Paleo Waffle Recipe

Even if you've chosen to eat healthy clean and paleo, you can still have fun with sweets and treats every once in awhile. "Clean cheating" is PERFECT because even though you shouldn't eat like this all the time, you don't have to feel guilty when you do. I know I personally miss waffles a lot, so I decided to experiment with some paleo waffles for those mornings when you need a little something extra to brighten your day.

Alright so these kind-of have the appearance of whole grain waffles, or something gross like that but they're actually CHOCOLATE waffles because I found some 62% dark chocolate (dairy free and organic) in my pantry and decided to give it a whirl. In all honesty they LOOKED plenty chocolaty when I made them, but didn't taste very chocolatey at all so if you want to be healthier you can skip that step entirely. OR if you want to be unhealthier you can add MORE chocolate than I did (I only used 2 squares of the bar). OR if you're feeling crafty you can try throwing some chocolate protein powder into the blender. If you do, let me know how it turns out. I think I'll be trying that next time.

For this recipe you're going to need:

• 8 eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 2 ripe bananas
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• optional dark chocolate (I grated mine with a cheese grater to mix it in to the batter, but it was a lot of work, and didn't taste very strong so I think I'll stick to protein powder in future trials) or chocolate protein powder
• Coconut oil to cook with

You could also use vanilla protein powder and drop blueberries into the waffle iron before baking. Ooooooooh :)

You also need a blender.

Prep time: 5min

Bake time: Varies depending on size of waffle iron. My waffles took approximately 5min each.

Makes: Approximately 6, but you can make 8 if you have a smaller waffle iron

• Preheat your waffle iron
• Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth and somewhat frothy (this only takes a minute or two max)
• Coat the iron lightly with coconut oil. I like to spoon some out of the jar, and drop it onto the hot iron while it's a solid, because it's easier for me to spread around when it's not pre-melted. Just personal preference
• Pour waffle batter into iron, adjusting amount for desired thickness. I liked my waffles pretty thin because they took less time to cook, and were chewy instead of soggy
• Cook until done. It's kind of hard to tell when they're golden brown, so I poke my waffles with my finger when I check them to see if they're soft and spongy, or if they need to cook longer. I don't know if that's smart or not, but I work in fine dining so I'm used to touching hot things. Make good choices :)

 This is the finished product for me. I tried some plain, and they taste very good. Vaguely of banana. Great results for such a simple recipe- will definitely be doing this again!

As I said above I tried to make mine chocolate, but it didn't taste like anything so I ended up spreading mine with a no-sugar-added (and chemical/sugar supplement free) dark cherry spread. That was DELICIOUS. My younger sister is a rather picky eater, but even she enjoyed these.

Nutrition Facts:
Calories: 150
Fat (g): 8.3
Carbs (g): 12.3
Protein (g): 7.9
*Protein (g) 25.9

*Protein if you added 1 scoop of either chocolate or vanilla protein powder

The fat is from the eggs, the carbs are from the bananas. If you're looking for a more protein-dense breakfast I recommend adding a scoop of either vanilla or chocolate protein powder to the waffles for sure. If you do that you will consume approximately 18g protein more per waffle, which makes this a PERFECT breakfast for athletes and bodybuilders. Great source of carbs and protein. Not bad for a clean cheat :)

Compare to nutrition facts in a Bisquick Belgian Waffle:
Calories: 360
Fat (g): 18
Carbs (g): 39
Protein (g): 9

STEP BY STEP PALEO For A Week

I knew throwing out the paleo challenge idea wouldn't be too popular if I didn't provide you with a way to ease into it. Throwing away your pasta, ice cream, and oreos isn't going to be easy, but having a step by step plan for your first seven days (the hardest part) will help a lot. If your excuse before was: "I don't want to plan out meals!" you're stuck now.

If you're beginning the 30 day paleo challenge I highly recommend following my carefully laid out plan for your fist seven days. After that, you will hopefully have a feel for what you should and should not be putting into your body. If you STILL don't have the hang of things after these seven days, you can always repeat this for one more week or until you get the swing of things.

Your Grocery List:
(Overshoot slightly on each grocery item just in case I accidentally left something out. I double-checked, but I'm human, and humans make mistakes. I'm sorry in advance if I did screw up)

(Also: most things below are listed in the measurements one would use in a recipe, not in packaging sizes. Do your best to eyeball confusing amounts when purchasing your groceries. Nobody is perfect.)

