Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes = Wednesday deliciousness!!

I told Amanda that Wednesdays are the worst when you are trying to make changes to your eating habits and boy was I right! Today was a hard day to get through making Paleo and healthy choices. All I wanted was a hot chocolate, candy bar or those yummy christmas tree little debbie snacks. I am sick and it was cold~ I will attribute it to that. However, I made it through the day and did not give in to my Wacky Wednesday food cravings. I wanted sweets so I made Pumpkin pancakes with bacon and eggs. Everyone loves Breakfast for dinner!

Ingredients

Dry:

1/4tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 TBS Pumpkin pie mix
1/2 Cup Almond Meal or Almond flour

Wet:
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Canned Pumpkin

1 TBS Organic Honey

Combine the dry ingredients together in medium size bowl

In a small bowl combine the wet ingredients. 

Toss the wet ingredients into the dry and mix thoroughly. Let mixture sit for 2 or 3 minutes.

Cook in a skillet on medium heat and flip them when the centers get bubbles! :) Makes about 5 pancakes, these are very filling!

Enjoy with Bacon and Eggs or check our http://weserind.blogspot.com to see another side. Thanks for the recipe Erin!

Cajun Burger Sliders

 If you are anything like me- you are catching that winter cold, feeling the business of the Holiday season and just want to sit on the couch with a hot tea and a Christmas movie! I DID NOT want to cook tonight but I have a husband to feed so I did a 20 minute meal idea that he loved. It was quick, easy and only included 8ish ingredients.

Cajun Burger Sliders

2 TBS Cajun Seasoning (try to find some with natural ingredients and sugar free- we use Chef Leo's)
1 LB of Nitrate free- ground beef
2 tsp Worcester Sauce
Romaine Lettuce leaves

Preheat skillet on medium heat for 4 minutes. Add all ingredients into a bowl and form into mini burgers. Put in the pan and cook until no longer red in center (About 10 min)
Place burgers on a romaine lettuce leaf with sliced tomatoes. (You can add any veggies)
~Makes 8 mini burgers

String beans

2 cups of fresh String Beans
1 TBS of grass- fed cow~ butter
sea salt and cracked pepper to taste (Brandon added Cajun seasoning to his)

Boil water in a pot and add beans to boiling water.
Cover and continue to boil for 4-6 minutes (depending on the softness you prefer on the beans.)
Drain and add butter and Salt and pepper to taste


Baked Apple Slices

2 small Gala Apples
1 TBS Palm Sugar
1/2 TBS Organic Maple Syrup

Slice apples and peel.
Place in a glass bowl and add Sugar.
Microwave for 5 minutes. Remove and stir. Add Maple Syrup to taste.

This was a delicious warm meal that was perfect for the Holiday season. The baked apples were a nice dessert during our Christmas Movie: "The Year Without a Santa Clause". This meal was Paleo so we didn't use bread or real sugar but if you wanted to add rolls, you could do that as well.
Happy Cooking!

Apple Bran Muffins

A few ingredients

I baked these muffins for my husband because he NEEDED bread. I wanted to thank him for making me a delicious herbed chicken and bacon dinner and a big salad. These take about 10 minutes to make and only 15 minutes to bake. They can be a great after dinner dessert or a morning Breakfast. Enjoy!

Apple Muffins

3 eggs

1/4 Cup Grape Seed oil

1/2 Cup Palm sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cup almond meal ( I use Trader Joe's Just Almond meal)

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking soda

1/2 Cups of chopped apples. (peeled)  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Use liners in muffin pan or use coconut oil to grease the muffin pan.

In a Medium size bowl whisk the eggs together.

Add Grape Seed oil, palm sugar and vanilla extract to the eggs and mix well. 

Add in Almond meal Sea salt and Baking Soda and mix well.

(This is easily hand mixed- no need for a heavy duty mixer)

Whisked all ingredients in one bowl! Clean and easy

Fold in 1/2 cup of freshly chopped apples (I used one small Gala Apple and used my food chopper)

Bake for 15 min. or until a toothpick inserted, comes out clean

Delicious!

Makes about 10 regular sized muffins.

More Energy!

Well, I know its been awhile since my last post... So here it goes!

