Lets be real. Cooking with prepackaged chicken breasts are wayyy easier than cooking an entire chicken. But, since I was home and at the help of my mom, I figured what the heck, lets do it. One night my mom and I, with the recipe help of Practical Paleo, made an entire chicken. I'm not gonna lie, the uncooked chicken was pretty nasty, so my mom stuffed it. It took way longer than breasts, about 2+ hours, but it was so delicious and juicy, next time I think I'll be brave enough to stuff the naked chicken by myself.

Ingredients: 

• A whole chicken
• 2-4 large carrots, cut into chunks
• Tomatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, cut into big chunks
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 4-6 cloves, crushed garlic
• 1 lemon, cut into big pieces
• 1 tablespoon herb salt blend (1 cup herbs, rosemary, sage, thyme, lemon peel and 1/2 cup sea salt)

How to make: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Bruch a large roasting pan with some of the melted coconut oil
3. Remove on the insides (this is the gross part)
4. Stuff the chicken with the onions, garlic and some of the lemons
5. Place the carrots in the roasting pan around the chicken
6. Brush the chicken with more melted coconut oil and sprinkle with the herb salt blend
7. Roast chicken until it reaches 165 degrees. (Make sure the thermometer doesn't touch a bone, it will effect the temp!)
8. Cooking depends on the size of the chicken, but plan about 20 minutes per pound. 

My 10 days in Arizona were anything but boring. I said yes to the wedding dress, had an engagement party and to top it all off, I became an aunt to the most beautiful little boy ever. My older brother and sister-in-law had their first little boy & the first grandkid of the family! He's basically the most perfect child ever to be born and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Some people have been asking me how I could possibly eat paleo all the time. Well, I wondered that as well until I got this amazing book. So, I thought I would share it with you! She details the pros of paleo, how it effects your body and then of course, tons of delicious recipes. Go buy this book. Here, I made it easier. This is the link to the book on amazon. Go get it!

This is perfect when you're craving something sweet & paleo! It was super easy to make and super easy to eat! Next time I'm going to sub the blueberries with raspberries or peaches because yum! Enjoy!

Ingredients: 

• 2 pints fresh blueberries
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil or ghee 
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 2 pinches of sea salt

Sorry I've been MIA. I was too busy enjoying my time in Arizona, celebrating my engagement and spending time with my friends and family. Arizona was great for my paleo diet though. My mom and I had so much fun making all kinds of different meals. One night,  my mom, two best friends and I made the ultimate paleo meal. I know I've said this before, but this was by far the best recipe I've made so far. We decided to make them cut into strips as wraps, but the rub could be put on anything, breasts, thighs, fish, steak. It was so so delish.  Warning, this is spicy. If you're super sensitive to heat, I would reduce the amount of chipotle powder you use.

Sorry for the lack of paleo posts, but I've been basking in the Arizona sunshine and planning my wedding (eeek!!). But, the perk of being in zona, means cooking with my mom! She has all these amazing recipe books, so its been fun experimenting with all the different options. Finally my paleo palette is expanding! On Sunday night we were craving some good chicken recipe. We found this amazing mustard glazed chicken. It is so delicious and so easy to make. Everyone was a fan, including my dad. I highly recommend this! We made it with a side of baked sweet potato coins.

Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs
Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons gluten-free mustard (we used Stone-ground mustard instead of yellow mustard)
• Black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon sage salt (1/2 teaspoon seat salt + 1/2 teaspoon dried sage)
• 12 bone-in chicken thighs (we used 9 for 3 people, definitely could have made 12, they shrink!) 

• 2 sweet potatoes (1 potato mades enough for 2 people) 
• 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika

1. Heat oven to 375-400 degrees depending on how thick you cut them (thinner = 375, thicker = 400)
2. Peel sweet potatoes. 
3. Cut potatoes into small coins 
4. Cover a baking sheet in tin foil. 
5. Greese the baking sheet with coconut oil
6. Spread out the SP coins so they don't overlap
7. Pour oil over sweet potatoes making sure they're all covered. 
8. Add salt, pepper and paprika. 
9. Bake for 30 minutes. Make sure to flip them half way through! 
10. Secret: I've made these twice now and the second time I made them, I charred them so bad they were uneatable. Make sure you flip them half way through or else they will fry. Keep an eye on them, they can burn! 