Produce:

• 14 eggs (buy 1 and 1/4 dozen if possible. if not, buy 1 and 1/2)

Meat and fish:

• 14 pieces turkey sausage (check the ingredients list. if there are ANY words you can't pronounce, or obvious chemicals/preservatives/unnecessary seasonings you CANNOT consume it. try again.)
• 2 frozen tuna steaks
• 1 single serving frozen salmon
• 3 skinless boneless frozen chicken breasts
• 2 pork chops
• 1 small package hamburger meat

Fruit:

• 7 medium apples
• 3 or 4 lemons
• 5 or 6 cups blueberries
• 7 cups blackberries
• 5 cups raspberries
• 4 medium bananas
• 1 lime
• 1 orange

Vegetables:

• 42 carrot sticks (ballpark it when buying packages. always try and buy organic carrots. non-organic are soaked in chemicals for their bright orange color)
• 4 cups raw broccoli
• 28 4" celery sticks
• 10 cups spinach
• 5 cups cherry tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• 2 garlic bulbs
• 2 onions
• OPTIONAL: 2 medium gold potatoes (see day 7's lunch for "optional" explanation. if you choose not to consume the potatoes, you will need 3 cups chicken or vegetable stock instead)

Frozen:

• 12 cups frozen broccoli (4 bags of 4 cups each) 
• 4 cups frozen mango chunks (if you don't like mangoes, you can sub with frozen sliced peaches)

Nuts:

• 1 cup roasted (and unsalted) almonds

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DAY 1:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water

Lunch: 1 tuna steak (thaw it, squeeze lemon juice on it, salt it lightly, and bake it in the oven), 2 cups steamed broccoli (the only NON frozen broccoli you will be consuming this week is day 7's lunch, so be prepared to make a lot of steamed broccoli), 1 cup blueberries

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: 1 chicken breast grilled or cooked in no oils/butter, 2 cups spinach, 1 cup cherry tomatoes (eat it like a salad! If you need a dressing add a small drizzle of olive oil, but keep it SMALL). 1 cup raspberries, and 1 medium banana

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Abs and cardio
It's tough but you can do it! I have faith in you!

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

Congrats! You survived day one!

Now onto...

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DAY 2:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: Chicken spinach avocado salad (getting used to eating weird things yet?). Grill up 1 frozen chicken breast, season with lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Cube, and toss with 2 cups spinach, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, and 1/2 mashed avocado seasoned lightly with lime juice.

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: 1 grilled pork chop (without fat), seasoned LIGHTLY with salt, pepper, and garlic, 2 cups steamed broccoli, and 1 cup blueberries

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Upper body, and yoga
The upper body workout is great, but the quality of the video isn't prime so I recommend blasting some upbeat motivational workout music while you do it. The narrator is kind of monotonous, and the last thing you want is a lame workout. PUSH THROUGH!

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

Congrats on surviving day 2! At this point you're probably noticing that you have to pee- A LOT. That's good. We're pushing all of the toxins out of your body. By the end of your 30 day challenge you will feel clean, healthy, and refreshed. Your body will be more toned than you expected, and you'll be sleeping better. You should start to see results at the end of day 7! If you're bloating a lot don't worry, BLOATING IS NORMAL. It will take a few weeks for your body to get used to your diet change. Do not give up.
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DAY 3:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: 1 tuna steak (thaw it, squeeze lemon juice on it, salt it lightly, and bake it in the oven), 2 cups steamed broccoli, 1 cup blueberries

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: 1 grilled or baked chicken breast, chopped, and tossed with 2 cups spinach, and 1 cup raspberries

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Legs and butt

If you lack motivation in your workout today just remember that 1. you're building a better booty, and 2. gaining muscle in your legs will help you burn fat in your tummy. You're welcome. Go all out for leg day! 

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

Keep going. You're doing great. There's no turning back now.

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DAY 4:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: Chicken spinach avocado salad (getting used to eating weird things yet?). Grill up 1 frozen chicken breast, season with lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Cube, and toss with 2 cups spinach, 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, and 1/2 mashed avocado seasoned lightly with lime juice.

