Albondigas Soup

This soup was AMAZING, especially with our fresh ground grass-fed beef from the farmer's market!  It will be made again very soon!

Check out Everyday Paleo for the recipe!  The best recipe I've tried from this cookbook.

OH, I did cheat and use some diced tomatoes and some fresh ;-)

Apple Sausage

 This is a favorite around our house!  We have been buying Aidells Chicken & Apple Sausage (no hormones, no nitrates, no MSG) at Costco.  Definitely Elliot's favorite breakfast meat.

Slice and cook in a pan with a little bit of olive oil.

In another pan, melt coconut oil.  Sautee sliced apples and pecans.

Serve with eggs.

Mexican Breakfast

Take some of your leftover taco meat, and scramble it with some eggs and green peppers.  Top with guacamole and tomatoes.

Serve with a side of plantains fried up in coconut oil.

YUMM!

Tuna Salad (NO MAYO)

I was in the mood for tuna today (Before going Paleo I would NOT eat tuna-ever!)  I was also feeling too lazy to make mayo, so I improvised and came up with a VERY delicious recipe.  Probably the best tuna I've ever had!

Ingredients:
2 small cans (5 oz) tuna
2 boiled eggs, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
few tablespoons chopped onion
1/2 avocado, mashed
1 pickle spear, chopped
mustard
salt, pepper, paprika
cucumber, halved and seeded (optional)

Mix all ingredients together.  Add just enough mustard to make creamy (it doesn't take much!)  I'm thinking it would also be good with some chopped apple in it.

I thought it would be fun served in a cucumber boat.  It was cute, but needed way more tuna than what fit in a boat.  I ended up cutting the cucumber in chunks and adding a lot more tuna. The boys kept saying "This is goooood tuna, Mommy!  I want more."  This recipe fed me and two 3 year olds who had already eaten apple slices, ham, and pistachios!  In other words, it would probably feed a normal family of 5 :-)

PULL UP

I CAN DO A PULL UP!!  YAH, it is that exciting!
On another note: Baby Joel finally (almost 10 months old) can roll over from back to tummy!  It just clicked.  I put him down near the couch, went to fix breakfast, and he was by the fireplace.  I knew I should have been content with him just staying in place!  He was already fighting Ezra for a monster truck....they were both yelling!  haha

Cheats and Tummy's

We have had a few family "cheats" lately-and they have seriously backfired!  Last Saturday was super busy.  By the time evening came, no dinner had been prepared, and we decided to get wild and order a pizza.  First time in 4 months!!  I must say, it was delicious.  HOWEVER, I have NEVER seen my kids act so crazy after a meal.  They were loud & wild in a way that I've never seen before.  It was like a craziness possession.  I didn't put 2 and 2 together, so I asked Wes, "What is going on?"  He simply said "Sugar overload from excessive carbohydrates."  AHHH!  I guess it didn't help that as I was eating my pizza I had an instant headache!  INSTANT!

At midnight, as I'm sound asleep, I hear a little voice saying "wipe my butt!!!"  Sure enough, diarrhea for a 3 year old.  Go back to bed and feed the baby.  Then, some crying from the other room.  Wes runs out, and now puke all over Levi's bed!

Next morning, belly aching all around.  Ez was so grumpy and achy that he put himself down for a nap at 11am.

Fast forward to this weekend.....I took Elliot out to lunch after her OM competition.  It was great, and very paleo-friendly (steak, green beans, salad).  Afterwards, I had the brilliant idea of getting ice cream at Cold Stone.  Ice cream is my weakness!!  We actually each only got a "like it" size and didn't finish it.  I felt fine....until evening came.  I had an icky belly ache and she was complaining of one too.  Once the magical midnight hour struck, she was in my room.  She had puked-more than I'd EVER seen before, all over her bed!!  It was nasty!

This all makes me wonder about our body chemistry.  Do will build up a tolerance to gluten and dairy?  Are we all "allergic" to these 2 things?  Over the past 4 months of eating primal, I feel like we must have flushed out our systems and they are in proper working order.  As soon as something that's not good goes in, our bodies want to reject it!  Although you feel like crap, it's amazing to see how the body reacts to bad food once we have it in a state that it CAN react.

All this to say, we will not be eating ice cream or pizza for a really long time!!  Take out will consist of Charcoal Chicken for now on (and that IS yummy!)

Almond Butter Balls

I tried this recipe for Chocolate Almond Butter Bites this afternoon.  It was bad, but not bad enough to throw out.  My husband has a great affection for Peanut Butter Balls.  Part of his childhood, I suppose.  I decide to take this mess of almond butter goo, and try to turn it into a paleo-friendly "ball" for him.  I am a little impressed with the taste.  I hope you enjoy them.

Use all the ingredients from the original recipe above:
3/4 C Almond butter (I did 1/2 C regular, 1/4 C Trader Joes with flax and sea salt)
1 tsp pure Vanilla extract
1/2 TBSP Cocoa powder
1/3 C unsweetened shredded coconut

Then, I added:
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 C chopped almonds
1/4 C almond flour
1/8 C dark chocolate chips

Mix all of the above together.  Form into golf-ball sized balls.  Set aside

Melt 1/4 C dark chocolate + 1 tsp Coconut Oil.  Roll balls in the melted chocolate.  Put in freezer to set.


