Hello to what I can only assume is my small following of readers. If you didn't know, I was in Cuba for 3 weeks with my wonderful boyfriend. We had an absolute blast backpacking around the country. Cuba is unreal, I would love to go back someday.

I managed to stay mostly paleo while there, it turns out fried plantain is a huge staple there, and very paleo. I had some of the best lobster of my life... almost every dinner. Seriously, I was lobster obsessed over there. And it was SO CHEAP!

Anyways, I'm back and very slowly getting back into trying out new recipes. Here's one that I love and made me eat a whole head of cauliflower in like.. 5 minutes. Enjoy!



Cauliflower Popcorn
easy, peasy and delicious

1 head cauliflower
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil (or coconut oil, melted)
salt, to taste
various spices are optional

Wash and thoroughly dry the cauliflower before cutting it up into slightly smaller than ping pong ball sized pieces. Trim of any extra stem. In a large bowl, toss the cauliflower pieces with oil, salt, and any spices you want to try out. I made half the batch with dried dill and the other half with my homemade cajun seasoning.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange cauliflower evenly along the sheet, making sure to not crowd the pieces together. Bake at 425 for 1 hour, flipping every 15 minutes.

*YOU WILL THINK THEY ARE BURNING! But they aren't, they are getting even more delicious. I actually enjoyed the smaller more burnt pieces more than the larger ones, they were so yummy and crispy*

before baking

and after baking

Pasta, bread and rice really only seem like a blandish vessel for whatever sauce or mixture you serve over them. I've never understood why people don't just skip the lame gluten and crap filled stuff and head straight for a bowl of the goodies. That being said, I've seen quite a few bloggers out there using zucchini as a substitute spaghetti... and I LOVE zucchini. It's such an awesomely meaty textured veggie that really encompasses the flavours of whatever you put with it.

So I tried it out. 'Cause really, why not?

Zucchini Spaghetti and Chicken Marinara
super easy and even more super tasting, this makes alot of sauce (great for freezing for later)


2 chicken breasts
3 cups stewed tomatoes (or crushed tomatoes)
1 small can tomato paste
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup fresh chopped parsley
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1/3 cup olive oil (or coconut oil)
salt and pepper
2 medium zucchinis

In a saucepan, heat your oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté until onion semi translucent and fragrant. Cut chicken up into desired sized pieces and add to the onion and garlic mixture. Cook chicken until outsides are no longer pink, not too long though. Add in the stewed tomatoes and paste, mix together well until paste breaks up. Continue to cook over medium heat, adding parsley, oregano, basil and salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer uncovered for about 20-30 minutes, the flavours will be enhanced greatly by doing this.

I obviously added celery to mine

Wash zucchini's and cut lengthwise into quarters.


I used a vegetable peeler but a mandolin or julienne slicer would work awesome if you're lucky enough to have these things. "Peel" the zucchini quarter's lengthwise putting pressure down on the peeler so the peels aren't too thin. Place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute, remover and toss "noodles" around and microwave for 1 more minute.

Serve topped with your awesome marinara sauce and eat! I dare you not to go in for seconds.

Cauliflower is awesome. It's great raw, sauteed, mashed up or in this case... as a wicked substitute for potato in a yummy, creamy FAUX-tato salad.

I got this recipe off CupcakesOMG! (see last post about how awesome she is)

Firstly, if you haven't made paleo mayo before, where have you been?! It's super easy and an awesome way to add fat to your diet.

Paleo Mayo
make this, and store it in an air tight container in you're refrigerator

2 egg yolks
3 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup coconut oil
(you can use 1 cup rendered fat from bacon instead of the oils if you'd like)

Use a blender or a food processor. Put the yolks and 1 tsp of lemon juice in there (you could also add 1 tsp of mustard at this point if you'd like.) Put on low and SLOWLY add the oil, one drop at a time, at first. This is creating an emulsion and if you add the oil too quickly it can separate and be beyond saving. Once the emulsion starts to thicken you can add the oil quicker. When all the oil is added, add the rest of the lemon juice. Taste the mayo and add salt and pepper to your liking.

Faux-tato Salad
this is even better the next day

1 head cauliflower
3 hard boiled eggs
3 pickles (or 3 tbsp relish)
1 tsp dried dill
1 cup paleo mayo
1 tbsp mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the cauliflower into bite sized pieces, place into a pot of water (enough to cover the cauliflower) and boil until fork tender. Drain well and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

Once chilled, chop the cauliflower, pickles and your previously boiled and cooled eggs. Add everything together in a bowl, mix well and refrigerate for an hour before eating.

