I wanted to apologize to my friends and followers for the long hiatus. My husband and I bought a duplex that has been consuming our lives since October. First, we needed a tenant in the upper unit asap, to help us with our mortgage.  Then, we renovated our unit, which needed a lot more love than we anticipated. We still have a bit of work left to do, as you can see in the picture. We need some open shelving and to install the cabinet handles, but we’re finally moved in and cooking again.

Since we were staying at my mother-in-laws, and I didn’t have my cooking tools (and we were crazy busy), I gave myself a break on my normally pretty strict diet. I still stayed away from dairy, since I know it makes me sick, but I wasn’t careful about anything else. Ironically, less time spent in front of the computer and cooking was great for my pain level. I did have issues with some of the food I ate, but it was trial and error. I’ve never been completely 100% paleo, since I want to maintain, not lose weight, but I did start to eat rice, and rice based carbs, on a regular basis. Since most dessert involves dairy, I had to stay away from it, unless it was dairy free. (Rising Hearts Bakery in Culver City was amazing for my gluten and dairy free sugar cravings. I highly recommend it.)  After months of slacking, it’s a new year and a new kitchen, and I’m ready to start being healthier in 2016.