Crock Pot Chicken!

I honestly cannot remember where I got this recipe from...I think I mashed it all together from either Everyday Paleo or another fantastic and one of my favorite Paleo blogs, Nom Nom Paleo. I'm pretty sure its from Nom Nom Paleo and then when she used something I couldn't find or buy, I flipped over to the tried and true Everyday Paleo and prolly took some stuff from there and mashed it in together to make this wonderful Crock Pot chicken...

Here is what you will need!!!

Small chicken, between 4-5 lbs. Make sure you keep in mind how big your crock pot is!!

2 white onions

1 tsp seasalt

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp poultry seasoning
                         OR
1/2 tsp dill
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tarragon
1 bay leaf

1 tsp garlic powder!

Here is what you do!!

Take those onions and peel them and then cut them up, pretty thick. Then unwrap your chicken, wash it off a little and then pat it dry with some paper towels. Make sure you don't forget to take the bag of "stuff"  out from inside the bird. That would be bad.

While the bird is drying off, mix all the spices together well.

Then take those spices and really rub them into the bird...everywhere!

Then take the chunks of onion that you previously cut and throw them in the crock pot. I even stuffed a few of those onions where the bag of "stuff" previously was...but that is up to you!

Then place the bird in the pot on top of the onions.

Turn on the crock pot on low. I cooked mine for about 5 1/2 hours. And it came out wonderful.

Enjoy and if you make it, make sure you let me know how it turned out!!!

Jerky...

Hello my dear friends!!! I feel so sorry that I have been away from the blog. I didn't feel right posting this week because after The Soldier left, I was very non-Paleo and threw myself a pity party. I thought I was over that and it seemed as if I was not. Now my shorts are tighter and I am kicking myself in the rear end.

BUT!!! The Soldier should be home in about 7 hours and he gets to stay for like three days instead of 1 1/2! Yea for us! And he always kinda gets me back into the game.

But first! I have a ton of wonderful blogs that I follow. Sometimes one or two of those awesome blogs will have links to some pre-made Paleo snacks that always sound wonderful. And I am always willing  to give some of those snacks a try. I know that The Soldier isn't eating 100% wonderfully while he is in Soldierland. So I decided to try out some pre-made, pre-packaged snacks that he could open on the go and be satisfied.

I don't know about you, but I love me some jerky. And I am very lucky to have found Sophia's Survival Food. You guys gotta try this stuff out. It is fantastic jerky. There are three different "seasonings": original (loved it!), mild (amazing! just a tiny little bite) and spicy (I cannot handle spicy food...not at all but this stuff has a good bite but it is fantastic!!).

As you can read on Sophia's page, she explains, in detail, how the jerky is made including how she finds the grass feed meat, how she makes it and her own personal journey within the Paleo world. It is very inspiring and a great site to read and keep up with!

On top of it all, her prices are so minimal that you don't feel bad about buying five or six bags of these meaty treats. And to make matters even better, Sophia happens to be a super nice person with wonderful customer service practices. Each time I have made an order, I get a personalized little note back with encouragement on not only my Paleo journey but my blog as well.

I'll be trying out other snacks in the near future, but so far, I have to say that these jerky chews are top notch. Give em a try and you can tell her Laura from Fattkidgonepaleo sent you!!!

Happy snacking!!

P.P.P!!!

Or...as my mom used to say, Pretty Pretty Princess (when referring to me, of course!),

But no, this isn't about my royalty. This post is about Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes!!

I used to hate anything having to do with pumpkin except the seeds. I would buy pumpkin after pumpkin only to roast the seeds! But when The Soldier and I decided to go on this Paleo kick...we realized that pumpkin can make anything bland, better! And anything that we USED to eat, edible!

Here is what you need!

pinch of baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 Tbsp of pumpkin pie spice

                                               OR!!!
(make your own pumpkin pie spice:
     1/2 tsp cinnamon
     1/2 tsp nutmeg
     1/4 tsp ground clove)

1/2 C almond flour

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 C pumpkin puree

1 Tbsp raw, organic honey

2 eggs

Here is what you do!

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix it up.

Combine all the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix it up.

Toss the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and mix that up very well. Then let it sit for about 3 minutes.

Then spray your skillet with some Pam or Coconut Oil Spray (my new love!!). I also put a tiny bit of coconut oil in the skillet as well cause I am still a fat kid!

Take a 1/3 C measuring cup and dump it into the hot skillet.

These are going to be darker, thicker and more orange than normal pancakes, so don't be alarmed. You will also need to watch these as they cook very fast!!

