Thursday, August 30, 2012

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?!?!?

To answer the question.....umm...I guess I am. I am NOT a huge football person. I'm from NC. We are college basketball people! GO TARHEELS!! But when I moved to AL 6 years ago, I was bombarded with the question.....Alabama or Auburn???? Huh?? Which one?? You gotta pull for somebody??? You gotta pick??? Tell me now so I will know if we can be friends or not!!! I have lots of friends that LOVE football and will have lots of football get togethers during this season. So this post is for them. I am actually going to one of these get togethers on Saturday, but mainly for social purposes, not so much football purposes. :) So with that being said.... here are a couple of recipes that I have brought to game night and were HITS as well as some new ideas. Hope you enjoy them.

1. Baby pizza bites. This comes from PaleOMG (surprise)  These things are delicious and SUPER SIMPLE TO MAKE!!
http://paleomg.com/baby-pizza-bites/
Click the link for the actual recipe but it is basically, mushrooms, sausage, and pizza sauce. So simple so yummy. I actually just bought already made up mild italian sausage from earth fare for even LESS work when making these. SO GOOD!


2. Bacon wrapped sweet potatoes.Also YUMMY!!

Preheat oven 350
Cut up 2 peeled sweet potatoes into bite sized pieces
Season with a sprinkle of chipotle powder (hot)  or chili powder
Wrap each piece in an adequate size piece of bacon, use tooth pick to secure
Place on a baking sheet and cook for about 45 minutes turning 1/2 way through


3. Chili is a good food for football parties...especially when it starts to get cooler. These are bunch of the top Paleo chili recipes. My fave is the first one.

http://www.squidoo.com/best-paleo-chili-recipes


4. Chips and dip. Not traditional potato chips and french onion dip. But sweet potato chips and guacamole. You can absolutely make your own sweet potato chips, but if you in a pinch you could use Terra chips. Be warned these are only oil and sweet potatoes but the oil is canola which we try to stay away from. But here is a great recipe for your own sweet potato and plantain chips and some awesome guac. P.S. you can make the sweet potatoes indoors as well. On the stove top or in the oven. Again from PaleOMG, what can I say.... I love her!

http://paleomg.com/chunky-pineapple-guacamole-grilled-sweet-potato-chips/


5. Deviled eggs
I came up with these suckers when I was just wanting something different for breakfast.
Halve hard boiled eggs
take out the yolk
mix it with guac, chopped pickled jalapenos, and chopped bacon. (amounts are as you would desire)
fill up the eggs with the mixture
top with a sprinkle of paprika
and EAT IT!

I had store bought Wholly Guacamole in the fridge here so I just used that. Click on the link for what the product looks like and for a coupon!! :)


6. BGT's. Not BLT's but BGT's.  Bacon, guac, tomato. Basically these are just little bacon sammy's.
Cut strips of bacon in half
Place on a broiler pan and cook bacon in the oven till crisp
layer one crisp piece of bacon, sliced to fit piece of tomato, dollop of guac ( I use pre made wholly guacamole here too, I actually like the spicy kind for this), and top with the second slice of crispy bacon to make a mini bacon sandwich.

7. Chocolate Chip Cookies. You need dessert right!?! These are my favorite Paleo chocolate chip cookies that I have made so far. Love them!
http://beta.primal-palate.com/recipe/chocolate-chip-cookies/


I am so sorry that I don't have pics of these but most of the time they disappeared before I could get a shot. They are that good! I hope you try some of these for your next football party! So Roll Tide or War Eagle....whichever you would prefer! :)

Monday, August 27, 2012

Vanilla Carmelitas Courtesy of PaleOMG!!

I know what your thinking. Geeez lady, you just got off of your sugar detox......a dessert already?!?

YES! This flippin' recipe has been taunting me every since I saw it a couple of weeks ago. I had almost everything here to make it so what's the big deal??? Well, I'll tell ya. I've made it....It is a'flippin'mazing.....and now it keeps telling me to eat it. It kind of reminds me of german chocolate cake! I have to find people to share it with. Shouldn't be hard, right??

So I'm gonna show you step by step how I made PaleOMG's Vanilla Bean Carmelitas - minus the vanilla bean (didn't have any and they are uber expensive)

Find Juli's amazing site and recipe here.




After I preheated the oven I mixed all the above ingredients for the crust and pressed it into a coconut oil greased square baking dish...


