I'm Going Bananas, Literally!!

How exciting is it to eat healthy and get something you crave....ICE CREAM!!

 I love ice cream, as many of you know! I love ice cream so much that we had an ice cream bar at our wedding!

Granted, I used to eat "slow churned" ice cream, which is generally half the fat, and lower sugar, its still not "healthy." I've debated this several times, and every time I hear my husband says "its not healthy, its just not as bad for you as other things."
 So with that, I give you my current post, MY healthy ice cream: Frozen banana and fruit... let me explain!

Sitting at home, feeling sick with a cold, I can't taste much of anything, so for me, I wanted something hot or cold: Soup and Ice cream. Now I was not about to breakdown and buy a sugar/fat/random ingredient filled bucket of goodness...so I started playing around.

Since I make smoothies a lot, I had some frozen banana in the freezer (hint, put them in the freezer sliced, when they're ripe, good and ripe.) I also had some frozen strawberries. I took out the food processor and added a cup of frozen banana and 2 frozen strawberries. I then added just a touch of almond milk. Hit that baby on high and let it go. I had to stop a few times to wipe down the sides, so it would continue to blend, after about 3 minutes, I had what looked like creamy, delicious, pink, soft serve ice cream.
 WOOOO HOOO!

Now some may gamble with whether this is healthy or not, for me, I say yes! 3 ingredients, could be two, if you want it thicker minus the milk. Its totally Paleo, and dairy free, and gluten free, and everything else. Yes, fruit is sugar, but natural sugar.

I will most definitely be making this again, and again, and again!

** Take note of the serving size, just enough to get my fill :-)

Day 17

I cant believe its been more then two weeks now. Feeling great, feeling very healthy, love this! Wishing I was loosing more weight but in general, I'm feeling good. I imagine if I cut out some of the fruit and replace it with more veggies and protein I'll be feeling better. I think its very easy to grab an apple or orange and pack it for lunch, instead of cutting up celery and carrots. I will get better, I just need to invest the time, more time, which im lacking, now that I've started school, but I will make time. (<---run on sentence? )

Its been a long week. And a different week at that. I have officially started college. Every Tuesday and Thursday night I attend college from 7-9:45. I get home around 10ish, depending on when we leave class. It helps me to not eat as much as I would at home, but I sometimes find myself hungry at 10 when I get home. Need to put the kibosh on that!

Meal plan for the day:
Smoothie for breakfast and a LaraBar-for $1.85 each, they better be worth it!

Lunch is a "taco" salad. Seasoned ground chicken, lettuce, tomato, red onion, black olive, avocado with a homemade cilantro lime dressing. (Thanks Babe)

Dinner- Hotdogs, without buns, with sauteed onions and sauerkraut. Sweet potato fries. YUM! As you can see, I try to bring as much normality to our lives as possible. I should note, these hotdogs are ALL BEEF, with no casing.

Days 14, 15, 16 MY BAD

Damn! Kinda disappointed in myself that I havent posted in several days. I guess College really does take most of your attention!

To make this quick, Not really loosing weight, but feeling great, so I guess thats ok, right?

Some of the meals we had in these days include:

Cauliflower Chicken fried rice with Pineapple. Tasty, and really looked like rice!
Sausage and Broccoli Rabe with Mushrooms. YUM, one of our favs, of course we always like it with pasta, but by itself, it was much more flavorful, Lots of fresh garlic helps! Good for the heart they say :-)

Baked chicken, I take the skin off, with plantains (we ate out so im sure they were fried, but very tasty of course). I also discovered this new "dipping sauce" that this mult culture restaurant serves. Its like a vinegar, pepper, scallion, onion mix. I will definitely be trying to make it this weekend!

Day 13, getting so used to this!

Thinking back on my weekend, I'm starting to see how the body reacts to things it shouldn't have. I had butter, beer and too much oil and I was really feelin it! It's kind of encouraging! Makes me think I can do this 90/10 Paleo a lot longer then 1 month!

This morning I made smoothies, strawberry, banana, almond milk. So sweet tasting, like a strawberry milk shake. I really liked it but I felt so full so fast that I had to put my smoothie in the fridge when I got to work, and then I finished it later on. 

For lunch, I had a very green salad- iceberg, cucumber, green beans, tomatoes and egg. I'll admit, I used Ken's Italian salad dressing, I'm getting bored with vinegar and olive oil. 

