Apple Pie Cookies

I was at work the other day, day-dreaming of not being at work and came up with these beauties. Does everyone else's work get crazy-busy during the holidays?! I guess people really have to medicate themselves to be around family. You wouldn't believe how much busier the pharmacy has gotten since Thanksgiving! At least it makes the days go by fast....

I sent my husband a little care package the other day, that included my granola and some cookies (including these....SPOILER ALERT Grady!). Isn't he a lucky guy?!

*These are pretty close to being fully paleo, the only "non-paleo" ingredient in these are the oats.

Apple Pie Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 C Applesauce (no-sugar added)
1/3-1/2 C Almond Butter
1 TBSP Cinnamon
1 Egg
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 Granny Smith Apples
1/3-1/2 C chopped pecans
1/3 C Almond Flour
1/2 C Oats
8-10 Dates

Directions:

1. Soak dates in a bowl of water
2. Dice apples (skin on) into pretty small pieces and sautee over medium heat
3. Chop pecans and add to apple mix. Sprinkle about half your tbsp of Cinnamon over mix and cover. Sautee until apples are softened and pecans are fragant. 
4. While mixture is sautee-ing, mix all wet ingredients. Place all dry ingredients in seperate bowl and mix both bowls together until smooth. Keep in mind, these will not be completely "smooth" due to the oats, but just mix until you see fit.
5. Take soaked dates out of water and place them in food processor. Blend until the dates make a paste. Mix this into the apple/pecan mixture and take off heat.
6. Gently fold this into the cookie batter you've created
7. Place desired size of cookie onto lined baking sheet and bake at 350F for 14-17 minutes. These do not spread very much, so you can place them close together.
8. Apple Pie Cookies!!!

**These measurements are not exact, I bake with whatever I feel it needs at the time. The measurements I listed are pretty close to what I used. Use more or less of whatever you want!

Crockpot Chicken

I'm so so sorry for the lack of recipes! In between Thanksgiving, the gym and insanely busy times at work, I've barely had time to cook for myself!

I will make this post short and sweet, and the next post will be a bit more interesting!

Making your chicken in the crockpot is super easy, delicious, and a HUGE time saver. Who doesn't love cooking while you sleep?!

Ingredients:

1 can of chicken stock
1 package of chicken
water

Directions:

1. Turn Crockpot on the low setting. I adjust the timer for 8-9 hours.
2. Trim the fat and gross pieces off your chicken.
3. Pour can of chicken stock and equal part water into crockpot
4. Place chicken in and cover. 
5. Wake up to yummy, juicy chicken!

I do not season the chicken before only so I can make multiple dishes with this chicken. This chicken comes out super juicy and the recipe is pretty fool-proof. Gotta love it!

Paleo...Sandwich?

I am at a loss of what to call this one. You tell me the name and I'll change the title... Sound like a good deal?

This past weekend was ah-maaazzzz-ing! I got to go to San Angelo, Tx to visit my husband at Goodfellow AFB!!!! I haven't seen him since mid August and let me tell you, it was such a perfect weekend! It felt good to just be "us" again. We didn't do anything special, we just had a normal weekend together. We even hung out in the grocery store! HA! But, for those of you that know us, that's what we do and I couldn't dream of being anything else but "us." To Grady- I love you so much, thank you for being an amazing husband and being in the military. I never thought I would be a "military wife," but I love every bit of it! Everyone at home absolutely cannot wait for you to get your butt back here for Christmas!!!

I got home late Monday night and really didn't feel like going to the store, so I made another "kitchen sink" type of meal. Those can either be really awesome, or a major major fail. Lucky for you guys, this one ended up being really awesome!

Paleo....Sandwich? (<---- again, please help me rename this!)