Placed that in the oven and baked it for about 10 minutes. It looked like this when it was done.....


I sprinkled the chocolate chips on top. 


This are the chocolate chips that I usually use. Just FYI. :)



Anyway off to assemble the topping....



Processed the soaked dates and added my FAVE brand of coconut milk and some water. Then I just let it go for about 5 minutes.

This is the magic "caramel" that it made. O.K. just for this "caramel" alone.... she (Juli) is a frickin' genius! This stuff was awesome...wanted to grab a spoon and a seat and go at it! I mean look how gorgeous it is....


Then added the cashew mixture to the caramel mixture....


OMGOODNESS!! Pour all of this yummy goodness on top of the crust and chocolate chips..



Put it back in the oven for a few and this is what happened...


I mean....SERIOUSLY!!! Go here and make this......NOW! DO IT!

But if you live near me and want some, please let me know and I will share so I don't consume the whole, entire thing! 



It's OVER!

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

The 21 Day Sugar Detox is OVER!! I'm not really celebrating though.... It has been great! I have lost 5 pound in the last 21 days. I didn't even think my body would do that, so I am very grateful! I have found some new energy. Not the highs and lows normally associated with sugar in all it's forms. After the first week is has been smooth sailing for me. 

We have been out of town a lot lately. As a matter of fact we just got home from NC. I have come to realize that unless it is a quality Paleo restaurant.....then I really don't like eating out. You just never REALLY know what you are going to get. I just feel so much better, when I eat at home. Even when I eat the "cleanest" thing on a menu, I'm still going to get horrible oils (ya know, those ones mentioned in the 21dsd manual...) in that food and also tons of sodium for sure. Not to mention possibly gluten in some restaurants who aren't that safe with their practices.

Check out my FB page and the album named NOMS for the latest on all the pics of the food I have eaten on this detox. It was quite simply....amazing food for sure. I'm going out right now as a matter of fact for more ingredients for more detox friendly foods. Now does that mean that I'm not gonna make some pumpkin pancakes.....NO..... now that I'm off the detox I will most definitely make those!! I've been staring at the pic of them in Practical Paleo for two weeks now haha! I'm just saying I love some of those detox recipes SO much I'm gonna keep them in my arsenal even while NOT detoxing!

So I wanna know how you guys that did the detox as well ended up?! Tell me! :)

Remember you can always check out the detox for your self here.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Days 11 and 12: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Days 11 and 12 
Still doing good. Haven't lost anymore weight but thats o.k. Heck I didn't think I would lose any, so 5 pounds is pretty SWEET!! My energy is good and my emotions are good! Not really moody or depressed. That's a good thing right!?! :)

Food has been pretty sparse. Actually got some groceries today and I have some awesome food coming up in the next two weeks and hopefully some awesome pictures to match. So far on the menu I've got....

Mustard glazed chicken thighs
Broco-cauli chowder with bacon crumbles
Italian style stuffed peppers
Bacon wrapped chicken thighs
Cauliflower mash
Roasted asparagus
Suateed spinach with pine nuts and raisins (no raisins in my portion-21DSD)
Zucchini noodles and bolognese 
Stuffed mushrooms
Green Salad with balsamic vinaigrette 
Steamed brocolli
Crustless quiche with bacon

Man, I'm ready to get cookin'!! All of these recipes are coming from Practical Paleo. An AWESOME new book from Diane Sanfilippo, BS, NC. She is also the maker of the 21 DSD that we are doing right now. Wanna join?? Click the 21 DSD icon on the side of this blog and you will find all the info you need to start!

Also, We will be traveling to a wedding this coming weekend. We will be gone for 3 days I think. Time to take the detox on the road! I will be documenting how I eat while we are out and about. Guess what will be traveling in my purse....You'll have to wait and see. 

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Days 9 and 10 of 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Days 9 and 10
So I fell pretty awesome! The only thing that is kinda bumming me out is that my daughter is sick (the little one). She was up most of the night and she is going to the dr. this morning. :( Poor thing. Anyway, the detox is going good! I have eaten chicken and veggies, lots of salad, eggs and veggies and then last night........the yummiest of all.......Civilized Caveman's crock pot pulled pork! My Fave! 

Here are some pics of the girls helping, as usual. :) "E" is reading the recipe and we are working on measurements! 



First time touching raw meat. She was asking to do it and a little hesitant at the same time. She did a good job!

