Here We Go Again! I’m PUMPED!

Hello, hello! I am back and more pumped than ever. First things first, I am married now!! That’s right, I am now Mrs. Wright. What an exciting year 2013 was. I had so many life changing experiences. The two most obvious: ring on my left hand and 40 lbs lighter. I will say I am blessed! The last few months have been a world-wind with the wedding, the twins birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas and of course New Year’s. My eating habits are through the roof and I am basically starting from scratch. I decided a Whole 30 was necessary. Yesterday, January 2, was my first day. I weighed in at 195.6. Basically put back on all the weight I lost on my last Whole 30. I will say this: I literally have eaten any and everything I felt like with no self control for the last three months. I was my own worst enemy. Oh, and there was this thing where I told myself I would do the Whole 30 for December and lasted up until December 7. Whole Foods was having a wine & cheese tasting and I just said to hell with it.

All of that brings me to today. I am really excited to get back on track. By the end of this year I would like to be at my goal weight of 145-150 lbs. I know it is more than doable. I am constantly staying encouraged. I have been sharing my success on Facebook and this time when asking who would like to join Whole 30 with me I had an amazing response. There are eight people that I can count right now who are also doing it. It is so fun to have a group to share ups and downs with. I always share with a group on Facebook called Primal Health and Effectivity, which I have mentioned several times. It is just a community where people that are living a paleo lifestyle can share meals, experiences and ask questions. They are also doing Whole 30 this month. I usually do it whenever they do because I love all the support.

I am not going to lie, yesterday was extremely tough for me. I am now back to training my body that I am not hungry. I just ate. Just because I don’t have that “itis” doesn’t mean I’m not full. It’s so funny how gluten will full you into thinking you have to be stuffed to be full. You have to be ready to roll around and sleep in order to be full. So not true! I went to bed really wanting to snack on a bunch of stuff I didn’t need. I ended up being strong and succeeded. I woke up this morning feeling accomplished and I have a really good feeling about this month!

For Day 1 I skipped breakfast because I needed to shop. I made lettuce wraps with prociutto, tomato, avocado, hard boiled egg and green onion for lunch. I was so starving and I didn’t care for it. I don’t know why because I love everything on it. I felt like the prociutto needed to be wrapped around chicken or something. I won’t do that again.

Dinner on the other hand was amazing! I started off by telling myself I was making pan fried chicken thighs. So I put some grapeola oil in the pan and heated it up. Put my seasoned chicken in skin down. It crisped up really nicely but the heat was a little high so nice and FAST. So I browned all of them and decided to braise instead. SOOOOO glad I did!!! I pulled the chicken out after browning and thew in mushroom and onion. Got that nice and soft. Put in around a tablespoon of ghee and then some tomato paste. I let it cook for a little while until it was deep red then added some chicken stalk. AMAZING. Put all the chicken back in the sauce and cooked for approximately 35 minutes more and it was seriously good. Served it with some roasted brussel sprouts and fresh green salad. 

Advice for anyone doing Whole 30: Stay STRONG!!! You CAN do it!!! The first week is the hardest. Just don’t give up. The way you will feel is so much better than you will feel if you give in and quit. You will have more energy, sleep better and lose weight. I wish everyone the best! Feel free to reach out if you need any help! Don’t forget recipes and information is easily accessible on Pinterest! One of my favorite places to go. Get familiar with paleo blogs and Facebook pages are always awesome. The more you “like” paleo pages, and Whole 30 things, the more they pop up in your feed. It gives you a tremendous amount of information and all the help you need. Just remember…

Chocolate Cake, AKA The Devil Himself

This past week has been crazy and today I gave in to a delicious piece of chocolate cake w/ fudge icing. It was so good. As I was eating it I loved every bite. It was moist, soft, sweet, chocolatey amazingness. I literally ate it just 30 minutes ago. Now, as I sit here, I am so stuffed, I feel disgusting and I wish I never ate it! Damn it. It will forever be known as the devil himself from now on.

