~\~…NYC…~/~

November 8, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

Polished off the asparagus from last night to jump start the body with some morning veggies!

Plated: asparagus + eggs with a side of asparagus (thanks honey for the extra dose of asparagus!) and sweet potato hash

I attempted this new hype that everyone is posting about “Bulletproof Coffee!” I don’t have this bulletproof coffee that apparently should be used, so we made a drip coffee using Cafe Du Monde Coffee and Chicory.

I used 20 ounces of water to make one cup – I am still adjusting to caffeine, just the slightest bit of stimulant is enough to get me going. I placed this liquid in the large Nutribullet cup and let it cool. I used the blending attachment and quickly mixed the coffee plus 2 tbsp of coconut oil [the bullet proof craze uses butter – I do not believe in butter being paleo if milk products are not “allowed,” because guess what BUTTER IS A MILK PRODUCT so none of my recipes use butter or ghee]. I prefer to use Nature’s Way EfaGold Coconut Oil as it has a richer coconut flavor when I want this taste. If you want less coconut taste then I would recommend using Spectrum Coconut Oil.

verse

Go easy on the caffeine and coconut oil though – this is not for the individual who drinks multiple cups of coffee a day as you will easily rack up the calories!

enjoy this sunny fall day… and hopefully there will be an evening like this again today,

my happy place: NOMaste.

an ode to squash

November 7, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

Well after this divine meal I learned I am allergic to acorn squash. I fully enjoyed preparing and devouring this dinner, however, I was not pleased by the rash and hives that had spread like wild fire from head to toe. I am sad to say that I will no longer be posting glorious pages like this one: SQUASH! and the one I am about to leave you with…

Stuffed acorn squash (recipe below) paired with sauteed asparagus in olive oil with salt & pepper to taste.

The recipe for the stuffed acorn squash is fairly simple, and is as follows:

Slice 1 large acorn squash in half, remove filling, cook inside facing down toward cooking sheet (coat with tin foil first), cook @ 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until inside is soft. Remove from oven, and let cool. Meanwhile, sautee over medium-high heat (stirring frequently) 1 green pepper that has been diced with 1/4 a white onion that has been diced as well. Use olive oil as the grease. Once this mixture is slightly brown add approximately 1 pound of ground beef (I used 80% lean 20% fat). After the majority of the beef is brown, removed from heat and strain the mixture (over the sink). This will remove excess olive oil and fat that remains. Place the strained mixture back in the pan and add the following herbs & spices (dried & ground): 2 tsp thyme, 2 tsp fennel, 1 tsp rosemary, 1 tsp sage, 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and a dash of paprika. Next you will mix the proceeding together and add in part of the acorn squash filling (I left a thin layer of acorn squash around the skin). Begin mushing the mixture and then pack half of the mixture in each acorn squash. Place the cooking tray with the squash + meat back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes – this will cook the rest of the meat.

Finish off your night with a full body workout:

and then fall asleep…

NOMaste y’all!

treatZzZzzz

November 5, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

The first one I will present is another version of my energy ballZ… Raw Sugar Cookie Dough Bites meet Raw Brownie Batter Bites!

Recipe: in a food processor mix…

1 cup dried dates

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup walnuts

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp maca powder

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa

2 tbsp golden flax meal

2 tbsp chia seeds

(brands of each product I use will soon be posted under the vittles tab – stay tuned).

And, the next to share: DRAGON FRUIT!

Clearly I need to perfect my slicing skillZ. This fruit is very interesting to cut as it is slippery and the skin is rough to cut through. Dragon fruit does not have much taste – slightly sweet, but the flavor is very mild. The skin is very bitter and does not add much taste, perhaps it detracts from the overall flavor. My husband suggested removing more of the pink skin before slicing it into pieces – I agree! I have to watch some youtube videos to teach myself how to make this fruit even more beautiful when prepared; I will get back to you with some tips. I paired this fruit with coconut whipped cream I made.

