Monthly Archives: October 2011

Whole30/ Paleo Spicy Chicken Wings

This recipe is so beyond easy I feel silly even calling it a recipe. Then again, it is so good if I didn’t share it with you that would be a crime! So here goes:

 

Ingredients:

Chicken wings

Unsweetened applesauce

Hot sauce (whole30 approved, of course)

sea salt and pepper

And that’s it!

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Put chicken wings on baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes.

While the chicken wings are baking mix hot sauce and applesauce together.

When the wings are done remove from oven and lower oven temp to 350 degrees.

Put a few wings at a time in the bowl with sauce and toss.

Put flavored wings back on the baking sheet and repeat until all wings are tossed in mix.

If you have any leftover sauce pour over the wings… you don’t want to waste any of this!

Put the wings back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

And that’s it! Now go eat a whole lot of chicken wings and don’t feel guilty about a single one!

Enjoy!!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes

I have been in the mood for pumpkin lately so I’ve been googling recipes for anything having to do with pumpkin. I found this recipe on the Healthy Cooking Coach website. GREAT website if you’re looking for wonderful, healthy recipes and information. I tweaked it a bit and made it into cupcakes instead of bars. DELICIOUS!!!

For the cupcakes:
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup almond butter
1/2 cup raw honey ( I substituted this with unsweetened applesauce)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

For the Cinnamon Icing:
1/4 cup coconut butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw honey ( I substituted this for unsweetened applesauce)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
For the cupcakes

  1. Preheat your oven to 350F.
  2. In a medium sized bowl, combine all the cake ingredients and mix thoroughly to combine.
  3. Pour into 24 lined mini muffin tins. ( I would highly recommend using paper muffin cups for these!)
  4. Bake about 30 minutes.

For the Cinnamon Icing

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and use a hand held blender to mix.

Once the pumpkin cupcakes have cooled completely remove from muffin tins and put a dollop of icing on top. If you are using honey it will be more of a drizzle than a “dollop”. These are definitely good enough to eat without icing but sometimes a little icing is fun. Enjoy!

Apple Muffins

I LOVE these muffins! I got this recipe straight from Sarah Fragoso over at www.everydaypaleo.com. I would highly recommend checking out her website and her book. You will LOVE it too!

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Here’s what you need: 

2 1/4 cups almond meal

4 eggs

1 apple, finely chopped

1 banana, chopped

1/4 cup coconut oil, softened

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 heaping tbsp cinnamon

Here’s what you do: 

1. Pre heat oven to 350.

2. Add all ingredients and mix by hand.

3. Fill 12 muffins tins.

4. Bake for 17 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Whole30/Paleo Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Ingredients:

1 head of broccoli

1 head of cauliflower

1 tbsp olive oil

sea salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp herbs de provence (of course)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp minced garlic

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut up broccoli and cauliflower into florets and put on a baking sheet.

Drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic. Season with salt, pepper and herbs.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 mins. Uncover, toss and cook for 30 more minutes.

Enjoy!

Crockpot Chicken de Provence

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Let me preface this recipe with saying that I have never made okra before. The only okra I’ve ever eaten in my life was cut up and fried.

We went to the Farmer’s Market yesterday and they were selling okra and for some crazy out of this world reason I thought “TRY SOMETHING NEW!”. So I did.

I bought the okra.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Seriously. No idea. I actually figured they would probably go bad before I used them, but hey, at least I tried. This morning as I was getting all my ingredients together to make a recipe my dear friend Ashley told me about that included onions I realized the worst thing that could ever happen in my kitchen happened: I had run out of onions.

This is traumatic because I LOVE onions…and because my lack of onions was about to ruin my “Crockpot Thursday” plan. So I used my creative juices (look mommy, they still work!) and used okra instead. And it worked!

Honestly, I was really scared my kids, and my hubs, were going to hate dinner and I was going to have to shove okra down their throats (which would have been grossly messy). But, OH MY GOODNESS THEY LOVED IT! I’m just as shocked as you are (please tell me you’re shocked)!

So run (don’t walk people), run to your local farmer’s market and get yourself some OKRA!!! Your kids will thank you. And then you can thank me. :) Continue reading →

Whole30/paleo Spi-garlicy Chicken (Yes, I made that up….clever, huh?)

Ingredients:

1 package of chicken thighs (about 10-12)

6 tbsp coconut oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp hot sauce (add more if you’re feeling brave!)

3 tbsp undsweetened applesauce (add more applesauce if the mix is too hot to lower the heat)

1 tsp onion powder

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove skin from chicken thighs and place in a baking pan.

In a bowl mix all remaining ingredients together.

Spoon mixture evenly over all chicken.

Bake for 1 hour.

It’s that easy! Enjoy!

