Meatless Monday Ginger Soy Veggie Stir Fry

As I mentioned earlier, I am dabbling in the world of pasta for the first time in my life - and yes, I have gone almost 30 years without ever cooking or enjoying pasta (every time I mention this people act like I'm saying I murdered someone) so there's a bit of a learning curve here. Not posted: pasta fails from last week  /:

This one was too easy, we both liked it, and we had leftovers for days. I never considered cooking with fresh ginger until I tried out Blue Apron (for a week) and now I want to add it to everything! I love the flavor the ginger adds! What else can I cook with ginger? Suggestions please!

Servings: 4
Cook Time: 20 mins
Prep Time: 5 mins

Ingredients

• 6 oz organic pasta, rice noodles, or squoodles (whatever you prefer, I used the organic pasta from Wal-Mart) $2
• 1 container Trader Joe's Asian Stir Fry Veggies ($4)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 handful cashews, chopped ($.50)
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (Paleo DIY)
• Lime juice of 1/2 lime 
• 2 teaspoon olive oil/coconut oil/cooking fat of choice
• Salt & pepper

Cook the pasta. While pasta is cooking, coat a large frying pan with olive oil or cooking fat of your choice and heat. Add in the vegetables and garlic, season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add in the ginger and cashews and cook another 3-5 minutes.

Once the pasta is ready add it to the pan. Add the soy sauce and lime juice and continue to cook over medium heat, covered for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Annnd that's it!

Veggie Packed Green Smoothies That Taste so Good I Have One Every Morning

A little over a year ago I ventured into the land of Green Smoothies and failed miserably, learned from those lessons, and continued to up my smoothie game. Goal: cram as many vegetables and nutrients into a breakfast that still tastes like something I can drink and actually fills me up. These are some pretty lofty expectations but I've reached something (after lots of fails) that is working out so well that I actually look forward to my morning smoothies!

A few disclaimers about this recipe:

1. I make my smoothies at 6 a.m. For the last 6 months I have been meaning to measure out exactly how much of each ingredient I use so I can give measurements more technical than "handfuls", but alas, tasks like this are not possible for me pre-coffee.
2. I finally caved and got a re-furbished Vitamix and while it hurt at the moment, it's the only thing I use every single day for probably more than 1 meal each day (it's a food processor and juicer also), and it has a 5 year warranty so I am justifying it. My friends and family also love their Ninjas and Blendtecs which can be a little less costly. I like my new blender better for these smoothies because it really gets the chunks out. And can blend the sh*t out of hard veggies (I once threw a beet in there. A beet.) and fruits.

Serving: 1
Prep Time: 10ish mins

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Unsweetened Cashew/Almond/Soy Milk 
• 1/2 banana
• 1 Handful Broccoli (frozen or fresh)
• 1 Cup Mixed Frozen Fruit (I buy this giant bag at Wal-Mart and it lasts a little over 2 weeks)
• 1/2 cup various leftover veggies (recently I've been adding in carrots and/or beet stems, I even threw in a few brussel sprouts the other day)
• 1 handful of greens (I use Kale + leftover beet greens. Spinach works too)
• 1/2 lemon of lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Flax Seed aka Flax Meal

Put everything in the blender in the order listed and blend on high until everything is smooth (if using Vitamix put it on blender setting).

Ok also full disclosure: immediately after taking this picture, I screwed the lid on my smoothie- the lid of the container that is made to hold liquids, set it in my bag, my bag fell on the floor, and the smoothie exploded everywhere. Everywhere including my winter coat, Harrison's suit jacket that was sitting out ready to be worn, all over the carpet, every.freaking.where. SCREWY ON LID CONTAINER, YOU HAD ONE JOB. ONE. JOB. I cried (I was so hungry/hangry), and was 30 minutes late to work-not just because of cleaning up the mess, but because I sat and researched screw-on-lid tupperware and ordered 4 on Amazon. 

What are your favorite smoothie ingredients?

Clean Eating One Pot Honey Sriracha Pasta

Happy Monday! I'm super spoiled because I had a 3 day work week last week (thanks #Snowzilla) and have a 3 day work week AGAIN because I'm peacing out of this winter wonderland for a wedding in Scottsdale, AZ (send any recs my way please)! Cannot WAIT!

This recipe was a classic Pinterest mix-up gone REAL good. I was attempting this recipe, but somehow I left Wal-Mart with an unexcpected bag of hair dye, nail polish and scented candles and left out 30% of my grocery list. Wal-Mart. Always.

Anyway this was originally going to be Pad Thai but I don't know what to call this - Pad Thai-ish? Asiany Pasta?

