Crock Pot Pork Loin

Ready for another super easy meal??? I really can't call this a recipe because there was no measuring, no thought, and no specific ingredients. You can really use any spices and veggies you like.

I have recently declared a new rule when it comes to food. ANYTHING left over in the fridge that is perishable (and honestly we don't have much that isn't perishable) will be tossed out on Sunday - even if it has not perished. This ensures that items don't get shoved to the back of the fridge where they can rot and this new rule causes me to be extremely precise in what I buy. I tend to be an impulse buyer and it's nice to be gaining some "control" over it! All of that to say that this recipe is a by product of me making sure I make the most out of my food and money - and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork loin (will have plenty left over for breakfast and lunch!)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• left over bag of frozen okra (approx 1/2 lb) (feel free to use fresh!)
• Basil, Salt, and Pepper

Instructions:

1. Pull out your awesome crock pot and toss the chopped onion in
2. Season pork with basil, salt, and pepper and add to crock pot
3. Add chopped tomatoes, tomato sauce, chopped zucchini and okra
4. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours

Now, this picture doesn't make the dish very appetizing, but trust me when I say it was wonderful! I even had it for lunch the next day, and breakfast the following day.

Cinnamon Muffins

Need a tasty breakfast that you can grab and go?? Try these Cinnamon Muffins!!!

Ingredients:
Muffin Mixture -

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1 Tbsp coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Cinnamon Topping:

• 2 Tbsp raw honey
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil 

Instructions:
Muffins:

1. Combine flours, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl
2. In a large bowl blend oil, honey, eggs and vanilla
3. Blend dry ingredients into wet ingredients and scoop 1/4 cup at a time into lined muffin cups - they will rise!
4. Spoon cinnamon topping (below) onto muffins
5. Bake muffins for 8-12 minutes at 350 degrees

 Cinnamon topping:

1. Melt coconut oil
2. Combine honey, cinnamon and melted coconut oil in a small bowl. Set aside until muffins are ready to be topped

*Not sure where my picture of this one is....I'll keep looking.

Pecan Salmon

I think my favorite fish to cook at home is salmon. It tastes awesome, it's really hard to mess up, and it doesn't take much time to cook! I had some pecan crumbs in the bottom of my nut container so I decided to use them for a nice crunch on the salmon. I think it ended up being restaurant worthy! I served the salmon with roasted green beans and a side salad.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb salmon
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• crushed pecans
• rosemary
• sea salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Melt coconut oil and grease a clear baking pan with it
3. Lay salmon skin-side-down and sprinkle with pecans, sea salt and rosemary. Use as much or as little as you'd like!
4. Bake in oven for 15-18 minutes or until fish is flaky

See, wasn't that EASY?!?!

Beef Jerky

Here is the recipe that I used for the beef jerky that I made for Tribal Wars. The flavor was subtle, which I purposefully did because I didn't want to make it too spicy since I was sharing. The next time around I will definitely kick up the heat.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs beef (I used flank steak)
• 2/3 cup coconut aminos
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp sesame oil

Instructions:

1. Place meat in freezer for a few minutes - this will help you slice it thin. Meanwhile combine remaining ingredients.
2. Slice meat thin and marinade the meat in fridge for about 6 hours
3. Rinse slices and place on dehydrator trays to cook over night or around 8 hours

Apple Chips

I can't remember if I have mentioned this or not - but I finally purchased a dehydrator!!! It took me a while to convince myself I needed one, but I am so glad that I went ahead and got it! I ordered it off Amazon and it was pretty cheap. It's not the nicest one they have but it gets the job done EVERY time. Since it arrived, I have been making lots of jerky and apple chips! This recipe for the apple chips produced the best apple chips that I have tried! I got the idea to boil them first from Marks Daily Apple - I loved that the cinnamon was cooked right in to the chip and not sprinkled on top.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened apple juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 large apples

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, add apple juice and cinnamon stick and bring to a boil
2. Meanwhile, remove the top and bottom of the apples and thinly slice them. Remove the seeds from the individual slices
3. Place apple slices into boiling juice and let boil for approx 6 minutes, or until the become almost translucent. Remove with a spatula and pat dry
4. On a baking sheet lined with a cooling rack, bake the apple slices for about 40 minutes in a 250 degree oven
5. At this point they should still be a little wet and flimsy. If they are dried and crisp then stop here! You got lucky.
6. My chips were still soggy so I put them in the dehydrator for about 2 hours. You want to watch them so they don't get too brittle and burned

