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

Budget Bathing Suits

Yesterday was 45 degrees and rainy, so instead of doing much work I decided to spend the day planning for sunnier days aka summer aka a million years from now apparently. Step 1: find a bathing suit. Every season I buy one bottom and/or one top at Target because, well, Target bathing suits. However I recently discovered Asos (thanks Charisse!) dresses which led to Asos bathing suits which led to me realizing that other places make affordable bathing suits that fit! What!

Random sidenote: when I was looking for honeymoon bathing suits I was like hey I should get all bridal and get a white bathing suit! But on my budget I'm not about to buy a bathing suit I can't wear more than once, and I had this kind of sad/weird realization: I don't really think there's ever going to be a point in life again in which I will be tan enough for a white bathing suit because, well I'm a grown up. It seems like a small thing, but high school and college Lindsay tanned for sport in the summers. Confession: in college I may or may not have scheduled classes around prime rays (shout out to the other sun worshippers who know that's 11 am - 1 pm!). (I hate college Lindsay too.) When I went to the pool or beach I'd wear SPF 8 suncreen (with tanning oil) for like 1 day and then go sans-sunscreen the rest of the season. These days, a much more aware Lindsay wears SPF 30-45 AT MINIMUM. Never anything less because I'll be damned if I'm spending half my paycheck every month on organic food to ensure a long healthy life and then end up with freaking skin cancer because I wanted to look like I stayed on the grill 10 minutes too long. And also that whole full-time job thing prevents me from basking in the prime rays on the reg. So basically bathing suit shopping led me to a realization that, even though I generally feel like a child in a suit, I am in fact growing up. Anyway.

Onto the bathing suits, here some of my favorites, I love all the different shapes and styles (and price tags):

Can we talk about one-pieces? I've seen them everywhere, and they're not our mama's one pieces either. I don't know if I could pull some of these off but I love them:

$26 from ChicNova (real question: do you wear double sided tape with this?)

$54 from Target

$20 from Asos

$70 from Asos (I may just leave my price range and my comfort zone for this one)

Let's talk about Asos really quick: free (2 day) shipping, free returns, extremely good prices, extremely cool clothes. I ordered 7 white dresses from Asos for my rehearsal dinner, tried them on, picked one, put the rest in the return envelope, and dropped them in the mail dropbox down the street from my house. It is too easy. And too cheap. And too great of clothes. Asos Curve is their plus size line that is off the charts (bathing suits too!). I'm not getting paid by them to talk about them, I just want everyone to know because when I got my first order from them I was like WHY didn't anyone tell me about this? And my friend Charisse was like I HAVE been telling you about this and I was like WHY don't I listen the first time?

Also - Target has lowered their free shipping minuimum to $25, and you now have 365 days to return some items. While all of this is exciting, it is extremely dangerous for my online shopping habit which seems to be spinning out of control.

Where do you find affordable bathing suits?

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

Tips for planning an alternative wedding ceremony

One of my favorite parts of our ceremony was our champagne toast! Captured by Penelope Anne Photography

Personalizing a wedding ceremony was a big task for us because a) I wanted it to represent who we are/what we're about; b) you have one shot to get it right; c) 200 people...; d) I really, really, really didn't want it to be typical or dull or eye rolling; and e) I tend to go a bit overboard and end up with an end product that is either tacky or involves me crying the whole time (see: emotional hot mess). In the end, it turned out perfect. I don't know if anyone was rolling their eyes but I felt great about our ceremony and felt it really represented Harrison and me (annnd I only cried a teeny tiny bit).

SO! These are my tips/a few things that would have ruined everything if we hadn't done:

1) Decide what is important to you in the ceremony/what you want to be represented.
For us, we wanted people to leave knowing that we are about serving God, our choice to love each other (and the things that go into choosing love), home, family, and of course a lot of freakin fun.

2) Research other alternative wedding ceremonies for inspiration.
Because traditional weddings are so engrained in my head, I had a hard time thinking outside the box. Enter: Pinterest! I found this article from A Practical Wedding and this Huffington Post article helpful and good to get my brain jogging in the right direction.