Since I started this life change of my eating habits, I noticed a big change! My pants are getting a little looser, YAY ME! My dad noticed that my face has gotten thinner, again... YAY ME! And, my husband has decided to join in on the life change with me. YAY JOHNNY! I have also noticed that since this has started for us, I have more energy. This past weekend, while my husband was away hunting, I decided to paint my entire house!!! Before, I would have put it off and come up with some outragious exscuses! I am up at 700am every morning. I love it! I love feeling energized and ready to tackle my day! This Thanksigiving, it was nice to have a day off on that day, and I made some great decisions. I didnt go buck wild, just because I had a day off. I noticed that, I got full after only one plate. And, I didnt over indulge in food, like I would have a year or so ago. It was great! Not quite sure how much more weight I have lost, but I am so anxious to find out!!!

Make it Paleo

Over the weekend I bought a cookbook called: Make it Paleo

http://www.primal-palate.com/

This has a ton of great recipes and explains the importance of making healthy choices in food. What I like about this book is that the couple uses about 5 ingredients and most of the recipe's use the same basic ingredients that you can have at home.  It gives you a grocery list, cuts of meat and labels to watch for. On my 3 hour drive from Maryland to NOVA today, Brandon and I earmarked a few recipe's and planned out our meals! We are both excited to try some of the delicious meals.

http://newarknaturalfoods.com/

While home visiting our parents I went to the Newark food co-op and got a few items and compared prices to Trader Joe's. Trader Joe's is a lot cheaper but they often have items out of stock so I grabbed a few things. My favorite thing about the Newark Natural food co-op was the pre-made paleo foods available. They had crackers and trailmix that were Paelo approved! If you are in that area- check it out and you can get a lot of your basic ingredients here.

Back in NOVA I went and got some basics that the cookbook recommended, here is a little bit of our Primal shopping. It was really hard to find Nitrate free meats at Giant. Giant doesn't carry almond flour, coconut flour or any of the key ingredients to get going with paleo but they do have a unique "local Farm Fresh" section on occasion. Tonight we got Farm Fresh Asparagus.



Brandon and I have decided that Trader Joe's is the best for what we need and our budget! I like it because it is small, inexpensive, and friendly. The employees seem happy and they are knowledgeable on Paleo, Gluten- Free and healthy eating.

For tonight dinner I made Sweet Potato Fries with Olive oil, Sea Salt and Cracked pepper.  Simple and fast!
First slice two small  Sweet Potato into fries and coated them with organic olive oil.
Next  put them on my a oiled Stoneware about 1 fry apart.
Sprinkled them with Sea Salt and Cracked pepper. (about 1/4 c of Sea Salt and 5 good shakes of cracked pepper- enough that you can see it but not too much that it over powers.)

 I paired my fries with an Oven Roasted Rotisserie chicken. Sitting in traffic all day and then grocery shopping- this seemed like a fast, easy and filling option! :) This was delicious and it gave me energy to premake bacon and boiled eggs for out breakfast tomorrow and a tray of Paleo Crunch for lunches.

As I was shopping around this weekend, I saw two more recipe books that I have placed on my Wish List! The author of these also has a blog and wrote the forward to "Make it Paleo". His family has been eating Paleo for a long time and his recipe's look delicious!Check out Mark Sisson: www.marksdailyapple.com

It is that feeling of fitting into size 32 Gap Bootcut jeans for the first time in years...

It is 2 days after the biggest eating day of the year and Brandon and I chose to continue our healthy eating habits even through the holidays. We didn't stay total Paleo but we made "better" choices than years past. (1 dessert rather than a plate full of desserts).  Brandon passed up 2 Free pizza meals in one day and went almost crazy with hunger cravings. I was getting nervous that this life change and paleo had become too much for him until today....

BSF concert in 2007

             2 days after Thanksgiving when most people are feeling fat and lazy ~ Brandon has been up, active and hunting. I noticed his pants were extra saggy and falling down so I took my sister to Gap and we found him his favorite pair of jeans.We  brought them home tonight and THEY FIT! They were the loose and comfortable jeans that he always loves. Only this time... they were a lot smaller!
 It was at that moment he decided that, he really enjoyed our life change and he is pretty sure he can continue on.


The point of tonights blog:
 1.) To brag on my husbands hard work! I LOVE him

2.) to let you know that you can have a day like Thanksgiving and Holidays to cheat on your normal routines. (And you won't gain 40 lbs. in one cheat day- it actually helps boost your metabolizm and restart your body.)

