Paleo Lasagna

Happy Saturday! Last night I wanted to surprise my Husband with a lasagna dinner. It’s been so long since we’ve had some and it’s been a point of conversation lately so decided I would go out and grab some Cappello’s Paleo Lasagna Sheets and create something delicious for dinner!

I ran to Sprouts and grabbed some healthy ingredients I thought would make a tasty addition to my dish and I’ve got to say the STAR of the dish was this incredible almond cream cheese spread I found! It’s paleo and gave the dish that cheese taste it so desperately needs!

INCREDIBLE. Found it in the cream cheese/yogurt section!

It literally took me only 10 minutes to prepare the whole meal. 10 MINUTES. (Besides the actual baking for 50 minutes afterward 😉 ) Here is my recipe and I know y’all will LOVE it cuz we did! My Husband woofed it down!It turned out great and wasn’t an expensive meal at all! It makes so much and I cannot wait for lunch today for leftovers.. hahaha! Enjoy y’all – Let me know how y’all liked it!

Made in Nature – Sprouts Event

I love living in Colorado – There are so many options for healthy eating in restaurants and so many local businesses that are known nationwide for their snacks/food. I’d heard of Made in Nature before so was very excited at the opportunity, thanks to Sprouts, to get to hang out in their test kitchen and try my hand at making my own Figgy Pops (Something they’ve MASTERED. Try them, they’re delicious!).

Their staff was so friendly and welcoming – The 10 of us bloggers felt instantly comfortable! And Sprouts was gracious enough to bring us a ton of food options for dinner.. I had their delicious vegan salad ❥

Their test kitchen was lined with delicious options for figgy pop making and we couldn’t wait to get working!

We began at station one with their pastes, they had Apricot, fig and dates. They were all so delicious so with both batches I made I used dates then added apricot to one and fig to another – Wish I could make these pastes at home, they were perfect!

Then we could add some dried fruit, dried nuts and anything else we wanted in our figgy pops! (They had so many options as you can see!) My first batch was made with date and apricot paste, dried mango, diced almonds and acai powder! My second was made with date and fig paste with cranberries, pistachios, almond butter and Himalayan sea salt! Wish y’all could try mine.. I’m pretty proud with how they turned out!

We found out we were the first outside people to come in and make our own figgy pops.. How exciting is that?! That’s why I love Colorado.. Amazing businesses like this that are 20 minutes away and we can do fun stuff like this! Such a treat. They treated us like family and we got to experiment with some fun ingredients and learn new tricks! I’ll be taking what I learned from this event to make figgy pops at home (My kids are already hooked.. I was so excited I let them have one for breakfast haha!!)

Thanks Sprouts and Made in Nature for such an unforgettable evening with good friends, good food and tons of fun!

Try their delicious healthy snacks for yourself! They’re available at Sprouts and on their website! Enjoy y’all!

Superfood Fruit Strips

Hey y’all.. It’s been a long week. It was going really well in the beginning until I came down with food poisoning. From what? No clue. But like those commercials say, parents don’t get sick days. So I’ve been trying to soldier through these miserable past few days and have found one thing that’s been helping a ton – My Purely Inspired Organic Greens Superfood Mix.

I haven’t had much of a desire to eat at all. It all comes back up anyways! But when I do feel a slight pang of hunger I want it to be nutritional so I’ve been making quite a few smoothies with my Multivitamin mix and they’ve been a life saver. But I’ve been really needing something with a little more texture so decided to make fruit strips!! They’re incredible and are exactly what I need – They aren’t heavy enough to upset my stomach but still give me a little bit of solids in there AND I add the Organic Greens to my mixture so that they’re PACKED full of vitamins and nutrients!

They’re perfect for sick days but also for whenever – Especially for the kiddos! Love that I decided to make these cuz they’ll now be a household snack all year round! They weren’t difficult to make at all (If you’ve got a dehydrator 😛 ) Try it for yourself! ↓ ↓

Superfood Fruit Strips

 

1. Set dehydrator to 158°F – I spray my fruit tray with coconut oil non-stick spray just incase.
2. I like to use whichever fruit is going bad soonest, the riper they are the sweeter they are, but my favorite mix is banana and strawberries.
3. Blend your fruit with a splash of water and a scoop of your Organic Greens mix (You need the mixture to be thick!)
4. Now pour your mixture into your trays (The more mixture added to each tray the thicker the strips, we like them either way!)
5. Let them dehydrate for 10 hours! It’s a long time but it makes a TON and it’s worth it! I usually do mine overnight so they can sit for a few hours in the dehydrator afterward to finish hardening 🙂
6. Enjoy!

