Thanksgiving

Holidays can be tough when you are participating in the paleo challenge. For many of us, food can sometimes be the enemy. Food should be delighted and enjoyed, it should be a time for family and to celebrate. You do not have to explain to your family what paleo is, or even tell them that you are participating in the challenge. Prepare these recipes ahead of time and ‘wow’ your family with how tasty eating healthy can really be!

Roasted Turkey in Light Orange and Apple Brine

Thanksgiving Caramelized Onion & Sausage Stuffing

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

Naturally Sweetened Orange Apple Cranberry Sauce

Sweet Potato Casserole

Umami Gravy

Paleo Gravy

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Bacon

Paleo Green Bean Casserole

Paleo Dinner Rolls

Bacon and Chive Sweet Potato Biscuits

Paleo Sweet Potato Pie

Paleo Apple Tart

Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Pumpkin Pie with Walnut Crust

Back to School

School is right around the corner and that means packing lunch for the kiddos, or maybe even yourself! I found these great Packed Lunch ideas that are easy to make and look delicious! So invest in some Tupperware, and start your lunch planning!

After a lifetime of casually tossing PB&Js, Fritos, and Diet Cokes in your lunchbox, though, it can be challenging to figure out what to pack now that you’re paying closer attention to your midday eats.

Need some inspiration? Not too long ago, I put together a series of posts to spark ideas for kids’ school lunches — but who says you can’t pack similar lunchboxes for yourself?

If you have prosciutto-wrapped frittata muffins handy, pack ‘em!

Made some Paleo Mayonnaise lately? Whip up a quick chicken salad for lunch!

If you’ve got some Whole30-friendly high-quality, sugar-free sausage (available from U.S. Wellness Meats, or just make your own), grab some zucchini and a julienne peeler — you can have zoodles and meatballs for lunch!

Looking for a simple, no-cook solution? Just wrap some crudités in slices of roast beef, and pack it with some fruit!

Who said healthy lunches are hard to make? The possibilities are endless.

Sweet Potato Orange Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 Large Sweet Potatoes, mine were 1 lb a piece
• 2 Carrots, peeled and sliced thin
• 1 Celery stalk, sliced thin
• 1 Orange, zested and juiced, should get you 1/2 Cup Fresh Juice
• 2 Tbsp Bacon Fat, melted
• 2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
• 2 Cups of Chicken Stock
• Sea Salt to taste
• Coconut Milk (Optional in soup, and used to garnish)

Process:

1. Preheat your oven to 425 Degrees Fahrenheit, poke holes in your sweet potatoes with a fork and place on aluminum foil in your oven for ~45-60 minutes or until your sweet potatoes are cooked through and able to pierce with a fork
2. Preheat your 3 quart sauce pan over medium heat and add your bacon fat
3. Add your carrots, celery, thyme, and sea salt to your bacon fat and cover, reduce heat to low and let your veggies steam in the bacon fat until your veggies are soft
4. Your sweet potatoes should be done now, scrape out all the flesh of the potato and add to your pan as well as your chicken stock and orange zest
5. Cover and keeping heat on low let simmer for 15-20 minutes
6. Stir in your orange juice and then using a blender or your immersion blender make the soup happen
7. If you would like your soup creamy, add between 1/2 – 1 Cup full fat coconut milk and mix well
8. Transfer your soup to a serving bowl, sprinkle with some fresh thyme leaves and top with some coconut milk
9. Enjoy

http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/sidessoupsdrinks/sweet-potato-orange-soup-for-boombox-crossfit/

Apples!

In light of our field trip this Sunday to Apple Works, Let’s talk about apples!  Not only do apples taste awesome, they provide nutrients you can’t deny!  All in all, remember that your fruits and vegetables all contain vitamins and minerals that fight for your body; when you are paleo and eat them at every meal, just think of how your body is working hard to help you thrive!!

Vitamins and Minerals

The vitamins and minerals found in a medium apple help maintain a healthy immune system, tissues and bones. An apple is a good source of vitamin C, providing 14 percent of your daily recommended intake. Vitamin C helps in wound healing and fighting the damage free-radicals can cause in the body. Free-radicals are thought to play a role in the development of heart disease and cancer. Apples also contain vitamin A, calcium and iron.

Fiber

A medium unpeeled apple provides you with 4 grams of dietary fiber, which is 18 percent of the recommended daily allowance in a 2,000-calorie diet. Apples are a good source of soluble fiber, which might help lower your blood cholesterol levels and in turn might reduce your risk of developing heart disease. In addition, the website Science News reported in 2010 that researchers at the University of Illinois found that soluble fiber significantly boosted the ability of mice to fight infections.

