Paleo Nutella

You know when you really want nutella, and then you realize that it contains a bunch of non-Paleo ingredients: sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, cocoa, skim milk, reduced minerals whey (milk) lecithin as emulsifier (soy), vanillin: an artificial flavor (What is vanillin by the way?) Well here's the solution... No it doesn't fit into the Virgin Diet because of the maple syrup, but that's okay, because I didn't actually eat it today. It was yummy in my tummy.

Paleo Hazelnut Spread

1/3 cup ground hazelnuts/almond butter

1 Tbls maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbls cocoa powder

Mix the ingredients together and you're ready to eat. Enjoy on apples, Paleo crackers, or by itself if you're like me.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

I made a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip bars last night. The non-Paleo kind. So tempting! My goal for this week(end) is to tweak my Paleo-ified version of it. I brought the pan into work, and it was cleaned out by noonish. Any some of my co-workers didn't even get any. Fortunately I have enough ingredients to make another batch. You're welcome, co-workers!

I really need to get back into good sleep habits. This morning, I either slept through a series of alarms or I partially woke up, turned off four alarms, and immediately fell back asleep.  My alarms are set at 5:00, 5:30, and 6:00, and sounds every 5 minutes if you don't turn it off. The first alarm to go off would be my sleep cycle alarm in the 4:30-5:00 range. The remaining alarms are on my phone. I finally woke up at 6:05 If I happened to sleep through all of the alarms (plus 5 minute reminder alarms), that would mean that my phone sounded 14 times this morning before I managed to rolled myself out of bed. I shuffled a few feet closer to the bathroom, and then dropped into 50 squats.

I'm doing a 30-day, 6000 squat challenge, meaning 200 squats per day. (Feel free to join in! Though you would need to catch up for a couple days.) Today was day two, and I'm 450 squats in. Unfortunately, I'm also already icing my knee. Though technically I started doing that yesterday evening. Maybe it's time to invest in a knee brace again. Each time I do a squat I can hear my knees creaking. It's a bit disconcerting. Anyways, to the good stuff...

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins

1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup cranberries
2 eggs
1/2 cup almond flour
1 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 Tbls maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Mix together wet ingredients (pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, and maple syrup).
3. Then stir in remaining ingredients. And spoon into coconut-oil greased muffin tin.

4. Bake for 35-40 minutes,  until toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.

Paleo Peach Cobbler

Paleo Peach Cobbler

2 small peaches
1/3 cup water
2.5 Tbls honey
1 Tbls + 1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/3 cup almond flour
1 egg
2.5 Tbls coconut oil
pinch of sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Prep a baking dish by greasing the dish with melted ghee or coconut oil.
2. Peel and dice the peaches. Mix in pan with water, honey, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until you hit your desired thickness.

3. Transfer peach mixture to your baking dish(es).

4. In a separate bowl, mix the almond flour, 1 Tbls cinnamon, egg, coconut oil, and sea salt. Scoop over the peach mixture.

5. Bake for 30 minutes.

6. Let cool for a couple minutes. Then serve. I topped mine with coconut cream (milk).

21DSD - Days 13-14 - I'm On a Boat...

I made it through the entire weekend without slipping with 21DSD. I'm incredibly proud of myself. I managed to have fun the entire weekend while being the sole sober individual in a large group of people. Impressive, huh? A few people even commented that they couldn't tell that I wasn't drinking... as in I was having fun, chatting, laughing, and dancing like everyone else. I didn't sit in the corner and brood while everyone lowered their inhibitions and went wild. So yay! It wasn't as bad as the last happy hour that I went to where I just felt excluded for not drinking.

Overall, it was a good weekend. My friends and I rented two pontoon boats and hung out on a lake for 6 hours on Saturday. It was a blast. However, major downside is that I managed to get incredibly sunburned. As in, I think this is the second-worst burn I've ever had. The first-worst burn consisted of my skin turning purple and scaly-like. Gross. This one, on the other hand, covered more skin - my shoulders, back of the neck, chest, stomach, arms, and thighs got burnt. Bright red, almost purple. Whenever I walk, I can feel a burn almost down to my muscles. I guess it's that my skin got tight and every time I moved it stretched the skin... painfully. Luckily, I brought aloe, and reapplied frequently Saturday night and Sunday morning, and I was in the bed closest to the A/C unit, so there were a few times during the night that I'd stand in front of the A/C and let the cold air cool down my body. Yep, you got that right, I was HOT. Damn skippy. Seriously, just walking in the sun was enough to make me cringe and exclaim "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow... ow," until I made it back into the shade. Sunburn plus sun = crazy heat = bad = sad sober Gitta. (My nickname for the weekend from my buddy DK was Sober Sister of Sunburned Sober Sister, because I wasn't drinking, and I was her "sister" from sharing a room together in Jamaica. Good times.)