3.) Size 32 jeans surpassed Brandon's goals of this life change. He wanted to feel healthy and more energetic. He wanted to lose weight but he has dropped over 25 LBS and he is feeling, healthy, Happy and looking good in smaller clothes while he does it ;)

“All who have accomplished great things have had a great aim, have fixed their gaze on a goal which was high, one which sometimes seemed impossible…”

- Orison Swett Marden



I should add that this has been achieved with limited work outs due to a shattered elbow during a bike wreck in July!
Sometimes it just takes changing your eating ;)

Paleo Bacon and Chocolate chip cookies

In the spirit of thanksgiving and trying to make good eating choices, I have made a Bacon and chocolate chip cookie recipe. I got this recipe from http://www.primal-palate.com These cookies are gluten free- Paleo approved and Tastebud approved.. YUM!!! Enjoy!

Candied Bacon Ingredients:

• 5 slices nitrate free bacon
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• Coconut palm sugar

Candied Bacon Process:

1. Preheat oven to bake at 350.
2. In a medium size mixing bowl, toss bacon in maple syrup.
3. Lay bacon on a parchment lined baking sheet.
4. Sprinkle bacon with coconut palm sugar.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Remove bacon from oven and place strips on a cooling rack.
7. Crumble candied bacon for cookie batter.

Cookie Ingredients:

• 3 cups Blanched Almond Flour
• 1/2 cup Palm Shortening (or unrefined Coconut Oil)
• 1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup
• 2 Omega 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 1/2 cups Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Cookie Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
3. In a small mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
5. Add palm shortening into batter, and continue to blend until combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips and candied bacon.
7. Drop balls of dough on parchment lined baking sheet, about a tablespoon in size.
8. Bake cookies for 15 minutes at 350.
9. Let cool and serve.

YUM YUM!!!

Paleo

Brandon and I went to a friends house for dinner last night and they started eating Paleo. At first I thought, they are CRAZY but the more I heard their reasoning for eating that way, the more I kind of wanted to try it. So starting tomorrow, Brandon and I are going to try it for 3 days and see if we can survive. If all goes well, we will try it for 30 days after Thanksgiving.
Tonight I made, what Wes and Erin's kids affectionately refer to as "Cereal". It is a Paleo Crunch (like a granola).

Paleo Crunch
1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds

1/2 c raw sunflower seeds

1 c almond meal

1 c shredded unsweetened coconut

2 c raw slivered almonds

1/2 c grape seed oil(or coconut oil)

1/2 c raw organic honey

1 tsp vanilla

Preaheat oven to 325. In  a large bowl, add Seeds, almond meal and almonds, mix well. Add in honey, oil and vanilla. mix well. Place wax paper on a cookie sheet and spread thin on a baking sheet and bake for 25 mins. Stir or flip over and bake for 5 more mins. Cool for 5-10 minstupperware or freezer bag to keep it from getting stale.

I added mine to some blueberries or a little bit of 85% Dark chocolate pieces and it was a great snack. Wes and Erin add theirs to strawberries after dinner and their kids devour it!

I didn't have Almonds or almond meal so I made mine without some of these ingredients. I would recommend baking it for 20 minutes rather than the full 30 minutes.  

Tomorrow for meals we are having:
Breakfast: Eggs and bacon with a cup of black coffee
Snack: Crunch and bananas
Lunch: A few slices of roast with a homemade NC style BBQ sauce:

Apple cider vinegar, honey, uncle Leo's seasoning and sea salt

Snack: Hummus and carrots

Dinner: pulled pork with salad and string beans

Snack: Crunch and blueberries 

To read more about Paleo, check out my friends blog: www.weserind.blogspot.com

Erin has some great recipe's and I am excited to try it out.

Happy Eating,

Hungry OH so HUNGRY!!

Oh my gosh, is this EVER HARD! Im pulling through though! Feel really great after my workouts! What made me SO EXCITED about this whole life change, is...... Wait for it.. Wait for it..... I LOST 7 POUNDS!!!! YES!!! GO ME GO ME!! I am totally going to push through this! I can do it! Extremely excited that Kimberly posted a recipe about CHOCOLATE! I have been CRAVING CHOCOLATE like CRAZY!!!! I daydream in Chocolate! WHAT THE HECK!