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: It's burger night!!! Take your packaged hamburger meat, combine it in a bowl with minced garlic and onions to taste, and roll into little sliders. Grill and eat with 2 cups of broccoli. You may add lettuce and tomato to the top of your little sliders if you need to spice them up, but you may NOT consume them with a bun, or with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, or mayo. I didn't include additional lettuce and tomato in the grocery list above because I don't want people to waste money on products they won't use, so keep that in mind when preparing your dinner.

Dessert: 2 cups frozen mango chunks! (if you eat them frozen they kinda taste like popsicles)

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Abs and cardio (yes, I know, I'm sorry. power through it though.)

You should be sore from your leg workout. If you're not, then you didn't work hard enough. Be sure to push yourself EVERY SINGLE workout because eating clean OR working out won't cut it. You have to do BOTH. It takes a lot of strength, and a lot of willpower, but the results are priceless. Go back to my original paleo blog post and stare at the picture of Robin for a moment. You want her abs? That's what I thought. PUSH PUSH PUSH!

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

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DAY 5:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: Fruit salad! Yummm. Toss 1 cup blueberries, 1 sliced banana, 1 cup raspberries, 1 cup blackberries, and 1 orange (peeled and sliced) in a bowl.

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup roasted almonds, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: 1 grilled pork chop (without fat), seasoned LIGHTLY with salt, pepper, and garlic, and 2 cups steamed broccoli

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Upper body, and yoga

"Mediocre isn't good enough."

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

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DAY 6:

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: 1 grilled or baked chicken breast, chopped, and tossed with 2 cups spinach, and 1 cup raspberries

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: Salmon (thaw it, squeeze lemon juice on it, salt it lightly, and bake it in the oven or grill it), 2 cups steamed broccoli, 1 cup blueberries, 1 banana

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Legs and butt

Tone that booty!!! Work those legs!!! "PAIN is WEAKNESS leaving the body."

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

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DAY 7:

THE END OF THE WEEK IS IN SIGHT!

Wake up: Drink 8oz water right away! I do this before my feet even hit the floor. It's a nice way to gradually wake yourself up, and get ready for the day.

Tiny workout: 20 calf raises. This will get your blood pumping! I do this while I brush my teeth.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey sausage, 1 medium apple, 6 carrot sticks

Drink: 16oz water -this is flushing your system!

Lunch: Cream of broccoli soup (we saved the best for last...) OKAY SO THIS RECIPE CONTAINS GOLD POTATOES. In a lot of people's book potatoes aren't paleo due to their starch content. I personally only eat sweet potatoes, and even so only in moderation. I will let you decide if you want to consume the gold potatoes or not. If you don't I have an alternate recipe. 

Even though the first recipe is labeled vegan and the second is labeled paleo I thought I'd list the first recipe first. Yes, it has potatoes in it, but potatoes are borderline paleo. After today you're going to be kicked out of the nest and thrown into the world of on-your-own paleo, and you need to decide for yourself where your boundaries lay. If you have no idea, I recommend researching why some paleo-eaters refuse potatoes ALWAYS, and why some are okay with an occasional potato. Giving you the potato or no potato choice will let you get a feel for what it's going to be like tomorrow when you don't have a step by step meal plan. Now is a good time to decide how strict you want to be about your paleo eating. 

Drink: 16oz water

Snack: 1 cup blackberries, 4 4" celery sticks

Dinner: 1 chicken breast grilled or cooked in no oils/butter, 2 cups spinach, 1 cup cherry tomatoes (eat it like a salad! If you need a dressing add a small drizzle of olive oil, but keep it SMALL). 1 cup raspberries, and 1 medium banana

Dessert: 2 cups frozen mango chunks! (if you eat them frozen they kinda taste like popsicles)

Drink: 8oz water

WORKOUT OF THE DAY: Abs and cardio
It's the last workout of the week so MAKE IT COUNT!

Before bed: Drink 1 glass of warm water with lemon. This is a colon cleanser!

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That's it! That's one week paleo done! If you're doing the challenge you only have 3.2 weeks to go!

SUMMARY OF THE WEEK:

-This last week you drank: 56 ounces of water per day, 392 ounces total

-Your workout split was: Abs and cardio, upper body, lower body, and you used at-home-friendly workouts to accomplish your athletic goals

-You have completely detoxed your body, leaving it clean of the chemicals found in processed foods and sodas

-You have survived a week of clean, paleo eating!

Take progress pics, weigh in, and continue the challenge!

Comment with any questions or concerns.

Inspired by Robin's Sweet Confessions.