Ingredients:
1lb ground meat (I had ground beef)
1 tomato
1 small can of tomato sauce (no sugar or salt added)
Lg. Handful of Spinach Leaves
2 Garlic Cloves (yes, April, FRESH garlic...aren't you proud?!)
2 eggs
1 Tbsp Coconut Flour
1/2 avocado

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Put meat and tomato sauce into mixing bowl
3. Chop up your spinach and mince that garlic... do a little dance while you're at it, then add to the ground beef
4. Mix above thoroughly, then add in 1 egg and your tbsp of Coconut Flour. These two will act as binding ingredients
5. Place mixture into meatloaf pan and bake in oven for roughly 40 min or until meat is cooked through. (Meatloaf should be between 160-165F when done)
6. Take meatloaf out of oven, let cool a bit and slice into desired sizes
7. Slice tomato and place two tomato slices (not stacked) onto plate. 
8. Add a meatloaf slice on top of the tomatoes
9. Place some spinach leaves on top of the meatloaf slice (optional, the picture doesn't have the extra spinach on it...oops!)
10. Fry your 2nd egg! I like mine to be a little runny still, but this part is up to you... Once your egg is done, place it on top of the spinach leaves
11. Last but not least, add your avocado and there you have it! Paleo Sandwich!

Thanksgiving In a Bowl

Can we talk about Doug Martin? Yeah. 52 points in fantasy football, are you kidding me?!?! My best friend, April and I are playing each other in our fantasy league, and I just lost to her due to Martin. Oh well. That was an awesome game....teach me how to Dougie!

Are you ready for some Thanksgiving recipes?! I sure am... I love holidays, not only for the time spent with friends and family, but for all the delicious food. The only bad thing is, is that the holidays can bring some absolutely amazing food that is oh so bad for you. Like I said in a previous post, let yourself indulge, but just know that you can make better choices. Life's all about that right? Make the best choices for yourself that you can at the time. So, in hopes of helping you do just that this holiday season, I will be posting some yummy (some paleo, some not) recipes starting with....

Thanksgiving In a Bowl

(this is one is paleo!)

Ingredients:

• 1.5lbs Pork Sausage
• 1 Head of Cauliflower
• 2 Granny Smith Apples
• 1 Yellow Onion
• 7-8 Stalks of Celery
• 1/2 C Raisins
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Allspice
• S&P to taste

Directions:

1. Dice your Onion, Apples and Celery
2. Add your Sausage and above mixture to a pan with olive oil over medium-high heat
3. Let simmer until no pink shows in the meat.
4. While mix is simmering, chop cauliflower and make cauliflower rice. (Put the shredder attachment onto your food processor and simply "shred" or "rice" your cauliflower. Or you could just youtube how to do this!)
5. Once meat mixture is almost done, add raisins and spices. Cook for about 3-4 more minutes, then drain all excess liquid out of the mixture
6. Add your cauliflower rice to the pan to heat it up a bit and slowly mix in the meat mixture.
7. Serve with a bit of parsley on top and VOILA!

Paleo Granola

The last 4-5 months, one of my Bro-n-Law's, Matt, has been living with us and it's been awesome! He's moving to Seattle tomorrow morning and I am so sad to see him (and Jasper) go, but I know he's really going to enjoy it there! That also means another vacation will be in the works! WooHoo! So Matt, I hope you have enjoyed your time with us as much as we have and know that you are welcome back anytime! Drive safe, have fun and we'll see you soon! We love you! (p.s.-Boz is going to miss his cousin Jasper so much!)

In efforts to lighten the mood a bit, how was your Halloween? Mine was full of relaxing in front of the TV, handing out candy to Trick or Treaters and getting a "Boorito" from Chipotle (and eating candy too, but we won't talk about that!). Negative point of the night- a group of middle school aged kids where one was dressed as a drug dealer... SERIOUSLY?! #1- I hope this child's parent realized that's what they were telling people they are dressed as and screams their head off, #2 - no candy for you!, #3- SERIOUSLY?! Highlight of the night- the cutest little princess came up to my door, as she was getting candy, I noticed that she came on a 4-wheeler... her dad said she got really tired of all the walking (she was only about 4), so he took her home and took her back out on his 4-wheeler so she could still enjoy the night. High five to that dad!!!

Now that the candy festivities are over, let's get back to eating healthy!

Paleo Granola

Ingredients:

1/2 C Cashews
1/2 C Almonds
1/2 C Sunflower Kernels
1/2 C Pepitas
1/2 C Raisins
1/4 C Dark Chocolate Chips (optional)
1/4 C Pumpkin Puree
1/4 C Walnut Oil
2 tsp of instant coffee (optional, but really yummy!)
Dash of Salt or any seasoning you want (cinnamon would be good, or pumpkin pie spice)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 325F
2. Mix all ingrendients into bowl. Make sure that all "dry ingredients" get covered by the pumpkin and walnut oil!
3. Evenly spread mixture out on parchment-paper lined pan
4. Bake for 45-50min. (bake a few minutes longer if you want it really crunchy)
5. Set on cooling rack and cool completely!!! This is where it really "crunches" up!