Oh my! The whole time" E" was helping, "A" kept saying...."my turn yet?!?!" I told her to hold on and her job would be the sauce. But it was just like the long car ride..."are we there yet?",  except it was "my turn yet?" about 7 thousand times non stop! :) I have to work on her cooking skills though. "E" will obey and follow directions to a T, but "A" felt the need to add about 7 TBS of cumin to the sauce. Thank goodness I caught it before she dumped it in the pot! She looks at me confused and says..."but it needed that!"


I would love to show you a beautiful picture of this beautiful pulled pork. But I forgot all about that and just started eating it! It is SO FLIPPIN' YUMMY!! You should try it!

So we get paid tomorrow and I can go grocery shopping and start making more recipes from the manual and maybe even some detox friendly recipes from Practical Paleo!!!! Stay tuned!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Day 7 and 8 of 21 DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Days 7 and 8

I feel great! Seriously! I don't want to stop for some chocolate on the way home...or anything. Well, let me take that back. Walking into starbucks is still tempting! haha! But other than that I feel great. My husband actually commented yesterday about how my body was changing! SWEET! I don't have lots of pictures of food or what I ate cause we are kinda scraping the bottom of the barrel here since grocery day is coming up! haha! I have been eating tuna salad and zucchini pasta with home made spaghetti sauce with grass fed beef. If you make the sauce home made.... 1. it tastes better, and 2. no sugar. Viola! Let me know if you need a great spaghetti sauce recipe cause I got one! Here is a pic of my zucchini noodles. My MIL gave me a julienne peeler and that is SOOO much easier than using a knife like I had been doing! :/ 


I think they are B-e-a-u-ti-ful!! Oh and guess what!?! I finally ate all of the crustless quiche! Man, that stuff lasted forever, but it was yummy. So since I was out of quiche I had to actually cook some thing for breakfast. Here it is in all it's yummy goodness! 


Two pastured eggs cooked in grass fed butter and some sautéed asparagus. I think I'm fixin to eat that again this morning!!

I cannot wait till this detox is over! No, not so I can go and pig out on some chocolate... That is NOT gonna happen. But because I can't wait to have the Tropical Traditions contest for you guys. I LOVE their coconut oil and I can't wait for one of you to win a jar and get to use it for yourself. ALSO, I have an AMAZING idea. Ever since I got my hands on Practical Paleo, I've been drooling over the beautiful pictures of the food in that book. And It will be MY mission (should I choose to accept it, and I DO) to cook my way through that whole book! Ya know, Julie & Julia style! I cannot wait! After looking through the massive book of food, my husband is even pretty excited. And he is NOT paleo! :) 

Anyway, lots of fun stuff coming up folk. I have you all that are detoxing, are doing great! If you need anything just let me know. Remember, Eat Clean, Move Often, and Sleep Well!!

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Days 5 and 6: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Days 5 and 6
I'm feeling great!! I think one reason why being on the detox isn't bothering me so much any more is because I've lost 5 lbs. Un-flippin-heard of for me!! But I'll take it! I feel like my energy is up more than it was at the start of the week. 

This weekend we had two get togethers with friends. The first was a family game night with friends. To this event I brought bacon wrapped sweet potatoes (I didn't eat them, sweet potatoes are NOT detox friendly) and I also brought Paleomg's baby pizza bites.  They were a hit and Paleo friendly. The pizza bites were detox friendly so I chowed down on them! The next get together was game night with our Sunday School class. I didn't bring anything to this one cause we were planning on going out to eat as a little date before hand. But out of 7 different people that we asked to babysit....they. all. said. no. We have pretty good kids ya know!! So matt went and stayed home with the kids and had dinner and brought them over for a couple of hours till they started having a meltdown. Ugh. Anyway they had some awesome looking desserts that the kids sampled. But I had my water. 

My meals the last two days have been. Crustless quiche. (I'm telling ya, it will last a while) tuna on greens with olive oil, roast chicken salad x's 2, and tonight dinner......

Yes, I was HUNGRY! 3 pasture raised eggs cooked in grass fed butter, pan roasted asparagus, and carrot sticks with guacamole. 



