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.