Thoughts Of Spring and Peanut Butter Puffs

My little dog's face says it all.
We are sick of winter here in the Midwest, it truly seems like there is no end in sight, and it's March already!!
I look at our pictures of the trip to Hawaii everyday, and then grumble as I watch Hawaii Life on HGTV. My poor husband who can not move his job (ever) has to listen to this almost daily...
"What if we sold everything!? What if I said I could live in a tent on the beach?! Can we go then?"
He just shakes his head and sighs.
With one kid in college and the other going in the fall, it seems like the perfect time to escape Ohio.
If I never saw another snow flake again, I am pretty sure I would be perfectly content.
But as he reminds me, those kids still need us. It would be impossible to hop a thousand dollar, six hour flight several times a year, just so I could be happy.
Oh well...I will try and suck it up and not whine as much at being stuck in the snowy tundra.
For that I will need chocolate...several times a day.
I usually don't mind our primal breakfasts of eggs, bacon, and spinach. It's my favorite meal.
My eighteen year old daughter on the other hand is sick of it. She wants me to buy her gluten free cereals instead. If you look on the box of that cereal the truth is there, carbs, sugars, and all manner of chemicals and crap.
So I decided to search Pinterest for Primal/Paleo cereal recipes. Most of them appealed to me, but I would love soaked nuts ground into a porridge with fruit and almond milk!
The kid, not so much.
I did find a recipe for Primal Reece's Peanut Butter Puffs, halleluiah, it sounded awesome!
This is a simple and primal recipe, it turned out perfectly...on my second batch.
The trick to these little buggers is the cooking time, the recipe I tried said to cook them on 375 for 10 minutes. That resulted in black little balls of nasty ash. Completely inedible. 
The second batch I cooked at 350 for 3 minutes, perfection!
These are tasty, not too sweet, and do not fall apart in the almond milk.
I love them!
There is a problem.
Rolling out the dough into blueberry size balls was awful. I think next time I make these I will roll the dough between wax paper until it is thin and then cut into square shapes, making flakes of cereal.
It has to take less time!

The puff balls nicely rolled into blueberry size.

Primal Peanut Butter Puffs:


1/2 cup almond flour (I grind my almonds myself)
1/2 cup of nut butter (I used chunky kind, that is why you see the nut chunks)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. coconut oil or ghee (melted)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir together
make into balls or roll flat and cut into flake shapes
Bake for three minutes (your oven might take longer)
Let cool completely before serving

These are a great treat to have when you just can not face another morning of eggs (and snow!).
I hope you try this primal cereal and enjoy it too!

My Morning Magic Brew and A Bit Of Ohio Fall

Ok...I have to admit it...fall in Ohio is pretty this year.
It has been cooler than normal, so I have been able to wear fall clothes...IN the fall!
Usually it's freezing in the morning and then 85 degrees in the afternoon.
When I took my little dog for a walk the other day this stunning beauty was waiting for me...wow!
With the weather brisk but pleasant I have been dragging my poor little guy out for an hour to two hour walk almost everyday, he's exhausted!
After a summer of 95+ degrees most days, he hasn't been on such extended walks for a very long time.
I have noticed a huge difference on my body when walking outside versus the treadmill.
The treadmill cushions my joints from the pounding my body weight puts on them, the pavement is non forgiving on my entire body. I'm just not sure which is better for me in the long run.
I'm sure pulling my weight on my own versus the treadmill doing the pulling is burning more calories, but is it worth tearing myself apart?
Oh well...it's too pretty to forgo the walks!

The neighborhood looking fall splashed!

I thought I would share how I start my day...everyday.
Even if it is a non eating day I still have coffee. It fills me up and gives me enough energy to make it sometimes to the next day, which is great for our bodies to take a rest from constant food processing to work on healing and restoring our systems.
Mark Sisson of marksdailyapple.com has some amazing information on intermittent fasting and the good things it can do for your body and life.

