Chicken Alfedo Omelet

Whenever I have non-paleo friends over for dinner, my go to recipe is my fettuccine alfredo. It's delicious, nutrious and usually gets the response of "Wow! You can't even tell the difference." I've been meaning to post that recipe for a while, but life has been busy and I feel like I can make it better than it already is.

Today however, as I was trying to figure out what on earth I wanted to for lunch I had an idea. I wanted an omelet, and I really wanted cheese on it. It took me a good 45 minutes to talk myself out of making one with just cheese and salsa, and that decision finally solidified when I began to dwell upon the cashew cream I had in my refrigerator....and I began to want alfredo.

And then it dawned on me: a Chicken Alfredo Omelet. It's easy, delicious and fills that alfredo craving when you don't have pasta source.

Heres what you need:

1 TBSP cooking fat (bacon fat or coconut oil)
3 Eggs
1 palm size portion of chicken, chopped
1/4 Cup Cashew Cream (to make this simply blend 1 part cashews with 1 part water)
1 TSP Garlic Powder
A few pinches of nutmet
1/2 cup of brocolli
2 TBSP of red bell peppers, chopped
1/4 Cup of Spinach, Minched
1 TBSP onion, chopped
2 TSP Green Onion Chopped
Dash of Salt
1/4 TSP Black Pepper

Start by sauteing your onions, broccoli, peppers, chicken, green onions and spinach in your fat over medium heat. Once the broccoli is tender and onions are soft, pour the veggie mix into a small bowl on the side. Mix in your cashew cream, nutmeg and garlic. Set aside.

In a small cup, beat your eggs until frothy. Add in your salt and pepper. On the same pan you used to saute your vegetables, pour your eggs (make sure there is still enough grease on it!) Since the pan was hot the egg should start cooking almost immediately. Lift the pan and swish in a circular motion to cover the pan. When the eggs around the edge of the pan start to brown and lift from the pan you'll know that it is ready. Spoon your alfredo mix onto half of the omelet, then using a large flipper flip the egg in half, covering the filling. Allow to rest on the heat for a minute, then cut in half and serve.

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Breakfast Sundae's

 We'll I'm super excited about this ones! Not only is this Breakfast Sundae delicious but as versatile as they come! No, there is no ice cream in this breakfast. There aren't any caramel sauces, sprinkles or Marciano cherries. There are no spoons involved in this one.

So, what exactly is it a breakfast Sundae? In the traditional sense, its not a Sundae at all but the base is a creamy naturally sweet butternut squash, and any topping your heart desires can be added on top for a breakfast full of a variety of delicious flavors all smattered into one delicious sundae.

INGREDIENTS: To make this recipe you'll need a butternut squash, bacon fat (or coconut oil) and what ever toppings you want to put on your Sundae. In this recipe, I'll tell you how to make my Basil Breakfast Sundae. For that you will also need, 3 TBSP Coconut Butter, 1 TBSP Coconut Oil, 2 TSP Dried Basil, a Sprinke of Salt, 1 and a half green onion (chopped) and 3 Large Eggs.

Preheat your oven to 400*. To begin start by peeling your butternut squash. Cut your squash into 3/4 of an inch thick pieces, starting at the stem side (this is important, because there are no seeds on this end). Cut about 6 slices, to serve about 2-3 depending on how hungry everyone is. Then baste the slices with the bacon fat or coconut oil. Place the slices on a cookie sheet and cook for 40 minutes, or until crispy, flipping half way through.

While the squash is roasting, prepare your toppings for your Sundays! You can do whatever you want! You could make it more pizza like, with salsa, ground beef and cashew cheese! You could do cashew cheese and and spinach on top! Whatever your heart desires!

For the time being, I will share my recipe for Basil and Egg Toppings! Hopefully more varieties to come in the future!

In a small pot, melt together your coconut butter and coconut oil until smooth on low. While this is melting, scramble your eggs with bacon fat or coconut oil in a medium size pan. Once your coconut mixture is melted, add in the basil, green onion and salt.

Assemble your Sundae's by first spreading the coconut basil mixture on with a knife, then place the eggs on top. Garnish with left over green onion. You'll want to enjoy these with bacon, or another meat as they are so incredibly rich, that you will need something balance out the flavors! Enjoy!

No Grass-Fed Butter. Anywhere.

For the most part, I love where I live. Canada is a great country with so much to offer a person, and I am so incredibly fortunate to have grown up here. I am so blessed by this country!