Anyways, what did I eat for lunch when stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake for 6 hours? Pre-made supermarket salad sans dressing? Yep. So while everyone else made sandwiches with deli meat, cheese, mustard, mayo, and wheat bread, I hunkered down over what comparatively looked like a monstrous salad, and ate around the olives (gross) and blue cheese (double non-Paleo gross!). Basically, I ate lettuce, chicken, hard-boiled egg, and some bacon chunks. I admit, the bacon probably wasn't 100% 21DSD-friendly. I bet the bacon was made with sugar. The horror! But I'm not counting that because it wasn't enough to send me into some wild sugar-craving spin. Once I was done eating, it barely looked as though I had touched my salad. I'd say 80% of the salad was still there: lettuce, onions, olives, blue cheese, and some bacon. I brought a Ziploc bag of carrots and celery, as well as a bag of mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and pistachios), and beef jerky. I only ate the carrots while on the boat though. And when I pulled out the carrots, most of the people on the boat wanted some. Apparently, sandwiches, chips, and Cheetos puffs don't completely satisfy people. Yeah, never would have guessed that... eye rolling ensues.

The hotel we stayed at provided breakfast, but its offerings consisted of cereal, yogurt, toast, bagels, muffins, waffles, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs. I ate two eggs for breakfast on Saturday and on Sunday, and I supplemented that with some beef jerky after we got back to the room.

Dinner on Saturday was delicious. A group of us made the drive over to Trudy's for some yummy Tex-Mex. Trudy's is famous for their Mexican Martini, which is basically a strong margarita that comes in a large martini shaker. You're only allowed to order two, and then the waitress cuts you off. Sounds intense? It is. I order the beef fajitas, hold the tortilla. And let me tell you, that was probably the best fajita that I ever had. Seriously. It was fantastic. If you're ever in Austin, go to Trudy's. You won't regret it.

Oh, and I never shared what my pre-road trip dinner was. Chicken and eggs. I heated some olive oil in a pan over medium heat, tossed in some chicken strips with a couple dashes of coconut aminos, cooked, added whisked eggs, and made up some Stir-fry-esque chicken and eggs. Not bad when you've only got 10 minutes to cook and eat before running out the door.

Sea Salt Almond Bark

Sea Salt Almond Bark

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate, broken in to pieces, or use chips if available
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbls coconut oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Heat the coconut oil and vanilla in a small pot over low heat.
2. Once the coconut oil has melted, stir in the chocolate pieces. Keep stirring until the chocolate has melted.
3. Stir in the almonds and 1/4 tsp sea salt.

4. Place a piece of wax paper or parchment paper on a baking pan. Use a spatula to transfer all of the chocolate mixture onto the paper. Spread out the chocolate until it's roughly the thickness you want.
5. Sprinkle the chocolate with another 1/4 tsp of sea salt.
6. Place in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the freezer and break into pieces.

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Strawberry-Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3/4 pint strawberries

1 banana (can use a frozen banana)

1/4 cup coconut butter

1 cup almond flour

1/4 cup coconut flour/shredded flakes

2 eggs, whisked

1 Tbls coconut oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan with coconut oil.
2. Rinse the strawberries and cut off the tops. Dump into a food processor/blender and process until smooth (you can leave a few chunks if you like).
3. Remove 1/4 cup of the strawberries and set aside.
4. Chop up your banana and add to the food processor until fully combined with the strawberries.
5. Add in your coconut butter. Once combined, followed with the almond flour and coconut flour. (You'll probably need to grab a spatula and push the mixture down from the sides of the processor.)
6. Mix in one egg at a time.
7. Transfer to your greased loaf pan and bake in the oven for 25 minutes, or until the center is firm.
8. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
9. While cooling, heat 1 Tbls coconut oil on the stove. Once hot, add the 1/4 cup of strawberry puree that you had set aside in step 3. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. The mixture will turn a deeper red and start to clump together.
10. Slice up a piece and top with the warm strawberry mixture.

Whole 30 - Traveling

Today was an exceptionally early start for me, with not a lot of sleep on top of that. This morning, my alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. Even for me that's an early wake-up call. But I needed that time in order to get showered, dressed, and well-fed before heading off to the airport. In the past, when I traveled early in the morning, I would skip breakfast at home and just grab something at the airport. However, with Paleo, airport food isn't always an option. Travel can be a daunting task for Paleo-ites. As I sit at my gate waiting for my flight, I see a wall of sugary processed foods at the nearby news stand, a Starbucks full of sugary drinks and grain-based snacks, and a Proof-of-the-Pudding full of to-go wraps, yogurts, bags of chips, and salads with lots of cheesy toppings. But what are most prevalent at airports? Fast-food restaurants - a Paleo nightmare.

The Atlanta airport is a rockin' airport. It's massive and if you have the time, you can check out the different terminals for their food options. I had an almost 4-hour layover today, so I came into Terminal B, walked the entire terminal, then walked to C and walked up and down that terminal before proceeding to Terminal F (the airport's new international terminal) and walking both levels of that as well. I then walked back to D, walked around D, and came back to B for lunch.

