the cauliflower bandwagon

Remember that month when Ryan and I went super clean and healthy with eating? Yah, it only lasted a month but to our defense it was extremely intense. It was CLEAN to the EXTREME. You can read about it HERE.

Anyhoo, some of the recipes were surprisingly delicious...others, not so much. But this one? Delicious, incredibly easy, super healthy, AND!!! DRUMROLL PLEASE............... Lincoln approved!!! 

I know what you're thinking. I'm part psychic (not psycho). 

You're thinking, this is SOOO last year. I've seen this on Pinterest forever. Well, you're right. But I finally made it last October and have made it several times since then and just want to say "make it already!"

You can find several variations, but HERE is the recipe I used.

And to make it even easier, just throw the cauliflower in a steamer to soften instead of boiling in water and broth. And to make it even easier, I may be guilty of using garlic powder instead of sauteing them. 

Paleo crack for a rough Monday

I'm feeling a little rough today. We are in the process of buying a home and went hunting for "the one" on Saturday. We finally got another car since ole' red died on us and let me tell ya non-Arizonans: House hunting and car shopping in the middle of the AZ summer should be down right illegal. Trying to make big grown-up decisions with sweat dripping in your eyes and down your back is NOT what I had in mind for a Saturday. It is what it is though. We're grateful we're in a position to be buying but our 650 sq foot apartment seemed more appealing afterwards. 

 Plus, today was my first official day back in the operating room. Last week I was doing classroom work so you can imagine the stellar sleep I got last night. The OR nightmares are back. I go to work all day,so having to dream about work the night before should be double over-time right?? Hence, why I'm feeling a little rough on a Monday. Anyhoo, I wanna talk about food now.

I made these forever ago and am finally sharing them. And I had to share because this was a first-timer for me. First time making my very own crackers!!!!

I'm kindof a wheat-thin and triscuit finatic. Especially with some cottage cheese. I can clean out a box for a snack easy-peasy. So on my paleo 30day challenge, I made myself some of my own wheat-thins but paleofied and they are definitely better than that wheat-thin business. Just sayin.

recipe via Primal Palate

2 cups almond flour

1 cup flax seed meal

2 eggs

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp cumin (didn't use)

2 tsp garlic powder (didn't use)

2 tsp onion powder (didn't use)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl combine flour, flax and spices. Whisk eggs and pour over flour mixture. Add in olive oil. Sitre all ingredients to form dough.

Roll dough into a large ball and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Cover dough with separate sheet of parchment and roll out in 1/4 inch-thick-layer.

Score dough with knife to desired cracker size.

Bake crackers 15 minutes. let cool, beak crackers into squares, and serve!

cinnamon rolls for the birthday boy

Well, yesterday was the ole' husband's birthday.

The big kahuna, the big 2-8.

I wanted to make him a special treat. I remember one year for his birthday, the first time I thought I'd step out of my comfort zone, I baked him a blueberry pie. Store bought crust and canned blueberry filling. Man I thought I was so awesome.

I found these precious babies from The Urban Poser and had to HAD TO make them. I've been off of Paleo for only 3 days and every day I've felt disgustingly piggish. Yes, that's exactly how I've felt.

And there was some hesitation making Ryan's birthday treat Paleo style but they were made with love and that makes up for it right? Actually, he liked them. And it wasn't like, "Yah they're good, thanks". This is what he said, and I memorized it word for word because this time I really did feel awesome. "Wow! These taste really good! You should be so proud of yourself! You have become such a good cook. I bet they're really healthy and have zucchini or something in them, and they still taste really good!"

Oh Ryan. Stop it....Ok go on and tell me again. :)

And F.Y.I there is no zucchini in them. Here's the recipe to see for yourself. :) I dare you to make them. First time making cinnamon rolls and they were STELLAR! The directions may seem tedious but it's worth it. And if you just so happen to have a fort set up in your living room, eat them inside your fort like us. They taste better that way. ENJOY!

