40 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 30 & 31

the moon, duh

I love coincidences. Two days ago, I posted about how I think space is da bomb.  Yesterday, my husband's coworker invited us out to the beach to look for the Pan-STARRs comet. He had a rockin' telescope, and unfortunately, we weren't able to see the comet. But Marcos and I didn't care -- we got to see, in incredible detail: the moon, Jupiter, and Orion's nebula.

Jupiter and it's glorious stripes

AWESOME!!  No complaints from us that we didn't get to see the comet. It was nerdtastic.

Orion's belt and the Orion nebula

Days 30 & 31

So, I have sort of failed in keeping track of what I've eaten yesterday and today. I can tell you that breakfast has been the norm, lunch has been roasted veggies and meat, and dinner has been small both days.  I've had less food for dinner both days, which has been my goal (that I haven't been keeping up with). Because my dinners were smaller, I slept better, and woke up thinner than normal (woohoo!). There isn't a need for large dinners, because your body isn't going to exert much energy in the evening (most days). So why stuff your belly and then pray that your digestive process can get through it all (which it usually can't)? 

But to make up for my lack of food diary, I have one of our onion bread recipes for you. Yay! I think at the end of the challenge, I'll collect all of the recipes I've posted thus far, and make each recipe an individual post. It should make finding them later easier for you (and me).

Onion "Bread" (Paleo, raw-ish)

Ingredients

• 3 large, white onions
• 1 tomato
• 1 cup flaxseed
• 2 cups sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons oregano (plus or minus, to taste)
• 2 tablespoons dried basil (or fresh, it's better!)
• 1 tablespoons tamari

Note: your ingredients can kind of vary here. Sometimes we add cayenne pepper or ghost pepper, to give the batch a kick.  Get creative with your spices and ingredients. Experiment on your own or search other recipes for ideas.

Directions

mushy mess

1. Grind sunflower seeds in food processor.
2. Add ground sunflower seeds, flaxseed, oregano, basil to a large bowl.
3. Remove the outer layers of the onions.
4. Put the first onion in the food processor. Blend that bad boy until it's mush.
5. Add the onion to the large bowl with dry ingredients.
6. Repeat with onion #2, #3, and the tomato. (I find it easier to do them individually, there's no harm in batch processing them.)
7. Add tamari to the large bowl.
8. Mix all ingredients really well. Sample the batch. If you find it needs more of a certain flavor, by all means, add it, you crazy fool!  
9. Spread equal amounts of this mushy mess onto dehydrator sheets. Shape each as you wish (we tend to do circular).  Make sure that there aren't any bare spots and that all of the mixture connects.  
10. Dehydrate on 115 degrees for at least 8 hours. The time will vary based on the thickness of the mixture on each sheet. Ours usually takes 10-11 hours or so.
11. That's it! When finished, store the "bread" in a container. Leaving it out in the open air will allow the moisture back in, and that's counter-productive. 

40 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 18, 19, & 20

Can you say SLACKER?! Busy weekend = no posts. The irony is that I said, in my last post, that my next post would be more exciting. Guess I didn't foresee that my next post would be three days away. I'm see you all survived. Don't worry... this is my longest post in a while. So I feel I've redeemed myself.

If you don't know XKCD.com yet, shame on you.

I've decided to take a risk and become a consumer of two separate companies who have the same unique concept. The first company is called Birchbox and the second company is called Stitch Fix.

40 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 13

I feel like, for the first time in my life, that I am truly, truly happy. I didn't just have this realization today, I think I've been slowly building up to it over the last few months.  Not that I was miserable in the past - sure, there were times - but I don't think I felt like my life made sense. I never felt centered, and I always felt like I was missing "something." Not that I knew what the "something" was. And I think that not knowing lead me on all kinds of paths and had me trying to find that missing piece in many different ways. But I am finally here. I'm where I want to be.  And it is such a good feeling. I didn't even intend for it to happen!

• For starters, I have the most amazing husband. He's the nicest guy in the world. And we get along so well that it's borderline creepy. I often look at him and wonder how I got so lucky.
• I have an amazing family - from my immediate family to my extended family to my in-laws - boy did I luck out there. People say, "you can't pick your family" - and that phrase has never really applied to me. I lucked out to have some of the craziest, most fun people in the world in my family tree.  
• My friends - I have a small group of friends, and honestly, I don't even see them that much any more with all of our crazy lives. But I love them all dearly and am blessed to have them in my life. 
• My health. Rewind to December 2012 and I will forever be thankful for my health. That virus was a fluke, but a great reminder that I should be thankful that I am one healthy chick.

I could go on and on... about my cats, my favorite blogs, Paleo food, and all the other things I'm thankful for... but I'll spare you.  Why am I rambling about these beautiful things in my life?  Because I think a large component of why I am so happy is because I focus on my blessings. Sure, sometimes work is stressful, or I may be in a grumpy mood (usually caused by lack of food).  But then something will happen to remind me of all the greatness going on in my world. I thank the Lord for each day that I have -- it's truly a gift to be here, and I am appreciative for every breath I take.

