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?!

I'm so far behind on a bunch of posts that should be bursting with pictures and recipes. So I'm sorry guys but life is in full force right now. Between all the road trips, visiting, hot springing and generally having a good time I've found it tough to hunker down to my laptop, sip my coffee and update. The hard life.

I will, however, summarize.

I'm addicted to my crockpot. Well it's a borrowed crockpot, and I'm in love with it. There's something so pleasing about throwing some meat, spices, veggies and broth into a big ol' pot and returning 6 hours later for the most amazing meal you've had in a while (or in my case, since the night before.) So I will be posted a couple crockpot recipes in the near future for you all to enjoy.

Recipe Remix: Vol 2 will be posted next Wednesday and it's going to be awesome. We picked a really fun one this time and I can't wait to see what Sarah comes up with.

This past Sweaty Sunday was a really fun one and I wish I had my laptop/internet connection to share it with you. Fraser and I met up with my sister, her boyfriend, my father, his wife and 2 kids at Nukusp Hotsprings for a mini family vacation. We hiked up the trails to the source of the springs. It was a gorgeous moss covered green area surrounded by the Kootenay snow. Aidan (my sisters beau) joined us for the WOD and we did a 21-15-9 style workout incorporating the landscape. Squats, pushups off tree trunks and dips off boulders.

I'm back on the baking train! Recipes to come include: the best paleo cookies ever and valentines dark chocolate coconut balls.

So yeah, I'll try to get some posts up with recipes this weekend.

This week's ethnic paleo dinner party was based around Southern cuisine. Well kinda. Once we started looking up various southern recipes we discovered we weren't all that into greasy fried vegetables and meat dripping with a messy overpowering sauce. So we healthified it! That could be a verb, right?

Not Your Average BBQ Ribs

2 racks pork ribs
2 cups applesauce
2 tbsp salt
2 tbsp paprika
2 tbsp celery salt
2 tbsp freshly ground pepper
1-2 tbsp hot chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
zest of 1 lemon
1/3 cup olive oil
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Combine all ingredients (except the meat, oil and vinegar) in a bowl. Slowly add the oil until completely mixed, then slowly add the vinegar.

The consistency will be more of a paste then sauce. Rub this all over the racks of ribs, leaving about a third for re-rubbing later on. Place ribs in a shallow baking pan and cover with tin foil. Cook in oven at 250 for about 4 hours. Remove from oven, spoon the rest of the BBQ sauce on ribs and throw on your barbecue to grill the outsides. Serve!

Fried Asparagus

1/4 cup butter (you can use coconut or olive oil)
2 tbsp olive oil (omit if you used oil instead of butter)
1 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb fresh asparagus, trimmed

Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook garlic for a while, but do not brown. Add asparagus, and cook for 10 minutes, turning to insure the asparagus are cooked evenly. Remove from pan and serve.

We kept the pecans on the side.

As I was fighting my eyes to stay open on the drive back to Kelowna from Vernon this morning, I was running about a million excuses through my head as to why I couldn't do this week's Sweaty Sunday WOD.

Finally, as we pulled up to our house, I remember that gloomy feeling I feel if I skip out on getting my heart beating hard everyday. Sweaty Sunday it is!

This workout started great, other than me having to continue to tell Fras to stop whining, that he was fine, and to reach full depth in his squats and get off his knees in the push ups. It wasn't until I had nearly completed my first round of the workout that I slipped on my couch jump and somehow managed to literally slice about 4 layers off the entire top of my big toe, well almost entire, the back hung on creating a nice big hat like flap of skin. I'm talking about the whole width of my toe. Then there was the blood. I never realized how much a toe could bleed! Anyways, we stopped the timer, wrapped my toe with a ton of the only crappy bandaids I owned and got back to the workout, modified for me.

Warm up: 21 - 15 - 9
walking lunge
squats
push ups

WOD: AMRAP in 20 minutes
5 handstand push ups (I found an awesome modification here, put I made it harder by going on my feet instead of knees.. until the toe situation at least)
10 coffee table dips
10 burpees
15 couch jumps (just like it sounds)
15 situps

Daisy: 8 rounds + 10 reps
(1 RX'd round, the rest I had to switch to:
10 handstand pushups
10 coffee table dips
10 squats
10 push ups
15 situps)

Fraser: 4 rounds RX'd

Well here it is.. this week's ingredient was...

they were still pretty good...

After a very long hiatus, my friends and I finally got together for another great paleo ethnic night. This time so decided on a French cuisine. I had just finished and long and taxing day at work and was absolutely starving.. must have been the lack of carbs to the brain but I TOTALLY forgot to take pictures of anything.  Sorry guys!

I also want to make a note about dairy. Up until recently I was very careful to stay away from all dairy except about a tablespoon in my coffee or tea sometimes. I was never really into cheese and had some problems digesting certain types. I've become a little more lenient lately, although I am careful as to where the cheese, or butter actually, comes from. With my Dad living on the farm, raising, milking and making his own dairy products I really see no harm in consuming a high quality cheese or butter. Unless of course you really have an intolerance for it, stay away in that case. That being said, I still don't seek it out or add it to anything on my own. Use you're own discretion with dairy.