I also needed some greens with my dinner/breakfast. So I pulled out some wonderful bacon and a bag of baby spinach.

I cut the bacon into pieces.

Then I cooked it for a bit.

Once it got more crispy and cooked, I threw in the whole bag of baby spinach.

I stirred it around and watched it wilt.

Once the spinach was all pretty much wilted, I removed from the heat. It makes enough for a good serving for your dinner as well as plenty enough for breakfast tomorrow!

I also served this with the awesome fruit salad I made the other day.

While my pancakes were sliiiiiightly burned, they were fantastic, especially topped with some more raw organic honey.

I most certainly enjoyed my dinner!!!

Happy eating!!

Blurg blurg...

I was going to post the recipe for the awesome pumpkin pancakes that I made last night...but!!

I have been known to be a big time beer drinker. Used to be just Coors Light but then I moved to an area where really good beer was available. I fell in love big time! And thus...the weight.

On Sunday and Monday nights, I had fantastic sleep. Therefore had amazing days on Monday and Tuesday, perfect with awesome clean eating as well as some really good workouts.

So last night when The Bruins won their hockey game against the Howell hated Tampa Bay "Thunderboltz" I decided, "What the heck? I can have a couple of beers, no big thang!"

WRONG

I woke up this morning feeling like I hadn't slept. I had a HORRIBLE headache. My whole body hurt even though I ate great recovery foods last night. I actually went BACK to 'sleep' after I initially woke up just because I felt THAT bad.

And this is coming from a girl who can drink beer and drink a lot of people under the table, so to speak. I had 6 beers. SIX!

And not only did my body hate me cause of that choice that I made last night, but I woke up in a foul mood, with no motivation and pretty down on myself.

So...if I needed any further proof that clean eating and great sleep works to make life happy and full of energy...I got it today.

I'll be going to bed early tonight because I need some good sleep and I can't wait for feeling better tomorrow!!!

Whoa

Just a really quick little nugget.

Two days without any sort of alcohol.
Two days of fantastic sleep without the aid of any meds, alcohol
Two days of complete clean eating (and really good food no less).

I ran my mile straight through today...only hating life at the VERY end.

Whoa.
Just whoa.

I'm off to make pumpkin pancakes now, cause I have left over pumpkin puree and all the other ingredients needed. If I like em...I'll post the recipe laterz!!!

Snacks

Last night I tried sleep hypnosis (no, I'm totally serious!) and it worked!! I was so tired after the first five minutes of the hypnosis that I just did one mp3 and slept soundly for 9 hours. And I woke up like a champ, ready for the day.

There were a couple of things I needed to do today since the roast took up most of my day yesterday. The comforters on the king bed needed to be taken to the dry cleaners, as I usually do that once every six months, splitting the 6 months in between the two. I also somehow, broke the charger for my phone and it was on low so I needed to visit the AT&T store for a new charger. And as I ferociously cleaned the house this morning, I noticed that I was pretty much out of cleaning supplies and the black flies that love my kitchen were all over an avocado finger print on the pantry. Desperate need for bacteria and germ killing agents was eating me up.

So off I went into the cloudy day that was threatening (and killed) my mile run this afternoon. While in the AT&T store I perused new phones as The Soldier took my upgrade earlier in the year when I broke his phone. I found the phone I want and shall obtain it in June. Then I flew into the nearby Publix.

I love my Pooler Publix. Great produce from organic places and they have a section, albeit small, of grass fed meats. But I went in there for cleaning supplies (and a Diet Coke). I came out with tons of cleaning stuff and some Brussels sprouts, okra and a ton of fruit (oh and bacon!!).

I love okra. And before 2011, I only liked it fried. But, once again, Everyday Paleo had a recipe for it. And...it's a great side to a protein packed dinner or just a midday snack and it's very easy. I do know that it is hard for some people in the Western part of the US to find okra and for that, I am sorry. So here is a recipe for baked okra!!

Here is what you need!!

1lb of okra

1 to 1 1/2 Tbsp avocado oil (I know, I know...it's expensive. So use virgin olive oil!!)

Sea salt

Here is what you do!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Take the okra and cut the tops and bottoms off of the okra.

Throw the cut off tops and bottoms of the okra in the trash. Then cut the okra into 1/2 inch pieces, bite size if you will.

Throw those in a bowl and then take the oil of your choice and pour that over the okra pieces. Get your hands all oily by making sure that the oil is coating all the pieces of okra.
Then toss the oily pieces of okra on a baking sheet.

