Paleo Pancakes

So, I've decided to commit to eating like a cavewoman for the next 30 days ~ with a few modifications.
1. I am simply not prepared to give up my coffee in the morning (with raw sugar & a bit of cream)
2. My (almost) nighty glass of wine (or 2...)
3. If my healthy, organic salad dressing has a bit of sugar, or a bit of cheese, I'm not going to stress. If that tasty liquid is going to transform a giant bowl of raw veggies into yummy goodness, I'm gonna eat it.
4. Christmas Dinner (..hello!!)

The past 4 months have been crazy!!!! for my family. We listed our house for sale in the end of June (July?...). Trying to keep a 4 bedroom, 3 level house clean and tidy enough for showings all while continuing life as a family of 7 (Me, Hubby, 4 kids under 8yrs and an international student)....is NOT fun. Whether legitimate reason or stupid excuse, I forgot about myself. I ate crap and didn't exercise one little bit. I may have walked to and from the mall once, but only because I had too many kids with me to fit them all in the van.
We moved into our new home in a new city (1.5 hrs from where we were), 2 days ago. The house is a mess, there is stuff everywhere, but my kitchen is (kinda) useable, our Christmas tree is up and I'm ready to focus on my health again.

Today is day 2 and Paleo Pancakes were my breakfast.

Beat
-1/4 cup of nut butter (I used peanut butter, which was yummy, but you could use almond or ??) with
-1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Add
-3 eggs, one at a time.
In order, add
-3 tbsp or liquid (almond milk, coconut milk, water etc.)
-2 tsp vanilla
-1/2 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp salt
- 4 tsp ground flax
- 1 tbsp hemp hearts
- 3 tbsp coconut flour
Beat till smooth.

Heat coconut oil (or ghee, olive, clarified butter etc) in pan and cook pancakes.

Careful when flipping :-)

Anytime I've cooked with coconut flour, things seem to be a bit crumbly/dry. No different here, but still quite tasty. (The kids ate them!...)

I topped with banana and sprinked with a bit of cinnamon (that I forgot to add during the mixing).

Not bad.

I'll make them again.

This is the "cool" way to patch ripped jeans

Tutorial Here I didn't embroider a thing. I did everything with my machine.

Use up the Halloween Candy - Get it gone!

So, there have been more days than one, that I've totally over done it with the sickening amount of Halloween candy that's left in my house. We went up one side of our street and back down the other. The kids didn't come home with a whole lot, it's what we had left in our own bowl that's causing a problem. Apparently, we missed all the trick or treaters while we were out! After making myself physically ill a few days back, I decided that something must be done. I separated all the crap that tempts me from all the crap that doesn't. The crap that doesn't is for the kids - 2 pieces per day. All the yummy stuff (Areo Bars, Kit Kats, Coffee Crisp, Peanut M & M's, Hershey Bars etc.) was then unwrapped and cut up into chunks:

Then, I made my new favourite cookie recipe and added the bowl of Halloween junk instead of chocolate chips!

New Favourite Cookie Recipe?

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

1 Cup White Sugar (I used 1/2 cup Agave Syrup)

1/2 Cup Oil (I prefer Olive)

1 Egg

1 tbsp Vanilla

2 Cups All Purpose Flour (I use all whole wheat)

2 tsp Baking Powder

2 tsp Cinnamon (Epicure Apple Pie Spice is yummy!)

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

2 Cups Chocolate Chips (Wow! That's a lot of chocolate! I use about 3/4 Cup - And in this case, Halloween Candy)

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, vanilla and egg in electric mixer.

Add dry ingr to wet, mix till combined.

Add chocolate.

Bake at 350F for 10 mins (Mine usually need a few minutes longer when I use the syrup - about 15)

Yum!

The kids have no idea they're eating whole grains mixed with vegetable!!!

Seriously, we've eaten these babies for breakfast as we're running out the door. Zero guilt here!

Awesome!

Low Carb Camping Chili

Every year my family goes camping for Father's day and every year I make chili in advance for us to have for dinner. It's delicious. But this year I had to make some changes to make it suit my new low carb, healthy eating. It's delicious, so I thought I would share. I made up this recipe, adapted from years of making chili.

 I brown some ground turkey with a little olive oil, chili powder, cumin and chipotle chili spice (my kids won't eat the chili so I can make it spicy).  Then I add peppers, carrots, one can of kidney beans and let it all cook together.

At the same time I caramelize some onions in olive oil with sugar and a little nutmeg. Trust me, it's worth using the sugar. I use one onion and 1 Tbsp of sugar.

 My tomatoes and beans of choice. Normally I use 3 different types of beans but to cut down on the carbs, I only used one can of kidney beans. Eden Organic brand has no added salt so super low in sodium.

 After the onions are done, I add them to the turkey mixture and I add a little more olive oil to the pan and cook up the mushroom. Mushrooms are always better when cooked before adding to the chili.

Look how colourful it is.

Then I add my tomatoes and one can of tomato paste and viola, chili. I continually check the flavour and add more cumin and chili powder, if it needs it. If you like lots of spice, you could add hot sauce too. It's super thick but thins out after I have to cool and reheat it while camping. It's always so much better on the second day.

Cauliflower Pile Up

This one's a gooder. Tonight we had a pile up, which normally I would make with potatoes but tonight I made it with cauliflower (you know, the no/low carb thing). So yum.

I sauteed mennonite sausage, onions, yellow and red peppers, corn (just a little), mushrooms and tomatoes (added at the end). I added cumin and a little chili powder for extra flavour.

I also boiled up some cauliflower till it was soft, mashed it with a teaspoon of sour cream and some onion dip mix (Epicure of course).

I threw the mashed cauliflower into a bowl, topped with the sausage/veggie mix, and then threw on some cheese (just a little for me - the picture is Leigh's dinner). I also added some avocado on top. You could top it with fresh cilantro or sour cream or salsa as well.

So yummy and my serving was less than 500 calories.

Killer Salad!

Nom nom nom!
Mixed greens, grape tomatoes, mixed peppers, avocado, hard boiled egg and chicken cooked in Franks Red Hot Sauce.
Fast, easy, nutritious and oh so delicious!
Nom nom nom!

Dinner - Copy & Paste Sara's dinner - Done

Sara: "What are you going to make for dinner tonight?"
Kelsey: "I have no idea, you?
Sara: "I'm doing pork."
Kelsey: "That's a good idea."
~End of conversation~
Result? Basically the same dinner.
<--- Asian Pork with salad!
Everyone else had noodles, I had spaghetti squash for my "noodles".
Yum yum yum!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup lite soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame oil
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp light brown sugar
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 1 (2 lb)  fat-trimmed pork tenderloin

Mix 1st 6 ingr, marinate pork for 8 hours (Ya right...didn't marinate at all...) Brown pork in hot pan on all sides. Bake at 400F for 20 mins (ish!) - Bake till internal temp reaches 160 F. Slice it up and enjoy!! Again Yum yum yum!!