Açai Bowls

So this dish has been a trend that's popping up EVERYWHERE lately. I originally found out about it in Australia, but açai berries are showing up on the shelves of my local supermarkets making it super easy to get my hands on the ingredients in America!

Some background: Açai berries (pronounced ah-sah-EE) are the fruit of the açai palm tree indigenous to the Amazon of Brazil. The dark purple berries are rich with antioxidants, and fall under the category of superfoods, which is why they are such a health trend these days! I'm absolutely in love with them because they taste delicious and are very easy to make.

Recipes for this vary greatly so I'm just going to share mine. You can always try this, and make adjustments in the future to add your own spin on the dish.

What you're going to need:

• 1 ripe banana (or half a banana if you don't want to use banana as a topping)
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 packet of frozen açai berry juice (thawed in warm water) (I couldn't find the Simply Balanced brand when looking online so I could link "açai berry juice" but I found another that will work just as well. I'm pretty sure I just picked mine up from Target)
• 1/2 serving of vanilla protein powder OR 1/2 teaspoon organic honey (to taste)
• 2 (or more) cups ice
• Additional toppings (other sliced fruit, nuts, ect)

• Throw half your banana in the blender, along with the coconut milk (honestly you're supposed to use anywhere between half a cup and a cup so I just play around with measurements), the thawed juice puree, the protein powder or honey (keep in mind that protein powder is NOT PALEO so when I'm feeling strict I'll sub with honey. If I don't it doesn't taste sweet enough to me), and the ice. 
• Blend until the mixture is a very very thick smoothie, one that you wouldn't want to try and suck down with a straw. You may need to stop blending once and awhile to stir the ice around if it's not getting completely mixed in, and you may also need to add more ice to reach the appropriate consistency. 
• After you finish that, pour your thick purple smoothie into a bowl and cut up the remaining banana and your other fruits and place it on top of the açai smoothie in the bowl. I used pecans and bananas the last time I made the recipe but I've done other fruit and nut combinations before. Try not to overdo it on nuts because that will add more fat to your healthy meal.

Açai bowls are perfect for breakfast, and I sometimes even eat them as an after-workout treat (like dessert!). I used My Fitness Pal to calculate the nutrition facts for an açai bowl with 1 banana, 3 tablespoons of pecans, and protein powder instead of honey as an example to provide below.

Example Nutrition Facts (with my toppings of choice):

Calories: 639

Fat (g): 35.1

Carbs (g): 55

Sugars (g): 24

Protein (g): 32.5

Vitamin A: 10.5%

Vitamin C: 30%

Calcium: 23%

Iron: 3%

The reason sugar looks so high is you have to keep in mind that this is a FRUIT. I personally don't care when I get calories and sugars from fruit, but that's just me. My biggest requirement was that it had good macros, and I was satisfied with the protein to fat ratio, and it helped me hit my daily carb goal. All in all I absolutely LOVE this recipe. Comment down below if you give it a try! :)

The Paleo Challenge

Okay it's about time. You had this coming.

So I know the word "paleo" is popping up everywhere in the world of fad diets lately but I want you to understand that this is no empty promise to make you drop fat like so many others. There is science to back it up. 

For those of you who have never even HEARD the word before, the paleo diet, sometimes referred to as "the caveman diet", tries to take us back to simpler times when our foods weren't chalk-full of chemicals. It's a high protein, low carb diet, which means it is ideal for athletes. Gluten, and any bread-based foods are eliminated entirely, forcing paleo-eaters to meet their carbohydrate goals by consuming more vegetables. A common misconception is that paleo is all meat. It is not. The human body can only metabolize 30 grams of protein per meal, so it would be pointless to eat pure meat. Paleo focuses on natural, easy-to-digest, fiber rich, resourceful foods to reset your digestive system, and naturally improve your sleep, energy levels, and mood.

As someone who has played around a lot with other types of dieting, including a month of being vegetarian, and a month of being vegan, those who knew me were really confused when I completely flipped sides and took the paleo challenge. I switched from avoiding meat entirely to eating it in almost every meal, and even though I had previously sworn that being vegan would make you feel "clean" I can now say that going paleo has made me feel "cleaner".

My inspiration was the 30 Paleo Challenge on this lovely blog. It goes by the name of "Robin's Sweet Confessions" and I stumbled upon it while on Pinterest and was absolutely thrilled to find that not only did Robin lay out everything we should eat for the first few weeks, but she supplied grocery lists, and recommended workouts. It was too easy. Everything was there. I had to do it.

