So I haven't been keeping up with this whole blog thing too well, needless to say it's a whole lot of work, and quite frankly being a blogger seems like it would be a full time job if you took it seriously, constantly updating and creating new recipes and projects WHEW! it's a ton of work.

I only have one 1 year old, and let me tell you the two do not go hand-in-hand. Whilst trying to go to the gym, keep the house clean, paint, work on my garden and create new recipes, I have pretty much ZERO time to do this, so if I only get up a couple recipes or projects a month, I'll consider it a SUCCESS!

Props out to you stay-at-home moms who have turned this into a business of sorts, because it can't be done by me, and my tenacious turd, who is on constant over-drive lately- darting through the house at lightening speed and taking anything and everything down with him most of the time.

I feel like I just chase him around and around picking up this, that and the other only for him to throw it all back down and smash a fig Newton into it. You never know what you're going to find on any given day, in a crack or crevice of my home as baby Cal has taken a liking to hiding things around the house, including food some times. He's a little pack-rat just like his dad-GOD IT'S GENETIC :(

Anyway, I've been making some pretty tasty stuff lately, that unfortunately I have yet to take any pictures of.

This week I made:

Black Bean Protein Bars with Carob chip frosting
Coconut Chicken Curry
Paleo Pumpkin-Carrot bread-Super good!
Cherry- Almond protein bars
Protein packed Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip-Balls to the walls awesome!!!
Banana Millet Mug Muffin- My new favorite thing is single serving muffins in a mug, you can try a new muffin recipe everyday without making a ton of them and being disappointed that you now have a dozen nasty muffins.

The prize winner this week though was the Carne Asada Pork Tacos- with grilled corn, cilantro rice, homemade guac and mango salsa. This came out pretty awesome and needless to say, I think it was the tastiest thing I've not only made in awhile but eaten lately, period!

I'll put the recipe up but I'll have to post a picture next time I make it because I wasn't really thinking too much about taking pictures while trying to man the hot grill and garden as baby Cal rolled around in dirt and then proceeded to eat it as he seems to think that everything is food lately.

Carne Asada Pork with Cilantro Rice and Grilled Corn

Ingredients:

1 lb Pork butt or any pork or steak you find on sale
5 Corn Cobs
1/2 cup Brown Jasmine Rice (my favorite but can use any kind of rice)
1 Can Black Beans-No salt added
Chicken broth
1 Orange
1 Avocado
2 tomatoes
1 red onion
2 Green Scallions
1 Lime
1/2 Mango
Cilantro
Fresh Garlic
Corn tortillas

Pork Marinade:

2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/4 C Vinegar
2 Tbs Agave Nectar
1/2 Orange Juice
1/2 Lime Juice
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Chile Powder
1/2 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
dash Coriander
dash Salt
Jalapeno-if you like some spice
2 or 3 fresh bulbs garlic chopped

Pour all these ingredients in a plastic bag with your pork and marinade overnight or first thing in the morning.

Cilantro Rice

In a rice cooker pour 1/2 cup Brown Jasmine Rice with 2 cups of chicken stock, a bunch of chopped cilantro, 1 1/2 tsp Cumin, 1/2 tsp chile powder, 1/2 tsp paprika,  dash coriander, 1 tsp garlic powder, and juice of half a lime. Cook until fluffy and delicious

Grilled Corn

The first time I grilled corn I put a bunch of seasoning on them and HATED IT! you couldn't even taster the corn, so this time I just brushed them down with some olive oil, wrapped them in foil and on the grill they went for 15-20 minutes. Voila! perfect delicious sweet corn, cooked to perfection. I'll never season it again.

To finish this I made some simple Guac and Salsa

Guac-

1 Avocado
1/2 Red onion
1/2 Lime juice
1 Green Scallion
Bunch Cilantro
Salt
Garlic Powder to taste

Chop up veggies and mash it all up and done, muy bueno!

Mango Salsa:

1/2 Mango cubed
2 small Roma tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 Green scallion
Bunch Cilantro
Salt to taste
Garlic Powder
1/2 Orange juiced

Chop up veggies and mix together with lime and orange juice

I threw the marinaded pork on the barbie for 15-20 minutes and glazed leftover marinade on it as I cooked meat, sliced  meat fajita style and served with cilantro rice,  black beans, guac, pico, all over a grilled corn tortilla , with delicious grilled corn on the side. I thought about cutting the corn cobs down but I love eating corn on the cob so opted to leave it alone. Healthy, super flavorful, and incredibly tasty. This meal was muy muy bueno, and I will be making it again that's FO SHO!