After my failed paleo attempt, I knew I had to redeem myself. I went to my fallback recipe; steak & mashed potatoes (cauliflower potatoes, but still...). The cauliflower mashed potatoes were just as good and satisfying as they were last time. Again, if I could eat them every night, I would. Steak recipe go! 

Ingredients: 

• 2 steaks. I bought filets. Don't they look delish. 
• Salt and pepper
• Portobello mushrooms
• Onion - cut into slices (they cook down a LOT so make them chunky) 

How to make: 

1. Heat the oven to 410 degrees
2. Place about a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. (a cast-iron pan is totally necessary here!) 
3. Heat the oil up to medium-hot! 
4. Salt and pepper the steaks. (Last night I put some meat seasoning on them, did not like it, do not recommend) 
5. Put the steaks in the hot oil, and sear both sides for 2 minutes each side. 
6. Then place all the mushrooms and onions in the pan, and place the entire pan in the oven. (hence, why a cast-iron pan is necessary) 
7. Cook for 12 minutes (we had to cook for 15, damn elevation)
8. Let sit for about 5 minutes (covered in foil) to let all the juices soak in. 
9. Enjoy! Hmm, my mouth is watering thinking about it.  

Last night after our failed pizza attempt, we tried to make it up by making lemon bars! Why did we think we could make lemon bars. I've never even made lemon bars the normal way! Anyway, do I need to say it? We failed. Our lemon bars sucked. Granted we didn't have the full amount of lemon. We cannot figure out how to bake in high elevation, it always takes longer or a higher temp and we cannot get it right. Denver is ruining our baking capabilities. It's exhausting people. I found this recipe on Popular Paleo. Maybe all of you in lower elevation will have better luck. They looked like they'd be good! Try them, please try them and tell me how good they are! 

Ingredients for Crust: 

• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup medjool dates (6) 
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1 egg

Ingredients for Filling: 

• The juice of 4 lemons (3/4 cup - this is where we lost it, we only had way less) 
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 8 eggs (8!! I know its a ton) 
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 1 TBSP arrowroot flour + 1/2 TBSP of hot water (I used almond flour) 

How to make the crust: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees  
2. Dump all the ingredients in to a food processor, except for the egg. 
3. Mix it until its a sand texture. 
4. Add the egg and mix again until its fully mixed in. 
5. Press the crust evenly into the bottom of an ungreased baking dish. I used a glass 9x9 dish.
6. Set it aside

How to make the filling: 

1. Combine all the ingredients (except the arrowroot and water) and mix by electric mixer. 
2. Once the lemons, eggs and other stuff is mixed up, make a slurry using the 1/2 TBSP of hot water and arrowroot. 
3. Mix the slurry into the batter. 
4. Then pour all of the mixture over the crust. 

I guess every great diet must fail sometime. Last night Adam and I attempted to make our own pizza. Usually we are very good at this (when we can use real dough) but last night, we failed. We failed making pizza.

I found this pizza recipe on My Natural Family. I think maybe if we used different flour substitute, it might be better. But hey, you gotta try it, right? Let me know if you figure out a better way to make this. Until then, here is the recipe! 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 1/3 cup coconut milk (I used light) 
• 1 teaspoon honey

How to make: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 
2. Mix almost flour, tapioca flour, coconut flour and salt in a bowl. Create a well in the middle of the mixture.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the egg, olive oil, coconut milk and honey
4. Pour the wet mixture in the well of the flour mixture and combine. (Let sit for a few minutes so the coconut flour can soak up the moisture) 
5. Shape dough into a ball. Dust your hands with tapioca flour and roll the dough out into a 12' circle about 1/4 inch thick. 
6. Top your pizza with all the goods! 
7. Bake for 12 minutes (we ended up baking for 17 minutes because we like it crunchy!) 
8. ENJOY!

As of today, Adam and I have been eating paleo for 8 days. We've have one failed paleo meal (which I'll post later) but other than that, its been a really great experience. Time for this weeks pros & cons of paleo.