For the biscuit rolls

3 cups plus 2 Tbls super fine almond flour

1/2 tsp salt (or just slightly under that amount)

1/4 tsp baking soda

*2 tbs cinnamon

1/4 cup coconut oil (or oil of choice)

2 Tbls honey

2 large room temp eggs

For the filling

1/4-1/2 cup honey (depending on how much sweetness you like)

1- 2 Tbls ground cinnamon

1/2 cup ground pecans/walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

*I sprinkled some shredded coconut in filling as well

 

 

For the icing

1/4 cup coconut butter at room temp

optional honey for drizzling

(keep both separate for drizzling or you will get thick paste)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt and baking soda * I added 2 tbs of cinnamon to give cinnamon flavor in actual dough. In a seperate bowl, gently beat together the coconut oil, honey, and eggs. If the eggs are too cold, they might cause the coconut oil to harden. Add the egg mixture to the almond flour mixture. Mix (knead) until a decently smooth dough is formed.

 

 

On a large piece of parchment paper, roll the dough out into about a 9x13 rectangle. Use a little almond flour, if needed, to keep it from sticking to the rolling pin. Drizzle the 1/4-1/2 cup of honey evenly over the dough, then carefully spread it around to cover the whole surface. Honestly, I use my fingers to do this. I find that I am less likely to tear the dough this way. Sprinkle the raisins, grounds pecans, cinnamon and *shredded coconut over the surface of the honeyed dough.

 

 

Now your ready to roll it up! Starting at the end closest to you, begin to roll the edge of the dough away from you. Try to start a tight roll from the beginning. Continue rolling until you have a nice uniform log. Use the parchment paper to help you roll if needed. Be gentle and careful when rolling up the dough. It is not as workable as a gluten based flour would be. Now roll the whole log of dough gently, lengthening it out just a bit (like making a snake out of play-dough). It is a good size when it is about a 4 in ch round log.

 

 

With a good bread knife, cut the roll into about 2 inch thick slices. I use the width of two fingers as my guide. Then lay them cut side down on to a parchment lined cookie sheet. They do best spaced a few inches apart, but not connected.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 min. I suggest staying close to the stove and checking a few times while they are baking, as everyone's oven cooks a bit differently. The rolls should be golden with a little browning at the top and the dough toward the center of the roll should be soft but not to doughy. If they bake too long they WILL become like hockey pucks! If cooked just right though, they will be heavenly.

When ready, remove from oven and let cool for 10 min. If you try to move them before then, they might break up. But if you wait for them to cool they will hold together beautifully.Drizzle with coconut butter and/or honey just before serving.Makes about 9-10 cinnamon rolls. *Note, these are gluten free so they are more like biscuits.

oh no we "doughnut", oh yes we did!

Please excuse the title and my pathetic efforts to come up with something catchy. Creativity is not my 1st, 2nd, or 3rd nature. Moving on now....

My 30 day Paleo Challenge is coming to an end. Last night in bed Ryan asked me where I'd like to go eat to celebrate the commencement of this "caveman diet" and although we agreed we'd go get frozen yogurt, I told him I'm going to try and keep the Paleo-lifestyle up. I won't be as strict as I have been and the only reason I have been strict is because of the challenge and maybe the prize my CrossFit gym has been doing (come on baby, mama wants to win those lifting shoes).

To explain what I've felt this past month it's important to know my eating has had it's struggles like many others. I never ate super unhealthy, but when I did, I would eat A LOT ALOT of it. It's pretty bad when the hubby has to tell you, "Are you sure you want more of that? I don't want you to get sick." "OF COURSE I WANT MORE....GIMMME GIMMME!"

Then I would get sick and feel so gross. What we put in our bodies affects more than just a waist line. When we put good food in, we feel good. Same goes for bad. Going 30 days without processed foods, no added/refined sugar, focusing on lean meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, and peanuts....man i feel really good. Not once have I had the feeling , Man, I really shouldn't have eaten that. There definitely is more planning and work with cooking, but to feel great about everything I've put in my body has been SO worth it.

And can I say something about desserts and the baked Paleo goods I've been making? Everything is in moderation and the baked goods are okay to have but not every single day. With Paleo, raw honey or agave can be used as natural sweetners when used in moderation. With that being said, I've loved baking Paleo. My biff and I made these doughnuts from the Spunky Coconut and one thing about eating sweets that are grain/gluten free with natural sweeteners, I don't feel gross after eating it. (Eating a box of ding dongs from the grocery store, as yummy as they start out to be, leave me feeling BLAH!)Not that you should be binging on paleo sweets either. Although the biff and i did eat the whole batch but to my defense they are smaller doughnuts. Ha! You get my point.

