Carrot Souffle

• This tasty recipe comes from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate.
• I am NOT a fan of carrots, but I stumbled upon this recipe and thought I'd give it a shot.  Guess what?  Score!
• 2 lbs baby carrots (organic), 1 quart chicken broth (I made the broth with organic Better Than Bouillon chicken base), 3 eggs, 2 tbsp minced onions, 1/2 cup coconut oil, 1 tbsp coconut flour, 2 tsp lemon juice (I squeezed 1/2 an organic lemon), 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (I used grade B 100% pure maple syrup)
• Cook/boil the carrots on the stove in the broth until the carrots are soft.
• Strain the carrots to get rid of all the broth then puree.  I NINJA'd them.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well.
• The Food Lover's Primal Palate says to cook in a 2 quart souffle dish.  I used 8 6oz souffle/ramekin dishes.  Lightly grease your cookware of choice.  I didn't grease mine b/c I forgot and they turned out just fine.
• Bake uncovered for 45-60 minutes on 350 until center is firm to the touch.  I think I cooked mine almost an hour.

**UPDATED RECIPE 26 Feb 12**

• Use 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter (grass fed if possible) instead of 1/2 cup coconut oil
• Use 2 tbsp lemon juice instead of only 2 tsp lemon juice
• Omit the 1/4 cup maple syrup

This no sweetener added update, in my opinion, made it taste even better!!

Exercise! UGH

• Back in my post My Path to the Primal Lifestyle I ended it with a note that next we have to work on getting more active.
• We converted our old apartment dining table to a standing desk (pictured).  I'm using some of my college text books to bring the monitor up to eye level.  I currently have a fresh brewed cup of Green Tea Chai and always have some dark chocolate around.  I can limit myself to one square; however, I tend to have to hide them from my husband as he likes to eat a row or more.  Current dark chocolate on hand is Theo Organic Fair Trade Cherry & Almond 70% cacao.
• I read an article on Mark's Daily Apple titled The Prison Workout.  As it states, we can appreciate the workout for 1. unlimited time 2. limited space 3. no specialized equipment and 4. lone soldier mentality.
• I have collected a treadmill, Bowflex XTL, weight bench, dumbbells, etc. but I have a hard time mustering up the motivation to tackle the equipment.  I've never been a member of a gym, so not really familiar with the equipment anyway or what to do to work different muscles.
• I definitely enjoyed the article.  I liked that Mark said the burpee "is a full body workout and covers your bases for most muscles.  In fact, you could whip your body into shape by mastering this workout alone."
• SO ... Friday evening I tackled the burpee.  Now, I can't do regular push-ups, so I have to skip that part for now.  I started with a basic burpee: hands to floor near feet, kick feet out into push-up position, jump feet back up to hands, then jump in the air throwing my hands up to try to reach the ceiling.  I did a couple of those then some knee push-ups, rinse and repeat.  I ended the workout with some lunges.
• Let me tell you, as Saturday progressed I noticed more and more body parts aching.  The same today!  I'm sore, but I'm thrilled!  Once I stop aching so bad, my intention is to do this M-W-F.
• On top of that, either on Saturday or Sunday I will get some sprints in.  I have been doing this the past month.  I try to get my dogs to play, but Ozzy (mini Australian Shepherd mix) likes to grab the nearest ball or stick as soon as I get outside with him.  Pepper (wire-hair terrier mix) decides that she wants what Ozzy has so they do their sprints without me.  My cat Rocco on the other hand WILL do sprints with me indoors.  Luckily I have a straight path from one side of the house to the other (pictured - carpet partway & vinyl plank the rest so this is done barefoot or in my Vibrams).  I start on one end with Rocco and sprint to the other side.  He chases me and falls down so I pat him then run back to the other side.  Rinse and repeat.  I stop when I'm out of breath from the sprints and giggling so much.

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

• 1 banana, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• add to blender, pulse til smooth, enjoy!
• super easy and super tasty!