There has been a lot going on. For instance my beautiful niece Kylie Christine has graduated high school! Not only has she graduated she graduated with honors! I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of her. She had a rough start in high school and really turned it around. Off to college she goes in the fall and I can’t wait to continue to see her flourish. Father’s Day was also last week and I always love a day to celebrate my fiance and my own Father. I love them both dearly and they need to know they are appreciated. Too often they can really be overlooked. My fiance’s son is also in town for the summer and we are all so happy to have him. Especially my daughter. She loves her big brother and really is attached at his hip at times. It’s really quite cute. I will say that because he’s here to visit it has been easy to use him as an excuse to not eat “all” the way paleo. For instance, last weekend we HAD to let him taste Little Big Burger. I mean we HAD to. That is a decision I do not regret like the cake.

My paleo journey has really been going quite well with the exception of craving attacks every now and then. I think this past week has been the most difficult for some reason! It was like all of a sudden I started slacking. I haven’t worked out as much as I have been and since it’s been this way I have stayed away from blogging. Then I started thinking… I know I can’t be the only one that has times that are tough, and everyday is not always peachy. Oh the struggle. So after my cake, I decided to come on in and write about it. Time to tell it. This will hold me accountable! That is in fact the reason I started to write about my journey. Accountability.  I am DONE acting up!!! That is it!!! Tomorrow is a new day! I will pick back up on my jogging, exercising and eating paleo. I honestly do feel the BEST when I am keeping to it 100%.

Luckily for me I have not gained my weight that I’ve lost back. Even though I haven’t done as much as I was I am still at 197.4 pounds. I credit this to my fat-burning coffee without a doubt. My goal of 185 may not happen this month, but next month I am doing a weight loss challenge with Health and Effectivity and I think this will be just what I need. From what it sounds like you will have a team of support and people sharing their journey. I am really excited!

The other day I was craving a bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich. I made an amazing paleo version. I bought romaine leaves at Trader Joe’s for the “bread” and made some fresh guacamole that I spread on the lettuce, fried up some delicious paleo friendly bacon, sliced some ripe juicy tomatoes and added just a touch of kosher salt and fresh black pepper to them, then sprinkled just enough goat cheese on it to give it just the right flavor! Honestly, I prefer this version to bread. It was absolutely amazing and I’m sure I will make it again. I think I will also try it with different meat. Chicken salad sounds amazing! I have been eating melon of all kinds like it is candy. It is so good and fresh! I love it fresh out of the fridge when it is ice cold! One of my favorite fruits.

All in all even though I have had a few slip ups, I still enjoy my paleo lifestyle and I am definitely in no way giving it up. Can I just say that my stomach is literally turning from this cake. That will teach me. I will definitely remember this feeling next time I have the thought. Ugh.

Boresha Fat-Burning Organic coffee. AMAZING. This is what started my journey. http://www.drinkitshrinkit.com

These are a problem and somewhat of an addiction. Smoked salmon and goat cheese stuffed jalapeno’s wrapped in bacon.

The amazing bacon lettuce and tomato!

Me and my Niece Kylie

Cheese!!! I think she was just as happy and proud of herself as all of us!

THis is one of my closest friends Rosaunda and I at my nieces graduation party. It is absolutely normal for me to act up when in her presence.

Just beautiful!!!

 

Fresh Produce LIKE WHOA!

I am loving everything in season right now!!! So much to choose from. Trips to the produce store have been so fun! I finally made a paleo lasagna! It was delicious. I used portobello mushrooms and zucchini with grass fed beef. It was AMAZING. I will have to admit I did not omit the cheese… I couldn’t! I tried, but it is not lasagna with out cheese! It was seriously one of the best things I have ever made. Delicious. My only complaint is that I only made two portions. One for me and one for Adrian. I should have made like twelve.

I have been making fruit salads lately and they are satisfying any sweet craving I have. My latest had melon, strawberry, kiwi, grapes and pineapple. Divine. I also bought a whole flat of strawberries, chopped and cleaned them all and have them ready in a bowl for salads. Strawberry season is my favorite but so short lived! I am the most excited for berry season, summer fruit is the best. I have really scored with blueberries lately! Chucks Produce and Street Market had a huge sale on them last week! I’m talkin’ a dollar for a pint! I bought like five of them in two days. My children love them.

I have been grilling like crazy!!! Another reason I love when the weather is nice! My bestie came over this weekend and we grilled carne asada, chicken, pork riblets and some beef hot dogs for the kids. Everything was amazing! As an appetizer I made these little stuffed jalapenos. I stuffed them with dates and feta cheese and then wrapped them with BACON! OMG. Delicious! I made a paleo friendly version with out the feta as well. I suggest everyone make these. Well worth it! We also had shots of tequila, and lets be honest.. Tequila makes everything better!

