Breakfast Delight!

Not being a morning person means breakfast is always the hardest for me. Most days I don't have time to cook something that needs my full attention! So I found this "recipe", if you can even call it that its so simple, egg stuffed avocado. It was so simple and delicious and you can do whatever you have to do while its cooking in the oven!

Egg Stuffed Avocado

All you need is an avocado, 2 eggs per avocado, and whatever else you want to top it with.

I topped mine with a pinch of Garlic Powder, pinch of Onion Powder, Pepper, and a little squeeze of lemon.

Cast iron skillet or All stainless steel skillet

All you have to do is place skillet in oven & preheat to 425 degrees

Cut avocado in half and remove pit

Crack egg into avocado where the pit was ( I cracked mine in a bowl first and scramble)

Top with whatever your little heart desires

Place avocados in skillet that has been heating up in the oven

Cook till your eggs are how you like them...I like my eggs cooked thoroughly so I left them in the over for about 25-30 minutes. If you like them runnier I would do about 20 minutes.

Take out and Enjoy!!!

My new favorite!

I'm only a day off getting back to post my new all time favorite recipe!! During my "cooking therapy" I discovered one of the easiest and most delicious meals that I have made so far. I thought it looked pretty (others disagreed! blind I'm sure) but tasted even 100X better! It also made a large amount,  which was great for left overs! So I'm just going to get to it...another great recipe I found from www.paleoomg.com but tweaked a little bit to make it my own!

Chicken Pistachio Pesto Pasta

What you Need-

1 Large Spaghetti Squash

1 lb Chicken breast Sliced

1 cup pistachios, unsalted and SHELLED!

Approx. 40g of Fresh Basil

2 Garlic Cloves

1/2- 1 cup Olive Oil

Juice of 1 Lemon

A few Sun dried Tomatoes, sliced, to make dish even prettier and more delicious!

What you do-

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees

Cut Spaghetti Squash in half, spoon out seeds and extra threads in center

Place spaghetti squash on in dish or on cooking sheet

Bake squash for 20-25 mins, you want the squash you to be softer to touch but not mushy

While squash is cooking cut up chicken breast, heat large skillet over medium heat and start to cook chicken

Now onto the pesto ...

in food processor put in pistachios and pulse

Then add in your garlic and basil and turn the processor on

While processor is still on slowly add in olive oil to your pesto performance of consistency

Once you've found your perfect consistency (maybe even a little thicker than you would like it)

add in the juice of one lemon

When your chicken is almost fully cooked add in your pesto to the skillet and continue to cook chicken. (you may need to lower the heat a little bit)

Let Squash cool a little before using your fork to pull out the inside (going against the grain makes it easier)

Then mix all together, top with sun dried tomatoes & a few little pistachios

Yum Enjoy!!!!

Cooking Therapy

So I always hear people talk about "retail therapy" I've tried it...not for me. It only makes me more upset and more anxious....either because I didn't find anything I liked or because I spent way to much money!! So today needing some serious therapeutic help I decided to try "Cooking therapy" I went to the grocery store and got enough ingredients to make about 4 recipes I've been wanting to try. I decided to start out with two...then just have a little wine therapy to end the night! :) I ended up having two HUGE Successes so I would say my therapy session was for the most part a success!!

It has been a little bit since I have posted so ofcourse I have tons of great recipes I would love to share with you from the past 2 months but first I am going to post part of today's amazingness!! The first will be the Paleo Blueberry Muffins and then I'll be back tomorrow to post the Pesto Chicken "Pasta" both of which I found from the amazing Juli at http://www.paleoOMG.com if you haven't checked her blog out. You must do so now!!! She also posts all her goodies on Facebook and Twitter!

Blueberry Muffins!

What you need-

1 Cup almond Butter

1 cup Almond meal

3 eggs

1/2 cup Raw Honey (I was out so I used Agave Nectar)

1/3 cup Unsweetended Shredded Coconut

1/3 cup Virgin Coconut Oil, Melted!!

1/2 Tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

pinch of cinnamon

1/2 cup fresh blueberries (I threw in a few extra!!)

What you do-

First Pre heat your oven to 350 degrees

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. You can mix wet and dry seperate I personally mixed wet first then added dry to save dishes!!