However, on the Paleo side of it Canada is not perfect - I am not complaining because I do truly love it here, but unless you want to eat snow cones year round eating local and in season is practically impossible. This time of year, our (organic) produce comes from various states in the USA, and Mexico. If it didn't the only thing we would have is squash and maaaybe some root vegetables. Not much. On the upside, we have a lot of open fields where many of our cows roam and munch on grass all day long. I'm not sure where all that beef is distributed though. Hmm.....I should look into this more.

We are also apparently missing, Grass-Fed Butter. I have been keeping my eye out for it for quite a while now, and never have been able to find it. Today, I asked one of the guys at my little market if they had any to which he replied "Oh I wish! I have been looking for it everywhere! It appears there is none anywhere in Canada. I usually stock up on mine while in the states." I then imagined shipping grass-fed butter up here from the states...haha....that would be a disaster waiting to happen. I guess I'll have to be satisfied with my coconut oil and bacon fat. :)

Cauli-Flour

A coupe of months ago I broke my iPhone, and have since reverted to using my old LG flip phone. Did you know that it doesn't know the word cauliflower? I find this rather irritating, because I like cauliflower a lot and when I get excited about something I want to tell my friends, so when I was trying to tell people about this one, every time I tried to spell cauliflower I was greeted with a phone that refused to type and obnoxious beeps. Sounds awesome right?

I've had this idea in my in my mind for quite months it seems - but I didn't have a dehydrator so when I got my Excalibur for Christmas - I knew what I'd be doing. I love the results I have gotten so far with cooking with my cauli-flour. Be forewarned though - one large head only yields about 1/2 of cauli-flour. On the upside of that - you'll be getting a whack-load of nutrients in a small amount of flour. I'm still trying to decide if its worth it, but it is so simple to make that I honestly think - why not?

The First thing you'll need to do in order to make this unique flour is go to the store, and grab yourself a couple of the largest cauliflowers you can find. Then you'll want to chop it up into small, 1/4 inch thick pieces. Cauliflower is a bit finicky so if they are really more small florets that's okay too. Stick them into your dehydrator on 125* for about 8 hours - or until dry. If you don't have a dehydrator, simply put your oven on its lowest setting until the pieces are completely dried out.

When they are done, they should look like this. I think it's quite beautiful. Next you'll want to place it in either a food processor or  a blender - blend until fine and powdery.

And that's it! Word to the wise though: Make sure that you allow the cauli-flour to settle before you open the blender - it creates a dust that comes up into the air like crazy!

I will be sharing some recipes I make with this over the next few days! It will be great!

Whole30 Life

I don't have a recipe today, but am just going to share random thoughts, happenings and life things.

I started my whole30 last Sunday - I have had some minors mess-ups unfortunately, but part of that has to do with the fact that the day I decided to start was also the day I had an out of town concert, had to be awake at 4:30 AM - and be out all day - not the best timing in the world. But I've been trying - I'd hoped that I would do no nuts at all for 30 days, but I find that a struggle because if I do get hungry, and when I need a snack nuts are a good go to because they wrap up fat and protein into one. Or maybe I'm just addicted to them. Hmm. I have however amazingly not had any chocolate in an entire week - this is a miracle for me - it has been tough and I didn't think I could do it. Honestly. I even dreamt about chocolate, craved donuts and other sugar foods that I never crave. Guess I'm more addicted than I thought...

I've been learning a lot through out the week - like how much I depend on sugar - and how many more vegetables I need to incorporate into my diet - especially at breakfast and lunch. I am getting better at my portion sizes and have been making all the difference in keeping my energy levels up throughout the day! Yay!

I've begun to make meals that look more like this - or contain something of the likes instead of jumping to a banana with almond butter, or a paleo muffin when I feel rushed - quick foods are good when you really need them but I'm realizing just how much I depend on them when I could simply make 20 extra minutes in the morning to have a proper food to eat - and nourish my body for a good start to the day.

I've been making a point of making sure I buy my vegetables organic recently - I have found a really great local market here and the quality of the produce they offer is excellent! I know that I might now always be able to afford to buy everything organic, but I feel that doing it while I can instead of not because I know I won't always be able to is going to do my body some amount of good. At least that's what I tell myself.