My garden is flourishing! I have snap peas now coming and I was able to harvest another batch of collard greens. I will be harvesting a ton of lettuce today since when I originally planted it I thought I put the seeds too deep so I planted more… Well let us just say that there’s plenty now. My carrots are looking fabulous! I cannot wait to harvest them! I am so excited that my garden has done so well! I’m telling you I never thought I would be able to plant something and actually take care of it. It is quite fulfilling. My daughter ate snap peas right off of the plant which she would never eat. It’s because we planted and grew them together. I love it.

I have been pushing myself in my work out and feel amazing! I jogged with my nephew this weekend and we went probably a total of 2.5-3 miles. Part of which was straight up hill! I walked that part. It was a wonderful work out though. And it was along the water which is always nice. I really need to download a jogging app to track how far I go when I’m not on the track. Yesterday I went 2 miles at the school up the street, then did some high knees, jumping jacks, arm circles, squats, crunches, leg lifts, lunges and side bends. I love that I am able to get all of this done. BUT not with out my Codebreaker! I tell ya what, this stuff is amazing. I feel great when I drink it and I love that it helps improve my circulation and also enhances blood flow to the heart which makes jogging a lot easier! Not to mention it burns fat at a much faster rate then when exercising alone. Read all about it here! I love working hard and getting results! This has been a life changing experience. I am down another pound! 198.4 which is amazing! Loving life more than ever right now!

Just another day! #ootd denim on denim

Found these little gems!

Best thing ever! Portobello mushroom lasagna with zucchini, grass fed beef, and parmesan/mozzarella cheese

My version of Natures skittles! YUMMMY!

snap peas and collards

Little pockets of treasure! YUM! Bacon wrapped stuffed jalapeno with dates and feta.

Me and the neph!

Me, about to jog. Procrastinating. And no I don’t usually have on make up, just was right after church.

Zucchini flower

Peas up close and personal!

Carrots almost ready!

Lettuce, peas, tomatoes, zucchini. Maybe should give more space next year. =)

We Did IT!!!! (29-33)

Woo HOO!!!! We successfully completed 30 whole days paleo! That was awesome! We decided to continue on going. We have both had such amazing results how could we stop? We feel amazing, the food is great and the exercise is needed.

Now for the cheat day… or days. Adrian and I decided on day 31 to have a small cheat. He got a delightful piece of cheesecake with a layer of chocolate on top and I had an amazing mini chocolate cream pie. They were delicious! We also added feta to our greek salad this same night. Day 32 went well and we were back at eating paleo. We took the kids to the Starlight Parade which is one of the largest parades in Portland next to The Grand Floral Parade. We packed up sandwiches for the kids and we stopped at a delicious paleo food cart called Cultured Caveman in Portland that offers some amazing food!!! We got the chili and chicken strips and they did not disappoint. The chili was definitely my favorite thing! We also tried a salted chocolate, honey, coconut milk popsicle that was pretty spectacular. Then we headed to the parade.

There is this lovely doughnut shop right in downtown Portland, you may have heard of it, called Voodoo Doughnut. Now, if you live in Portland or close you definitely should have tried it. At least once. My oldest son Jason advised me that he had never had Voodoo and neither had his brothers and sister. So off to Voodoo we went. The line was as long as always. 45 minute wait to be exact. You could smell the sweet decadence outside. This was torture. I wanted some so bad. We got inside and purchased four doughnuts for my children and headed on our way back to our spot at the parade. I am happy to say that Adrian and I survived that temptation and carried on with our night. We found another cart later in the evening that offered lamb and chicken kabobs. They were probably not 100% paleo but they were delicious nonetheless.

