swordfish and asparagus {ridiculously healthy Paleo}

There will be no recipe link for this meal. Honestly, I can’t believe I made it…and that my kids actually ate it! 🙂

Grilled swordfish and baked asparagus.

Although healthy and 100% Paleo, it did not satisfy any gluten craving! I just had a sudden urge to cook the healthiest meal on the planet!

While cruising the grocery store with swordfish in my cart, my children were gagging. For real. That’s how I know that I have crossed into some crazy healthy world….gagging children before they even sit down at the dinner table! Haha!

I have some super yummy recipes to share soon though! 🙂

hurdles in eating healthy…

My adventures in our new diet have led me down a somewhat crunchy path…

You know what I mean by “crunchy”, right? According to the Urban Dictionary online (the obvious choice for scholars like myself) it is “Used to describe persons who have adjusted or altered their lifestyle for environmental reasons. Crunchy persons tend to be politically strongly left-leaning and may be additionally but not exclusively categorized as vegetarians, vegans, eco-tarians, conservationists, environmentalists, neo-hippies, tree huggers, nature enthusiasts, etc.”

While I’m not leaning anywhere near the left side, I might be considered somewhat hippie-ish since I’ve now been making my own shampoo, body soap and moisturizing my face with almond oil!

Why have I journeyed into the world of crunchiness? Glad you asked. 😉 It’s not out of a desire to save the planet… It’s because my skin resembles a child with chicken pox. 😦

From what I can gather, there are a number of reasons why my face could break out into a frenzy of rashes and blemishes…. 1) a detox rash. 2) an allergy or sensitivity to makeup, shampoo, or other personal care product. 3) an allergy or sensitivity to something I am eating. 4) you fill in the blank, because I’m out of ideas!

Apparently a detox rash is common when extremely changing your diet. I was NOT prepared for that, but am hoping my skin looks Cover Girl easy and breezy soon. 😉

As I continue to explore why my pores are revolting, I *may* post recipes for shampoos, etc. Although so far I’ve struck out in that department!

If you have thoughts for me, I’d love to hear them. 🙂

banana bread {Paleo}

I’m going to come right out and say it. I’m a snob. Big time….At least when it comes to baked goods.

This doesn’t mean that I’m an expert at BAKING them, but I sure know what they should taste like! 🙂

Well, since our January 1st healthy food adventure, I’ve missed banana bread something terribly. My grandma Olive made the BEST banana bread, and that recipe has been passed down through the generations. I’ve tried several gluten free/Paleo recipes to try and duplicate that deliciousness…. No such luck. Until NOW!!!

Meet Elana. She might be the most amazing baker on the planet. She has developed a banana bread recipe that is not only healthy and simple to make, but SCRUMPTIOUS!!!
And guess what?….the only added sugar is raw honey!  Love it.

I kinda over baked it today (remember: I’m only an experienced EATER, not baker). My kids ate it just as quickly though! Victory!!!

If you want to see more of her recipes, and learn more about her, check out her website!   http://www.elanaspantry.com/

brownies {gluten free}

I’ve missed a few days.  It wasn’t from a lack of baking though….just a lack of truly scrumptilicious food!

One of the recipe “flops” was banana bread.  The recipe claimed to be “the best EVER (gluten free)”…  Well, it didn’t pass my test.  True, it was still pretty good for gluten-free food…but I’m looking for AWESOME.  I want food SO good, that it doesn’t taste like it’s “gluten-free”.  Truth be told, I guess I’m kind of a baked goods snob.  😉

Some of the other recipes that didn’t make the cut this week:  hot chocolate (two different Paleo recipes), cherry-cranberry granola bars and hot dog buns.  All were “good”….none of them noteworthy. Try, try again!

Then we had SUCCESS!  Super awesome, don’t-even-miss-gluten BROWNIES!  The disappointing part?  I didn’t even make it…Chad did!  Oh well….you win some, you lose some!

The recipe came from a website called flippindelicious.com.  How could wonderful things not come from a that web address?  I think I will be visiting those pages often!

A couple of things that Chad did to make the recipe a little different…  Instead of butter, he used coconut oil, and instead of a rice flour blend, he used Bob’s all-purpose gluten free flour.