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

• 8 oz Rice Noodles (I find them in the Asian aisle and/or gluten-free aisle) ($1.50)
• 1 lb cage free chicken tenders, cubed ($3)
• 1/2 Red Onion, diced ($.50)
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1/2 Cup Carrots, peeled and diced ($.50)
• 1/2 Cup Celery, chopped ($1)
• 1/2 Cup Mushrooms, sliced ($1)
• 1/2 Cup Cashews, chopped (1)
• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce* - DIY recipe
• 2 Tablespoons Honey*
• 1-2 Tablespoons Sriracha*
• 2 teaspoons Sea Salt*
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil/Coconut Oil/Bacon Grease/cooking fat of your choice

*I added more to my personal dish because I like my food saucier, Harrison likes his food less saucey. Go as crazy as you want with the sauce!

For garnish:

• Chopped Fresh Cilantro
• Sliced Vidalia Onion 

Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. While the pasta cooks coat a large frying pan with olive oil/cooking fat of choice. Season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper (don't be shy!) and cook in the coated frying pan over medium heat until cooked through (5-10 mins).

Remove the cooked chicken and add more oil to the pan if necessary. Put the onion and garlic in the pan and saute about 3 minutes over medium heat, stirring a lot to make sure nothing sticks to the pan. Next add the carrots and celery and season with salt and pepper (I use about 1 teaspoon of each) and cook another 5 minutes.

Throw in the mushrooms and cashews (and maybe a little more salt and pepper) and continue to cook and mix for another 5 minutes.  

Now add in the chicken and cooked pasta and mix together well (heat is still on). Add the honey, sriracha and soy sauce and mix in well. Cook it all together for another few minutes.

Scoop it into bowls, garnish with cilantro and vidalia onions and enjoy!








My fav kitchen tools for this meal:

Easy Snow Day Crockpot Fiesta Chili

Current Status:



Not leaving the house in the foreseeable future because that is my car.

1 crockpot of mulled wine cooking itself.

3 episodes into Man in the High Tower (still on the fence re: if I'll finish the series).

2 bottles of champagne consumed.

1 bottle of sparkling wine consumed (thankyouthankyou, Club W for coming through just in time for Blizzardzilla/Jonas/whatever this is called).

1 Large Frozen Pizza Consumed

Half a dozen eggs, one pack of bacon, and half a box of pancakes down.

1 instance of laughing so hard I peed my pants a little (signs of a GREAT day and/or too much booze)

24 hours of dogs refusing to poop because they are terrified of the snow (beware of those big scary pitbulls!)


LOLOLOL You expect me to do what in that mess outside?

Power: still on (praise!)

Fiesta Chili prepped and ready to eat.



Fiesta Chili

• 1 lb Grass Fed Ground Beef, seasoned and cooked on the stovetop ($3.50)
• 1 Large Red Onion, chopped ($.50)
• 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped ($1)
• 4 Cloves Garlic, minced ($.25)
• 1 Can Black Beans ($.88) - I dump the whole can in my chili. Some people prefer to drain but I don't.
• 2 cans Rotel Tomatoes ($3)
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste ($.50)
• 1 lime of lime juice ($1)
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped and halved ($2)
• 2 Tablespoons Paprika
• 2 Tablespoons Cumin
• 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes
• Sea Salt
• Black Pepper
• Green onions, chopped

Combine all the ingredients except half of the cilantro bunch in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5 hours.

Garnish with green onion and cilantro. Eat all snow day.

Hope everyone is staying safe and warm through Blizzardgeddonzillajonas!



Kitchen tools I used for this:

Clean Sausage & Slaw Oktoberfest Style

I meant to share this one a few months ago but, alas life happens and you find posts from October saved in drafts whoopsies! This is one of my favorite meals - not quite paleo thanks to the buns but meh it's healthy. I mean look at all this goodness!!



Servings: 4 sausages (Interpret this how you want - this is approximately 2 servings in my household - 3 sausages for Harrison and one for me)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients for sausage & peppers (pronounced swausage and peppahs):

• 1 pack of chicken sausages (I get mine from Trader Joe's for $6/pack. They also have a good selection at Wal-Mart and I'm sure anywhere else. Just check the ingredients- I make sure I recognize all the ingredients)
• 3 medium bell peppers, sliced ($2)
• 1 large red onion, sliced ($1)
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil or cooking oil of choice
• (optional) Buns: 100% Whole Wheat buns from Trader Joe's $3.99

Ingredients for the slaw

• 1 head of red cabbage, sliced ($2) or a bag of sliced cabbage/slaw
• 2 carrots, chopped tiny ($1)
• 3 sticks celery, chopped tiny ($1)
• 1/4 Cup Honey
• 1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/4 Cup Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 Cup Olive Oil 
• Salt & pepper to taste

Cook the sausages according to the package directions. While sausages are cooking, season the onions and peppers with salt and pepper and saute in the olive oil over medium heat for about 8-10 mins or until the onions are translucent.

In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots and celery. In a medium bowl, mix together the honey, apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper and whisk until it's all mixed up.

Toss the vegetables with the dressing mixture and salt and pepper. Add salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy! 

