Releasing my inner Grok In case you haven’t heard, this year’s Primal Challenge is going to begin on September 7, the day after Labor Day.  It looks like this year’s challenge is going to be better than ever. For those of you who weren’t around for the challenge last year, here’s how it worked.  In addition to encouraging individuals to make a personal commitment to the primal lifestyle for 30...

There are two things you may not know about me.  The first is that I enjoy eating large quantities.  I don’t know how I developed this inclination, but there it is.  I distinctly remember the day I was able to eat entire can of Spaghetti-O’s, just like my big brother.  I was so proud.  I once asked my husband if he had ever dated a woman who could eat more than me.  He responded with a nervous look...

My kitchen is a mess.  I don’t mean messy, I mean it has too much of too many types of food in it.   It looks like three different families just stopped by and dropped off their weekly groceries.  I’m trying to remain calm about it.   “It’ll all work out,” I say to myself. “I’ll just make some big soups”.  But in fact it all has me a little nervous and confused.  First off,...

It’s six in the morning and I’ve just started the coffee. Today is the day of our big trip. The whole crew will be returning to my birthplace, Portland, Oregon and then the coast. This will be the girls’ first plane trip and, subsequently, my first plane trip with them. Until now I’d have preferred chewing tinfoil to sitting next to my kids on an airplane for any length of time. “Family vacation”...

My go-to lunch is a chunk of meat cooked up with some vegetables on the stove. At the moment, however, we are deep into summer and I really haven’t been feeling like pushing food around over a hot stove at noon. Furthermore, It is not always convenient to be home at lunch time.  If you’ve been eating primal for any length of time I am sure you have come to know the elusive nature of the on-the-go lunch...

A photo from my lazy summer Hi there.  As some of you have noticed, this blog has been sitting here, neglected, for about 9 months.  I don’t have a very good explanation – no family crises or sudden deaths.  I appreciate all of the emails I have received and I apologize if I didn’t get back to you.  I feel guilty about the kind and generous emails I never responded to.  Please know that I did...

Primal Pumpkin Pie I have mixed feelings about eating primal on Thanksgiving.  On the one hand, so many delicious foods can be prepared in a primal way that there is truly no need to feel deprived.  After all, the turkey and the vegetables present no problems, gravy can be thickened with arrowroot, and even a tasty batch of quick rolls can be whipped up using almond flour. On the other hand, this tends to...

I mentioned in the 6-week-cure post that Dave and I were headed to Costa Rica for a week in November.  We thought of this as a belated honeymoon for us since we never had a wedding and all that.  In fact, we got married at a lawyer’s office on an otherwise uneventful Thursday afternoon in February when I was 11 weeks pregnant and on crutches from a sprained ankle.  It’s all a blur now.  Actually, so...

Dave getting ready to eat his fancy stuffed pork chop There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.  You know all the fancy photos of the food on this site?  The ones that make it look like we live in some kind of Autumn paradise.  Or the ones that look like we spend our evenings gathered around a cozy dining room table sipping wine?  It’s all fake.  Well, the food is real, but the rest of it is...

Last summer I wrote and received a grant for my kids’ co-op preschool to fund a new program promoting the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.   The program is called “Try It Day”.   Once a week, another parent or I bring in samples of a given fruit or vegetable.  The kids all get a chance to try it before snack time.   If they try it, or even just lick it, they get a sticker...