Paleo Bison Chili

In my attempt to cook and eat healthier this year, I have realized one thing...I need to plan my weekly meals. Our family has always been a "what do you feel like" family. You know the one, me texting my hubs every morning asking, what do you feel like for dinner tonight? Him saying, whatever you want and then we end up ordering in since neither of us can make a decision. So, I sat down at my computer and researched meals that I thought looked good and relatively easy (because I am still a hot mess in the kitchen, lets be honest!)

 First up on my prep for the week is Paleo Bison Chicken.

 Prep your veggies... I am not an expert at this yet, I need to practice getting it all around the same size.

 Heat a heavy bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add coconut oil.Add onions, peppers and garlic and sauté until onions are translucent, about 3 or 4 minutes.

 Next, add ground bison, cumin, and chili powder.Stir while this cooks, about 5 to 6 minutes.

 I used organic green chiles, diced tomatoes with jalapeños and cilantro for some extra flavor and crab salsa. I wasn't sure about using the crab salsa but the hubs picked it and if it doesn't work out I can always use a regular salsa next time.

 Pour in salsa, tomatoes, green chiles and salt.

 Simmer for one hour.

It turned out a little bit on the spicy side thanks to the jalapeño in the tomatoes and the chili powder. For a milder flavor you can play with the spices a bit. I got a big thumbs up from the hubs and since he is my biggest critic, this dinner was a WIN!!!!!!

Spoon up and ENJOY!!!

Ingredients:

     1 Tbs coconut oil, tallow, bacon grease, or lard

     1/2 medium yellow onion, diced

     1 green pepper 

     1 red pepper

     2 cloves garlic, sliced

     1-3/4 lb ground bison (elk, venison, or beef may be substituted)

     2 tsp ground cumin

     2 tsp chili powder

     1 (12 oz) jar salsa

     1 (8 oz) can diced tomatoes

     1 (7 oz) can mild green chiles

     2 tsp sea salt (optional)

Instructions

Heat a heavy bottomed soup pot over medium-high heat. 

When the pan is hot, add coconut oil.

Add onions, peppers and garlic and sauté until onions are translucent, about 3 or 4 minutes.

Next, add ground bison, cumin, and chili powder.

Stir while this cooks, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Pour in salsa, tomatoes, green chiles and salt.

Simmer for at least 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Spicy and Sweet Coconut Honey Chicken

I am not the best cook, I think we have established that right?? That has not deterred me from attempting to make some recipes I NEVER would have attempted before. That is the case for this Spicy and Sweet Coconut Honey Chicken. I try to keep my recipes extremely simple and this one was up until the part where I made the sauce. I'm sure my sauce was a little lumpy but the hubs LOVED it and he is definitely my biggest critic. If only I could get my kids to eat this...baby steps.

The first issue that I would remedy when I make this next time would be...I would get the boneless skinless chicken thighs. I had to take it off the bone and I won't lie, it was slightly gross to me, but I did it! 

Now place a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add coconut oil. Once oil is very hot, add chicken to the pan without crowding the pan to help with searing. 

I don't think I got my oil hot enough because my chicken did not sear very well. After chicken has cooked through, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

After I removed the chicken from the pan, there was a lot of liquid from the chicken cooking too slowly. Next time I make this I will make sure it is seared a bit better. I added the garlic and onions and cooked them until they were translucent.

After the onions were nice and soft (5 minutes or so) I added the honey, coconit milk, aminos and siracha. This is where I started to panic a little bit. I was supposed to whisk everything together and bring it to a boil ( and we know from the egg debacle that boiling things is rough for me!)

Once it was boiling, I was supposed to turn the heat down and add the tapioca flour and keep whisking. I need like 4 hands to be able to do this, so my sauce was a little lumpy. My goal though wasn't a lumpless sauce, it was a good tasting meal that my hubs would eat. 

After the sauce thickens up, I added the chicken back in to coat it (about 4 minutes to reheat) and then you can serve it with your favorite veggies. 

Since my goal was to make something my hubs would eat again, dinner was a success! This entire process of learning to cook (even at this stage in my life) is actually pretty fun. I haven't served anything raw or burnt all week!! Yay!!!!