Oh Hey! It's Me! It's 2016?! + Meal Plan for the week

Oh! Hey! It's me! I still go here! Things got a little crazy over the last few months - taking classes on the weekends, changes at work, blah blah same old stuff everyone deals with and somehow manages to maintain a blog. I've also been caught up in all the stuff everyone else has been caught up in:

Throwing plates at the TV and screaming out loud at Making a Murderer



Crying my eyes out to Adele on repeat



Sporting tacky sweaters all holiday season (shoutout to my husband for giving me a gift that combines 3 of my favorite things: tackiness, Christmas, and Drake). I know- how photogenic are we.



Defending my opinion that Jenna Dewan-Tatum's performance was better than Channing's on Lip Sync Battle (Beyonce wins all obvi but I'm saying if it's just between Channing and Jenna)

Purchased Power Ball tickets - FYI when I hit the jackpot I do not intend on telling anyone. We've all seen the E! True Hollywood Story about the lotto curse.

And I also went on a tiny trip to CAPE TOWN with my friends (this trip deserves its own post, more later but for now enjoy pictures on Insta).

Did a little healthy eating and a lot of holiday splurging (whoopsies #notsorry).

Annnnd I signed up for a marathon. Yes, I have officially lost my mind or hit a quarter life crisis or something along those lines. Thankfully I obsessively combed Courtney's blog for everything I could possibly need to know about training - and btw I actually MET Courtney on the street a few weeks ago, I was starstruck! #Blogcrush

This whole marathon thing has changed up my eating plans a little bit with the need for carb loading etc, so after a year (yes a YEAR!) of eating paleo we are adding pasta and rice into the ole meal plan. Random side note: I have never never been a pasta or rice eater. Everyone acts like this is just the craziest thing they've ever heard but it's true. So please do pass along any resources for good/healthy/carby recipes. Because this training has me hungry. as. a. hippo.

Here's my meal plan for the week with a big emphasis on foods that yield lots of leftovers because this is my first week back from vacation and that sucks and no one wants to cook. At all. Also includes my reminders to add CARBS the night before and after my long runs - shoutout to my friend Petar for teaching me Carbs 101.

Note: For the Chicken Broc Pasta Bake with Cauli Sauce I am replacing the cheese with this sauce. It's supes easy. Because *hi* lactose intolerance! Not doing cheese before a long run. Couldn't pay me. You can also find my fav breakfast casserole (oops forgot to link in the plan) here and my green smoothies here.

Clean Eating Greek Stuffed Meatballs + The Time I tried Blue Apron

I'm only talking about Blue Apron because this Blue Apron subscription is the reason I had parsley and decided to make these sliders which turned into meatballs which were delicious. 

Ok so everyone loves Blue Apron. I hear about it everywhere, I read about it everywhere, it is apparently the best thing ever. Do you know what, to me who has a weekly goal of feeding 2 people all organic whole foods on $75/week, is NOT the best thing ever? Paying $10 per meal per person. The other thing, to me who fast forwards through YouTube tutorials to just see the first and middle step because I am confident I can figure it out from there, that is not awesome is following intense directions. So here I am, the only person in the whole world who canceled their Blue Apron subscription. 

I do however think it's worth a try for 2 weeks - I DID have some great meals that inspired me to try new things this winter (recipes to come!). I also learned something from them - add lots of salt and lemon juice to everything and it will taste better! Did I miss that in cooking 101?

Anyway, all that to say I'm horrible at following directions (is that why I never enjoyed school?) and somehow ended up with a random assortment of leftover ingredients from my Blue Apron meals including: 4 cloves of garlic, 1 small onion, 1 tiny baggie of parsley, a bunch of green onions, and a purple potato. So while my chili cooked in the crockpot with 2/3 pack ground chicken I thought what they hey, let's throw a few things together and see what happens!

Servings: 5 Meatballs

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground chicken ($2)
• 2 stems (is that what you call it? but you know what I mean right? like 2 stalks maybe?) vidalia onions chopped  ($.50)
• 1/4 Cup fresh parsley, chopped ($.50)
• Juice of 1/2 lemon ($.50)
• 3 Tablespoons crumbled Feta ($1)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• Black pepper to taste
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 egg
• Optional seasonings: marjoram, basil, dill

Preheat the oven to 400. Mix all the ingredients together except for the Feta. Spoon about 1/5 of the mixture onto a separate plate and flatten it out. Sprinkle some of the Feta into the center of your flat meat stuff. Now pull all the edges up around the Feta and pinch them together until the Feta is completely wrapped up. I rolled mine around in my hands to get the round shape too.

Repeat this with the rest of the meat mixture and place your meatballs onto a baking sheet. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. 

I just ate mine plain. I ate them quickly, hence the reason I only have pictures of one cooked meatball.

What is your favorite spin on meatballs?

