These are a treat! I happened to have leftover canned pumpkin and canned coconut milk in the fridge that I needed to use before it went bad. I looked up some recipes for inspiration and found this great one from The Primalist. I decided to roughly follow it with my own tweaks. I’m really not a fan of measuring and I’ve found as long as you use around the amounts listed in recipes, it always turns out just fine 😉 So, I used what I had left and went with the flow and it turned out great! You can use my “measurements” or experiment yourself. Using a whole can of each would mean adding an extra egg and extra everything else. You could make this in a glass pie pan like a regular pie but I went with a 9×9 baking dish to make little squares instead.

crustless [paleo] pumpkin pie squares

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 can pumpkin purée
• 2/3 can coconut milk
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup
• 10 drops liquid vanilla stevia
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp all spice
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• coconut oil to grease dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9×9 square glass baking dish with coconut oil. (TIP: use your clean hand to grease it, then rub the leftovers onto whatever part of your body needs moisturizing!) Lightly beat eggs with whisk in mixing bowl, then add each ingredient, whisking as you go along until everything is well combined. Pour into greased dish. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, then turn off the heat and let sit in oven for 10 more minutes. Check that toothpick comes out clean. If it doesn’t, your oven may just need more time. Let cool, slice, and serve room temp or cold out of the fridge 🙂 Store in fridge. Enjoy!!

Hey y’all! I’m back! With paleo banana muffins! 😉 I truly can’t believe it’s been 5 months already since I last posted. I’ve had to take care of a family member the past few months so my blog was an unfortunate casualty of that. I’m still busy lately but calming down a bit so hopefully I will be posting more. Today I’m bringing you paleo banana muffins! I adapted the recipe from one of Wellness Mama’s wonderful recipes. My two year old son absolutely loved these muffins this morning. It was a great healthy treat for him!

paleo banana muffins

• 5 eggs
• 3 small bananas (or 2.5 medium)
• ¼ cup coconut oil (or softened butter)
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 1 tbsp raw honey (double or triple for sweeter muffins)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• small amount of milk to thin (I used unsweetened almond milk)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put all ingredients (except milk) in a mixing bowl and combine with immersion (stick) blender until mixture is smooth and everything is well-combined. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can smash the bananas separately with a fork until goopy then mix everything VERY WELL. Batter will be thick. Thin batter slightly with a little milk of your choice but don’t let batter get runny. Grease muffin tins with coconut oil and fill 3/4 full. This made 9 muffins for me. Bake for 13-18 minutes until lightly browned and set in middle. I turned off the oven after 13 minutes and let them sit in oven for about 3-4 more minutes before removing. Let cool and enjoy! 🙂

**Suggestions: I used 1 tablespoon honey which (combined with sweetness from the bananas) resulted in a lightly sweet muffin. If you like your muffins sweeter or more “cupcake-y”, you can add 2-3 tablespoons of honey. If you want to make this vegan you could try a flax seed gel in place of the eggs, but I have not tried that yet! Maple syrup, coconut sugar, or coconut nectar can be used in place of the honey.

Hello, my wonderful readers!  It’s been awhile.  I didn’t expect to take such a long break so quickly after I started this blog, but I had several family emergencies plus a trip to Alabama, my husband’s birthday, my brother-in-law’s college graduation, and a visit from my good friend from New York. Sooo, needless to say, it’s been kind of crazy 😉  But now things are getting back to “normal” and I’m glad to be back here posting again!

Today, I asked my lovely facebook friends if they knew of any good recipes for savory zucchini bread or muffins and my friend Jessi came up with this amazing link: Basil Zucchini Bread by Made in Kitchen. As amazing as it sounds already, I had to adapt it to make it a) dairy- and gluten-free (it would be grain-free minus the baking powder!) and b) toddler- and pantry-friendly. I used onion powder instead of sautéed onion because I was actually out of onions (which is crazy!), plus my son doesn’t like pieces of onions in things. The tricky part was figuring out what ratios of alternate flours to sub for the regular flour, and what other ingredients needed to change because of that.  Almond flour is good but makes things kind of dense; Coconut flour is great but needs extra eggs and liquid, thus making baked goods made solely out of coconut flour taste very egg-y.  So, I decided to wing it and try a mix!  The experiment came out great! Kind of like a mix between a muffin and a soufflé though, but very delicious. Next time I’d love to try a marinara/water mixture instead of the milk and see if I could make Tomato Basil Zucchini Muffins 🙂

[mostly] grain-free herbed zucchini muffins

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon coconut palm sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 small ones)
• 15 fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 small sprig fresh rosemary, chopped

Mix together flour, salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, baking soda and powder in a large bowl.