Pros: 

1. I feel great. There's no upset stomach after eating or that horrible super full, bloated feeling. 
2. While others may not see it, I can see a difference in my body and the way clothes fit.
3. I have a lot more energy (and i'm not even drinking coffee!).
4. I love planning my meals and preparing them with Adam. I've even gotten him to look at Pinterest! Check out my paleo board! 
5. Paleo desserts are actually amazing. (Brownies & Cookies!) 
6. My skin looks clearer. 
7. Working out and running feels easier. Maybe thats the placebo effect, but I just feel better when I work out. 
8. I never feel hungry, I feel strong.

Cons: 

1. Man, oh man, do I miss bread. Bread and rice, I miss them so. 
2. It takes a lot of preparation. Grocery shopping takes an extra long time and the meal prep is very time consuming. 
3. The food can get a little boring. Let's just say I'm trying my hardest not to make chicken every night.
4. It can be expensive. We had to replace a lot of things in our pantry; flour, oil, peanut butter for almond butter ect. Whole Foods receipt; 7 items = $48. 
5. Pizza does not taste like regular pizza. 
6. I miss lattes. 
7. Going out to eat is pretty difficult. 

So far Adam's biggest issue with paleo is what to have for lunch. So, I did my pinterest research and found some amazing BLT rollups. They're super easy and Adam loves them. Hooray! 

1. Lay the turkey down. Be gentle.  

2. Pile it on all! I put the lettuce down first, then the sliced tomatoes and then the two pieces of bacon.  

3. A good addition would be goat cheese, or avocado. But, goat cheese is messy and my avocados weren't ripe...so.  

4. Since he was transporting them to work and to lunch, I put some toothpicks in to hold them together. 

Football season is back! Well, kinda. Last night the Broncos played the Seahawks in their first preseason game. (Broncos won, but who's surprised). To get in festive football mood I decided to make a paleo version of chicken nuggets and french fries with a side of homemade honey-mustard. 

Ingredients: 

3 chicken breasts (mine were small, so if yours are Costco size, just use two)
1 cup coconut flour
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
pepper to taste
2 eggs 

How to make: 

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line grease two baking sheets
2. Cut chicken breasts into small little nuggets.
3. Mix together coconut flour, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper.
4. In a separate bowl, lightly beat two eggs.
5. Dry of the chicken and dredge them through the egg. Make sure they are coated, but allow the excess to drip off. Then dredge them through the flour mixture.
6. Bake for 8 minutes, flip them and back for another 8 minutes. Adam likes them extra crunchy, so when they were done, I turned the broiler on for about another two minutes. Make sure to watch them or else they will burn! 

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce: 

3 tablespoons runny honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (I use Annie’s Naturals)

In a small bowl, whisk together the honey and Dijon.  


On to the french fries! These were a little trial and error, but turned out delicious. And what's better than watching the Bronco's while watching french fries, if theres something better, I haven't found it yet. Now if they could just make paleo beer. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 large yams 
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil 
• paprika, salt & pepper

Here’s how I made the fries:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees 

2. Peel sweet potatoes and cut into little strips. (they cook down, so I made them a little thicker) 

3. Line a baking sheet with tin foil (I should have sprayed the tin foil with something because some stuck)  

4. Melt the coconut oil (I did 30 seconds) and pour over the sweet po'es. Then season with the paprika, salt and pepper.  

5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Again, to crisp them up, I broiled them for about 2 minutes. I like the black burnt edges so it was perfect for that. 

Okay, total honesty. When I first saw this recipe I thought to myself, how could these possibly be good. 1. They are made out of sweet potatoes. 2. There is NO sugar in them! 3. There is hardly any flour. 

1. 1 medium raw white sweet potato, peeled and grated (using the larger holes of the grater) - 2 to 2 1/2 cups of shredded sweet potatoes 

2. 2 whole eggs 

3. 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real kind) 

4. 1/2 cup of raw honey, melted in the microwave if it’s too thick 

5. generous 1/2 cup of virgin olive oil 

6. 1 heaped tbsp of gluten free baking powder 

7. ½ tbsp of baking soda 

8. 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (reduce that amount if you prefer a milder chocolate flavor) 

9. 2 tbsp coconut flour

1. Preheat oven to 365 °F.  

2. Combine grated sweet potato, eggs, vanilla, honey and olive oil in a large mixing bowl and stir together until well mixed. Then add baking powder and baking soda and stir.  Add cocoa powder, mix and finally add coconut flour. Avoid adding too much coconut flour as it will absorb too much moisture which will result in drier brownies. 

