Tuesday {In the Kitchen } Paleo Challenge

The Paleoista via Well + Good NYC

At the beginning of the year, my honey and I decided to do a Paleo Challenge for the month of January. It was not intended to be a "New Years Resolution," but really a challenge for us to focus on what we were putting into our bodies. We've been eating mostly Paleo for well over a year now and I have to admit I've seen some pretty amazing results in my overall health so I was finally ready to take the plunge and go 100% Paleo.

I was pumped! I read the book "The Paleoista"by Nell Stephenson over Christmas break and was instantly hooked. I knew I too wanted to go completely Paleo, if possible. I was totally motivated and actually looked forward to the challenge as I knew it would mean new recipes to try, improved athletic performance but also just overall increased health and well-being.

Needless to say, the challenge didn't go quite as I had hoped. My husband, being the awesome, strong-willed man he is completed it with no problem. I on the other hand could not say the same. I felt terrible, bloated, gassy, and I had some pretty incredible mood swings, and not incredible in a good way.

To this day I'm still baffled as to what happened. I felt great for the first 2-4 days and then suddenly my body felt like it went in to shock (well let's be honest, it did! I was eating ALL nutritious foods for once!)  I began researching my symptoms and knew that it wasn't abnormal to feel these things so I just continued on. It wasn't until the third week of feeling this way and almost having to take a sick day off work that I realized this just wasn't normal. So at the request of my husband, I quite.

I was pretty upset. I wanted to prove to myself, my husband and the world that I could do it. But the reality was, something just wasn't right and why did it matter so much who I was impressing anyway? I was going about it all in the wrong way. I was supposed to do it to increase my health not get recognition from the world.

Looking back, I am excited that I completed 23 days! It was a huge accomplishment! And while I didn't make it to day 30, I did talk to my CrossFit coaches got some advice on a few things that might help and then I began incorporating a number of things I learned back into my normal routine. I'll be sharing a few things in the coming weeks.

Today, my husband and I are back to our "normal"route, which consists of about being about 80 percent Paleo. Our dinners continue to be Paleo, as they have been in the past, as well as our lunches.

I've found incorporating a little dairy helps me a lot though! But having done the challenge for 23 days I knew that dairy wasn't necessarily a "problem" food for me. I don't eat a ton of it, but it seems to have helped me. I am by no means giving up on Paleo at all. I have seen the rewards of eating well, so I'll definitely continue to incorporate it into our lifestyle. I know eventually my body will get used to the change and will reap the benefits both upfront as well as long-term.

If you haven't tried a paleo challenge and are interested, I'd highly encourage it! It's amazing how our bodies respond when we feed them real food, unprocessed food! And while at the end of the challenge you may not end up going completely Paleo, you will find new routines you'll want to incorporate into your life just because they make you feel better, stronger, healthier and more energetic.

Tuesday {In the Kitchen} A Paleo Thanksgiving

For this week's post, I thought I'd share with you our Thanksgiving menu. Given that we try to eat as paleo as possible...well, or in my case, as gluten free as possible, our Thanksgiving meals have been a little less traditional than the typical Thanksgiving feast, but amazing and filling nonetheless.

I never realized food could taste this good!!

I am so excited to attempt these Apple Fritters for our Thanksgiving breakfast! They will be the perfect treat paired with a side of scrambled eggs and homemade pumpkin spice lattes (def. not Paleo..but who cares I need coffee) while we watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I found this recipe on PaleOMG! They sound amazing!!! I just bought a donut pan this weekend and I'm can't wait to give them a try!

{Image Credit: PaleOMG}

This year we are spending Thanksgiving away from family, so we decided to open our home up to friends and co-workers who don't have anyone to celebrate the holiday with. We love the community God has blessed us with and want everyone to feel like they have a place to enjoy good company and good food!

Our dinner will be fairly simple, and since neither myself or the Mr. are huge fans of turkey we started our own tradition last year of making a delicious slow cooked oven roast, using this recipe. 

Our sides consist of roasted brussel sprouts with bacon bits, using this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo and a sweet potato casserole, similar to this one found on Paleoaholic.com.