Paleo Chicken Fajita Salad + Paleo Meal Plan & Grocery List

...Annnd just like that it's fall. We spent Labor Day weekend in Charleston for a wedding and had a blast. I LOVE Charleston and it did not disappoint. This time my friend took us on the Sunset Cocktail Cruise and I seriously recommend it - it's basically a BYOB tour of Charleston by boat and we saw JUMPING DOLPHINS!

Anyway, Mexican food is my fav but unfortunately my favorite Mexican dishes include tortillas, cheese, sour cream, and did I mention cheese? This little spin on fajitas keeps it all healthy, eliminates the no-no foods, and honestly I didn't really miss the cheese and sour cream!

Servings: 2

Cook Time: 20 mins

Prep Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast (I get the cage free organic for about $4/lb)
• 2 bell peppers, sliced ($2.50)
• 1 red onion, sliced ($1.25)
• 1 jalapeno seeded and sliced ($1)
• 1 avocado, sliced ($1)
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced ($1)
• 10 ounces tomatoes, sliced ($3)
• 1 bag of lettuce, chopped (I mix a bag of spinach and a bag of kale - each is $2 from Trader Joe's)
• Juice of one lime
• 1 tablespoon of bacon grease or cooking fat of your choice
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro
• Optional: Salsa to top the

Slice up the chicken breast into strips and toss with the sea salt, chili powder, garlic powder and cumin. Grease a large frying pan with your cooking fat and cook the chicken strips over medium heat for about 15 minutes. When the chicken is almost done, add in the onion, peppers, jalapeno, mushrooms and lime juice and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are cooked through.

Top the lettuce with the frying pan concoction, cilantro and avocado slices and enjoy!

What is your favorite Mexican dish?

This week's meal plan:

Paleo Raspberry Chicken (I know it sounds weird but it just works)

I'm wiping my eyes as I write this post because I just finished watching Dogs on the Inside on Netflix and it gave me a REAL GOOD CRY. A good happy cry. A good, happy, very very ugly cry. Everyone needs those once in awhile right?

This recipe was an experiment gone good (I've had a few gone bad recently so it was quite a relief when this went right). And it was easy! Here it is:

Servings: 2

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken (I got the organic at Wal-Mart for $8)
• ¾ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp basil
• ½ cup frozen (or fresh) raspberries
• ¼ cup water

For the marinade, I used this recipe.

Before I left for work I put the chicken in a ziploc freezer bag and scooped about 1/2 cup of the raspberry vinaigrette in and let it marinate in the fridge for the day.

That night we grilled the chicken. We ate it with salad topped with the leftover raspberry vinaigrette and it was delissshhh. If you don't have a grill (  ):  )  you can put it in the oven for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. 

(PS note my bootie coffee mug photo bombing the chicken and salad pic)

Meatless Monday: Red Pepper Portabella "Burgers" with Goat Cheese

Hi, it's me Lindsay, the worst blogger ever.  My summer got taken over by happy hours, porch beers, cookouts, dog cuddles, and trips. The way a summer should be. Needless to say I've gained more than a few libbies (WHAT! I eat and drink everything in sight for months and gain weight?! Science is nuts). Every few meals I'm like today's the day I get back on track and make something healthy. Here's a recipe that is Harrison-approved and clean but not quite paleo:

Wait but first - is is PortabellA or PortabellO? I always confuse words with A's vs. O's, I spelled Puerta Rico Puerto Rica for years, as well as Costo Rico, and even though I live in DC I stay drawing out of a hat to decide if I live in the nation's capitAl or capitOl.

Servings: 3

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

• 6 Portabella mushroom caps ($5.00)
• 2 oz Goat Cheese (or to taste, I got a little excessive with the goat cheese and will go for less next time) ($3.50)
• 1 red pepper, diced ($1)
• 1/2 red onion, diced ($1)
• 1 tablespoon bacon grease (or your choice of cooking fat)
• Baslamic vinegar to taste
• (Also pictured: a very lazy salad consisting of tomatoes and arugula topped with balsamic vinegar)

Place all the mushroom caps smoothe side down, remove the stems, and sprinkle crumbled goat cheese into 3 of them (they should be kind of like bowls).

Saute the onion and pepper in bacon grease or your cooking fat of choice for about 8 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps on top of the goat cheese. Drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar. Put the 3 empty caps onto the 3 full caps to make sandwiches. 

Coat the veggie frying pan with more bacon grease and heat the "sandwiches" evenly for about 3-5 minutes on each side.  

Enjoy!!

PS Found this article of what to buy and not buy at Trader Joe's. I've been trying to get my sh*t together enough to write something like this!

What's your favorite meatless Monday recipe?