Pepita Clusters

Wow. It's been a while! I have not posted anything in a week! That seems so crazy to me - I can hardly believe it. I love posting on this blog. I know it's nothing fancy but it is surprisingly a nice little outlet for me, especially because I try not to post my food on facebook, anymore. I love food.
Last week was kind of crazy! It took me a few days to recover from Tribal Wars, which was the most amazing event I have ever participated in. If we are friends on facebook, I am sure you have seen all the pictures. I won't bore you with the crossfit details (since I know you are here for the food) BUT I did hit a few PR's (Personal Records) that day! The most exciting of them was my first Pistol!!!! A pistol is a one-legged squat. You have to squat below parallel on one leg, and your other foot/let can't touch the ground. This is extremely difficult to do! But it did it!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I made a lot of treats for the big day. My favorites were the Pepita Clusters and Apple Chips. The Clusters were truly like a dessert! Here is the recipe for the Clusters:

Ingredients:

• 1 lime, juiced and zested
• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups raw Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. In a medium sauce pan, heat the lime juice, lime zest, coconut oil and maple syrup over medium high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium and let the mixture cook for approx 6 minutes. Then remove from heat
3. Stir in pepitas and then spread seed mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for approx 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. You will want to stir the mixture every few minutes to ensure they don't burn
4. Allow the seeds to cool until you can handle them. Form the seeds into small clusters, then roll them in the shredded coconut.
5. Consume and become addicted

I will update with a picture once I get on the computer that hold my pictures! Meanwhile, enjoy/laugh at me and my Pistol!

Fruit Roll Ups

Tomorrow there is an event hosted by IronTribe called TribalWars that I will be competing in. Each team consists of 4 people and there are THIRTY FOUR teams competing! That is 136 people!!!! All the teams are extremely competitive and there has been a lot of smack talk going around! Every one is really serious about it. I even had t-shirts made (a lot of teams are also!) that has our team name, Wall Ballers, on the front, our individual nick names on the back, and on the sleeve it says 'ITF Tribal Wars 2012'. We are bringing our A game and are pumped to compete! The event begins tomorrow morning at 8:00 and is scheduled to end at 12. Each team will compete in 3 different WODs that will really test our skills and push us to our limit! I will be taking tons of pictures and will update everyone with a post next week. This is the second annual TribalWars and it is going to be amazing.
I am so excited that I literally could not sleep last night, and I have a feeling I won't be able to sleep tonight either.
This week I have been busy making treats for my team (and Adam's team too!). On the menu: fruit roll-ups, apple chips, beef jerky, pepita clusters, and pumpkin donuts (I will post the other recipe's next week, too) I will also be stocked with dark chocolate espresso beans, trail mix, Lara Bars, raw veggies, hard boiled eggs, and beer for afterwards! Here is the recipe I used from dkgetsfit.com for the fruit roll ups. They turned out pretty good and they have a little spice to them which adds a nice dimension. Next time I am going to try a peach and mango combination! The options are endless for these delicious snacks!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups frozen strawberries
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Puree fruit in blender until liquefied. Add sea salt, honey, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Blend until well combined
2. Line 2 cookie sheets with tin foil, then line the foil with plastic wrap. Using a few pieces of tape, tape down the sides of the plastic wrap to the foil. I know this sounds crazy but trust me on this step
3. Pour approx 2 cups of fruit mixture on to each cookie sheet and tilt/shake it until evenly distributed
4. On the lowest setting possible for your oven, dehydrate the fruit for approx 10-12 hours. My oven was set to about 140 degrees. I left my oven unattended for a few hours and everything was fine, so don't worry. 
5. Once the fruit is no longer sticky to the touch remove from oven and (after removing the tape) roll the leather and then cut into individual servings. I then used some butcher's twine to tie each piece.

Maple Walnut Chicken

This is a recipe I got off paleoplan.com. The walnuts were amazing and was practically a dessert on the chicken!