Apple Cinnamon Newbsauce

• I've been making blueberry banana smoothies lately and my friend James requested an apple cinnamon smoothie (updated to reflect what he named it).  Here's what I did for my first attempt.  I have one apple left, so I may update this depending on how I make it next time this week.
• 1 small apple, 1/2 cup So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk, 3 dashes ground cinnamon, 1/4 banana (optional)
• Peel the apple and cut it up to fit in your blender (NINJA!!!), add the rest of the ingredients and pulse til smooth.  That's it!  It filled my container to the 1.5 cup mark.
• It's like I'm drinking apple cinnamon applesauce!

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Livers

• Happy Belated Birthday to my baby brother.  He turned 23 on the 19th.
• This recipe comes from Jan's Sushi Bar blog, click here.
• Jan intended them as appetizers. I plan on eating a couple each morning for breakfast with a medium boiled egg.
• 12 chicken livers, cleaned and cut in half (mine came in big hunks so I cut them to a bunch of tiny pieces)
  12 slices thick-cut bacon
  1/4 cup BBQ sauce
  Preheat the oven to 350F.
  Slice the bacon slices in half, and wrap on half around each piece of chicken liver. Secure with a toothpick.
  Line a shallow, rimmed baking sheet with foil and place the bacon-wrapped on it, bout an inch apart. Lightly brush with about half of the barbecue sauce.
  Bake for about 20 minutes or until the chicken livers are just cooked through and the bacon is becoming crisp, turning the livers and basting them with the remaining barbecue sauce about halfway through.
  Remove from the oven, arrange neatly on a platter and serve immediately.
  
  Jan's serves 12.  I got 23 before giving a couple bites to the dogs.

Western Style BBQ Burger Crumble

• Thanks to my good friend James for coming up with the name for this dish :)
• 1.4 lbs of grass fed ground beef from a local farm, 1.25 yellow onions, 1 bunch of green onions (didn't use that whole dish as that was 2 bunches), 5 strips of bacon (I'd make it 6-8 but 5 was all I had left), BBQ sauce, and an egg per serving
• Cook bacon to desired doneness then saute the yellow onions and add the green onions when the yellow are almost done.
• Cook the ground beef. Add some BBQ sauce.  I don't measure it so not sure how much I used. I just poor a little in and do a taste test.  I like it where there's a hint of the BBQ but not overpowered by it.
• Dice the bacon and add it plus the onions to the ground beef.  Let simmer on low stirring occasionally while you fry your eggs then enjoy :)
• This made 1 dinner plate for me plus 3 more servings I packed up for later.

Stuffed Pork Chops

• This recipe is modified/simplified from the one posted on CFSCC presents: Eat This!  I was never a fan of pork chops … until now!  Before I’d have to douse them in apple sauce or mac & cheese in order to consume.
• 1 apple, 1 yellow onion, 4 strips of bacon, and 4 thick cut boneless pork chops
• Cook & dice the bacon, dice the apple, dice and sauté the onion in the bacon fat.  Once the onions are sautéed add the diced apple for a couple minutes until apple bits start to soften.  Add the diced bacon, stir and shut off heat.
• Cook the pork chops about 4-5 minutes each side on medium-low heat, stuff with apple/bacon/onion stuffing, and cook in oven on 350 for 20-25.  We use toothpicks to close the pork chops and help prevent leakage.  Top the cooked pork chops with the rest of the stuffing after briefly re-heating and enjoy your possibly newfound love of pork chops!
• Also works with lamb chops.  Both pork chops and lamb chops are pictured.

Sautéed Sauerkraut with Sausage & Zucchini

• This recipe was found in Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals.  We used ½ lb of sausage (more than pictured), 1 zucchini (less than pictured), 1 red bell pepper, and 3 cups of sauerkraut.  Sauté the sausage over medium heat until browned and heated through (we just cooked the sausage in the pan which left plenty of fat to sauté the zucchini and red bell pepper in).  Add the zucchini and red bell pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes.  Add the sauerkraut and sauté until heated.  That’s it!  We diced up and split a tomato with a little sea salt as the side. 

