All Things Coconut

When looking through budgeting tips, I found that its cost-effective to make your own almond milk, meal, butter etc....I never thought I could apply this to coconut! Coconut flour is pricey and I was pitying myself for not having a store that sells it here. But guess what! I made my own! And a delicious by product from it was sweet coconut milk. I also realized that I could make coconut butter. Here's how its done ;)

Printable Recipe

Coconut Flour & Milk

Soak 1 cup of dried coconut flakes (unsweetened!) in 4 cups of water for at least 4 hours. You can soak longer if you like. Give the flakes a spin in the blender after they soak. Strain through a nut milk bag keeping the liquid. The liquid is the delicious coconut milk! Keep the coconut milk in a container in the fridge. The pulp that is left in the nut milk bag is your coconut flour. Spread the coconut flour on a cookie sheet and bake in the oven for an hour at 200F. When its finished baking, put it into the food processor and spin until it is a fine powder. That's it!

Coconut Butter
For this you will need shredded coconut, not the desiccated kind used above^^. You can find this in the bulk aisle of whole foods, central market, etc. Process the shredded coconut in a blender or food processor until it forms into a butter! Voila!

Nutrition Notes: The benefits of coconuts are endless! They have vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are great for immune health due to their antimicrobial properties. Consuming coconut products can help with various skin conditions, give you fuller hair, and improve bone health! They only thing to worry about with coconut overconsumption is the carbohydrates, and that's only if you are concerned with weight loss.

Upper Body Workout

Equipment: Pull-up bar, TRX bands; my TRX bands are homemade from lashing straps, PVC pipe and grip tape they cost me about $15 and took around an hour to make. The hardest part is tying the knot. Here is a great tutorial. He links his together, I just hang mine from my pull-up bar.

Warm-Up: 5 burpees, 15 crunches repeat 3x

Warm-down with a light 5 min jog or a long walk. I walk for an hour/3 miles every morning.

Remember you can modify everything as needed! Can't do a pull-up? Try the first one, and then use a chair, do jump pull-ups or do negative pull-ups where you start from the top and lower yourself down. Pull-ups take time to master, so don't be discouraged! To modify pushups you can do "girl" push-ups on your knees, or put your hands on a bench to make them easier. To make them harder put your feet on the bench, or in the straps of the TRX bands(these are killer!) For inverted rows plant your feet and hold onto the TRX bands facing forward. Lean back, adjusting the angle of your lean will change the difficulty of the row. Using your back and arm muscles pull yourself forward like you are rowing a boat. Lower yourself back to the starting position for 1 rep. Complete as many rounds as possible in 12 minutes. Feel free to post the number of rounds you made it through!!

EZ Eats: Taco Pile-On

Tacos are a huge tradition in our family and we have a family recipe that we love! Sadly it has flour in it :( It can easily be omitted, but it is not quite as savory. Here are the seasonings I used:

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef
1tbs cumin
1tbs garlic
1tbs cayenne pepper

Cook all ingredients on a skillet on the stove until meat is cooked through. Serve over a bed of lettuce with any veggie you can think of. We had tomatoes, bellpeppers, jalepenos, mushrooms and a side of avocado. Don't forget your cauli-rice!

Bullet Proof Coffee

This coffee is uber popular in the Paleo community. I only stumbled upon it recently on Instagram. People are pretty vague about telling you what's in it, but I did some research and found its super easy to make! All you need is coffee, butter, and coconut oil.

Brew your coffee and then blend in 1tbs of grass-fed butter and 1 tbs coconut oil. This is an incredible energy boost! Caffeine combined with long lasting fat energy. Coconut oil has a whole resume of health benefits and grass-fed butter has a great healthy fat profile.

I should mention that ghee will work great instead of butter...sadly no one sells it in this small town. 

Tired Workout

We were incredibly lucky to find a giant tire in the field behind our house. Someone had dumped it there. I ran past it a few times before I decided it needed to come home with us. I laugh at the memory of E and I rolling it through the neighborhood back to our house. Some of my students live in the neighborhood and asked me funny questions about it the next day. I'm not sure what we'll do with it when we eventually move because I'm already pretty attached ;)

Warm-Up: 7 squat jumps, 3 perfect push-ups, 20 crunches, repeat 3 times.

Warm-down: Walk around the block and stretch!

Workout Tips:

• Land softly when doing box jumps and bend your knees.
• Pump your knee into the air when doing step-ups and alternate legs.
• Our tire is incredibly heavy, so I was only able to do 1 flip per round. Adjust the number of reps based on your ability. If you do not have a tire, find something else that is heavy and lift it up!
• Aim for 4 rounds, but if you're exhausted after 3, throw in the towel and set a goal for next time.