As if this post couldn't get any longer, here's the recipe:

Chocolate Doughnuts with Coconut Cream Frosting

Add to blender:
1 egg

1/2 cup almond butter
2 tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 to 1/4 tsp vanilla stevia (i didn't use)

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp cocoa powder (or 2 tbsp coconut flour for vanilla doughnuts)

1/4 cup to 1/2 cup coconut milk, as needed

Note: The amount of milk you need depends on how thick your almond butter is. You want the batter to be fairly thick - almost too thick to pour from the blender. Add the milk gradually - you can always add more, but you can't take it out :-)

Puree the batter.

Add 1/2 tsp of oil (I use coconut oil, liquified) to each doughnut well. My doughnut pan holds six regular sized doughnuts, and it is non-stick. You really need the oil for these doughnuts even with the non-stick pan. Rub the oil all around each well.Pour the batter evenly between the six doughnut wells. There may be a little left over. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. They will continue cooking slightly as they cool in the pan. Cool the doughnuts in the pan for at least 10 minutes before carefully taking them out.

Coconut Glaze Ingredients:

1/3 cup warmed coconut butter (should be able to pour it)

2 tablespoons honey

Add 1 tsp of water as need till smooth and creamy. You can add more warmed coconut butter if it gets too thin.

Happy Friday!

a rough night but the pork helped

Last night was a little on the rough side.

From the point AFTER we had a fabulous dinner (recipe below) to the moment we went to sleep. I had a church event I was originally planning on attending but in lieu of buying a new car, I had to skip out to go see a car we were interested in. On our drive out, the seller canceled on us last minute. DOH! From that point on, I was a 'little' cranky the rest of the night. To my defense, and yes I will try and defend my irritable behavior, the night before I got 2 1/2 hours of sleep. Seriously, no exaggeration. (Watch, I'll prove it by telling you times) I didn't go to bed until 1am that night and when the hubby got up at 3:30 for work, I never fell back asleep. Let's just say, last night around 7pm I was doing everything I could to keep those eyelids open. It probably worked out that I didn't make the pool party. I would have been the one sleeping on the raft in the pool and everyone would be poking me to see if I was breathing....

Well, today, the hubby and I are taking off to Vegas with my little brother and his friend. My lil bro just graduated from high school and he's going to a three-day music festival. You can imagine my parents weren't the most thrilled about him going to Vegas for a senior trip, which is why Ryan and I tagging along. We aren't going to the music festival, we're just there to make sure they stay alive for the weekend. We're taking off this afternoon and we'll just be enjoying the"cooler" 90 degree weather by the pool and I will be doing some shopping :)

Before the lack of sleep had the worst of me last night, we did have a stellar dinner. We actually sat down together, TV off, and talked about our day and plans for the weekend. We've always been really good at eating dinner together at the table but have slacked these past few months. We've never had TV before but now watching the news and talking about how crazy people are during dinner has become the norm.

Anyway, I think, no wait, I know, this is the first time we've made pork chops. Almost 4 years of being married and we've never cooked pork chops. But, i got a killer deal on them yesterday (99cents/lb) so we'll be eating quite a bit of pork in the next few months.

Here's last nights dinner. :)

Paleo Almond and Herb Crusted Pork Chops and Roasted Carrots

recipes via easy paleo

Paleo Almond and Herb Crusted Pork Chops

4 pork chops

1/2 cup of almond meal

3 tbs italian seasonings

sea salt and pepper

Spread a little coconut oil on the chops.

Mix seasonings together and spread on a plate.

Firmly pack almond herb mixture to chops and set aside for 10 minutes

or coating will slip off during cooking.

Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes or internal temp reaches 160.

Make sure to flip chops around the 30 minute mark.

*i needed more than the 1/2 cup almond meal because our chops were big! We also ended up frying them in a pan with some coconut oil so if you're not able to bake them, you can easily do the stove top method. :)

Roasted Carrots

carrots

oil

cilantro, finely chopped

sea salt and pepper

garlic, minced

Either use prepackaged baby carrots or small full carrots. I found these small skinny full carrots that were so cute, i just could chop them up into smaller pieces.

Lightly coat with olive oil or coconut oil.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20.

While baking, add finely chopped cilantro, garlic, salt/pepper, and just enough oil to make a little glaze you can pour of carrots.