*Walmart has bags in their produce section for about $2.50 each of the Sunflower Kernels and Pepitas! Those bags will last me around 7-8 batches of this, yay for being cost effective!
** When picking out your nuts (haha), make sure that they are plain. Meaning no salt, not roasted in any oils, etc...

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Sunday sunday sunday... My sunday's are typically a jam-packed day full of my weekly breakfast with my Dad, grocery shopping, cooking/cleaning for the week, and of course FOOTBALL! I was super lucky today and got to add RAKING to that list! WoooooHooooo.... My bro-n-law helped me rake up 19...that's right, 19 bags of leaves this morning! The sad thing is, is that we still have some of the backyard to do and the entire front yard : (. I'm still shocked....19 bags of leaves?!?!

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1 C Almond Meal/Flour
1 C Pumpkin Puree
3/4-1 C Cranberries (I used fresh, not dried)
3 Eggs
1/4 C Honey (or Maple Syrup)
1/4 C Almond Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
2 tsps Pumpkin Pie Spice
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Mix "wet" ingredients until smooth. (Pumpkin, eggs, honey, almond butter, vanilla)
3. Slowly mix in dry ingredients. Make sure to avoid clumps!!!
4. Once everything is thoroughly mixed, fold your cranberries into the mixture. You'll want to be gentle with the folding so your cranberries do not burst.
5. Line your muffin tin with cups or make sure to spray before you put the mixture in! 
6. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes.
7. *I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on top right when I pulled mine out!

Eating "clean" on the go...Part 2

Happy Saturday! Like I've said in the past, I LOVE my Saturday mornings. Coffee, catching up on my shows (this week, it's Gossip Girl) and hanging out with the pups...what could be better?!

The below picture is one of my favorite depictions of how the food pyramid should look :

Simple as that! It's pretty easy, and you can still eat like a "normal" person. With that being said, there are going to be a range of choices. Let's take meat, for example. The best choice would be grass-fed, no hormone injected, etc. and the last choice would be deli meat. If you can afford to eat nothing but the best choices, then good for you, do it! However, most people cannot afford to eat the best choices at all times. So, how do you combat that? Simple. Make the best choice for you at the time.
It's easy to get caught up in the "rules" of Paleo, but in my opinion, you've got to apply Paleo to the current lifestyle we live today. Make the best choices that you can, but still live a little. Have a few beers every now and then, and eat that Pumpkin Cheesecake this thanksgiving!
Hopefully you guys found Part 1 of this post helpful. I know eating "clean" or Paleo can be difficult when you're in a rush or when you're out with friends, so anything I can do to help, I will!

Onto Part 2...

The following are some examples of common restaurants and what to order.

1.  Chili's : order fajitas (just don't eat the tortilla or cheese), a burger without the bun, Margarita Chicken, Steak, salad with the dressing on the side (this way you can control how much you put on)
2. Real de Minas (or any other Mexican restaurant): order carne asada, fajitas, taco salad (dont eat the shell)
3. Texas Roadhouse: steak, chicken, shrimp, this one's easy easy easy.... the hard part is avoiding those delicious rolls at the beginning!
4. Red Robin: order any burger without the bun, this now offers sweet potato fries instead of the normal fries (get those!)
5. Jim N' Nicks BBQ: order meat with veggies as your side

Are you starting to see a trend? Hopefully. No buns, no taco shells, no tortillas, watch the cheese's and dressings' , etc.. The point of this is to show you that you CAN make better choices when you're out with your friends! Get creative, and learn your options! 

Happy day : )

Eating "clean" on the go... Part 1

Earlier today, I posted on my gym's website what kind of topics/recipes they'd like to see and I got such great responses! My box is truly amazing, I don't know what I'd do without that place and everyone there. They are all so inspiring and motivating in their own ways, so I feel like I want to give back to them. This is my way of doing that!!!

Before I create some awesome recipes that they requested, I think my friend and fellow trainer, Bob, had an awesome idea that everyone will benefit from. He wants some suggestions on what, where, and how to eat "clean" while on the go. This can mean anything from being in a rush and didn't have time to make lunch, to going out with friends on the weekend. 