This was plenty for 3 people as I made the leftovers for lunch the next day , but hubby isn't the heartiest eater come dinner time, can someone say too much CHINESE BUFFET! naughty boy.

So it's been pouring outside for the last 4 hours non-stop, and I'm starting to get a little cabin-fever if you know what I mean. South Carolina weather is generally pretty mild, but with a lot of rain. This week being one of the most miserable in awhile. It has been raining most of the day since last Saturday, so I'm about done with the rain for now.

I'm from Arizona where it never rains except for  two months out of the year (monsoon season) which is hot, and muggy as he**, even more so than South Carolina in August.

I guess I can't really complain about the weather here- for the most part it's pretty nice, June-about middle of September is a little rough (hot, humid), but the evening summer showers break up the hot temperatures, and the rest of the time it's great weather, winters included.

So a little off topic but I decided to make a couple of treats this morning since Sunday is my off day from the gym typically.

This morning  I was feeling the need for cookies for some reason so I opted for something that was similar to a muffin in ingredients, so I wouldn't feel like such a terrible mother for making cookies for breakfast for baby Cal. I'm calling this concoction, pumpkin spiced coconut bites, but shhh... don't tell hubby coconut is in his breakfast cookies because he will revolt!

Oh yeah and I'll post another recipe I made yesterday morning for my lemony, poppy seed, blueberry pancakes-these came out pretty good, and were tasteorific, if I do say so myself.

Pumpkin Spiced Coconut Bites
Ingredients:

1 Cup of flour of choice ( I blended, 1/2 a cup oat flour, 1/4 cup coconut flour, 2 tbsp almond flour, 1 tbs garbanzo four), and it gives me a variety of nutrients, and I think holds together much better than any one of these flours by themselves. If you're ever bored you can try blending alternate flours to see what combo you prefer.
1Tbsp Flax Meal
1/2 Cup 100% pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp BP
1/2tsp BS
1Tbsp Coconut oil
Dash of Salt
1/4 Cup Coconut sugar
1 tsp pumpkin spice blend
1 tsp vanilla or maple extract
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flake
1/2 cup nut butter ( I used almond butter)
1/3 cup raisins, apricots or cranberries, or choc chips if you like
1/4 cup walnuts for topping

I also added a few drops of Stevia for a little extra sweetness, you could add more sugar or different sweetener if you like as well, I like the coconut sugar personally in baking.

 Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper before beginning.
2. Pour all the dry ingredients in a bowl and stir together, add pumpkin puree, nut butter, vanilla, egg, yogurt, coconut oil together and stir until blended together nicely, if it's still to thick as some flours seem to take differently to wet ingredients than others, you can add a little more yogurt if you like, to get the right texture. Texture should be like cookie dough.
3. Add in whatever fruit or chocolate chips that you like and mix until all ingredients are blended together.
4.Take a cookie scoop and place small balls on parchment paper about an inch apart, these cookies stay form so you can put them closer together if you'd like to get all on one sheet.

5. Top with walnuts and bake in oven for 15 minutes.

ENJOY!

Recipe makes  about 16-18 cookies-I was being kind of naughty this morning so I drizzled a little agave on them fresh out of the oven , and they were totally amazing!.

Gluten-Free foods make you fat, WHAT?

Super good morning I suppose, got my Body Jam on , and even though we're learning a new routine and I was mostly just jumping around incoherently for an hour, it's always a blast when Jesse teaches class. He's like the best instructor in the world, every class I take with him makes so much more sense, and I always get a way better workout. I am incredibly rhythmically challenged and if you can get me on beat and actually dance without falling down, you deserve a freaking gold medal-so I tip my hat to you good sir.

Any who I thought I'd post a picture of the best breakfast ever, I have a new love in my life, his name is Pearl-Pearl Barley, and he goes fantastically with my trifecta of goodness, fruit, nut butter, and honey.

This was my first time using a non-instant Barley, and let me tell you it was amazing. The texture was fantastic (a little firmer is how I prefer them, not mushy) and I cooked them with almond milk and cinnamon and they were so creamy and delicious. I don't know where you get your barley but I found this kind at our local Asian grocer.

 I like getting a lot of my grains at the Asian Grocer, they seem to be better quality products, and are often much cheaper than Whole Foods or other health food retailers. Whole Foods is WAY too expensive in my opinion and I try and buy as few of things from there as possible, but in a small town like ours, there's limited options for more exotic ingredients. My husbands an engineer not a Dr. here people.

