Thanksgiving Recap & a Recipe Roundup

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that I love to love.  I enjoyed every single bite.  No guilt, just indulgence.  We go to my boyfriend’s parents house every year.  They have allllll the fixins and everyone brings something.  And knowing I was going to indulge, I wanted to make sure I had a big side of veggies to put on my plate.  I also wanted to make sure I had something to snack on before the big meal.  And I wanted a sweet treat at the end of the meal but knew I wouldn’t be able to stuff a whole slice of pie down my gullet after all that yummy food.

So here’s what I brought:

spinach artichoke dip (adapted from my vitamix cookbook)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup mayo
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 slice lemon, peeled & seeded
• 1 large package of fresh spinach
• a pinch of salt & pepper
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan
• ½ cup canned artichokes, drained

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except artichoke hearts in vita-mix
2. Turn it on (variable 1, increase to 4)
3. Blend, blend, blend (took me a while to get all that spinach in there and blended up)
4. Add artichokes and blend a little more
5. Usually I put it in the oven on 350* for 20-25 min, but this year I brought a cute little mini warmer.  Poured that in there and gave it about 20 min to warm up, stirring every now and then.
6. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan on top and tortilla chips to dip.
7. Enjoy!

No pic – it was green and not very photo-worthy.

guacamole – my boyfriend’s special secret recipe  also green and not very photo-worthy.

roasted veg - the great thing about this recipe is that I cooked it in the morning and dumped it all in the crockpot to take over.  Plugged that bad boy in and set it on warm.  When it was time to put it on the table, I just took porcelain container over to the table and drizzled some balsamic on top and sprinkled it with shredded parmesan.  Voila!  Easiest dish to bring for Thanksgiving ever.

pumpkin cheesecake truffles – totally not primal or paleo or even gluten-free but VERY tasty

My plate was full of spinach salad and roasted veg, a big serving of turkey (mmm…dark meat), and a little bit of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy.  And a dreamy buttered roll.  I didn’t finish it all (my plate that is, you can be damn sure I ate every bite of anything I describe as “dreamy“).  And I enjoyed every bite.  And most of all I was grateful to have a wonderful family to celebrate with.

What did you have for Thanksgiving?

Banana “Ice Cream”

Here’s a quick, easy treat that is ice-cold and dairy-free.  I know it has been posted up and down on pinterest, but here it is all the same – Banana “Ice Cream”

Ingredients:

• Banana
• Nutella or almond butter or strawberries or whatever your heart desires

Directions:

1. Blend
2. Freeze
3. Enjoy your guilt-free dairy-free “ice cream”!

I like to keep some bananas frozen on standby to blend whenever I feel like a treat.   And apparently there’s a device out there called a yonanas that does exactly this.  I’m not really sure how it differs from my vitamix other than taking up precious storage space.  Still want one.

It’s My Mediversary!

photo courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/

1 year ago today, I reached my goal weight with Take Shape For Life (TSFL) and began transitioning from Medifast meals to regular foods.  Yay me!  Get it, it’s not just an anniversary…it’s a Medi-versary!

I am extremely proud to say that I weigh right in the range as I did one year ago.  I fluctuate about 2 pounds in either direction at any given time (currently at the upper end of those 2 lbs right now), but I’m basically the same weight as I was a year ago and it feels good!

And it’s still a journey. I’ve spent most of the year being a little ocd with the calorie counting/weighing.  A little too obsessed actually – it’s kinda embarrassing.  I just can’t quit you, Livestrong Calorie Counter (my app of choice).

I’ve kept track of my calories all year and can see that I have been within about the same range all year.  In fact, the couple months I increased my calories a little, I weighed the lowest.  But I had one month where I did not track at all and was at my highest weight.  I think that freaked me out and so I kept on tracking.  I may go on vacation and let all the adding up go on vacation too…but I keep coming back.  I think I’ve been counting for fear that I’ll lose all control and gain those dreaded 30 lbs back.  I feel like the stress of counting and staying in a certain (self-determined) range is not good for me.  I know what a portion size is now.  I’m not serving myself Cheesecake Factory-sized dinners.  And I’m not knocking calorie counting for weight-loss – it’s a great tool.  But I think I can keep it in my toolbox for now and just take it out when I need it, not obsess over it every day.

