Dijon Chicken [Recipe}

Evan thought this was delicious dish. It was definitely different but I enjoyed it- especially the vegetable side considering I don't love veggies. 

I also used the left over chicken in a sandwich for Evan with a little extra dijon mustard and mayo. He was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed his lunch! 

Carrots & Zucchini 

Ingredients

Salt 

Pepper

Coconut Oil 

Garlic Powder 

Onion Powder 

Carrots 

Zucchini

Pre- heat oven to 400 degrees 

Cut your carrots & zucchini into 1/4 inch slices

put into the pan

add coconut oil over the vegetables 

then add salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powered (use how ever much you want)

  

cook for 1 hour until they are browned and soft

Dijon Chicken 

Ingredients 

2 lbs Chicken Tenders 
1/4 cup coconut oil 
2/3 cup dijon mustard 
3-4 T honey 
1-2 tsp ground ginger 
1 tsp sea salt


Directions

pre heat your oven to 350 degrees 
combine all ingredients into a large ziploc bag and allow to marinade for 2 hours 
put mixture into a glass baking dish and cook for 30 minutes 

ENJOY YOUR DINNER 

Honey Balsamic Chicken [recipe]

I haven't completely fallen off of the Paleo band-wagon, more-or-less I've struggled being creative with my meals. Lately I have stuck to what I have already cooked because my biggest food critic has already given his input on what is acceptable and what is not. 

Here is a delicious recipe that is sure to make your taste buds tingle. It's Paleo friendly and even your non-paleo consumers will approve. It's so easy and has a lot of zing to it. A green salad with berries and vinaigrette is a great complement to the meal. You can also add the chicken to the salad to step your salad up to the next level. 

Ingredients

2 lbs Chicken Tenders 

2/3 cup honey

1 2/3 cup balsamic vinegar 

1 T minced garlic 

1 T coconut oil

1/2 cup fresh sliced strawberries 

Directions: 

In a large ziplock back combine the chicken, honey, balsamic vinegar and garlic. 

Refrigerate and allow to marinade for 2+ hours. (for a better marinade poke your meat with a fork so it can absorb the sauce)

In a pan with medium heat melt the coconut oil 

Add the chicken tenders and the extra sauce

Sauce will thicken and Cook chicken throughly

Add sliced strawberries for a little extra flavor and drizzle the sauce over the chicken and strawberries 

Enjoy

Day 16: When life gets in the way- Plan, Prepare, EAT

I can't decide what's more difficult, Eating Paleo OR blogging about it. 

Evan has become a pro and tasting and grading with all of this "never been done before food". The real issues is having time to do anything. 

Two weeks ago they called me to be the Stake Girls Camp Director. Sounds fun right? Well considering I have 2 weeks until camp, I AM BUSY.

What is Girls Camp??? CLICK HERE
Girls are able to attend Young Womens Camp. There are a number of outdoor skills they learn and activities they are able to participate in and complete Camp Certification  from- hiking, learning to use a compass, outdoor cooking, tying knots and other things. They learn leadership skills, are able to participate in service and develop friendships. In addition there is a spiritual aspect to camp- They are able to experience Heavenly Father's creations and the blessings that surround us in nature. Young Women can attend camp from the ages of 12-18.
I remember camp was always a positive/fun experience. I loved my leaders and I loved the girls I went to camp with. I was lucky enough to have my cousin at camp, my aunt who was a leader and my uncle came as a priesthood holder. 

The Biggest chunk of camp has been planned, now its just a matter of details. I am a detail LOVER- so I for sure want to make sure nothing is over looked. 

Departure Planned

T-shirts ordered

Schedule Complete 

Secret Sisters Assigned 

Camp Cabin Assignments Made

Packing List done

Meals Done!!!  I don't have to worry about food - minus food for myself. (the 30 day challenge will be over by camp, but I will keep eating this way so I don't die of hives Pack the Snacks galore), and yes I have my travel kit of DoTerra Oils packed in case. I'm prepared(allergies, cold, congestion, skin/ ear issues)! 

Activities Done

Welcome Baggies are in progress

I need a nap. 

Now I need SKIT ideas (Seriously if you have good skit ideas HELP!) and time for putting everything together and organizing it, where is my committee? I need one...... Saving that for later. 

