How was your labor day everyone? Is it just me or does labor day kind of bum you out? It's like the official closing of summer! Granted its going to be hot here for another month or so, labor day always acts as the bookend of a great summer. 

This summer was on for the record books. We celebrated baby girl, twice. I celebrated one of my best gf's baby. We traveled to Omaha, Arizona, Steamboat Springs, Vail, and Breckenridge. We had visitors, date nights and we set up the nursery. We binged watched Ozarks and Yellowstone and spent time together just us two.

Ingredients:

• 4 bananas, mashed
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 4 tablespoons oil (coconut, vegetable, ghee)
• 1/2 cup almond flour (regular flour)
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of sea salt

How to Make:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine bananas, eggs, nut butter and oil. 
3. Once mixed, add in almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and sea salt. Mix. 
4. Grease a loaf pan and pour your mixture in. 
5. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool, eat! 

Happy Monday friends! How was your weekend? What did you do? Who did you see?

We had a girlfriends Christmas party on Saturday night. It was a Christmas murder mystery party. I've never done a murder mystery party and honestly I was a bit skeptical, but we had a blast. I was Candy Cane, the ultimate lover of Christmas and Adam was Puddy the Polar Bear. Everyone at the party got into the mood and we had so much fun.

Our Sunday was super low-key with the basic Sunday activities: grocery shop, make dinner, pose for Instagram, ya know, the usual. I was in an unusual baking mood, so I took advantage and made paleo apple crisp and non-paleo gingerbread cookies. Don't worry, I'll have that recipe on the blog this week.

Anyway, moving on. Is there anything better than homemade banana bread? Maybe banana bread with chocolate chips, but honestly, there really is nothing better. Got of bunch of uneaten bananas on your counter? If your family is like mine, Adam refuses to eat bananas once they are brown. So it's either into the garbage they go, or into some delicious bread.


My mother has an amazing banana bread recipe but unfortunately, it has boatloads of non-paleo items in it. I was looking for something delicious and paleo. It took a little mixing and matching, but I think I found the perfect recipe.

The best part about banana bread? The smell. Oh, you will thank me in about an hour when the smell of banana bread of wafting through your house. Trust me on this.

Ingredients:
4 bananas, mashed
4 eggs
1/2 cup almond butter
4 tablespoons oil (coconut, veggie, ghee)
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of sea salt

How to Make:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine bananas, eggs, nut butter and oil. 
3. Once mixed, add in almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla and sea salt. Mix. 
4. Grease a loaf pan and pour your mixture in. 
5. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool, eat! 

Happy Monday friends! I hope this is your best week yet! Less than two week until Christmas!

Let's reminisce shall we? When I was in college, my roommates and I would literally eat jars of pesto slathered on top of tomatoes. Breakfast, throw some pesto on eggs. Lunch, pesto on anything you could find in the fridge. Snack or any other meal, pesto. We would buy the large jar at Costco once a week, I wish I was kidding.

Safe to say, my obsession for pesto faded quickly from pure overdose. It's been years since I've had pesto. Minus the pesto pizza from Oregano's. But that doesn't count.

I saw this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Ambitious Kitchen and I knew I needed to try it. Ps. If you're looking for great recipes, you gotta check her blog. It's amazing. I modified her recipe a little bit, just to fit our preference and I made my own paleo bread.

I made this recipe for dinner on Monday night and I had it for lunch Tuesday and we had it for dinner last night. My paleo obsession is back people and I'm ready to push my obsession on to you. What's an obsession if you can't share it with your friends?

Three things I love about this recipe: it's (fairly) easy, its colorful and it's so damn delicious. Adam usually isn't a left over lover, but he actually volunteered to eat left overs last night for dinner. This is a huge win in our household. Ps. If you're following me on Instagram, you saw a sneak peek of this recipe yesterday.

And for those that asked - without further ado, the recipe.


Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breasts
• 4 tablespoons raw pepitas (green pumpkin seeds)
• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 cups packed basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 small cloves garlic
• 6 tablespoons water
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (more for more spice)
• Shredded carrots, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, pickles or any other garnish that tickles your fancy
• Cholula or a great spicy mustard
• Bread of choice - or my paleo version!

