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?!