Day 21 - Sunday Morning Pancakes

I have had 3 people ask me this week about what recipe we use for pancakes. We have tried several, and these have been the best so far.

Ingredients:
1 c. Almond Flour (I use the Honeyville brand)
2 eggs
1/4 c water
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. agave nectar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well (the batter will be thick) and pour 1/4 measuring cup full of batter on a medium/high skillet. Flip when edges are set.
One batch feeds both of my kids (3-4 small pancakes each) or just Mitch (4 large ones) I didn't have any of these this morning as I am trying to not "Paleoify" any foods during the challenge. Just eggs and an orange for me! And a special shout out to my friend Jessica who pushed me through a 4.1 mile run this morning!

We will be having dinner out with our community group tonight, so I won't be cooking anything new until tomorrow. I hope everyone has a restful Sunday!

Day 20 - Half Way!!

To commence my halfway mark, I went to ITF for a workout they were hosting in honor of the Crossfit Games that are going on in L.A. I was hesitant to go because my shoulders were tired from Friday's workout, but I couldn't resist a free opportunity to work hard. The workout was:
10 Hand Stand Push Ups
20 Wall Balls (14#)
30 Toes to Bar
40 Power Cleans
50 Burpees
60 Sumo-Dead Lift High-Pulls

It was for sure a killer workout, but I was so glad I did it when it was over. I didn't cook anything new today, just a repeat from a few weeks ago. This is what today looked like:

Breakfast (7:30) (pre-workout) - 2 whole, 2 white hard-boiled eggs, 1 spoonful coconut butter
Post-workout (10:30am) - A repeat of yesterdays lunch, pesto chicken salad over spinach, 1 banana
Lunch - 1 can tuna mixed with 1/2 avocado, sauteed squash and zucchini
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - Grass-fed beef burgers with a repeat of Cabbage Mango Slaw. I did change something in the recipe that made us like it even more. In the recipe from Everyday Paleo, it calls for 1 shallot, minced. That was a little much for us, so we took that out and substituted 1 heaping tbsp. diced red onion and 1 tsp. garlic. Delicious! In case you forgot, the slaw looks like this:

Day 19

Life is better when there is food in the fridge for sure! We made a trip to Whole Foods and Publix today and stocked up on lots of goodies for the next few days. I was dying to buy some more chicken to try a new recipe. I had pesto left over from our dinner a few nights ago and I didn't want to see it go to waste. So, I thought why not try it with chicken salad...Pesto Chicken Salad! I made this today for lunch and I loved it. You definitely need to like pesto to make this, and if you do I promise it won't disappoint.

3 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
1 cup pesto (I think I could have used about 1/2 cup more)
1/4 c. mayo (I don't like chicken salad with a lot of mayo, so add another 1/4c. if you want it creamier)
A little squeeze of lemon juice

Just mix everything well and enjoy! I had mine over a spinach salad with some grape tomatoes - a perfect combo.












For dinner tonight we had Fajitas. I marinated the chicken in Fajita seasoning from Penzy's Spices. I served it with sauteed vegetables (red onion, green and red peppers), homemade guacamole, salsa, and whole leaf romaine lettuce leaves for the "tortilla." I also attempted to make Tomatillo Salsa and that was a total bust. The tomatillo selection at WF was quite slim, so I may try again when I can choose better, more firm tomatillos.













Tomorrow is the official halfway point! These past 20 days have flown by and I'm excited about the next 20. I can already tell that I am faster, stronger, and feeling better. Still in it to win it!

Day 18

It was a crazy busy day for us today and not a single bit of cooking went on in my kitchen. That's kind of hard when you are used to cooking 2-3 meals a day. But, it was so worth missing out on because we got to spend most of the day with these wonderful friends. Oh, how we miss them!



































This is what a busy day looks like for me and my food:
5:30am - spoonful coconut manna
7am - Mile intervals - only had time for 3 (all under 8 minutes, though!)
8am - 2 egg whites (all I had time to eat before my next client)
9am - 2 whole and 2 white eggs, banana
12:30 - Zoes Grilled Chicken Salad (no feta or potato salad) in the car, sitting in traffic on I-20
3:00 - Primal Pac (love these things for travel!!)
5:30 - small handful of nuts (was hungry!!)
6:30 - Grass-fed beef patty, spinach, a few pepper slices, 1/2 avocado, a few carrots (dinner with our friends)

It was a great day. Heading to Whoe Foods this morning because we are OUT OF FOOD!!