We also need 4 Priesthood holders to come to camp. Ask me how many I have! If you guessed ZERO you are right! I've made phone calls, sent emails and even offered to fly my dad out to come camp. He laughed at me by the way. I can only be so annoying and bug people so much. Can't blame anyone- its Monday- Thursday... It's not that easy to get work off. 

 That is the cause of my headache right now. 

On another note I made these for all the girls, and I am rather proud of them. It took a little time but they are finally complete. Yes, you are correct Rose Earrings! I love them, and I totally wish I could keep them all to myself. 

Evan came home early again which was awesome- we sat and brainstormed Skits for over an hour... but I had to do some explaining what Girls Camp Skits were. He was very confused. Welcome to the world of Women! Poor Guy. The house if full of papers, handouts, and girls camp stuff. 

Last night I made Orange Chicken and it was good. 

Evan said he would be absolutely fine if I made it again. 

Evan gave it a solid 7.5-8 score. 

Orange Chicken 

2 lbs Chicken Tenders 

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice 

1/3 cup coconut milk 

1/3 cup honey

2 T tomato paste 

3T toasted sesame oil 

1T minced garlic 

3/4 tsp Himalayan Pink Salt 

1/4 tsp black pepper

Chopped Scallions *optional* 

In a large mixing bowl combine orange juice, coconut milk, honey, tomato paste, sesame oil, garlic, salt, and pepper.

Begin cooking your chicken tenders in a pan on medium heat

When chicken tenders are mostly done, add sauce

simmer for 10 minutes 

add scallions and then enjoy

I added a mixed salad with balsamic vinegar to accompany my chicken. I do occasionally love a giant  bowl of the boring greens.

Bless the soul of my patient husband who is okay with healthy paleo food. It has helped me a lot. I haven't been getting sick after every meal. HAPPINESS. 

<3 

E & H 

You know Heidi and Evan = HEAVEN 

Day 15: Shopping, Cookies, Happy

Mondays: The most productive day of the week. Seriously. We were up at 5:30am, Evan went to work, I went for a run, did laundry, cleaned the house, did a bunch of camp emails and got ready all before 9:30 am. If I were like this everyday, who knows what I could do. 

Spring will never come. My run this morning was 20 degrees, sunny and freezing. 

In the past 3 days I've managed to break our apple slicer, can opener and melt our spatula. 

It's Birthday Week so I decided to incorporate a little shopping into my day at TJMAXX. I love that place! I obviously was looking for a few new kitchen tools and well there were a few things I didn't have. Thanks to a few Wedding Gift Cards and their wonderful 50%-75% sale on Kitchen Aid this is what I came up with. Yep all the tools were $1.50-$5.00, and I love the colors!  

Beautiful right??

Costco was my next stop! They have some awesome cooking ingredients that are expensive at the local stores! 

Himalayan Pink Salt $3.98 at Costco, $12.99 at the local store for a 3oz bottle! 

What? INSANE. This salt is extremely flavorful and so pure. 

Agave 2 bottles at Costco for $5.98. A small little 12oz bottle at the local store was  $4 something 

Good Deals, Good Steals today! 

Evan requested Chocolate Chip Cookies... He thought they were so delicious, I was surprised how good they were. I ate some batter and 2 cookies. I forgot how allergic I am to Almonds so that made me super sick. But they were so good it was almost worth it... almost. I loved eating them in the moment. 

 PALEO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES 

Ingredients 

3 cups sifted almond flour 

1 cup dark chocolate chips 

1/3 cup honey

1/2 T pure vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp pink salt, or sea salt

1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 egg

coconut oil 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl wisk egg and combine salt, vanilla extract, honey and baking powder

after ingredients are combined add the chocolate chips 

sift almond flour in and mix together

cover baking sheet with coconut oil 

use a small ice cream scoop to make cookies into small balls on the pan

bake for 15 minutes then allow to cool before taking them off the pan

Yes that's correct, we had dessert before dinner 

Lemon Honey Chicken

Ingredients 

2 lbs chicken tenderloins 

scallions 

1 T minced garlic

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 yellow onion

2 T honey 

4 T lemon juice

1/3 cup coconut flour 

1 egg

1 T coconut oil 

chop the chicken into small pieces 

whisk egg in a mixing bowl 

dip chicken pieces into egg 

drip excess egg and roll pieces into coconut flour 

melt coconut oil in a pan 

cook chicken pieces in the pan with medium heat until brown 

in a separate pan brown garlic and chopped onion 

combine broth , honey, lemon juice into the pan with garlic and onions and let simmer 

add browned chicken 

garnish dish with chopped scallions

He got off early and helped me do some cooking/tasting. 