Finally, I perfected the paleo whipped cream after a failed first attempt with use of the entire can of coconut milk. To prepare this topping I opened 2 cans of coconut milk, scooped out the top layer (this thick mixture is the coconut cream) and left the liquid coconut milk in the can. Instead of wasting the byproduct I poured it into a Fred & Friends silicone ice cube tray and placed it in the freezer. These frozen coconut cubes will be great to pop into a smoothie instead of ice cubes – richer flavor! Back to the coconut whipped cream preparation – after I had removed all of the coconut cream I placed it in the mixing bowl of a Kitchen Aid and added the whisk attachment. I began whisking the cream and poured in 1 tbsp of coconut palm sugar. I skipped the vanilla extract for this batch, but contemplated adding it since I am basically addicted to vanilla flavor. I thought the mixture would need to be whipped for quite some time, however, unlike heavy cream the coconut cream is already thick and just needs a little fluffing up!

Before you sweet on folks get in a quick ab workout after a brisk walk with the baby:

Fitness Blender HIIT Workout for Abs & Obliques (this websites gives you a breakdown of the workout)

and as always:

peace. love. paleo.

weekend recap y’all.

November 3, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

lazy sunday.

Breakfast: sweet potato & pork hash with a poached egg

Made by my wonderful husband (I will have to work on getting the secret recipe ;p ).

Lunch: Frankie’s meatballs, tomato sauce & spaghetti squash

These meatballs are a modification of Frankie Spuntino’s Meatballs (click on link for recipe) – we omitted cheese. Guilty, we used gluten-free bread, next batch I would like to omit that ingredient as well. Thankfully my husband bares with my diet restrictions and kindly adjusts the recipe for himself and I. The tomato sauce is simply whole canned tomatoes strained and cooked on medium heat until thick consistency meets your liking. Refer back to squash post for preparation for spaghetti replacement: spaghetti squash (click on link for cooking instructions).

Dinner: sausage with bacon & apple cider vinegar kale and parsnip fries.

This mild italian sausage was purchased from Wegman’s (their own brand), no additives. The kale was sauteed in bacon grease and topped off with finely chopped bacon of two pieces and apple cider vinegar (add until your taste buds appreciate the flavor, I used about 4 tbsp on my serving). My husband made parsnip fries again, twice fried in avocado oil. This round he made the slices a bit thicker – I thoroughly enjoyed the “meatier” fry compared to the thinner crispy fries. However, I do have to say both are excellent and I highly recommend making this side.

paired with and

Dessert: Paleo Lemon Bars

These yummy treats were made from the recipe on Paleo Cupboard’s website: Paleo Lemon Bars. This is the second recipe I have tried for paleo lemon bars. This recipe produces bars that hold their shape and are firmer, given that tapioca flour is used. However, I do prefer the taste of the lemon filling from the other recipe I have tried – I will share that recipe with you the next time I make them. Maybe I could mix and match recipes… use this crust and the filling of the other recipe! Experimenting in the kitchen will happen!!

Along with this food collection I have some home exercise routines you can do while your baby is awake and not stirring. The Baby Bjorn is a fabulous accessory! Place baby in this pouch and begin… squats, lunges, squat walks, heel raises, tree pose ya-da-ya-da-ya. Followed by a casual stroll, you and your baby will be happy as clams.

happy monday:

peace. love. paleo.

happy belated halloween!

November 3, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

(home decorations, credit to my mom – you’re hired for the christmas prep!)

I’ll open with taking a moment to note that I didn’t eat any halloween candy!! I honestly looked at it a few times and thought about how nice it would be to eat a piece; however, there really wasn’t a “craving” for a piece of chocolate, so I just admired the wrapper. Even days after the candy lingers in the house, I walk past it and try not to even notice it is sitting next to the door. Honestly, after being pregnant I’m surprised at how I have my willpower back to not eat some of that sugar! Instead I’m enjoying eating natural sugars.

Now I’ll skip to the food, we went to Xuan Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant in Leesburg the day after halloween. I had a hard time reviewing the menu with diet restrictions. I was hoping for the curry, but unfortunately coconut milk wasn’t the sole cream. I ordered the lotus root salad with shrimp & pork and crushed peanuts (skipped the crispy onions), topped off with fish sauce. The flavor definitely resembled a vermicelli bowl (considering that I dump fish sauce all over this dish) without the rice noodles — keeping it paleo friendly folks! I had never enjoyed lotus root before, the texture smooth and is crisp/ crunchy – the vegetable did not disappoint!