(This picture and this picture alone inspired me to begin my paleo journey so I need to give another MASSIVE thank you to Robin.)

That being said paleo is A LOT of work to maintain. But if it wasn't worth it, my 30 day challenge would not have turned into a lifestyle that I cannot live without. I have gone back to regular eating for a few weeks here and there, just to see if I would prefer to go back... and I don't. As much as I think I miss Chipotle, pasta (used to be my favorite food!), Dairy Queen, and ice cream in general, paleo has always been worth it to me. If you're STILL not convinced that this is crazy awesome, you need to check out the Paleo Recipes on Pinterest page. Yum.

Now I am no Robin, but I am going to create a paleo challenge blog entry similar in the sense that it will help you kick start your paleo journey because I CHALLENGE YOU TO A 30 DAY PALEO CHALLENGE. It would be cruel of me to do that, and then provide no help. :)

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First and foremost there are rules to paleo:

1. You have to accept the challenge. Remember that if it gets "too hard" and you quit then you'll only know what quitting feels like, and the point is to find out what succeeding feels like. You must give it your all. It will not be easy, hence the word challenge, but it is only for 30 days and you will thank me on day 31. I promise.
2. You have to work out daily. Even if some days all you do is yoga. Or go on long walks. Do not cheat yourself. Trust me on this one.
3. You must take before and after pictures. I didn't even realize how important this was until I looked at my before and after pictures. All in all it is discouraging if you feel like you're not making progress, and if you have pictures then you can SEE the progress you're making. You don't have to share these pictures, but you do need to take them. One set (take a picture head on, and then one of you turned to the side. focus on your stomach and thighs, or wherever you feel like your body personally stores fat) before you even start, and one set on day 7 of each week. Don't forget the final picture on day 30 because that is the second most important one! (arguably your "before" picture is the most important). 
4. Avoid the scale. Numbers are discouraging as well. Weigh yourself before the challenge and then after the challenge is over. If you really want to you can weigh yourself when you take pictures (at the end of every week) but I would be careful. When I first started paleo I GAINED 10lbs in the first two weeks, and later found out it was because I gained a ton of muscle. However by the end of my challenge I was 10 pounds lighter than my original weight, and I've never been a heavy person so it looked like a lot. Every body works differently, and in the end it's how you look and feel that matters the most, not your proportion to gravity.
5. Push Yourself! This diet is hard but fun. It's something new, and it's a crazy new adventure for you to try. You could hate every second of it or you could positively love it. Keep a positive mental attitude and comment here if you have questions or concerns or if you are feeling weak.

LUCKY FOR YOU I HAVE YOUR FIRST SEVEN DAYS PLANNED OUT
Meal plans, grocery list, workouts, EVERYTHING. Check out my blog post to find out what you should eat for the first 7 days to kick start a perfect paleo challenge.

Additional Tips:

In my paleo experience this is what I have discovered:

• If you are craving something that is NOT paleo, write it down. Tell yourself you can have it again when the 30 days are up. It helps you get through weak times, and at the end of the challenge you won't even want it anymore so you can throw the list of cravings you've accumulated away.
• Cook most of your meals. I know that this is not ideal, but neither is eating out while trying to eat paleo. If you do eat out, you should try to find healthier restaurants that are more likely to offer something you can eat.
• Eat a lot of vegetables. Paleo is often thought of as a meat diet, but in all reality there are a lot of veggies at work behind the scenes. You CAN overdose on protein, but you CANNOT overdose on vegetables. My current fave is broccoli.
• Break your meals up, and always stay full. Instead of eating 3 big meals I eat 5 smaller meals. This is not only way better for you in terms of digestion, AND fat-loss, but it keeps you full and IF YOU ARE FULL YOU WILL NOT CRAVE BAD THINGS. 
• If you absolutely must must must must must have a dessert because you just NEED one on a particular day, make a paleo dessert. There are plenty of options. 
• BE CAREFUL WITH NUTS. Keep your nut intake slim to none if you want the leanest results. Nuts ARE paleo but they also stunt your weight loss. That being said, don't be afraid of nuts. A handful a day will not hurt you. I promise. Just don't go nuts. Hehe.

When it comes to what you eat...