Which brings us to Day 33. Now in our defense, we were running around quite a bit this day and we were not prepared with food. We skipped breakfast and headed out shopping because we had our engagement photo shoot. Finally at around two o’clock we caved and got chinese  food. I had a cashew chicken and an egg roll, I did skip the rice. Adrian had my rice, his rice, BBQ pork and fried shrimp. Hey, go big or go home! After that we didn’t stop there. This chinese place was directly across the street from our absolute favorite bakery. Larson’s Bakery. Oh Em Gee is all I have to say. Their desserts are divine. Adrian got an apple critter and I had some kind of amazing chocolate cake with whipped filling. It was all kinds of amazing. We decided to head home and get ready for our shoot. We headed downtown to meet with our photographer and our photo shoot was so much fun! We really had a blast. I would honestly recommend couples do this for fun. It was such a great way to spend time together, be silly and feel sexy all at the same damn time! Great night. We ended it at McMenamins on the Columbia River. We sat outside on the deck with a beautiful sunset and a bottle of red wine. And some chicken wings. And some french fries. And some blue cheese. And some ranch. So, I guess you can say we definitely had our cheat day.

Today is a new day! We are back at it. I’m really looking forward to June. I have a goal to hit 185 pounds by June 30. That is 15.8 pounds. I lost just shy of 10 last month so why not reach a little higher. Last weigh in I was 200.8 pounds! Seriously .8 pound you suck. I got a new fitness plan for June from Health and Effectivity that I am so excited to start. Wish me luck! Below are some fun pictures from the last few days of food and fun!

What a milestone! So close to under 200 for the first time since 2005-06 ish. Unbelievable!

Greek Salad with tomato, cucumber, red onion, olive and feta dressed with balsamic, garlic, olive oil, sea salt, cracked pepper and italian seasoning.

Fresh organic strawberries and blueberries from Chuck’s Produce! Excellent deal. 2lbs of strawberries at $2.99 and the blueberries were only $.99 each! STEAL!

My mini chocolate cream pie!

The line at the infamous Voodoo Doughnut

Jason getting his doughnut

Adrian, Xavier and Davonni holding up their doughnuts.

The sunset at our dinner!

And breakfast this morning! Eggs, zucchini and a grapefruit. YUM.

 

 

Garlic Spears? Heck Yes!

I have to say so far my favorite thing about my paleo journey is trying all sorts of new vegetables and foods. This time I feel like I struck GOLD with garlic spears! They are amazing. A nice cross between asparagus and artichoke with a bite. All I did was pan fry them in some olive oil with sea salt and fresh black pepper. To die for. Well to me anyway. My family…. Not so much, but hey you can’t win them all.

I also experimented with paleo brownies, those were a huge hit! Even with the kids. Now, there was one tablespoon of baking powder in the recipe which I know is not 100% paleo, but as I described in my previous blog, I needed some sweet, succulent, deliciousness in my life and before I headed to get something completely off the charts I settled for these delicious brownies! I went on a hunt for a good recipe when I came across BakerGal. She went ahead and did the work for me by trying out five different varieties in her blog called “Paleo Brownies: Comparing 5 Recipes” and then creating The Perfect Paleo Brownie! Perfect it was! I did the no egg version. I also, shame on me but not so much, added Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips, they are 63% cacao mass and I decided to go for it. These brownies were the real deal! Absolutely amazing. If you are having a serious craving, I’m talking the ones that have you pacing around the kitchen huffing and puffing ready to give up all of your hard work, make these brownies instead. Delicious and kid approved.

Now, after my brownie expedition I thought for sure that even though it was honey instead of sugar and no flour I would have gained a pound back or something. NOPE! Next morning I had still dropped another pound! BOOM! And as of this morning my ass is 201.8 pounds! OMG! This is EPIC. I have not been under 200 pounds since having my daughter in 2006. I am beyond excited and this helps me push push push. I even went on a jog with my daughter… In the rain. It was quite amazing actually. I love jogging in the rain and might actually prefer it to dry weather. Call me crazy. I did not finish my squat challenge sadly, I stopped at 180 squats. I do, however, still do 100-150 per day which works great for me. I am sticking to my other exercise plan given to me by Health and Effectivity which I love and I have added lots of cardio to that.

So happy I have stuck through this. I was talking to Adrian last night about how when we eat we are feeling satisfied and not overly full and hung over from a food attack! At first I had to get used to this because I kept thinking that I had to still be hungry. I am just now starting to realize that I am still full. I am just full of delicious, healthy food. Food that is not processed into crap. Food that is real. Food that my body is happy with. Food that gives me energy instead of putting me in a food coma. I have been looking so forward to the end of the month to “cheat” and yesterday my cheat idea was sushi and salad rolls. Still a healthy choice just with a few things that I no longer eat. I will probably still have a slice of heavenly cake. That I just have to do. My point is, my body enjoys our new found way of eating! I love it actually. It was much easier than I expected and I am so happy I jumped on this lifestyle!