Okay, too much seriousness there for me. Let's talk food.  What did I eat today? BTW - I'm going start posting recipes at the very bottom of the post. Mixing them in with the Food Diary is just too cluttered.

Day 13

Breakfast

The usual, as usual.

Lunch

Eggplant fries, 1 chicken drumstick, 1 hot Italian sausage. Later, a banana, because I'm a piggy.

Snack

Caramel Pecan Bars oink oink.

Dinner

Leftover pistachio/walnut crusted fish, and some curry. We are suckers for curry in this house.

Dessert

Double Layer Fudge heeeeere piggy piggy. I don't know what's wrong with me today, I ate a ton. Oh well!

Easy Curry Recipe

Ingredients

Your veggies of choice

1 or 2 cans of organic coconut milk (will depend on the quantity of veggies you use)

Cayenne Pepper

Red Pepper Flakes

Curry

Salt

Savory Spice Ghost Pepper Salt (optional... but SO worth it) 

Directions

1. Chop veggies. Tonight, I used red onion, red pepper, 2 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, 1 head of broccoli, 10 mushrooms, 4 carrots, bok choy.
2. Saute veggies in a large pot. I use this huge wok thing. It's awesome. Cook most but not all of the way. I recommend adding veggies in order of difficulty to cook. For example, bok choy is leafy, so it went last.
3. Add coconut milk and spices. I use lots of the hot spices (cayenne, red pepper flakes, ghost pepper salt), but we're nuts. Add at your own risk.
4. Bring the mix to a boil, then reduce to low/simmer and cover. Let cook an additional 10 minutes or so.  
5. Scarf. Have water available if you are a wimp on the spices ;)

40 Day Paleo Challenge - Day 12

Wow. Sometimes I'm impressed with the food that we are able to put together at our house. I hate to brag, but goodness gracious. I ate SO much today, and it was all delicious and Paleo!! Pictures never do it justice, but the flavor is ALL there!

Breakfast
The usual.

Lunch
Walnut and pistachios crusted fish (we did both snapper and flounder), and roasted asparagus.

Walnut and Pistachio Crusted Fish
Ingredients
8 oz or so walnuts
6 oz or so pistachios
Fish of choice
Salt
Black Truffle Salt (optional)
2 eggs (whisked)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Put walnuts and pistachios in a food processor, and let 
3. Process until you achieve a flour-like consistency.  
4. Put the mix onto a plate, and add any spices that you desire (I think we added just a little salt).
5. Coat fish fillets with egg (I dipped them into the egg), then coat both sides of the fish with the walnut/pistachio mix by laying the fillet in the mix.
6. Place fillets onto an oiled baking sheet, and cook per the fish thickness. The snapper and flounder cooked 15 minutes for us.

Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients

Asparagus

Sea salt

Olive Oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place asparagus on baking sheet.
3. Sprinkle some salt and olive oil on top.
4. Put in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Snack
Caramel Pecan Bars from PaleOMG. I think I may have an addiction to this treat.

Dinner
Grilled chicken drumstick, grilled hot Italian sausage, eggplant fries, and salad (mixed greens, grated carrots, grape tomatoes, salt, pepper, Kalamazoo Olive Co.'s Tuscan herb olive oil and balsamic vinegar).

40 Day Paleo Challenge - Days 4 & 5

I feel like all of my posts start with "today was crazy busy" -- but it's true!  Yesterday, got up at 5:45a.m., did an ab and cardio workout, cleaned for 3 hours, went to a bridal shower, went to dinner & the movies with my mother-in-law, and by the time the day was over, it was 10pm. So I apologize for not posting yesterday. I'm sure no one really depends on it, but my goal is to document all food intake for the challenge.

Bride & Groom palm tree and monkeys
from our friend's bridal shower. 

I'll do a combined post for Days 4 & 5.  I'll post what I have had thus far, and update again this evening for Day 5. I'm really digging the scene in my house right now, and like where today is going. Let me share... :)  It's cold here in FL today, so we have a nice fire going right now. We (hubby, in-laws, me) are going to watch a movie while our breakfast settles. Then I'll knock out a full body workout, and then spend the rest of the day with the in-laws. It's shaping up to be a nice day. :)

Day 4

Breakfast

Same as the last 3 days - eggs + veggies, cup of coffee.

Lunch

Ran out of time, only had time to snack on some our blueberry bread (Paleo, don't worry). Fortunately, I was good and didn't have any mimosas, cake, or any of the other food at the bridal shower.

Snack

A piece of the single layer chocolate fudge that I made a few days back. It was the last piece, so I made another batch, true to recipe minus the chocolate chips.