EZ Eats: Beef and Broccoli

This is one of my favorite meals at Chinese buffets, but those are a thing of the past for us these days. I cringe to think what additives they put in the food.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2lbs Beef top-round steak, cut into strips
2 cups broccoli
2 tbs minced garlic
1 tbs soy sauce
2 tsp ginger
1 tbs coconut oil



Add the coconut oil to a skillet until hot. Add in the broccoli and soy sauce. Cook for 5-10 minutes to soften. Add in the beef and spices and cook until no red is showing in the beef. Serve with a side of cauli-rice! We had cauli-rice last night so I roasted an acorn squash for E.

EZ Eats: Bomb A Salad

This is E's favorite salad ever. He named it Bomb A$$ salad in honor of all its amazingness. Its so simple to make that I feel silly blogging about it! All you need are sliced strawberries, blueberries, mixed greens lettuce, avocado and your favorite dressing. We love the dressing pictured from Whole Foods. It has wholesome ingredients and no sneaky additives. I also like to make a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette. Toss everything in a bowl and serve.

EZ Eats: Paleo Fajitas

I mentioned earlier that we have an 1/8 of grass-fed cow hanging out in a freezer. I've had a good time coming up with new recipes to use all the different ingredients! Here is one of my favorites:

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1-2lbs skirt or flank steak
1 tbs cumin
1/2 tbs cayenne
1 tbs garlic
bell pepper sliced
mushrooms sliced
onions (I despise them, so I omitted these, but I know some strange people like my momma love them)
1 tbs butter to grease the pan

Add the veggies to the pan and sautee. Add in the spices. When veggies start to soften add in the meat. Cook the meat until no red is showing. I served these with coconut flour tortillas. I am still perfecting that recipe, so you'll have to check back later to find it! These would be great with a side of "cauli"rice Mexican style!

Juicy Juice

Juicing is quite the rage at the moment. It has always been trendy among dieters. For some reason the idea of drinking food is always paired with weight loss. This does not make sense in any shape or form!! I decided to test out the juicing fad when I spent the weekend with my momma. It did not work out for me. I was hungry within in an hour, my sugar cravings were through the roof, and I ended up taking in more sugary carbs, and calories in general. I also felt sooo guilty tossing out the pulp (fiber!). I do understand the good side of juicing. Some people claim it detoxifies your body, but eating healthy real foods will rid your body of inflammation just as well if not better. It seems to be easier for your body to absorb the nutrients from juiced foods quickly without having to go through the digestive process, but what happens when you skip the digestive process? You gain weight. Especially if you are insulin resistant and carb sensitive (ME!!!). Your body is doing less work for more nutrients, and it is likely going to store those bad boys. Juicing isn't "bad" for you, but if weight loss is your goal, I do not recommend it. It is better to eat the foods in their whole form. You will be more satisfied and you'll burn calories in the digestion process. Now if you're just into juicing for the occasional treat go for it! Everyone is different so if juicing works for you let me know! I'd love to hear your side of the story.

Update: A friend asked me about juicing tonight and I had a revelation! I think that juicing is a great way to kick start a real food diet or and changes from processed food to all natural food. It gives your digestive system a break and helps it transition from junk food to healthy fruits, veggies, and proteins. 

Here is a juice I did find a use for! I made this as a pre-workout drink to boost my electrolyte stores and give me a minuscule (lemons and limes are not high in fructose) jolt of quick energy from the fructose in the fruit. It was tangy and E said it made his whole mouth explode (you know that tingling feeling you get when you eat something sour). Also did you know you can use a blender and a nut milk bag to make juice! No need to invest in a juicer.

Mean Green Kool-Aid (E named this)
Ingredients:
1/2  lemon peeled
1/2 lime peeled
1 small cucumber
1 broccoli stalk
1/2 cup almond milk
*This is not a sweet drink. If you are dying for something sweet throw in half an orange, but remember that it is packed with fructose.

If you have a juicer add everything to the juicer and you're good to go. If not add everything to your blender and blend until its nice and chopped up. (You can juice the lime and lemon instead of peeling them if you'd like). Strain through a nut milk bag. Save the pulp for another recipe or discard. Did I mention I hate throwing things away?!

This website has a whole list of juice pulp recipe ideas. This is the one I can't wait to try!

P.S. Juicing is so not Paleo. Cavemen didn't own juicers ;)

Bacon Egg Cups

These are a yummy no fuss breakfast. They store well and are great for breakfast on the go!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
6-12 eggs
3-6 slices uncooked bacon cut in half

Directions:
Line a muffin tin with the bacon. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and crack an egg into each muffin cup. Return to the oven and back for 30 minutes until egg is cooked through. Remove from oven and let cool. These store great in the fridge for a day or two and reheat well.