Every Friday Night

Every Friday night we make pizza.


Then we get a bath


and come back downstairs to make popcorn.


We heat up 2 tablespoons of coconut oil on medium-high heat.

Then add half a cup of good quality corn kernels.  Cover and remove from the heat when the popping slows considerably.  Add a generous amount of salt.

I divide most of the popcorn into three cups

and also break out the junk food.  Just this once.


Junk food includes juice.

While I'm doing this the kids get their favorite stuffed animals and cover the couch with blankets.

Then we watch a movie or a new show.  We've watched The Grinch, Brave, The Lorax, Doc McStuffins, and so many more.

I had to share this with you because we do this every Friday night and it's something we all look forward to all week long.

Do you have something you do every week?  Pizza night?  A special family dinner?

Dinner Date

Y'all I've had a long couple of days.  Nothing major has happened but I can feel myself wearing down.  My kids have been little firecrackers and my energy levels are dissipating for some reason.  If you are a mom you'll understand when I say my kids have been "constant".  If you don't have kids it just means they are going going going and not in a good way.  They've been constantly under my feet making constant noise.  They made mess after mess and pushed my buttons to another level.  I wasn't even going to do a post today but I figured since I missed yesterday I owed myself one.  Remember I keep this blog as a food journal.  I still go back to old posts for meal ideas!  

Breakfast:

Deja vu? This has pretty much been it for the past few days. One egg, one egg white, and spinach all cooked in ghee. Plus coffee with homemade almond milk.

Lunch:

Leftover mexi-meatloaf and stir fried veggies (broccoli, peppers, onion, green beans and carrots.

Dinner:

I had a hot date for dinner.  Squirrel was with her nana so LB and I sat on the counter and ate chicken.  I know you guys are wondering how I can complain about that sweet face... You'd think I was lying if I told you he threw a frisbee at his sister to purposely hit her in the head today... He's so lucky he's cute.


That's really what we did.  We sat side by side and shared a plate of non-paleo ketchup (veggies right?!).  I dipped regular pan fried chicken and he dipped homemade chicken nuggets.  No one was there to judge.  Just me and him.

What do you do when there's no one there to judge?  
Since the hubs has been gone I get free range!  I eat at the counter a lot and I feed my kids off of paper plates more than I'd like to admit....

Regular Programming

I'm so glad it's Monday. Between LB's ear tubes and me battling off the crud I was so ready for last week to be over. Today I started fresh. Everyone is good. I'm feeling fine and LB recovered so well.

I didn't vere from paleo last week which is a huge milestone for me.  Usually when I'm stressed I eat crap.  Not this time.  I'm on a mission this time.

We are back to some regular programming on here too.  I didn't have the focus or the time for blogging last week.

Breakfast:

One egg, one egg white, and spinach cooked in ghee.  Plus coffee with almond milk.

Gym:  One hour of pilates, 30 minutes push muscles, and 20 mins on the stair climber.  I was tired when I left the gym!

Lunch:

Stir fry that I made on Sunday.  I used skirt steak, carrots, peppers, onion, broccoli, green beans, and zucchini.  Eat the rainbow right?

Snack:

The gym made me hungry.  I was hungry all... day... long.  I caved around 3:00 and had half an apple with a drizzle of raw almond butter.

Dinner:

Mexi-meatloaf and green beans.  Both made on Sunday.  Seriously, that meal prep day is awesome!  Did you see how much I cooked today?  I didn't really... Breakfast... Did you see how well I ate?  Pretty well!  It's totally worth the time!

Do you dread Mondays?  Since my husbands been gone everyday feels the time.  We don't really do anything different on the weekends.

RECIPE: Banana Bread Paleo Pancakes

Y'all it's Sunday.  Do you know what Sunday is in my house?

Every Friday night is pizza, popcorn, and a movie.  Every Sunday is pancake and bacon day!

I've had banana bread pancakes on my brain for a few weeks now. I finally made it come to life this morning.


