Another Hijacking :)

Hey readers, Jody, here! Yep, I hijacked Alyssa's blog again, but I have a good reason...

 AVOCADO STUFFED HAMBURGERS

The other day I was craving sun-dried tomatoes.  The only way I ever have them is on chicken breast with goat cheese from Salt Grass Steakhouse. (sad right?!) So, I started searching for another recipe that would use sun dried tomatoes.  I found this one and HAD to try it...

A: I am a freak about anything avocado and B: It had the sun dried tomatoes...score!

I made a few "tweaks" to the recipe in normal Jody fashion, can't follow all the rules, but try to stay close enough to stay out of trouble ;) For me, breaking the recipe slightly was a WIN.  I didn't have any bacon fat to drizzle over the top so I used goat cheese crumbles as my topping. Silver Goat Chev re Cheese is my favorite brand. My sun dried tomatoes were packaged in oil.. but I washed them with H20, dried with a paper towel then chopped into fine pieces.  Mashed up with avocado and lemon juice from a fresh lemon. TASTY!  When I was chopping the tomatoes my mouth was watering.. the smell delish and meaty almost.  I made the patties really thin put as much stuffing as I could possibly fit then smashed the other patty on top.  I used my indoor grill pan and cooked the burgers on medium heat for 5 minutes a side (my huz and I both like ours a little more medium than well)   WIN ~ WIN ~ WIN.  If you eat Paleo.. hell if you eat, make this one!

Ingredients:

• 2 Lbs Grass Fed Ground Beef from the Awesome US Wellness Meats
• 2 Avocados
• 1 Cup Sun dried tomatoes, chopped NO OIL
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 2 Tbsp Black Pepper
• 2 Tbsp Sea Salt
• Bacon Fat (Optional)

Process:

1. Preheat your grill to medium-medium high heat
2. Put your ground beef in a large mixing bowl with your black pepper, 1 Tbsp of your sea salt, and your zest of one lemon
3. Mix well and then using your hands form into thin patties all the same size, you need them thin because you will be using two of them to make one patty
4. In another mixing bowl combine your avocados, sun dried tomatoes, lemon juice, and the remaining tbsp of sea salt and mash and mix well to get as smooth as you like
5. Place your avocado mixture on the bottoms of half of the burgers ensuring you leave room to seal the burgers without it leaking out
6. Put your other patty over the top of your mixture and pinch the edges of your burgers together to seal all the way around
7. Now go out and grill to your liking. I normally do about 6-8 Minutes per side on my grill but yours may be different. Ensure you cook evenly on both sides of the burger or you will end up with an undercooked and an overcooked side
8. While grilling, I drizzle my burgers with bacon grease and it adds an amazing flavor
9. When done grilling, allow your burgers to rest for 10 minutes and then serve. You can use the rest of your avocado mixture to top your burgers with and go to town

  Recipe and photo were taken from this fantastic website!  Please check it out. 

Chicken Satay with Sweet & Spicy Cole Slaw

Y'all - this was so good. MAKE IT. Tonight!

I took 2 chicken breasts and cut them up (while raw) into cubes about this size. Then I lightly doused them in Bragg Liquid Aminos put the pieces in a pan with a little olive oil and a little coconut oil (for flavor). The best thing about cooking chicken this way is time - it easily cuts your time in half.

While the chicken sauteed, I made the sauce as well as the cole slaw.

The recipe for the sauce was adapted from HERE.  I used my regular Liquid Aminos instead of coconut aminos. Note: this is derived from soy but is FAR better than soy sauce. You can read about the product here.

Sunflower Sauce (I halved this recipe for just the 2 chicken breasts): 

1/2 Cup Sunflower seed butter 
1 Cup coconut milk 
Juice of 1 lime or 2 Tbsp lime juice 
2 Tbsp Coconut Aminos (I used Bragg Liquid Aminos) 
1 Tsp Freshly ground ginger 
2 Garlic cloves chopped 
1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes 
Combine all ingredients. 