Phytochemicals

Researchers from Cornell University reported in the “Nutrition Journal” that regularly consuming apples can help maintain overall health and might prevent disease. The flavonoids and other phytochemicals in apples have a high level of antioxidant activity that has been found to aid in lowering cholesterol levels. The researchers further noted that studies show good evidence for the ability of the phytochemicals in apples to reduce the risk for heart disease, asthma, type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

 

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/535566-nutritional-components-of-apple/#ixzz26NYzK4m7

Storing your Apples

When you purchase apples, put them in your fridge to stay cool.  They will turn mushy/spongy in texture when you leave them out.  Wash them when you’re ready to eat them, versus when you first get them.

Awesome ways to eat your Apples

Breakfast: Over-night Breakfast Cobbler (in light of my and Jen R.’s conversation today about awesome ways to use the crock pot)

Lunch: Spinach and Apple salad with Warm bacon dressing (OMG)

Dinner: Basalmic Roasted Turkey with Apple Stuffing. (Try something new to prepare for this holiday season!)

Ginger Lime Chicken Bites

I found this recipe from Paleo Magazine and haven’t tried it yet, but it looks amazing.  I’m eager to make it this week.  Is there a recipe you’ve been wanting to make? Bring your list when we go shopping after our meeting today!

Ingredients

Chicken:
1 TBSP coconut oil
3 boneless, skinless organic chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

Sauce:
Juice of 1 organic lime
2 TBSP coconut aminos
1 TBSP olive oil
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TBSP raw, organic honey
1 tsp granulated onion

Topping:
Chopped green onions
Sesame seeds

Process

1. Mix sauce ingredients in a small bowl.  Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add chicken.  Cook chicken, stirring occasionally, until browned and almost done.  About 5 minutes.
3. Add sauce to skillet, turn heat to low and simmer, uncovered for another 5 minutes, or until chicken pieces are cooked through.
4. Top chicken bites with chopped green onions and sesame seeds.  Enjoy!

Olive Oil Baked Shrimp!

 

 

 

This recipe looks so yummy! Stop making the same old boring thing for lunch and try this Great Idea!!!

Summertime Side Dish

This was a recipe found in a free take-away magazine from Bloomingfoods!  This is an awesome idea for a summer-time side dish. You’ll look through the ingredients and notice it’s not all paleo friendly.  Your next step shouldn’t be throwing the recipe away, but replace them with paleo-friendly ingredients.   This recipe includes sugar and canola oil.  You can replace sugar with honey (use less, and add to your taste) and olive oil.

Egg and Pesto Stuffed Tomatos

It’s that season to use up the thousands of tomatoes growing in your garden.  Try this recipe! I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m salivating just thinking about it!

Ingredients

• 6 large tomatoes;
• 6 eggs;
• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil;
• 6-8 romaine or boston lettuce leaves;
• 1 garlic clove;
• ¼ cup fresh parsley;
• ½ tsp sea salt;
• 3/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper;

Preparation

1. Begin by making the pesto. Tear the romaine leaves into small pieces. Add the romaine, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and olive oil to a blender or food processor. Process well until you obtain a pesto consistency.
2. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
3. Remove the core of tomatoes by cutting out a large cone from the top of each one with a paring knife. Using a spoon, remove all the pulp and seeds.
4. Place the tomatoes, face up, in a 9” baking dish. Fill each with the same amount of pesto; however, be sure to leave enough room for the egg as well. Crack an egg into each tomato.
5. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste, place in the preheated oven and allow to bake for approximately 20 minutes.

P.S. Be sure to check out the Paleo Recipe Book. It’s a cookbook I’ve created to help you cook the best food for your health. It contains over 370 recipes and covers absolutely everything you need.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a major fan of pesto. Here are some options for more pesto recipes

Parsley pesto

basil pesto (w/chicken dinner)

Mediterranean Mint and Parsley Pest0

Integrate Paleo in your Lifestyle

I get this often, “I’m trying to eat Paleo, but I’m hungry all of the time.”  I’m not a nutritionist.  I’m only providing information that I’ve read and believe, including some tips from my personal experiences.  Before Paleo, I struggled with being hungry within a couple of hours of eating and craved sugary foods in the afternoon primarily around the time when I “hit a wall” in which I became extremely tired and grumpy.  I always felt bloated. For up to 8 hours after eating, my lunch/dinner wouldn’t digest right, and I could feel the food sitting at the back of my throat. In addition, I didn’t have a regular bathroom schedule.  I never thought that grains are low in vitamins and minerals or that they were the root of all my problems.