In another bowl, cream together 4 tablespoons butter and coconut sugar. Add in eggs. Mix together coconut milk and lemon juice, then add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, mixing well.

Stir zucchini, basil, and rosemary into butter/sugar/egg/milk mix. Next, add to flour mix and stir until just combined.

Preheat oven to 400F. Pour batter into a muffin pan lined with cupcake liners (or very greased). Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly, then remove muffins from tin.  Place on a wire rack and allow to finish cooling before serving.  Enjoy! 🙂

Well, today (food & drink-wise) went about as I expected.  Not great but not awful 😉 But that’s okay, every day is a new day!  We had so much fun out on the boat all day though!  I was with two of my best friends, Suzanne and Beka, and a few others for the Poker Run.

You have to boat to at least 5 different bars on the canal and get them to sign a card to get a poker hand and then you win something or other…  ya know, I don’t even know what happens then because we got back too late to qualify! lol.  But yeah, most people were drinking all day long, yet I only had a couple of beers and a couple of jello shots total, so I’ll consider that a slight success. 😉 And shockingly, I even know everything James ate back at home because my wonderful husband actually WROTE IT DOWN FOR ME.  I asked him to try to remember what he eats today for my blog but the fact that he was so thorough really means a lot.  So, THANKS, BABE! You rock! 🙂 ❤

Breakfast–

• James: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 sausage patty, 1 banana, 2 strawberries.
• Me: 2 eggs scrambled with leftover roasted veggies mixed in, 1 sausage patty.

Lunch–

• James: 1/2 hamburger patty, roasted carrots, turnips, and parsnips, organic ketchup & mustard.
• Me: strawberries, grapes, nuts, beef jerky, and I did have a few bites of various fried appetizers the group ordered at one bar (cheese sticks, crab balls, onion rings).

Dinner–

• James: taco meat, guacamole, tomatoes, refried beans, 2 gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.
• Me: dill Havarti with rice crackers, amazing spinach salad (red and green onions, bacon, boiled eggs, parmesan, and Italian dressing made by my BFF (she makes the most delicious dressings!!!), and my super cheat (but worth it)… homemade lasagna and a tiny piece of garlic bread!!

So… what did YOU eat today? 🙂

Today was pretty much a failure for me! I wasn’t feeling well most the morning because I drank the night before (it really effects me) so I ate like crap 😦 Dinner was awesome though! But it was a carb-heavy, no-juice day 😦 Sad. I’ll be on a boat with people all day tomorrow so not sure how great I will be able to eat, but my best friend is hosting and she is amazing and already has made some accommodations to have things I can eat 🙂 I’ve been eating more grain and processed products than I’d like for the past couple of days though. Got to get back on track on Sunday!

[credit to my husband for this awesome shot!]

Breakfast–

• James: 9 oz sippy of almond and coconut milks plus supplements when he woke up, then a sliced banana spread with sunflower seed butter, 1 piece bacon, 1 sausage patty, 1 mandarin orange.
• Me: 1 piece gluten free toast and 1/2 a regular Coke (I can’t even remember the last time I had a soda but it always is what helped my stomach after drinking)

Lunch–

• James: Sherie’s homemade hummus and some veggies straws, 10 blackberries.
• Me: a few veggie straws with a little hummus.

Dinner–

• James: small grassfed beef burger patty, 1/2 a link of smoked sausage, 1/4 an Udi’s gluten free hamburger bun, 1 small baked sweet potato (cubed and seasoned), sliced tomatoes with pink sea salt and pepper, organic ketchup and mustard, a few shreds of raw cheddar.
• Me: 1/2 a link of jalapeno sausage, loaded grassfed beef burger (raw cheddar, butter lettuce, raw and grilled red onions, sliced tomato, dill pickles, organic mayo/ketchup/mustard, and Zatarain’s creole mustard) on gluten free bun, with grilled asparagus, broccoli, and red onions brushed with lime & garlic butter.

Snack–

• Me: rice chips and more hummus with Sriracha on top. (Ha!)

[we bought a gas grill today!! my husband is a charcoal man, so it’s kind of a big deal :p]

What did YOU eat today? 🙂

Yes, this is a day late! Sorry! Um, how shall I put this? Mommy got a little tipsy last night 😉 We had a girls night! My sister, mom, and best friends went to a local area wine and art showing night and it was really fun!! Unfortunately, I had a few free glasses of white wine they were giving out and I so rarely drink anymore! That was definitely not cool. My body hated it 😦 I had fun at the time though! But I am definitely not drinking alcohol again anytime soon! So yeah, here is yesterday, day 2.

