Paleo Day 20: Surf & Turf Recipe

Other than dinner, this was a day of left overs. The best thing about making a great meal (other than eating it) is having left overs to eat again the next day. Also- holy crap you guys! Tomorrow is day 21 of my 21 day challenge! I'm almost there!!! Do you want me to keep posting all my eats or just new recipes? I haven't decided yet.

 Dinner was so freaking fantastic last night that I was more than happy to eat it again today for lunch.

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs cooked in bacon fat & leftover brussels sprouts.

Lunch: leftover Crudo of escolar & ahi tuna with a toasted sesame vinaigrette & shaved macadamia nuts, find the recipe here.

 When I bought this celery earlier in the week I brought it home, washed it all, cut them up and separated it all into bags with 6 pieces each. It makes it so much easier to grab them for a quick snack.

 Let the dinner magic begin: mashed cauliflower- even better than mashed potatoes if you ask me.

Mashed cauliflower: I chopped up an entire head of cauliflower and boiled it, dumbed it all in the blender with half a stick of butter and some (full fat) sour cream, salt, pepper, garlic then put it in a pot for a few minutes and added graded asiago cheese and some fresh rosemary from our back yard. 

Snack: 2 celery stalks with almond butter.

Surf & Turf: oh man this is where it starts getting amazing. Matt seared lamb in a pan with salt, black pepper, garlic, red wine, fresh rosemary (from our backyard) and olive oil. On the other side he cooked some jumbo shrimp I got from the fish market (local fresh caught) last night. The shrimp was cooked with garlic, a bay leaf, olive oil and a lot of butter was involved, oh yea! and he made pesto butter so there are also pine nuts in it.
How incredible does that lamb look?!!

Dinner: Surf & Turf of roasted lamb chop, pesto butter shrimp scampi with pine nuts, cauliflower mash & french beans.

 Matt's beautiful (as always) presentation. He loves making my food look pretty. 

We are making Navrathan Korma some time this weekend AND homemade venison jerky! I will post that Korma recipe later and let you know how the jerky turns out. (I love having a dehydrator- definitely worth investing in one if you don't already have one.)

Paleo Day 19 & Crudo Recipe

Because I absolutely adore Marks Daily Apple- check out this Friday's success story here.

Yes, I ate collard greens for breakfast and they were fabulous. My friend Lucy made them with organic collards she got from the local farmers market. Isn't she the best!

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs cooked in 1/2 tbsp bacon fat & 1/2 cup collards cooked in homemade chicken stoke and vinegar. 

Snack: 2 celery stalks with almond butter.

 Sadly, this was the last of the tikka masala. On a happy note, now we are going to make Korma! Stay tuned for that recipe. ;)

Lunch: about 1/2 cup of chicken & cauliflower tikka masala & 3/4 cup of brussels sprouts, walnuts, apple cider vinegar & raw honey.

My husband had to go out of town for a little while today because his best friend had a baby!! So that means he was going to be home late. I like us to eat together so I ate this big bowl of collards to hold me over until dinner. 

Snack: 1 cup collard greens.

You wanna see the baby don't you? ;) 

My husband Matt & baby Mattie.

While I was waiting on Matt I went to the local fish market here that sits right on the Gulf. I picked up some ahi tuna, white tuna (escolar), (and some shrimp that didn't get cooked tonight). This was the first time we have used coconut oil and it turned out pretty fantastic.

The ahi tuna was pan seared with coconut oil

This dressing includes all the ingredients in the picture below & was used as a marinade for the white tuna.

Ingredients for marinade/dressing: tamari, raw honey, rice vinegar & sesame oil. I believe some onion powder and garlic made it in there too.

I sliced up some cucumber and the marinade above was poured over it & I peeled a couple cuties.

And this is Matt's masterpiece. :) He sprinkled some crushed macadamia nuts over the top. I can't even explained to you in words how heavenly this was. The tuna just melts in your mouth like butter and the citrus gave it just enough sweetness. Perfection!

Dinner: Crudo of escolar & ahi tuna with a toasted sesame vinaigrette & shaved macadamia nuts.

Paleo Day 18

Today was a looooong stressful day at work. Not only were we insanely busy, but some woman came stumbling in to our office saying she wanted to kill herself! Holy crap! We had to call the police. Too much excitement for me.

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/4 cup cheese, 1/2 a large avocado. 

Snack: 2 celery stalks with almond butter.

 Matt didn't get home from opera rehearsal last night until around 10:45 and came home and made me these yummy brussels sprouts to take for lunch. So sweet. :) This is one of my favorite veggies. ok it's my favorite.

Lunch: lots and lots of brussels sprouts made with bacon, walnuts, apple cider vinegar and honey. 

Dinner: Chicken & cauliflower tikka masala. 

Sadly, that was the last bowl of the tikka masala. Matt is going to make something new tomorrow. He told me to think about what I want him to make. hmmmm...

Day 18 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 89.2 grams 63%
Carbs: 53.2 grams 17%
Protein: 64.5 grams 20%

Paleo Day 17 & WIAW

Today was such an uplifting and inspiring day for me. I have had so many family members and friends message me about wanting to switch to a paleo/primal life. I never thought I'd be reaching so many people just through this blog. The main reason I really started blogging about my paleo journey is because of something I once heard. If you have a goal, shout it from the rooftops, if you don't share it, then it's just out there floating around. Letting people in on this part of my life helps to hold me accountable and I appreciate each and every one of you! I became a dietitian because of my deep desire to help people to achieve a healthy and happy lifestyle through great nutrition. It gives me a great sense of accomplishment and fulfillment to know that I'm reaching even just one person.

