I call them Frozen Banana Bites...my kids call them something new to fight over.

We were out of dessert...God forbid...it happened without me knowing about it.

The whining and sad faces were terrible.

The teens must have dessert. A left over feeling from our pasta and macaroni and cheese days.

I always had something sweet ready for after dinner, and if not, we went out for ice cream.

Now with our Primal way of life, I am just not as hungry anymore and my sweet tooth has lessened considerably.

But I am not eighteen or sixteen, and they still have that need...sweet needs.

So I hopped on Pinterest and looked through my Primal board to see if anything looked quick.

This recipe had three ingredients and looked like it could do the trick.

I made them and after about fifteen minutes in the deep freeze they were ready.

Oh my Lord.

These tasted just like a frozen ice cream bonbon. The banana inside had frozen up to taste much like smooth ice cream. My kids were elated, my husband...well...I kept catching him sneak into the freezer drawer...even in the morning!

I hope your family enjoys them too.

2 Large bananas cut into chunks

1/3 cup of dark chocolate broken into pieces

1/4 cup of natural almond butter

Place the chocolate and almond butter in a glass bowl and microwave for one minute.

Stir rapidly till it is melted together and smooth.

Dip the bananas in the chocolate and place on parchment paper over a cookie tray.

Place in freezer for fifteen minutes or overnight.

Enjoy!

The Big Bad Breakfast Battle...Every Morning

The kids have been great living Primal for the most part.
My 18 year old son takes a mixed green salad with carrot shreds, a bit of cheddar, and a chicken breast chopped up on it every day for lunch at high school. Pretty good right?
My daughter was a complete carb freak. Almost every bite in her mouth was a carb of some sort.
It took a while for her to drop the bread and just take meat and cheese (no bread) for lunch.
They will eat for the most part all the new things I have been putting in front of them for dinner each night.
Sure there is some grumbling and trial tasting, but they have been getting more nutritious whole foods in them than ever before.
Our big problem is breakfast.
My daughter has only had cereal, or pancakes, or waffles, or cinnamon rolls, or something in the super carb column of foods.
 My son has more a problem getting up and going in the morning so he will eat what is put in front of him (but did prefer the pancakes and cinnamon rolls too).
I agree that it is hard to eat eggs and some sort of meat in the morning...every single morning.
My husband and I are much better at eating left overs from dinner if we don't want eggs.
 Both of our palates have changed since we became Primal so that I look forward to a bacon wrapped tillapia fillet with my coffee sometimes.
Not so with the teens.
I have had to learn to use my coconut and almond flour in new and interesting ways. I have had a few bright spots with these concoctions, and also some terrible mistakes.
The best thing was a ham and bacon breakfast muffin (super good) and the worst was a really awful pancake that refused to stay together and tasted like paste.
I have since mastered the pancake with good results...I admit it will NEVER taste like regular flour pancakes.
 But as long as my waist keeps shrinking and I wake up everyday feeling amazingly well, and the energy I have seems to be increasing...I am happy to keep on the coconut flour, meat, and veggie train.
I am sharing a recipe that has saved us time and fighting in the morning. I make it on Sunday and pack individual pieces in sandwich bags in the fridge.
They need only be grabbed and put on a microwavable plate and heated for a minute.
That's it! Just one minute and...tada! Breakfast!

For one large pan you need

9 eggs whisked
1 carton cottage cheese (I get the huge one from Costco and split it so I have two weeks of casserole)
1 package of sausage (I also added shredded chicken since I had extra) cooked and crumbled
1 package of shredded cheese (I added some Gorgonzola too)
Spices (I added some heavy duty Italian spices, but use what you like)
Salt and Pepper

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cook the sausage on the stove till brown and crumbly. Drain it on paper towels.
Next whisk the eggs together and add the cottage cheese and mix with a large spoon.
To that add in the sausage or any other meats you would like. Add in the cheese and spices, mix well. Put it in a well greased 9 x 13 pan and bake for 35 - 45 minutes until browned and is firm to the touch.
Cut into squares and store in baggies. Keep refrigerated till ready and microwave for 1 minute to heat back up.

I hope you enjoy this quick and protien filled breakfast as much as we do.

Squishing My Fear Of Squash

I have been a carb and sugar junkie for at least 40 years.
Mac and cheese was my go to food to solve anything from a broken fingernail to a broken heart.
I was so hooked on noodles, pasta, and rice it was killing me...one bite at a time.
But now that I am 45 I am beginning to grow up to be a smart human.
I am learning to make choices of food that come from nature and not a factory.
But hell...I wanted pasta...I wanted it with cheese and butter...and more cheese.
I had read about spaghetti squash before, but...ewwww!
It's a vegetable.
I am committed to staying on the whole, clean food approach to life, so I gave it a whirl.
Last night I cracked open my first spaghetti squash.
I do mean cracked. That thing took ten minutes with an electric knife to get hacked apart the right way. It looked just like a pumpkin inside, smelled like one too.
I cleaned out the seeds (washed them for roasting later), salt and peppered it and roasted it face down on parchment for one hour.
I took a recipe from Pinterest that I liked, followed it, and low and behold...one more vegetable I am willing to eat...no...wanting to eat!
It was great.
I enjoyed this first one just like I would have with carb loaded pasta, with sauce and a bit of parm cheese.
Next time I am going to have my batch of spaghetti squash with pesto, diced tomatoes, and black olives.
I hope you try a new food this week and love it too