Banana Bread Paleo Pancakes

1/4 cup mashed banana
1 egg
1 egg white
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

Grass-fed butter for the top

Make sure your banana is mashed really well in a bowl.  Whisk in your egg, egg whites, almond flour, and cinnamon.  Stir in your walnuts.  Melt a teaspoon of fat (I would use ghee or butter) in a pan on medium-low heat. Pour in the pancake batter to form three small pancakes.  Let the pancakes cook for about five minutes on one side.  You don't want to try to turn them too soon or they will fall apart.  Low and slow is the key.  You may have to peek and see if they are ready to flip.  When they look golden brown flip them over and let the other side cook for about two minutes.

These were so good topped with more walnuts, banana, and butter.
Someone made them already on Instagram and she used pecans.  Ahhh!  Why didn't I think of that.  Toasted pecans would be so good.


Nut butter would also be good on top or maybe just a drizzle of pure maple syrup if you want to get crazy!

Instagram Shenanigans

I didn't post yesterday because LB got tubes in his ears! What a stressful thing to go through as a mama. I know it's a normal procedure but to hand your baby over to be put under anesthesia is a little nerve racking.  He did really well!


This kid didn't skip a beat.  He has been perfectly fine since about an hour after the surgery.


For not having a post yesterday I've got some good food pics today!

Dinner last night:

Grilled tilapia, roasted carrots, and sautéed broccoli.  I need to show you guys how I make that broccoli.  Whenever I make it we all inhale it.  Kids included.  So different from steaming and roasting (my kids won't eat it those ways).

I got a little bit of crap on Instagram last night when I posted my fish picture.  By crap I mean lecturing.  I don't know if the tilapia is farmed or not.  I know I should be eating wild fish but I really don't like fish.  Like really really don't like it.  If it tastes the littlest bit fishy I'll gag.  No joke.  I keep trying to like it but I just can't get over the taste!

My husband on the other hand loves fish.  He grew up on the coast of North Carolina so he grew up eating fish.  I grew up in Ohio where we eat Red Lobster.  He has been trying to get me to eat fish for 13 years.  Just recently I've been eating tilapia but only if it's grilled... and only if it has fresh lemon juice on it.  

Needless to say, the hubs got me some tilapia filets before he left from the Whole Foods fish counter.  I don't know where it's from, who caught it, who raised it, whether it ate organic, or was humanely killed.  I'll look into it more if I get some more.

Breakfast (today):

One egg, one egg white, and massaged kale all cooked in ghee.  Hey!  Massaged kale tastes awesome cooked!  I've also been getting some questions about why I'm not eating yolks...

Eeeeeshhhh everyone thinks they know everything about paleo don't they?!  You know what?  I LOVE the confrontation!  Call me out on things!  That's how we all learn and that's how you guys keep me on track.  Plus I'm a member of the paleo police too.

I'm not eating yolks because I'm watching calories by the way.  I've got 6 months to get super lean before the hubs gets home.

Plus coffee this morning!


Gym:  45 minutes of yoga.  I went to that new yoga studio and they had a sub for the class I was taking.  The sub sucked.  How do you handle that?!  I walked out after 45 minutes but still had to pay full price for the class.  I didn't know there was a sub until the class started.  Redonk.

Snack:

Organic blueberries and slivered almonds.

Since I got out of yoga early I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods.

I snacked on these guys on my ride home.


These are totally paleo and SO good.

I don't know what mix they put on them but they almost taste cheesy.

Lunch:

A grass fed beef slider (leftover from Sundays meal prep!), bacon, and massaged kale.  I nuked them all in the microwave.

Dinner:
It's Friday so we did pizza and popcorn!  If you guys have kids you should really do this with them.  My kids get so excited for this... and honestly so do I.


This is our favorite pizza and I did have a few pieces.


This times two!

I also had popcorn and a sprinkle of M&M's.

What is something that you do with your family all the time?