Read tomorrow for more weekend updates! This week I will stay current with posts, no back tracking!!

peace. love. paleo.

one of those grateful nights.

October 31, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / 1 Comment

This evening my husband and I had the pleasure of dining with Patowmack Farm in Lovettsville. This dining experience was quite unique and to our liking. 🙂

We both enjoyed these snacks & appetizer…

Featured: dehydrated kale with yeast; sliced turnips with dipping seasoning; and root vegetable soup.

The yeast on the kale was absolutely amazing flavor – salty, but divine. We are going to attempt making kale with the dehydrator; we are always looking for new things to dry! The turnips were so crisp, they were honestly not what I was expecting at all. The flavor was so subtle it was refreshing. And, finally, the soup OH MY GOSH!!! This dish was absolutely divine, there were sunflower seeds and bacon vinegar at the bottom – an absolutely wonderful combo, making the flavor so rich.

I enjoyed this entree:

Pictured: pork loin with roasted pumpkin, sweet potato chips, arugula and curried peanuts. Filling, yet, not something that will drag you down and put you into a food coma. Great earthy flavor!

My husband enjoyed this entree:

Photographed: rockfish with grits, greens, fried fish skin – not sure of all the components, but those are the basics I believe.

We both got to enjoy this:

What a great atmosphere. The restaurant is located in a greenhouse that is decorated with lights and other fabulous items. When you walk into the dining area it is an extremely unique and elegant experience. The dining room is very quiet and relaxing; we highly recommend making a reservation! P.S. – You can even keep paleo on your mind while you dine with them!

sleep well everyone:

peace. love. paleo.

6 pack… of ABS.

October 29, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

I’m going to share with you all a fabulous ab workout… short, sweet and sweaty.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mq2IOAEQwk

then

and then

All you need is 25 minutes of your day to get this done!

My new focus is on trying to live each moment; trying not to rush around and freak out about the baby crying [because that’s what babies do] and being sleep deprived at times. These are just facts of my life right now and there is nothing I can do about the situation. I just have to make the most of every moment and enjoy the time with the baby and my husband as much as possible instead of trying to plot how I can make him stop crying faster and get to bed earlier. Slowing down is really helping me appreciate my life and realize how grateful I am to have the life I am living. I recommend stopping the obsessive thinking over certain topics [it is just your anxiety speaking to you] so you can relax and be calm with yourself and the world around you.

Go get your sweat on, destress, and:

peace. love. paleo.

casual saturday.

October 26, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / 1 Comment

After a recent move I have been finishing up some tasks, I wanted to post before going to bed or else i would have to do a double-day tomorrow – not sure how I feel about that yet. This evening we made it to the store by 8pm… thrilling to be shopping at Wegman’s for your saturday night activity. My husband made Mahi-Mahi with lemon juice and sage with a side of potato hash and a simple salad (home-made mustard vinaigrette a top).

with

I followed with an energy ball creation – I have been seeing many posts for these little treats. I thought I would give it a try – I was pleasantly delighted with the end product. I threw some things together, bare with me while I perfect the exact amounts to share with you – all I have right now are approximates. Recipe below —

Raw Sugar Cookie Dough Bites

1 heaping cup of dates

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup shredded reduced fat unsweetened coconut

2 tbsp chia seeds

2 tbsp flax seeds

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp maca powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

*depending on the consistency you can add more dates if your mixture is not sticking together enough or some coconut oil and honey. After blending all ingredients in a food processor roll dough into mini balls and place in the refrigerator until they move from a soft texture to a firmer one. When you bite into these treats you will swear you are eating raw sugar cookie dough!

Seriously is time for bed, hopefully. I will dream about:

peace. love. paleo.

went all out today…

October 23, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

Some days there just isn’t time for breakfast or lunch, it was a brunch kind of a day. With the 30 minutes I had to quickly scramble around and try to accomplish as much as possible before the little one woke up, I chose to eat. I had eggs that should have probably been cooked a little longer, a tad bit too “wet.” I thought to myself, if we eat eggs with a runny yoke I should be safe from the salmonella demon. I gobbled them up with my avocado slices, side of bacon (nitrate free of course) and left over sweet potato slices my husband had made for dinner last night. This was completely satisfying of all the essential fatty acids. My snack to hold me over until dinner was this amazing bar (you have to splurge on the prepackaged items, it’s all about convenience some days):