3. After stirring everything together, pour the mixture into a greased baking tray greased.  

4. Cook for 25-30 minutes. Remove the tin and cool for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing the brownie cake form the tin.  

5. Then, the fun part, slather the brownie with almond butter, melted chocolate, raw honey, did I say almond butter? Maybe throw some raspberries, strawberries or blueberries on top and try not to eat the whole thing in one bite! 

Two nights ago, the side dish I made for Adam was broccoli. Yep, that's it. Broccoli. Needless to say, he wasn't thrilled by this bland choice of side. So, last night I decided I needed to step up my paleo side dish game. After searching pinterest I came across cauliflower mashed potatoes. Spoiler Alert, there are NO potatoes anywhere in the recipe, as disappointing as that may sound. But, these cauliflower potatoes were bomb.com. I would eat them every night if I could. I found this recipe on Fed & Fit (her blog is awesome, go check it out!) and was so happy I made them. Now, if I could only convince Adam to eat cauliflower potatoes every night..

Ingredients:

5 cups chopped cauliflower
1 cup coconut milk (I used light)
2 Tbl coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 onion powder
2 Tbl chopped chives (I didn't use chives, but I like saying chives... chives.)

How to make:

1. First cut the cauliflower into tiny flourets.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil.
3. Add the flourets (I like that word)
4. Let them simmer on low for 10 minutes.
5. Transfer the flourets to a blender or a food processor
6. Blend until you like the consistency
7. Add spices
8. Eat them until they are all gone. And then lick the bowl (I did). 

1. Why can't I have white bread?
2. What's wrong with milk?
3. I really miss cheese.
4. Sometimes I just want to grab a can a Pringles and eat the whole thing.
5. Coffee is not good if there isn't sugar-free vanilla creamer in it.
6. What am I going to do with all this ice cream in the freezer?
7. I JUST WANT BREAD!
8. This paleo thing isn't that hard, I'm not even hungry
9. I'm not cutting out wine and you can't make me.
10. What's wrong with rice? 

I promise, despite the title, they were surprisingly delish! I found this recipe on Delighted Momma and am happy to report, they were really good! I forgot to take pictures of the process (whoops!) but did take a picture of the end product. I would say the hardest part about paleo baking is the ingredients. Throw away (or not) everything you think you have for baking because you'll need all new things to bake paleo. However, I've noticed that most of these ingredients are used in a lot of other things. So in the end, its not as harsh on the wallet as I thought.

On Sunday, in preparation for our wedding, Adam and I started the paleo diet. The paleo diet is described as, "An effort to eat like we used to back in the day…way back in the day. If a caveman couldn't eat it, neither can you. This means anything we could hunt or find – meats, fish, nuts, leafy greens, regional veggies, and seeds." 

The past two days have included grocery shopping at Whole Foods and King Sooper in order to fill our pantry with all things paleo. That included coconut oil, coconut flour, tons of meat, eggs, and more green veggies than you could imagine. Things not included in that list: milk, ice cream, pasta, rice, bread, chips, crackers, yogurt, and the worst, coffee creamer. Adams biggest fear starting this was the loss of bread and sandwiches. So, to remedy that, we found some gluten free (brown rice - a violation!) tortilla's so he could have some sandwiches. 

The last two days have been a hilarious trial and error process of making paleo breakfasts, lunches, dinners and desserts. Starting today, I'm going to blog, with pictures, the next 30 days of paleo. If you have any recipes you love, please send them this way. 

Day 1 dinner: coconut crusted chicken with roasted zucchini and onions. 
Day 2 dinner: bunless turkey burgers with goat cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and a side of broccoli. Needless to say, Adam was less than thrilled with the dry broccoli option. 

My next mission is to pinterest all kinds of interesting and delicious, caveman food. Here we go, wish us luck.