Finished first week of our Paleo Lifestyle

Whew...I can't believe we've been eating Paleo Style for only a week now. It was a super easy transition, although an expensive one! Planning meals is the only way this will work for us. Its going to be a lot of work to meal plan and grocery shop for all ingredients each week but I think once we get into the groove it will become second nature. This week I made a Paleo recipe each night. By recipe I mean like a bunch of ingredients, following a specific series of steps not just cooking some meat and vegs. This coming week I think I will only do a couple of actual recipes and fill in the other meals with just meat/poulty and a couple side veggies (all still Paleo). It was very time consuming to come home from work each day and have to spend 45 minutes in the kitchen preparing dinner. Our day to day life is just to busy to do that every day. That being said, we liked every single recipe we made with the exception of one. Throughout the week I felt really good. I was never hungry and never felt deprived of anything. I felt like all I did was eat, not like when you're on a typical diet. I lost 4 pounds in 5 days. Not bad considering I didn't work at it. Matt lost double that. Each day we did allow for a little dairy. I had one yogurt and Matt had cream in his coffee. On day 6 we had a slice of birthday cake and both felt extremely gross for the rest of the night. This weeks menu will be: Meatloaf, carrots, green beans Chicken fajitas (no wrap), onions, peppers, home made guacamole honey apple pork roast, home made apple sauce, carrots egg, sausage, broccolli crustless Quiche, cantelope steak, mashed cauliflower, spinach chicken packets with a bunch of veggies

Collins Go Paleo

So in the hopes of getting healthy, losing weight and detoxing from crappy carbs Matt and I are going to try a Paleo diet. Paleo is basically eating like the cavemen: meats, vegetables, some fruit, nuts and seeds. It encourages good fats and does not support dairy. Matt loves his coffee so he is going to use dairy in his coffee still and I really like my Brown Cow Greek yogurt so I will allow myself one a day. Other than that we are really going to try to stick to Paleo. I found some recipes online and thought they would make the first week a bit easier. We headed to Whole Foods and got everything we will need for the week. $208 later (OMG!) and this is what we got: Meats: pork loin that will be broken up for 3 separate dinners, ground chicken thighs, and ground turkey. We already have some grass fed organic ground beef and burgers.

Meal plans are as follows: SUNDAY: Shephards Pie with mashed sweet potatoes in place of white potatoes MONDAY: pork tacos in lettuce leaves with guacamole TUESDAY: Spaghetti squash with ground chicken meat sauce WEDNESDAY: grilled chicken, mashed cauliflower and green beans THURSDAY: burgers on top of portobello mushroom caps, green beans FRIDAY: pulled pork, jicama and cabbage slaw SATURDAY: chicken with collard greens, mushrooms and onions BREAKFASTS: combos of Paleo Crunch recipe, eggs, bacon, or yogurt LUNCHES: either left overs from the night before or salads with meat on top SNACKS: (all homemade) baked sweet potato chips, chocolate coconut mouse, trail mix, celery with almond butter, apples, apple chips, bananas with almond butter

Raw Cauliflower "Popcorn"

I have seen this recipe online a few times and thought it looked interesting. The ingredients are as follows: 1/2 head of cauliflower, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast, 1 tsp chili powder, and 1 tsp sea salt.
I bought nutritional yeast just for the purpose of trying this. I guess it is a great source of b vitamins and gives the cauliflower a cheesy taste.
I had my 5 year old help me make this. First we chopped up 1/2 a head of cauliflower.

Next I drizzled the pieces with olive oil and added all of the dry ingredients and let my son mix it up. Thats it. It took less than 5 minutes to make and clean up was super easy.
We both tried it, and I was surprised he liked it.
He ate a few pieces and decided that was enough. He didn't love it, and he may or may not be willing to eat it again. I liked it ok...but it wasn't awesome. I have to tweak it a bit to find more flavorings I like better. The chili powder I have is cheapo stuff, so maybe I need better spices to mix in. I like the crunch of it, and love that it is healthy. I'm willing to try it again.

