We bought a cow. Well, part of a cow. We split half a cow with some friends so we ended up with one-sixth of a cow. Well, one-sixth of a cow post-chopping up, so it’s not like I have a whole bunch of hooves in my downstairs freezer (although we did send my friend Erin home with a rather large bag of bones). The cow came from a very nice small family farm in rural Pennsylvania where she ate grass and wandered around fields and lived as happy of a cow life as she possibly could have until she came to live in my stomach instead.

I have very high hopes for my cow, although I’m sort of nervous to DO anything with the meat. Is it a crime to put stuff on it? Should I just barely cook the steaks and eat them straight up? Also, I’m going to need some ground beef recipes besides taco salad and spaghetti with meat sauce (although I’m pretty sure E would be fine with 30 nights of taco salad).

Since my freezer is huge, this doesn’t look like an overwhelming amount of food but it is…a lot of meat. Really, I could use ANY recipe for beef, since I’ve never cooked/heard of some of these cuts before. It turns out when you’re getting a large part of a cow you get stuff like “farmer’s steak” which Google isn’t really helping me with although it looks sort of like a london broil? I’m just scared to ruin what should be REALLY GOOD FOOD.

I’ll let you know in 6 months when we eat it all if I think this was a good $400 investment, but I’m pretty sure the answer is already YES.

I’m going to talk about this paleo/primal thing for a minute. Feel free to skip to food pictures.

Short update: I love it. I eat so many eggs I’m afraid I might turn into a chicken. I’ve lost 5 pounds, eat real butter and real cream, and am shocked at how little I miss most of my old diet.

Long update, in bullet point form because I keep thinking of things to add:

1. I am not technically following a Paleo diet because I still eat cheese. It’s closer to the Primal Blueprint diet, but I’m not sure I’m even doing that correctly. I don’t actually care very much about whether or not a caveman would have eaten it – I care whether or not it’s going to give me a migraine or make me feel like I’m dying (both things that happen now if I eat the wrong stuff). Being sort of lax with the rules mean I’m not getting all that magical fat-melting the interwebs seemed to promise, but it also means I don’t want to jump off a bridge.

2. Once I got through a few days carb/added sugar/Diet Coke-free my cravings for said things dropped off the map almost entirely. It’s like all the willpower I’ve lacked my entire life just SHOWED UP. Oh hey, Willpower, nice to see you. I could have used you back when my pregnancy cravings had me eating McDonald’s fries twice a day but whatever. I’m really glad the desire is gone because I am NOT making the whole family stick to my diet. Caroline basically does it on her own – she’d rather have eggs for breakfast than cereal – but Evan would starve without carbs. Thanks to my new willpower when I bought the kids special treat donuts after the Fresh Beat Band concert, I managed to bring one home, look at it for a while, then leave it for E to eat. I NEVER could have done that before.

3. I’ve thrown out all the rules about breakfast, lunch and dinner. Steak at 10 am, eggs and bacon for dinner, and eating any time I feel hungry is the new plan. Since I can’t count on easy, instant food I also do a lot more cooking (and dishes) and eat a lot more leftovers. Also, eggs. All the time.

4. I sometimes get this weird burning in my nose, like I accidentally inhaled water. I have NO idea if my new diet is to blame but it happens 3-4 times a day and it’s something that has never happened to me before (unless I really did get water up my nose). Dr. Google seems to think it’s an unrelated sinus infection, but I swear I’m not sick and haven’t been for a while. It might be my face rebelling against my diet (although my skin and hair seems to like it.)

5. My exercise schedule has been pretty sad (or non-existent) since E’s schedule changed back in August. I stopped running and haven’t been going to Stroller Strides. Now that I’ve seen a little success with the diet change I’m more motivated to see if I can amp it up with some workouts. I think it would make a big difference in my shape/jeans size.

6. I’m going to stick with it. It’s not so much that it’s some sort of magical cure-all weight-loss miracle plan, but just that I like it. I like drinking my coffee with real cream and I like putting steak on top of my lunch salad and I like eating eggs – all things I WASN’T doing before because I thought I needed to eat low fat to lose (or even maintain) my weight. This is better.

7. Still no plans to turn this into a blog about paleo/primal stuff, but if you want to talk about it I’m more than happy to on email or Facebook. Thank you to people who emailed me suggestions and recipes and blogs to follow – it’s been SUPER helpful!

