Last Night

Tom and I went to Kansas City, MO. for a speech last night. Afterwards, we went to Jack Stack Bbq.

 I first went to this restaurant when I decided to run away from the house last May (I think it was). I had the best brisket I've ever had. It melted in your mouth just like butter. So amazingly delicious. I've asked for Tom to go back to the same place for about nine months now. And since tonight we were .2 miles from the place, of course we had to go. 

We went with a few friends--who were great company!--and had ribs and brisket. Tom and I realllly wanted to cheat, so we did, but not too badly.  For each entree we could choose two sides. We made a deal that one side would be the roasted vegetable, and the other side could be a "cheat" side. Tom had the french fries. (I remember reading someplace "if you want to cheat, fine, but eat the thing because you really want to eat it, not just because it's there and might be good."  I've found this pretty sound advice.) I really wanted mashed potatoes, but they didn't offer this, so I ordered the loaded baked potato.

 Here's the funny thing: we only wanted a very small portion of our cheat food. I ate at most 1/4 of the potato. I tend to think it was less than that even, but I'll say 1/4 just to be as honest as possible. While I really enjoyed it, after a few bites, I simply didn't want it any longer. And Tom ate very few fries. I stole one fry from him, and really did not care for it... which I was happy about. We both agreed after the meal that we were set on wanting potatoes for a while. I'm really happy about this... a few months ago I would have devoured the potato and would have wanted more.


Neither one of us seemed to suffer any ill effects from our cheat food. Yippee.


Today I spent the day baking and chopping vegetables. We're getting a little faster, but it's still quite a few hours of prep. We started at 2pm, and I still have turkey to slice, pot roast to put away, and pork loin to check on--and its 11:30pm!


Someone asked for a grocery list, so below is a sample of what I bought today, and the meals I made were: Pot roast, turkey, pork loin, butternut squash soup, baked chicken, carne asada, hard boiled eggs, omelets, bacon, deli meat "sandwiches", kale chips, "spaghetti", salad, etc., 


6 pound fresh turkey breast (bone in) 
5 pound pork loin
2 lbs flank steak
4 pounds bacon
4 pound chicken (whole)
1 pound ham (deli)
3/4 pound roastbeef (sliced)
1/4 pound salami
1/2 provolone (not strictly primal, but satisfies everyone)
4 dozen cage-free eggs
1 quart whole-fat (organic) milk
1 pound grass-fed butter (Kerry Gold is what I buy)
1 large head of kale
1 large head of Romaine lettuce
2 heads of broccoli
3 cucumbers
6 bell peppers (multi colors)
1 head cauliflower
3 lb butternut squash
5 avocados
3 tomatoes
2 lb spaghetti squash
1 package cherry or grape tomatoes
Large pack of fresh green beans
1 Jalapeno
1 lg pack of celery
1 lg pack of mini carrots
l lg pack whole carrots
2 lg white onions
1 head garlic
2 sweet potatoes
5 bananas
1 bag clementines
4 apples
2 lbs grapes
1 lb strawberries
12 oz blueberries
8 oz blackberries
8 oz raspberries
Full fat Greek yogurt (16 oz)
8 oz heavy whipping cream



I'm sure there are a few other items, but I can't recall them at the moment... but if you just print this out and take it to the grocery store, you'll have wait you need to at least get started.  Today, the bill came to $220.00 for us (which is a savings, believe it or not), and should last us most of the week. We may have to go back for a few extra things here and there (usually produce), but this is the bulk of it.


Tonight's dinner was mostly leftovers from the prior week: pork (thanks to grandma), beef jerky, raw vegetables, and some butternut squash soup.


That's it for now.  :)