Where can you go and what should you order?

1. Chipotle/Qdoba. Order a burrito bowl and get meat, lettuce, fajita veggies, salsa and guac..... clean, clean clean!
2. Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Get a bacon burger and ask them to wrap it in lettuce instead of a bun.
3. Your local Thai place. Order curry and skip the side of rice they give you. 
4. Starbucks. Order an Americano with heavy whipping cream, if you need a coffee kick and don't like to drink your coffee black. (If you do dairy, choose full fat!)
5. Jimmy Johns. Order whatever sandwich you'd like, sans cheese and have them make in an "un-wich." (They wrap it in lettuce instead of bread)
6. Wendy's. Order the "Berry Almond Chicken Salad," don't use the dressing or asiago cheese packets it comes with. *(You could really go to any fast food and get a salad, no cheese, no dressing, no croutons....)
7. Tokyo Joes. Choose the 'make your own bowl' option and order your meat, sauce (they have gluten-free options) and veggies (skip the "carb"). Also, their salads are pretty good, just watch the cheese/dressings.
8. Boston Market. Order chicken and two sides of steamed veggies.
9. Subway. You can make any sub into a salad here. Make sure to order tons of veggies and for the dressing, just get oil and vinegar.
10. Wahoo's. Order something similar to Chipotle....

***IMPORTANT: I'm not, in any way, telling you to eat out all the time....make your own food, that's the only way you can really know what's in it! However, if you are in a hurry, these are some better options than your typical "fast-food" picks.... 

Stay tuned for Part 2. It'll include dine-in restaurant options!

Good ole' Spaghetti!

You guys ready for a funny story this morning?

My best friend (and super awesome coaching partner), April and I were coaching our box's morning classes yesterday when I decided it was time for my morning coffee. Our box is right next door to a 7Eleven, so it's super convenient....and they have a pumpkin spice brew, that is PHENOMENAL! Anyways, I walked over there and one of the clerks asked if I "do that Crossfit thing" next door. (Keep in mind that I had chalk all over me, was in shorts, and a tank top that said Crossfit.... silly people) So of course, I told him that I do, and told him he should come over and try it out sometime.
His response: "Hmmm.... nah, I thought about it, but you guys don't do any weights over there... I need weights, so that's why I haven't come in yet." WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!?!

 

Do you see weights anywhere? Yeah, me neither.... 

He started to laugh at my shocked expression when his other co-worker chimed in and told me that's she's tried to tell him otherwise but he just won't listen... People are funny!

Good ole' Spaghetti

What You'll Need: 

1 Large Spaghetti Squash

Butter (I use Grass-Fed)

Italian Seasonings

Italian Sausage of your Choice (that's what she said jokes are coming my why, aren't they?)

Spinach Leaves

Marinara Sauce

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F 
2. Cut Spaghetti Squash in half and remove all seeds. Once seeds are removed, brush the meat (inside halves) of the squash with butter, then season it with your Italian spices
3. Place squash-halves meat side up on lined pan and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes.
4. Once the squash is done, let it cool before you "fork" out the spaghetti. Those suckers are hot!
5. While cooling, cut your sausage in slices and sautee for a few minutes. April will sometimes sautee hers in white wine- yummy!
6. Fork out your squash.... there are plenty of youtube videos out there if you don't know what I'm talking about
7. Add squash and sausage to a bowl. Add in your marinara (please choose as clean as possible-meaning no added sugars or make your own!) and top with chopped spinach. Voila!

Easy Chicken Curry

Don't you hate when any type of house service gives you a window of time of when they will be there? You know, the Comcast guy will be there between 10am-2pm...Yeah, well we've got tons of huge trees in my neighborhood, which means tons of huge roots undergroud...which also means I've got to get my main sewer line drained every 6 months or so, so we don't get any backups. So what's all that mean? It means that I got a call at 7:10am this morning from the company, saying he'd be at my house soon....It's been an hour since that call. I've got things to do people!

Anyways, on a more positive note, I officially see my husband in 30 days!!!! I can't even begin to describe how excited we both are : )

Okay, enough about my personal life, you guys want food, right?! This recipe is WAY easy and great to make a big batch so you can have it throughout the week.