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper Add chicken breast and generously season with salt, pepper, dried parsley and a touch of cumin.
2. Bake for 35 minutes or until fully cooked. Shred chicken with two forks; set aside.
3. While chicken is cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the pepitas and toast until just barely golden; stirring frequently so they don't burn. This should take about 5 minutes. 
4. Immediately transfer to the bowl of a food processor and add in avocado, basil, lemon juice, garlic, water, chili flakes and salt. 
5. Process until smooth.
6. Add pesto to bowl with the chicken and mix to combine.
7. I pre-made the bread (recipe) below so make that sandwich. If not, grab some delicious bread and load up. 
8. Enjoy, Eat and Repeat! 

• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon palm shortening
• 1/4 cu[ unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• dash of sea salt

Sandwich

• Pastrami
• Turkey
• Salami
• Goat Cheese
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Red Onion
• Pickles
• Peppercinis
• Dijon Mustard 
• Avocado

How to Make: 
Bread

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a bowl, combine almond flour, tapioca, baking powder, soda and sea salt. 
3. Add in eggs, apple sauce and palm shortening. Mix. 
4. Place greased rounds on a greased cookie sheet. Pour batter into molds, about half way full (depending on how big your molds are) 
5. I didn't have molds, so thanks to my smart thinking mama, I made some out of tinfoil. They worked great! 
6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. 
7. Slice in half and make your sandwich! 
8. Enjoy! 

It's no secret that I am a bread lover. Being a bread lover while trying not to eat bread is really quite difficult. Luckily for me I found a super delicious recipe that is considered paleo. Hooray!

When I first made this recipe the entire loaf fell apart. When I made this the second time, it was about  inch thick and kind of mushy. When I made this recipe the third time, it was devoured in two days. I think it's safe to say I've semi mastered this one. I'm still trying to modify it, but I promise, this is so delicious.

Ingredients: 

• 2 medium bananas- mashed 
• 2 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted 
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 eggs 
• 1/2 cup coconut flour 
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• dark chocolate chips

How to Make: 

1. Preheat your oven to 340F.
2. Line a small loaf tin with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, mash your bananas and add in your honey, vanilla, melted butter/coconut oil, applesauce and eggs.
4. Mix in your coconut flour, baking soda, baking powder and almond meal and allow to sit for two minutes. The mix will look really runny at first, but the coconut flour will soon absorb the liquid and form a thicker batter. 
5. Mix in the chocolate chips.
6. Pour your banana bread mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes to an hour  or until your loaf is cooked through and a toothpick inserted into the middle removes clean.

Yes, you read that title right. I made bread, paleo bread! This is a huge break in the paleo lifestyle for me. Bread is definitely something I've been missing and I'm really glad I found a delicious recipe for those moments when all I want is a sandwich. Now, warning, just because it's paleo doesn't mean it's as good for you as green veggies :) but as my dad has always said, everything in moderation. So when you're craving bread, you go girl, you make that paleo bread and you love it.

The recipe was pretty easy and my house smelled incredible. I'm pretty sure there is nothing better than the smell of bread baking in the oven. Maybe the smell of red wine while you're baking bread, but regardless, bread. (if you're counting, bread was said 9 times, now 10 times in this post, you're welcome).

Okay, what you've been waiting for, the recipe!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup almond butter
• 5 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed meal 
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

How to make:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. 
3. In a large bowl, combine almond butter (I heated mine up a bit to make it easier to stir), eggs, coconut oil, honey and apple cider vinegar together with a hand blender. 
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flaxseed, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. 
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. 
6. Pour the dough into the prepared baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes until browned. 
7. Remove from oven and allow loaf to cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. 
8. Enjoy for up to one week. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

• 1 pound chicken 
• 1 teaspoon chipotle powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• avocado
• lettuce
• goat cheese
• tomatoes 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the tapioca flour (you can substitute arrowroot flour/starch) with the salt and 1/4 cup of the coconut flour in a medium bowl. Mix well. 
3. Pour in oil and warm water and stir. Add the whisked egg and continue mixing until well combined.
4. If the mixture is too thin you should add one or two more tablespoons of coconut flour – one tablespoon at a time – until the mixture is a soft but somewhat sticky dough.
5. Use a spatula or large spoon to scoop out about two tablespoons of the dough and roll into balls. You will be making about 10 rolls. Use extra tapioca flour in the palms of your hands so the dough does not stick.
6. Place each roll of dough onto a greased baking pan, parchment paper or one covered with a Silpat (what I used)
7. Bake for 35 minutes