So for now, for the holidays, until the New Year…I’m letting it all go.  Buh-bye Calorie Counter.  I will not miss you.  I’m going to enjoy the carefree freedom of not knowing and not caring how many calories are in every single bite.  I’m going to eat whole foods, healthy foods, like I have all along.  I’m going to keep on keepin on with the Paleo/Primal thing.  No grains, bread, pasta, processed food or sugar – I still do some dairy (HWC in my coffee every morning and occasionally some cheese).  I have even started adding in *gasp* white potatoes (look at me, gettin’ crazy up in here!).  And I also know I’m going to indulge over the holidays sometimes, but not every day.

And if I gain over the next couple months, then I’ll reassess in January.  I know that TSFL works in minimal time (typical results are weightloss of 2-5 lbs/week and up to 20 lbs in the first month! Results will vary.).  I know that cutting back on dairy and fruit and nuts (and those oh-so-delicious paleo treats!) can get me there.  I know that calorie counting will also work.  I have lots of options and so do you.

But for now, let’s enjoy every bite…

Well Hello Alisonreinvented Friends!

I’ve been a little slack with my blogging…sometimes I get overwhelmed with even the little things.  Does that ever happen to you?  I keep coming up with ideas to write about and then I get bogged down with thoughts like How often should I be blogging?  How many recipes should I post vs anything else?  Who am I to share these recipes?  I’m no expert! Is anyone even reading this besides my mom? (hi Mom!)

But I want you to know I’m back and I have a plan.  I admire the bloggers out there who go at it every day or even every few days – there are even some blogs that I check every day in the hopes of a new post b/c I love them so much!  But to be honest, for me to write twice a week stresses me out and when I get stressed out, I don’t write at all…apparently for months at a time *ahem*.  And I’d like to keep writing, if only for me…and my mom.

So the plan is to write once/week.  No set day, but by Friday of every week a new blog should be up.  I have so many ideas of what to write about that I’ve sketched it out and I have something for every week through August 2013 (WHAT?!? How did that happen??).  And by then, I’ll figure out what to do with the rest of the year.  I’ll include some lists (ooooh boy do I love me a list!) – like favorite products, other blogs, and even some of the failed recipes.  I have accumulated so many cookbooks, that I think I’ll start to review each of them until I run out and then I’ll think of something else to review

So that’s where I’m at.  I hope you will continue to check in, try some new recipes, maybe learn a few things, and most of all enjoy.  And as always, let me know what YOU would like to read about!

Vegetarians Beware…I Made MEATZA!

My hands-down favorite food of all time is pizza.  I like fancy-pants pizza – you know, the kind with the thin crust and crazy toppings (have you ever tried clam & bacon?  I’m not even joking – it’s delish).  I’ve even tried the gluten-free crust pizza….it was meh.  But what I really love is the totally basic take and bake pepperoni classic.  I love it.  It’s a go-to dinner when we have the kids b/c it’s easy and they love it and there’s leftovers for lunch (or breakfast).

I’ve tried stopping at one piece and it never works.  Inevitably, I eat 3 more, plus cutting tiny corners off here and there just to have “one more bite”.  Every. Single. Time.  I feel sick to my stomach and wonder why I did that to myself.

I tried the cauliflower pizza.  It looked like pizza, tasted like pizza…I didn’t even miss the crust!  Unfortunately cauliflower and I are not friends, if you know what I mean.

So…how can I shovel all of my favorite toppings (mainly pepperoni) into my mouth?

Enter MEATZA!  Check this out – looks like pizza, tastes like pizza, still don’t miss the crust!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground beef
• 1/2 an egg (I know that sounds weird, I needed to bind it somehow and I thought a whole egg would be too much….next time I will just make 1 lb beef + 1 egg, and have 2 pieces of meatza…so much easier)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp italian herbs
• 1/4 – 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used an italian mix)
• 1/4 cup marinara
• pepperoni or whatever toppings YOU like on your meatza.