Yes, I hardly ever wear make-up, it makes my face itch!

This was me today, day 17 of my paleo journey and down 7 lbs.  I am full of energy and happier than I've been in a really long time. 

I wanted to share one of my favorite quotes I've heard around the paelo scene: "Know the difference between your mouth and a vacuum" 

aaaaaand food:

I had the same breakfast I had yesterday. Actually...I pretty much ate all the same foods I ate yesterday.

Breakfast: 2 cheese eggs (1/4cup cheese), 2 slices bacon & 1/2 a grapefruit.

Lunch: leftover chicken & cauliflower tikka masala.

 I posted the recipe for my tikka masala here.

Dinner: MORE tikka masala.

Obviously we made a huge thing of this stuff so It's going to take me a little while to eat it all. I'm taking some to a friend tomorrow to trade her for some yummy collards she cooked that she bought from the farmers market last weekend.

 I finally ate the last piece of my chocolate bar after eating on it for about a week and a half! It was delicious! Also, Roll Tide. ;)

Snack: almost 4 squares from my Green & Black's 85% cocoa dark organic chocolate bar. & 8oz red wine.

Day 17 Nutrition Facts: 
Fat: 89.1 grams 60%
Carbs: 48.1 grams 14%
Protein: 84.1 grams 25%

I've gotten so caught up in the excitement that I almost forgot it's Wednesday! That means it's time to head on over to Jenn's blog, Peas & Crayons, and Check out some fabulous recipes for "What I ate Wednesday"

Paleo Day 16

I ate breakfast outside this morning because it was so nice out. I don't actually wake up early enough on the weekends usually to eat breakfast at a normal hour so I guess this was sort of lunch.

Breakfast: 3 eggs & 2 slices of bacon. 

 I meant to eat this banana with breakfast but forgot so I ate it about an hour later.

Snack: 1/2 a banana I split with my husband.

After my husband finally decided to get out of bed we played football out in the backyard for a little while with Penelope.

I never think about celery much but my friend Lucy was telling me how her daughter will eat 3 or 4 stalks of it a day so I decided I'd go get some. It was perfect with almond butter.

Snack: 2 celery stalks with almond butter.

We decided to make a huge pot of tikka masala since it turned out so delicious the first time. You can find the recipe here.This batch was just as good and I'm excited that I get to take it for lunch this week!

Dinner: I had a bowl of this yummy tikka masala. 

Dessert: 8oz of red wine and a couple squares of 85% cocoa dark organic chocolate. 

Day 16 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 81.4 grams 61%
Carbs: 43.3 grams 14%
Protein: 72.5 grams 24%

Paleo Day 15: Final Week of The Challenge!

I'm sitting on my back porch having breakfast right now watching my puppy run around and play. It's been beautiful the past few days and I've been making an effort to spend a lot more time outside.

I've mostly been playing with this one. :)

Ok, food!

Breakfast: 2 eggs with 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, 2 1/2 slices bacon & half a grapefruit. 

I never used to eat grapefruit that often but I really love it now.

Lunch: handful of arugula, 3 baby carrots, 1/4 cup walnuts, 1 hard boiled egg,  & homemade dressing (1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp white wine vinegar, 1/2 tbsp honey.)

Dinner: leftover homemade tikka masala (you can find the recipe here), and about 8 oz red wine.

I had 3 or 4 squares of dark organic 85% cocoa chocolate. It seems like I'm eating this most everyday but that's ok with me. I've been eating from this 1 bar for a week now and I've still got about a third of it left!

Day 15 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 98.2 grams 64%
Carbs: 55.7 grams 16%
Protein: 68.4 grams 20%

And I've got to say, that tikka masala is so amazing that we decided we have to make more of it. I already went to the grocery store this morning to get the ingredients :)

Now I'm just waiting on my hubby to get up so we can go play outside!!

Paleo Week 2 DONE! & a Recipe

Day 14: We slept in today so I didn't actually eat "breakfast" until about 12:00. So I only ate 2 meals again today. 

Breakfast: 3 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 2 baby bellas (added maybe an extra tsp of bacon fat) & 3 slices from a red pummelo.

Matt and I (mostly Matt) made the BEST dinner tonight! I wish I was still hungry right now just so I could eat more.  I'll give you a "sort of" recipe the best I can. My husband doesn't do recipes so I had to try and just watch to see what he put in.

We used 6 boneless chicken thighs (cut up) and put some of those spices on them in a bowl.  Spices: cinnamon, garam masala, paprika, ground cumin, red curry powder & garlic powder.

 Not pictured: I cooked half a head of cauliflower in 2 tbsp of butter with some sea salt.

Left: added 1 cup full fat plain yogurt to the chicken in the bowl. Right: poured bowl contents into pan with cauliflower, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2/3 of a 6oz can of tomato paste, 1/2 cup "tomato gravy" (pureed tomatoes with salt, pepper & bacon fat), 2/3 of a 13.5oz can of coconut milk.

 I have no idea how much of those spices Matt added. He doesn't measure, just keeps pouring things in and tasting. :)

Dinner: bowl of chicken tikka masala & 8oz red wine.

I did eat a couple more squares of 85% cocoa dark organic chocolate. :)


Day 14 Nutrition Facts:
Fat: 54.2 grams 58%
Carbs: 36.6 grams 17%
Protein: 52.1 grams 25%