P.S.  I can now do 1 chin up ALL BY MYSELF!!  WOOT!

(No, Ezra's head is not through the ring, it's just behind it!)

Valentine Countdown

 Most years, I do NOT like Valentines-not one thing about it.  I've always thought it was just a marketing ploy to get us to buy a bunch of crap we really don't need.  Call me scrooge, but that was my mentality.

This year, I've turned over a new leaf.  I think it's quite possibly becoming one of my favorite holidays!  I'm learning you can find very teachable moments in this "marketers dream."  Someone on our MOPS page, linked to Happy Home Fairy.  She has some amazing ideas that are mostly cheap, practical, and Biblical!  When I saw her free printable for Bible verses about Love, it got me in the Valentine's spirit!

I went to Dollar Tree and grabbed a little banner.  It has 14 letters, perfect for hanging our 14 verses on.  Then, the $1 bins at Target had these cute little mail boxes.  Once home we cut up a bunch of paper into heart (or almost heart shapes) and taped or suction cupped them onto the door.  (the hanging envelope has our verses in it!)  

I can't tell you how much the kids LOVE getting their mail. Usually just a note, maybe a treat, always their vitamins, a clementine, stickers, some change, etc. A different kid each day will find the verse in their box.  Elliot didn't understand why W and I didn't have mailboxes because she really wanted to make us mail!  So..... I splurged, spent 2 more dollars and we all have boxes now.  I get lots of mail everyday.  The kids are asking to keep their boxes all year.  HAHA!  We had a mailbox decorating party Sunday afternoon.  It was fun.  They are all a big mess now :-)

A few other things I got inspiration for from Happy Home Fairy are below.

Elliot's Valentines for her classmates: (in black & white because our printer is out of color ink!)

 Elliot's teacher Valentine's:

Bloodwork

We recently went to the doc to have bloodwork done.  We wanted to make sure this whole "Paleo" way of eating is working  for us.  As much as we've read and believe it's what's right for our family, bacon and eggs everyday just doesn't seem right.  HAHA.  (Even though this IS how my great grandparents ate on the farm everyday-and they kept ticking for a long time!  In fact, one of my great great Aunts is still alive and is 107 today!!  She lived independently until well over 100).  Not that I really want to live that long-but I do want a good quality of life for as long as the Lord wants me here.

Anyways, our bloodwork came back fantastic!  I had my Vitamin D level drawn back in August and it was low.  (29)  I have supplemented with 2000 IU of D3 the last few months and my level is now 58.  Perfect!

LDL Cholesterol: 97     (Normal <130)
HDL Cholesterol: 82     (Normal >40)
Triglycerides: 60           (Normal < 150)
Cholesterol Pattern Size: A  (This is one of the most important things when it comes to Cholesterol!  So excited about this!!)
C-Reactive Protein: <1 (Normal <8)  This tests for inflammation
Hemoglobin A1C: 5.1  (Normal <5.7)
Glucose: 83 (Normal: 65-99)

I'm not sure you care about all of those numbers, but the point is that this way of eating IS healthy-look at what my insides are saying :-)  Wes' insides are also screaming of happiness!

When you eat good, you feel good, you then have energy to workout and get strong!  It's amazing how all of this works together.  If your 1st priority is workout, but you eat crappy, you aren't doing yourself any favors-and won't see much in terms of results. Diet is the foundation (I learned that at my Crossfit intro!)

Garage Gym

 We are slowly getting our garage equipped with workout stuff.  We now have a pull up bar, rings, boxes, some dumbbells, ab mat, white board up, poles (for stretching), etc.  We have a few things to add, but they will come in time. I really need bands to work on pull ups, but I'll just get strong with the rings 1st.

Today Wes and I worked out together.  He wrote everything up on our white board.  It was cute :-)  The workout was called "Donkey Kong."   I should start with our warm up

10 pass throughs  (hold wooden pole, keep arms locked from front of body-overhead- to back of body)
10 whirly birds (like above but in circular motion)
10 overhead squats (ideally you would use a weight lifting bar, but I just practice with the wooden pole)
10 ab mat sit ups
(2 times)

For a skill, I learned how to do ring rows after the warm up.  Then, it was on to the hard stuff......

"Donkey Kong" is done for time.  21-15-9 (do 21 of each activity, then 15 of each, then 9 of each)

Burpees
Dumbbells swings/kettle ball swings
box jumps

It took me 11 min 10 sec.  Wes took 9 min 9 seconds.  I almost got lapped!....but I FINISHED!  It was hard.  My abs are killing me.

It has been SUPER FUN to see how kids really emulate what their parents are doing.  Elliot use to sit around in the afternoons inside.  Since I've been working out, she is outside, RIDING HER BIKE (she never did this before-her "legs hurt, " setting up obstacle courses in the driveway, climbing on our boxes, stretching (hilarious to watch!), hanging from rings and swinging, and the list goes on!  I can't tell you how much this has encouraged me to STAY ACTIVE!!

I was talking to W tonight about setting up a mini Crossfit Kids in our neighborhood one night/week.  Just to get kids out, playing, moving, and making friends!  We'll see what comes of it.  He wants to get qualified as a CF Kids Instructor first.