Category: Paleo: Recipes

1. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken, onion, and liemon juice; cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink (about 10 minutes). Add all of the spices except red pepper and cook/stir 1 minutes
2. Stir in tomatoes and mix well. In a small bowl, stir together coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and salt until smooth. Gradually stir coconut milk mixture into skillet. Stir in Red Pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Simmer 5 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring frequently.

This dish was slightly ethnic and spicy and just what I was craving on a crisp fall evening. . . I served mine with “Curry Fried F’rice” – an amazing cauliflower recipe by Melissa Joulwan.

Oh, and no – the serving size on the plate did not even cut it. . . I ended up going back for another generous serving of the “Fried F’rice” to sop up more of the yummy Tikka Massala sauce with!

Portable PWO Paleo Egg & Sweet Potato “Puffs”

Here’s another “Christie Original Recipe” . . . try at your own risk! Just Kidding – this one’s REALLY good! One of the only things that I have found myself “missing” since going 100% Paleo was the ease and portability of my PWO Shake. I have been making mashed sweet potatoes, and getting organic and low sodium sliced deli turkey, and taking a thick slice of turkey with about 2-3 oz of sweet potatoes as a PWO meal. (I would roll up the sweet potato in the piece of turkey and chow down!) This is pretty yummy, easy, and portable, but I wanted to get away from the processed deli meat. I liked the idea of egg whites and sweet potatoes, but wanted something a little more portable than scrambled whites. . .hence my creation!

These are soooo Good, Super Easy – a great combination for me!

Ingredients:

1 Medium Sweet Potato (around 14oz worked for me)
15 Egg Whites
Cinnamon
Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Peel and dice Sweeet Potato into fairly small cubes
2. Put SP in a skillet sprayed w/ a little Pam (I usually use olive oil or coconut oil to grease my pans, but want to keep my PWO meal as low in fat as possible, hence the Pam)
3. Sprinkle w/ Cinamon and Sea Salt to taste
4. Cover and cook about 5 minutes, stirring a few times (just long enough to soften the potatoes up a little – you don’t want them “mushy”)
5. Distribute SP Cubes evenly between 12 deep-ish muffin pan holes
6. Beat 15 egg whites together until they are a little frothy
7. Pour egg whites evenly over the SP cubes in the 12 muffin pan holes
8. Place in Oven at 350 and cook about 20 minutes
9. Pull out of oven and turn pan upside down onto cooling rack
10. Let cool completely before placing in fridge (If you don’t let them cool completely, they’ll get mushy and soggy)

I store mine in a tupperware container stacked on top of each other. Each morning, I grab two “puffs” to take with me to the gym, and put them in a ziplock bag. I’ve found that storing all of them in a ziplock bag in the fridge makes them go soggy and mushy too.

One additional note – these will “shrink” a little once they’ve cooled, but if they are cooked long enough, they won’t shrink too much. The combined pics at the top of the post are of a “puff” after having been refrigerated overnight.

Easy Portable Spinach “Muffins”

On to another awesome portable recipe that I stumbled across this weekend: Spinach “Muffins”!
I’m including this recipe in the same post because I found that it was easy to prepare these at the same time as my PWO Puffs, and I could even cook them together in the oven. The inspiration for these came from Melissa Joulwan’s recipe here, and I just made some edits (including entire egg rather than just whites, and using some different spices, and changing quantities up a bit).

Ingredients:

4 Omega-3 Eggs (yes, yummy yolks and all!!)
4 9oz bags/boxes of frozen spinach
3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
1-2 Tb Italian Spice Blend (or your own blend of oregano, basil, etc)**
1 tsp Garlic Powder**
1 tsp Onion Powder**
Sea Salt to taste
Red Pepper Flakes to taste (if you like spicy stuff)

Directions:

1. Defrost spinach in microwave
2. While Spinach is defrosting, beat your eggs well
3. Drain Spinach REALLY WELL!! (I like Melissa’s tip of cutting a small hole in the corner of the bag, and then squeezing it like your life depends on it until you can’t get any more water out)
4. Dump Spinach into a bowl and stir in minced garlic & spices/seasonings to taste**
5. Add Beaten Eggs to Spinach, and mix well
6. Spoon evenly into 12 muffin pan holes, and pack down a bit
7. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30-35 minutes. (I baked mine right alongside my PWO Puffs, and just pulled my puffs out about 10-15 minutes before my Spinach Muffins)
8. Pull out of oven and turn pan upside down onto a cooling rack so that “muffins” can cool.

