So. Many. Recipes.

So I’ve been doing a ton of recipe shopping and have found so many awesome paleo and low-carb websites with just an endless amount of recipes. I started copy/pasting in a word document so I could maybe make a recipe I found instead of just drooling over them. So… I’ve decided to share my outrageous amount of recipes with you that I found! Most are pretty easy to do. Try them out and let me know how they are 🙂

Coconut Chicken Nuggets with Paleo “BBQ” Sauce

 

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ cup + ½ cup almond flour
• ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• ½ cup coconut oil
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

 In a bowl combine ¼ cup almond flour, ½ cup coconut and salt & pepper.  Mix to combine.

In a separate bowl, combine the ground chicken, ½ cup almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, egg yolk and salt & pepper.  Mix well until everything is incorporated. 

In a sauté pan, melt coconut oil on medium heat.  Take about 2 tablespoons worth of the chicken mixture and roll into a ball and then coat with the coconut and almond mixture.  Repeat with the remaining chicken.  You should make about 15 to 18 chicken nugget/balls.

In small batches place nuggets into heated coconut oil and cook on each side for about 3 to 4 minutes.  Transfer balls to a parchment lined bake pan and place in oven for 4 to 5 minutes to allow the chicken to cook through.  Repeat with the remaining chicken nuggets.

 Allow nuggets to cool and serve with Paleo “BBQ” Sauce (recipe follows). 

 

Paleo “BBQ” Sauce

 

• 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 10 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons shallots, minced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Instructions:

Heat coconut oil in a saute pan over medium heat.  Place minced shallots and garlic in sauce pan until soft.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes.

pizza bites

Get your oven to 400ºF. Lay the slices of pepperoni on a baking sheet and put them in the oven, on the middle rack, to get them crispy–about 8 minutes, flipping them over once. Start prepping your toppings while the peps are in the oven.

The pre-bake step of the pepperoni is super important if you want a crispy pepperoni “crust”. Once you top the pepperonis they just don’t crisp up much…

Once they come out of the oven, place a spoonful of pizza sauce on each pepperoni slice and top with your ingredients.

Place the baking sheet back in the oven and let the toppings get warm and melty, anywhere from 5-10 minutes.

 

Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon

Side dish feeds 4-5 people:

 

• 1.5 lbs of Brussels sprouts
• 2-3 tablespoons of melted ghee, avocado oil, melted lard, macadamia nut oil, or fat of choice
• 4 slices of bacon, diced
• salt and pepper
• aged balsamic vinegar

 

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Trim the ends and any old outer leaves from the Brussels sprouts. (Don’t throw away the leaves — toss ‘em in a container and keep ‘em in the fridge so you can make some Brussels Sprouts Chips later!)

Cut the sprouts in half and toss them with melted fat of choice, salt, and pepper. 

Dump them on a foil lined baking sheet, making sure to keep everything in one layer. Sprinkle the diced bacon over everything and pop the tray in the oven.

The sprouts take about 30-35 minutes to roast, so set your timer for 10 minute intervals x3 to regularly rotate and flip the sprouts ‘n swine. Check for seasoning and drizzle some of your favorite vinegar on the finished dish.

 

Guacamole deviled eggs

Ingredients

 

• 4 eggs, hard-boiled
• 1 avocado
• 2 tsp hot sauce
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• sea salt (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Peel hard-boiled eggs and cut in half length-wise.  Spoon out yolks into a small bowl.
2. Mash yolks with avocado, hot sauce and lemon juice.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
3. Refill egg whites with the yolk mixture.

 

Snack. Garlicky Beef-Coated Scotch Eggs.

Ingredients:
-125g ground beef
-1 egg
-2 medium cloves garlic
-paprika
(You may also want to add some extra fat to the meat!)
1. Hard boil your egg.
2. Crush/finely slice the garlic.
3. Mix the beef and garlic and wrap it around the egg.
4. Roll to make it nicely rounded.
5. Grill, bake or microwave until the beef is cooked. Do not microwave for over 2 minutes as it will likely split/explode!

 

DESSERT: Instant Strawberry Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 1 lb unsweetened frozen strawberries
• 14 fl oz coconut milk
• ¼ tsp liquid stevia extract, or to taste
• ½ tbsp lemon juice

INSTRUCTIONS: Put everything in your foodprocessor and run it until strawberries are ground up. (Note: This may require prying a strawberry off the blade a few times.) Keep in mind that if you have some left over, you can store it in a snap-top container in the freezer, but because of the lack ofsugar, it will freeze rock-hard—so take it out of the freezer a good half hour before you want to eat it and let it soften a bit.