Spread them out and then shake some sea salt over them.

Put em in the oven!
I cook them for about 25 minutes, popping them out halfway and kind of stirring them around.  Once they are done, they should be a little crunchy and slightly brown.

Sometimes I make a lot of these because it is way too easy to eat an entire pound of okra in one sitting.

I also picked up some amazing fruit while at the Publix.

I cut the apples up and diced em.

Took the apricots and cut them into a billion pieces.
Washed and cut the stems off of the strawberries.
Washed the raspberries.
And threw all of the above on top of some already washed and separated pomegranate seeds (my favorite!!!).

I know that people who are super Paleo say to watch your fruit intake...but the hardest part of Paleo for me has been the elimination of sugar. So this is the perfect thing for me when my sweet tooth attacks (and it does)! The soldier likes to drizzle some balsamic over his fruit. I do, too but I like fruit and just fruit!!

Happy snacking my friends!!!

Okra from  Everyday Paleo; Crispy Okra

Roasting Coffee...on beef.

So, like I mentioned earlier, The Soldier had to drive back to Soldierland today and every time that he leaves I like to throw a pity party. Sometimes they last a month? Sometimes a day and sometimes just an hour or two. And I really don’t have an excuse for throwing a pity party today because he is coming back next weekend.

So after I said goodbye to him, I planned on jumping right back into my pjs and crawling in bed with a book…but not before I checked my favorite websites; facebook, Perezand of course Everyday Paleo.

When the cookbook came out, I thought for sure that Everyday Paleo would be cutting back on posting recipes because the book is full of wonderful different recipes. But having one of the top selling cookbooks out in the world hasn’t hindered Everyday Paleofrom bringing more and more food ideas to the web and Paleo fanatics like yours truly.

I checked it today and she had a recipe for a Smoky Roast. I like roasts. I love that I throw a few things together, dump it in the crock pot and then forget about it for 8 hours.  We don’t have a grill so I have missed the smoky taste on my foods and Everyday Paleohad a recipe for it.

Now….TRUST ME. When I saw the ingredients for the rub, I kind of wanted to puke and never eat again. But Everyday Paleohas never wronged me. Never.  By the fifth hour, my mouth was literally watering and the hours started going by sooo slowly because the smell was torturing me!!!

Oh…and it tastes amazing. I’ve never tasted anything like it. It’s great. TRUST ME:

Here is what you need!

2 Tbsp coffee grounds

½ tsp of chipotle (I cannot for the life of me find ground chipotle…so I used a fajita spice instead)

1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder

¼ tsp cinnamon

½ Tbsp garlic powder

1 Tbsp oregano

1 Tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

½ Tbsp coconut oil (I assume that you can use olive oil)

2.5lb beef chuck roast

1 red onion, halved and sliced

¾ C water

Here is what you do!

Combine all the spices together really well. Get your roast out and really rub the spice onto both of the sides. Like really get it in there. Make sure the roast is totally covered. Then heat up the coconut oil in the skillet. You want to make sure it is very hot because if you throw the roast in the skillet when it’s not that hot, I hear you can lose all the spice. You want to scorch it on both sides and I did for three minutes each side.

While the roast is cooking, throw the onion slices in the crockpot. As soon as you’ve finished cooking the “crust” on the roast, chuck that roast in the crockpot. Put it on low and forget about it for about 8 hours.

It’s so fantastic. You won’t even know what to do with yourself.

I ate this with a food processor concoction….I threw three avocados, 3 roma tomatoes, 4 cloves of garlic, some lemon juice and some avocado oil in the food processor. Then I also put in a small jar of green salsa. Then I gladly and gleefully turned on my processor. And that little concoction was super good. I read about doing something like this in the Everyday Paleo cookbook but I added a couple of things. Even some of the roast with the green mixture was really good.

(I know that it looks gross....its fantastic, though!!)

Enjoy my friends!! And if you do make this for dindin or something else please let me know how it goes!!!