That Time I ate my way through New Orleans and Alabama + Clean, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Vegetarian Pho

I had a work conference in New Orleans last week and thought I'd have all the time in the world to catch up on blog stuff, eat healthy, have some quality time for myself... not so much. Not at all actually. It was an amazing time though! It was my first time in NOLA - Harrison flew down on the last day of the conference and some of my friends from Florida came up for a few days on the town. Then we drove to Alabama to see Harrison's family and hit Grady, Montgomery and Birmingham (sadly we were just there for a minute, I was praying for some downtime to finally have a drink with my blog crush Nadine but it was non stop).

For New Orleans I highly recommend every single restaurant we stopped at in NOLA but my favorites were Charbroiled Oysters @ Drago's (I don't even do oysters), ghost tour with Free Tours by Foot, and Frenchman Street. My fav stops in Birmingham: The Purple Onion (Harrison has been talking about this restaurant since we met) and Kelly Ingram Park. Here are some highlights:

Bourbon Street!

Maison on Frenchman Street

Harrison's Grandma Pearl had this food waiting for us when we arrived to her house (no cell service, no internet, no neighbors. Quite different from DC life!)

Exploring his grandma's property - Harrison spent summers here!

Boppin around the farm

And now it's back to the real world womp.

Before I left for the conference I attempted some pho. Let me start by explaining that I once had  Vietnamese co-workers who introduced me to this incredible dish, but who also always ordered for me (in Vietnamese) and I have never been able to re-order or re-create the exact dish. It's not quite paleo (rice noodles, sorry) but it is super healthy and super super delicious. Mine was also a little heartier/less soupy than your average pho but I loooved it.

Servings: 5
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 head broccoli, chopped into florets ($2.50)
• 1 12 oz package of snow peas ($2.00)
• 32 oz broth ($1.50) 
• 2 cups water
• 1 package pho / rice noodles (I found mine at Wal-Mart! - $2)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 stalks celery, chopped ($1)
• 1 jalapeno, sliced and seeded ($1)
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms ($1.80) (I used a package from Wal-Mart also)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• Serve with fresh basil, fresh cilantro, and sririacha sauce

Cook the noodles according to the package directions (I just put mine in a covered bowl of water and let it set for 20 mins. Too easy).

Combine the broth, water, onion, salt, garlic and broccoli in a pot and bring to a boil, then let simmer for 15 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes. Serve with the basil, cilantro, hot sauce, or anything else your heart desires!

Do you like pho? Do you make your own? What is your favorite New Orleans stop?? 

Lunch for the week: BLT Turkey Wraps 4 Ways

Did anyone else live on Jimmy John's in college? My dorm was right across the street, I could SMELL that fresh ass bread from my dorm room - and oooh that bread!! The 40 cent day-old bread!!! It was all so wonderful. I also gained a smooth 15 lbs that year which was not so wonderful.

Anyway, recently some friends (ironically from that dorm) recently turned me on to Jimmy John's un-wiches. Now, I don't really like to do food in a way it's not supposed to be done i.e. lettuce wraps instead of sandwiches- those definitely belong on Whole30's Sex With Your Pants On list and I am not cool with it. HOWEVER, something about Jimmy Johns' unwich is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Is it the lettuce? Is it the way it's perfectly wrapped? Is it the meat? I don't know but they inspired me to try my own lettuce wraps as lunch for the week: 

Servings: 5

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients

• 1 and a half pack deli turkey (Whole Foods has some paleo friendly deli turkey) ($8)
• 5 slices uncured bacon, cooked and crumbled ($5)
• 2 tomatoes, sliced thin ($2)
• 10 slices red onion, chopped ($.10)
• 1 head iceberg lettuce ($2) (sidenote: iceberg lettuce always reminds me of when I worked in a middle school in Rhode Island and the cafeteria ladies used to say "Get your vegetables! Gotta get your veggies!" and load the kids' (and my) plates with crispy iceberg lettuce. Kind of makes me nostalgic but also glad my life is in a place where my main food groups no longer consist of Goldfish, iceberg lettuce, and Naragannsett beer.)

Optional spins to put on the wraps (I'm trying them all this week):

• Garlic hummus (oopsies not paleo but I gotta live a little)
• Avocado, cilantro, lime juice and jalapeno
• Dipped in my favorite vinaigrette

Place a square of aluminum foil on the counter. Place 2 big leaves of lettuce on the foil (more lettuce than you think - lesson learned from Jimmy John's. And the greener the better). Layer 2 pieces of turkey onto the lettuce, top with tomatoes, bacon, and optional toppings. Now roll it Chipotle style. For those of you who don't frequent my favorite fancy burrito establishment, here's a picture example: 

Roll it tightly in the foil. Repeat 5 times. Keep in the fridge, grab and go every morning!

Do you do lettuce wraps? What is your favorite?

Paleo Chorizo Sweet Potato Skillet + Catch Up

After a monthish of being MIA I'm baaaack! Let's catch up- here are 10 things I've been up to in the last few weeks:

1. Went to Atlanta for my college roommate's wedding (3 of us lived together 3 years of college and all got married within a year of each other) wearing a $10 thrift store dress (!).