I'm very proud of John, he was at a seminar today so he had to eat out. His friend wanted Taco Bell. John thought about getting the cantina bowl, then his inner cricket must have chirped and lead him in a much better direction. He went to Mo's and got a chicken salad filled with lots of veggies. He used hot sauce instead of dressing! I have to admit, he's doing great and I'm so glad to have such a good partner! 

Snacks for me- orange and some banana chips. For John-raisins and plantain chips.

Dinner tonight, let me tell you! Homemade egg drop soup, so good, and I'm getting closer and closer to making it taste like real Chinese. The trick this time, add a little grated goner and garlic! For our meal, chicken and pineapple stir fried "rice". I had I take a couple double takes because it honestly looked like the fried rice I used to always make, with real white rice! I loaded if ip with lots of fresh veggies and some scrambled eggs. Yes, I am using soy sauce, not near as much as I used to use, but enough for flavor and familiarity. 

Day 12

This morning I switched it up. Made a ham and sweet potato hash with red peppers and onion. Very tasty and filling!

For lunch, we ate a little late because we went out shopping. Made some ham, salami and lettuce wraps.

Dinner tonight, were at moms house. This time a much better meal- roast beef, parsnips, potatoes( which we won't have) and string beans. I've reading that string beans may not be considered Paleo but I've read so many good things about them so were gonna eat them! 

Shocking food discovery

Have you ever eaten turkey sausage, turkey kielbasa, turkey bacon, chicken nuggets? Thought it was better for you, right? Me too! Until I started reading the ingredients...the first ingredient in all of these is Mechanically separated turkey...Excuse me? What? So I did some research and this is what I found, absolutely disgusted and completely turned off! http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanically_separated_meat

Nothing like a "healthy" does of bacteria covered paste! Yuck! 

Here's a pic just to get you more repulsed! I can't believe I've been eating this stuff! 

Day 11

Today, just like most weekends, we got off to a late start so we decided to have brunch. We made some delicious lobster omelets with a side of bacon and sautéed spinach and tomato. That should hold us over to mid day. 

For dinner tonight I'm making another Paleo recipe- Cuban pork with baked plantains.

Recipe here: http://www.health-bent.com/pork/cuban-pork-tenderloin ****minus the Swiss cheese!

Day 10

Today started great! I was going with work to visit the google office, at 12pm so I got to sleep in a bit, plus Yorktown had a two hour delay. John woke up on time, so he just grabbed some fruit for breakfast.

I woke up and had two scrambled eggs and three slices of bacon. 

Very long story short- I barely made it to google, after 3.5 hours of surprise blizzard commute, I got about 20 mins in google and had to run to my car to pay for another hour on the meter! Turns out my group was leaving google around 2 so me paying another hour meant nothing, so I drove up to Johns job. I snacked on almonds and cashews.

After today's day, my lunch became nuts and my mid snack became a well deserved beer! If you know anything about me, I desperately wanted to be at google, failing led me to beer, and boy did I enjoy it! 10 days withot alcohol, my 3 bud lights felt good! 

For dinner, we dined out, we knew it would be hard but we both decided that we wouldnt go anywhere that doesn't have Paleo options! John even said he'd go to a burger joint and take away the bun!!! 

We ended up at Flor De Mayo in NYC. Let me start off by saying wow! That menu was crazy, sooooo many options. They had food from all different origins- Cuban, Chinese, Cantonese, Peruvian....

After browsing the menu, several times over, we finally found meals that would suite our Paleo needs. John got shrimp with bean sprouts and a side of plantains- this boy cannot get enough of plantains! I got what they call "Pollo a la Brasa." It was a half chicken cooked in Peruvian spices, absolutely delicious. That came with a side of plantains  and salad with an outrageously good dipping sauce. I've been searching all morning to find out what's in that sauce!