Dinner

Mom-in-law (Mainha) and I went out to dinner before the movies. I had a small piece of steak, broccoli, and a really simple salad (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, no dressing). 

Day 5

Breakfast

Ditto for the last 4 days. No onion bread though.

Snack
Banana... I was getting hungry on our way to lunch.

Lunch
From Cafe Eden inside Abby's Health and Nutrition Store: Thai sweet basil chicken, roasted veggies,  sweet potatoes. Picture right.

Snack
Double-layer fudge minus chocolate chips.

Dinner
A chicken alfredo much like the one on PaleOMG. I'll share my version here.

Bacon Chicken Alfredo
Approximately 4 servings
Ingredients

• 4 strips of bacon
• 1 head of garlic
• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 cauliflower
• 1 broccoli
• 4 or 5 carrots
• 10 mushrooms
• 2 or 3 bell peppers
• 2 cans (14 oz ea?) of organic coconut milk
• 1 leek
• 2 or 3 green onion stalks
• 8 leaves of basil
• Rosemary, thyme, oregano, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper to taste
• 4 zucchini

Prep 

1. I'm weird and like to pre-chop all of my veggies before getting started.  
2. Also, we let the chicken breasts sit in some salt in a bowl for about 30 minutes before grilling. I'm going to omit instructions on grilling the chicken, we timed it so that the chicken was finished as I was finished with the rest of the food.
3. Make zucchini pasta. We use a tool like this. In a large bowl, let pasta'd zucchini sit on top of paper towels. Sprinkle some salt on top. Zucchini is a little water, so we are going to let the salt/paper towel soak up some of the moisture.

Directions

1. Mince garlic and chop bacon into small pieces. 
2. Using a fairly deep pan, saute garlic for about a minute, then add bacon. 
3. When bacon is as you like it (partially crispy for me), remove bacon.
4. Add olive oil if necessary to keep food from sticking, then saute cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, carrots, and bell peppers. Onions would have been nice but we used the rest of our onions to make more raw onion bread.
5. When veggies are well cooked, add coconut milk, leek, green onion, basil, rosemary, thyme, and the rest of the spices. 
6. Bring to a boil, then reduce the temperature. This will help thicken the coconut milk a bit. Another option (that you may have seen with my Paleo Clam Chowder), is to take 1/2 or 3/4 of the mixture, blend it really really really well, and return it to the pot. This will thicken the soup for shizzle.
7. When the grilled chicken is done, chop into small pieces and add to the pasta sauce.
8. Throw some noodles in a bowl, top with a couple scoops of sauce/veggies/chicken. 
9. Scarf!

And just for fun... another photo of Apollo, wrapped up in a blanket, as usual. This was taken Friday while I was working. He has his own computer chair next to mine, and can usually be found there

Fig Balsamic Beef, Zucchini Fries, Fig Balsamic Caprese salad - it's what's for dinner

I need suggestions on how to name my recipe posts. Guess I could just drop the "it's what's for dinner" part. Cuz technically, this will be my lunch tomorrow too.

One week until the 40 Day Paleo Challenge!  Who's excited?!?

We have a new addition to the family.  This is Apollo. Contrary to popular belief, we did not name him after the Greek god of music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, medicine, light, and knowledge (thank you Wikipedia).  He is actually named after Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama in Battlestar Galacatica. nerd alert.

Eggplant fries, sauteed veggies, red grouper - it's what's for dinner

Actually, it's what is for lunch tomorrow. For dinner today, I had leftovers from yesterday. Marcos, my husband, said "it was like an Italian party in my mouth." I made it a little different from Juli's recipe on PaleOMG, but kept it Paleo. My mouth is watering just thinking about that dish.

For dinner tonight, I threw together a medley of dishes based on what we had in the fridge. I know green beans aren't considered true Paleo, but c'est la vie. This meal wasn't extremely difficult nor super creative, but it was delicious, so I figured I'd share.

My pictures aren't great, but I'll get better at photographing my food. Promise.

Eggplant Fries
Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 egg
• Paleo "breadcrumbs":
• almond flour
• garlic powder
• oregano
• salt
• pepper

Directions

Paleo Clam Chowder Recipe

So, I have a few new favorite things to do regarding recipes:

• find Paleo recipes and try them
• take recipes and attempt to make them Paleo

(Notice a trend there?)  As you've probably seen in very recent posts - since I don't have many posts to begin with - I love PaleOMG. Juli is hilarious and really knows her way around the kitchen. I guarantee that if you cook any of her (Paleo!) recipes, you will be a happy person. 

I'm trying to focus on becoming more and more Paleo. To learn more about Paleo, or "primal" eating, check out Mark's Daily Apple. And don't get too sucked in to surfing his site, as I often do. Make sure to come back here and check out my super awesome yummy easy one-pot Paleo Clam Chowder!!!