Whole30/ Paleo Coconut Treat

This recipe is extremely simple and yummy. It’s a great way to get in some good fat and  indulge in a dreamy treat.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup coconut butter

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Optional: berries or fruit

Directions:

Mix coconut butter and coconut flakes together. Add berries if you want some. I don’t even have to say “enjoy” because I know you will, but I’ll say it anyways. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes

I found this recipe on the CFSCC website and loved it! I tweaked it a bit and it worked great. Of course, in the spirit of the whole30 this is not something we’re adding to our normal breakfast routine, but once a month? I think we’re doing okay. And they’re really good. It feels like FALL!!! :)
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened pumpkin puree
1/2 cup almond butter
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut milk (If the batter is too thick add more milk, but start with a 1/4 and go from there)
4 tbsp honey ( I used unsweetened applesauce)
2 tbsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Optional: 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Directions:
Preheat a nonstick griddle. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour onto hot griddle (we make them silver dollar sized). Let them cook for about 2-3 minutes (you’ll see the pancakes start to bubble and cook on the edges when they’re ready to flip). Flip and cook a couple more minutes. We topped ours with our favorite unsweetened strawberry preserves and coconut “sprinkles”. Recipe makes about 20, 2-inch pancakes. Enjoy!
P.S. I also LOVE the pancake recipe in Paleo Comfort Foods and that recipe does not have any added sweetener. Check it out!

Day 26 Eats!

Today we had the wonderful opportunity to go on a field trip to see a local production of The Fiddler on the Roof. Because it was so early we had to rush breakfast. The kids ate a banana and an apple muffin. I had breakfast with my crazy workout girls at Kona Cafe but (eeeerrrr) forgot to take a picture. it was really good though! I had scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach and bacon. Yummy!

 

 


Day26 lunch: Chicken with roasted brussel sprouts and beets from Whole Foods. It was my first time eating beets…ever….and they were pretty good!

Day26 dinner: My go-to meal! (I am mexican after all) Chicken fajitas minus the fajita, with avocado and tomatoes.

Day 25 Eats!

Brandon took the day off today to spend with the fam. In the morning he took Jeremiah with him to a networking meeting and they ate breakfast there. They took a few date balls with them and a banana-nut muffin and ate eggs at the meeting. Jeremiah said it wasn’t even tempting to eat the other foods there, especially since him and his Daddy were eating healthy together. :) Shiloh, Levi and I ate a few eggs (I ate 5) and a couple of apple muffins.

We went on a field trip to the Destrhan Plantation Heritage Day when they got back. The weather was sooo beautiful, it was really nice to be under those enormous oak trees and enjoy God’s creation. Jeremiah gave a speech reciting the Battle Hymn of the Republic while violins played the song. He did a great job. Here’s a couple of pics of our day:

 

As we ran out the door to the festival I remembered that we needed to bring a lunch! I hurriedly pack some ham, chicken, butternut squash fries, trail mix, chicharrones, and figs. Everyone loved it! (Although, of course, I forgot to take a picture. Bummer.)

Every Tuesday we normally make pizza for dinner because we go to Alpha at church and the kids are served pizza there. To not make the kids feel awkward we’ve been bringing our own healthy pizza. On the last Tuesday of our whole30 we ALL decided that we should bring a dinner that is not like pizza at all, to really be in the spirit of what the whole30 is all about. Jeremiah offered to make us tuna salad, his specialty, and it was great!

Day25 kids dinner: Jeremiah made everyone tuna salad…and tomatoes, carrots, prunes and cranberries sprinkled with coconut flakes, and a pumpkin
cupcake with coconut icing. We covered all the food groups and it tastes delicious!

Day25 dinner: Tuna salad on a tomato! My most favorite easy meal. We also had a pumpkin muffin and prunes.

Day 24 Eats!

What are we up to this morning? We’re making pumpkin cupcakes! With frosting! For breakfast! :)

Day24 breakfast: Pumpkin cupcakes with coconut frosting, eggs over easy, and prunes. The BEST!

Day24 lunch: Onions, bell peppers, ham and avocado.

Day24 dinner: Grilled talapia with butternut squash.

Day 23 Eats!

I made a lot of muffins this morning to be able to spread out throughout the week. We all got to pick a couple for breakfast. They really are VERY good.

Yummy apple muffins.

Banana nut muffins.

Blueberry- banana nut muffins.

Day23 lunch: Leftover spicy chicken with roasted broccoli and cauliflower. So good! Oh, I just remembered I need to post the recipe! Soon!

Our paleo-fatty-nutritious version of “ice cream”. It’s just coconut butter, unsweetened coconut flakes and cranberries. The kids have been begging me for more.

Me and my ice cream!

Jeremiah could have eaten the whole jar of coconut! He really liked it.

Shiloh couldn’t get enough of it either.

Levi’s face speaks for itself. ;)

Day23 dinner: Eggs over easy, hot ham, zuchinni and squash. Yumminess!