3) Write out your ceremony- in painstaking detail.
Since most vendors have done 1000000000 very traditional weddings, it's important that everyone has every detail. It's not like our's was sooo crazy or different, but there were a few things that our vendors weren't used to. Here's what our's looked like:

Time		People	Details
5:15 PM	Doors Open, music playing	caterers, DJ	make sure champagne table is set by 5:15, confirm time
5:35 PM	Family gets escorted to seats	1) Cory w/Deb 2) Ken w/Sheila 3) Herb w/Pearl	HB goes to stage
5:38 PM	Everyone takes their place, ___ removes string that is blocking aisle	Bmaids groomsmen, HB, LT & Craig	Family Matters theme song
5:45 PM	Father Kemp and HB take place in front - Herb joins from front	Father Kemp, HB, Herb	Herb will hang out to the side after he drops off Pearl
5:46 PM	Father Kemp announces no cameras
5:48 PM	Processional	Bmaids, Gmen	So Good To Me - Chris Malinchak
5:52 PM	LT and Craig come down the aisle	LT and Craig	Hard to Concentrate - RHCP
5:54 PM	Intro from Father Kemp	Father Kemp
5:55 PM	Father Kemp reads "A Poem of Friendship" Nikki Giovanni	Father Kemp
6:00 PM	Cory and Tricia speak	Cory and Tricia	Reading their piece on "choosing love"
6:05 PM	Father Kemp talks more	Father Kemp
6:08 PM	Vows	LT and HB
6:12 PM	Closing Prayer	Father Kemp
6:14 PM	First kiss
6:15 PM	Champagne Toast		caterers serve champagne - Meg T serve champagne to wedding party
6:16 AM	Presentation of the couple	Father Kemp
6:17 PM	Processional	Bridal party	End of Time- Beyonce

4) Run your write-up by a few people who have wedding experience.
Sometimes no one does these things at their weddings because it's a bad idea. Case in point: I originally had my heart set on a candle ceremony where the whole audience lights candles blah blah blah. Our officiant (also a friend and also a priest who has probably done hundreds of weddings) suggested we check with the venue to make sure open flames are allowed annnd... sure enough they aren't. There were a few other logistically impossible ideas I had in the original timeline and thank goodness for our amazing good great friend who is also a wedding planner who talked me off the ledge on a few things. It's important to get other people's feed back ...

5) ...but at the same time, KNOW what you want and be ready to be firm about it.
For whatever reason with weddings everyone thinks they need to give their opinion about everything you're doing, and let me tell you- I'm a people pleaser if I've ever met one. But let me be clear, when I am hemorrhaging my own money on something I WILL get what I want. A few people tried to talk us down from a few elements or convince us to change things around (but why wouldn't you just do what they do at all the other weddings?), and it was important to remember that they mean well and what they're sharing is just their opinion. And that there is a 0% chance that you're going to please everyone in the planning process and about a 0% chance that anyone is going to end up feeling displeased at the wedding.

6) Trust your people
Hi my name is Lindsay and I am Type A. Is my brother going to remember to prepare something to read? Is the planner actually going to get the champagne to us? Is the caterer going to remember to put out the champagne before the ceremony? Are people going to pay attention and grab champagne? What if... what if... what if...

Guess what. These people get paid for a reason. And everyone cares. And everything works out. And if anything didn't work out I didn't even notice.

Those are my tips for planning a ceremony - anything I'm missing? What are some non-traditional elements you've seen or done at a wedding?

P.S. How amazing is that picture? Our photographer (and friend we met on a cruise) was so amazing, there was never a moment that I was like "WHERE'S THE PHOTOGRAPHER SOMEONE GET THIS", and guess what? Flying her in from Florida was half the price of any DC photographers I saw. She travels, she's amazing, she's affordable, check her out (or just go to her site and swoon over her other pictures).

P.S.S. The Penny Hoarder just came out with this article on 101 Creative Ways to Save Money on Your Wedding . Yes please.


Check back next Friday for more budget wedding tips!