Remove from oven and pour mixture over carrots.

Bake for another 5 minutes.

EVERYONE HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Paleo Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

The other night Ryan and I were talking about memories we have from elementary school. He's certain that he remembers nothing before 7th grade but I remember a lot-a lot.  I told him story after story laughing at myself and how my personality back then still reflects who I am today. "Okay girls. If I let you use my jump rope for double dutch at recess today, here are some rules you're going to have to follow." Ryan did pipe in  saying, "Yeah, that sounds like you."  Have you ever told someone a story about yourself and you're laughing at something you did but the other person listening isn't laughing. I get that a lot. I usually follow my story with, "I crack myself up." And it's true. I really do. And if I don't make anyone else laugh besides myself then I'm okay with that. Ohhh sweet sweet memories.

Speaking of.....I had one tonight. Around 11:30pm when I decided to get out of bed to go bake something. If you saw how empty our fridge was, you would rush to the grocery store and buy us everything out of sheer sympathy. I had few responsibilities being a stay-at-home wife these past few months, one of which is grocery shopping, and I've been slacking big time. My slacking has led me to go ahead and get a job. If I'm not going to have our small apartment clean, fridge stocked, and dinner ready, I might as well be helping pay the bills.

Back to my flashback memory. I came across this Paleo recipe and just so happened to have 2 nearly unedible oranges in the fridge and so this recipe helped rescue them. I have zero to little patience so as soon as these babies were out of the oven I dove right in. Now that I've started baking a little more, I've started talking out loud to myself. Creepy right? Moving on though, after I took my first bite I said something along these lines, "Mmmm.....ahhh..hot hot hot...mmm that's good....hot oooh hot......those are really good...ha-ha-hot." Anyway, that delicious bite brought me back to Christmas as a child. One thing we would always get in our stocking, and still do, are those chocolate oranges. They are the coolest!!!! You get to smash them on the ground to break it apart before eating. And there's little bits of toffee and the orange chocolate melts in your mouth......i'm literally drooling. Well, these scones are the baked goods of those. And if you want to see for yourself, here's the recipe I got from Elanas Pantry.

Orange Dark Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups blanched almond flour

3/4 teaspon baking soda

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (I used 1/4 and chopped them up)

1 tbs orange zest (I'll put more in next time)

1 egg

3 tbs agave nectar

In large bowl combine flour, baking soda, chips and zest.

In smaller bowl combine egg and agave.

Combine two bowls and knead with hands if necessary to combine all ingredients into dough.

Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

Form dough into circle, 1/2 in. thick*

Cut dough like pizza into 8 slices

Bake 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. I waited till they were dark golden brown.

*It helped placing a separate sheet of parchment on top and using a rolling pin to flatten dough. But take it off to cut dough and cook.

Paleo Banana-nut waffles

Last night we had dinner around 6. We then drove around the entire city of Phoenix looking at cars. We're in the market and car shopping here during the summer is rough. Every car with ice cold AC looks very appealing. Around 9pm though, i was hit with a craving. What was I craving? I wanted bread and a lot of it. More specifically, I wanted waffles. I haven't dusted off the ol' waffle maker since we've moved down. I had Ryan get it for me out of the black hole. ( a.k.a the very top shelf in our kitchen cupboard above the sink. ) It just so happens to be my grandma's old waffle maker that's heart shaped. So sentimental and fitting for this dish because it made my heart happy eating them.


recipe via Joyful Abode

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 5 eggs (mine were on the small side, so 4 large ones may be fine)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed (the more ripe they are, the sweeter the waffles will be)
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (i doubled this since I had no pumpkin spice)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Chopped pecans (optional)

Method:

1. Plug in/preheat your waffle iron.
2. Mix everything else together, except for the coconut oil and pecans.
3. Once the waffle iron is warm, spray with olive oil
4. Drop a blob of batter into the center of each waffle-spot.
5. Optional – sprinkle some or all of them with chopped pecans.
6. Make sure you wait for them to be COMPLETELY done before opening. Usually there is a light indicator or something. If you open before they're done....oh it's a mess. Trust me.
7. Take the waffles out and eat them. I sliced banana on top, put on crushed pecans and used a little agave for my syrup. :)

 

Chicken Tomato coleslaw

On our trip to Cali, I made a few paleo meals to take along in our cooler for the beach. I prepared this and made enough for two lunches and it was filling, convenient, and tasty! This is something I would have eaten regardless of doing paleo for the next month so double win for me. hehe :)

Shredded chicken

1/4 Cabbage

2 Tomatoes

1 cucumber

1/2 avocado, sliced

1/4 yellow onion

Cilantro

juice of 1 lemon and olive oil

Black pepper and sea salt

Chop up all the ingredients, add cilantro, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Better the day after so juices marinate.