2. Watched Love & Basketball for the first time (yes - somehow I was a teenager in the 90's and never saw this).

3. Turned 29 (and am fine with it!)

4. Bathed two dogs who HATE water.

5. Ate so much Mexican food that I got tired of Mexican food for the first time in my life.

6. Broke a glass in my sink, sending 1000000000 tiny shards of glass down the disposal. Texted my brother who fixes everything, found out you can VACUUM TINY GLASS PIECES OUT OF YOUR SINK as long as it's not too wet down there.

7. Went to Atlantic City for a friend's bachelorette party where I sipped delicious pina coladas on the beach and had my first experience with male strip clubs.

8. Got a salad craving for the first time in years, ate salad every day following for 2 weeks (recipes coming).

9. Enjoyed the shit out of married life. Life without the stress of planning a wedding, and not having to make 100000 world-ending decisions is amazing.

10. Went to a fun gala with some nice arm candy (also in a thrift store dress).



And now for the last Mexican-ish dish I ate before declaring I am done with Mexican food. It's a one skillet chorizo dish:

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 package of chorizo (~17 oz) ($5.00)
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, diced ($2.00)
• 1 onion, diced ($.90)
• 3 stalked celery, diced ($.70)
• 2 cups fresh spinach ($2.00)
• 1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced ($1.00)
• For serving: fresh cilantro and diced avocado

Using a sharp knife, slice the chorizo long ways and peel the skin off each link. Put the sausage into a large frying pan and heat over medium-high heat, breaking up the sausage into crumbles as it heats.

After 5 minutes, add the sweet potato and stir together, heating for another 5-7 minutes. Now add the onion and celery. Continue to stir and heat another 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, stir and heat until the onions are translucent and the meat is cooked through.

Serve with cilantro and avocado.

What's your favorite skillet meal? What kind of food do you burn out on? 

Weekly Paleo Meal Plan + AMAZzzz Paleo Veggetable Soup

Mann what a weekend! Easter! Sports! Beer watching sports! More sports! More beer watching sports! I'm not a huge fan of the NCAA tournament because it brings back traumatic childhood memories of being a die-hard Jayhawks fan and writing tear-stained diary page after page about how this time I won't recover from our loss, we truly deserved to go all the way this year and life is so unfair and if the Jayhawks can't have the title then what is left to believe in. (direct quotes from my 5th grade diary. I did in fact have a swift recovery that year as the entry two days later weighed my future husband options: Taylor Hanson or Lance Bass or Paul Pierce?).

Anyway, onto le weekly meal plan:

Breakfast for the week: Hearty Breakfast Casserole / Green Smoothies (I'm getting bored with my smoothies...suggestions for new smoothie recipes please!)

Lunch for the week: Slow Cooker Picadillo 

Monday Dinner: BLT Breakfast Salad, because LOOK AT THIS

Tuesday Dinner: Sweet Potato Burgers (subbing a few ingredients, updated recipe to come)

Wednesday Dinner: Breakfast for dinner! Trying out some paleo pancake and/or waffle recipes - anyone have suggestions for this??

Thursday Dinner:  Paleo Gnocchi (Hi can someone please tell me the correct way to pronounce this? I love it. I love to eat it at restaurants. When I order it at restaurants I'm always like "I want the nock-eyyy, wait I mean neeyokeyy I mean..sorry I'm simple" and everyone is like:

Friday Dinner: Leftovers

Desserts: Banana Cake, dark chocolate (72% or higher cocao)

Snacks: almonds, veggies, fruits, sweet potato chips.


Ok so I read this New York Times article and at first panicked that I'm going to die or my body will turn 80 in approximately 6 years because I love meat so much (I'm an end-of-the-world type thinker), then got a reality check and decided to just try to stop relying so much on meat and incorporate some more plant-based meals into the meal plan. Last week I made this vegetable soup that turned out DELICIOUS and really filling and packed with 1000000 servings of vegetables (I measure servings loosely):

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 6 hours (set it and forget it in my new crockpot)

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

• 3 stalks of celery, sliced ($.50)
• 1 package of frozen green beans (15 oz) ($2.00)
• 1 package of frozen peas (12 oz) ($1.50)
• 4 carrots, chopped ($1.50)
• optional: 14 oz navy beans ($1.00)
• 2 zucchini sqashes, chopped ($1.50)
• 32 oz vegetable broth ($2.30)
• 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce ($1.00)
• 1 14 oz can diced tomatoes ($.1.00)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoon minced dried onion
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (this came out pretty spicy so maybe lay off on this a little - easier to add more later)

Throw all the ingredients in the crockpot for 6-7 hours, then enjoy veggies like you've never enjoyed them before.

I need suggestions: plant-based meals/blogs, paleo pancakes/waffles, and smoothie ideas. HELP!