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1.5 pounds chicken thighs, cut into 1 inch cubes
• salt, to taste

For the sauce

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ small yellow onion, minced
• 1 (14 ounce) can of full fat coconut milk
• ¼ cup honey
• ½ cup coconut aminos (or gluten free soy sauce)
• 2-3 tablespoons sriracha, depending how spicy you like (find paleo sriracha here)
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt, to taste
• ¼ cup tapioca flour
• chopped green onions (to garnish)

Instructions

1. 
   
2. Now place a large saucepan or dutch oven over medium heat. Add coconut oil. Once oil is very hot, add chicken to the pan without crowding the pan to help with searing. Sprinkle with salt. Once chicken begins to turn white, flip on cook on other side. After chicken has cooked through, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. When chicken is done cooking, add 2 more tablespoons to the pan (if needed) then add garlic and onion. Once onion becomes translucent, add coconut milk, honey, coconut amines, sriracha, red pepper flakes, and salt. Whisk together and let come to a low boil then reduce to low heat.
4. Lastly, while continuously whisking, add in tapioca flour ⅛ cup at a time. Be sure to continuously whisk to keep from tapioca flour from clumping.
5. Once mixture thickens, add chicken to the pan with the sauce and coat, let cook for about a minute to reheat the chicken.
6. Pour sauce and chicken on top rice and garnish with green onions.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Eating Clean is not say for people like me. The people who don't like to sit down and plan what they are going to eat. I understand the concept of meal planning, I do, but up until now i have never done it. 

Since deciding that one of my "realsolutions" was to cook dinner 3 times a week, I thought I should find some items that maybe all of us could eat. I had to do some research because most meatloaf recipes have some type of oat/oatmeal as a binder and we are still trying to eat mostly Paleoish when we can. Hubs really likes a red pepper and sweet potato soup so I knew that flavor combination would work together. 

I started by shredding my sweet potato and dicing my red pepper.

After the veggies were shredded and diced, I added them into my ground turkey.

Then I added in my eggs and almond meal

And then I added in my ketchup and barbecue sauce (i just used what we had in the house) and the spices.

I mixed all my ingredients together and then scooped them into 12 muffin tins that I sprayed with coconut oil spray. 

Place it in your 350 degree preheated oven and bake them for 40 minutes (or until they are brown and crispy on top. 

I let them sit for 5 minutes in the pan just to make sure they were cooked all the way through (you know I usually have things come out raw!) I used a knife to cut around the edges and out they all came- perfectly done!! 

They were a little crispy around the edges but I won't be taking anyone to the ER for salmonella so that is a major WIN!!! The flavor was actually really good which I was concerned about since I kinda made this up as I went (something will never change). 

Now I have a clean and healthy protein for my week. If you are doing the 21 day fix or 21 day fix extreme the ratio of one would be 1 red and 1/2 yellow per each meatloaf muffin. 

Enjoy!!!

Ingredients

2 1b lean ground turkey 

2 farm fresh egg

1 cup almond meal

1 sweet potato, peeled and grated

1/2 red bell pepper diced 

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp chili powder

1/4 cup ketchup 

1/4 cup bbq sauce 

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare your muffin tin.  You can also grease them with some coconut oil/animal fat of your choice.

Mix all your ingredients in a large bowl and don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty! They’re the best mixing tools we have!

Divide meat mixture among 12muffin tin cups. Bake for 40 minutes (or until brown and a little bit crispy on top).

Insanely Grateful to the Max

I have been a sappy mess today! It's the same feeling I had after my first half marathon and after I completed the Dopey Challenge. It's that sense that I completed something that at one point in time I thought was impossible. 

The changes in my body are subtle compared to the changes to my mind and to my spirit. When I finished Dopey in January 2014, I was burned out! I had done something that few other people could say that had done and my body didn't want to do it again. I was depressed and I didn't know what I was going to do. I couldn't continue running crazy amounts of miles for crazy amounts of hours per week. My family needed my time and I felt guilty giving that time to myself. Beachbody and Shaun T literally saved me! That sound dramatic even to me but it is so true. I had never done an at home program (except for my treadmill ��) and I had never consistently cross trained. I had gotten a challenge pack with FocusT25 and it sat in that box for at least six months until that day when I just didn't want to run anymore but I needed to do something. I'm giving you a little of my backstory so please bear with me. 