Chocolate Thursday

Wednesday and Thursday are the worst.. All we want is chocolate!!!! I have been fixing my chocolate cravings with a few treats.

Brookstone Chocolate covered Pomegranates make a great snack in the evenings after dinner. You can have 10 of them for only 90 calories. They are dark chocolate and pomegranate which are both high in antioxidents.

Kashi Go- Lean bars- These are the most common chocolate fix for me because I eat them for breakfast and lunch. They have so many different flavors that I don't get tired of them and they are all dipped in chocolate. (Most of them have chocolate chips in them). These are high in Fiber and they have 9 grams of protein at only 180 calories per bar- you can't get a better chocolate fix than this! Kashi has a lot of great treats, chocolate, granola and breakfast bars. They are a great company and tend to stay true to their "LEAN" advertisements!

Tonight I made a recipe that is FABULOUS!!! It came from Healthy living magazine. It is a chocolate and peanut butter fudge recipe. It is only 123 calories per serving. 3.5 g Fiber.

1 (14oz.) can Fat Free sweetened condensed milk, divided.            3/4 c. choco chip chips

2 TBS unsweet dark cocoa powder                                                  1/4 tsp instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla extract, divided                                                             3/4 c peanut butter chips

1/4 c. salted peanuts chopped (optional)                                           1 TBS Peanut Butter

1. Line an 8 inch square pan with wax paper. Place 9 TBS of sweet milk in a microwave safe bowl. Add choc chips, cocoa and coffee. Microwave on high for 1 min. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla. Spread into pan.

2. Combine the remaining milk, peanut butter chips in Microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir in Vanilla. Spread evenly over chocolate layer. Sprinkle peanuts on top. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Cut into 25 pieces. *I left off the peanuts and left out the peanut butter  to lighten the calorie load but you can add it and it is only 123 calories per piece*

YUMMMM!

Who doesn't love a healthy way to enjoy chocolate!

*Hope you can resist eating the whole pan. I usually save 3 treats at home and then take the rest to my teacher friends or send them to work with my husband for his friends.



A few inspirational sites...

http://www.facebook.com/morrillperformance?sk=wall&filter=2 - A good sight for inspiration and some strength and conditioning ideas. I like the Monday Mind Candy aspect it is very inspirational and it gets you pumped up for your week. Example of this Mondays mind candy: Once we set our sights on a goal, we have to pursue with relentless determination and consistency. Become your goal. Aristotle said it well, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."

http://www.livestrong.com/myplate/-  I use this site to track my calories, work outs and set goals. It is easy and you can get an app for it right on your Smartphone. The best part is, you can type in things like- Five Guys burger and it can track it right away without having to search all over for the calories.

Menu options for a week~

This is just a little example of some healthier eating habits. The entire Life Change eating habit is based on 2 different weight loss theories that I have been living by for almost a year. One, is Medifast's idea of eating 5 small meals throughout the day and then 1 Lean and Green meal for dinner. Two, is the 4 hour body http://www.fourhourbody.com/ by Tim Ferris. Since January, I have lost 35 pounds and for 2 months of that I didn't work out. I have not gained a single pound back and I have been eating this way consistently because it is so easy and I don't have to think, spend lots of money or measure out my meals.
The idea is to stay on a strict eating schedule all week long and then one day a week you can have a free day where you eat whatever you want. If you are like me, you will agree that eating right on the weekends is hard. Especially when you go out, entertain, or just want to have a guilt free treat after working so hard all week. Since this is not a diet, we don't want to deprive ourselves of good food! If we did that, we would never stick with the life change. This isn't a diet, it is a life change! I know I have said it several times but it is true - don't start a diet you can't continue forever. The meal plan you are about to see is just an idea of what I eat all week, you can change it, switch the meals around and do it however you see fits best for your schedule. Because I teach, this works best for me.

GOAL: The goal for the first month is to ween your body off sugar and to "RESET" your body's eating habits and metabolism.

DRINK: 64oz of water at least. Buy a 32oz bottle and carry it around all day and make sure that before your head hits the pillow at night, you've filled that bottle 2 times. Avoid sugary drinks - you can have coffee, herbal tea, unsweetened tea and if you really can't handle the water- try some benefiber mix in or the crystal lights (limit: one per day) (Pay Attention to the Sugar). Milk- if you are going to drink milk try to limit it to 1/2c. a day!