The house smelled so wonderfully, that the kids couldn’t even wait for me to snap a picture of a full pan!  Even our two 10 year-old guests, who aren’t used to eating a gluten free diet, devoured them!  One of our kids even declared them to be THE BEST BROWNIES EVER!  🙂

Again….to get the recipe, just follow this link :  http://www.flippindelicious.com/2013/04/best-fudgy-browned-butter-gluten-free-brownies.html  

granola bars {Paleo}

This blog may have just gained me 20 minutes of sleep everyday.

I woke up to hungry children, who after 35 days of Paleo eating, still don’t know what to eat for breakfast now that frozen waffles aren’t allowed. “I’m hungry! Mom, there’s NOTHING to eat!!!” These desperate words came screaming into my bedroom at an hour of day that should be illegal. (Ok…it was almost 8 am…don’t judge..)

With one eye still shut, I ran through the list of acceptable breakfast options.. You can have a hard boiled egg (shook his head “no”)..a bowl of yogurt (nope)…an apple (already had one)… Ugh! The only choice I had was to drag my plaid-pajama-pant-behind out of bed and MAKE something for them!

As we went about our morning, my mind kept wandering to easy snack ideas. Something to give me a few extra minutes of sanity, and that would actually FILL my kids tummys! Thankfully, I remembered a granola recipe from a Pinterest board set up by my sweet, grain-free friend!

I actually HAD the ingredients, which never seems to happen!

The results were amazing! It kind of tastes like a cinnamon raisin cookie..Mmmm. And the best part?! It is now packaged and waiting to ease those morning stomach pains! Yay for more mommy sleep time!!!

(The recipe website again…http://www.amazingpaleo.com/2013/03/25/paleo-granola-bars)

plantain donuts {Paleo}

I may have officially lost my mind.  A donut that is made from PLANTAINS, and actually tastes good?!  The super duper crazy part?… I made it!  And it was awesome, and I can’t wait to make it again.

Oh, and this recipe is not only grain free, it is also EGG free!  Insane, huh?!

The recipe comes from this site…I take no credit for it, because frankly, I am not creative enough to come up with a recipe like this!!!  Their recipe calls for a protein powder frosting too.  I didn’t make that though, because I didn’t want to steal Chad’s protein powder!

The only rational part of this recipe?…  You can feel 100% good about feeding your kids DONUTS for breakfast with this recipe!  🙂

barbecue chicken pizza {Gluten Free}

I sorta feel like a rock star if all of my children bathe in the same 24 hour period.  If I *remember* to bring back paperwork…or sign up for the soccer team….or put pretty braids in my daughter’s hair, I develop a little bit of a strut, because I’m relatively certain I will be nominated for Mother of the Year. 😉

You see, I didn’t previously peruse Pinterest for recipes.  My signature dish at the church potluck was a bag of Cheetos.  I tell you all of this, because if I can start cooking gluten free (mostly Paleo) food for my family, then YOU can too.  Really.

I DID miss a blog post yesterday, but that wasn’t for lack of cooking.  We celebrated day 31 of our healthy eating by adding in brown rice.  I made an Orange Chicken recipe that I was super excited to share….but alas, it was just eh.  It looked like THIS (yummy, huh?!), but wasn’t faux “gluten-y” enough to share.  I will have to tweak it with the help of a good friend who has offered to help develop recipes with me (Mandy51503, I’m talking to you).

That brings me to the recipe that we had for dinner tonight that was A-MAZ-ING.  It was not Paleo, because it involved cheese, but sometimes you just have to live a little!  It got two thumbs up from all six family members!  Barbecue Chicken Pizza!!!

I can’t share the exact recipe for the crust, because I bought a new cookbook online, and feel like it would be wrong to share it.   All of the recipes look awesome though, so I think you should go buy it too!  But the crust recipe was a LOT like this recipe, only EASIER!

What I did:  Put four large chicken breasts in the crockpot, and slathered with Tessemae’s BBQ sauce.  Cooked for 6 hours on low.  Shredded the chicken with a fork.

Then I made the crust (either follow the free recipe link above or buy the Primal Cravings cookbook like I did).  Layer with BBQ sauce for the sauce, then the shredded chicken, then Colby Jack cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is golden brown.

Seriously delish.

oven-fried chicken {Paleo}

I’m serious.  This is amazing.  I honestly can’t see why I would make oven-fried chicken any other way.  Seriously.  There are a lot of other recipes out there that gluten-free people will say are amazing….but they *might* be lying.  I mean….there’s “yummy” compared to other gluten-free foods….then there’s “yummy” compared to gluten-filled deliciousness food.  But I’m here to testify that this chicken passes the “ipuffyheartgluten test.”

