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!