Day 9

Another day, another smoothie! John had to go into work early today so I made some quick smoothies for us. Today's recipe:
   Recipe for two:
2 frozen bananas
1 cup of raw baby spinach
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 of an avocado
1 tsp of honey
1 cup of water
 Blend till smooth

Who would think that when you blend all these things together, you don't taste what you would normally taste if eaten alone. I loved adding the honey for a bit of sweetness, and look how good honey is for you:  http://www.care2.com/greenliving/10-health-benefits-of-honey.html

For snack, I had an apple, this time around, it didn't do it for me. Unfortunately, I had a weak moment; today, at work, there is a staff appreciation day, so, being hungry, I wandered down to see what goodies were around.  I walk in, and what do I see, Carb Central! Scones, bagels, cookies, croissants, YUM YUM and more YUM. What do I grab? An apple, and.... dark chocolate covered Pomegranates (Brookside 100 cal pack.) I figured I could have grabbed way worse, and temptation took over, so I took something semi healthy. I'm feeling guilty because I know I probably shouldn't eat anything in a package, and I tried to stop myself twice, but I just went for it. A little voice is telling me, don't worry, dark chocolate is good for you, so I'll just go with that!

Moving on....

For lunch, mixed greens salad with grilled veggies for me, and carrot sticks. For John, another lovely salad and a side of watermelon. 

For dinner tonight, we made honey chipotle lime salmon with steamed broccoli and cilantro lime "rice". I Also made a deconstructed guacamole salad-cubed avocado, tomato, and red onion with a little olive oil and vinegar, sprinkle of garlic salt and cumin. 

Salmon recipe can be found here: http://www.paleoplan.com/2009/12-31/chipotle-lime-salmon/ -note, I added honey for sweetness 

Day 8

Past a week, whew! 

Breakfast was fast and easy, a full blown veggie and fruit smoothie. 

Recipe for two:

1 celery stalk

1 apple, peeled

1 cup of baby spinach, raw

1/4 cup frozen raspberries

1 frozen banana

1/3 cup of water

Blend till smooth and enjoy!

Mid morning I had a delicious orange and John had a banana.

For lunch, I went out to Salsa Fresca in Yorktown.  I customized my own Paleo salad. Lettuce, chicken, grilled onions and peppers, pico, cilantro and tomatilla sauce. Cilantro lime dressing on the side. And if your going to ask, I decline on the chips! Go me, no temptation there. Also, the salad was delicious so my Mexican craving was fulfilled!

John is so fortunate that his job provides lunch for all the students and staff, but it's not always easy to get what you need or can have. Lucky for him, today's meal was Asian themed with lots of great options. He had the chicken and veggies stir fry, no rice! Along with that, sautéed eggplant and an Asian soup, light colored broth is good to stick with! I'm very proud that he's making these great choices.

For dinner I made a totally Paleo meal, Cuban Picadillo see link to the recipe below. This reminds me of a mix between sloppy joe and chilli. Next time, I won't add as much tomato paste, other then that, tasty!

http://www.edibleharmony.com/cuban-picadillo/

Day 7, 1 week on Paleo

I love it! Feeling great, its been a week since I started and I'm feeling better each day. Sleeping really well, I'm really surprised by that. I used to wake up several times during the night, and then had extreme trouble falling back asleep. Now, maybe once or twice, and then I fall right back asleep. Even this morning, I set the alarm for 5:30, so I could make breakfast ahead of time, and I woke right up, no issues, didnt even feel tired! Now maybe I'm blowing smoke up my ass but I really think this is working.

John and I decided to eat breakfast together every Tuesday and Thursday morning since I will be going to college on those nights and we wont get to eat dinner together. So I think on these mornings we'll have a bigger breakfast. I made scrambled eggs (4 total for both of us) with 3 slices of bacon. I cut the bacon in half since its pretty long slices and we split that too. I also served us each a quarter of an avocado. As long as it doens't brown, we can have the other half tomorrow. I hope I'm making enough food, seems like it, I never really know because neither of us have been very good with portion control!

I will be honest, I haven't cut out ketchup. I like it with my eggs, John can do without, but me, I only use about a teaspoon. Im sure I will be able to cut it out eventually, but hey, everything else is Paleo. Another confession, I use the same cast iron skillet to cook my bacon in, and i keep the fat, and continue to cook more bacon in it, and then use the fat when needed for meals. I looked up the calories and fat content and bacon fat wins the battle so I think this is a good guilty pleasure!


For Lunch, John and I both had our regulars, me, arugula chicken and veggies salad, side of cantaloupe, John, mixed greens salad with lots of veggies.

Dinner tonight is roll your own, as mom used to say, since I will be attending orientation until 9pm. I have left over chicken marsala, and John, pending he can get in the house (forgot his house key) will probably make a grilled veggie salad.

My new food excitement...Cauliflower Rice!

