Wednesday, July 31, 2013

This week's menu! Paleo all the way!

For this next week, we're doing just paleo, no cheat days or anything. At least for me. It's Teddy Beast's b-day on Tuesday, and he said he's going to eat whatever he wants on it.

Those meat wraps are really pretty awesome, just like a regular wrap sandwich, just without the bread part ;)



Saturday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Rotisserie Chicken (buy at Harmon's before work)
Green salad (buy at Harmon's before work)

Dinner:
Meat Wraps
  recipe here

Sunday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Meat Wraps
  recipe here
Paleo Sushi
  recipe here

Dinner:
Steak
Sausages
Grilled Veggies (zucchini + shrooms)

Monday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Spinach Frittata
  recipe here, it is in Czech, but you can get the drift through googlelate

Dinner:
Bacon sausage explosion
  basically a bacon weave filled with ground meat, some cheese (not 100% paleo), and veggies

Tuesday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Shrimp Scampi
  recipe here
Zucchini noodles

Dinner:
Meatloaf
  recipe here
Baked Sweet Potatoes

Wednesday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Meat Wraps
  recipe here
Paleo Sushi
  recipe here

Dinner:
Ribs
Assorted veggie matter

Thursday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Meat Wraps
  recipe here
Paleo Sushi
  recipe here

Dinner:
We'll figure it out when we get there

Friday:
Breakfast:
Fruit Salad
Granola
   recipe here
Coffee

Lunch:
Meat Wraps
  recipe here
Paleo Sushi
  recipe here

Dinner:
Texas Chili
  recipe here, we just use about 3-4 lbs of meat total

Snacks:
leftovers
fruit
cashews
almonds
  do some spicy roasted ones, recipe here

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Paleo Banana Bread, Take 2

Last time, the banana bread was tasty, but it didn't come out quite right, and was greasy. This time around, I've cut down on the fat, and also added some chopped walnuts and pecans.

Paleo Banana Bread, Take 2

4 ripe Bananas
4 Eggs
1/4 c Butter
1 T Coconut Oil
1 T Cinnamon
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Vanilla
1/2 c Almond flour

Oven 350 F

1. Mash together bananas, butter, oil, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and vanilla.
2. Stir in eggs.
3. Mix in almond flour.
4. Pour in greased loaf pan.
5. Bake at 350 F for 35 to 45 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Weekly Update- Life is Busy.

Life has gotten super crazy lately. Teddy Beast is working full time, and on an afternoon shift. I currently have two jobs and a full load of classes. Pretty much the only time we see each other is at the gym, which is nice. I used to loathe the gym, but given the option of never seeing Teddy Beast or going to the gym, I'd rather go to the gym. It is well worth paying for the membership to keep our relationship healthy.

The Paleo diet is going well. Teddy Beast is still doing mostly low carb, but has added in tons of fruit. I'm just happy to see him eating more than bacon, sausage, eggs, and steak. I've slowly been getting him to try more fruits and veggies, and so far, the only ones he likes are the sweeter ones. I never realized that someone could be this picky about food! He reminds me of my siblings and their issues with the texture of foods.

On another note, I think I'm gluten intolerant, on top of everything else. For cheat days and even the day after, I just feel terrible! I've tried doing a cheat day gluten free, and I didn't have near as bad of stomach pains after. After doing a lot of reflection, I've decided to just cut out "cheat" days altogether. Most places we go out to eat do have options for Paleo. Now, I know it's not going to be organic or really good quality of meat, but it will be better for me. If any of you are just feeling like crap all the time, instead of an elimination diet, I'd try the Paleo for a few weeks and reassess how you're feeling. I never realized I was constantly in so much pain until it was suddenly gone one day.

Anywho, hope you all are have a wonderful day!


Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

I decided it would be a great idea to put my Blueberry cheesecake scentsy blocks in today. And it created this gigantic craving for some blueberry muffins. I went digging around online, and decided to go with a simple recipe.

 The verdict? Next time I'm just going to add in some cinnamon, and a bit of cream of tarter and turn them into snickerdoodles.


Paleo Blueberry Muffins
(adapted from living healthy with chocolate)

1/2 c Almond flour
1/2 c Coconut flour
1/8 t Baking Soda
2 T Honey
1/2 c Water
2 T Coconut Oil, melted
1 Egg
1/4 c Dried Blueberries

Oven 350 F

1. Let dried blueberries soak in 1/2 c water for 30 min.
2. Whisk together honey, blueberries and soaking water, coconut oil, and egg.
3. Stir in baking soda.
4. Stir in flours. It will resemble cookie dough.
5. Fill muffin cups completely, it won't rise up over the top.
6. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Paleo Banana Bread, Take 1

We went to a family reunion the other day. One of my aunts brought this amazing banana bread. Teddy Beast told me I had to find the recipe. Well, I found one, and it looked super easy to change into a paleo version. Why a paleo version? Because cheat days come only once a month.

The conclusion of this version? Cut out half the butter next time. It ended up being too greasy to set up properly. But it still tasted amazing, kind of like a banana bread pudding.