You have to grimace a little when you go to Whole Foods and see overweight people walking around with a cart full of DIET foods, that cost a fortune and aren't going to help them lose any weight. Do yourself a favor and go get some spinach and boneless, skinless chicken breast at Walmart, because your gluten-free batter dipped chicken strips aren't going to do the trick guys.

I was watching the news last night and they were talking about the gluten-free rage going around the country right now and how people aren't losing weight on these foods. What I don't think people seem to understand about a gluten-free lifestyle is that, it's not about swapping one crappy starch for another. Rice flour, corn flour, it's not better for you than wheat. It's better if your gluten intolerant, but it's not nutritionally better.

 Living a gluten-free lifestyle is more about eating more fresh fruits and veggies, lean proteins, like BSCB, fish,  lean beef, and pork-it's about integrating nutritionally superior grains, like Quinoa, Brown Rice, Millet, etc. You can have carbs in my opinion, they just have to be the right ones, and cookies made from rice flour versus regular flour aren't healthier.

 I don't think it's rocket science that you won't lose weight eating diet cookies and rice flour fried chicken, but it seems I'm wrong because I see these over-weight people carting their gluten free chocolate chip cookies around the store all time. Get a clue people! Anyway, away from my rant,
 here's my recipe for delicious not quite oats, barley and fruit.

Not quite Oats, Barley and Fresh Fruit

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Pearled Barley (or Barley of your liking)
1 Cup Almond Milk (or Milk or your liking)
1/2 Cup Water
1 tsp cinnamon
Dash of salt

Directions: Simmer almond milk, water and Barley on medium heat until boiling, add tsp of cinnamon, dash of salt, and stir. Cover pan and cook for 15 minutes or to your textural liking. Stir periodically so it doesn't all stick to the bottom of the pan.

I like mine a little firmer and it was ready at about 15 minutes, you can cook longer if you like yours a little softer. Serve with nut butter, fresh fruit, dried fruit, unsweetened coconut flakes and honey or maple syrup, ENJOY!

P.S Oh yeah and just in case you didn't know Barley is NOT a gluten-free food, so if you're gluten-intolerant Barley would NOT be a good choice for you. 

Barley's a great source of fiber, selenium, and a good source of phosphorus, copper and manganese. It helps you POOP ! which is why I like this grain so much.So if you aren't gluten-intolerant I think Barley is a beneficial grain to add to your diet on occasion`.

Intense body-a little too intense

So I decided to try a new class this morning at the gym-intense body is what they call it, and intense it was-WHOLLY FRIJOLES was it ever. Don't get me wrong I enjoy a challenge and I'm kind of excited I discovered this little gem of a workout, but I can understand now why the class was a little bleak in terms of attendance. Every class I ever take in the morning is jam packed, and this crowd was a little thinned out. It was a little bit of everything, abs, arms, legs and then the suicides were under tow. Yes the instructor uttered the word "suicides" and my miserable days in gym classes and softball practices of later years all came back to me like a ton of bricks. Oh spite you suicides, I thought I was done with you for good, well oh how WRONG I was.

I immersed myself in the workout, not trying to think too much about what I was doing, but just doing what she told me to do. Back and forth, back and forth she told me, then lunges across the gym, and jump roping, and this and that...WHEW! listening to her was almost as exhausting as the workout, but I made it through, and am on a serious endorphin rush now that I'm at home-not to mention the cup of complimentary coffee I had after my workout. One of my other new favorite things, COFFEE!! UGH you just had to be complimentary at the gym and now I'm hooked. I drink like three cups of this stuff a day. Never drank coffee in my life and now it's a daily ritual for me. Try and see what happens if you take my coffee away from me, I'll cut a b**ch if she takes my coffee from me, trust me.

 Any who I'll get back to painting the kitchen, since it's a mess right now-another project that I decided to take on despite my lack of awareness that painting is a huge pain in the booty! I don't know how I get myself into these things, but I guess when you're impulsive like me, everything seems like a good idea at the moment. Toodles :)

Oh how I love breakfast

Oh breakfast how I love thee, let me count the ways. 1. Breakfast is oh so tasty, and there are oh so many combinations of tastiness 2. It revs up my energy level and gives me the boost I need in the morning to go to the gym. 3. Did I mention these things called waffles and pancakes? I'm totally OBSESSED!!!