I've read several posts and comments about people making "rice" from cooked cauliflower. Every time I've  thought about it, I just couldn't believe how it would be comparable to rice. Well boy was I wrong!

I took a bag of steamed cauliflower and microwaved for 5 mins. I then put it in the food processor with a little salt and pepper and pulsed it about 5 times. When I scooped it out, to my surprise, it really did look like rice.  I scooped it onto our plates and topped with my chicken Marsala. (See day 6 for recipe and pic.) 

The real test would be what the tough critic, my husband, John had to say; he loves his rice! I was shocked to see his delight as he took several bites!

We've decided we will certainly make this again. I imagine you could get bored with it real quick, so we'll probably only make it once a week or so, and definitely with meals that have a sauce, just to mask the cauliflower taste.

Update: some variations we've made is adding cilantro and lime to it, we pared this with a chipotle lime salmon. We've also used the rice cauliflower to make pizza. See later post about trying new things!!

Overall, we're excited about this discovery!

Day 6

This is my first "real" day back to work. Not wearing jeans or hoodies like I did when everyone was out. Feeling great, I put on a pair of slacks, yes, I said slacks, and they fit great! Way better then they did 2 and half weeks ago. It wasnt a struggle to keep the button closed LOL! Im excited because today my husband officially starts Paleo. He's been following a lot of the meals i've made but with New Years and Football, it was hard for him to get into it over break, being that were both back to our normal work schedule, today should be a great starting point for him. Everything works better when you have a partner!

I made smoothies this morning, and in the words of Eddie from "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" movie, "Clark, this is goooooodd!" Let me tell you, a shot of rum in this baby and it would have tasted like a tropical vaction on the beach!
      Strawberry Pina Colada:
      1 frozen Banana
      4 sliced strawberries
      1/2 cup sliced fresh pineapple
      1/4 cup canned coconut milk chilled
      1/4 cup of water
      Blend until creamy, makes about 24 oz. Im not totally sure because I split it with my husband and his             container was bigger then mine.

Considering I gave him more for breakfast, I took a little extra food for the day. I had a hard boiled egg around 10 am, which held me over 'till lunch around 12:30. I had a beautiful salad, similar to yesterday. Arugula, grilled chicken, tomato, black olives, and peperchini peppers. Balsamic and olive oil.

For a snack I had an orange and an apple.

John made himself a nice veggie salad, similar to mine, with a side of pickles (weird, but filling im sure) and a side of honey dew, which I heard was really good!

Dinner tonight was  chicken marsala. Using chicken breast, no breading needed (sometimes i use a little flour, but not really needed). Sautee chicken in non stick pan with a spritz of olive oil. I love using my Mister, you can fill it with any oil you want and it comes out in the pan like a can of Pam would. Once chicken is cooked, Im adding two 8oz containers of white mushrooms and half a container of baby bella. Let that sautee with just a little more olive oil and fresh garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Pour in half a cup of marsala wine to deglaze the pan, and then add half a can of chicken broth (or a whole can if you want it juicy.)  I served seamed green beans on the side and a salad. Also, Cauliflower rice. I will post more on that!!

Update** Coconut Milk whipped cream, Second time around

**UPDATE
 This sucks! I really don't know what I'm doing wrong! I bought a regular can of coconut milk. Kept it in the fridge for 24 hours, upside down. I open it today, and its all mixed, nothing separated. I tried to whip it, but nothing, just cold milk. Damn! I was really looking forward to this, so instead, milk shakes it is LOL!


So yesterday I posted about trying out a "coconut whipped cream" recipe. Well, lesson #1 learned, don't use lite products. Tried using lite coconut milk for the recipe, ehhhh what do I know, right? Well no such luck. All I was left with was cold coconut soup!

So...I'm trying again! Bought another can of coconut milk, this time, regular. I've got it chilling in the fridge as we speak. My macerated  berries really need a pairing of delicious whip tonight, plus, I hate when recipes fail!

I will update!

Day 5

Felt great this morning! For breakfast I switched it up and had a big bowl of fresh fruit. Sliced banana, mandarin oranges, and chopped pineapple with a cup of tea. Nice to not eat bacon everyday. 

For lunch, a delicious salad made with arugula, grilled chicken, black olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and balsamic and olive oil. Let me just say, I love arugula!