Weekly Paleo Meal Plan + Paleo Mexican Stuffed Peppers

Ohhh Monday, back so soon? I know I'm late but this weekend I finished The Jinx - anyone else out there totally creeped out by the end of the last episode?? Not so much the oops-I-left-my-mic-on-in-the-bathroom confession but the burping. What was with the burping??? And the talking to himself? And now he's in jail (again) but is he just going to get right out of it (again)? Also these memes are killing me, especially this one:

Onto this week's meal plan:

Breakfast for the week:

• Casserole
• Green Smoothies

Lunch for the week:

• Leftovers
• Crockpot Taco Soup (recipe coming soon pending taste test)

Dinners:

• Monday Dinner: Trader Joe's Turkey Burgers 
• Tuesday Dinner: Italian Stuffed Peppers
• Wednesday Dinner: Spring Vegetable Soup
• Thursday Dinner: Roasted Veggie Bowl (sub cauliflower rice for the white rice)
• Friday Dinner: Cook out!! Spicy Turkey Burgers (recipe coming soon)

Snacks and Dessert:

• Deviled eggs
• Fruit
• Almonds
• No Bake Paleo Cookies

Last week I planned to make my Italian Stuffed Peppers but apparently blacked out at the grocery store on Sunday and didn't buy the right ingredients, so Mexican Stuffed Peppers it is (I left them in the oven a little long so the final picture is super wrinkly but tastes good!):

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins (maybe less if you don't want a wrinkly pepper)

Ingredients:

• 4 Bell Peppers
• 1 lb lean ground turkey
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Garlic Salt
• 1 Teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 jalapeno, minced and seeded
• 1-14 oz can diced tomatoes with chilis  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (less if you're not a garlic fanatic like us)
• Guacamole (I used this recipe, but sometimes just buy it at the grocery store)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the tops off the bell peppers, including the seeds, and trim out the ribs.

Season the turkey with the cumin, chili powder, garlic salt, sea salt and pepper and cook in a large frying pan with the chicken broth over medium-high heat for 10 mins or until the meat is cooked. Add the garlic and onion and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes, mixing them well with the meat mixture.

Set the bell peppers onto a baking sheet and scoop the meat mixture into the peppers. I packed the meat down to fit as much as possible inside. Heat them in the oven for 25-30 minutes. When they're done, scoop guacamole on top and serve!

Linking up at DDT

Hearty Paleo Breakfast Casserole!

Confession: I'm a dance mom at heart, and Harrison (hey new husband!) has been selected by Realtor Magazine and National Association of Realtors as a finalist for top 30 realtors in the country under 30 and they are currently running a web poll- please take a sec to vote here (bonus- they don't ask for any personal info!). I feel like I'm the ultimate dance mom of this competition, like I'm standing in the audience mouthing every word to the song as Harrison performs on stage. 

Now on to breakfast!

I've been burned out on eggs lately, like the kind of burned out that's like if I even see an egg I'm going to gag. This happens to me every few months with eggs and chicken, and it is a strange occurrence for the girl who only ate macaroni and cheese, quesadillas, and pizza for over a decade of life (I wasn't really one for adventure back in the day). I switched back to green smoothies every morning for about a month and now I'm back on the egg train with this delicious breakfast casserole. Also this is the response it got from Harrison so it comes recommended:

Yes we went parasailing in Mexico and yes I love plays on words. No I'm not a Sarah Palin fan

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 40 mins
Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato, spiralized ($.80) (I used my brand new spiralizer) 
• 12 large eggs, beaten ($4.00)
• 1 package Al Fresco Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage (I get mine at Wal-Mart, or your choice of sausage) ($5.00)
• 2 Cups Spinach ($2.00)
• 1 white onion, diced ($.90)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Slice the sausages in half to remove the meat from the casing. Cook the meat over medium-high heat for about 10, then add the onions, garlic, and peppers and continue cooking until meat is cooked all the way through and onions are translucent.

Spray some non-stick spray on an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish (I use a $10.99 Pyrex Easy-Grab 8" Glass Dish with Lid- yay for a lid that fits!). Layer the sweet potato pieces on the bottom of the pan,  then sprinkle some salt and pepper on top of the sweet potato, then add a layer of spinach. Now layer the meat/onion/pepper/garlic concoction to the spinach. Now, evenly pour the eggs on top of the concoction and heat for 40 minutes (or until completely cooked) and voila! Enjoy!

And don't forget to vote, I'll be here dance momming until Friday:

Linking up with DDT and Turn it Up Tuesday

Paleo Meal Plan for the week + Paleo Sloppy Joes!

Happy Monday! I'm writing this from the warmth of my home as an ice storm swirls around outside. This has to be good luck for our wedding on Saturday right?