Place mix in muffin cups inside muffin tin. My mix made 9 muffins.

Bake for 15-20mins!!

NOM NOM Enjoy!!!

Great to make for the week!

Happy New Year!

Now that things have settled down from the holidays, I thought I would get back to sharing recipes. I have so many good ones I tried through out December that I am dying to share! This one in particular was made for my brother and his family, we love love LOVE buckeyes during the holidays. So I was searching for a treat that would be paleo friendly and still taste good, although these are no buckeyes they sure are tasty and super easy.

Chocolate Covered Date Truffles

(don't be fooled...everyone that told me they "hate" dates LOVED them!!)

What you need-

8 Medjool Dates

Cold Almond Butter

1/4 cup Agave Nectar

1/4 cup Coconut oil or butter (at warm room temp. has to been liquid)

3-4 tbls Cacao Powder

1/4 tsp Vanilla

Shredded Coconut (optional)

What you do-

With a sharp small knife cut slit dates, while keeping them in tact, remove pit

stuff date with almond butter and close back up

In a small bowl mix together Agave, coconut oil/butter, cacao powder, and vanilla

you will have to work fast and dip your dates in till covered (if agave is cold it will harder the coconut oil extremely fast!)

put covered dates on wax paper

I sprinkled half mine with shredded coconut

Put in Fridge for about 5 minutes

Then enjoy!!

Great snack and great for the chocolate or sweets cravings!!

It definitely won't take me as long as last time to get back with more I can't wait to try my Beef, Carrot, and Sweet Potato Stew that's cooking in the crock pot right now to see if its blog worthy!!

Simplicity

One of my favorite things about living a Paleo lifestyle is the simplicity of it. Before starting Paleo I never looked at the ingredients, nutritional facts, nor did I care to....mostly because I didn't really know what I was looking at! After reading more about all the fillers, artificial ingredients, and every other dirty thing that is in our everyday food I understand why my body was in such distress eating those things!!

Getting back to the basics and using clean ingredients really has changed my body and how everything works, I know this for a fact because I had a little affair with processed foods this weekend and man did I pay for it!! After eating a chocolate, pizza, and a tiny bit of pasta my blood pressure sky rocketed back up, migraine kicked back in, and of course was unable to sleep because my whole body felt uncomfortable almost like my insides were crawling or hopping around!

So getting back on track I needed a clean and simple meal for today, thanks to my Sept/Nov (back to school issue) of the Paleo Magazine I had a great recipe for coconut "breaded" chicken tenders. For my Vegetarian friends this would be really great for fish sticks also!! Simple, Easy, Fast, and Delicious!! 

Coconut Chicken Tenders and Onions!

What You Need-

• 1 Cup Shredded Coconut
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
• 1 lb Organic Chicken Tenders
• 1/4 TSP Garlic Powder
• 1 TSP Onion Powder
• Pinch of Sea Salt
• A little ground Pepper
• Olive Oil

What You Do-

• Preheat Oven to 375 degrees
• Put Shredded Coconut, coconut flour, garlic & onion powder, salt, and pepper in to bowl and mix
• Dredge Chicken tenders in olive oil
• Coat Chicken with coconut mix
• put in greased baking pan or baking sheet
• Cook for 20 minutes on 375
• Then after 20 minutes change oven to Broil for 5 and let brown
• Enjoy!!

Onions

 I used a large organic candied onion and did the exact thing as the chicken! They were delicious!!



Gobble Gobble :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Today I am thankful for my health, my friends, and my amazing cooking skills!! I can't wait to make my first Thanksgiving dinner today, hopefully my turkey doesn't turn out like all the ones in the movies that are either ashes on the inside or so hard you can't even cut through it!

Today is an exciting day because I received my Paleo Comfort Foods book...YAY!! You know what that means I now have about 200 NEW recipes to try! I don't even know where to start there are so many delicious looking goodies in it!!