Harvest Oatmeal

I found this recipe online and it sounded awesome. I had all of the ingredients in my house already, so I invited my sister over for a Saturday morning breakfast. I carved out a medium/large sugar pumpkin. I set the seeds aside to roast later.



Ingredients
2 sugar pumpkins (I only used one and it was the perfect size)
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon baking powder (I skipped this because I didn't have any)
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used cinnamon apple sauce)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I tripled this!)
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cups old fashioned oats (I used rolled oats, next time I'll try steel cut)
1 egg
3/4 to 1 cup lowfat milk (depending on how milky you like your oatmeal)
1 granny smith apple (peeled + diced small)
extra brown sugar for sprinkling (I used cinnamon and sugar on top)
extra milk for splashing after it's cooked (optional)






Preheat oven 375 degrees. Start by carefully cutting the top off your pumpkin and cleaning the insides out.
Combine all remaining ingredients (except the sugar for sprinkling and milk for splashing) in a large bowl. Stir well and divide batter evenly between the two pumpkins. (or just pour it all into one if it fits). Sprinkle lightly with brown sugar (or cinnamon and sugar). Place pumpkin(s) on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 mins to an hour or until pumpkin is soft enough to scoop and oatmeal is done. I cooked it for 75 minutes because I only had one large pumpkin. I cooked it with the top off. When you serve it scrape some of the inside of the pumpkin. Makes 4 servings.





This oatmeal was delicious!! It was fun to make, and smelled so good. Next time I'll try it with steel cut oats, I bet it will be even better.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

This is such a fall recipe! I saw it in Family Circle Magazine and thought it sounded different. I bought 2 acorn squash at the farmers market last week, and ground beef was on sale this week so I figured I'd give it a try. I did change the recipe a bit.

Ingredients
2 Medium Acorn Squash, halved and seeds removed
4 slices bacon, diced (I didn't use bacon)
1 medium onion, trimmed and diced
1 granny smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced (I used a Gala apple)
1 lb ground beef
1/4 c packed dark-brown sugar
1 t pumpkin pie spice
1/2 t dried sage (I skipped this also)
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T dry bread crumbs



Directions
1. Heat oven to 350. Place squash cut-side down on a baking dish. Add 2 cups water to dish and bake for 40 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add onion and apple. Cook an additional 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in ground beef. Cook, breaking meat apart with wooden spoon, 5 minutes. Add brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, sage, salt, and pepper. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in breadcrumbs.
4. Drain water from baking dish and flip over squash. Spoon meat mixture into squash halves. Return to oven and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Serving Size: 4 servings (1/2 squash each)









So this would be a lot healthier if you used ground turkey rather than beef. Next time I was to use the turkey and stuff a sugar pumpkin instead...how fall-like is that?!

Journey to the Sun

I have been on a quest to find a "safer" sunblock that was easy to apply, didn't smell horrible, and worked well. This quest has been ongoing for 3 years now. Before becoming informed about parabens I used to buy Aveeno or WaterBabies thinking they were safe versions for little ones. Yeah...not so much!! Oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor which can affect the nervous system, has been linked to cancer in some studies, and creates free-radicals when exposed to the sun which are harmful. So I have tried 4 different brands so far, that are either Zinc Oxide or Titanium Dioxide.