I’d love to take complete credit for developing this recipe, but I borrowed it (and tweaked it slightly) from this blog.  She seems to have expert advice on chicken making!  And I am so appreciative of her knowledge!  🙂

P.S.  All of my family loved this recipe too.  🙂

Oven-Fried Chicken {Paleo}

• Servings: 8
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• package of 8 chicken drumsticks or your favorite chicken piece
• 1 1/2 c almond meal
• 3/4 c blanched almond flour
• 1 1/2 T salt
• 1 t black pepper
• 1 t cayenne pepper (add more or less depending on how much of a kick you want your chicken to have!)
• 1 1/2 t paprika
• 1/2 t Italian seasoning
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 c unsweetened, plain almond milk
• olive oil sprayer

Directions:

• Place oven rack in the upper third position of oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with tin foil and placing a cooling rack on top of it.  (This is one of the most important steps, because the cooling rack keeps the chicken from getting soggy on the bottom!) Use olive oil spray to generously coat the cooling rack.
• Mix all of the dry ingredients together with a fork.
• In separate bowl, beat eggs and almond milk.
• Use a plate to sprinkle some of the dry mixture on….that way you if you don’t use ALL of the mix, it doesn’t get contaminated with the chicken!
• Dip chicken in egg mixture, then roll chicken on plate with the dry ingredients.  Evenly coat.  Place chicken on the cooling rack/baking sheet.
• Repeat until all chicken is done.  Spritz chicken with the olive oil spray.
• Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes.
• Eat and enjoy!  🙂

and all God’s people said “Amen”…

One of my biggest struggles as a homeschool mama has been the fear that I’m not doing a good enough job teaching my children…  Thoughts go through  my mind that if they were just learning somewhere else (public school, private school, ANY other school) that they would be more successful.

This fear has  consumed me as I’ve worked with our youngest daughter for the last three years on learning to READ.  If you’ve ever conversed with me about homeschool, more than likely, I’ve shared with you about how she is “behind” in reading.  In fact, raise your hand if I’ve ever recruited you to help me teach her this skill!!

Simple sight words has been a struggle for her.  Longer words with blends has been torturous.  Shoot, even sitting in a vertical position seemed to be impossible.

Enter: Paleo diet.  January 1st, 2014.

I can’t even begin to describe how much better she can focus.  Her reading has improved dramatically!  Even her reading tutor (who happens to be my brother-in-law) told me that she is able to concentrate “leaps and bounds better than before.”  Praise God!

Is it the lack of gluten in her diet?  The fact that she has had no artificial dyes or preservatives in her diet for 29 days?  Or maybe because she has been free of processed sugars like high fructose corn syrup?….. I have no idea!  Maybe it is a combination of all of them!  What I do know, is that I can’t stop.  For the sake of my baby, I have to keep going.

And just to give you another visual.  TODAY is the FIRST day that she has ever met her fluency reading goal.  But she didn’t just meet it…she crushed it!  She’s had a goal of 90 words….prior to January 1st, the closest she ever got for her 2nd reading was 57 words.  Nearly twice as fluent in 29 days?  And all God’s people said “Amen.”

saltine crackers {Paleo}

Early on in this eating healthy/no gluten/partial Paleo journey, I realized one thing…  I can’t live without something crunchy and salty in my life.  Not even for a day.  And the beauty of it is, I don’t have to!  Yes!! 

Here is a super simple, fast recipe for saltine crackers that I made to go with our chili.  I found it on this blog….not going to lie, her pictures make them look a lot more tasty.  And you’d think I’d be able to find a camera in this house to take some fantabulous pictures, but…eh.

Saltine Crackers {Paleo}

• Servings: 30 crackers
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (192 g) blanched ground almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or butter)
• extra salt to sprinkle on top of the crackers

Preparation:

• Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C or gas mark 4).
• Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and blend well.
• Add the egg and oil, and blend and shape the mixture into two balls of dough.
• Place each dough ball on a non-stick baking mat, then place a piece of parchment paper (or other non-stick mat) over the ball and roll the dough into a thin layer.
• Score the crackers with a pizza cutter and sprinkle extra sea salt lightly across the cracker sheet.
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they start to lightly brown.
• Cool for about 15 minutes and break apart into crackers. Store in a sealed container.