Sweet & Spicy Cole Slaw: 
Note: I used the pre-shredded container of cabbage/carrots from Whole Foods. I highly recommend doing this.
3 cups shredded cabbage 
2 carrots - shredded
2 Tbsp yellow mustard 
3 - 4 Tbsp raw honey
1 - 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar 
1 pinch of cayenne pepper (leave this out if serving kids) 
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients. 

The sunflower sauce is like peanut sauce you'd get at an Asian restaurant. When the chicken was cooked through, I poured it straight into the pan with the chicken to warm it a little.

The slaw is so light and has a kick to it. I love that you can still have cole slaw without having to use mayo (the honey acts as a binding agent).  

This entire meal took 15 minutes! Gotta love that. Happy Eating Friends!

Dining Out!

So it's been a while since I've blogged and many of you have been asking me about updating. I really am going to try to be a better blogger! All I can say is that it's HARD to work 11 - 12 hour days on top of a 2 hour round trip commute and make it to the gym, every little league game, and the grocery store all while being a fun wife and step mom and appropriately grooming oneself. This brings me to dining out...which CAN be done in a paleo friendly way! If you have an arsenal of ideas, there is no excuse for eating a hot dog at the baseball park.

Salads are an obvious choice, but they come with the dressing dilemma. I'm not going to tell you I don't like ranch dressing. I LOVE it. I was born and raised in Texas, so it's kind of in my blood. That said, I usually save it for cheat days. If you load your salad with all kinds of other paleo friendly items, you really don't need dressing. If you're ordering a salad and realize there is nothing left after you've removed the cheese, croutons, and dressing, look at the other entree salads or items on the menu. Chances are you can steal ingredients from those and add them to what you're ordering. Don't be afraid to customize your order - you're paying for it! Note: I usually try to eat the meat first, that way I'm not overloading on carbs and leaving protein on my plate.

Example 1: LaMadeline Wild Field Salad with chicken, sans dressing and cheese, add strawberries and chopped pecans

Example 2: Zoe's Kitchen Chicken Chicken Kabobs, no rice, double salad! If you strip the kabobs onto your salad, you get the oil and spices from the chicken and cherry tomatoes as dressing.

Example 3: BJ's Brewhouse Seared Ahi Salad, no crispy wontons or onion strings. If you pick up a piece of peppered tuna or avocado with every forkful of lettuce, you forget about the rice wine vinegar dressing sitting next to you. 

 Another great choice is a burger, sans cheese, mayo, ketchup and obviously the bun. You can order a burger anywhere, and again, you can pile on the paleo friendly items for flavor! Some items you may want to add to your burger are:

Bacon 

Tomato

Lettuce

Avocado

Fried Egg

Sauteed Onions 

Sauteed Mushrooms 

Artichoke Hearts

Sun Dried Tomatoes 

Yellow Mustard

This is one of my favorites, from Cafe Express. The California Burger (I get mine with turkey) has artichokes, avocado, and sun dried tomatoes, and it is G-O-O-D! I usually order mine with sweet potato fries. I can't help myself. I know, bad example.

How about mexican food? Staying on track is easy if you ask the waiter not to bring chips and forego the queso. If you're like me, it is SO painful to sit and watch everyone eat chips and queso, especially when you're starving. One way to remedy this is to order as soon as you sit down. We pretty much always order fajitas, sans tortillas and use the guacamole, salsa, and onions for extra flava. Yes, flava. 

Now - on to chinese food. This is hard, because I loooove chinese food. Have any of you had the crab puff at Kappa in Pearland? It is amazing. However, it's deep fried and full of sugar. So...the best thing to order, in my opinion, is steamed chicken or shrimp with vegetables and no mystery sauce. In place of the mystery sauce, Ryan and I order sides of table mustard to add spice and flavor. Warning; a little goes a long way! 

 

Note: It's always a good idea to eat with a Shape Magazine sitting on the table.

I'll leave you with a few other random examples. 