My daughter and I after our rainy day jog.

Garlic Spears! DELICIOUS!

Paleo brownie! YUM!

Garlic spears tossed and pan fried in olive oil, sea salt, and pepper. Butternut squash in a honey, almond butter, cinnamon and cayenne pepper sauce and a chicken breast seasoned w/ turmeric, coriander, sea salt and pepper.

Fresh herb salad with mushroom and apple dressed w/ balsamic garlic jalapeno and cilantro dressing.

Long Time No Post… (21-27)

Oh BOY!!!! What a week it has been. Ever feel like if you have nothing good to share so why share??? That was me this past week! I have had the worst week. My car is back in the shop AGAIN. Yes this is less than two weeks from last time. It went back on Wednesday and I didn’t even want to know what was wrong until Friday. I honestly am thinking I don’t even want to pick it up. I so wish I had just listened to my fiance and got rid of it a long time ago! Yes, I did just say that in writing. So back to one car with a family of six. Not so fun.

Anywho… Enough of that! I am proud to say through the stress I have stuck to my paleo lifestyle. Let me tell you this has been really hard over the last two nights. I am dying for some JUNK! I know I don’t need it but I want it soooo bad! I’m sure had there been anything remotely close to cake I would have smashed it. In seconds. I was so close to going to one of our favorite spots, Sheridan’s frozen custard, the other day. Adrian reminded me how we are almost through the month, we are doing so good, if we cheat we didn’t make it, and then he mentioned it. He said “stress related eating.” I never really realized how much you want to eat junk due to stress. I have been perfectly fine steering my cravings up until this week which just so happens to be a very stressful week. So I didn’t go. It was so funny because this is his all time favorite place to go. I couldn’t believe I couldn’t sway his vote! Then like two hours later he is all for it saying “come on let’s go!” Then I was able to say those same things and remind him again why we are doing this. It is very encouraging to do this with your spouse or significant other. You can really keep each other on track.

This morning I stepped on the scale and I am officially down ***drumroll please*** 6.6 lbs since May 1. I expected more I’m not gonna lie, however, this puts me at 203.4 which is ONLY 3.5 lbs away from being under 200 lbs!!!! I am so close I can taste it! Cardio is getting kicked up like so many notches! I am so excited!!!! Adrian weighed in and he is down 12 lbs since starting May 1. WTF is that about? Why do men drop pounds like flies whenever they try. It’s crazy! I am still thankful for my 6.6 lbs, don’t get me wrong and it’s enough to keep me going. I am so glad I didn’t cheat! Who knows if I would have woke up to that number if I had headed out for a delicious chocolatey custard sundae. It may have been worth it… I’m just sayin’.

I do have to point something out. When I started my paleo lifestyle May 1, I was also doing my squat challenge and my daily work outs that I have previously shared with you. Well let me back up. I market a product call Boresha fat burning coffee and tea. It is an absolutely wonderful product that I believe has brought on many changes in my life. It is what made me start to pay attention to my health and ultimately what got me where I am now. When I started my journey with Boresha in November I didn’t believe in it but I was intrigued. When I started my journey with Boresha I was 229 lbs and was able to drop 19 lbs in five months. I did not change my eating habits or exercise at all. Pretty amazing what a cup of coffee can do for you. After realizing the success that I got just drinking coffee, I had to do more! I mean, if I could drop 19 lbs so easily imagine what I could do with diet and exercise as well!!! Which brings me back to my work out… We also have a product called Codebreaker which is meant to be used before your work out. You drink it a half hour prior to starting and it helps boost energy levels and induces lipolysis. Lipolysis is a reaction that occurs when the body releases lipid, or fats, from its fat stores and converts them into useable energy. The first two weeks of me working out and and changing my eating habits I lost 2.5 lbs. I added Codebreaker these last two weeks and that number has nearly tripled! That is amazing. I would be a fool not to share that aspect with all of you. This product is all natural, caffeine free and low glycemic!

