Monterey and Christmas 2013

Whoa I took a pretty big blogging hiatus.  It wasn't planned.  It just sort of happened.

So since I talked to you last we moved across the country.  Directly across the country.


We drove for five days with four dogs, three adults, two kids, and a partridge in a pear tree. We started in Hampstead, North Carolina and ended in Monterey, California.  We stopped in Nashville, TN, Fort Smith, AR, Amarillo, TX, and Flagstaff, AZ.  When we originally mapped our route we tried to average eight hours of driving time each day, however, a snowstorm hit on our second stop.  Before the trip I was really hoping my kids would see some snow.  We didn't just see snow.  We saw winter wonderlands on our whole trip.  

There was a snow/ice storm in Arkansas, single digit weather in Texas, and a blizzard in Arizona.  We are from the beach in North Carolina.  We aren't used to the snow so it added quite a bit of drive time to a few days.  My husband and my sister traded off driving the kids car.  I never had to drive with the kids.  I think everyone agreed that was for the best.  So I got to drive my four dogs in my Honda CRV across the country.  I was told the kids were great.  My dogs have moved from North Carolina to Virginia, Virginia to Florida, Florida to Texas, Texas to Florida, and Florida to North Carolina.


They are PROS at riding in the car and sleeping in hotel rooms.

Overall our trip was great.  It was much easier and more fun than expected.  I'll talk more about Monterey in later posts.  


As soon as we got into our new house we immediately started Christmas.


Christmas was hard this year.  We didn't have any family and it felt like it was cut short since we moved the first week in December.  It helped that the kids were so excited and we did get to FaceTime with my family on Christmas morning.  I also got a bunch of new kitchen gadgets to play with!

So on to food…


I've gained 10lbs in a month.  For the past month paleo has pretty much gone out the window.  Any meal we've made at home has been paleo but it's been accompanied with Christmas cookies for dessert.  Plus we've eaten out more in the last month than the entire year.

I have some high expectations for myself in 2014.  I have crossfit, diet, parenting, and blog goals that are reachable but will take quite a bit of effort.  I'm all about New Years resolutions!  What a perfect time to set a goal.  You have such a clean slate ahead.

Tell me what you have in store for 2014.

Paleo Bakehouse

Oh man did I get some goodies in the mail.  There are two things that I just cannot resist when it comes to food.  Pizza and cookies.  My Whole30 didn't fix it.  If it's around I will eat it.  Paleo or not.  

In the past few days I've eaten cookies for breakfast.


Cookies for lunch.


And cookies for dinner.


All from Paleo Bakehouse.  Paleo cookies!  The hubs and the littles did some damage on the cookies as well.    They loved the Power Brownie Cookies and regular Chocolate Chip.  I loved the Freckled Almond.


All of their cookies are made with paleo friendly ingredients like almond flour, coconut oil, and almond butter.  These really have been a special treat this week!

What's your favorite kind of cookie?

RECIPE: Paleo Mexi-Meatballs

I'm gonna write a cookbook and it's going to be all about meatballs...  Seriously, I really love meatballs.


As I started typing this recipe out I realized it only has 5 ingredients!


Sure you could add more stuff... Chopped peppers?  Salsa?  Olives?


Oh I don't know... I really like the simplicity of these little guys.  They have great texture and are full of flavor.

Paleo Mexi-Meatballs

1 pound grass fed beef (mine was 80/20)
1/4 cup onion finely chopped (like little bitty pieces)
2 T taco seasoning
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup almond flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.  I form the mixture into two inch meatballs but you can make smaller ones or bigger ones.  Just adjust the bake time.  Put the little guys on the baking sheet and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

They are SO good dipped in guacamole (I just do avocado, lime juice, garlic powder, and salt).

They are even better on top of cauliflower rice seasoned with more taco seasoning.

NO RECIPE: Cauliflower Rice

There are quite a few ways to make cauliflower rice. This is my favorite way to do it.  It isn't really that flavorful but when added to dishes it gives it a great texture.

Pulse a whole head of washed and chopped cauliflower in a blender or food processor.


I used my vitamix and had to stop a few times to scrape down the sides.  You want it to look like rice.


Melt some fat in a pan.  Most of the time I use coconut oil but anything would be good.  Add your "rice" and any seasoning.  This time around I added taco seasoning and a little salt.

Saute in the fat until tender.  Mine takes about 10 minutes.

My Favorite Paleo Meals

I love using my blog as a resource.  Whenever I need meal ideas I come here.  I've posted so many of my meals that sometimes I have a hard time finding what I need.  By making this page this puts everything in one place making it easy for me to find things and hopefully giving you a good place to come to when you need ideas.  Come back because this page will be updated frequently with more ideas!

BREAKFAST

homemade larabars	chia pudding	breakfast hotdogs
steak and eggs	mexican frittata	egg muffins
smoothies	paleo parfait	egg and veggie scramble
paleo pancakes	all in one pan	coming soon

LUNCH

paleo chicken salad	turkey sandwich wrap	coming soon
coming soon	coming soon	coming soon

DINNER

steak, sweet potato, something green	southwest meatloaf	asian meatballs
italian meatballs	stuffed sweet potatoes	paleo pad thai
pork chops and brussels	ground pork, kale, avocado	bacon wrapped chicken thighs
taco salad	burgers and latkes	sausage and sauerkraut
mexi-meatballs	chicken stirfry	paleo nachos
pizza pie	burgers in lettuce	coming soon

Alright what am I missing?  Tell me your favorite paleo meals!