Saltgrass - Brazos Chicken (sun dried tomatoes and {optional} goat cheese, sub the mashed potatoes with a baked sweet potato or steamed veggies (ask for NO butter on the veggies) 

Escalante's - Mexico City Salad sans dressing, ordered with the larger portion of broiled salmon

Cracker Barrel - Eggs n' Meat (for breakfast)

Any sushi place - sashimi with lots and lots of wasabi

Update: after posting this, I went to Jason's Deli for lunch and ordered the following: Amy's Turkey O - no bread, cheese, or onions, *double meat*, sub veggies for chips. Granted, by doubling the sliced turkey you're adding sodium, but by taking away the sodium from the cheese and bread I'm thinking it remains a superior choice. It was actually really good! I dipped my fork in stone ground mustard for a little seasoning.

Happy Ordering, Friends!

Guest Post from Jody: Finding My Inner Paula!

Everyone knows Alyssa is a HUGE fan of Paula Deen.  Alyssa found her inspiration in Paula and started her journey in learning how to cook.  (right, Paula to Paleo...I know!)

Hi, I'm Jody and I am finding my inspiration in learning how to cook in Alyssa, my best friend.

 

We work out at the same CF gym religiously and believe in eating healthy and taking care of our bodies.   Alyssa, started cooking Paleo at her home about a year ago.  I was a little bit slower on jumping on the Paleo band wagon. One, I LOVE food... this is not an understatement.  I believe food is my friend, and the idea of giving up my beloved white grains and sugar...well it seemed impossible to live that way.  I was completely wrong.  After two years of Cross fitting I am finally at the point in my life, and my age for that matter, that I have to do more than just work out to stay at the level of fitness I want to achieve.  Alyssa, started pinning recipes she was making on pinterest and posting what her and Ryan were eating on FB. I have to admit, it caught my attention.  So I started dabbling in cooking.  Back up for one minute, while I love food, I don't cook ...ANYTHING... EVER.  So for me this is all new territory.  Surprisingly, I am really good at it, for the most part.

I found a strawberry muffin recipe on pinterest the other day I was dying to try.

The first round was terrible!  But I thought what would Alyssa do??  I had enough batter to make a second batch so I adjusted the recipe by adding Ghee (one of Alyssa's, grocery list must haves) you can find in the ethnic section of your local grocer.  It is organic, clarified butter you can use in place of butter in any cooking situation..I remembered Alyssa telling me it made dishes rich and gooey so I thought I would try it.  The second batch was absolutely delicious, melt in your mouth perfect little muffins that you don't have to butter!

You can find the recipe HERE. 

I modified the recipe to make it 'more' paleo by using coconut flour instead of all purpose; coconut milk and coconut oil.  The strawberries were hand picked out of my Dad's garden.  YUMMY!

So, since Alyssa has sparked my creativity and been my inspiration to start cooking healthier "practical Paleo" foods, I am proud to announce I have made my own breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past few weeks.  I am feeling incredible, my clothes are fitting better ( loose) and I feel more energized and stronger in my workouts. Big thanks to Alyssa for starting this blog and I look forward to cooking more yummy Paleo recipes together. 

Before I leave you tonight I want to share another recipe I found on www.100daysofrealfood.com  Seriously these are the BEST pancakes I have ever had and my daughter, a picky two year old, can't get enough of them. 

2 cups whole- wheat King Arthur's organic white whole wheat flour (you could use coconut flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cup milk ( I used coconut milk)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted ( I used ghee)
2 ripe bananas, mashed

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Make a well (hole) in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the honey, eggs, milk and 2 T of melted butter/ghee.  Whisk together thoroughly, do not overmix.

Gently fold the mashed bananas into the batter with a spatula.

Heat a griddle over medium- high heat. Swirl enough ghee on pan until it is well coated. Add pancake batter using a soup ladle.

When the pancakes have begun to brown on the bottom, flip them and cook other side.