Steak Fajitas ... revisited

* I LOVE when we have steak fajitas which we had tonight.  I posted the recipe in a previous blog (click here), but didn't post any pictures.  Revisiting this recipe and adding the pictures.  If you're like me, I can't just read a recipe and think "YUM" I need to see the yumminess.  We did cook it a little different.  Tonight we used 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper, 1 onion, 1 tomato, 4 stalks of green onions, 2 tbsp ghee (est) and 1 tbsp minced garlic (est) and a 1.32lb cut of flank steak.  The size of the cut we get varies, so we add more veggies accordingly.  Dice the steak into small cubes while raw.  Mix the cubes with the ghee and minced garlic then cook until browned.  Add the sautéed veggies and cook briefly basically to just mix the flavors together.  We top ours with salsa.  This usually provides us with dinner for one day and lunch for one day.

Slow Cooked Chicken & Chicken Soup

• Slow cooked chicken:  Before we left for work we put the frozen whole chicken in the slow cooker, added some seasoning, set on low and left.  It cooked on low from about 7am until 530ish pm.  Remove the chicken and enjoy with your favorite vegetable sides.  We ate the drumsticks and thighs for dinner with some broccolini sautéed in ghee with a spoonful of minced garlic (sautee about 10 minutes).  The breast is saved for the chicken soup.
• Chicken soup:  Pour the juices from the slow cooker into a large pot.  Chop up your choice of veggies.  We used 1 onion, 8 stalks of green onions, 5 carrots, and 8 leaves of kale.  Put them in the pot along with the chopped up chicken breast.  We then fill our pot until about an inch or so from the top and add organic chicken broth to taste along with some parsley flakes, sea salt, pepper, and garlic.  Let simmer on low heat for about an hour stirring occasionally.  Usually provides us with lunch for two days and dinner for one day.
• Added a pic of the soup. Forgot to take one when we first made the soup, so, this is the last bowl.  Lifted a spoonful so you could see the sparse goodies.  Not sure why the picture is sideways, not sure how to flip it, sorry!

Side Note

• Will post later on the slow cooked chicken and chicken soup ... just wanted to stop in to send a Happy Birthday to a dear friend.  Code name: Theth

Lunch - Cranberry & Kale Chicken Salad

• So … we forgot to put the chicken in the slow cooker this morning and now we won’t have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.  Solution:  10oz can of white & dark chicken, 1 stalk of green onion, 3 stalks of kale, and a handful of dried cranberries.  
• Sautéed the chopped up kale in some ghee with a little sea salt and pepper for about 5 minutes then added the diced green onions and continued to sauté for another 2 minutes.  Mixed the sautéed kale and green onions and handful of dried cranberries with about ½ a can or so of the chicken.  
• To go along with the salad, I sautéed some chopped up broccolini in ghee and a spoonful of minced garlic for about 10 minutes.  Also added a side of blueberries and raspberries.  Serves 1.  Hubby will have ... something ...

Weekend Recipe Tryouts

• Happy Birthday to an old friend.  Code name: Teddy.
• Weekends are usually pretty calm in the kitchen.  This weekend however we seemed to spend a lot of time cooking.  Hubby and I had seen some pretty tasty recipes this week and couldn’t wait until shopping day to buy the ingredients.
• Saturday was the Pizza Chili Recipe from Food Renegade.  We used 1 lb grass fed ground beef, ½ lb chicken livers, 6 stalks green onions, 2 smallish yellow onions, 6 slices of bacon, 1 packet of Applegate pepperoni, 1 clove of garlic, 1 quart Earth Fare marinara, 1 quart water, pepper, mushrooms, and pineapple.  We split all the ingredients except the mushrooms and pineapple and cooked in two batches.  My husband’s had the mushrooms and pineapple.  Results: YUMMY!
• Sunday we invited a friend over.  We like to cook primal meals to show them how tasty eating primal can be.  Tonight’s menu: Steak Fajitas and cheesecake with blueberries! 
• Steak Fajitas:  We used 1 flank steak, 1 large red bell pepper, 1 large green bell pepper, 1 ½ yellow onions, 6 stalks of green onions, 1 tomato, 1 clove minced garlic, 2 tbsp ghee and salsa.  I sliced and diced all the veggies while hubby worked on the steak.  He mixed the garlic and ghee together and used it to coat both sides of the steak.  Cook until about medium rare, shut off stove and cut (always cut flank steak across the grain) into bite sized pieces.  Next sauté the yellow onions in your choice of fat.  When they start to clear add the peppers.  Cook for about 5 minutes and add the green onions and tomatoes.  Cook for about another 2 minutes then add the steak.  Then cook until steak is at your desired doneness (for us that’s about 2 more minutes).  We serve ours with our favorite Newman’s Own salsa.  Results: always YUMMY!
• Cheesecake:  We tried the Crustless Primal Cheesecake from The Primalist.  We pretty much following the recipe to a T except for lining the sides with parchment paper.  Results:  Just OK.  Didn’t like the lemon flavor.  Might try orange next time.