If I were you I would follow Robin's food entries as closely as possible. That's what I did until I got the swing of things. I was planning on writing my own food entries for y'all, but then decided I could not beat hers. Sorry.

Just to give you an example of what I eat on a daily basis (keeping in mind I'm not doing a paleo challenge, I'm just eating paleo daily because I enjoy it), I typically consume:

Breakfast: 

Tea

1 full glass of water before I even start eating

2 eggs

2 pieces of bacon

Lunch:

1 full glass of water before I even start eating

Some kind of fish (usually salmon or tuna steaks, but I've branched out to tilapia even though some may disagree with that choice), and 2 cups of broccoli

Snack:

An apple, or a bowl of blueberries

Dinner:

1 full glass of water before I even start eating

Chicken or other meat, vegetable of my choice, fruit

Dessert (I have it maybe once a week... Maybe twice if I hit the gym hard that day):

Banana ice cream (teehee)

As you can see I consume a lot of fruit, which isn't typical to the paleo diet (usually it's heavily focused on veggies and meat), but I do this because I work out daily and I've figured out how many grams of carbs I need in order to survive working out, and because I eat paleo I need fruit to reach my carb goals.

You too can tamper with your paleo balance once those 30 days are up if you decide to continue paleoing (casually invents a word) for longer.

Ummmmm that might be it! Sorry this was such a long blog post. If you're taking the challenge but you encounter a weak day and you want to quit, comment about it for support. I really hope you enjoy this challenge as much as I did. Good luck, may the odds be ever in your favor, and GO PALEO!

Banana Nut Muffins

Another recipe for you.

The only thing I hated about going paleo (besides giving up pasta) was the fact that I wouldn't be able to bake anymore. Baking is one of my passions, and I just assumed that when I threw sugar out the window I would have to get rid of baking too, but fortunately this is NOT true. There are plenty of paleo recipes out there, even for MUFFINS of all things. So in my excitement I headed out to the grocery store and picked up some paleo-friendly flours so I could give these recipes a whirl. One of my favorites by far is the Banana Nut Muffin recipe I found here. They're originally meant for macadamia nuts, but those are rather fatty and weren't in stock at my go-to grocery store when I was craving muffins so I had to get crafty and throw in walnuts instead. I stayed mostly true to the original recipe, but I strayed a little due to lack of correct ingredients.

So the original recipe calls for:

• 2/3 cup macadamia nuts of choice, chopped
• 2/3 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1 cup blanched almond flour
• ¼ cup organic coconut flour - source
• 3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup raw creamy honey
• 1/3 cup organic coconut oil, melted and cooled
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
• 1 tsp coconut water vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

I underlined the things I made slight adjustments to. Feel free to use the original recipe if you want, or follow my changes. Whatever is easiest for you.

First off, I didn't have macadamia nuts on hand so I used finely chopped walnuts, but I kept the measurement the same.

Secondly I didn't have the right number of ripe bananas on hand. Oops. I can't be alone here, please tell me this happens to other people too. The best bananas for baking are a darker yellow with some brown spots on them because they're the sweetest, and the mushiest, and the point of using bananas in paleo recipes is for the sugar. Duh. So the fact that I had 2 out of 3 bananas in the correct "state" was unfortunate because I really needed that last banana to be much more ripe. It was freshly bought, and completely yellow (I dont't think green would work...), so it clearly wasn't going to be mushy or sweet enough.

BUT DO I HAVE A TRICK FOR YOU.

The next time you're one ripe banana short you can fake the last banana's sweet taste and consistency. 

What I do is peel the yellow banana and put it in a separate bowl from my ripe bananas, and try to mash it with a fork the best I can, and then I add cocoanut milk, and a little bit of honey to the mashed banana bowl. This makes the banana SO much easier to continue mashing and stirring. Plus the honey will make it sweet enough to use in substitute for a ripe banana.

You're welcome.

I don't know if I would use that trick with ALL unripe bananas, because sometimes unripe bananas can irritate your mouth and tongue, and unfortunately that trait will be present in the muffin (irritating muffins are no fun) but if it doesn't bother you then go ahead and give it a try. 

I underlined the "cocoanut water vinegar" because I don't even know WHAT that is, and I didn't have any on me so I used pure unsweetened lemon juice instead. It worked just as well, and you can't taste the difference as far as I'm concerned.