Here's a couple shots of Terminal F: 

Here's some of the places to eat at the various terminals: Terminal has a TGIF and Cafe Intermezzo. Terminal D is undergoing some construction. Terminal E has fast-foot restaurants as well as a fancier-looking restaurant with a sushi bar. Terminal F has a Pei Wei, El Taco, The Varsity, and Pecan Grille. (For the life of me I can't remember what was at Terminal C.) Of these, I recommend Cafe Intermezzo. I got an Almond Avocado Salad ("avocados, mandarin oranges, diced cucumbers, red peppers and toasted almonds on mixed greens with orange vinaigrette dressing").

The key to Paleo traveling is being prepared. Most airports have the available dining options posted online so you can check out what will work for you. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport has this site which lets you search by terminal. And if you know you won't have time while you're at the airport to grab something, prep some snacks or a meal the day before. For instance, last night I mixed up a Ziploc bag of raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and hazelnuts as a snack if I needed it. I also brought along two apples, a banana, and Lärabars. I ended up not needing it while traveling, but at least I came with food so that I didn't have to resort to going hungry or succumbing to unhealthy airport fares. And the nuts came in handy for adding some more variety to my salad during dinner with the family.

Almond Chicken Scrambled Eggs

Monday was my first full day on the beach, so I had to start off my vacation the right way. After going for a short 2-mile jog with my dad (I'm slowly working my way up to half-marathon distance by next January), I came home and made some breakfast for my mom and me (my dad chose to eat cereal for breakfast). Here's what I whipped together.

Almond Chicken Scrambled Eggs (serves 2)

4 eggs

1/2 Almond-Crusted Chicken Breast, sliced

1/2 orange pepper, cut into 1 cm pieces

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste (~3/4 tsp each)

2 tsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil over medium heat on the stove. Add the orange pepper, season with a couple sprinkles of salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes before adding the chicken. Season the chicken and pepper with paprika, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Add in the whisked eggs. Once the eggs are cooked through, plate and top with salsa (optional).

More Almond-Crusted Chicken Scrambled Eggs...

Tuesday's breakfast included 1/2 zucchini, sliced and halved, 2 cups of spinach, 1/2 of a red pepper, 1/3 of an onion, and 2 chicken breasts, sliced. Start with the onions in the pan because they require more cook time, then add, in this order: the red pepper, zucchini, and chicken, about 2 minutes apart. Mix in 6 eggs. Heap onto a plate, add a porch on the beach, and enjoy! It tastes particularly good after a three-mile jog.

It's a small world after all

Before I hit Panama on my way from Pensacola to St. George Island on Sunday, my mother called me to tell me that she ran into one of my high school friends, JM, at the rental agency. Apparently, my family and his decided to go to the same beach at the same time. Small world, huh? JM and I bonded during 10th grade math and had a pretend marriage during high school. We even were "married" on facebook for most of our freshman year of college (despite the fact that I went to Georgia Tech and he went to the University of Georgia). I even had a couple friends ask me why they weren't invited to the wedding.

So over the course of one weekend, I saw a friend from preschool (CA), a friend from middle school (KM), a friend from high school (JM), and also saw a fellow Georgia Tech grad walking down the beach. All I need is elementary school to round out the mix.

Almond-Crusted Chicken Breast

1 lb chicken breast, thawed

2 eggs, whisked

1 cup almond flour

1 cup almonds, chopped

2 tsp parsley

2 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the almond flour, almonds, parsley, garlic salt, black pepper, and paprika in a bowl; transfer to a plate/pan.

Pat dry the chicken breasts, then coat each chicken breast with the eggs, using a pastry brush if you have one. Place the chicken into the almond mixture, making sure the chicken is thoroughly and evenly coated. While you're doing this, heat 2 tbls of olive oil over medium heat on the stove. Place the chicken breast into the heated pan and brown each side (~4 minutes per side).

Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Optional: line the bottom of the pan with sliced zucchini before baking.

Serve over a salad of romaine hearts, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and yellow peppers.

Rumspringa 3

Ugh. Today I had some Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread - Creamy (Low Sodium). It's tasty but way too sweet (my sweet tooth is shaking its enamel at me for even thinking that something is too sweet). Let me just share some of the things written on the Jif jar:
"Peanut butter spread contains 90% peanuts."
"Ingredients: Made from peanuts, sugar, palm oil, contains 2% or less of : salt, molasses."

Compare that to what I've substituted for peanut butter:
100% almonds
Ingredients: Almonds











Tell me, which sounds more appealing to you? I vote almond butter. Or even 100% peanut butter, each of which is readily available in the bulk foods section of the grocery store. With the flip of a switch you can blend it yourself! Ohhh, look at you... so talented! You can even get honey roasted peanut butter. Oh, the options!