Now for food pics… Here is what I have from this week. It isn’t much, I have been horrible about this aspect. I am working on being more creative as I have noticed myself sticking to certain things. This makes for repetitive pictures which is no fun for anyone. My absolute favorite thing about this week was this KICK ASS sweet potato I made!!! It was heaven on my plate. I ate it for a post work out snack and it immediately became the best thing I had eaten all month. Please remember I have been having sweet cravings and this just reminded me of a wonderful sweet potato pie. YUM! I devoured it in minutes. I know I have to be careful with the sweetness of it all but hey, it was a great “cheat” if you will. I baked it on 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or so, sliced open, smashed a little, added cinnamon, tiny bit of sea salt, cayenne pepper, and drizzled with some raw honey! OMG it had the sweet, salty and spicy content! Absolutely amazing! Until next time friends! 

Pan fried chicken breast in EVOO seasoned with home-made adobo seasoning paired with broccoli and brussel sprouts! YUM!

Yes that is a picture of my current weight because I am so excited just how close I am to being under 200 lbs!!!!

And just because… my shot glasses from my lovely friend! I collect them and she always gets me one from all her travels.

Sanka Ya Dead Mon? (20-21)

YES! I am dead damn it. My legs are out of commission! I went ahead and walked the I-205 bridge with my Mom yesterday. We had an amazing time and I wouldn’t trade it for the world but I would say I need to invest in a better pair of running and walking shoes! I’m proud to say that it didn’t stop me from my work out today! YES! It hurt so good. I’m not gonna lie, I love the soreness from working out. I just always feel like when I’m a little sore I really put it in!!! So, now I am dead. My squat challenge was 180 squats today. Along with that I did 65 leg lifts, 65 crunches, 60 side crunches 30 on each side, jogged in place for five minutes, 150 jumping jacks, 40 arm circles front and backwards, 10 each arm curls and I planked four separate times for 30 sec each set. OUT OF COMMISSION.

Thankfully I had a delicious breakfast! A chicken, asparagus and mushroom scramble! I love a good scramble to get my morning started. Feel like I can conquer the world… Well not really, but close.

In recent news, I found a partner to go walking/running with me every morning!!! Exciting! It’s always good to have a partner for accountability and something to look forward to. We start on Thursday.

Now for the disappointing not so great news… Excuse the language that is about to happen. I fucking cheated! UGH. It was a very minor cheat but still. Last night my lovely, bright, thoughtful son Jason went to a good friends birthday dinner at Famous Dave’s BBQ. My son decided to bring us home a bunch of food including chicken, ribs, pulled pork, corn bread muffin, potatoes, cole slaw and baked beans. I had just returned from my long extensive walk with my mother and I could not resist the damn chicken. Or the rib. Or the little bit of pulled pork. OOPS. At least I only ate meat, and it was so freaking good. Damn Damn Damn. I should have resisted and just grilled my own! Oh well. I fight on. 20 days with zero cheats is quite amazing if I do say so myself. Cheat justified. Over and out.

Short but sweet! (13-14)

The past two days I have really pushed myself in my work out. I have still been doing my squat challenge and my daily fitness calendar from Health and Effectivity faithfully. It has not been easy. I honestly feel like I just don’t want to at first but then I push myself to not only do my challenges but also add in even more exercise! Today was my best so far! I did 135 squats, 17 push ups, 1 min 30 second plank (split this up to 1min 10 second, and then 20 second), 15 each forearms, 50 leg lifts and then a jog in place for 5 min! This may not seem like much but it was for me. I feel amazing and I have to say today was the first day I added in Boresha’s Codebreaker before my work out this month and the difference was amazing! I felt like I had so much more energy and stamina. I will not be doing my work outs with out it from now on! And I’m not gonna lie Jay-Z Had something to do with it too! This song came on and my work out got kicked up 10 notches!

I feel like my paleo journey has been one of the best decisions I have made for myself and my family in life! I am changing in so many areas of my life and it all started with a cup of skinny coffee and paying attention to what I am putting in my body! I truly feel like if I can do it ANYONE can. I was absolutely out of control when it came to eating. I had no self control. I ate whatever I wanted whenever I wanted often with an attitude like I didn’t care if I was fat. Truth is I definitely did. I now see that I was more than likely depressed and eating for comfort. Too bad I didn’t realize it is much more “comfortable” to eat HEALTHY!!! That’s all for my preaching today. I am just beyond excited for my progress thus far.