Easy Chicken Curry

Ingredients: 

1 package Chicken Breasts (~4lbs)
3 Red Peppers
3 Green Peppers
1 Yellow Onion
Chinese Five Star Spice
1 15oz can Coconut Milk
Your choice of curry paste (this is what I used)

 I found this curry paste at my local Asian Food Market. I love this brand because they have a few different curry flavors (panang, red, green, etc.) and the ingredients are clean! There are no added sugars or other weird unhealthy things. Perfect! Also, if you don't have Chinese Five Star Spice-find it!!!! It is such an awesome, versatile spice! I'll let you in on a little secret-it's a lot of bakery's secret spice they use to make all your favorite sweets : )...

Directions: 

1.  Preheat oven to 400F . While oven is preheating, chop up that chicken! After chicken is all chopped, place on aluminum foil lined pan (easy cleanup!) and season to your liking with the chinese five star spice. Place chicken in oven and bake for about 30min. 
2. While chicken is baking, slice your veggies and saute them in some coconut or olive oil. I like my veggies to still have a bit of a crisp to them in my curry, so I sauteed them for about 10-12 minutes.
3. Pour your can of coconut milk over veggies and mix in 3-4Tbsp of your curry paste. In my opinion, the more the better, but that's up to you. 
4. Once everything is mixed, turn heat down to low and let simmer until chicken is done.
5. Okay, chicken's done! Pull chicken out of oven and mix with your veggie mix. 
6. Enjoy!

It's been almost 2 hours now, and still no guy!

Birthday Boy Pancakes!

Last week was one of my bro-in-law's birthdays and the deal was that he got to choose a special meal to be made... He could have chosen anything, meal, baked good, a restaraunt... anything!
Clearly, from the title of this post, he chose...drumroll.....BIRTHDAY BOY PANCAKES!!! Who doesn't  love a birthday pancake?! So here ya go, Matt, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Today is also a very special someone's birthday! Happy Birthday to my most wonderful-fantastic-amazing-perfect husband! I hope you enjoy your day on base (and your package that's being delivered to you tomorrow!). When you get back home, I promise to make you all sorts of goodies!!!! I love you babe : ). 

Back to the recipe!

This recipe is not paleo, but it is a whole lot more healthy than most other pancake recipes out there. Although the particular way I made it this time, is not paleo, you can make it paleo, so I will add in variations to do so.

Ingredients: 

2 Ripened Bananas (almost banana-bread-ripened)

1/2 cup Oats (omit for Paleo)

2 eggs

2 Heaping Tbsp of Peanut Butter (sub almond butter for Paleo)

1-2 Tsp Cinnamon

1/2 package of Strawberries (for the sauce)

          Optional: flax seed, chopped walnuts/pecans, 1 tsp vanilla (to make it sweeter)

Directions: 

1. Get out your griddle/griddle pan(?) and turn the heat to medium-low
2. Add your wet ingredients to your mixing bowl and whisk until smooth
3. Add your dry ingredients and mix away
4. Spray your pan with a little bit of olive oil so the pancakes don't stick
5. Add dollops the size of your pancake-liking to your your griddle. 
6. Let pancake cook for about 4-5 minutes per side
7. While your pancakes are cooking, slice up your strawberries. Once sliced, microwave for about 25 seconds and mash! I don't like to mash until smooth, because I like the little strawberry chunks, but do whatever your little heart desire!!!!
8. Now you are ready to eat your Birthday Pancakes!!!! Woohoo!

These pancakes are so yummy! You can make so many different variations with this "base" too.... Im thinking instead of mashed bananas, I'll add pumpkin next time! Instead of strawberry sauce, you could some kind of coconut glaze! The possibilities are endless : )

Looking for a quick and easy lunch?

As you can see, I'm in the process of updating my blog... So if it looks a bit funky for a bit, please be patient! I'm trying to make it a little more user friendly for all of you wonderful people : )...

