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!