Anyway, it's wedding week around here and we're going to have lots of people in and out of the house ad be running around like crazy people, so I wanted to make sure to have a lot of bulk meals prepared that are easy for anyone to pull out and heat up (slash so I am not tempted to just order pizza). I've been feeling so good and healthy and clear-headed on paleo and I want to feel this good during wedding week!

Last week I had some leftover cooked ground turkey and some leftover pizza sauce so I decided to make some paleo friendly sloppy joes. We ate them with plantain bread which, shockingly, IS JUST LIKE BREAD AND PALEO. WTF! It was so easy too? I'm beyond confused about why this bread recipe works but it does. Here is the recipe for plantain bread.

Sidenote about the plantain bread and the sloppy joes: Harrison ate them, loved them, and said it was just as good as normal sloppy joes. WIN.

Paleo Sloppy Joes:
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins
Servings: 4

• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 lb lean ground turkey ($3.00)
• 1 onion, diced ($.88)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced ($.90)
• 2 tablespoons honey 
• 1 tablespoon Italian sesaoning
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 can organic tomato sauce ($2.00)
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste ($.50)
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Coat a frying pan with coconut oil. Season the turkey with the Italian seasoning, garlic powder and salt. Brown over medium-high heat until there is no pink left. Add in the onion and pepper and cook for 4-5 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Reduce heat to low and add the remaining ingredients and mix well until all ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Cover and heat over low for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with plantain bread and sweet potato fries and it's like a cheat day!

Plantain Nachos + Bomb Leftover Salad

Back in the day when young Lindsay had zero clue or care about how processed foods work or how dairy was affecting her digestion, she pretty much ate cheese/bean/veggie quesadillas for dinner every night and loved every single bite of it. 

These days a much healthier, clearer minded Lindsay misses her darn quesadillas! Or really any Mexican food for that matter! Gimme some nachos, chips, burritos (and tortillas!). Thank the Lord (and Pinterest) for showing me that I can make plantain chips and still live a little bit of the old life! And you know what? I don't even miss the cheese (Disclaimer: I didn't miss the cheese in this recipe. Sometimes I miss cheese so much I swear I can smell it, or hear it calling my name from the cheese aisle in the grocery store). 

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 3 large plantains, sliced thin (I use the thinnest setting on my mandolin) ($2)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 lb grassfed ground beef ($6)
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt + 1 teaspoon sea salt
• For toppings: guaccamole, lime juice, salsa

Toss the sliced plantains with olive oil and sea salt. 

The next day toss it on a bed of lettuce and call it a salad.

Paleo Meal Plan for the Week + Paleo Italian Stuffed Peppers

I'm writing this post snuggled on the couch between the 2 dogs as the snow dumps down outside, wearing my PJs inside out (everyone knows inside out jammies bring snow days right?).

This weekend got a little wacky (see: spent 8 hours brunching & mimosaing Saturday, managed time poorly Sunday due to mimosa exhaustion) so I didn't do as much food prep as I wanted to, but this was the plan:

SO. On last week's leftover night we combined a few leftovers to make these delicious stuffed peppers:

Servings: 3 

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 3 organic bell peppers ($4.00)
• 1/2 pound lean ground turkey ($2.00)
• 1/2 onion, diced ($.50)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 pack sliced mushrooms ($1.00)
• 2 Cups spinach ($2.00)
• Leftover pizza sauce 
• 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon dried Basil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Brown the turkey on the stovetop in a medium sized frying pan with the Italian seasoning. Once the turkey is brown add the onion and garlic and mix in. Allow it to all cook together for about 5 minutes then add the spinach, mushrooms and pizza sauce. Mix together and cook for about 10 minutes.

Cut the tops off the bell peppers and cut out the ribs (I diced up the tops and mixed them in with the turkey stuffing). Spoon the turkey mixture into the hollowed out peppers, place on a baking sheet and heat in the oven for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Easy Fake Monday Recipe!

It's faaake Monday! Hope everyone had a great weekend and really used that extra day for food prep (lollll). This is a super easy recipe I made last week, took 5 mins to prep the weekend before and 30 mins to cook. You are welcome.

Servings: 2
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 zucchini squash, sliced ($1.50)
• 1 yellow squash, sliced ($1.50)
• 1/4 medium onion, sliced ($.25)
• 3 paleo approved chicken sausages (I use Al Fresco brand from Wal-Mart, $7 for a pack of 5)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (or oil of your choice)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon red pepper
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• + seasonings of choice (I added some parsley and basil)

Combine the veggies, seasonings and oil in a bag and shake shake shake it up (whenever I shake anything I just hear T Swift singing "Shake It Off" MAKE IT STOP, jk I love that song) until the veggies are evenly coated with seasonings and oil

Pour the contents of the bag into a baking dish (I used glass 9x9), add the sausages and cook for 30 mins. Actually, I cooked for 30 mins but check the directions for your sausages to make sure you're not eating any undercooked sausage.

It's just so purty!

What's your favorite easy meal?