Time for dinner-scared! Eating at moms house tonight, let me first say, as mentioned on Facebook, I've found my biggest weakness! I get here and there's homemade macaroons on the table. Chips pretzels and homemade French onion dip...and a plethora of other delicious treats....all of which I did not touch! 

Mom's making homemade gumbo, in honor of my brothers birthday and his mysterious love for St. Louis. I will only eat the chicken and veggies. She made rice on the side, so I decided to bring over a much needed salad.  Also, guess what else she made....Red Lobster cheese and garlic biscuits... really? come on mom! But to my temptation, I didn't try one!

Day 4

Well they say once you make it past day 3, it's all up hill, but to be honest, it hasn't been that tough so far. 

For breakfast, scrambled eggs and bacon, bought the low sodium type this time. Wondering when I'll get tired of bacon, I mean, I loveeee bacon, but I need I switch it up a little bit. 

For lunch, we went out, it was tough finding a restaurant with options but we finally decided on Outback. Of course as soon as we get there they lay the delicious bread and butter down. What a test! But I didn't eat it, promise! We had the coconut shrimp to start, I'm sure it's not %100 Paleo but I'd imagine close. Soo good! I ordered the sesame salad, it had sliced ahi tuna, lettuce, carrots, cabbage and almonds. Wasabi vinaigrette on the side. Very tasty, and I felt full after! 

For dinner, maybe a little chicken, I'm not sure yet, surprisingly still full from lunch. And I snacked on some fresh pineapple as I was chopping it up for tomorrow. 

My sister came over tonight so I have some strawberries and blackberries macerating in stevia. I'm going to attempt to make a whipped cream from canned coconut milk. Here's the recipe I saw:   http://www.paleocupboard.com/fresh-berries-with-whipped-coconut-cream.html

Forgot to mention, was extremely proud of myself when at Fairway Market, I was about to grab a piece of bread to taste some balsamic, when I suddenly shouted "NO, I can't eat that" and then walked away, calmly haha

Day 3

It's getting easier! Slept great last night, even woke up at 5 because John had to figure out if he was going to work or not (because of snow) and for the first time in a long time, I fell right back to sleep. Usually I'm up for at least half an hour.

We ate breakfast a little late due to shoveling snow. So brunch we'll call it. I made scrambled eggs(just egg and water, pepper, garlic salt) and bacon. Usually I can only eat egg whites but so far, so good! 

For lunch, I've made homemade cream of broccoli soup. Sauteed 4 yellow onions in my left over bacon fat. To that I added 4 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of water. salt, pepper, and a clove of garlic. While that was coming to a boil, I steamed about 4 heads of fresh broccoli. Rough chopped and added to the soup once it boiled. (I reserved about of cup of broccoli to add at the end.) I let that sit for about half an hour on medium heat, then took it off the heat and used an immersion  blender to blend everything together. Lastly, I added about a quarter cup of coconut milk---interesting! It made the soup a little sweet so I added more salt, cracked pepper and a little onion powder. Honestly, I think I like it! It smells like coconut but the taste is hidden. Had a salad with lunch and some Cantaloupe after.

For dinner tonight, I made hamburgers in lettuce wraps. Lots of healthy toppings like tomato, red onion and avocado, and  side of baked sweet potatoes. Hubby seasoned them up with lots of flavorful spices!

Day 2

Not to bad! Hubby and I had eggs and bacon for breakfast, made salads with grilled chicken for lunch but do to the bad weather, and my  successful meeting at Fordham, I met him in the city and we went out for lunch. I had a delicious Thai chicken salad, lots of veggies(and papaya) dressing on the side. John, well he's trying lol

Dinner was grilled skirt steak with a homemade chimichurri sauce made of olive oil, parsley, cilantro, shallots, garlic and salt. I also baked some plantains and then lightly toasted them in the skillet. YUM! 

Day 1

Well we slept a little later then expected so we skipped breakfast. For lunch I made a mixed greens salad with tomato, black olives, and some ham. Balsamic dressing. I also had a sliced mango. I won't tell you what the husband had, only part of it was paleo, but he's prepare for PALEO dinner and meals moving fwd! 

I got a little hungry a few hours later so I heated up some homemade chicken soup, here's the kicker, I had to pick out all the pasta I had originally put in it when I cooked it a month ago. That was fun-desperate LOL! 

Tonight I'm making chicken and asain veggies with egg drop soup.