Directions:

1. heat oven to 350*
2. mix the meat, egg, spices by hand in a bowl
3. press out into a greased pan (I used a 7X5X1.5 pyrex)
4. cook for 15 min
5. take out and pour out the excess liquid then top with your marinara, cheese, and other toppings.
6. cook for another 15 min
7. enjoy!

I served it with roasted veggies (red onion, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, broccoli) – I just tossed in olive oil and salt & pepper and cooked at 350* for 45 min, mixing it all up at the halfway point so nothing burned too bad on one side.  I topped it with a drizzle of homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

It was so yummy I had it the next night – using homemade pesto  (instead of the vinaigrette) & pesto chicken burger, topped with more cheese.  No pic, it wasn’t pretty…but it was SUPER yummy.

I used 1 Tbsp for my veggie pesto mix and froze the rest in a ice tray – which makes 1 Tbsp servings to use whenever you are in the mood for some yummy pesto.

Clearly these recipes include a lot of cheese.  So perhaps this is more “primal” more than paleo.  I’m ok with it b/c I don’t eat a whole lot of cheese in general.  If you don’t do cheese, just skip it.  Meatza is yummy any way you top it!

Mmmmm…Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I was planning on making these chocolate chip cookies from Primal Palate….but then saw this recipe from my bff Holly at Holly Would If She Could.  BTW, she does not know she is my bff, but I think it’s a realistic assumption were we to ever meet.  If you don’t read her blog, you should.  I don’t think she’s ever posted anything that I haven’t loved.  And that includes the crossfit posts – I don’t even do crossfit!  (I know, *gasp*)  But I’m always learning and loving and laughing with her over on her blog.

But back to the cookies.  I did exactly as she said, so I’m not going to repeat the recipe here.  The only thing I changed was that I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.  Just sounded better to me when I bought them.  And oh. my. gaw.  Check out the results:

I mean – those are some regular ol’ chocolate chip cookies!  And tasted like it too!  I’m all for eating the real deal just as much as I like paleofying recipes.  And this one worked.

PS – they did NOT work when I shoved them in a ziploc at the bottom of my purse for my flight to Phoenix.  They were just a crumbly mess by the time I landed.  I think that would happen with regular chocolate chip cookies too.  My bad for not putting them in tupperware.  Duly noted for next time. 

Heroin Chicken & Sweet Potato Stackers

I mentioned the Ambien chicken a couple weeks ago – it’s a staple at our house.  However, I no longer eat it because it requires Stove Top.  Well, I found a recipe called Heroin Chicken on Mark’s Daily Apple and tried it out last week and I think my bf will be happy to replace Ambien with Heroin – ha!  That sounds horrible…but it’s actually quite tasty and much healthier.  Who would’ve thought that Heroin anything would be the healthier choice?!

Heroin Chicken

Ingredients:

• chicken – breasts, thighs, drumsticks, however you like it, however much you need of it.  (This recipe is for 4 lbs of chicken, I eyeballed it for 1 chicken breast.  Also you can add/subtract any kind of spices you like!)
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1/2 tbsp oregano
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. melt one stick of butter (I used about 1 Tbsp for my 1 chicken breast and it was more than enough)
2. take your chicken and dip it in the butter then roll them in the cheese/spice mix.  I shook mine in a ziploc baggie – shake & bake baby, shake & bake!
3. place onto greased pan.
4. bake @ 375 for 50 minutes (or less depending on your cut of chicken).

Also on my plate are Sweet Potato Gratin Stackers from the book Sweet Potato Power  They kinda look like salami slices in my picture above…but trust me, they are like gooey stacks of potatoes au gratin!

I started to write out the recipe for that and I always link my recipes to the originals I find online.  Well, I can’t find this one online so I’m not sure I can repost it.  I’m relatively new to this whole blogging thing and I would never want to infringe on an author’s intellectual property (although maybe I already have by posting all of these other recipes??)  I don’t know!  I just know that I don’t see a recipe online from the source I used that matches the recipe I made.  So I will just have to highly recommend and urge you to go out and buy Sweet Potato Power by Ashley Tudor.  The book itself has so much information and a ton of delicious recipes.  Like Sweet Potato Gratin Stackers.   And then make yourself some Sweet Potato bars for dessert why don’t you!  They were another hit over here.  Sweet potatoes for dessert?! Who knew!