I've decided that Saturday mornings are my favorite! I get to have my morning coffee, watch my shows (I'm now onto Revenge.... addicting!) and work on my blog. Kinda fun! I'll be posting a few recipes this weekend to try and catch up a bit, one of them are "Birthday Boy Pancakes," be excited!!!! The recipe for this post is another lazy one. It's just something that I often throw together when I'm running late for work, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

This is a quick and easy Paleo meal. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Sausage (of any kind)
Spinach Leaves
1/2 Avocado
1/4 Yellow Onion
1/2 Green Pepper
Shredded Sweet Potato

Directions:

1. Slice up your sausage, onion, and green pepper.Toss into pan with a bit of olive oil and saute for about 5-7 minutes on medium heat. I used artichoke parmesan sausage because it's what I had on had, but use anything you want! (***the parmesan is NOT paleo, it's just what I had) Feel free to substitute the sausage for any meat you have in the fridge. This would be great for last night's leftover chicken!
2. Cut up your avocado
3. Toss all ingredients into your tupperware and put your shredded sweet potato on top... Boom! Your all done!

The pictures and presentations of pictures will get better I promise. I'm trying to make everything on the blog look better, so bear with me in the process! The pictures really don't do the recipes justice....they are almost embarrassing : /

Paleo Sweet Potato and Egg Frittata

Sorry I haven't posted for a week, I've been busy figuring out a time to go visit my husband!!! We've decided on a weekend in November, and I absolutely can't wait! It's hard to believe that he graduated boot camp a month and a half ago already... words cannot describe how proud of him I am : )

This recipe is created purely out of laziness and convenience. It is kind of the "kitchen sink" of what I had at the time all thrown together. The beauty of these types of these types of recipes though, is that you don't end up throwing away a whole bunch of stuff and your end product turns out to be pretty darn good! Just remember, the following ingredients is just what I had in my fridge, so check out what's in yours and substitute accordingly!

Paleo Sweet Potato and Egg Frittata

Ingredients: 

9 Eggs

1 Sweet Potato

1-2 lbs MOC (meat of choice... for example, I had ground chicken, so that's what I used)

1/2 Yellow Onion

2 Green Peppers

1 Tomato

Spinach

Seasoning (your choice)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Slice/chop all veggies and sweet potatoes.... this prep will make everything easier...just slice and chop and get it done!
3. Get a mixing bowl and whisk all eggs together and leave it to wait for the rest of the ingredients
4. Fry up your meat in a bit of olive oil... your meat should either be done all the way or almost done (the rest will bake in the oven). When your meat is done cookin' , dump into your whisked eggs
5. Saute your sweet potatoes... The ground chicken I had on hand was ground with apples, allspice, cinnamon and clove... so I seasoned my sweet potatoes with a bit of cinnamon to add to this dish's savory flare. Once these are done, dump into egg/meat mixture
6. Saute peppers and onions, and again, dump into the above mixture
7. Add your chopped tomatoes in the mixture last
8. Mix everything up and pour into baking dish (make sure that ingredients are spread out evenly). At this point, I added just a light dusting of cinnamon on top (again, adding to the savory taste). Scatter your chopped spinach on top and throw in the oven! Bake at 375F for about 25-30 minutes... YUMMY!

This is a great meal to prepare ahead of time and eat throughout the week! I made mine to use as my breakfast.... I'll be putting up some more "lazy" recipe's this week, because let's face it, we all don't have the time to spend in the kitchen making fancy meals!!!
Also, thanks to a friend's help, my blog will be getting an update soon to make it more user friendly! In the meantime, check out her blog at:  http://theblondecook.blogspot.com/2012/09/carrot-and-zucchini-bars-with-cream.html , she's got some awesome recipes!!!

Paleo Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins...with a Strawberry surprise!

Paleo Pumpkin Zucchini Muffins...(with a Strawberry surprise!)

Happy Football Sunday! I'm in two fantasy leagues this year, and both my teams are doing TERRIBLE this week! I rocked both leagues last week, earning high score for the week in both leagues, and this week just went down the crap shoot... What's up with that? Looks like I'll be doing a major overhaul on both teams in the next few days.

I don't have cable, let alone the NFL Package, so if the game isn't on one of the 4 or 5 channels that I do get, or Netflix (obviously it's not on that), you can find me obsessively cleaning/organizing my house or cooking and baking! I think it's the change in season that has made me want to clean so much... Fall Cleaning instead of Spring Cleaning???

Anyways...these little guys are heaven! Maybe you should make them and take them to your co-workers, you know get them all on the paleo train too... or maybe you could just eat them by yourself while watching Grey's Anatomy (p.s. definitely not what I'm doing right now.... haha).