I'm baaack! Paleo Meals for the week + A few wedding pix

I'm back from the best week ever! Recap of our wedding and Cancun honeymoon and photodumps coming soon, as well as zillions of posts on all the things I've learned along the way. Thankfully we seem to have brought the warmth back with us from Cancun, and today, I'm trying to get it togetha meal wise (no room service here! What a drag!).

I thought we would do paleo pre-wedding and probably give up afterwards, but Harrison and I both feel SO much better eating this way so we're sticking to it! Here's the food for the tiny bit of the week I have:

Breakfast for the week

• Green Smoothies
• New Breakfast Casserole (recipe coming soon, after taste test haha)

Lunch for the week

Crockpot Chicken & Okra from Healthy Seasonal Recipes


Dinners:

• Meatballs with squoodles  - I used this recipe minus the oat flour and it turned out great (I got a spiralizer as a wedding gift - life changing suggestion from Nadine)
• "Fried Chicken" with sweet potato fries (chicken recipe coming - pending taste test)
• Sausage and Peppers

Snacks:

• Almonds
• Roasted beets
• Sugar snap peas

Dessert

Almond Flour Brownies (GAME CHANGERS. MAKE THESE NOW)

And for now I leave you with a few pix from the wedding and beyond:

(yes, we made cardboard cutouts of our dogs and Kim K ugly crying face)

Best bridesmaid snapchat:

Sneak Peak from the photographer (yes. epic snow. everywhere. in March):

Ultimate Selfie:

Annnd I have zero pictures from the honeymoon because I did not turn my phone on once (confession: I checked my email every morning to make sure the dogs were ok. #CrazyDogLady), but I have plenty of GoPro footage coming soon!

PS I got a juicer off our registry! Any suggestions?? Besides fresh juice for mimosas of course..

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!

My Home Gym Essentials (on my budget)

Instead of paying a zillion dollars/month for a gym membership that I would probably use 3 times/month because I can find way too many excuses, I got myself a few supplies to have my own gym at home where I can do free youtube videos with a very limited amount of excuses. These are some of the the best additions I have in my home "gym" (aka basement):

***PS if you're like me and you hate going to the actual store because you end up buying 10 million extra things on accident, Target now has a $25 minimum for free shipping. I mean. When I go INTO Target I blackout and spend over $100 every single time. This is magical for myself and my bank account.

Adjustable Dumbbells:

Other options: Walmart's Gold's Gym 40 lb Adjustable Dumbbells $35, Amazon's Gold's Gym 40 lb Adjustable Weight Set



Light handweights:

Other options: Target's 5 lb Neon Weights $7.99 , Marhsall's/TJ Maxx/Ross always have good deals on dumbbells too.


Yoga Mat:
(Confession: I am bougie about this. I'm so sweaty that I slip and slide all over the place. This yoga mat was a gift and honestly I would pay the price to get the same one again for the sweat wicking and the padding- Lululemon is expensive a f*ck but they make some DAMN GOOD PRODCUTS). 

Here are some other more affordable options:

Other options: Target $16.99, Amazon's Top Seller $35.00, Shopping in-store check TJ Maxx/Marshall's/Ross and Nordstrom Rack




Kettlebell Set (note: these are my wish list products)

Other option: Target 3 Piece Kettlebell Set $43.00, Amazon's top selling kettlebells $33-$100.


These are my necessities - anyone else work out at home? What am I missing? 

Currently + Weekly Paleo Meal Plan

Oh hey! Remember me? I used to blog here until every aspect of life sped up to about 1,000 mph! I'm working on finding balance and I have a feeling that come March 7th I'll find a little more time (ICYMI: March 7 = my wedding). Let's do a little catch up with some currently, shall we?

Reading: The Paying Guests. This book topped every "must read" list that's come across my email/internets. When I first picked it up I was like so predictable I know exactly what's going to happen. Yeah no. Not predictable at all. And really, really great. And makes me really really glad I'm a woman in this decade, not 1922.

