What’s for Dinner?

I’m really excited about what we’re having for dinner and can guarantee it’s going to taste phenomenal, so I thought I’d share with the recipes of what we’re having. 

Buffalo wings in a “peanut sauce”

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 lbs chicken wings
• 2 Tbs almond butter
• 1/4 cup hot pepper sauce (with no added sugar or preservatives; may use 2 Tbs tomato paste and an additional 2 Tbs of olive oil as a milder alternative)
• 1 – 2 Tbs coconut aminos (tastes like soy sauce)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp sea salt (optional)

Cantaloupe and Avocado Salad with Honey-Lime Dressing. 

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread wings out evenly. Bake for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, soften almond butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally.
• When soft, stir in hot pepper sauce, coconut aminos, olive oil, and sea salt (if desired). If sauce gets too thick, add a bit of hot water.
• After 20 minutes of cooking, remove wings from oven. Turn and brush each wing with sauce. Return to oven for 10 more minutes.
• Turn each wing, baste with sauce, and return to oven for 10 additional minutes (or until completely cooked).
• Turn over and baste with sauce.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs fresh lime juice
• 4 tsp raw honey
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
• 1 cantaloupe (3 lbs), quartered and seeded
• 1 avocado
• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, honey, oil and sea salt; set aside.
2. Cut each cantaloupe quarter in half lengthwise.  Run a knife between the flesh and the skin of the melon, discard skin.  Slice each wedge lengthwise into 1/2″ pieces.
3. Cut each avocado in quarters length-wise and then into 1/2″ thick slices. Add cantaloupe, avocado, and grape tomatoes to bowl with dressing and toss to coat.

recipes borrowed from paleoplan.com

I hope you all enjoy!

So Crossfit… What’s the Deal?

I’m not sure how familiar you all are with Crossfit.  It’s a pretty new concept to me and I am just learning the basics, but let me tell yah… it is one killer work out!!  I am loving every minute of it.  It incorporates so much movement, cardio, lifting, and works all your muscles.  So one important concept I’m learning is that I really need to stay on top of my nutrition.  

I read this quote once and it said “Fitness is 20% exercise and 80% nutrition” and I agree completely.  You can work out as much as possible, but unless you’re one of the few “gifted” out there who seem to be able to eat whatever they want you aren’t going to see results unless you really pay attention to what you put in your body.  Ask any crossfitter, and they will tell you the same thing.  I’ve learned that the best route is the Paleo Diet.  It’s all about being natural, organic and getting back to our routes.  I also believe this kind of lifestyle is more popular amongst crossfitters due to the fact that a majority of them is men, and the diet let’s you eat as much meat as possible.  They don’t have to count calories, consume only salads, and worry about counting grams of proteins, fats, and carbs.  It’s hard enough just making it through a work out with out all the nonsense of counting every morsel of food.  One thing I can tell you as well from personal experience is the more crossfit you’re going to do the more food you’re going to need!!  Eating is so important and counting calories is not the way to do it.  Feed your body with protein, the right kinds of carbs from fruits and vegetables, and the right kinds of fats from nuts, seeds and oils.  The results are amazing and definitely worth it.  

Breakfast!!

Since it is so very early in the morning (5:15am), and all this talk about food is making me think of one thing… BREAKFAST!!  I love breakfast.  It makes me excited to get out of bed in the morning and cook some great food to get my day started.  A good breakfast usually leads to a very productive day, so I’m going to share some of my favorite breakfast recipes with you.

The first is my all time favorite Green Smoothie!

Ingredients

• 1 apple
• 1 pear
• 3 strawberries
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 2 Tbs flax seeds
• 6 large kale leaves (take out woody stems), or 2 handfuls of spinach
• juice of 1 small lemon
• 1 cup water

Instructions

1. Quarter apple, pear, and strawberries, remove stems and seeds and put in blender.
2. Add remaining ingredients to blender and puree. Add more water if needed.

Add fresh fruit, cucumbers, slivered almonds, coconut, fresh herbs or different dark leafy greens for tasty variations on this recipe.

(recipe modified and borrowed from http://www.paleoplan.com/2012/03-01/green-smoothie/)

 

And what’s more perfect to along with a green smoothie than an all natural omelet.  My personal favorite is chicken and avocado.