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

1. Combine olive oil, thyme, sea salt, and pepper. Rub chicken with mixture and let stand
2. In a large non stick skillet over medium low heat, toast walnuts for approx 6 minutes. Be careful not to burn them.
3. Transfer walnuts to a dish, and turn heat up to medium under the hot skillet
4. Add chicken to skillet and cook until done and no longer pink, approx 12 minutes
5. Transfer chicken to clean plate and add vinegar to hot skillet and cook for approx 1 minute
6. Add maple syrup and water to skillet. Let simmer for 6-7 minutes until slightly thickened. Stir in walnuts and let the remaining liquid cook out. Top chicken with sticky walnuts.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake Bites

Last weekend was Adam's birthday and we had a lot of our friends get together at Avondale Brewery to celebrate. It was a day spent with good friends, drinking good beer, eating crawfish......and BABY BITES! If you haven't had a Baby Bite before, well you are missing out. There is a bakery in Homewood, Pastry Arts, that makes bite sized cakes and they are delicious! I bought a few dozen of them to have as treats for everyone that came to party with us and I am pretty sure I ate more than my share. I wish I was joking and I wish that I had been strong enough to say no to them. But I wasn't and I am not ashamed to admit that I enjoyed every single one.! The only good thing the Baby Bites might have done for me is it got me thinking that I should make a Paleo version-ish! I've made plenty of Paleo cookies, cakes, and brownies so I knew that making bite sized cakes was possible! I decided to make a banana chocolate chip version because I have made banana chocolate chip bread before...and well, I had bananas that were really ripe and chocolate chips. Do yourself a favor and make these. They would be yummy for brunch, too! Next week I'm going to make a double chocolate chip cake bite to take to a dinner party!

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe bananas, mashed. Think brown spots.
• 2 Tbsp almond butter
• 1 Tbsp apple butter. Ingredient check!
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups almond flour (will make approx 12)



Happy Birthday!

• 1/4 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. In a large mixing bowl add mashed bananas, almond butter, apple butter, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Combine well.
3. Once combined, add in almond flour and combine. Then add chocolate chips and incorporate into batter
4. Using a medium ice cream scoop so they are all the same size, scoop batter onto a baking sheet that is lined with parchment paper. 
5. Bake for approx 18 minutes or until the tops are golden. Let cool for a few minutes before you try to remove them from the baking sheet as they are soft.

*I used Kime's Cider Mill brand of apple butter that I found at Whole Foods. It is pretty cheap and is also really good on paleo pancakes and other paleo baked goods!

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

The only soup that I have made a Paleo version of is chili. This chili is hands-down the best chili I have ever had, so naturally when I am in a 'soup mood' I go for the chili. However, I have been thinking of attempting to make a different soup. I thought a lot about a soup that I really liked and that was hearty enough (read lots of meat and veggies) in it's non-paleo form to be a main dish. I decided to give Gumbo a whirl. I had no idea where to begin as I had never actually made gumbo before so I searched through some different recipes and ultimately modified a recipe that was posted on threedietsonedinner.blogspot.com.  I had a little left over chicken from a meal earlier in the week (plus some in the freezer) and I paired that with sausage. It turned out wonderful and Adam even asked if there was plenty for him to have seconds AND take some to work for lunch! Success!

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1 package chicken sausage
• 2 tsp paprika
• dash of cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1 poblano pepper, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (12 oz) package frozen okra
• 8 cups clam stock - you can find this at publix
• 1 tsp coconut aminos
• 1/2 Tbsp hot sauce of choice - or more if you like it spicier
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• sea salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions:

1. Stir together paprika, cayenne, sea salt and pepper (to taste). Sprinkle over chicken and rub it in!
2. Heat 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and sausage and cook until almost done. Remove from heat
3. Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp coconut oil in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add the onions, poblano pepper, bell pepper, celery salt and an extra pinch of sea salt. Cook (stir often) until the veggies are tender. Add the garlic and continue to heat until garlic is fragrant
4. Add the clam stock, dried thyme, bay leaves and the chicken and sausage. Bring soup to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pot and reduce to low heat and allow to simmer approx 30 minutes. Be sure at this point the chicken has finished cooking all the way through
5. Add coconut aminos, worcestershire, and hot sauce. Cover and allow to simmer a while longer. I let mine go for another 30 minutes or so or until the liquid reduced by a couple cups
6. At this point, add the okra - and simmer more until okra is heated through. 
7. Remove bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.
8. Eat up.