Meredith and I started cleaning out the house a week before the 2013 Lurong Living Paleo Challenge started and it occurred to us that this is very similar to cleaning the house for Passover. Not only are we trying to get rid of all the grain products in the fridge and pantry, but we're savoring each and every last meal leading up to the "end" of some of our favorite foods.
Doesn't that fridge look amazing? Well that's what an empty fridge pre-challenge looks like. To set ourselves up for success with this challenge we've committed to making our entire week's worth of meals over the weekend.
On Sunday September 15th we did what we do every Sunday, woke up before the rest of the complex and drove over to the Studio City Farmers Market. We went to our usual vendors, made small talk and began to gather local produce and fruits for our meals. Being LA, it wouldn't be a trip to the farmers market without a celebrity sighting. Hank Med was there with his three kids/nieces/nephews enjoying the warm fall weather.
Once we returned to the condo and put our first batch of groceries away, we paused to finish up the last of the chocolate chip Challah leftover from Rosh Hashanah by turning it into some pretty awesome french toast.
The next couple of hours were spent running to Costco, Sprouts and Whole Foods to pick up the rest of the ingredients.
Phew! 2pm. Back at the condo with everything we need...so we think.
We spitball a couple plans of how to divide up the work and decide to start prepping our marinades and breaking down chicken breasts. Turns out Benjamin isn't so great at keeping track of the spice rack, Meredith volunteers to run to the grocery store to pick up three missing spices while Benjamin continues to prep the chicken and steak for marinating. Meats in the fridge marinating and its time for breaking down veggies. Will we ever have a kitchen big enough where we're not stepping in each others way while prepping food? Probably not. Oh well. We continue our little dance around the kitchen for 7 hrs of cutting, slicing, grating, and grilling.
Tupperware!! We must have used 90% of the tupperware we owned trying to pre-package all our meals for the week as if we are a restaurant about to send out orders for delivery. Two meat balls with a side of spaghetti squash? What? Whats that? 4 meatballs, OK. Did you want a side with that? Carrots and mushrooms? Sure no problem.
For the evenings piece de resistance we decide to dive right into making a batch of paleo chocolates for those extreme moments when you just need to have one. Boom. Success.
This challenge isn't going to know what hit it!
Stay tuned for menus, photos of meals, and other musings of Mr. Tee and Strikeout's Paleo Adventures.
"I pity the fool who don't eat clean" I'd listen to the man...