Paleo Banana Bread
(adapted from our paleo life)

4 very ripe Bananas
4 Eggs, seperated
1/2 c Butter
1/4 c Coconut Oil
1/2 c Almond Flour
1 T Cinnamon
1 t Baking Soda
1 t Baking Powder
1 t Vanilla
pinch Salt

350 F Oven

1. Soften butter and coconut oil.
2. Separate eggs. Add yolks to butter and oil, keep whites separate.
3. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, set aside.
4. Add bananas, almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and salt to butter and oil mixture. Use a potato masher or whisk to combine well.
5. Gradually fold egg whites into batter. I did 4 additions.
6. Spread in greased loaf pan.
7. Bake at 350 F for 30-45 minutes. It's done when the toothpick comes out clean.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Caveman Diet and New Job!

This last month, Teddy Beast and I decided to try out the caveman diet. The 2 second version of this diet is you eat meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, and some seeds. That's it. Teddy Beast was super worried the first few weeks that it would undo all of his work with the no-carb diet in the last year. Apparently he's been feeling a lot better on it, and he's still losing the weight, so it's a win-win.

The new diet has been a huge struggle, mostly because we've had no stove for 2 weeks. We keep talking to the management, and they keep saying they only have one maintenance guy. Yeah, likely story. Probably because no other maintenance guys will work for them because of crappy they treat people. Sorry about the rant, I just want a stove so I have some sort of quick option for food other than the crockpot or grilling.

I got a second job at Harmon's on 8th north, and I'm super looking forward to it. It means my schedule is going to be super crazy, but it's money. As much as I love New Grains, they are paying just enough to make ends meet.

Teddy Beast and I have been going to the gym at least 4 times a week for a few weeks now. Teddy Beast has goals, just to lose the weight. I've been looking for some motivation, and now I think I've found it. We're looking to do a 5k in September, either the Dirty Dash or the Color Me Rad. They both look like a lot of fun, it's just a choice of running around UVU, or running through mud. Either way, I'm super excited.

And here's a picture of Teddy Beast cooking the other week, just because I can.

Recpie: Season Salt Mix

I've never been a huge fan of seasoning salt, for the plain and simple fact that I don't like salt all that much. This Seasoning Mix is an all purpose one that works on pretty much everything, and it does have a little bit of heat.

Mix the ingredients together in a jar, and that's it!

2 1/2 T Paprika
2 T Salt
1 T Black pepper (ground)
1 T Onion powder
1 t Cayenne
1 T Oregeno
1 T Thyme (finely chopped or ground)

Raw Paleo Vegan Cherry Chocolate Brownies

I've been craving brownies something fierce lately, so I found this super easy recipe. All you need is a sturdy food processor, and about 5 minutes of actual time.



Raw Paleo Vegan Cherry Chocolate Brownies
(adapted from Out To Lunch Creations)

1 1/2 c Dried Cherries
2 c Walnuts
1 c Cocoa Powder
1/4 c Dried Dates

Soak dried fruit in water to cover for an hour.
Put walnuts in food processor. Pulse until you have a mixture resembling cookie crumbs. Remove from processor and set aside.
Put dried fruit in processor, reserving soaking liquid. Process until a smooth paste forms.
Add in half of the cocoa powder until incorporated. Add in remaining cocoa powder. Add reserved liquid 1 T at a time if mixture becomes to thick.
Stir together walnut crumbs and fruit mixture, either in processor or by hand.
Press into an 8x8 pan or 8 inch pie crust.
Freeze 1-2 hours min.
Then cut into bars to serve, or roll into balls.

Yields: about 10 1 inch servings

Friday, July 5, 2013

Paleo Peach BBQ Sauce

With the Paleo diet, more than anything, I miss quick and easy meals. With our stove being broken right now, the closest thing we have to a 15 minute dinner is going outside and grilling something. While a freshly grilled steak is amazing every few days, every day it just gets old. I ran across this recipe a while ago while looking for "clean" (ie organic) BBQ sauce recipes. We tried it out today, and OMG! It was worth every penny! Teddy Beast approves, and says it tastes more like a Dijon mustard BBQ sauce than a tomato based one would.



Paleo Peach BBQ Sauce
(adapted from Canning Homemade!)

4 Peaches, diced (peeled or not, your preference)
1/2 Bell pepper diced, any color but Green
1 T Onion Powder
1 T Garlic, minced
1/2 c + 2 T Maple Sugar (or Honey, or Coconut Sugar, or Maple Syrup)
1/4 c + 2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
1 t Worcestershire Sauce
2 t Chili Flakes
1 t Mustard Powder
1 t Salt

Add everything to a crock pot, cook on High for 4-6 hours.
Stir every 10 minutes until there's enough liquid to cover peaches; then stir about every hour or so.
After peaches are tender and mostly cooked down, turn off crock pot and let cool for 30 minutes.
Blend smooth.
Store in an airtight container.

Yield: About 2 1/2 cups