8. Who can tell me where to get coconut flour? Don’t say Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods – we don’t have those.

So, to answer the title question, here’s what’s for dinner (complete with a lot of Google-fu to find the recipes):

1. Thai-Inspired Scallop Soup – The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (I KNOW I found this recipe online somewhere but can’t re-find it. It was totally amazing, so I might remake it and blog it)
2. Turkish Eggs – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (basic recipe can also be found here)
3. Smoked Salmon, Egg and Asparagus Roll-ups – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (just what it sounds/looks like)
4. Bison Chili – The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (just basic chili, no beans)

5. Artichoke & Green Olive Dip – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (almost the same as this one)
6. Nut Crackers – The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (This one IS online – recipe #2 here.)
7. Deep Dish Pizza Casserole – A Girl Worth Saving
8. Meat sauce over roasted eggplant – I made spaghetti for everyone else and just threw some eggplant in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. It was better than noodles.

9. Coconut Almond Coleslaw – The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (I was most meh about this one)
10. Bacon & Mushroom Dip – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (online here)
11. Zucchini Carbonara – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (someone blogged it here)
12. Chicken & Artichokes With Garlic Sauce – Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals (REALLY good, really easy, I’ve made it twice. There’s a version online here, but I used anchovies instead of fish sauce.)

I’ve also eaten a lot of broccoli made with this recipe I found on the Girl’s Gone Child blog and successfully replaced rice with grated cauliflower in both fried rice and jambalaya. Plus eggs. Did I mention eggs yet?

(Links in this post are not sponsored or affiliate links, just stuff I’ve read or bought on my own.)

P.S. ALSO, I made Jalapeno Popper Quiche last night (minus the crust) and it was SO FREAKING GOOD I didn’t even take time to eat a picture before E and I ate it all.

So…I signed up for an 8 week weight loss challenge and fitness training my friend Wendy is holding.

I’m going to phrase this post as if someone emailed me to ask these questions – I’m having trouble framing it on my own – but really I’m talking to myself. That’s totally normal, right?

What is the Let’s Get Physical challenge?

It starts tomorrow! You can check out the details on her blog, but here’s the gist: Wendy signed up 40+ women who are all working on their fitness (tm Fergie Ferg) to motivate each other. We all bought into the challenge for $25 and there are cash prizes for the people who lose the biggest percentage of weight, plus other prizes along the way. I’m aiming for 12 pounds (realistically) but would be THRILLED if I got to 20. I figure I’ve thrown a lot of money at Weight Watchers and Slim Fast and diet pills in the past – how about this time I motivate myself with a chance to win it back?

What kind of crazy diet are you going try this time?

I’m going to try Paleo. If you’ve read any of my ramblings about finding a diet and lifestyle that works for me long term you might have noticed my friend Erin in the comments trying to convince me to join her cult of bacon. I started reading this website and bought his book (plus the cookbooks) and I’m going to try it. I actually started last week, to see if I could make it even 24 hours without bread and the answer is definitely yes…as long as I can replace it with bacon. I’m also not going to follow it perfectly and I’m not trying to win any “please explain EXACTLY what the reasoning behind this paleo thing is” debates so if you absolutely HATE paleo feel free to tell me but don’t expect a fight. Although if you’re interested/do it too/have questions I would looooove to talk about it on Facebook or email.

Are you going to post before pictures?

Maybe when I have nice thin after ones to show. My before picture was an unpleasant wake-up call at how much weight I’ve put back on since losing 30 pounds last year. I am hoping these are the last “before” pictures I ever take.

This isn’t going to turn into a paleo/diet/cross fit/healthy living blog, is it?

No way. I might tell you about some of the stuff I get to eat (because you’ll be totally jealous) and I’ll probably update in a couple weeks (because hopefully I’ll have exciting! news! to share about how much I’ve lost!) but regular diet updates are a) boring and b) super boring. The group doing the challenge has a private Facebook page so we don’t annoy everyone we know. But like I said, I’m happy to talk to anyone who actually WANTS to hear about it.

So, yeah. I think this is going to be good for me. It might end up being another in a long line of schemes I start and don’t follow through with. And it might turn me into a crazy obsessed dieter who never shuts up. And there’s a distinct possibility I won’t be able to stick to it and I’ll end up cheating and gain 20 pounds from all the bacon. But it’s a new month, we’re starting a new phase in our lives, and it feels like a challenge I’m up for. Wish me luck!