Thursday, August 9, 2012

Day 4: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Day 4
Today was a boring day.....Laundry, cleaning....the usual. Although my girls did get a package from their grand-pa today and are having a blast playing with their new toys! Sad to say it was pretty boring on the food front too. Trying to squeeze out everything we have in this house to make it till Sunday, when I can get back to the grocery store. I ate leftover crustless quiche for breakfast, and some grass fed meatballs and a salad for lunch. I had some tuna, greens with some olive oil, and some carrots with guacamole for dinner. I also had a bit of kombucha today. Not a lot, but when I wanted something sweet I just had a couple of sips of that. My husband says it is an acquired taste :) 
I don't really know why I like it....I HATE tea, but really enjoy kombucha. 

I received Practical Paleo today. It is huge and amazing so far. It is FAR more than a cookbook. What I have loved so far is the layout of the book. There are lots of easy to read charts and bullet list. I love both of those!! :) For me, it just makes the information available all in one place and easy to digest and understand.  

This weekend will be interesting dealing with food since we will be eating out, and going to social gathering both on Friday and Saturday. I will overcome!! Wish me luck! 

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Day 3: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.

Day 3
Today wasn't so bad. I started the day off at Crossfit Nomad which was AWESOME as usual! Then came home and had a 21DSD approved protein smoothie for breakfast. We went to chick fil a to meet some friends (which was totally needed) and the girls ate breakfast there while I enjoyed my water. :/ 

I made another recipe from the manual before we left for chick fil a so it would be ready for me to eat for lunch. I made the crustless quiche. I gotta tell ya, I'm not usually a huge egg fan. I basically just like eggs sunny side up with some bacon, not scrambled, not in a fritatta, not an omelette. But the fritatta I made the day before last from the manual and this crustless quiche were fantastic. The quiche especially! Here is what it looked like when it came out of the oven. 

And here is my lunch plate. A chunk of the quiche with some carrot sticks and guacamole. Very yummy lunch!


Thank goodness we are allowed Kombucha, cause I really wanted some today! AND they were on sale at Earth Fare today!!



Dinner was thrown in the crock pot when we got home around noon today. Sliced onion in the bottom, lemon, head of garlic, and salt in the cavity, and spices on top. Cooked on low for 5-6 hours.







 Once that was ready I just threw some asparagus in a pan with some salt and pepper and olive oil for a side. 


So that's it for day 3. I feel really good today. Cravings are subsiding and there is also one thing that has happened that I totally did not expect.....I have lost 3 lbs in 3 days! Now anyone that knows me and my thyroid problems knows I just basically stay at the same weight. I've been this weight or more for the longest. For some reason I decided to get on the scale today and I had lost 3 lbs. I was very surprised and am wondering what will continue to happen. Either way I'm happy with the way I feel. 







Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Day 2: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.


Day 2

So today was a bit tougher than yesterday. I am craving stuff a lot! And not just craving normal stuff, I'm craving stuff that I've never wanted before. Such as breakfast cereal and fruit gummy snacks. What in the world? I have had a slight headache this evening and last. Not sure if that is solely because of this or not. I'm not super hungry though. I was for dinner, but only because we ate about 2 hours later than normal. :/

Today's food was the same as yesterday so I didn't take pics. I had the left over squash fritatta for breakfast. A handful of pecans for a snack. grass fed beef lettuce wraps for lunch and made a salad with the same beef and some guac for dinner. 

I know, not too exciting but the left overs are gone so I have to cook again tomorrow! :) Happy Detoxing....

Monday, August 6, 2012

Day 1: 21DSD

The next 21 days I will be blogging about my adventure doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox. I will posting how I'm feeling, and also about the food I'm eating. I will not be able to post recipes from the program itself. However if you would like those recipes, information, about the program, or would like to join this or up coming 21DSD them clink the link on the side of this page.


Day 1:
So I had a harder time that I expected today. I'm obviously paleo already so I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I think it was mostly mental. Knowing that I couldn't have something if I really wanted it ....well.... frustrated me. Anyway I made it.

Breakfast wasn't too good today. I was rushed and only had some sauteed kale and 1/2 banana.

Lunch was great! I made the squash frittata from the program manual. It was really tasty and quite pretty too. IMHO.



And dinner was pretty much AWESOME! Another recipe from the manual.....grass fed beef lettuce boats.


SO flippin' delicious, and and the cucumber and pepper you see on top of them are part of the cucumber salsa that I whipped up from the manual as well. I didn't think I would like it that much, but I did! My daughter even mentioned how she loved the "cucumber stuff!"