My Path to the Primal Lifestyle

• Ailments: I have suffered from daily headaches and periodic migraines since the 6^th grade.  I have been to Neurologists who have done many, many tests and found nothing.  Their solution is to medicate me which I am against.  I have no energy.  I struggled through staying awake in my college courses regardless of how interesting and engaging they were.  I have a hard time watching movies even in the theater because I will doze off.  I have joint pain in my legs and hips.  I would love to run.  Not marathons, but 5ks; however, I usually am in a lot of pain the next day if I do any running.  I get night cramps in my calves which sometimes leave bruises.  I have anxiety, mostly social anxiety, which triggers hot flashes that cause me to severely blush.  I have been picked on so much about it that I tend to avoid social situations.  I have digestion problems, always feeling bloated and gassy by noon.  My husband is the same in that regard.  We’re known for our bathroom sessions (hey, we got a lot of reading in …).  I can’t miss meals or I get shaky, nauseous and headaches.  I don’t sleep well. Sleeping on my back I lose feeling in my limbs, on my sides the same thing plus it feels like my chest is being crushed, and on my stomach I get a bad crick in my neck.  I almost always wake up with a bad headache which luckily reduces after a shower and breakfast.
• My husband and I had been complaining about putting on some weight for quite a while.  We’re not drinkers, so we referred to our beer bellies as WoW bellies (WoW for World of Warcraft).  We bought a basic weight bench, some dumbbells, a pull-up bar that goes in a doorway, and some resistance band door contraption.  We’d be good for a couple days to a week then slack off.  In September 2010 we signed up for a Fitness Bootcamp.  Twice a week for an hour the personal trainer would work us relentlessly.  We followed his meal plan suggestions on eating 5-6 times a day.  My husband and I both gained a pound or two after the camp which was attributed to muscle gain.  Body fat percentages remained unchanged.  We felt no different afterwards, but tried to keep up the exercising.  Of course, we slacked off.
• My husband’s dream is to build a straw-bale or similar type house.  He believes in doing things naturally being green when we can.  He’s always reading articles on the Internet about everything.  In part of his search to relieve my headaches and be healthy he stumbled across Mark’s Daily Apple.  I am pretty open-minded with my husband’s ideas, so I agreed to try the primal diet for at least 30 days.  Over the next couple of months we worked on only buying primal groceries and using up the non-primal food.  As of January 1, 2011 we went 100% with the primal diet.  We do have occasional cheats, but they are pretty spaced out.
• Since going Primal I have seen a reduction in my headaches.  My daily headaches aren’t always daily and they are less intense.  My migraines are more spaced out.  I lost 15 lbs and my husband lost 22 lbs.  Our digestion problems are practically gone.
• We are going to stay on the Primal diet and work on making it a Primal Lifestyle.  Next is working on getting more active.

About Me

• I am the in-house tax accountant for a local holding company that deals mostly in real estate development.  I have been there since January 2006.  I graduated college in May 2007 with B.S. in Accounting.  Depending on where my path leads me, I would love to get my Masters and sit for the CPA exam.
• I am a gamer.  I run a level 25 guild in World of Warcraft.  I actually met my husband through the game.  We have been happily married since February 2009.  He is my best friend and soul mate.
• I love animals.  My husband and I adopted a cat named Rocco, a mini Aussie named Ozzy, and a wirehair terrier named Pepper.  Pets bring so much joy to our family offering so much entertainment.
• Other interests include playing the piano and flute, doing anything arts and crafts related, and reading.