Putting The Healthy Back Into Our Lives One White Lie At A Time

Healthy Energy Bars

I have to say our teenage kids are being pretty good about our new way of eating.
Both understand that putting processed, chemical laden food into our bodies is what has gotten us all bigger than we should be, and will lead to health disasters down the line.
Still, they are teenagers and they were starting to baulk at one more piece of fruit for a snack.
I found a recipe on Pinterest for natural energy bars.
My husband and I put these together while they were at school, wrapped them up and made the presentation when they got home.
I handed my daughter one saying the magic words...it has dark chocolate in it.
She ate hers...no problem! The boy on the other hand waited till she had not vomited or flopped to the floor writhing in gastric pain.
So he nibbled on an end...then he took a real bite..."not bad!" he said.
That's when I let it fly they was a pound of prunes in those bars.
There was swearing (they go to public school) and threats to vomit, but no one did...and now that I have made a third batch, I guess these are a hit!
I hope you like them too...and hopefully with less drama :)

Healthy Energy Bars
1 pound whole pitted prunes
1 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup dark chocolate chopped or chips
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup coco powder (I used dark)
2 tbsp honey
3 tbsp natural peanut butter (I used organic almond butter)

I pulsed the almonds down to tiny bits, added all the dry together, and then pulsed the prunes down to complete mush in my food processor.
I put it all in the food processor and pulsed it a few times.
Put it in a loaf pan lined with wax paper, put in the fridge for 2 hours.
I cut them into little squares and wrap in the waxed paper

This Martini Girl Goes Primal For Life

I was raised on Captain Crunch and Poptarts and thus I raised my teens on those things too.
I have a college education but have been blind to what should have been perfectly clear in front of my eyes.
Real food equals a real healthy body and life.
But no. I was a bread baker, I was a semi-gourmet cook. To show you how well and how much I cooked my husband and I are 100 + pounds overweight, and our children have stuggled through their teen years with being overweight.
It is a crime.
I have been on Weight Watchers 3 times. Jenny Craig, and Atkins have all been tried by my husband and myself, to no avail.
Our doctor gave us a copy of the Primal Blue Print a year ago and my first thought was…here is Atkins all tied up with a different bow.
How could I give up my mac and cheese? How could I give up baking my artisan breads?
My husband’s mother was diagnosed cancer. There it was. Now my children have cancer in their family genes.
My mother was in the hospital the week before Christmas. She had every test they could think of to see what caused her chest pain, shortness of breath, the pain throbbing in her neck, and the feeling of the top of her head being squeezed too tight.
Three days she was there, and I can't tell you how many tests all together...the verdict?
Stress. Ta-Da!
Seriously? Stress.
I sat in her hospital room for all thoses days, squeezed into my size 24 pants and weighing 275 pounds. I felt every single symptom she was having...all the time. It was normal for me to feel like that.
I have two teenagers, I am obese, I work for my husband, do I need to say more?
I had no idea what to do.
I knew I never could stick to a diet.
I always cheat. Every time I have started out a "new" week of living right...I made it till Wednesday...something stressful or bad would happen, and I would crumble.
I remembered the book the doctor gave us, but I couldn't read it. I didn't want to hear what I was giving up and all the studies and facts.
I instead went to Mark Sisson's web page marksdailyapple and began looking at the success stories and the amazing health turn arounds people were making.
Some people claimed that the weight just seemed to melt off of them.
What?
Ummm...yeah...I could go for that...melting.
The thing that made me go ahead and drink the "koolaide" was his take on exercising.
You didn't have to do very much. In fact too much was a detriment to your body.
Seriously?
I had never heard that before. Sounded like a plan to me!
I made us all start living Primal on December 25.
I took the packages of cinammon rolls, bags of flour, boxes of instant mixes, and all the other crap to my local food pantry.
I bought coconut flour, huge bags of dry roasted almonds to make almond flour. I bought coconut oil, and made my own ghee. I made my own crackers and cookies so the kids could still feel "normal". I bought veggies I never thought I would put in my mouth in a millions years...researched how to cook them...posted the recipe on Pinterest...and enjoyed them.
The teenagers railed against every new veggie and all the things they think they miss…that was until 2 days ago.
It has been a month, so we weighed ourselves.
I have lost 18 pounds (and the aches, pains, and the chest pain I was feeling all the time) My husband lost 11 pounds, My teenagers lost 8 and 9 pounds (and I am sure they cheated).
All in one month.
We all feel better inside. Little things that I thought were normal for being 45 are going away…my children’s acne is clearing up.
I have not cheated once…I don’t want to, and I hope I never will.
I have never had this feeling inside me before.
The saying goes “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” well…I’ve never been skinny, but I sure knew how good cookies tasted.
Now I know how strength from inside feels, and I will never buy another damn rotten filth infested cookie from The System (as I call it) again.
I am starting this blog to show others who are morbidly obese like me that you can quit processed foods and sugar and never look back.
You can feel strong again.
It has only been one month...and I feel it...strength.