Do Like the Cavemen Did

Paleo has become a PASSION of mine! And I want to share it with YOU! Eating paleo made me a believer of the impact of food on your body. Never before had I truly understood and appreciated how GREAT you can look and feel if you fuel your body correctly. When I first started eating paleo, I lost 5 POUNDS IN 10 DAYS!! I wasn’t starving, in fact, I was completely satisfied! And I felt great about building a new and better nutrition habit.

After a two week European vacation, it’s been a bit difficult to get back on track. SO…I will be holding a FREE 7 Day Paleo Challenge to get myself back on track AND to bring you with me! For those of you who are curious about how you can benefit from eating Paleo, I urge you to give this a try. You WON’T be sorry!!!  Please comment below or message me directly if you want to join!! Grocery list and meal plan is provided so it’s super easy to follow!!

Kitchen Success...and Fail!

In my continued efforts to improve my housewifery skills, I am constantly searching for new, interesting, creative and healthy recipes. This week I tried two...one for Crockpot Orange Chicken, which I've tried before and wanted to perfect, and another for Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies.

First, the orange chicken. This was my second attempt and it was DELICIOUS!! I've found that my crockpot cooks waaaay faster than one would expect so I have to significantly reduce cook time, even when it's on low. That has been my issue with most of my first attempts. I used a little extra flour than the recipe calls for just to make sure I got that breaded effect. Then I made a little bit more sauce than the recipes calls for to get a good coat on each piece of chicken. I paired the chicken with brown rice and steamed veggies and it was perfecto!



Now for the Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies...

NO I am not turning Vegan!! I actually have a decent amount of Almond Meal in my cupboard which I wanted to experiment with. Almond Meal is a gluten free option that can be substituted for flour. It has some great health benefits so I figured why not give it a try with a few different things.

I have to admit that I was excited about this recipe and had no reservations about it. The main difference is that it substitutes flour for almond meal and sugar for honey. The dough was very, very sticky and had a grainy texture to it. I still wasn't worried. Luckily I halved the size of this recipe so it was only a single batch. I love peanut butter but these cookies just taste TOO healthy! They have a very strong taste of shortening, which ruins it. And I ran out of honey so maybe I didn't put in as much as I could have. Long story short, these cookies are not my favorite but they are in my fridge in hopes that I can still stomach them as a snack full of protein.



Never fear, I will spend more time and effort on almond meal recipes to see if I find something I like! The challenge is that most of the recipes that include almond meal also include a lot of healthy, vegan ingredients that I've never had in my cupboard before so it's going to require a trip to Trader Joe's. Wish me luck!!