Avo-cocoa mousse

Here's a Paleo dessert I found that sounded so flippin weird and gross that I actually had to make it and try it out. Doesn't that chocolate mousse like yummy? Of course it does. Would you believe it's an avocado??? Well it is. I wouldn't lie to you. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 ripe avocados, the meat scooped out of the shell

3 tablespoons honey or agave (more or less to taste.)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (i'll put a little less in next time)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Instructions:Use a blender or food processor to blend the avocados until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend again until everything is combined. Add more or less honey/agave according to your taste. Chill for at least 2 hours before serving. I sliced some bananas and layered the mousse inbetween and sprinkled with coconut flakes. Pretty much satisfied my sweet tooth mouth! :)

Paleo Muffins two-ways

Same basic muffin recipe, two different ways. :)

These look especially good because of the muffin cups right? I got them from Michael's for $1 which was probably the cheapest thing I bought there. I've never been huge into crafts until recently and having a Michael's close by has 1.) created a new category to budget for and 2.) turned me into a little girl at a candy store.... but instead of candy it's paint, and stickers, and paper, and ribbon and magic!

 Anyway, pretty happy with these muffin cups but let's get onto the recipes. I found a recipe off of this blog and altered some ingredients to MY liking. Because in my world, it's all about what I like. HA!

Paleo Blueberry Muffins

2 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (i used 3/4 cup)

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tbs vanilla extract

1/2 cup blueberries

3 large eggs beaten well (i used 2 eggs)

350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients well.

Add beaten eggs, honey, vanilla, applesauce, and blueberries.

Grease muffin pan with olive oil spray. Bake 30-40 minutes.

After they were already in the oven, I realized I had some lemons I could have used to make Blueberry Lemon Muffins..... Doh! Next time. Now I have an excuse to make these again. So moist and perfect for breakfast. Or, if you're like me, whenever you are craving a baked goodie.

The nice thing about muffins, you can get ca-razy (as far as the cooking world is concerned) and change the add-ins. I found a recipe that for carrot muffins and made them 2 weeks ago. I didn't care for them and ended up giving them to my parents to eat. I wouldn't feed them to my husband but for someone reason I thought feeding them to my parents was ok. Ha. You can imagine how shocked I was when MY DAD asked me to bake him some more soon. (Jaw dropped).

YES! I'd love to! BUT!....

If I was going to make them again, I wanted to try and adjust the recipe so they tasted better by my standards. Like I mentioned before, it's all about what I like. I can't bake something I don't think tastes good..... that's just..... well.....awkward.  

Who would have thunk adding something as little as would make the difference. :) WOO HOO! Now eating a vegetable in my muffin doesn't seem unfathomable.

Paleo Cinnamon Applesauce and Carrot Muffins

2 1/2 cups almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (i used 3/4 cup)

1/4 cup raw honey

1 tbs vanilla extract

1/2 cup shredded carrots

3 large eggs beaten well (i used 2 eggs)

350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients well.

Add beaten eggs, honey, vanilla, applesauce, and shredded carrots.

Grease muffin pan with olive oil spray. Bake 30-40 minutes.

almost oatmeal

I don't know why I think anyone would care to see what I ate for breakfast. But if there's one person who's looking for a simple breakfast recipe, Paleo approved might I add, then here's what I had this morning and this post is specifically made for you. :) If you could care less, well.....don't read on. Ha. 

1 1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

4 tbs raw chunky almond butter

2-3 tbs unsweetened coconut milk

cinnamon & vanilla to taste

stir over medium heat.

I ate it all up before I thought of topping it with some fresh blueberries or something. Doh! Next time.

Paleo nut granola

It's just about 11pm. Ryan's sleeping and I would/should be too but like I mentioned in my embarrassing post earlier today, our Internet is now working and I'm too busy looking up recipes to sleep. Here's what I made for Ryan when he gets the munchies, which is always.

