calendar. I took off from work for the entire week. I planned a weekend getaway. But on the morning of her birthday, I went to the store for a few provisions (going before she went to work so I wouldn’t have to mess with the kids). I came home and started cooking breakfast, as usual. Nothing special, leftover roast beef and scrambled eggs. The Girl (my 3 year old daughter) kept asking me where the cake was. I assumed she meant one of her millions of tiny toys she has all over the house. Then PaleoJenno came in and asked me if I was cooking her birthday breakfast.

!

I could only imagine what my face looked like in that instant. I am always the one to make big deals over birthdays and holidays. I always make it a big deal to say Happy Birthday first, even if it’s in the middle of the night while one of the kids is crying. And here I was, no card, no hand squeezed orange juice, not even a kiss and “Happy Birthday.” I felt just about as low as I could feel.

She assured me that it was no big deal and not to worry about it, and I believed her. But it didn’t make me feel much better. Then we made a plan for her birthday dinner. She would stop to pick up pizza & on her way home from work. We would put the kids to bed early aaaaaand……..watch some quality television.

With the plan ready, I proceded to have one of the worst days I’ve had as a parent. I lost total control of my self… throwing every item out of the diaper bag one-by-one as I attempted to change a poopy diaper on the couch with no wipes around was a highlight. Putting my earphones in and working out as The Boy (my 8 month old son) “cried it out.”

Anyway, I finally got it together about an hour before Jenno was to return home from work, so I decided to at least make her a dessert. Settling on Coconut Flour Brownies (because that’s just about all I could make with my inventory on hand) I got to work:

Coconut Flour Brownies

Ingredients

1/3 Cup Coconut Oil (or butter)

1/2 Cup Chocolate flavored Whey Protein (as I said, I used what I had on hand. You can use actual Cocoa Powder)

1/2 Cup Coconut Flour

6 Eggs

1 Cup Honey

1/2 Tsp Salt

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

1/2 Cup Walnuts

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350f & grease a 8x8x2 pan with coconut oil.

Melt the oil in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk in your cocoa of choice. As you let it cool, beat the eggs, honey, salt, and vanilla until fluffy. Once the cocoa mixture is cooled, slowly add it to the eggs mixture. (If it is too warm or you add it too quickly you could cook the eggs). Next, blend in the Coconut flour until there are no lumps. Fold in the walnuts. Pour into the pre-oiled pan and cook for 25 – 30 minutes. Remove & place on cooling rack. Enjoy. We put candles in this and sang Happy Birthday 3 or 4 times as demanded by The Girl.

The finished product is a little drier & denser than regular brownies, more like a dense chocolate bread. I found this is also quite delicious topped with some almond butter (for breakfast)!

Lesson: Don’t forget your wife’s birthday. Even if she understands, the universe will turn on you and you will have a terrible day.

Content Coming!

I am currently building up some content to start updating at the beginning of the year! Check back as I will be adding a new post at least twice a week.