Day 17 - Best Dinner of the Week!

Tonight for dinner we are trying Walnut Pesto. We love pesto at our house and have always used pinenuts. I was excited to try the walnuts as several friends have said it's their favorite.

Ingredients:
1 cup walnut halves and pieces
6 garlic cloves
1 tsp. sea salt
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/2 cups fresh basil (the fresher it is, the better the pesto will taste!)
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:
In a food processor, all the walnuts, garlic, sea salt, and extra-virgin olive oil. Process until smooth.
Add the basil and lemon juice and process again until smooth.

We had the pesto over grilled chicken, alongside grilled squash, zucchini, and onion from Rosedale Gardens. A wonderful summer meal! My friend, Lisa, said she doubles the pesto recipe and freezes half to have during the winter. I will definitely do that next time!













For the rest of my day:
Breakfast: 1 whole, 4 white eggs, coconut manna
Snack: Larabar
Snack: 1 large spoonful chicken salad
Lunch: (not til 1:30) chicken, salad, roasted veggies, cantaloupe from Pita Stop
Pre-Workout Snack - 1 egg white, 1/2 apple

Day 16 -

Today was a proud day for me. The workout today included 6 rounds of 50 double-unders. That's 300 total. And I did them ALL! I have been working on my double-unders for months and have never been able to do this many, so it was for sure the highlight of my day.

If you shop at Whole Foods, you may have noticed that they have started carrying some of the Organic Girl products. I bought 2 big bags of her organic spinach and 1 big bag of baby swiss chard (all just $3.99 each) and I added the chard into my lunch veggie saute today. I loved it. I just sauteed squash, zucchini, red onion, garlic, and 2 large handfuls of swiss chard in some coconut oil. Tossed in a pinch of salt and pepper and it was perfect. My plan was to have this with some of the homemade chicken salad I made on Sunday, but my hungry husband took it to work and I was quite disappointed. You don't mess with a Paleo girl and her food! I ended up eating 2 slices of deli meat and a hardboiled egg.

For dinner tonight we made Meatloaf. It's a favorite of everyone at our table.

2 lbs. grass-fed ground beef
1 cup almond flour
2 eggs
1 6oz. can tomato paste
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. fresh basil, diced
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper

Comine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Place meat in a large, glass baking dish and form into a loaf












Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until center of the loaf is no longer pink.
I have no after pictures as we ate, cleaned up, and packed up leftovers before I realized I forgot an after picture! Take my word, though, it was great. Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner - Grilled Chicken with Walnut Pesto.

Day 15 - almost halfway there!!

I felt like all I did today was eat. I was starving! And then, after my crossfit workout tonight, I came home and scarfed down dinner. It was slightly embarrassing as I look over at Mitch with my plate clean and his only halfway eaten. In my defense, however, i did work hard and dinner was absolutely delicious!

Easy Skillet Scallops and Spinach from Everyday Paleo
3 tbsp. coconut oil
1 small shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole spinach leaves
1 pound wild-caught sea scallops (I think larger would be better, but small were on sale!)
sea salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges for garnish

Directions:
Heat 2 tbsp. coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the 6 cups of spinach to the saute pan and cook until all leaves have started to wilt.
Remove the spinach from the pan and put on plates.
Add the last tbsp. coconut oil to the pan, add in the scallops, salt and pepper and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook scallops for 2 minutes on each side.
Place scallops over the spinach and serve immediately. YUMMY!!













The rest of my day looked like this:
Breakfast - 1 whole, 4 whites, coconut manna
Snack - 2 slices deli turkey, apple
Lunch - Homemade chicken salad over a big salad
Snack - 1/2 can tuna, 1/2 avocado
Pre-workout snack - 1 whole, 1 white hardboiled egg, applesauce
Dinner - Scallops, sauteed spinach, very small sweet potato