AVOID: Do not eat fruit or anything high in sugar for the first month. Read the labels of foods before you eat them. You want High Fiber, low Sodium, Low Carbs and Low Sugar. You need about 20 Grams of fiber a day and no more than 1700 calories a day (for weightloss).

IMPORTANT: Get in all of your meals- eating too little will not help you lose weight, it can actually cause your body to store fat. Don't skip meals because then you will find yourself looking for food and eating whatever is in your path- Yes, I know all of this from experience ;)

*I should let you know that I am not an expert, I just know what worked for me and several of my friends that have also followed this plan.*



Day One Completed!

Hello All! I started my morning off with a breakfast of champions.... Whole Wheat Cheerios and a cup of black coffee. Lunch was, plain tuna and four celery sticks with peanut butter. Not bad. Finished up school with Jaden, then we headed out for our walk! Thank goodness, the weather was GORGEOUS! Not quite sure what i'm going to do,once the snow starts falling. I know some of you, do not get quite as much snow as we do! Anyway, we had a nice walk. Jaden was a champ. Little worried I was going to make him do the race. Maggie did great as welll. Kind of wanted to quit and snuggle with her in the stroller. Walking a mile is tough! My chest started hurting! Poor Jaden, was grabbing his side. In the end it was worth it! I feel really good now! After we came in, I mapped out my walk on mapmyrun.com It says that my walk from my house to the technology building parkin lot and back is 1.30 miles. Tomorrow, im gonna try and jog!

My new exciting, scary, emotional, you name it Journey!

Well, here I am about to embark on this exciting,scary,emotional etc... journey! I mean, im sure it wont be as painful or torturing as childbirth! Right..... We will see! Anyway, I was talking to my sister who ran her FIRST half marathon! Kudos, to you dear sister for accomplishing your goal! Let me just say, I am doing this journey BECAUSE of you! You have inspired me! My goal that I am going to accomplish is.... dun dun dun... TRAINING FOR A 5k in February. I have decided to do this, after I spoke to my sister today about her race. It was amazing, some of the stories that she shared with me. I just didnt want to be that woman/mother who just sat around on the couch, with her nose in the computer or watching television, all the while EATING! I also, didnt want to set this example for my two beautiful children, Jaden and Maggie. As a parent, I feel like I need to show my children the "correct" way of living a healthy lifestyle! So here I am, starting Monday (tomorrow) I will be training for my first race. Let me say it again, MY FIRST RACE! I am so excited. I know that I am going to have tough times and tears! I also know, that I have my amazing husband and family behind me! I am so excited to start this journey with my sister, whom I love so much! Cant wait to complete this goal that I have set before me!

On a new Journey

I started this blog to track my journey to a new lifestyle. Yesterday I achieved one of my biggest goals since I started. I completed my first Half Marathon. http://www.richmondmarathon.com/ I not only completed the race but I crushed my goals of running it in under 3 hours and running the entire race without stopping. My time was 2:21:03. This is a feeling that you cannot buy, I have never had an experience like this- it took me about 16 weeks to train for this race and I couldn't have asked for a better race.
It has been a long year full of Races, changing eating habits, triathlons and now a half marathon. As I am letting my body recover from yesterday~ I am starting to think about my next goal. A full marathon? Another Half? Tough Mudder? I wasn't sure what to do... UNTIL:
My sister called me and told me that she had a new journey for me. I was intrigued~ turns out I accepted this challenge and I can't wait!!!
After following my year of life change, Amanda has decided to start her own journey and has asked me to support her, encourage her and teach her how to start living a healthier lifestyle. What I found encouraging about this conversation was the fact that she doesn't want to do it for her husband, her parents, sisters or friends. She wants to be on this adventure for herself and for her children. She decided that she doesn't want her children to think it is okay to sit around and do nothing, she wants to show them how to be healthy and active at a young age so they grow up making good choices. Our first journey together will be a 5k race  http://pacersevents.com/lovetherun/index.html. We will be training for our first race together on February 12,2012!
This will be a fun journey full of laughter, tears, hard times and a lot of reward at the end.
Please join us with encouragement, thoughts and prayers for the next few months as we meet our goals together. :)