Serve it all up with a salad and/or some green beans (and lotsa butter in my case!) or your favorite veg and dig in!

Paleo Traveler

I used to travel for a living.  On the road, around the world, 200+ days/year.  I was an expert traveler.  I had a system.  I brought snacks, I brought books, I had a cd walkman….oops…ok, now you know how long ago it was.

It’s a whole new world traveling nowadays.  I have a kindle, I have an iphone…how did I ever manage without these things?!?!  And how do I manage now that I am no longer eating gummy bears and pretzels or chips and whatever they serve me on the plane?

Two weekends ago I went to visit friends in FL (hi Steph!).  2 flights and a decent layover.  I left prepared.  I brought hard boiled eggs, apples, berky, almonds, chocolate (cuz a girl needs chocolate on the road), and oodles of larabars…you would think I was going to the other side of the world with all of this!  Needless to say most of it went uneaten.  Every last one of those larabars included.

Next weekend I’m going to AZ…a much shorter flight and now that I’ve had a dry-run I think I have a better handle on what (and how much!) food to pack.  This time I will bring ONE apple and some turkey lettuce wraps for dinner.  I’ll bring ONE paleo kit for the flight home and grab another apple and probably be good to go.

What do you like to bring with you when you travel??

10 Things I Learned from Transition & Maintenance…and ultimately transitioning to a paleo diet

Today is an anniversary for me.  One year ago today I started Take Shape For Life.  In 4 months and I lost 30lbs.  I have maintained that weightloss ever since.  Here are 10 things I learned from the process of transitioning off of medifast meals and into maintaining my current weight with a paleo diet.  I think they are all things that can be applied whether or not you do TSFL.

1.  Take your time.  TSFL Transition calls 4 stages for adding back in certain foods over a span of 8-16 weeks.  If you want to ease into it and take 2 or 3 weeks to add in each thing, then do it.  This also holds true if you are interested in just weaning yourself off of other conventional/processed foods.  Work on one thing at a time.  Drop the diet coke one week.  Quit dairy the following week.  Stop making sandwiches and start eating salads for lunch the third week.  Or however long it takes.  And if you are the type of personality who just needs to cold-turkey all your changes at once, then go for it!

2.  Cut out the weeks (ie foods) that don’t work for you.  I chose not to add dairy or grains back to my everyday diet.

3.  Don’t obsess over the scale – that’s a hard one for me still.  It moves up, I get worried.  I relax, it goes back down.  I do like having it to track my progress (and maintenance) however, instead of weighing daily, I try to do it once/month (ok….once/week)

4. Figure out how many calories are appropriate for you.  Everyone is different.  I have spent the last several months playing with how many calories work for me…but I’ll save that for another post!  Find out what works for you.

5. Moderation is key!  I’m not going to say I’m never going to have something again.  But I don’t need to gorge on it either.  That goes for dairy, grains, whatever.  I may not have it on a regular basis, but when I do indulge, I don’t need to go overboard.  Enjoy the piece of pizza or bowl of ice cream.  But maybe not the whole pie or the whole container.  Or what about wine?  Not so great for weightloss, but I’m figuring out what works for me to maintain my weight.  And a glass or two on the weekends works for me.

6. The more sugar/carbs I have, the more I want them.  The less I eat them, the less I want them.  The longer I stay away from them, the easier it is to resist them.

7. Try new things!  I have discovered a whole host of new veggies that were never in my repetoire before.  Zucchini, squash, mushrooms are some of my favorites.  I have also discovered the juicy yumminess that is chicken thighs…where have they been my whole life?  Certainly not anywhere near that drab chicken breast that I’m used to.