When I decided to take on Paleo, I also realized I was hungry all the time.   I wouldn’t eat much veggies with my meals, and never at breakfast, so I relied on paleo snacks throughout the day.  It was impertinent that I increase vegetables and that was a challenge. Vegetables used to make me gag, really.  But, I just kept truckin exploring new vegetables and googling how to cook them.  A year later I’m eating a variety of veggies. I CRAVE them. I LOVE them. When you stop eating sugar, salty, and processed foods your buds will experience the real flavor of vegetables.  When I eat a sweet potato now, it’s perfectly sweet.  The other day I added a marshmallow ( why? I have no idea. It was dumb.), my dinner was so unsatisfying and the bold sweetness didn’t allow me to enjoy my brussel sprouts or chicken.  I guess I do these things to live and learn.  I learned that my meal was more satisfying without it.

You’re hungry all the time, too? Usually it’s because you aren’t eating enough, and perhaps, you are eating a meal that is unbalanced in veggies, fruit, proteins, and fats.  Sometimes I hear or read that you’ll have just a salad or egg whites and an orange.  Salads pre-packaged with meat usually include about 1 oz. of meat (NOT ENOUGH for you).  I have experience with the Zone Diet prior to Paleo and that helps me determine how much meat (3-4oz), veggies (usually 2-3 different veggies and servings that I can fit in my hand or more), fruit (if you are trying to lose weight, limit your fruit intake to maybe 1 a day. So cut your apple up and have 1/3 in the morning, 1/3 at lunch, and 1/3 for snack or dinner), and fat (1/2 avocado, a handful of walnuts/almonds).  We have many Zone books at the gym, you can check them out (or google it) and you can figure out your portions for your body size/activity level.

Below is an example of what I eat throughout the day:

Breakfast (anywhere between 6-9am): Eat when you are hungry. A breakfast like this can hold me over for as long as 7 hours without feeling low in energy or extremely hungry, plus, I don’t get cravings because I don’t eat sugar in the morning (i.e. cereal, oatmeal, bread in general).

• 2 eggs cooked in olive oil
• 4 strips of bacon
• 5-6 asparagus chopped
• 7-8 chopped okra
• 3 strawberries diced

Lunch (anywhere between 11am-3pm):

• 3-4 strips of chicken (or 1 breast)
• Cook up 1/4 onion and 3/4 a bell peppers on the stove top (the night before or morning of, and I chop and save the rest for eggs another morning)
• guacamole or avocado.
• It’s not enough veggies, so I cook 7-10 asparagus on the stove top w/ olive oil.

Snack (Sometimes I’ll have a snack in the afternoon. Because of gym responsibilities, we typically sit down for dinner around 10pm) : a grapefruit/almonds or walnuts/raisins or hardboiled egg/almonds or almond butter/celery are great snacks.

Dinner: (We don’t skimp on dinner just because it’s late): Paleo Spaghetti. I eat about 3/4-1/2 of a spaghetti squash w/ LOTS of meat sauce. Shaun eats about 1/2- 1 1/4 of spaghetti squash, also with lots of meat sauce.   Instead of baking the squash, I put it in the microwave w/ 1tbs water covered with saran wrap for about 5 minutes. It’s perfect.  I can’t find Pomi anymore, so I found a spaghetti sauce called Cucina Antica and it’s ingredients are pure.  It’s a little salty, though.

Some things to help you stay full longer:

1. Every meal should include protein/carb/fat:  for a small, active woman a meal is 3-40z of meat, 2-3 different vegetables, olive oil for baking.
2. Avoid whole fruit as your snack.  Cut it up into pieces and eat it throughout the day.  Protein and Fats will help you stay full and still restore energy for workouts.

The Kitchen Sink Salad

This is a recipe I found from Everyday Paleo. This would be a great salad to make in the evening and prepare it in a plastic container for tomorrow’s lunch.  Salads are fast, but can get boring. Keep exploring, and try new recipes like this one!!

“One thing I love about eating paleo; as long as you have some protein, veggies and some good fats anything is possible!  For lunch yesterday I threw together a salad that was tons more fun than the standard lettuce and chicken.  It was a “kitchen sink salad” of sorts, I tossed together everything in the kitchen but the kitchen sink! Below is what I put in my version and I’m sorry that some of the measurements are not spot on but that is what will make this recipe your own!  Get creative and let me know what YOU come up with!”

A FUN Salad!

 

The Kitchen Sink Salad

4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced

4 hard boiled eggs, cooled and diced

1/2 head of purple cabbage, diced

1 English cucumber, diced

1/2 head broccoli, finely chopped

Handful of sliced almonds

1/4 cup of flat leaf Italian parsley, diced

Lots of olive oil

Splash of balsamic

Squirt of spicy brown mustard

A few shakes of dried dill

Lots of black pepper

A bit of sea salt

Toss and you’re done!