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb chicken, diced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
• sea salt (optional)
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 4 eggs, beaten

Instructions

1. Chop chicken and cook over medium heat until done. Set aside.
2. Toss tomato, avocado, and cilantro together in a small bowl. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
3. Beat eggs in a separate small bowl.
4. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add coconut oil when hot.
5. Pour half of the eggs into the hot skillet, tilting the pan gently to cover the bottom with egg. Tilt pan and lift edges of omelet to allow uncooked egg to spread to the hot part of the pan.
6. When eggs are almost fully firm, add chicken pieces onto one half of the egg.
7. Fold omelet in half and cook for a minute more.
8. Top with tomato and avocado mixture.
9. Repeat for second omelet.

(Recipe modified and borrowed from http://www.paleoplan.com/2010/01-13/shrimp-avocado-omelet/)

I hope you enjoy your mornings as much as I do!

The Paleo Diet

I am such a big believer in the Paleo Diet, or rather lifestyle.  It’s all about getting back to our roots.  Incorporating the foods in to our life that our ancestors survived on, and not eating all that processed junk that is causing millions to experience wretched health problems.  Obesity is becoming all too common in society, and we need to wonder why now.  What is so different that we are doing now that our ancestors weren’t doing back then.  Well it’s all about our diet.  Obviously, I’m not telling you to go out and kill your own chickens, but instead mimic the foods as best as possible.  When looking for chicken at the grocery store don’t go for the bags of frozen chicken that have been sitting there for who knows how long, but rather go for the free-range, organic, steroid and antibiotic free chicken.  It might be a bit more expensive now, but in the long run you’re going to be thanking me!

So what exactly is the Paleo Diet?  Well its very focused on staying away from anything that is processed.  That includes refined grains. Like I mentioned earlier our ancestors didn’t have the milling process and grains weren’t stripped of their essential nutrients.  You should also consider cutting out all the dairy foods.  Cows were kept as a form of milk and we did not have cheese and yogurt.  The only time we should be consuming any dairy is when we are first born.  Once we grow up then that needs to be excluded from our diet.  Did you know we are the only species on this planet who consumes milk from another species.  Think about it!

So what should we be eating on the paleo diet?  Well for starters consume a lot of different varieties of meat.  This doesn’t mean going to the deli section and grabbing all the pre-sliced sandwich meats, but looking at different cuts of steaks, chicken, seafood and even pork.  But get the kind that is going to contain the slimmest amount of fat.  Remember not to cut out all fat though.  It’s surprising how many people don’t realize how good fat is for our body.  Even a little bit of saturated fats can be beneficial if consumed in the right moderation.  Also stock up on the fruits and veggies.  These beautiful foods can be consumed as often as you want.  You’re not going to gain weight from eating too many fruits and vegetables, in fact, your body is probably going to thank you!  I always hear people say, but what about all the sugar in fruit?  It’s natural sugars.  It’s made from the earth.  This isn’t the chemically processed sugars that you find in candy, chips, and sodas.  You’ll be fine to eat it, and eat as much of it as you want.  Along with meats, fresh fruits and veggies, you should also include nuts and seeds, and healthy oils such as olive oil, flaxseed, avocado, and coconut oil.

One of the most important things to think about is the whole idea of eating!!  Even though its called a “diet”, you are NOT dieting.  There is no deprivation, no starving, no counting calories, and no worrying about over eating.  This is all about a lifestyle change.  Food is amazing and delicious and we should never limit ourselves to what we eat, but rather we should choose to eat whole, real, natural and fresh foods.

Where did we go wrong?

If you really sit down and think about where our food has come from, it’s amazing to see where it has gone.  What are we eating nowadays?  Is is actual food, or is it all chemically processed junk made from labs?  Our ancestors did not eat chemically processed foods.  It wasn’t even something thought about, so why are we eating it today?  Well as human beings we strive to make everything easier for ourselves.  Example A – the Industrial Revolution.  With the advancements of machinery we can pat ourselves on the back for making lives easier, but we’ve done it at an extreme cost to the health of our bodies.  We’ve refined grains so much that they have no value to our health.  They’ve been completely stripped of all their nutrient value due to the milling and refining process.  (Taken from http://www.grainstorm.com/pages/modern-wheat)

The picture above shows what our ancestors started with and what the Industrial Revolution led us to.  To make a long story short, eat whole natural grains.  Not refined milled stuff that comes in a white flour consistency.  Our bodies are meant to thrive on the good stuff.  Some great examples of healthy whole grains to include in your diet are:

• spelt
• kamut
• brown rice
• bran cereal
• oatmeal
• whole grains

All of the whole grains mentioned above contain lots of iron, fiber, and other vital minerals and nutrients that are body needs.  Next time you plan on eating any grains, consider substituting these into your diet.