8. Plan ahead.  I’m the type of person that when I’m hungry….I can get HANGRY!  (hungry + angry)  I gotta eat and when I’m super hungry or even hangry…I don’t always think with a clear head and it’s very easy for me to suddenly veer my car into the closest drivethru.  I’m pretty good at not getting to this point, because now I always have a bar or a paleo kit in my purse…just in case.  Better to eat that than some fast food that I’m going to regret later or worse, that will make me feel like crap later.

9. I dont need to be 100% perfect 100% of the time.  This is another hard one for me.  I’m a perfectionist.  And when it comes to how I eat, I’m either all in or all over the board.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  Stop stressing.  Do the best you can.  If you fall off the wagon, get back on with the next bite.  If you are going to have an extraordinary dessert, savor every bite!  And don’t think twice about it.

10. Trust the process.  You can do it.  Whether it’s the process of losing weight, transitioning back to “real” foods, trying a new sport or exercise, whatever you put your mind to.  You can do it.

Almond Butter & Bananas…a Two-for-One

The lovely peeps over at Whole9 just posted on Facebook “Eating unweighed/unmeasured Paleo foods does not mean *unlimited* Paleo foods.”  So true. Which is probably why my first go at eating Paleo last year didn’t work out so well.  I thought eating Paleo meant eating as much as I wanted of anything that was considered Paleo.  Funny how you don’t really lose the lbs when you are eating your weight in bacon.

And in the last month or so as I have transitioned back to the Paleo way of eating (this time keeping track of calories), I have rediscovered almond butter – specifically Justin’s Maple Almond Butter.  It is like candy to me – so much so that I’ve put myself on restriction.  Seeing as I ate basically an entire jar in a week (I know – disgusting and yet oh so yummy at the same time), I’m now restricting myself to almond butter on weekends only.  *sigh*  It’s for the best.  One shouldn’t eat a jar of almond butter a week and expect to maintain their weight.

But with that said, I had fun finding new ways to eat my beloved almond butter!  Besides straight out of the jar or with apple slices (which were really just acting as spoons to get the almond butter in my bellay)…I have 2 yummy recipes to share.  These are *treats* and should not be eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as much as you (ahem, I) want to.  :)

First up: Paleo Pancakes!

Who doesn’t want pancakes on a lazy Saturday or Sunday morning?  I found this recipe at a new favorite blog: The Paleo Project and you can find her original recipe here.  Since I was making pancakes for 1, I adjusted her recipe as follows:

Ingredients

• Paleo Project recommends coconut oil to grease the pan, I used butter.
• 1 banana
• 1 Tbsp almond butter (I used my beloved Justin’s Maple of course)
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Mash up banana
2. Add egg & almond butter
3. Mash up real good
4. Pour onto greased pan over medium-low heat (you don’t want the pan too hot or it will burn), carefully flipping after a couple minutes.
5. I topped it with maple syrup but you could use fresh berries or other fruit or butter or topless (teehee, I’m 12).

I think I cooked them 2-3 min per side – this is right before I flipped it…

Final product – this recipe actually made 3 decent sized pancakes (the 3rd one was still in the pan) – this picture is of a dinner plate.  Since I cooked it in butter, it didn’t really need to be coated again.  I did drizzle some maple syrup on there, but they were pretty sweet as is and didn’t really need anything.  I figured the calories to be approximately 270 cal for all 3 pancakes.

Next up: Almond Banana Muffins (no picture – they weren’t super pretty, not that the pancakes were, and I think I was so busy eating them, I forgot to snap a pic).

This recipe is originally from Multiply Delicious‘ Almond Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.

Here’s what I did.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond butter (my beloved Justins Maple of course)
• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 bananas
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• t tsp vanilla extract
• 1 Tbsp honey

I added the last 2 ingredients cuz they just sounded good.  Multiply Delicious adds chocolate chips which I did not have any so simply omitted.  But I bet they would be a yummy addition!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. In bowl mash up the bananas then add the rest of the ingredients until mixed real good.
3. Pour batter in greased muffin pan.
4. Bake for 20 min.
5. Enjoy!

Makes 12 yummy muffins.  I figured the calories to be approximately 150 cal/muffin.

And with that – I’m taking an almond butter break