Day 22 Eats!

Today was not a great day for picture taking. Hey, it’s a Saturday…..

We did continue to eat great even though we don’t have picture proof! For breakfast we ate a hodge-podge of food. Ham slices, apples, banana nut muffins, and cherry tomatoes. Fun combination, huh?!

 

 

 Day 22 lunch: We ate a picnic lunch after Jeremiah’s football game. We had rosemary chicken breasts, zuchinni, squash, bell peppers, mushrooms and grapes.

Levi loved the chicken.

Of course, Shiloh did too.

We ended up eating so much while watching the Arkansas game…and the Auburn game…. that we didn’t eat an official dinner tonight. We certainly ate a lot…but we didn’t sit down to eat. We ate deer sausage, flank steak, ham off the bone, nuts, raisins, chicharonnes, cherry tomatoes, apples and bananas. Told you…we can eat.

In the evening I went to a get-together and brought Shiloh along. The kids were invited to make cookies. I was so proud of Shiloh seeing how much she’s grown this past month. As she sat there stirring the cookie mix she never asked me to eat one but told her friends that she has been eating “healthy” and was going to eat an apple instead of a cookie. She did great. She also ate ham, carrots and a banana instead of pizza. It was like the temptation wasn’t even there for her anymore. Very cool to watch. :)

 

My Husband Is Shrinking!!!

Brandon is SHRINKING!!!

Help! I can’t find my husband! No, seriously…he’s withering away! I know it’s only day 21 and I probably should wait until the end of our Whole30 but I can’t help myself. Let me rewind a bit and show you what my hubby looked like a couple of months ago. (He’s the one on the right.)

He has always worn 38 or 40 inch pants and an extra-large shirt. Always. He started working out and eating a little bit better about 2 months ago and then started on the Whole30 challenge with our family 21 days ago. 21 days ago he was wearing his Perry Ellis work pants in a size 38 and an extra-large shirt. Today, he is in the same perry Ellis pants, from the same store, but now a SIZE 32. His shirt size has also gone down from the extra-large he was to a MEDIUM. And it’s only day 21. The other day he swung his arm and his wedding ring came flying off! Seriously! I’m telling you: MY HUSBAND IS SHRINKING!!! (And I like it.)

Here’s a picture I took of him a couple of days ago when I bought him the new clothes. The pictures speak for themselves.

Oh yeah. WOW. I’m sure we’ll have even crazier more drastic results by the end of our Whole30 challenge but I couldn’t resist giving everyone an update already.

We’re going strong over here as a “Whole Family”!

Day 20 Eats!

Thursday mornings are our “rush out of the house” mornings so I didn’t have remember to take a picture.

We ate leftover pumpkin pancakes and pineapples on the go for breakfast.

Day20 lunch: Cochan de lait (I think that’s how you spell it) with squash, zuchinni, tomatoes and okra.

Day20 dinner: Hamburger with spinach, tomatoes, onions, avocado, mustard and brussel sprouts. Soooo good.

Jeremiah has a friend over who has never had (and doesn’t like) brussel sprouts but he ffiiiiinnaallyyyyy ate some so that he could have a pumpkin cookie. When he finally got some cookies he said, “Ms. Jacque, these were definitely worth the brussel sprouts!” I feel very accomplished. :)

Yummy pumpkin cookies with strawberry jelly on top. Oh yeah…:)

Day 19 Eats!

The kids are hands-on this morning in the kitchen making pancakes!

Day19 breakfast: Pumpkin pecan pancakes with strawberry spread and coconut “sprinkles”!

The kids DEVOURED our homemade pumpkin pecan pancakes with strawberry spread and coconut flakes!

Day19 lunch: Sweet potatoes and sausage. Really good

Day19 dinner: We had such a late lunch no one was all that hungry for dinner so we had eggs and kabocha. So good it looks like my plate is smiling.

Day 17 Eats!

Day17 breakfast: Eggs over easy, pineapples, spinach and fresh pork belly. Amazing!

Day 17 breakfast: Breakfast was so good I had to take another picture!

Day17 lunch: Sausage, zuchinni and squash…all from my local farmer’s market!

Day17 dinner: Shrimp, zuchinni, squash and a side of pineapple.

Day 16 Eats!

My new favorite kitchen tools: Egg rings! And they’re cute too!

Day16 breakfast: Eggs over easy, grilled ham off the bone and mandarins.

Day16 lunch: Raw sushi rolls without rice. And yes, the kids loved it too. :)

Day16 lunch: What was left of our sushi by the time I remembered to take a picture of it.

Day16 lunch: Steamed veggies at our favorite sushi restaurant, Little Tokyo.

Day16 snack: Chocolate smoothies!

Day16 dinner: Sauteed veggies from Whole Foods.

Day16 dinner: Yummy pork from Whole Foods.