Oh dear, it's deer!

Dinner last night was a triumph by the husband. A meal centered around the deer he shot in September...that I actually liked!

Spicy almond crusted deer blackstrap medallions, half a sweet potato, half an avocado and some sautéed broccoli I and Brussels sprouts.

To make the deer:

Ingredients
• 1 deer blackstrap (for 2 people)
• almond meal
• Johnny's seasoning salt (this is not fully paleo and you could easily sub your own favorite spice mix + salt to taste)
• cayenne pepper (to taste)
• bacon grease (or your preferred cooking oil)

Directions
Slice blackstrap into medallions about 1 inch thick. Place in a plastic bag with enough almond flour to coat, plus desired seasonings. Shake to coat well. Heat oil in a skillet, place medallions in skillet. Then leave them alone until you see the blood start to rise to the top of the meat - about 3 minutes (gross I know, that's why the Mr. cooks this meal). Flip and cook an additional couple of minutes. Really just a couple, like 2 or 3, you do not want to overlook!

Enjoy! (and remember to thank the husband for being a good hunter)

A holiday treat that is Paleo (and not meat)!

I know the holidays are here when Trader Joe's brings back their seasonal Vanilla & Cinnamon Black tea! Warm, slightly spicy with the essence of holiday sweetness, it's my Christmas in a mug!

Luckily, it's just tea and spices, no sweeteners in sight. So I'm declaring it Paleo approved and drinking it to my heart's content!

Tuna Yamma Jamma

This dish came about through that oft-occurring state of "I need to go to the grocery store"-ness. So once again I scrambled trough the cupboards and found a fast, warm and filling lunch to whip up on a snap!

Ingredients:
Sweet potato (or in this case, yam)
Tuna packed in oil
Capers (to taste)
Butter

Process:
Microwave yam until a fork slides in easily. Cut it in half and spread cut side up on your plate. Mash it a little with some butter. Drain the can of Tina and spoon into mashed yam. Top with capers to taste, for that salty kick to jam with the sweetness of the yam.

Dig in!

A big ol plate of food!

Nomnomnom, now this is what I call a good post-wod dinner! Chicken thighs with artichokes, asparagus, half an avocado and the last bit of Thanksgiving leftovers aka. mashed rutabaga.

What's on your plate tonight?

Thanksgiving Plan - Paleo and Not

Image c/o: Craftily Ever After

This year for thanksgiving we are hosting both sides of our family at our house...9 people total. I love hosting at our place so we don't have to split our time between two families (and I have a bit more control over what we eat).

Here's my plan:
Appetizer: Smoked Salmon
Appetizer: Deviled Eggs
Appetizer: Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus
Turkey
Paleo dressing 
Rutabaga
Brussels Sprouts
Baked Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Sauce
Paleo Pumpkin Pie

Now, I will admit there will be non-paleo food on our table to appease everyone's Thanksgiving traditions, but my plan is to stick to the paleo options as much as possible (though wine will be a necessary indulgence!)

We'll also be tempted by:
Ham - a decent option but will be glazed with sugar I'm sure
Homemade bread
Mashed potatoes
Gravy (corn starch thickener)
Traditional pumpkin pie with cool whip
And the hardest part for me, my moms traditional stuffing.

Wish us luck!

Pseudo-Nicoise Salad

I whipped this salad together today based on what I had in the fridge and cupboard, and it turned out even better than I had imagined it could!

Lettuce
Cherry tomatoes
Can of tuna packed in oil, drained
Capers
Half an avocado

Chop everything up, throw in a bowl, sprinkle with a little salt and dig in! It reminds me of a pseudo nicoise salad, one of my faves!

What's your favorite salad to whip together?

Breakfast Sauté

This morning I woke up starving and decided I needed to fill my belly with something warm and satisfying. Enter the breakfast sauté.

I grabbed some spinach, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms from the fridge, sautéed them in a pan with some coconut oil, salt and pepper and topped it all with 2 fried eggs.

The eggs weren't pretty (my husband usually does the egg flipping, I can't seem to do it without tearing everything apart)...but it all tasted delicious!

Back at it!

Wow, it's been a while since my last post...

We've not been eating that great as of late and I've been feeling the ill-effects. Sore joints, bloat, upset tummy, etc.

So we're back at it again! Starting the week off right by prepping grab and go breakfast foods for hubs and myself. Hard boiled eggs and fritatta should get us through a few busy mornings.

Hello paleo my good friend! 

Paleo Pizza

Pizza is one of the hardest things for Bill and I to resist when we're trying to be healthy & Paleo, and one of the things we crave the most...oooh Costco pizza.

So, I attempted a paleo pizza we wouldn't have to feel too guilty eating.

Paleo Pizza Crust:

Adapted from: Paleo Hacks

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 can real coconut milk
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon organic baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add coconut milk

In a separate bowl whisk together coconut flour and all remaining ingredients. Make sure to whisk very well and break up any lumps in the coconut flour. Mix in wet mixture. 

Let stand for 5 minutes. The dough should be spreadable but not too thin - if it's think like pancake batter it's too thin. Add additional coconut flour 1 Tbsp at a time if needed to thicken it a bit. 

Spread thinly and evenly on a pizza pan or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. You'll need some patience here, I suggest using a spatula - maybe greased a little with coconut oil or butter if needed.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in preheated oven. Watch for edges turning brown.

