Paleo Cinnamon Buns

Just a quick post this morning, I made these and they were pretty good! A little heavy for my taste but I don't really like cinnamon rolls and they were a hit with my husband!  Pumpkin pancakes to come tomorrow!

http://www.paleocupboard.com/cinnamon-rolls.html

My Workout Regiment

I've tried all kinds of different work outs and videos, some I liked, some I hated, and some I LOVE.  Beachbody programs are where I have found my niche and I could not be more happy with their products! Beachbody programs combined with clean eating helped me to go from 151lbs to 125lbs in less than 6 months.  I've done both P90X and Insanity individually but I found that when I made a combined regiment I got the best results.  Here's what my schedule looks like:

Monday

P90X Chest and Back

Tuesday

Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit 

Ab Ripper X

Wednesday

P90X Shoulders and Arms

Thursday

Insanity Cardio Power and Resistance

Ab Ripper X

Friday

P90X Legs and Back

Saturday

Ab Ripper X

Choice of workout

Sunday

Rest day

I'd also like to add in runs on Mon / Wed / Fri and maybe start doing weights in place of the P90X days eventually but we'll see! Anyway, that's my current routine.  Can't say enough about Beachbody and their workout programs, they've helped me become so much more comfortable in my own skin and I'm so happy I gave them a try!

Paleo Buffalo Chicken Chili

Made this today and it was pretty yummy, was a huge hit with the mr!

What you'll need!

Ingredients:

• 5 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 pepper
• 1.5 onions
• 8 baby carrots
• 1 cup of frozen corn
• 3/4 cup buffalo sauce (you can make your own more paleo friendly version if you don't want the store bought stuff)
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can of chicken broth
• chili powder
• 1 can of green chili peppers

Seriously this could not get any easier.  Cut your veggies up to preferred size. Toss everything in your slow cooker (I also added a small bit of Country Sweet Sauce but unless you're in the Rochester NY area you've probably never heard of that so I didn't include it in the ingredients). Turn on high for about 4 hours if you are putting in your chicken breasts frozen like I did.  I then put it on low for 1 hour before shredding the chicken.  At this point it would be ready to eat but for added flavor you can leave on low an extra hour, we did it this way and it was great!

Crockpot Paleo Banana Bread

This was AWESOME, my favorite Paleo friendly bread so far!
Here's what you'll need!

Ingredients:

• 4 small bananas
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil (melted)
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 Tbsp vanilla
• 3 Tbsp coconut milk
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups almond flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

1. Mash the bananas and mix in all wet ingredients (heating the honey up a little will help to mix without having a sticky mess on your hands).  Then add almond flour and baking soda.  Mix until you have a nice even consistency.
2. Line slow cooker with parchment paper.
3. Poor mixture into slow cooker evenly.
4. Turn on low and let cook 4 hours.  

Finished product will be more moist than your normal banana bread but it will be so very delicious! Enjoy!

Almost Paleo Apple Crumble

This was by far my favorite Paleo dessert we have tried yet!  Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients: 

• 5 apples
• 2 cups of almond flour
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• cinnamon and nutmeg
• brown sugar

Here's what you do!

1. Cut up your apples into small chunks, you can peel them if you fancy but I like the flavor they add with skins on.  Spread in a pie dish and sprinkle with a small amount of brown sugar.
2. Mix flour, melted oil, honey, vanilla, and a tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg. 
3. Spread crumble mixture over apples and top with another light sprinkle of brown sugar.
4. Bake (covered in foil) for 45 minutes at 350F.  
5. Enjoy!

Converting to paleo would be super easy! Just omit the brown sugar.  You could maybe replace with some honey or just leave it out all together!

Buffalo Chicken and Eggplant Lasagna

Tried out this recipe last night and it was a big hit with the Mr, surprisingly even I really enjoyed it and I generally am not a eggplant eater by any means!  It was really pretty easy and being a crock pot recipe will fill your home with mouth watering smells while it cooks!

Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:

• 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 large eggplant
• Franks Buffalo sauce (if you are strict paleo pinterest has paleo approved hot sauces)
• 1 white onion
• 4 cups of baby spinach
• Crumbled blue cheese (omit for Paleo)
• Spices (minced garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper)

Instructions

1. Slice your eggplant into thin pieces and put in a large bowl of water.
2. Put chicken in food processor (I use our Ninja) with some parsley, salt, pepper, and a splash of your hot sauce. Pulse until ground up. (If you don't have a food processor cutting the chicken in to small chunks should work just fine.) Then set aside in a bowl. 
3. Strain eggplant slices and lay flat in between towels to dry.
4. In food processor pulse up your onion, spinach, and minced garlic with a splash of hot sauce. 
5. Layer as followed:  Sauce, eggplant, chicken, spinach mixture, sauce, eggplant, chicken, spinach mixture, cheese. sauce, eggplant, chicken, spinach mixture, cheese, sauce.  
6. After cooking on high for 3 hours I used a turkey baster to remove the excess liquid from the crock pot and then continued to cook on low for 1 hour.  

Back and ready to get back on the train to healthy!

So it's been a long time! Sometimes life just seems to get in the way but I'm going to try and make it a point to get in here with all of our DIY adventures and paleo inspired recipes!