It's funny, growing up I never really gave too much thought to breakfast. Most of the time I'd eat a bowl of incredibly unhealthy cereal or grab one of those delicious breakfast cookies (pop tarts) that are about the worst thing a human being can put in their mouth. (Oh yeah if you get a chance read a book called Salt, Sugar, Fat by Michael Moss, great read!) Any who this last year I discovered my love of breakfast. I think I could eat breakfast food 3 times a day, but I guess I have other food groups that I have to some how integrate into my diet. It all started with plain Greek yogurt and the many delicious toppings that you topple on it. I was watching Dr.Oz one day like many of us home-makers. Apparently, it's like in the housewife handbook that you must watch Dr.Oz, so I decided to check this elusive Dr. Oz out for myself. Who knew some of the stuff he has to say actually makes some sense.

So one day Dr. Oz tells me you should eat plain Greek yogurt-no sugar added, just plain. Well ugh! I don't really like the taste of sour cream all by itself personally, but Dr. Oz says I need to eat plain Greek yogurt, so I have to figure out how this is going to work for me. Then one day BLAMMO! I put some sun-butter on top, fresh berries, and a little honey, and I was hooked. Every morning like a junkie looking for his fix, I was piling in my Greek yogurt, but by about the second week of devout plain Greek yogurt eating I got bored again. So what next Dr. Oz? I asked the T.V screen. Well then Dr. Oz tells me eat whole grain oats it aids in digestion, and I think to myself genius right? how did I never think of this elusive grain OATMEAL! But I hate oatmeal I thought, it doesn't taste like anything-then it all came full circle, and I followed the same trifecta of wonderful fruity, nutty goodness that had been applied to plain Greek yogurt. Nut-butter, fruit, and honey. Oooh baby was I in hog heaven now. Then I tried buckwheat, and barley, quinoa, and my most favoritist of all STEEL CUT OATS!!! Apparently the trifecta works on any grain known to man kind. Heck, I think you could put nut-butter on grass and I'd eat it. So I kept thinking to myself what else could the trifecta be applied to, hmmm... As it turns out waffles and pancakes are also a wonderful vehicle for my mounds of nut butter, fruit and honey. But how do I make them healthier? I thought to myself. Tell me Dr.Oz, you wizardly man, how do I make my pancakes and waffles healthier? Then BLAMMO again! Coconut flour, almond flour, garbanzo flour, apparently the answers were right in front of me all along, I just needed Dr. Oz to tell me what to do. Before I knew it I was watching every afternoon, I cut out all gluten and as much refined sugar as humanly possible, while still making my breakfast dreams of pancakes and waffles come true.

3o lbs later and pooping like a champ now, I have this totally unexpected new take on life. I feel so fantastic for once, like I can finally grab life by the balls just a little bit, which I have never felt before. I have become a bit of a gym rat, taking classes everyday, sometimes twice a day, and I can run for like 40 min in a row, CRAZY RIGHT! who knew. I'm always going to be an eater, I love food, it's wonderful, and I've accepted I'll never be a size two as long as I like food. But I've learned to work around a few things, and I've found that I can eat more better stuff, exercise and feel full and satiated without starving. Trust me I shovel it in and still maintain somehow, and I owe it to this combination of gluten-free, paleo-style eating. This stuff works and even though I cheat once a week and have a hotdog, or burger and fries, I can still manage it, so anyone looking for a change without eating rabbit food, and starving, check out paleo and clean eating, it's AWESOME!!!b Oh and I'll be posting some of my favorite breakfast recipes soon!

Today is my first post yay!

Hi all, today is my first post and I'm so excited to officially be a blogger! YAY! even if no one but my hubby reads my blog. Yeah, so the whole starting a blog experience was an interesting one. I decided to try downloading and inserting an outside template from another free website at first, which went horribly awry as I'm not too web friendly and had no idea what the heck I was doing. Menu bars were all over the place, it was horrible and ugly, which I'm obsessed with cuteness, so that was not working for me at all. Little did I know, you can just use a simple pre-made template in blogger and still customize it just enough to show a touch of your own style. Hubby looked at me like I was seriously a little slow, when I told him I was dunzo with this stupid blog thing, as I couldn't get a simple coherent format on the page. Granted I'm not computer savvy I'll admit, but wholly potatoes it was not that hard after all, and I feel terribly silly for getting so frustrated with this darn blog.

Made a chocolate cake today