I start with one tablespoon of organic free trade raw sugar (I would rather have natural organic sugar and the weird processed stuff out there) I also have one and a half tablespoons of Dutch Process High Fat Dark Coca Powder.
The cocoa has antioxidant protection, antioxidants protect the body from damage by unstable oxygen molecules called free radicals that can cause many illnesses and diseases.
It also can benefit the cardiovascular system by enhancing blood flow and thereby lower blood pressure. 
My favorite thing about it is that it is a mood enhancer...always good to start the day in a happier state of mind.
I then add in my coconut oil, almost three tablespoons.
Coconut oil has been found to help normalize blood lipids and protect against damage to the liver by alcohol and other toxins. It can play a role in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases, and is associated with improved blood sugar and insulin control and therefore the prevention and management of diabetes.
Coconut oil has antiviral, antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. 
Coconut oil is thought to help strengthen mineral absorption, which is important for healthy teeth and bones, and can also help improve the condition and appearance of the scalp, hair and skin when ingested or rubbed on the skin (I use it everyday as a moisturizer. When I found out how many chemicals were in my face creams I dumped them all and started up with the coconut oil.)
The oil has also been studied as a help to Alzheimer patients. Since our brains are made of fat the thought is that the lower fat diets have starved our brains of an essential ingredient that we need.
I then add in organic heavy cream. I'm not even sure of how much, I just wing it every morning!

This yummy brew is what I dream about before I go to bed, and is one of the reasons I wake up happy in the morning.

I hope you enjoy this wonderful fall day as well.

Gluten Free Breakfast Sandwich To Celebrate My New Designs

Isn't she pretty?
I have the amazing fortune to be friends with a gorgeous graphic artist named Eric Brown.
He and his brother have been friends of the family and my husband's band for years.
Eric has been kind enough in the past to design the t shirts for the band's gigs.
His brother Brian is a computer genius who has held my hand through different computer issues setting up this blog.
I can't thank them enough for all they have done for me this year...you guys are the best!
That being said I also owe them a crap load of beer now.
We loaded both designs onto CafePress (a company that helps you to design your own t shirts and gear to sell) and set up a shop.
My first goal was to order my shirts in smaller sizes and take pictures of me as I lose weight, a size at a time.
I ordered an xxl last night, which is pretty flipping great considering I was wearing a 3x when I went Primal back on December 25.

The front of the shirt I ordered has the martini on it...

The back of the shirt has the Pinup.

I also ordered my son something to take to college to sleep in.

Hopefully that will help him to make good food choices in the cafeteria...lol.

I ordered my daughter these because I know she would not be caught dead outside the house in Mom's website gear...I think they are darling!
I also ordered myself a new iphone cover...because dude...you gotta rep your brand...and my old one was falling apart!

This has been a fun process. 

I want to thank Eric and Brian again for being patient with me through this.

I want to thank my husband and kids for going Primal, even though it was not fun in the begining.

It has been the most rewarding thing I have done in many long years.

Health is more important than money, some would say, and I could not agree more!

To celebrate the release of my logos I made my family a filling and decadent breakfast sandwich that would please even the non Primal people I know.

Gluten Free Coconut Flour Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients:


Batter:

6 eggs, room temperature if possible

1/2 cup of coconut flour

2 teaspoons of vanilla

4 tablespoons of grass fed butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup of almond or coconut milk or heavy cream ~ your choice

1/3 cup of honey

Rest Of The Sandwich:

Eggs, beaten to be cooked in the waffle iron
Organic cheese slices
Cooked Bacon

Beat the eggs with a fork.
Add in all the ingredients but the coconut flour and mix
Add in the coconut flour, mix and let sit for a few minutes.
The batter will be super lumpy, but if you let it sit and soak everything in and then mix again you will see it smooth right out.
I needed to add more liquid to mine, almost 4 tablespoons more, to make it the smoothness I wanted for the waffles.
Put batter into one of the wells of the iron and put seasoned beaten eggs into another well of the iron and watch them till they are done.
I place the waffle on the plate, put a piece of organic cheese on, then the egg, and add two pieces of hot bacon, and one more piece of cheese.

I then cook one more waffle and when it is done it goes on top of the pile.
I use a large serrated knife to cut it apart, and serve piping hot.

My family devoured their sandwiches in record time and LOVED them.
I hope you attempt these easy and healthy breakfast sandwiches and love them too.

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.