**Note – I don’t really measure my spices most of the time – I just use the sprinkle – taste – sprinkle – taste method. . so the measurements above are guesstimates (although I think pretty close to what I used)- you should tailor them to your own tastes.

These will “deflate” a little as well, but not much if they are cooked well enough. The final pic is of one of my “muffins” after a night in the fridge. These are REALLY YUMMY straight out of the fridge! I had one this morning with a handful of raw almonds at 5am on my way out the door got my WOD on. I usually don’t eat before my workout (it’s just so dang EARLY!!), but this sat really well with me and it seemed that I had a bit more energy to get through the WOD. These definitely will be a new staple in my fridge!

And on a side note – I have NEVER been a fan of frozen spinach. I love fresh baby spinach in a salad or wilted under some meat, but I just haven’t ever been able to stomach the frozen stuff. . I think it must be a consistancy thing. . but I really, really liked these, so give them a try even if you’re not a fan of the frozen stuff – I think that they’ll pleasantly suprise you!

Well, that’s it! If you try either of these, and love (or hate) them, or have suggestions of revisions that would make them even yummier, please leave a comment and let me know!

Portobella Mushroom “BUNS”!!!

I have my friend and fellow CrossFitter / Whole30 Participant Monique (AKA DLQ!!) to thank for this one. . . .

It was labor day weekend, and I was feeling sorry for myself b/c I was on quarentine while everyone else was out enjoying the beautiful weather, BBQs and Beaches. . . I couldn’t work out or do anything to burn off some frustration, but I decided rather than resign myself to being in a crappy mood all day long, I’d spend my time as productively as I could around the house. I’d already cleaned the house and done the laundry, so I decided to get a little bit creative in the kitchen 🙂

Since all I could think about was going to a Labor Day BBQ, I figured I’d bring the LD BBQ to me! I searched the web for a good burger recipe and ended up taking a little bit from a few different recipes. I don’t remember exact measurements, but my burgers were made of:

GrassFed Ground Beef
Finely Minced Scallions
Finely Minced Garlic
Shredded Carrots
An egg or two
Almond Meal (just a little to hold them together)

I combined these ingredients, formed them into patties, and grilled them to perfection . .

Then, I made the Guacamole from the recipe on the Whole9 website (OMG – SO GOOD!) and sliced up some beautiful home grown tomatoes that I’d purchased at the Farmer’s Market.

Monique had mentioned earlier in the week that she’d used Portobella Mushroom Caps as “buns” for a burger, so I gave it a shot. I flash grilled them, and proceeded to create my burger by layering 1 mushroom cap, a burger patty, a HEALTHY serving of Guac, Tomatoes, and then another Mushroom Cap.

On the side, I fixed what we call “BS French Fries” at my house (Basically just roasted brussel sprouts). To make these, I needed:

1 bag of fresh brussel sprouts
Olive Oil
Sea Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder to taste.

I cut the little stems off each brussel sprout, peeled off the loose leaves, and sliced each one in half (or quarters if they’re the monster brussel sprouts that we sometimes get down here in TX). Then, I tossed them in a big ziplock bag w/ olive oil, sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Shook them up really well to coat evenly, and the prep is done! I then put them cut side up on the top rack in my oven at 450 degrees, and cook them about 15 minutes give or take a few. I pull them out when they’re just starting to brown up and get crispy around the edges.

We call them BS French Fries because they actually taste a little similar to french fries (at least in my perverted paleo-fied mind!) They are good!

This meal turned my mood right around 🙂 There’s nothing like a big fat juicy burger to put a smile on a girl’s face!

Crock Pot Chicken & Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, gizzards etc. removed
1/2 butternut squash, cubed (about 3 cups)
carrots, sliced thick (about 1 cup)
celery, sliced with some of the greens included (about 1 1/2 cups)
5-6 garlic cloves, left whole
1 sweet yellow onion, sliced thick
dried thyme leaves
ground pepper
paprika
Sea Salt
1 bay leaf

Instructions:

1. Clean Chicken, pat dry, and place in crockpot
2. Place Bay Leaf in bottom of Crockpot next to chicken
3. Add veggies around the chicken so that it ends up “nestled” in veggies
4. Sprinkle the thyme leaves, ground pepper, and paprika over the top of the chicken & rub into skin
5. Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt over chicken and veggies
6. Cook on High for 2-3 hours, then turn to low for another 2-3 hours

This dish makes it’s own (delicious!) juice so there is absolutely no need to add liquid.