Doing: Relaxing after a paleo prep-a-thon by catching up on TV I missed this week. Here's what we've got for the week, most recipes thanks to my friend Amanda who just got started on paleo and is way better at finding recipes than me. Also, shredded cabbage..not sure where I was going with that one but I picked up cabbage and I'm hoping the idea I had for it comes back to me:




Working on: Short term - wedding seating charts (womp womp). Long term - nightly reflection, 90 Days of Yoga, accepting that I can't control everything (see: impending wedding week ice storm), boozing no more than twice/week (this is a major challenge due to aforementioned wedding).

Watching: The Slap. Why am I so into this show? And who the heck's side am I on (answer: I think I hate everyone?)? And why does everyone care so much about Uma Thurman's makeup at the premier of this? If I manage to stay awake for this entire episode I'll be catching up on the How to Get Away With Murder episode I missed this week too (DO NOT TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED).

Wanting: Warm weather, no more winter. Oh! Conveniently 2 weeks from today I'm hopping on a plane to Cancun. The big question here: will I survive 2 more weeks of this winter mess? 

Wishing: I had Tivoed these shows instead of thinking I would just watch them on demand. No fast forwarding through commercials is so irritating. Whoa. Talk about some first world problems over here.

Feeling: Loved. Appreciative. Also sore thanks to this.


Happy Monday! Hope everyone has a great week- annnd someone please tell me who we hate in The Slap?!

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.

Things I wish I would have had/done as soon as I got engaged

The countdown is ON- 30 days until this whole wedding goes down! Now that we are this close I've been thinking of all the things that I was like "WHY didn't anyone tell me this??" and/or "thank goodness we did this!" so just wanted to share a few of those gems:


I wish we would have...

1.) Ordered a return address stamp ASAP: gifts start flowing in (not complaining) which means thank you cards start flowing out. Anything that moves this process along a little faster is worth every penny. This is our stamp and I ordered it from my friend Ali who designs stamps over at Tumbleweed Paperie (check them out! Tell her Lindsay sent you!)

and on that note (haha see what I did there...note...)..

2.) Hoarded thank you cards: Engagement parties, showers, random "congrats" gifts... I've sent about a million thank you cards and it would have softened the blow if I had just been collecting them over time as opposed to buying a million $ worth at once. Lucky for me, my mom works at Hallmark and gets a pretty sweet discount on these kinds of things.

3.) Had a real life budget talk: Womp womp, I know. Everyone told me to have a serious budget talk so here's how our's went down:

Me: Ok let's buy everything as cheap as possible for this wedding.Harrison: Sounds good.

This is in fact not the budget talk a couple should have before a major event because said major event has a tendency of spinning out of control at about 500000 MPH. Once things had already spun out of control we sat down and had a real budget talk and it would have saved us about 68 headaches if we would have sat down and honestly talked about what we want and how much we are willing to pay for it. I wish we would have prioritized what we have to have (i.e. killer DJ, killer videos, type of catering, etc).

4.) Planned for the honeymoon earlier: We put this one off to the last minute. It all worked out, but we could have saved money with earlybird deals by having booked 6+ months out.

I'm SO GLAD WE...

1.) Spread out the payments: A friend told me to do this from the beginning and I. Am. So. Glad. At first I was like if the money's there, it's there, but let me tell you how much less stressed we are just having to make 1/6 of all the payments in this month before the wedding. This is also great because about 100000 unexpected tiny costs have come up in the last few weeks and those haven't been as hard to swallow as they would have been if we had been having to write everyone one big fat check.

2.) Started stashing booze early on: As soon as we decided we were going to provide the booze for the wedding, my caterer friend (and wedding coordinator who, at this point in the process, I'm pretty sure I would be lying facedown in a ditch without her) told me to just pick up a handle or 2 with groceries every week to soften the blow. I'm really fortunate that my parents are gifting the bar to us, but they've been doing it this way too!

3.) Used credit cards with bomb points programs: I got an American Air credit card and Harrison used his BOA credit card and we have put everything for the wedding on these two cards. We paid for our honeymoon flights with my credit card points and all of our honeymoon excursions and VIP club experiences have been purchased with Harrison's credit card points. Head's up though: I pay 100% of my credit card bill at the end of the month. I will NOT go in debt over this wedding (please, I have enough other things keeping me in a hole). You don't get the points until you pay off the dollars, so in order for this to work you have to really pay attention.