Again, for good measure, I got the recipe from Everyday Paleo

Punn-i-can Muffins

I hate the closing of a weekend. Especially weekends when The Soldier comes home. The hours just go by very fast. 
I did a big time fridge cleaning on Friday. There was some stuff in there that was funky and old. By the time I had finished, I felt horrible about what I wasted. I need to be more acocuntable for the veggies and fruit that I buy. And I get depressed when the only thing in my fridge is an onion.
The Soldier got home pretty late on Friday night and his only request was beer. Seems like this whole Soldier business he is doing for these two months is pretty taxing. Early to rise, late to bed and he isn't thrilled to be eating at the DFAC (Dining Facility, for all you civvies out there). He tries to eat as Paleo as he can but without spices and seeing exactly how things are cooked, its proving to be harder than he would like. Last weekend he came home to watch the dogs while I galavanted in PIttsburgh for my Kung Fu Cousins wedding and I cooked a crap load of awesome food for him to eat while he was home. He appreciated it big time, so I wanted to make sure he ate well this weekend, too.
But, I was also coming down with a cold and pretty tired from my beginning workouts this week. So I did head over to the Pooler Walmart (I really on go there for two reasons; 1: they have The Two Crazies food and no one else in Pooler seems to stock it and #2: they are the first store who puts out the gossip magazines I hoard on the day they are supposed to be out, unlike the other grocery stores where they wait until Tuesday.) and thought that I would pick up some stuff...but Walmart on a Friday night (i know, I know...) kinda sucks. They were out of everything and their produce looked horrible. So I just picked up doggie food and booze.
I knew that I wanted to make The Soldier the Sweet Potato salad that I made and posted about earlier. And going through some other websites, found some recipes that I want to perfect this next week while he is gone and then serve them to him when he gets back on Friday (hello? Paleo Pad Thai? Yeah!!!). I also had been kinda craving some sweet something...so I went back to my tried and true recipe for Pumpkin Muffins. Found that recipe in The Primal Blueprint Cookbook (not my favorite cookbook, though...but I let it hang around cause of this Pumpkin stuff.
They are awesome. You should try them. They are crazy good.

Here is what you need:

1/2 C Coconut flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/2 C pumpkin puree
6 eggs
4 TBSP coconut oil (melted)
1/3 C raw honey
1tsp vanilla
***optional***
1/4 C chopped walnuts (i haven't put these in the muffins yet...)
3/4 C  semi sweet chocolate chips (I use these often in the muffins...super delish)

Here's what you need to do!

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Sift coconut flour, baking soda, salt and all the spices in a small bowl. Mix it well and then put it off to the side for a bit.

Put the pumpkin puree in a big bowl. One by one, crack the ehhs into the bowl, mixing well after every egg is put in there. Then add the coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Mix that very well.

Add the flower mixture and blend well with a whisk until most of the flower globs are broken. This would now be the time to throw in your optional ingredients like the nuts or choc chips (if you haven't already eaten the whole bag).

Spray your muffin tins with some Pam (or I have fallen victim to Coconut Oil Spray). Fill your muffin tray(s) about 2/3rds full.

Shove em in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes or do the old trick your momma taught you and take a toothpick and stick it in what you think might be a done muffin. If it comes out clean, those muffins are dunzo. You might have to try the toothpick trick a couple of times if you use the chocolate chips because, well, see, they melt and if you pierce one of those gooey things with the toothpick...its gonna look like the muffins aren't finished.

I used two giant cupcake pans and I found that my muffins were perfecto after 25 minutes.

Mine always seem to come out perfectly moist and just perfect for a snack or even breakfast.

And currently, I have a 3.5lb beef roast in the slow cooker. That big ole hunk of beef is rubbed with all sorts of stuff that kinda made me vomit in my mouth when I read that I needed to blend them all together...but everytime I think to myself, Man!! This is gonna be terrible! It ends up being the best thing ever. And let me tell you right now...the fact that I still have two more hours before I can open that slow cooker is KILLING me cause it smells FANTASTIC.

If it works out well, I'll post the recipe or you can just go over to Everyday Paleo and read about it there.

It was sad to see The Soldier go this afternoon. We drank lotsa beer and giggled and I do believe that after our non-sober conversation last night, I could fly a helicopter. But he will be back next week.

Tomorrow, I am going to do the mile. No matter how I do it, I'm going to do it and time it so that I can have a goal. I haven't decided if I'll post it on here or not...just like I was going to weigh myself tomorrow to set a standard, but if I'm going to be noshing on some beef roast tonight, way past when Im supposed to stop eating, then maybe not.

Hope everyone had a good weekend! I shall finish my Sunday doing the following: drooling until the raost is finished, yelling at The Two Crazies, reading a book on the hauntings of good ole Savannah, and watching the Lifetime Movie Event of the Amanda Knox trial and switching the stations between Lifetime and CBS as I am not caught up on this season of Survivor and tonights should be fantastic. Here's to hoping I get a good nights sleep tonight as well!!!