I added bacon.. cause really, why not?!

If you are like me, you like to feel like you are part of something. Something bigger than yourself. This is a big part of why I started this blog in the first place, not only to help the gym members along their way to becoming paleo but also for myself.

I'm constantly poking around the internet for fellow bloggers that share the same interests. I never knew how hugely vast the paleo and crossfit blogging community was. I've created an "excellence" bookmark bar on the top of my page and daily check out the blogs I've become reliant on.

I want to mention two of them here because they have been majorly influential to me. I was always kinda shy to comment or get ahold of them in anyway but in the last week I've actually gotten an email from both, weird right? Awesome.

I started reading The Paleo Project religiously about 6 months ago. Jenna is awesomely cute, creative and talented. I love that she is not afraid to share her ups and downs with her many followers, it makes me feel a little more open to doing the same.

She recently posted about a site called SlimKicker, please go check it out, it's a challenged base site that allows you to commit to one week of anything from emotional to fitness. Her post asked her followers to sign up, join a challenge and she would enter us in a draw to win an Iron Gym. Guess who won?

Right?? I never win anything! So imagine how I felt when I woke up this morning to an email and a post telling me that I had been drawn out of, in my mind, a bajillion people. Craaazzyy!

Now onto the next awesome blogger. From Jenna's blog, I discovered CupcakesOMG! Wow, another friggen rad, super fashionable and hilarious girl blogging about paleo and other cool girly things. Melissa started a Paleo Challenge for her followers (often referred to as her Cupcult) and I was right on board. She has been sending out bi-weekly newsletters to us all to keep us on track and motivated with recipes and words of encouragement.

So after a rough weekend, I responded to one of her emails and told her about the troubles I had encountered. She responded with empathy and encouragement to stay on track. I was surprised by how helpful she was, with having such a vast Cupcult to tend to, haha.

Now get this... They have joined forces in TwoFacedTuesdays, a day when they both pick an ingredient, put their own spin on it and post their recipes and pictures. Sounds a lot like mine and Sarah's Recipe Remix right? Well where do you think I got the idea!

So, I guess this post is about reaching out. The Paleo community is one built on sharing and understanding. No one is out there wanting to hoard there awesome recipes or ideas.

And please check these ladies out, not only for the delicious recipes but for the other little funny and sassy bits.

So far Coach Kevin from the gym is the only one to email me some of his tried and true recipes and new found grocery gem's.

If you have any great go-to recipes or have found something awesomely paleo around town... please share it with me and I will be sure to post it up here for all to see and enjoy.

Coach's Country Style Eggs
this would be a massive meal for me, so maybe half it if you're a light eater


Salsa ingredients: all chopped
3-4 ripe tomatoes
1/2 stalk leek
1/4 cup cilantro
1 large jalapeno pepper
1/2 lemon, squeezed
2 cloves garlic, crushed


Guacamole ingredients:
1 large ripe avocado
green onion, chopped
1/2 lime, squeezed
1/8 cup cilantro, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed

For both recipes, mix up well and serve with 4 eggs (whatever way you like) and 6 strips nitrate free bacon.

As hard as I tried to get this recipe made and put up for Valentines day, I obviously failed. It all started when I found some awesome extremely dark and zero sugar added bakers chocolate in the bulk foods section. As hard as I tried to choke down these bitter chunks of supposed goodness I ended up creating a super easy recipe to use them up in a more delicious way.

Chocolate Balls with Coconut
as easy to make as they are to eat

4 oz dark unsweetened bakers chocolate
3 oz water
2-3 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup coconut flakes

Slowly melt the chocolate into the water in a small saucepan over med-low heat, watching and stirring constantly. The chocolate will probably seem like it's melting all nice, then turn quickly to an angry looking clump of chunky mess. DON'T WORRY! Remove from heat and add honey and vanilla. The honey soothes the chocolate and returns into into a better consistency. If it's too soft to work with you hands, let it cool slightly until you are able to form into small balls by rolling in your palms. Next, dump the coconut flakes on a plate and roll those little balls around to cover with the coconut goodness. Place on a separate plate (or container) and store in the fridge until you devour them all (it only took us a couple hours)

I managed to save a few for a picture

*note* You can add other things into your melted chocolate mixture to make it your our. You could even roll it in other things! Why not try adding the coconut in the chocolate and rolling in crushed nuts?! Or added dried cranberries or cherries and rolling in cocoa powder?!