FocusT25 gave me results that I had never seen before and muscles in my legs that I didn't even know I needed to help me run faster. It also showed me that there was another way. 

Fast forward to the release of Insanity Max:30. The name insanity scared the crap out of me! I had seen the original version and my mind said "oh no - NOT ME!" but this was a shorter version right? It was only 30 minutes and I was "allowed" to take breaks. I had learned focus and now I needed to gain my power. So, I ordered it and couldn't wait to get started. 

From Day 1, Shaun tells you that he believes in you and that you CAN do it and somewhere around day 10 you start believing that you just might be able to do this! You keep pushing play, you drink your Shakeology, and you SEE your body transforming. I told a friend of mine that I was extremely glad that I had the photos to see my transformation because that stupid scale DID NOT MOVE and for the first time in my life it doesn't matter. That number that I used to define myself by for so long, it's just that- a number. That number doesn't show how many push-ups I can do or how I am able to do tuck jumps, it doesn't show the confidence I have gained or the joy I have for sharing my story of hope with others. That number means nothing! 

I was able to finish month 1 feeling on top of the world and then I pushed play on month 2! To say that I felt a bit defeated can't even express my feelings enough. The entire time Shaun was beating my body down though he was lifting my spirit up. He kept telling me that I could do it and you know what... I DID! I might have "maxed out" but that was the whole point right? Learning to see your limits and trying to overcome them. 

I will probably never meet Shaun but I want to be him for someone. I want to be able to help people believe that even if it's hard, they can get through. He didn't just give me a six pack (which I won't be giving back) but he gave me peace. He gave me strength and the courage to step out of hiding in the background. I couldn't say thank you enough to him because as cheesy as it sounds, my life isn't the same anymore.

I think that we all are trying to live as best as we can and for those 30 minutes every day, I could just be me- Jama, not a mom or a wife, I could be the athlete that I always knew I could be but that I never knew I was.

If you are scared to fail... don't be. You will fail, it's a guarantee but through the failure you will see who you we always meant to be! So thank you Shaun for showing me who I could become and for always believing in me- even though we may never meet you have changed me and I am eternally grateful! 

Egg White Veggie Muffin Cups

Breakfast for me is always SHAKEOLOGY!!!

That  doesn't mean that it is for everyone else in the family! Hubs really likes to have his for lunch so I have been trying to find a good recipe for egg white muffins and I finally found one that worked for all of us. Hubs has been working hard with Les Mills Pump for the last 5 weeks, so I will do just about anything to help him stay on track, which includes cooking!

Here is the recipe for Egg White Muffins.


Ingredients:

Coconut Oil Spray (i used olive oil Pam, I find that the coconut oil one doesn't work as well)
24 egg whites
12 spears asparagus
1 cup spinach trimmed
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper (to taste)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven 350.
2. Spray Muffin Tin with spray (of your choice)
3. Whisk egg whites together with salt, pepper, and cayenne.
4. Pour into prepared muffin tin evenly. (make sure you have equal amounts per tin or they will not each come out right)
5. Add Asparagus to each egg white muffin.
6. Add Spinach to each egg white muffin.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes or until egg whites are set.
8. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before serving.
9. Serve warm or save in the fridge for a quick and easy grab and go meal.

These exceeded my expectations!! You can use any vegetables that you want but we always need more green veggies so that is what I chose to do this time. I think next time I would cut the spinach up before placing it in the egg white mixture so that there weren't just huge piles of spinach (although it does look pretty in the photos :))

Citrus Bison Meatballs

SO I HAVE DEFINITELY BEEN TRYING TO THINK OUTSIDE OF MY BOX WHEN IN THE KITCHEN. CONSIDERING I AM NOT THE BEST COOK (AT ALL) I HAVE BEEN RELYING HEAVILY ON BEING TEACHABLE AND FOLLOWING RECIPES TO A TEE! 