Brunch (we slept in!)–

• James: 9oz sippy of almond and coconut milks plus supplements when he woke up, then 2 grassfed breakfast sausage patties, scrambled (pastured) eggs in pastured butter with a little goat cheese mixed in, a banana, and a little organic apple juice mixed into his water
• Me: 1 sausage patty, scrambled eggs in butter with leftover roasted veggies and goat cheese mixed in, 1 mandarin orange.

Snack–

• James: blackberries, strawberries, a mandarin orange, a chocolate chip coconut treat.
• Me: a plain coconut treat.

Linner– :p

• Me: Delicious veggie green curry that my sister and I made while James napped! (green onion, bell pepper, crimini mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, cauliflower, green beans, cabbage.)

Dinner–

• James: He went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant with my husband and inlaws. He had lots of guacamole, a few chips and salsa, taco meat, refried beans, and Mexican rice.
• Me, late night: Girls night! This is where the several glasses of white wine come in :p And we nibbled on all sorts of things: cheese and gluten free crackers, shrimp Pad Thai, cabbage wraps, spring rolls, etc.

What did YOU eat yesterday? 🙂

My friend Katy asked me to do a week diary of meals, so here we go! For better or worse, these will be accurate accounts of what my two year old son and I eat. Some days will be better than others, I’m sure 😉 I don’t know why I decided to randomly start this on a Wednesday, but I figure today is as good as any! lol. If there is anything you want the brand name of or recipe for, let me know!

Breakfast–

• James: 9 oz sippy of “milk” (almond and coconut milks plus supplements, which are in tomorrow’s entry) when he wakes up, then later he had 1 gluten-free waffle (kid was begging for waffles!) spread with sunflower seed butter, 2 pieces nitrate-free bacon, 1 mandarin orange, peeled and in sections. 🙂
• Me: 1 glass water with lemon juice when I woke up, then one pint green juice (refer to previous entry for recipe), later followed by 4 pieces (whoopsie! lol) of bacon and 2 pastured eggs scrambled with pastured butter, green onions, spinach, crimini mushrooms, squash, and herbs from the garden.

Lunch–

• James: 3/4 of a small baked sweet potato mashed with butter, cinnamon, ginger, clove, all spice, nutmeg, and a pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt, and about 10 blackberries.
• Me: another piece of bacon, the remaining 1/4 of his sweet potato, and a few rice chips with locally made hummus by my friend Sherie.

Dinner–

• James: 5 honey BBQ chicken wings, a few roasted turnips, parsnips, and carrots (dipped in ketchup and mustard! lol), and 1 whole tomato, sliced up with vinaigrette dressing.
• Me: 5 honey BBQ chicken wings, 5 buffalo chicken wings, roasted turnips, parsnips, beets, carrots, and onions tossed with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar, salad of butter lettuce, green onion, sliced tomatoes, pepperoncini, sesame seeds, vinaigrette dressing, and cracked black pepper.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this updated for the next 7 days faithfully! 😉 What did you eat today? Reply below! 🙂

Our juice today was so good that I had to share!

• 4 kale leaves
• 1 handful parsley
• 1 small cucumber or 3-4 stalks celery (or a combo of both)
• 1 apple
• 1-2 mandarin oranges, peeled
• 4-5 strawberries
• Juice of 1/2 lemon, added into glass after juicing

This was so yummy and refreshing!!! Reminded me of summer. I made it for myself with cucumber and with celery for my husband. Enjoy!! 🙂

I’ve seen various recipes for “fat bombs” around the Internet and I’ve taken ideas from them and experimented. These are the ones my son and I love best! He calls them “coconut treats.” 🙂 They are a great, tasty way together your daily dose of virgin coconut oil, which has many, many health benefits.

• 1/2 cup coconut butter
• 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
• 1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• pinch of pink Himalayan sea salt
• Enjoy Life mini chips or chopped very dark chocolate (optional)

Mix all ingredients except shredded coconut. Once combined well, then stir in the coconut. Add chocolate chips/pieces if you want (I roll half the batch plain then add chips to other half). Use spoon and fingers to gently form into balls and put on cookie sheet in freezer for 30 minutes to set. Remove and store in a sealed container in the fridge (they start melting if they get warm at all). So delicious!! 🙂