This meal was Evan approved. 

On another note Almond makes my stomach feel like death 

I rubbed some DoTerra DigestZen  (which is a blend of Ginger, peppermint, tarragon, fennel, caraway, coriander and anise ) on my stomach and within the hour the pain and nausea was pretty much gone but holy cow I was feeling so much better. 

Good Day, Good Food, Good Fun

<3 

Love 

H & E

Day 7: One Week Down

It's been one week doing Paleo. I'm relatively surprised with how good the food is, and how much better I feel overall. I love fruit but I've always hated vegetables and rarely have color on my plate, unless its strawberries or whatever. I've noticed I don't mind adding the green colors to my plate.  

On Sundays I'm all about easy preparation. I tend to be tired after church and don't want to spend too much time cooking, there is nothing better than a slow cooked meal. I prepared it on Saturday night and threw it in the refrigerator and starting the cooking Sunday morning so it would be ready to enjoy after church 

I'm obviously new to paleo, 7 whole days in. I don't consider myself an expert, nor am I wealth of knowledge on this. However, I did do an adequate amount of reading and research prior to beginning the diet and still continue to read blogs, medical journals and research specific foods when I am unsure. 

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients 

2 pounds ground turkey

2 red bell peppers 

2 yellow bell peppers 

2 orange bell peppers

1 cup marinara sauce 

1 cup cauliflower (ground in food processor)

3 large chopped carrots

2 T oregano

1 finely chopped onion

1/2 c finely chopped spinach 

32 oz. vegetable stock 

salt and pepper to taste 

1. Cut the tops off of the bell peppers and clean out the seeds
2. in a bowl, mix ground turkey, marinara sauce, cauliflower,carrots, oregano, onions, spinach, salt and pepper.
3. stuff bell peppers with the ground turkey mixture
4. put stuffed bell peppers into slow cooker and put the pepper tops back on
5. pour vegetable stock around the bell peppers 
6. cook on low for 8-10 hours 

  

So colorful! Isn't it Pretty? 

* You may want to consider adding some extra salt - I like my food pretty bland, but this turned out to be a little more bland than I can stand* 

I cooked an egg and threw it on top for a little extra taste from the yoke. 

 Overall This meal definetly tastes healthy.

Not bad though. 

Paleo Fact of the day *Peanuts are not considered paleo. No peanuts, peanut butter, peanut oil... You get the drift*  

Dairy-Free [Recipe] Teriyaki Salmon

It has come to the attention that my body absolutely hates Dairy & Almonds. In fact when they are consumed my throat closes up and it becomes hard to breathe. So in an attempt to reduce allergy and inflammation in my body I have to take those things out. This may not be an issue for others, but It's hard for me because I love cheese, yogurt, ice cream, almond milk and almonds in general. Also if you actually read the labels- everything has MILK or NUTS in it. 

Here is my [1st Successful Recipe] with no Dairy or Nuts: 

2 - 4oz Fresh Salmon cuts 

2 Cups of Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce 

1 Cup Fresh cut Pineapple chunks 

1 Cup Quinoa 

Place your Salmon pieces in a large ziploc bag. Marinade your Salmon in 2 Cups of Teriyaki Marinade. Place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Heat oven to 350 Degrees. Use a small glass backing dish and cook salmon for 30 minutes using all of the extra sauce. Prepare quinoa as directed on package. 

Serve salmon over the quinoa, put pineapple chunks over salmon and pour desired amount of extra teriyaki sauce over rice.

If you have a gluten or soy allergy, check the labels of the Teriyaki sauce because it usually contains soy and wheat. 

* I was really happy about how this turned out, because it wasn't dry, there was a lot of flavor, and Evan liked it a lot. He isn't such a fan of fish but I may have won him over with this!* 

Enjoy you meal! 

Cheers 

H