4.) Had my friends' wedding planner template:  This  helped to think of little thing we would have forgotten. This also helped me think of things we would need to buy that we might not have thought of, and we were able to space those out too.

5.) Got a ring dish: I take my ring off a few times a day- when cooking, to exercise, when I shower... It took one scare in the kitchen to realize that when I take that thing off, it's going ONE place and one place only (my ring dish). This is why we don't have nice things...

6.) Went bananas on Black Friday: Bridesmaids gifts 50% off - check! Some bridal accessories 70% off: check! Favors 40% off - check check! I only wish I would have had a more extensive list so we could have gotten everything on crazy sale.

Any advice? Anything you or friends have done or wish you/they would have done??

Wednesday Workout: This week in BridalBootCampSweatingForTheWeddingETC with Weights

These week my weight stayed the same as last week (surprise surprise, Harrison dropped 3 lbs exercising 0 times! But I won't go there today), but still managed to lose .5" around my hips AND waist so I'm happy! After last week's post Petar  informed me that I will lose weight quicker if I add more weights into my equation because Weights = Building Muscle = Burn More. So I tried to find some fun ways to incorporate them this week.

Workouts for the week (since last Wednesday):

Thursday:

Millionaire Hoy 35 Minute Dumbbell HIIT (weights!) + 30 Minute Power Yoga Flow (minus the headstands because I'm still here trying to get into crow pose without slamming my head into the ground - true story and now I keep pillows nearby and remember #ItsAboutTheJourney in yoga...).

Friday:

Strong & Smart Yoga Flow with Tim



Saturday:

FitnessBlender 1000 Calorie Workout (weights!)



Sunday: Rest.

Monday: Woke up with the freakin flu. But I'm ok with it because if my body wants to get sickness out of the way now versus in 4 weeks (aka my wedding) I'm not complaining.

Tuesday: Still have the flu, am losing my mind.

Easy One Pan Paleo Meal

I come to you with an announcement: I made an amazing paleo dish one night, then the next night topped the leftovers with eggs and IT WAS EVEN BETTER and it was like 2 completely different meals. YEAH.

I made this one pan chorizo dish and we had lots of leftovers so the next night we put some eggs and tomatoes on top and it was amazing! Pictured below is Harrison's dish because he eats scrambled eggs which are always much prettier than my over-easy egg (or jizz egg as Harrison so flatteringly calls it) that explodes as soon as it touches my plate.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 package chorizo, sliced and cooked according to the instructions on the package (I FINALLY found some at Wal-Mart! I've been on the lookout forever looking for these) ($5)
• 2 sweet potatoes, diced ($3)
• 1/2 onion, sliced ($.50)
• 1 bunch of asparagus ($3.50)
• 2 eggs (optional for topping)
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• seasonings of choice (I used salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon)
• Tomatoes (for topping, optional)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sweet potatoes, chorizo, onion, and asparagus with olive oil and seasonings. Dump into a baking dish and cook for 20-30 minutes. 

And that's it! Top with eggs and tomatoes or just eat it on its own. This is one of my favorite dishes from this paleo experiment!

What do you eat chorizo with?

"Sweating for the wedding" or "Bridal Bootcamp" or "Insert stressful phrase about how you have to be skinny at your wedding"

I've mentioned before how I'm trying real hard to just do me for this wedding. Just me. No one else. On the other hand, this is the Lindsay and Harrison show and I better look damn good at my own party! Harrison's on it too (about half as hard and dropping libbies twice as fast). So far I'm down 8 lbs since New Year's (disclaimer: I went a little crazy over the holidays and had a lot more to lose).

The other thing though is that I. feel. amazing. My body feels good, my head feels clear, I'm sleeping like a baby through the night (wait why do people say that? My friends who have babies right now would say sleeps like a baby to mean wakes up every freaking hour of the night), I have tons of energy, and just feel all around great.