In other news, Sweaty Sundays was taken to the mountains yesterday in the form of snowshoeing. I originally had thought I would do a little WOD up in the snow but after 3 hours of trudging around in 4 feet of snow I couldn't bring myself to climb a tree or do a single burpee. So.. until next week.. go snowshoeing! It's a really fun way to get in some cardio and see some amazing wintery scenery.

Oh and more news, the beautiful and talented Sarah Henderson from the gym and simple life blog and I have decided to team up for what we are calling "Recipe Remix." Every Wednesday we will pick an ingredient, rack our brains, and both come up with a fresh new recipe. We will be posting our creations along with pictures. So come check it out. This weeks ingredient is very.. messy, versatile and delicious.

Tiffany made most of the meal and it was stupidly delicious.. like seriously! It really pays to have friends that hunt and are just awesome. We made a yummy duck that my Dad gave me from his last butchering on the farm. Here's the recipes:



Venison and Bighorn Sheep Carpaccio
this meat is nearly impossible to purchase so use good cuts of beef or bison as a sub

400g meat (she obviously used venison and sheep)
20 black olives
salt
fleur de sel (salt)
extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp lemon juice
100g shaved parmesan cheese (omit if you don't do dairy)

Place meat in freezer for 30 minutes to make it easier to cut. Now slice meat into thin slices with a very sharp knife and arrange on a platter. Slice olives. Just before serving, drizzle meat with olive oil, lemon juice and scatter black olives and fleur de sel on top. Serve cold.



Leeks with Lemon Dijon Vinaigrette
this was such a surprisingly flavourful dish, I highly recommend trying it out


3 leeks

1 Basa filet, cleaned and dried

garlic, chopped

white onion, chopped (I used white)

finely chopped prosciutto

chopped green olives

Herbs de Provence

paprika

bacon (or pork fat)

olive oil

salt/pepper to taste

cleaned endive leaves

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Combine all ingredients well and rub onto filet. Drizzle with olive oil then dot with bacon. Salt/pepper to taste. Bake uncovered in glass pan for 20 min or until flakey.  Let cool slightly then cut into small strips and stuff into endives leaves.

Can be used to top any firm white fish or used as a stuffing in a whole fish.

I had my lovely friend Meighan over for brunch this Sunday. Meighan and I have been friends for quite a few years and are finally living in the same city again since Vancouver years ago and it's such a treat! I'm starting to notice my lack of female friends and influences in my life, and I miss it! Not that I don't love my guy friends to death but sometimes you gotta paint your nails, watch a chick flick and talk about boys!

I had somewhat of an epiphany/revelation this morning while experiencing some serious sunday winter grumpies. I always have the best of intentions to stay as "good" as possible on the weekends but I've found the lack of usually weekday structure leaves me in somewhat of a slump of lazy. So my epiphany? Create structure! And thus I'm starting SWEATY SUNDAYS!

I will post a blog every Sunday of a Crossfit style workout using things around my house and just my body weight. Feel free to be inspired and hop on the sweaty train!  Oh and just in case you were wondering... deadlifting your couch doesn't really work...

warm up:
21-15-9
coffee table dips
squats
pushups

wod: for time
50 situps
50 high knee tuck and squats
50 situps
50 walking lunge
50 situps
50 burpees
50 situps

It was a tough one! Man... I absolutely HATE burpees! My time for the workout was 20:56

I have a few awesome recipes to post this week so stay tuned crossfit and paleo-ers!

I've become a little obsessed with meatballs. They are just so easy to make, store, and grab as a snack. I've made them a few times in the past month or so and this is my favorite spice combination so far. It was for a tapas and pyjamas ladies night with some of my besties.

Jerked Meatballs
jamaica meets meatballs


1 lb lean ground beef (preferably grass fed)
1/2 cup onion, diced fine
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2-3 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tablespoon spicy jerk sauce (check the ingredients to keep as pure as possible)
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp pepper

Ready for the easiest prep ever? Mix everything together very well. Use your hands to roll into desired size balls, place on greased cookie sheet (use one with sides to catch the drippings). Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes depending on the size. So good!

Served with prosciutto and peppered turkey breast slices.

Meatza... again!
check my original Meatza post for the "crust" ingredients HERE





My toppings this time:
  garlic stuffed olives
  mushrooms
  red and green pepper
  spinach

nom nom!

Coach K's Coconut Crusted Salmon Salad
another great creation


ground salmon
coconut oil garlic
coconut flakes
spicy seasoning (chilli flakes, cayenne, etc)
olive oil
green onions, chopped
lettuce
avocado
lemon juice, fresh squeezed
almonds or walnuts (optional)


Press ground salmon into cakes or pieces.  Preheat pan with coconut oil and garlic and place salmon cakes/pieces in. Onto the cooking fish, sprinkle coconut and your choice of hot seasoning. After about 1 minute, flip and sprinkle same on other side, cook this side for about a minute as well. Now add olive oil and chopped green onions to the salmon. Flip one last time to crust second side. Remove from heat and place on a bed of lettuce and avocado. Drizzle with olive oil and top with fresh squeezed lemon. Optionally top with slivered almonds or crushed walnuts.

I don't know about you guys but.. I find that since I've made a commitment to eat real and good food I have been an absolute slave to my kitchen and the grocery stores. I'm constantly chopping, cooking, cleaning and going out to replenish my staple ingredients.

The Primal Life website has launched and with it, I have been getting a flood of new hits. Much appreciated!