1/2 cup almond meal
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup walnuts/pecans
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup slivered almonds
2 tbs coconut oil
2 tbs raw honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

350•
Mix it all together and spread on cookie sheet (coated with coconut oil or lined with parchment).
Bake 5-7 minutes. Let cool and add dried fruit.
One of the many perks with granola is the versatility (that's probably the 3rd time in my entire life using that word so you know I only say it if I mean it). Change the nuts up if you want, I added raw sunflower seeds, dried apple chips and raisins. :)

Blueberry banana frozen yogurt

Confession: a lot of my paleo recipes starting out will include bananas and if you don't like bananas tough luck. They just so happened to be on sale 4lb/99cents and this girl wasn't about leave without filling my cart to the brim with them.... So some are frozen, some are being eaten plain, and others are ripening up to be baked with. So bear with me with my paleo banana craze recipes this week. Which leads me to my first dessert! This recipe is found in pretty much every single paleo recipe blog. Don't believe me? Check for yourself. But the point is, it's super simple, fast, and easy- just how I like it... My food that is.

1. Peel, chop, and freeze the bananas.
2. Put the frozen banana in blender, add vanilla, blueberries (or whatevertheheck else you want) and blend!

So simple right? I found it was better to put back into freezer for like 10-15 minutes again after blending in case it gets too mushy. Although I would guzzle it down regardless.

Paleo Challenge

Fit Bomb Why I Eat Paleo

So here's a website I found that gives basics on Paleo if you're interested in knowing. :)

Paleo Banana Almond Bread

For those of you who don't follow my moms fb page with her frequent posts of how much she LOVES crossfit, well, here's an update on what her and I have been up to.

We joined a crossfit gym 2 weeks ago and are both in love!!!!!....... I'm talking about the gym here but we love each other too of course. This next month they gym is doing a Paleo diet challenge. I'm not one to go on a "diet" and I DESPISE that word because the word diet makes me think of.... "i can't eat that, I can't eat this, I can't eat there blah blah blah."

My philosphy is to just eat as simple as possible and enjoy food in it's most basic form. But, I'm always up for a new challenge and so is my mom so we signed up for the month long Paleo challenge. I won't even get in to what it entails but the basics are this: lean meats and fish, fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Yep. there's the basics. This next month I'll be dreaming of cereal and frozen yogurt. HOWEVER, in the mean time I'll be sharing some Paleo recipes. If you're interested, here are some blogs and sites on the Paleo diet. And here's my first recipe that I made last night for breakfast today with some fresh berries. :) What is the Paleo Diet?

Banana Almond Bread

3 eggs, separated

5 tbs raw honey

4 tbs olive oil

2 mashed bananas

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

2 c. almond flour

Heat oven 350 degrees.

Cream eggs yolks and honey in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add oil, vanilla, banana, cinnamon, baking powder, and flour.

In separate bowl, beat egg whites till stiff peaks. Fold egg whites into banana mixture to pull it away from sides before gradually folding the rest of the whites into the mix.

Line loaf pan with olive or coconut oil.

Cook 40-45 minutes.

wheatfreeandglutenfreebreadrecipe.blogspot.com

www.paleomg.com

www.thefoodee.com

www.fastpaleo.com

So how's the bread? Heavenly. I didn't know what to expect with almond flour but I like the taste and texture it adds. My biff, Karn, came over and tried some. She hates raw bananas but doesn't mind bananas when theyre used in baking goods so this was the real test. She took a bite and what seemed like on over exaggerated liking at first, was actually a sincere genuine love. She only wanted a small bite at first because we were leaving for lunch, but she went over and cut herself some more. She then told me about a friend who claims to have the best banana bread recipe, but clearly this banana almond bread was a gazillion times better. Ok, she didn't say a gazillion but that's what I took from it. I love when I make something and people really enjoy it. SUCCESS with first paleo recipe!

Also, I gave some to the hubby for breakfast as he was walking out the door. I did smear some butter on his because, although he's trying to eat healthier, I try to ease him into it slowly so there isn't a relapse involving sugar babies and Heath bars. Last night he old me he liked the bread but if he were to change one thing it would be... (I'm holding back tears and bracing myself to take constructive criticism I'm not really wanting to hear).... To NOT put butter on it. He preferred it without butter? Double success!