I can't wait to share how my dinner turns out but for now I must tell you about my breakfast I made this morning. It was heaven in a muffin tin! I found the recipe on http://www.civilizedcavemancooking.com/ (another blog Paleo blog I might be addicted to!! )

German Apple Pancakes

What you need-

• 6 Eggs
• 1 Cup Almond Milk (Original, unsweetened)
• 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil, melted
• 2 Tsp Vanilla
• 2 Tsp Pure Maple Syrup
• 1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/8 Tsp Nutmeg
• 2 Apples, cored and diced
• 2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
• 2 Tbsp Raw Organic Honey (YUM!)
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Nutmeg
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• Handful of crushed pecans

What you do-

1. Preheat Oven to 425 Degrees
2. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, almond milk, coconut oil, vanilla, and Maple Syrup
3. In a small bowl, stir coconut flour, nutmeg, and baking soda
4. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and beat well to combine, set aside while you prepare the apples
5. In a small saute pan, heat 2 Tbsp coconut oil and raw organic honey  
6. Stir in cinnamon, nutmeg, and juice of 1/2 Lemon and cook for 1 minute
7. Add in your apples and sauté until all your apples are nicely coated
8. I used a muffin tin and evenly divided the apples into each cup, then over the apples evenly cover with liquid mixture
9. Bake for 20 Minutes at 425 and then reduce heat to 375 and cook for an additional 20 Minutes
10. Sprinkle with Pecans when removed from the oven
11. NOmm NOMM!! Enjoy!

Surviving the cold weather blues

Man these past few days have been so gloomy! Cold weather and rain are not my thing at all, I don't think there is enough vitamin D in the world to get me through the winter luckily I did find some delicious comfort Paleo food to brighten my spirits!

I stayed in all day Sunday and Monday trying to hide from the weather and hooked on reading other peoples blogs, in the process I found my new girl crush...yes I did say it girl crush! This girl is awesome. Her blog is filled with amazing recipes and great humor....you must check her out at http://www.paleomg.com/. I am seriously obsessed!

She had recently posted about her Paleo Chicken Bacon Alfredo and I just simply had to try it! I thought this would be the perfect day to invite my Dad over for dinner, he wasn't to appetized by the sound of it and decided not to join me. His LOSE and more for me! :) Then for desert I found an amazing gluten free-dairy free-as close to paleo brownie recipe you are going to find! Now I must share both of these with you...hope everyone enjoys them as much as I did!

Paleo Chicken Bacon Alfredo

What you need-

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1 larger delicata squash
• 1 lb chicken breast
• 4 slices bacon, diced
• 1/2 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme
• salt and pepper, to taste

What to do-

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Cut spaghetti squash and delicata squash in half and spoon out seeds and loose insides
3. Get out 2 baking sheets  (put down foil if you want and easier clean up) on one put squash face down and on the other put chicken with a little olive oil, basil, and salt &pepper.
4. Bake Squash and Chicken for approximately 20-25 minutes
5. When you have a few minutes left for the squash throw chopped bacon on the stove in a saute pan and cook when done take out with slotted spoon and leave grease in pan
6. Once your squash is done cooking, pull it out of the oven, dethread the spaghetti squash into a large bowl with a fork.
7. Take your delicata squash and hollow it out. Put into your warm skillet filled with bacon grease. Then add your coconut milk. You may need to add a little bit more coconut milk depending on how runny you like your sauce. Mix thoroughly with a ladle to break up the squash
8. Add seasonings to the mix and salt and pepper as needed. Mix thoroughly and cook on low for about 5 minutes to simmer.
9. Dice up your cooked chicken.
10. Pour sauce over spaghetti squash and add your chicken to the mix.
11. Mix it up then top it off with your bacon
12. Enjoy!!!

Now for Brownies!!! YUMMM!

What you need-

• 2 cups almond butter (16oz)
• 2 eggs (cage free, organic)
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 C maple syrup
• 1/2 C Agave Nectar
• 1/4 C Coconut Oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp organic baking soda
• 6oz unsweetened dark chocolate or dairy free semi sweet chocolate chips
• optional add chopped up walnuts or anything else you might want

What you do-

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
2. Melt Chocolate in double boiler or if you are not good at that like me use microwave!! Then let cool for several minutes
3. Mix all ingredients together with electric mixer
4. After you have them nice and mixed up Spoon into greased mini muffin cups or into regular brownie dish
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 11-15 minutes. Bake longer for cake consistency or if not using mini muffin pan!
6. Then NOMM NOMM eat 'em up ..or share them whatever your little heart desires!