Speaking of good quality food, I have to give a plug in to my ranch - take a look at that bacon. I buy Pastured raised meet from a local farmer (Well, about three hours away) - they quality of the meat they sell is phenomenal - you can taste the care of the animals in the meat, and I love knowing that I am supporting local farmers, as the food industry could be in real trouble if we don't start to support our farmers - we will be taken over my processed foods even more as farmers won't be able to afford to keep their farms going - or raise quality food. I think that supporting our neighbours, helping them to keep their jobs is one of the best gifts we could give our farmers, even if your health isn't your initial motivation for buying local meat.

 Every third week of the month, they come into town and all of us health nuts gather in a parking lot to pick up out meat for the month. I love the people, the food and amazingly enough I found out that one of them eats Paleo this week. (I also found out one of my Prof's does - I was so shocked and my excitement nearly bubbled over as I had never met another Paleor in my life- and its hard for non-Paleo's to grasp the why of why we do this.) Yay!  The one day a month where they come into town is always one of my favorites days of the month. Yesterday, was that day for me. Next month I can't go to meat pick up , so I ordered double the meat of usual - hopefully I will hold me over till April. I think I will be okay!

I Also bought liver this month. I have no idea what to do with it. Any suggestions, would be grand.

13 Reasons I Love Paleo

1. Weight loss. Like nearly every other person in my generation, my weight has been an issue. When I went gluten free in 2010 I initially lost about 15 lbs, but after that I was at a standstill for a few years. When I cut grains out of my life I lost another 25.

2. No more counting calories! This is probably one of my favorite reasons for loving Paleo! Not only does counting calories cause irritation, but it can cause stress, irritation and anxiety when it comes to food. There were times where if I reached my calorie limit before the day was done I would be TERRIFIED to eat anything else - and if I did I would be afraid to the point of not eating for a day then binge eating like a shark on a feeding frenzy - only to be followed by hours and hours of intense exercise to compensate. Not only did I not loose weight while counting calories (except for the very brief time where I was still counting, but not eating grains) - but it had me on a dangerous road towards an eating disorder.

3. Not being afraid of fat! Before going Paleo I was on the conventional road of healthy eating - whole grains, and low fat dairy products. Being Paleo means getting to embrace the world of healthy fats, and since we were born to love the world of fatty foods like bacon, butter, and nuts...I can't help but love this.

4. Bacon! I know I talked about bacon in number 3 - but lets face it - getting to eat as much bacon as you want is an incredibly amazing reason to love paleo.

5. Clearer skin. I have never had a major problem with acne, but I always had odd bumpbs on my cheeks and arms. They are gone now, as is my skin is not patchy - I think I'm one of the only people in the world that doesn't have the need to wear foundation or coverup.

6. Better concentration. I always had SEVERE ADHD. It was so bad that I couldn't read until I was 11, had to go to a special school and never thought I'd be able to function in the real world. About a month after going Paleo I decided to take myself off my drugs and I didn't even blink. My family didn't even notice.

7. NO MORE DRUGS!! I don't need my Adderall anymore, which I am forever greatful for because  every time I would take it I would practically have to force feed it to myself - the fear the damage it was doing to my body was so intense.


8. No more typical woman roller coaster emotions. I've always hated the excuse of being a women as one to use for attitude, break downs and instability. Despite that, I often found myself struggling with my keeping my emotions in check beneath the surface. I rarely let people see it (except for my roommates/family...), but it was there. I can now happily say that I when people describe me the word "stable" often gets thrown in there - and I don't feel like its a lie!

9. More energy. I used to think I suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. Now I think that I simply suffered from chronic grain consumption.

10. Better Sleep - I used to suffer from insomnia. These days, I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow - no problem.

11. Less Headaches. This is a little complicating, considering my health past. I have a brain condition that caused chronic headaches, but they are located in the back of my head, and the ones that stopped as soon as I stopped eating grains are located at the front of my head. I know they are caused by grains because every time I think to myself "Well, this doesn't have gluten in it - it can't be that bad!" And proceed to eat something filled with grains - I feel hungover the next day. Ew.

12. Not falling for consumer lies. Commercials, supposedly healthy, processed products simply have no power over me because I no longer believe that factories can make food better - that is natures job.

13. More Variety! When people hear that I don't eat dairy, grains, legumes or sugar they often get baffled and wonder what the heck is it I eat. Going paleo has opened an entire world of amazingly delicious food that I would have never discovered had I not gone Paleo.

This list  doesn't even begin to tell the story of how Paleo changed my life! I look forward to sharing it over time!