SERVES: 6

NUTRITION: 156 calories; 14 g fat; 2 g protein; 9 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber; 7 g net carbs per serving.

 

CONDIMENT: Guacamole

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 2 tbsp minced red onion
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 avocados (little black ones, good and ripe)
• ½ lime
• 4 dashes hot sauce or to taste
• 2 pinches salt
• 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Have onion minced and garlic crushed—and in a bowl—first.
2. Halve avocados and use a spoon to scoop the flesh out into the bowl.
3. Use a fork to mash up the avocado. Don’t go for a super-smooth texture; leave some little lumps of avocado.
4. Now squeeze in the juice of the half lime and add the hot sauce and salt and cilantro if using. Stir it up and serve immediately.

SERVES: 4

NUTRITION: 167 calories; 15 g fat; 2 g protein; 9 g carbohydrate; 3 g dietary fiber; 6 g net carbs per serving.

 

Chocolate Covered Love Nuggets, I Mean Bacon.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of Bacon (I used thick cut applewood smoked)
• 10-12 oz of dark chocolate.  ( I used Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips (no soy, no nuts, no dairy, no gluten) for the kids but I would use darker for myself)
• Opional: 1 tbs coconut oil.

I began by cutting each piece of uncooked bacon into 5 relatively equal pieces and fried them up until they were crispy. As each little piece was done to my liking, I let it drain on a paper towel.

Once all the bacon was fried up a crispy, I melted the chocolate. I put all the chocolate in a glass bowl with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and melted it in the microwave for 1 minute, stirred it up then melted again it for another minute and stirred it, etc until it was completely melted.

Using a pair of tongs, I dipped each piece of bacon in the chocolate until it was covered to me liking and placed them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  When the baking sheet was full I placed it in the freezer for a few minutes to harden. Keep in fridge in air tight container

DINNER: Carnitas

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 ½ lbs pork shoulder, exclusive of bone
• Water
• 1 tsp salt (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Trim any major layers of fat off your porkshoulder, but don’t try to get it too lean; you’ll need the fat later on. Cut your pork into chunks roughly 1 ½ to 2 inches.
2. Put the pork in your big, heavy skillet—you want a single layer, but the pork cubes can be very close together. Cover with water, add the salt, if using, and put over a burner set to medium-high heat. Bring water to a boil, then turn burner down to low—you want to keep the water barely simmering.
3. Now let your pork cubes simmer, about 3-4 hours. (If you happen to be wandering through the kitchen, turn the cubes over once or twice.)
4. Let your pork simmer until the water has completely cooked away. Continue cooking, letting the pork cubes brown in the fat that has collected in the bottom of the skillet. When they’re crisply brown, they’re done.
5. Serve over salad and topped with guacamole (See: Guacamole Recipe).

 

 

LUNCH: Chicken Salad

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• ½ cup diced red bell pepper
• 1 artichoke heart, cooked and chopped
• 2 scallions, sliced thin, including the crisp part of the green shoot
• 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley
• ⅓ cup Lemon-Balsamic Mayonnaise (see below), or to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut everything up and put in a mixing bowl.
2. Make the mayo (see below), add to the other ingredients, and toss to coat. Serves 2

 

LUNCH: Standard Egg Salad

INGREDIENTS:

 

• ½ green bell pepper, diced
• 2 large celery ribs, diced—include any crisp leaves
• 4 scallions, sliced thin—include the crisp part of the green
• 2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
• 6 eggs, hard-boiled, peeled, and chopped
• 6 tbsp Mayonnaise (See: Mayonnaise in the Jar Recipe)
• 1 tbsp brown mustard
• Salt and black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cut up your vegetables and your eggs and combine them in a mixing bowl. Stir together the mayonnaise and mustard, then add to the salad and stir it all up. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Eat as is, wrap in lettuce leaves, or stuff into tomatoes.