 {Image Credit: Nom Nom Paleo}

{Image Credit: Paleoaholic.com}

And...doesn't this Chewy Pecan Pie Brittle looks fabulous?! Yes Please!!! Paleo dessert too?? Doesn't get much better than this!

{Image Credit: PaleOMG}

Tuesday {In the Kitchen}

This week's {In the Kitchen} I decided it would be fun to share with you a few of inspirational coastal/vacation home kitchens and a few of the recipes I am dying to try on vacay!

The image above is from Coastal Living, funny thing is I met this lovely woman and her three adorable children at a friends wedding this past New Year's Eve on Amelia Island in Florida. That town is to die for! If you want a quaint, beachy getaway that is definitely a place worth visiting! It's a quintessential, quiet beach town. Complete with farmer's markets and the neatest antique stores.

 Aside from Amelia Island, this kitchen is the perfect vacation home kitchen. It's clean, simple and lovely! And I heart floating shelves with a beautiful display of white dishes! I die, they are my fav!

These lime squares, from Eat Live Run blog, look fantastic! My goal...see if we can manage to make a very similar recipe, but g-free! 

Nothing says vacation to me like a good mimosa. I can guarantee we will having several of these!

The hubby and I do our best to still eat well on vacation, paleo if we can, but we at the least we try to eat gluten free. We'll see though, it can often be difficult if you don't have family that understands your dietary needs, fortunately, our families try to be as helpful as possible. We'll let you know if we come up with any paleo/g-free family secrets that we can share.

I also always carry a few snacks on the plane and some extra for during the week. I like to bring Justin's almond butter, some kind of protein bar (ours right now are Detour, but Think Thin has some great g-free peanut butter bars), raw almonds and E-mergen C!!! They just a few helpful snacks to keep us going, especially when traveling through an airport full of pricey, packaged foods.

What do you foods do you like to enjoy on vacation?

{Image Credit: Coastal Living, lime bars, mimosa}

Weekend Recap and Broccoli Spinach Frittata

My hubby and I had a great weekend! Saturday we were able to sleep in (well...I only sleep in until about 7:30am). I got up early started the coffee and went straight to work on the blog. I'm so excited with how it's coming along, but there is still so much to do. After a nice breakfast we headed to the gym for some weight lifting. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around this great outdoor shopping center then went to a nice dinner.

Sunday's are always our busiest days. We woke up early grabbed a quick snack/breakfast and some coffee and headed to church. When we got home from church we made brunch, it's become a Sunday tradition for us. After brunch we clean house, do laundry, and do all of our weekly grocery shopping. A busy afternoon calls for a quick, easy, but healthy brunch that will give us plenty of energy to finish our chores.

Here is what we made yesterday, a delicious Broccoli Spinach Frittata, or in the hubby's words "Sunday Brunch Frittata." It was packed with protein and vegetables. It's also paleo and gluten-free (if you don't use the cheese). Hope you all enjoy!


Broccoli Spinach Frittata or "Sunday Brunch Frittata"

1lb. spicy breakfast sausage
1 head of broccoli (cut off the stalk and dice the florets)
1/2 of a sweet onion diced
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 cup chopped spinach
1/4 cup diced green onions
12 eggs
salt
pepper

Turn oven on broil. Brown the sausage in a skillet on medium-high heat. Once browned, remove the sausage from the skillet. Leave skillet on medium-high and put in the broccoli, onion and garlic. Cook till soft. Then add spinach and green onions. Briefly cook the spinach and onions (1 to 2 minutes).

Then add the browned sausage back in and pat down to evenly cover the bottom of the skillet. Whisk the 12 eggs together and pour over the top of the meat and veggies. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper. Do not stir. Let the skillet sit on medium-high heat for 7 minutes. The frittata will begin to slightly peel back from the edge of the skillet but the top will still appear runny.

After seven minutes remove the frittata from the stove and transfer to the oven. Let frittata broil for 7 minutes.

Optional: remove the frittata from the oven at 5 minutes and sprinkle feta cheese (or other cheese of choice) on top. Place back in the oven for remaining 2 minutes.

Hope ya'll enjoy!