Whole Foods and Intimidating Meal Plans

So the Hubby and I made a pilgrimage to Whole Foods in Edina (the closest one to us), and oh boy, are things expensive. I knew going in that I would be spending a pretty penny because I had to buy EVERYTHING. This whole paleo thing changes the way you cook and everything. But, my goodness, I ended up spending SEVERAL pretty pennies, like $150... on vegetables... and some lamb... Yeah. And I didn't even get everything I needed. 

I will say that Whole Foods does smell better than the average grocery store. It smells like nature and freshness (and I'm guessing that is part of the price mark up). And it's bright and cheery. The workers are friendly and attentive and know everything there is to know about organic stuff (without making you feel dumb). The produce looks like it belongs in Hi-Def. The meats in the case are actually red (well the ones that are supposed to be). And my poor sugar deprived self had to walk through Whole Foods Bakery. It is simultaneously Heaven and Hell. Heaven because all the baked goods look and smell amazing. Hell for the same reason. Everything is shiny and pretty and you can practically taste it while you're oogling it. I'm coveting their raspberry tarts, and their chocolate cakes, and everything in their bakery case.

So I bought things like Ghee, and coconut oil, and nori, and kale. Various other things I've never eaten before. So I have all this weird produce to use and I find that I'm feeling rather intimidated by it all. 

There's this meal plan I'm trying to follow and I find that I don't want to eat some of the things I'm supposed to (like smoked salmon and canned salmon and olives and mustard and nori). I think that if I'm giving up all of my favorite things (see previous post for the list of those damn good things) I should at least feel that the food I'm replacing it with is appetizing. So I think there's going to need to be some re-arranging and more Internet recipe searching. I made one of the recipes that I was unsure about, mustard glazed chicken thighs (I hate mustard) that turned out to be pretty alright. 

So I've decided to remain optimistic. We'll see how that goes...