Serve with warm 100% Maple syrup. 

You can freeze leftovers!



Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Make no mistake - it is CRUNCH TIME people. It's already 90 degrees out and I think it's safe to say we're into swimsuit season. How did this happen so quickly?

If you feel like you just can't live without something sweet, make these. These are a big hit in my house every time. If you're not huge on coconut, I think you would be safe leaving it out. As for the coconut flour - I can't really taste it. You could also add nuts to these if you like.

Note: They're going to be a little drier than regular chocolate chip cookies, but in my opinion they are better the next day. I've heard them described as "chewy" but in a good way.

 Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Coconut Flour
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
• 1/2 Cup Raw Honey (or natural sweetener of your choice)
• 4 Omega 3 eggs
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla extract
• 1/8 Tsp sea salt
• 1/2 Cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 Cup of Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. In a large bowl, combine coconut oil, raw honey, eggs, vanilla extract, and sea salt. (To make your life easier, in a small bowl on the side, combine the raw honey and coconut oil and melt in the microwave before mixing it in)
3. Add in your coconut flour.
4. Stir in the shredded coconut and chocolate chips.
5. On parchment lined baking sheets, drop heaping tablespoons of cookie batter.(Ensure you form them to look like the cookies you want for a final product as these do not rise or spread like conventional cookies, which also means you can place more on a baking sheet without worrying about them touching) 
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Remove from the oven, transfer to a cooling rack and then enjoy with a nice cup of coconut milk.

These are from my favorite - Civilized Caveman! The link to this recipe is RIGHT HERE.

Enjoy!

Xo,
Alyssa

Paleo Bread!

This recipe is from Elena's Pantry.  I really liked it because the almond flour made it a little sweet.

The consistency is a lot like banana bread/pumpkin bread, but I find that if you a) toast it in the toaster
or b) grill it in a pan or in a panini press, it really tastes and feels like you're eating REAL bread!

I liked a small slice of this bread with breakfast - with runny eggs and turkey bacon stacked on top.

Paleo Bread

• 1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• ¼ cup golden flaxseed meal
• ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 5 eggs
• ¼ cup coconut oil (I would recommend melting the oil in the microwave first)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1. Place almond flour, coconut flour, flax, salt and baking soda in a food processor (I used a hand mixer rather than pull out all of the food processor's parts.)
2. Pulse ingredients together
3. Pulse in eggs, oil, honey and vinegar
4. Pour batter into a greased 7.5" x 3.5" Magic Line Loaf Pan (I greased with coconut oil.)
5. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes
6. Cool and serve

The link to this recipe is RIGHT HERE.  Yay for bringing bread back!

A Few Snack Ideas

If I don't eat every 2 hours I get SO panicked. In order to keep up with consistent and intense workouts, I feel it necessary to "refuel" often. My regularly scheduled snacks look a little like this...

Pre-portioned pistachios - say that 5 times fast. These handy little packets are great because they keep me from eating 200 pistachios at once.

 

Larabars! We buy Larabars in bulk when they go on sale at Kroger for $1.00 each (normally $1.50). Last time we stocked up on Larabars Ryan bought 91 (yes, ninety one) at once. They are DELICIOUS, all natural, and grain-free. My favorite flavors are:

Lemon Bar

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Coconut Cream Pie

Carrot Cake

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Ginger Snap (tastes like Christmas)

Some of my favorites contain peanuts...whatever. I eat green beans too, which are technically off limits. Again, whatever - personal choice.

I usually allow myself one piece of fruit a day. I love an apple with almond butter. I find it's best to either buy the pre-portioned packets and use half {see above} or measure a tablespoon of almond butter. I get a little carried away otherwise. Seeing a trend here?

Carrots dipped in guacamole...not near as good as with a tortilla chip, *sigh*. But - you do get the crunch factor and this snack provides just enough good fat, in my humble/non-expert opinion. I love Whole Foods spicy guacamole from the produce section.


I will post again when I mix up my snack game. For now, these are working for me!