Onto the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 Zucchini
1 Cup Canned Pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1 Cup Applesauce (no sugar added)
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Almond Butter
2.5 Tbsp Coconut Flour
2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
1/2 package Strawberries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Shred your zucchini (should equal to be 1 cup shredded)
3. Place shredded zucchinin onto paper towels, get more paper towels to put on top and press out all water from shredded zucchini...this may take a few times of pressing, just try to get as much water out as possible
4. Mix in zucchini, pumpkin, and applesauce into bowl
5. Whisk eggs and mix, then add in your almond butter
6. Add in all other ingredients.... almost done!
7. Make sure to grease your muffin pan if you are not using muffin liners. 
8. Fill each muffin spot (?) halfway and place a slice or two of your strawberries on top, then fill in the rest of each muffin spot with placing the pumpkin zucchini mix on top
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.... Enjoy!

 The pictures are terrible. I promise they are good!

Paleo Spinach Artichoke Meatballs with Sundried Tomato Sauce

Here's the very first recipe! These little guys are super easy to make and would be absolutely perfect for that football tailgate/party you might be going to tomorrow. Just a thought : )

Spinach Artichoke Meatballs:

1lb ground beef
1cup Spinach Leaves
1-2 tsps Garlic
1/3 cup Artichoke Hearts
1/4 Yellow Onion
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Coconut Flour
1-2 tsps Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. While the oven is preheating, were gonna start mixing the meatballs, so get out a mixing bowl and the above ingredients
3. Start by dicing the onion into very small pieces. Next chop up your spinach leaves and artichoke hearts (again, you'll want to make this pretty small). Add into mixing bowl
4. Add in your garlic....mince up garlic (or just buy minced garlic-it's easier)
5. Add your egg, coconut flour, oregano, salt and pepper and gently mix with fork or spoon to get the egg and coconut flour distributed throughout the mixture (these are your binders!)
6. Time for the ground beef! This is where it's time to get messy. Go ahead and stick your hands in the bowl to mix everything up. Once mixed, simply roll up some meatballs to the size of your liking and place on aluminum foil lined pan. 
7. Pop them in the oven for about 25 min at 350F...now onto the sauce!

I ended up making 22 meatballs, but depending on the size you make them, it could be more or less....

Sundried Tomato Sauce: 

1 8oz can Tomato Sauce (try to get no sugar/no salt added)
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup Sundried Tomatoes
Handful Spinach Leaves
Handful Almonds

1. Place all above ingredients into food processor and blend....that's it!

Here is what mine turned out like...The pictures don't do them justice, but trust me, they are DELICIOUS! Hope you guys enjoy : )

Welcome to my first blog : )

Hey friends and family! Welcome to Olivia's Kitchen Creations. I feel kind of silly writing this, but I suppose I'll get used to it. Everyone always asks me about nutrition and exercise advice and for my recipes, so I figured it's about time to put this thing to life!  

Sooo....what will you guys find in my blog? Look below :

1. Recipes!!!! Woohooo! Most of them I will try to make Paleo (I'll post what this is later), but let's face it, I'm not 100% Paleo, and holiday season is coming up... I make cookies and cheesecake...and I like beer... so deal with it : ). Butttt you guys know me, so yes, most of them will be healthy!
2. Nutrition tips. I love helping people improve their health and quality of life and one of the most important things to do start with is....wait for it.....YOUR DIET! I will do my best to answer any questions you guys may have (feel free to comment - I guess that's what you do on blogs- any questions you may have) and also to provide you with tips on how to save money while eating healthy. <-------It IS possible : )
3. Exercise tips. You guys know I do Crossfit , so that's what I'll mostly be talking about....However, I'm human and I do realize that it's not for everybody. I'll provide you guys with other options of working out along with a ton of at home workouts!
4. My awesome best friend, April, will be making a whole bunch of guest posts. She's really smart and funny and if you don't know her already, you'll love her!
5. Random life experiences, because talking about yourself is fun! 

*Disclaimer* I'm not an expert people, I realize that... I do have a degree in Health and Exercise Science and I'm a trainer at my Crossfit gym, so give me a teeny bit of credit (please!). Please just use this blog as a tool and not as expert advice. I just love helping people in any way I can, so please, let this be a fun experience!

So, let's get started! What do you want to see first?!