 

2. Flour Substitute

While flax seeds cannot entirely replace flour, flax seed can be used to reduce the flour content in baked goods. Most people use white flour to bake goods, without giving too much thought about flour’s poor nutritional content. Except for the four enriched vitamins and minerals that White flour contains, the flour is a processed ingredient with little to no nutritional value. To substitute flax seed for flour, use about 1 tbsp. of grounded flax seeds with 4 tbsp. of water or another liquid. The mixture will only replace about ¼ cup of flour content. For example, if your recipe calls for 3 cups of flour, you will use 2 ¾ cups of flour with ¼ cup of flax seed mix.

 

BREAKFAST: Avocado-Bacon Omelets

INGREDIENTS:

 

• 4 bacon slices
• 1 avocado
• 2 tbsp minced red onion
• 1 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
• 1 dash hot sauce
• 4 eggs

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook bacon until crisp.
2. While bacon is cooking, whack your avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash it up, but not too fine—a little texture is nice.
3. Add onion and cilantro to avocado. When the bacon is done, drain it and crumble or snip it in, too. Stir it all up.
4. Now make your omelets, one at a time. Use half the avocado mixture in each. Top with more hot sauce, if desired.

 

Paleo Italian Sub

Ingredients

 

• sweet/honey ham
• capicola ham*
• salami
• tomato, sliced thin
• banana peppers
• spinach or other lettuce
• dried oregano
• olive oil
• mayo & mustard

 

Use the largest coldcut (probably the honey ham) for the outside layer.

Overlap that coldcut about 1.5 inches, making 2 rows of 4 like this:

0000

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(Cutting edge illustration, ya?)

Make sure it’s overlapping, then layer your other meats on top.

Squeeze on the mustard and mayo, but only on one half. This will be the half that is going to be the inside or middle of your roll.

Layer your thinly sliced tomato, the banana peppers and spinach (and any other toppings you choose) over the mayo/mustard.

Other adds that would be yum – olives, red wine vinegar, cucumbers, onions

Roll from the filling side first as tight as you can.

Wrap in parchment or wax paper, like a burrito, and off you go.

*Capicola ham is similar to proscuitto, however capicola is meat from the shoulder of the piggy and proscuitto is meat from the thigh. Boar’s Head sells it as “cappy ham” and it’s usually located around the salami and mortadella.

 

 Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine 
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon sugar 
• 1/2 cup (1-inch) slices red bell pepper 
• 1/2 cup (1-inch) slices green bell pepper 
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 English cucumber, sliced 

Preparation

1. 1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
2. 2. Add bell peppers and remaining ingredients to wine mixture; toss gently to coat

 

 Flourless chocolate cake recipe:

• 1/2 tsp of sea salt
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of unsalted ground cashews
• 1/3 cup of cocoa powder
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1 and 1/2 tbs of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of melted coconut oil

* I topped the cake with sliced strawberries and I really recommend adding them on top.  The combination of everything is so delicious. 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until you have a smooth somewhat watery consistency.  You might wonder at this point how this will turn into cake but trust me it will. 
3. Grease an 8 inch cake baking dish with coconut oil and sprinkle a little cocoa powder on the bottom.  Pour your batter in.  
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  

If you want to top it with chocolate (paleo) icing here is the recipe:

• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of honey
• 1 tbs of vanilla
• 6 tbs of coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp of sea salt

Directions:
Mix everything together in a blender.  Once the cake cools apply.

 

 

“Cheesy” Bakes Cauliflower Poppers

What you will need:

• 2 heads of cauliflower
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp of garlic salt
• 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast.  *You can add a little more if you want them extra “cheesy” 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Wash and clean the cauliflower. Cut off and discard the stem. Cut the cauliflower up into small pieces.
3. In a large bowl, combine the olive oil, garlic salt and nutritional yeast. Add the cauliflower pieces and thoroughly coat each piece.
4. Place cauliflower pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  If you want to add a little more “cheese” sprinkle it on top at this time.  Bake for one hour and turn 3 times during cooking until each piece has a nice brown coloring. The browner and more caramelized they are the better.
5. Remove from oven and enjoy

Manager’s Specials!!

This is too awesome to not share with everyone.

I was at Fry’s the other day getting some groceries and I was looking at the different fish they have in the fresh meat section. I look over and they have a stir fry package with fresh veggies and chopped steak all ready to throw in a pan to cook, for $2.50! That can easily feed 2 people with another side or an appetizer salad. I know manager’s special means that they need to get rid of it fast or it’s going to go bad quick. I got a whole ton of them and threw them in the freezer… genius on my part. Now  I have a bunch of quick, amazing, healthy, and delicious meals that I can throw together in just minutes.