ONE OF THE INGREDIENTS THAT I HAVE BEEN SUPER SURPRISED THAT I LIKE IS BISON. I HAVE NEVER BEEN A HUGE MEAT EATER BUT THE FLAVOR AND LOW FAT CONTENT HAS REALLY GOT ME HOOKED. I WAS DEFINITELY UNSURE ABOUT THE FLAVOR COMINATION IN THIS RECIPE BUT THE SAUCE WAS AMAZING!!!! IT WAS NOT OVERWHELMINGLY ORANGE BUT THE AMINOS AND GINGER ALL WORKED (WHO KNEW? CHEFS...CHEFS KNOW!)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• ½ yellow onion, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 2 pounds ground bison 
• 1 tablespoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 orange, juiced (about ½ cup)
• ¼ cup liquid aminos
• INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Heat half of the coconut oil in the bottom of a skillet on medium heat. When the oil is melted and the pan is hot, add the onion, and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for a minute, just until fragrant. Remove from heat and place onion mixture into a bowl. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

  
  

  

  When the onion mixture has cooled, add it to a large bowl with the ground bison, thyme, and salt. Gently mix with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Form into 1-1/2" meatballs (about 20 total).

  

  Place the rest of the coconut oil in the bottom of the skillet you used for the onions on medium heat. When the oil is melted and the pan is hot, add the meatballs. Brown for three minutes on one side, flip, and add the orange juice and liquid aminos. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until cooked throughout. Remove from pan and set aside.

  

  Leave the remaining juices in the pan and turn up to medium-high heat. Let the sauce reduce about ½, about 5-10 minutes

  

  Serve and enjoy!!

  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  1. Heat half of the coconut oil in the bottom of a skillet on medium heat. When the oil is melted and the pan is hot, add the onion, and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes, or until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, for a minute, just until fragrant. Remove from heat and place onion mixture into a bowl. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
  2. When the onion mixture has cooled, add it to a large bowl with the ground bison, thyme, and salt. Gently mix with your hands until everything is well incorporated. Form into 1-1/2" meatballs (about 20 total).
  3. Place the rest of the coconut oil in the bottom of the skillet you used for the onions on medium heat. When the fat is melted and the pan is hot, add the meatballs. Brown for three minutes on one side, flip, and add the orange juice and liquid aminos. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes, or until cooked throughout. Remove from pan and set aside.
  4. Leave the remaining juices in the pan and turn up to medium-high heat. Let the sauce reduce about ½, about 5-10 minutes.
  5. Serve and ENJOY!!!

Best Paleo Sweet Potatoes EVER!!!!

As an athlete, I know that my body NEEDS carbohydrates to fuel my workouts. In th past, I would have reached for anything available but since we decided to eat paleo I haven't been fueling my workouts properly and I have been feeling it! Even though I am eating lots of veggies (green ones) my body needs FUEL so today I decided I would prep some mashed sweet potatoes and went in search of a good recipe.

I found one that I liked that had ingredients I never would have thought to put together.
The outcome was AMAZING and I couldn't be happier.

If you have been following me for any length of time, you know that I am not the best in the kitchen. I have been known to ruin dozen of eggs with improper boiling and I have burned more meals than I would like to count but this recipe is super simple with limited ingredient and it tastes fabulous. 

I started by cutting up my sweet potatoes

I placed them in the pot to boil and let them go about 20 minutes

When they were done, I drained them and set them aside to cool.

I added about a quarter cup of coconut butter and let it melt. I added my sliced banana and let it cook for 5 minutes, stirring ever so often. 

Next I added the juice of 2 Halo oranges and let it cook about a minute.

I added the sweet potatoes back into the pot with 1/3 cup organic honey 1/4 cup vegetable stock and cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. 

I mashed it all up until it was nice and smooth - let it cool a little bit and then portioned it out in my yellow containers so I didn't eat the entire pot! 

Healthy doesn't have to be bland!

3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/4 cup coconut butter

1 banana, sliced

2 halo orange juiced

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/3 cup honey

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Salt and pepper

DirectionsBoil potatoes until tender, drain and reserve. Return the pot to the stove top over medium heat. Add butter and bananas to the pot. Cook bananas 5 minutes and add the juice of 2 orange to the pot,  Allow the juice to cook out, 1 minute. Add potatoes to the pot and the stock and honey. Mash potatoes, banana, stock and honey together until well combined. Season with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice to your taste. Mash to combine spices and serve.