Our months haven't been overly exciting but we did do a few cool things!! We had a Labor day bbq, went to a Crossfit competition which was AWESOME and it's crazy what people can do with their bodies, took a trip to an amazing zoo, and did some hiking.  This Saturday we're headed to the Color Me Rad 5k and I am so stoked! We're doing it with some of our friends and I think it is going to be an amazing time!  Here's a bit of a picture montage of our last few months as well as the bedroom makeover and some other projects we've gotten in to.

 First of all, I've been pretty good about keeping up on my fitness!  Here's my current pic, I'm hoping to fit into all my old jeans by the end of November!

Watched some football....LETS GO BUFFALO!!!!!

Tried my hand at Wine, Paint, and Canvas...obviously I'm the best artist on the whole planet...

Put together a coffee nook, now one of my favorite spots in the house!

Re-did our back patio area

Bought our first real dinner table, a counter height that seats 8 people and I LOVE it! We also put together a little bar spot!

Then my absolute favorite part of the house, the master bedroom and bath which we totally redid!  Seriously I'm so in love with it, it's not totally done but I still feel like I'm waking up to a hotel suite every day and it's awesome.

Got back in to couponing, so look for awesome deals I'll be posting about.

FYI you can get three 8 packs of Sparkle Paper Towels at CVS for $10 this week!!

And then of course beautiful sunsets from our patio!

So that's what life's been like lately! Hopefully I'll be much better about updating in the coming months!

Chicken Teriyaki with Cauliflower 'rice'

This was super good! A hit with the husband as well!

For the 'rice'

Ingredients: 

1 head cauliflower

Coconut oil

 Salt and Pepper to taste

 1/4 cup of water

1. Process the Cauliflower florets (I used our Ninja) until they look like pieces of rice.

2. Heat Coconut Oil in a pan on medium heat and add in your processed Cauliflower 

3. Salt and pepper to taste and add water. Stir.

4. Cook on medium for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

For the Chicken

Ingredients: 

2   Chicken breasts cut into small pieces / strips

1/2 onion (diced)

1    Green Pepper (diced) 

1/2 Cup of Honey

1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 tsp minced Garlic

Coconut Oil

Pepper to taste

1. Combine coconut oil, chicken, onion, and pepper in a pan, cook until chicken is cooked through.

2. Combine remaining ingredients in bowl and mix.

3. Add bowl to pan and cook on low for 5 minutes.

Serve over 'rice' and enjoy!

Paleo Lunch Box Idea!

In order for DH to eat healthy we had to figure out what to put in his lunch box since he's gone from 530 am until at least 330pm.  For breakfast he gets strawberries, blueberries, hard boiled eggs, almonds, and a banana.  For a snack he gets a protein shake and a homemade snack bar.  For lunch Tuna with lettuce for the wrap, 1/2 an avocado, 1/2 a cucumber, another snack bar, and a spinach salad. With all the working out he does a good amount of food is needed to keep him filled up, this seems to get the job done and keep him happy.

 Some of our recent recipes:

This pork was super easy to make and it was also delicious!

Homemade Sloppy Joes while not exactly like the stuff that comes in the can but I actually like this better and it is SO much healthier. 

Spaghetti Squash Chicken Carbana 

We've really enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen, even the Mr has really gotten in to cooking.  All of these recipes were delicious and I can't believe we didn't start eating Paleo sooner!

Today I've got an Insanity disc to pick, I'll be alternating and doing P90X M/W/F and Insanity Tu/Th. Then hopefully some running and hiking on the weekends! We used to hike all the time so I'm really excited to get back in to it. Anyway I plan to update far more often on here than I did in my old blogs so more recipes to follow!

Past Recipes!  I pulled this post from my old blog so I could include them for anyone reading! New recipes from the past few weeks to follow later today!

Chicken, mushroom, pepper, and tomato kabobs...Oh yes it was delicious!

Chicken Piccata and parm frosted asparagus...this was a HUGE hit with the Mr and I have to say it is probably my new favorite meal!

Philly Cheese Steak Peppers, these were a cheat meal because of the mozzarella cheese but oh they were delicious!

Then one morning the Mr made me breakfast so I made some banana muffins, both were absolutely amazing, when I find the recipe for the muffins again I will make sure to post it on here! I love having a man that can cook, nothing beats it!

For lunch most days we have a protein shake or nakid juice with tuna, bacon, and green pepper all wrapped in lettuce.

Last but certainly not least we started making our own snack bars.  These babies are super healthy and are just absolutely delicious, I will never buy a snack bar again!

You can find the recipes here we made the Cherry Pie flavored ones and I can't say enough about them!

Introduction and My Journey Thus Far

All my life I've had pretty terrible self confidence.  Even when I was a young teen with a fairly small figure I was never happy with how I looked.  After getting married I gained over 20lbs, at 151lbs and 5'3" I felt disgusting.  So when the Mr was called away to spend the better part of the past year in the sand I decided to do something about my self image and my health.  I started following the Paleo style of eating and doing a mixture of P90X and Insanity.  I dropped down to 125lbs by the time we were reunited 9 months later!  Now we've gone on vacation and after a crazy amount of food, alcohol, and sitting around I've gained about 5lbs back and lost some of the muscle I worked so hard to get.

So now I'm getting back on the wagon.  I'm hoping to settle around 120lbs with muscle, mostly I just want to feel good in my clothes, I'm not overly concerned with the number on the scale.  Right now I'm concentrating on building more strength to start Crossfit with the Mr in a few months, I'm a little scared but also super excited! 

You'll find all kinds of healthy recipes and workout tips here, I hope I can help others find their way to a healthier lifestyle as I continue with mine!