When you’re ready to eat, remove the chicken from the pot. It will be tender and may fall apart, so be careful! Serve with the veggies, and top with some juice from the pot.

I’ve found that this is a particularly good post-workout meal because of the butternut squash. I usually lift in the evening in my backyard, so if I have this cooking, all I have to do when I’m done liftin is come in and fix a plate – this eliminates the need for me to fix a post workout snack, wait an hour, and then eat dinner 🙂

Okay, I haven’t checked in for a while b/c I’ve been CRAZY BUSY between school, work, and lifting, but I’m going to try to be a little more regular w/ my updates going forward.

A quick update – My diet has NOT been going so well 🙁 It’s not that I have been eating total crap all of the time, but it has definitely not been Paleo, and there has been a good amount of crap thrown in there. . .

Back on the wagon yesterday though, and so far so good 🙂

It never ceases to amaze me what a HUGE difference my diet has on my performance. Perfect example – I did the “Nancy” WOD about a month and a half ago, and PR’d it at 14’50”. Did it this morning, and it nearly killed me, and my time was 21’42”. That is seriously just sad. Granted, I was sick all weekend but still, I have to contribute the majority of the excess time to my crappy diet.

It was nice to have a little “reminder” like that this morning – even though I had already committed myself to cleaning up my diet again ASAP, and have already prepped all of my food for the week – that extra little reminder will help to keep me on track and remind me just why I’m following Paleo Guidelines.

As for my workouts – I’ve gotten 95% of my lifting workouts in, but have only been making it to about 3 CF sessions a week b/c of school/work schedules. I will be SO happy when I’m finally done with school!! Only a few weeks left 🙂 My Oly lifts have been getting better, but my CF performance has gone down significantly due to my crappy diet. I can only imagine how much my Oly lifts would have improved had I stayed strict w/ my diet over the last month! That’s okay though – the past is the past, and all I can do is concentrate on the future.

For the next week or so, I’ll be updating my blog with what I’m eating in an attempt to keep myself a little more accountable.

Mini Sweet Potato Frittata Recipe:

I created the BEST recipe this weekend that is PERFECT for me for pre-work out 🙂 I call them “Mini Sweet Potato Frittatas”. I sauteed onions, red peppers, yellow peppers, spinach, and tomatoes in some olive oil, and cubed some sweet potatoes and cooked them in a skillet until they were soft and mushy. I combined all the veggies and the sweet potatoes, added a little salt and pepper, and then spooned equal amounts into 14 muffin pans. Then, I beat 3 eggs + 8 egg whites really well, and then poured the eggs over the veggie mixture in the muffin pans. Then, I baked them at 375 for about 15 minutes, and that was it 🙂 I froze about half of them, and the other half is in the fridge. 2 of the little mini-frittatas makes a perfect pre-workout snack for me 🙂

And in case anyone is wondering what’s in my homemade oatmeal pancakes:
Old Fashioned Oats, Egg Whites, Protein Powder, Apple Sauce, Banana, Cinnamon

I’ll be phasing these out over the next day or so b/c I want to try to go strict Paleo without the oatmeal. If I have a problem w/ energy loss again though, I’ll add my oatmeal back in.

Okay, so far, here’s what I’ve eaten today:

4:30am – 2 mini-frittatas (pre-workout)
6:30am – 3 oz sweet potato + 1/4 scoop lean dessert protein powder + 2 walnuts (post-workout)
7:45am – 1 homemade “oatmeal pancake” + 1 T Natural Almond Butter (breakfast)
11:00am – 4 oz lean steak grilled + salad w/ spinach, 1 hb egg, avocado, tomatoes, onions, carrots, and balsamic vinegar
3:00pm – 3 oz chicken breast + 1/2 plumcott + 5 brussel sprouts w/ evoo
7:00pm – 4 oz tilapia + 2 cups broccoli + slivered almonds + evoo