Another addition to our pantry this week was home-made cashew butter. I enjoy making my own nut butters with the Nutribullet. We purchased the cashews in the large container from Costco last week and could probably make 3-4 jars of this butter. These nut butters have gotten extremely pricey, some selling for over $10-15. There is no way I could rationalize paying that kind of money for a jar of cashew butter when I could make more than one jar for that price. The container from Costco is roughly $15 and you could make 3-4 batches from it, depending on how many cashews you eat before breaking out the Nutribullet. 🙂

Waiting for the little man to wake up before we embark on an afternoon walk, so I will leave you with:

peace. love. paleo.

PUMP IT UP!

October 22, 2014November 19, 2014 / peacel0vepale0 / Leave a comment

A pet peeve of mine is when bloggers post about the previous day, but now I get it – sometimes there just is not time! Yesterday I ran, my pace was a crush to my ego, but I chalked it up to being proud that I actually continuously ran up and down hills towing a baby & a stroller for an hour. Here we go: progress, not perfection. There will be a day when I am back in fighting shape, until then I have to be patient with myself. I have a bunch of songs that I’ll share with you that really let my mind wander and uplift my soul as I exercise. These songs are currently the ones that give me that extra pump to push my out of shape self.

*Taylor Swift: Shake It Off

*Sheppard: Geronimo

*Alesso: Heroes (we could be)

*Avicii: The Days

*Nico & Vinz: Am I Wrong

*Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne : Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne)

*CHVRCHES: The Mother We Share

*The Script: Superheroes

*CHRCHES: Tether

*One Direction: Steal My Girl

*Calvin Harris, John Newman: Blame

*Echosmith: Cool Kids

*MKTO: American Dream

The baby was a bit fussy yesterday, trying to eat was a bit challenging – I will share with you some easy meals that moms can easily prepare.

Breakfast:

Featured is: Bacon – made on the stove top, however, you could make it in the microwave. Poached eggs were made using this handy gadget shown below. This device is placed in the microwave for a minute and voila your eggs are poached – well kind of, but you know what moms that are just trying to get a bite to eat can’t be too picky on how perfect their poached eggs are! Mixed greens with avocado oil and balsamic vinegar – get some acid in your belly to really fire you up for the day. Big ole glass of water to help hydrate, along with a cup of apple & celery juice – made the day before for easy access.

Lunch:

I asked my husband to grab me these the other day on his Costco run after work. I used to eat these all the time when I lived in the dorms at Georgetown University. Take one out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes and place it on top of a mixed greens salad with cucumber, tomatoes and avocado, toss with olive oil and red wine vinegar. At this point you can tell that I probably have heartburn between two doses of vinegar and a crying baby — don’t worry I took my calcium supplement today AKA TUMS.

Dinner:

I was lucky enough to have my husband home for this meal – I have been wanting to try this recipe since I saw it on the Food Network one lazy afternoon. Another recipe courtesy of Anne Burrell {Crispy Herb Crusted Halibut with Curly Celery and Haricots Verts}. Some modifications were made to the recipe, instead of using halibut (my husband searched high and low for this fish and couldn’t find a piece anywhere!) we used mahi-mahi. This type of fish paired very nicely as it is very mild, no fishy taste and is a fluffy light white fish when cooked. Instead of using green beans, formally known as haricots verts, we made parsnip fries. I have recently have had a hard time eating green beans due to their texture, it’s like chalk on a board when I bite into them. The first picture, below, is the preparation of the egg rinse and potato flake & herb dip – we decided to coat the entire fish, not just one side as the recipe calls for. This preparation gave the fish more flavor. Additionally, this photo has the curled celery; I honestly was doubtful that this would actually work, but as you can see it does!!! I sliced the celery the night before with a Mandolin slicer and the next morning I added ice cubes, water and the juice of half a lemon to the plastic container. By the time we were ready to prepare dinner the celery was perfectly curly. The final two photos are the end products of our meal. I left the table feeling satisfied and refreshed; nothing too heavy about this meal, despite frying the parsnip slices in avocado oil instead of baking them in the oven.

Now go cook, listen to music & run as you think about:

peace. love. paleo.