Piña Colada

After making all that coconut milk, I had the brilliant idea to make a pina colada!! IT turned out delicious. Here are the ingredients:

 

1 shot of rum

1-2 cups coconut milk depending on how strong you like your drinks ;)

5 ice cubes

 

Add everything to the blender and pulse until smooth! It goes great with a piece of dark chocolate.

EZ Eats: Fourth of July style

Hope you're having an amaze-balls Fourth of July! Here are some healthy eats to keep you on track or to compliment your cheat meals! 

Blueberries,strawberries, and fresh whipped cream! No sugar added and sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth. 

Two variations of a red, white, and blue chicken strip salad. 

E's salad with lots of blueberries and strawberries,mushrooms, mixed greens and almond crusted chicken strips. 

My salad is similar to E's but I chose tomatoes instead of strawberries, went easy on the blueberries (I splurged on dark chocolate at lunch), and added avocado. 

We made sure to fill our bellies with good food, hide a snack in my purse, and take our omega 3 supplement before we headed down to Willie Nelson's Picnic in Fort Worth! Are we nerds or what? ;) 

Paleo Brownies Take 1

These brownies are simple and easy to bake! I'm still working on tweaking the recipe to perfection. I'll post back if I make any changes.

Printable Recipe

I adapted my recipe from Baker Gal.
Here's what you need:
1 cup almond butter
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg

Combine all ingredients and beat to mix everything together. Pour into a glass pan. I lined mine with parchment paper, but I think that was unnecessary. Cook at 325F for 35 minutes.

EZ Eats: On the Road

Eating healthy while on the road is tough! Especially if you're trying to limit your carb intake (limited amount of fruit as an option). I like to eat a large meal before we leave, have 1 or 2 snacks for the car, and try to eat at our destination. (To be honest I actually ate my bacon and cantaloupe salad on the way to pick up E from work.) E on the other hand can't and shouldn't go that long without a meal. The food I bring is mostly for his benefit ;) and to battle my boredom.

Here is what I packed for our 6 hour road trip:

6 Lara Bars (check the ingredients, not all flavors are Paleo friendly, but all flavors have wholesome ingredients!)

1 bag pistachios

2 apples

Almond butter

1 dark chocolate bar

Raw carrots and cucumber

Dressing and cashew hummus for dipping

Cantaloupe

Hard boiled eggs

Date bars

Homemade Coconut milk

Paleo Brownies

(We did not eat all this, but I like to have it just in case! On our last trip to Dallas we were stopped in traffic for 3 extra hours)

Things we didn't bring but that pack well and last the day in the car:

Almonds, pecans, walnuts etc.

Roasted turkey or other nitrate free lunch meats (this is not the optimal choice for health since there are usually other additives)

Cooked, diced chicken

Celery

Bananas and other fruit 

Red Bell Peppers

Beef jerky (the only ingredients should be meat and possibly pepper and salt)

Baked sweet potato

Are there any healthy snacks you can't live without while traveling?

EZ Eats: Bacon Cantaloupe Salad

We were headed out of town for the weekend and needed to clean out the fridge. This is what I came up with! (I used the Tasty Food Photograph eBook to help in my picture taking! Can you tell the difference??)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups mixed greens lettuce

4 strips bacon cooked and crumbled
1/2 tomato

1/2 avocado

1/4 cup cubed cantaloupe

Mint leaves, minced

Favorite dressing. I use Cindy's Kitchen Rosemary and Roasted Garlic from Whole Foods. 

Cut your veggies and cooked bacon and serve over a bed of lettuce.

Pecans or feta would be a great addition!

Tasty Food Photography Giveaway

This is my first giveaway and man do I feel special! Pinch of Yum has an awesome eBook up for grabs! This is an update to their original eBook. The best part is that this eBook is currently downloaded to my computer and I have already seen improvements in my photography. (I'm not exaggerating. Check out my Bacon Cantaloupe Salad) We all know I could use some help! They have amazing lighting tips and tricks. They also suggest different views for setting up a shot. What I am most excited about is their list of iPhone photography apps! Enter to win so you can check out what is inside their eBook. You won't be disappointed.

There are numerous ways to enter! You must give a valid email address to win.


a Rafflecopter giveaway
Use the coupon newversion30 for a 30% discount to purchase the new version of Tasty Food Photography. The coupon is valid until 7/8/13. If you buy the book today and win the giveaway, Pinch of Yum will refund your purchase to make sure you get your book for free!


 Note: Pinch of Yum is an affiliate of this blog. I receive compensation for any purchases made through their link on my blog. I received a free copy of Tasty Food Photography eBook prior to this giveaway. All opinions stated on this blog are my own.

EZ Eats: Roast

Making the perfect roast is tricky! I struggle with my crockpot because it automatically switches from low to keep warm (more like keep boiling). I cooked this roast for 10 hours. 5 on the low setting, 5 on keep warm. I added in 1 cup of my bone broth, and extra garlic. It turned out amazing in all its grassfed goodness. Let me know if you have any roast cooking tips! I served it with stir-fried broccoli and a baked sweet potato for E.

Buns of Steel

Warm up: 5 min jog, 10 push-ups, 50 abs of choice

Warm down: 50 more abs of choice, stretching, walk 5 min if necessary. 

Workout Notes:

• Start at a medium weight for dumbbell bench and work your way up to a max weight at the 4 reps. Go back down to your starting weight or less for the last round. The last round is an active recovery to offset the heavy lift from the previous round
• Goblet squats are awesome for your buns! Mine are still sore. Hold a dumbbell at chest level like you are going to drink from a "goblet" or wine glass if that's more your speed (go light until you get the technique down). Stand on one leg in front of a weight bench or chair and lower into the squat position. Tap your butt to the chair and stand right back up. Do not stop in the seated position! Thats one rep. Complete reps on one leg then switch. 
• We use a machine for standing row. Make sure to engage your upper back muscles (Latimus dorsi to be specific). Hold your core tight and do not use your lower back to pull the weight towards your chest.

Coconut Flour Pancakes

I have been trying to perfect a perfect coconut flour pancake recipe for a couple months, and I think I've finally got it! Let me know what you think!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 egg whites, 1 egg (I would like to try just 2 whole eggs next time)
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
Coconut oil or butter to grease pan

Melt the butter in a skillet and leave to heat up. Pancakes cook better in a well heated pan. Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl. Pour batter into the pan (about a 1/4 cup, but measuring is not important). Swirl the batter around in the pan so it spreads out, making a thinner pancake. Cook on one side until bubbles form and start to pop. Loosen from the pan and use a spatula to flip. If you're fancy you can flip it just using the pan (I'm practicing ;)). When the bottom is browned, 2-3 minutes, remove from pan and keep warm in the oven or microwave. Finish cooking the batter and serve with maple syrup or honey. Makes about 6 pancakes.

Health Notes: Everything in the pancakes is healthy. Be careful adding maple syrup and honey because both are pure sugar! If you have a clean protein powder, feel free to add it in. You may need to add more liquid to keep the consistency.

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.