The original plan was to start something zooo crazy like Crossfit a few months before the wedding. However in the midst of signing away my life savings to buy a house and have a wedding, I can't justify the cost. And who needs to spend that kind of money when you've got these guys:

Food: Paleo every day with one cheat meal  day

Exercise: Here's what a typical week looks like

Sunday: Millionaire Hoy 1,000 Calorie Full Body Burnout



Monday: Rest day

Tuesday: BenderFitness 15 Minute HIIT  x 2 + Sickfit  15 minute Tabata + Yoga



Wednesday: Yoga



Thursday: HIIT x 2 (minus the warm up and cooldown) + tabata + yoga



Friday: Run or Yoga (or both)

Notice anything? Yoga every damn day. I'm loving it. Since I'm on a mission it's been easier for me to find time to dedicate to exercise, but I'm hoping this becomes a routine. I definitely want to keep up yoga every day, and incorporate more running. And when I need a lil motivation I cut on this video Taylor shared last week:


I MEAN HOW HYPE ARE YOU AFTER THIS VIDEO?

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!

Wednesday Workout: It Pisses Me Off that boys lose weight faster than girls

via

Let me preface this by saying 2 things: 1) There is some cussing in this post and I apologize in advance but I believe it is necessary to understand the extent of this situation; 2) I understand there is science behind males losing weight quicker than females, and I also understand that when someone has more weight to lose they usually lose weight faster, and I ALSO understand that when one person has led a healthy lifestyle full of clean eating and regular exercise for years and the other person has lived off of bacon and McDonald's and no exercise and then suddenly switches to paleo and starts exercising (*cough twice*) they will lose weight faster than the person who has been healthy all along; 3) I don't care. I'm competitive. If I work harder I want to win.

If you couldn't tell from that intro, Harrison's weight has been practically melting off of him while I've stayed about 3 stomach flus from my goal weight. These are some of my favorite Harrison quotes re: health and exercise, to illustrate what I'm living with here:

On why he doesn't exercise regularly:
"I have big ankles that make it impossible to tie shoes which makes it a lot harder for me to exercise" -Wow I can't believe they let you play Division I football with those ankles! What hero! sidenote:  I tried and failed to secretly snap a picture of said "big ankles" to prove to the world that this statement is 100% ludacris. 

More on why regular exercise is not ideal:
"Exercise gives me gas" -Let's take a little journey back to Cause & Effect 101...

After his first time lifting since college:
"Aw man my t*tties hurt so bad, I get why people want to come home after a hard day and take their bra off" -Oh do you? 

As I'm putting ground flax seed into my breakfast smoothie:
"Sick you're literally sprinkling dirt into your breakfast. Where'd you get that, the backyard?" -Yeah it's from the back yard. I dug it up when you weren't looking. Right where the dogs poop.

"Is this a f*cking joke? He calls that a warm up? Everyone else calls that a FULL WORKOUT" -Harrison to Millionaire Hoy when Mil said "alright now that we're warmed up let's get on to..."

As I'm pouring coffee and Harrison walks in from the his first ever morning gym visit (sidenote: nothing doesn't piss me off before coffee):
"I'm so swole right now from lifting. Touch me. No for real just touch my biceps they're crazy right now." -smiles, nods, sips coffee, smiles, nods again, walks the f away.

One of the two times we attempted exercising together (we don't because of things like below):
Me: "We're almost done there are only 2 exercises left in this HIIT! We got it!"
Harrison (yelling): "Seriously shut up this is the dumbest sh*t you've ever talked me into doing and I don't even know why we're here because this is so so dumb and even football players don't workout this hard I really hate this . . ." -He apologized during our stretch. Besides giving him gas, exercise also seems to give him sudden unfounded rage attacks.


So just FYI, in the first 3 weeks of hard core paleo, the man whose shoes can't tie and who only exercised twice because it gives him gas lost 12 lbs and I lost 6. Is THAT a joke??

PS I understand the science behind this but it still makes me mad.

PSS I love Harrison and had his permission to publish these.