It does take a couple minutes extra for the veggies to cook since the meat only takes 1-2 minutes to get fully cooked, so sue me for making things difficult (not).

I have a teriyaki marinade type sauce that yes, does have 3 grams of sugar, but when my daily nutrition is good enough to cheat with a little sugar, it’s very good thrown into the stir fry pan with my meats and veggies. I’m sure there’s a ton of different low carb soy sauces and stir fry sauces that are out there just waiting to be paired with a manager’s special box full of fresh food! CHECK THE LABELS, PEOPLE!

For those of you who always bring your lunch to work, how easy would this be to take 10 minutes to cook the night before work and put in a container to warm up in the microwave at work? Less preservatives, more nutrition, and prolly wayyyyyy better tasting than that “Lean Cuisine” crap that’s actually not so “lean” (carbs, sugars, preservatives…. how much more junk can they fit in those things??).

I think I’ve made my point 🙂

Like I said, I found these in the back of the grocery store by all of the fresh meats (which is where you should be shopping anyways, yummmm steak and fish!!). Let me know if you guys find any awesome deals anywhere!

“I don’t have a gym to go to so I can’t work out”

If I ever, in my entire life, hear another person say that they can’t afford a gym membership so they don’t work out, I’ll blow one serious gasket.

A lot of people who we do wellness counseling with don’t have a gym membership and still manage to get in at-home workouts. Look around. Everything has weight to it, use it! Pick up your stool and do some squats and lunges, curl your laundry detergent or milk carton, do shoulder raises with cans of soup…. the possibilities are endless.

Alright so the point of this post isn’t to rag on you for not doing at home exercises, but to give you  more ideas on how to squeeze in random exercises throughout the day. A new thing going on that we ran into is Post-it workouts. You, or someone else in your household, get a pile of post-it notes and write little random exercises on them and stick them around the house in weird places. When you see the post-it, you HAVE to do the exercise.

20 squats

10 lunges each leg

15 jumping jacks

5 burpees

10 push ups

sprint in place for 30 seconds

jump as  high as you can 5 times

break dance

You can be as silly as you want with it, heck, it’s your house 🙂 Every week or so, redo them. Write different exercises on them and place em in other weird places of the house- the side of the laundry hamper, the lid of the washer, the toilet seat lid, inside of your freezer door, the kleenex box… use your imagination! Exercising doesn’t have to be a Debbie Downer activity, you know. Now get to posting and have a little fun with it.

Always use correct form!

I spent my entire week last week painting the house, and when my brain took a break from jammin’ out to Pandora, I definitely caught myself using the perfect form while paint rolling a wall. After giggling to myself “of course I would catch myself doing perfect workout form while performing a task at home”, I realized That it’s really not so silly at all. Anyone and everyone should always, always keep their body in mind while doing any physical tasks.
If you come take a Kinesis class at the gym, you will constantly hear me scream over and over “tighten your core”. For those of you who are not sure how to know if your core is tight, take a breath in and start exhaling. Once you don’t think you can exhale anymore, keep pushing more and more air out until you’re out of air. When you get to that point, you notice your muscles in your stomach tighten to help push out that air. Boom, your core is tight. It takes some practice at first to keep those muscles contracted once you start breathing normal again, but practice makes a constant tight core and more supported back!
Another thing for posture is to always practice keeping your shoulders back and your chest up. Pretend your shoulder blades are tied together in the back. Practicing good posture helps you keep that core contracted to help support your back, while also contributing to a better appearance and more energy.

Good posture should be maintained even when you’re not doing anything physical. Livestrong.com has a pretty good explanation how to correctly sit in your chair:
Find the correct sitting posture when you do not have an ergonomic chair to lean into. Sit on the edge of your chair and droop your shoulders, letting your stomach push out. From the slouched position, raise your shoulders and curve your back as you sit up straight. Hold your back rigid, accentuating the curve in your back. Relax your back about 10 degrees to find the correct sitting posture.

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong.

Your core should automatically tighten when you raise your shoulders (and should be tight constantly).

Now, everybody practice tightening your core. Take a look at how you’re sitting right now. Slouching? Knock it off. Make that core tight, support your back, and keep your shoulders up and back. Nice work 🙂
Practice, practice, practice….