Remove crust from oven. Carefully flip the crust over onto a new sheet of parchment paper. Remove the parchment that the crust was baking on and discard. Place the crust back on the baking pan and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes until desired crispness. Remove from oven and top at will and broil until toppings are warmed/melted to your liking. 

For this pizza we used Muir Glen Organic Pizza Sauce, sliced deli ham, Applegate farms pepperoni, thawed frozen spinach, crumbled feta cheese & crushed red pepper flakes. Yummy in my tummy!

What will you top yours with?

This is what the crust looked like after baking completely:

And here's our finished product:

This is why I love Saturday morning workouts!

Good workout followed by GIANT brunch!

Today's was leftover sauteed asparagus & green beans (from the garden, woot!), ham & 3 sauteed eggs with a sprinkle of good feta on top. Accompanied by a decaf coffee with organic half & half and I'm one very happy gal!

This almost makes it ok that I'll be spending the rest of the day in front of my computer doing work stuff...trying to catch-up/get ahead for next week. There are not enough hours in the day for all this start-up stuff!

Enjoy your Saturday!

Make it Paleo - my paleo idols!

One of my favorite Paleo blogs is The Food Lovers Primal Palate - and I'm so excited that they're publishing a cookbook! If you haven't visited their blog, I suggest you run your little clicking fingers right over there right now and check out their book preview. Their photography is stunning, their recipes are delicious and they are a super cute couple to boot! Check em out here: www.makeitpaleo.com

Warm Spicy Nuts

Yes, these are delicious. Make them, asap!

Spicy Almond Recipe

*Recipe adapted from Mark's Daily Apple

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp powdered ginger

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups of whole almonds, shelled

Salt to taste - the original recipe calls for 1 TBSP, I think I used about 1 Tsp...

In a non-stick skillet heat the olive oil and spices over low heat for 3 or so minutes. Place the nuts in a bowl and pour oil mixture over the top, toss and stir. Then, spread nuts into a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and pop in a oven at 300 degrees for 15 minutes, shaking the tray about every 5 minutes to cook evenly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt. Let cool two hours. Store in an airtight container.

My Name in Lights (aka. On the Big Board)

I'm on the board! I got my name on the big board at our crossfit twice in one day! Some may not consider 3rd out of 3 to be something to brag about, but I take my victories where I can find 'em thankyouverymuch!

Urban Foraging: Cherries

Found, foraged, hand-picked and local cherries from our neighbor's tree - deliciouso!

What I ate: 7/8/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 13

Today I came across this carbohydrate chart and am going to experiment with staying under 100 grams of carbs per day to see if that helps boost the fat-loss. I've been reaching for lots of fruit since being sick this week, and I think that has stagnated my progress. Meat and veggies here I come! (P.S. I would highly recommend checking out the post "When Eating Healthy is Making You Fat", the story on that post really resonated with me.)

image c/o: Mark's Daily Apple: "When Eating Healthy is Making You Fat"

I love tracking my food this way (when I can stick with it) because it really gives me a visual on even more than just what I'm eating, but also carb/fat/protein breakdowns, time of day eating, and makes me think about tracking & posting my food here for anyone to see before I cheat!

Loseit.com (the program I'm using to track my food and grab these pictures of my day) also gives me this handy little chart to show my nutrient breakdowns. I'll be using this more to help me hit that <100g Carbohydrate goal as well. As you can see, I barely squeaked by on that goal today.

What I ate: 7/7/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 12

Another day battling this sore throat/cold that's bugging me. I'm finding it's hard to stay at this calorie level when I'm not working out. Apparently I really need those exercise calories to keep me full through the day.

What I ate: 7/6/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 11

One of the things many people talk about when jumping in to the Paleo Challenge is a feeling of getting sick or coming down with a cold (aka. low-carb flu). Unfortunately, I'm in the throes of that symptom currently. Sore throat, mucus build up in throat (TMI, sorry), sore muscles & lethargy. This time around I'm not sure if these are symptoms of sugar/carb withdrawal, or if I'm actually sick, but either way I'm not feeling too hot. You'll see that my eating today was a bit wonky - honey/plantain chips were 2 indulgences today which were my "comfort foods" while trying to keep it as paleo as I could. Those darn plantain chips threw me over my self-imposed calorie threshold today, but the good news is they're now gone ;-)

What I ate: 7/5/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 10

You'll notice there was a gap in logging my food for the 3rd and 4th. Oh man, I fell off the rails a bit. Far too much wine on the 3rd lead to eating several crackers & a peanut butter sandwich on white bread about midnight. Big oops - and was feeling the effects on the 4th. Lesson learned, if you eat paleo/calorie restricted for breakfast & lunch, and then start drinking wine in the afternoon before eating any dinner...disaster ensues.

The 4th was a wine/alcohol free day (still feeling the effects of the 3rd) but I did succumb to the temptations of some cheese, a sugar cookie, popcorn and several marshmallows. Ugh! Paleo in a social setting is my weakness.

But, 7/5 I forced myself back on track and the paleo train is going strong ever since. Here's what I ate on day 10 of the challenge:

What I ate: 7/2/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 7

1 full week of the challenge down and I am feeling good! Cravings not too bad, no cheats except for a glass of wine last night & the bloat of the previous few weeks of carb overload was starting to go down. Here's what I ate:

What I ate: 7/1/2011: Paleo Challenge Day 6

A bit delayed in getting these updates up - Hope everyone had a great long weekend & a very happy 4th of July!

What I ate 7/1/2011