I was able to eat my first meal out of my garden yesterday for lunch! Braised collard greens with clean spicy italian sausage, garlic, ginger, onion, very little kosher salt and pepper.

Then for dinner I made some amazing jerk seasoned boneless skinless chicken thighs! OMG. I got the recipe from Eclectic Recipes. I swapped out the soy sauce for raw coconut aminos and the brown sugar for a touch of raw honey. Delicious. One of the best so far. I paired it with some butternut squash from Paleo Cupboard and roasted asparagus with evoo, kosher, and pepper. Simple and AMAZING! 

Goin’ great what can I say… Day 10-12

So the past few days have been going really good. We are sticking to our new paleo lifestyle with flying colors! The one thing I find hard is when we are out for extended periods of time. If I am not prepared it makes for a cranky day. Just have to learn to be prepared! I’m such a spontaneous person, I literally never plan a thing. It’s a problem. Seriously.

Salads. I feel like I can live off of them! With a good vinaigrette and a good variety of veggies! I find it being my go to when I want something quick. I am never disappointed. I tried one with apples and it was amazing as well. Strawberries are still my favorite! We got up the other morning and Davonni and Xavier, my twins, went outside to check on the garden and found that two strawberries were red and ripe! Their faces were priceless. They were so excited. Xavier also made a comment that he is “starting” to enjoy vegetables… YES!!!! Are you kidding me??? That’s amazing. My kids are so anti anything vegetable! This goes to show that what you offer they will eventually eat and enjoy. Give choices, but healthy ones. Even if you aren’t practicing a paleo lifestyle.

My garden is growing like crazy! These past few days have been really warm and have   really kicked everything up a notch. My spinach has just flourished out of no where and my collard greens are getting huge. I am, however, getting really pissed off with these white butterflies that are eating them! We are seriously about to battle it out. I was given a tip to get some mason bees that help get rid of them. Now I just have to find some. Where the hell do you find mason bees? And how do I get them to stay and fight off white butterflies? I went through and removed all of their eggs that were on the back of the leaves. I only found a few but damn it find someone else’s collards! This gardening thing is somethin’ else. Any tips on organic ways to rid pests would be appreciated! My tomato plants doubled in size as well as my carrot tops. I cannot wait until they are ready to harvest! 

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. My family made it an amazing day for me! They basically took on my chores for the day and I didn’t have to do a thing. Adrian cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast was a little shaky. We both laughed about it for the remainder of the day. He made scrambled eggs, bacon and what was supposed to be zucchini hash but was actually cucumber… Word of advice. DO NOT EAT COOKED CUCUMBER. It’s not very good. At all. Lunch was some yummy roasted brussel sprouts which I find to be another “go to” food. They are amazing and simple to make. Topped with some of that delicious chipotle habanero hot sauce I told you guys about!! YUMMMY! Also paired with a salad. Last but certainly not least: Dinner! We did our first round of “Chopped”. It was so fun and I can’t wait until it is my turn next week. I gave him boneless pork chops, sweet potatoes, jalapeno, zucchini and portobello mushrooms! Dinner was amazing! He did a wonderful job! He made a braised pork chop with portobello mushroom sauce, sweet potato zucchini hash with onion, garlic and jalapeno, and a delicious spinach salad! Way to go!!! I was surprised! We all loved it! I craved the hell out of some cake at the end of the night! I’m not even gonna lie. I wanted something sweet more than I have this entire month. I kept thinking it is Mother’s Day so I could get away with it… I settled with some pineapple. It was definitely NOT cake.

I’m seriously loving our new paleo lifestyle! It just adds an element of surprise to our lives. We are trying so many new things that keep our meals exciting and give us a lot to discuss. We are also seeing changes in our bodies for the better which is also a huge plus! Exercising is becoming habit and enjoyable. The other night I had 110 squats to do for my challenge in addition to my daily work out. Adrian and I had been gone for most of the day in Eugene and we didn’t get home until late evening. At 10:30 I jumped up and did my whole work out. This is after I had enjoyed about four glasses of Merlot. Definitely made for an interesting work out, but hey, I did it. I feel AWESOME and my body loves me right now. My muscles that are sore, however, do not.