Lastly I underlined vanilla because I am a total sucker for sweets, and 1 tsp did not look like enough vanilla to me so I may have used 2 generous teaspoons. You shouldn't do this if you want to minimize the sugar and fat content in your muffins, but it felt like a necessary change for me. In my defense I have this fantastic vanilla from Mexico (and I feel fancy because I didn't order it online, I literally went to Mexico and bought it, and then took it back in my suitcase), and it's to die for so I overuse it in everything.


I followed the baking instructions pretty closely, so I'll just copy-paste them below, and underline the replacements I made.


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees convection (I didn't even remember to turn on convection when I made these... oops).
Take out 2 muffin tins and place muffin liners inside.

• In a large bowl, add nuts, coconut, flours, baking soda, salt; mix to combine.
• To the same bowl, add eggs, bananas, honey, coconut oil, vinegar, vanilla; mix again to combine.
• Drop by tablespoons into the muffin tins. Fill 14 muffins full. *This will make 14 full sized muffins as long as there is no batter eaten in the process. (I made big muffins so I could make it 12. Too much work to use another pan for just 2 muffins you know?)
• Bake for about 30-35 minutes, rotating the pans at 20 minutes for best results. Let cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Then move muffins to a cooling rack, which helps to firm up their bottoms. Enjoy!

Carrot Fries

I'm going to jump right in with a recipe for a healthy but TOTALLY DELICIOUS snack that I've been enjoying entirely too often. Maybe it's the fact that this is one of the easiest things I've ever made, or maybe it's how guilt free these fries are but either way I've been eating them by the batch.

The recipe is incredibly simple and you can find it almost anywhere if you google "carrot fries" (thank The Lord for the internet, right?) but I thought I'd post my take on the recipe anyways since it's something I've been eating so often.

A little background: I recently started the Paleo Diet, because I was inspired by a blog post about the 30 day paleo challenge. If you're interested you should click here. Anyways I didn't do the challenge laid out flawlessly for you in that blog because I'm less concerned with losing weight and more concerned with eating cleaner. Plus I'm a sucker for sweets and junk food, so when I found out about paleo spins on everyday recipes I couldn't resist.

These fries are totally paleo, there's barely any prep time, and they're wonderful to eat.

What you'll need is:

• Anywhere between 5-10 whole (I use ORGANIC) carrots (varies depending on how much you want to make)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder (optional)
• Italian seasoning (optional)

If you choose not to use the Italian seasoning I would definitely opt to use garlic powder instead, but I use them interchangeably. If you're feeling adventurous you could always use both.

The Italian seasoning I use is called Tuscany Blend, and it's actually a bread dipping sauce that's meant to go in olive oil, but I use it on literally everything. It's a great pasta topping, and if I'm short on time I throw it on pan fried chicken to make my cooking taste fancier. Feel free to improvise with your favorite seasoning instead.

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper

• Wash and peel each carrot
• Slice carrots once or twice horizontally until they're in pieces the length of a french fry
• Halve each carrot piece down the middle vertically, and then slice each half into small pieces about the width of a french fry (I usually go as thin as possible. The thicker they are the softer they'll be, and I like 'em crispier).
• Place the raw carrot fries onto the parchment paper, and spread them out (doesn't have to look pretty. Just make sure they're not in one big pile)
• Drizzle olive oil over the top of the carrot fries
• Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and additional seasonings onto carrot fries
• Bake in the oven for 24-30 minutes, pausing once halfway through to stir your fries around on the pan with a spatula (your bake time will depend HEAVILY on how big you made your carrot slices, and how crunchy you want them to turn out. I enjoy mine a little on the burnt side because then they're crunchier, but you will most likely need to play around with baking times until you get a batch just right. My first try was 24 minutes with very small thin carrot pieces, and that worked just fine. Later I tried 28 minutes with bigger carrot slices and they didn't get crispy enough so I should've left them in longer. Just guess and check.)

I actually whipped up a small batch today because I was in need of a fun snack, so I have a picture of the end result to show you, but I'm a horrible photographer. Oh well. I tried.

 Trust me, these are AMAZING.

I forced my sister to try one, and she enjoyed them even though she's a very picky eater.

I usually place them on a paper towel after I take them out of the oven because I overdo the olive oil a little bit, but that tends to make them a bit softer, so if you want the crunchiest fries I would leave them on the pan until they cool, and then drain them of their oils.