1) TruKid: This stuff was super expensive! It was $19 for a small tube. It's very thick and hard to get out of the bottle. It smells pretty good though since I bought the orange scented. It worked well.
From the TruKid website:
Active: Zinc Oxide 20%
Inactive: Purified Water, aloe barbadensis leaf juice, caprylic/capric triglyceride (coconut) , sorbitan stearate (vegetable), polyglyceryl-4 isostearate (plant derived), hexyl laurate (plant derived), hydrogenated methyl abietate (pine wood resin), cetyl dimethicone (sand), dimethicone (sand), castor oil, magnesium sulfate (epsom salt), helianthus annus (sunflower) oil, simmondsia chinesis (jojoba) oil, cucnis satvus (cucumber) fruit extract, camellia sinesis leaf (green tea oil), tocopherols (soy), punica grantum (pomegranate juice), hyaluronic acid (potato), *ethylhexlglycerin (vegetable), *polyaminopropyl biguanide. *= Vegetable derived preservative and paraben free anti-microbial agent. BOLD= ORGANIC



2) Alba: I liked this and the price wasn't too bad. $10 for an average size tube. It wasn't too thick and the smell was OK. It worked well. It does have a lot of ingredients that are questionable though so I probably won't buy it again.
From the Alba website:
Active Ingredients
Homosalate 10.0%, Octocrylene 10.0%, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate 7.5%, Ethylhexyl Salicylate 5.0%, Titanium Dioxide 2.0%
Ingredients
Aqua (Water), Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Cetyl Alcohol, Dimethicone, VP/Hexadecene Copolymer, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (1), Calendula Officinalis Flower Extract (1), Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (1), Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract (1), Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Extract (1), Panax Ginseng Root Extract, Cetearyl Olivate, Polysorbate 60, Silica, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Sorbitan Olivate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Xanthan Gum, Alcohol (1), Benzyl Alcohol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate


3) Nature's Gate: Nope, didn't like it. It was too thick and smelled gross. I think it worked ok but there are enough options that I won't need to buy this again. The price was $10 for an average size tube.
From Nature's Gate website:
Active Ingredients: Titanium Dioxide 8%, Zinc Oxide 2%
Inactive ingredients: Water, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Diisopropyl Adipate, CarthamusTinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Glycerin, Polysorbate 80, Propylheptyl Caprylate,StearicAcid, VP/eicosene Copolymer, Cetearyl Wheat Bran Glycosides, Cetearyl Alcohol, Gyceryl Stearyl Alcohol, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Macrocystis Pyrifera (Seaweed) Extract, Euterpe Oleracea (Acai) Fruit Extract, Coffea Arabica (Coffee) Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Silybum Marianum (Milk Thistle) Seed Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, MimosaTenuiflora Bark Extract, Viola Tricolor (Wild Pansy) Extract, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Allantoin, Dimethicone, Dehydroxanthan Gum, Triethoxycaprylylsilane, Phenoxyethanol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Glyceryl Undecylenate



4) Badger: $7 for a small tube. It is thick, the smell is nuetral. It does leave a bit of a white haze all over my kid but it works very well. I don't even have to reapply it after he has been in the water for hours. So far this is a favorite!
From the Badger website:
Active Sunscreen Ingredient: Non-Nano, Uncoated Zinc Oxide 18.75%
Other Sunscreen Ingredients: *Olea Europaea (Extra Virgin Olive) Oil, *Cera Alba (Beeswax), *Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, *Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Butter, *Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Tocopherol (Natural Vitamin E), and CO2 Extracts of *Hippophae Rhamnoides (Seabuckthorn).
* = Certified Organic



If the Alba one didn't have so many strange ingredients that would probably be my first choice since it was very easy to put on, not too thick like the others. I guess for now I will stick with Badger.

A good site to reference for sunblock (and many other products) is www.safemama.com
They have all kinds of charts and info about safer, non-toxic, eco-friendly products.

Healthy Ice Cream

I found this recipe online and have tried it twice now. It's really good!
-3 frozen bananas
-3 heaping tablespoons of raw cacao powder
-2 tablespoons of agave nectar
-dash of vanilla
-2 tablespoons almond butter (optional)




You want to peel the bananas before freezing them. Banana's that are very ripe) almost ready to throw away) work best. Toss all ingredients in a food processor and just let it goi until its all smooth. Thats it!