These are healthier alternatives to fruit strips with an added bonus of superfoods and multivitamins! They’ve already done wonders helping my stomach settle – And the kids love them too!

(I am compensated by Purely Inspired with products as an ambassador. However, I did this recipe on my own for the reasons stated above and LOVE it. All opinions/recipes are my own.)

Reindeer Poop Recipe

I’ve been making a ton of holiday goodies for my Husband’s coworkers this year because I know I’d want some if I was in an office all day! One treat I made that got SO many compliments was my reindeer poop – So much so their was word around the office that I make Christmas Crack, hahaha! People asked for a recipe so decided to post it on here as well! It’s a Christmas tradition and I guess now an office tradition! Obviously this isn’t paleo but we make it for family and friends and they love it so why stop 😉

The cookie butter makes a HUGE difference! It’s usually made with peanut butter but it’s 1,000 times better with cookie butter! I was asked how I managed to squeeze even MORE sugar into the treat but it was really just using the cookie butter!!

Enjoy y’all!

Sorry for the ugly photo.. Was in a rush to bag them up hahaha!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s that time of year again to stuff your face and eat DELICIOUS food. This year it’ll just be my Husband, Hudson and I (And it’s Hudson’s 2nd birthday!) So we wanted to do a low-key dinner and keep it paleo! I know that sounds ridiculous but our bodies are finally adjusting back to healthy eating and we wanted to keep it that way!

And although paleo – We have some MOUTHWATERING items planned. Looking for a healthier alternative for your dishes? You’re in the right place!

1. Turkey as usual. We’re doing a dry rub and injecting with some cajun seasonings (Duh, I’m married to a cajun 😉 )
2. Paleo Dressing! Recipe here!
3. Paleo Cranberry Sauce
   • Mix and boil 1 Cup Water with 1 Cup Coconut Sugar
     • Once boiling and slightly thickened mix in 1 whole bag of cranberries (NON-FROZEN)
     • Once all cranberries popped mix in 2 packs of fresh blueberries and cook til softened! Then serve and enjoy!
4. Paleo Rolls Made with Chebe Focaccia Bread Mix
5. Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple Syrup & Rosemary
6. Fresh Green Beans with Bacon
7. Homemade Paleo Pumpkin Pie (Hubby’s Secret Recipe 😉 )
8. A mini cake for Hudson’s birthday!!

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These are all traditional Thanksgiving dishes that we tweaked to fit into our healthy lifestyle and we’re happy we’re doing it! It takes JUST as much work to make as normal dishes but we’ll feel fantastic afterwards! Oh.. And GO COWBOYS!! 

Hold your loved ones a little closer this holiday. Be thankful for what you have. Thank God for the blessings you have. I know I will. Happy Thanksgiving y’all.

❤❤❤❤

Paleo Cinnamon Rolls

We’ve started a new tradition. And it came from the CRAZY craving we’ve had for cinnamon rolls. We had plans this last weekend for a trip to try the most famous cinnamon rolls in Colorado but decided we were feeling so good we didn’t wanna splurge that day.. Especially with all of the holidays coming up, we wanted to save it for something really decadent 😉

SO. On a whim I decided to try and make them myself (They looked so complicated non-paleo so I couldn’t imagine making them paleo but took the risk)

As most of y’all know, paleo dough can be rough but in Colorado at a much higher altitude it can be SO FRUSTRATING. After tweaking and kneading (and kneading, and kneading, adding water and kneading AGAIN) I finally found the PERFECT texture. It rolled like normal dough and I felt like crying.. ⤓⤓ The rest is below in my recipe ⤓⤓

 

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Paleo Cinnamon Rolls

1. Add your water, sea salt, maple syrup and coconut oil into a small pot on medium until it begins to boil, then remove.
2. Put mixture into a bowl and mix in your tapioca flour.
3. Once cooled add your coconut flour and egg.
4. Mix with your hands til doughy and stickyish (I added 1/4 tsp water to make it moldable and less dry (like coconut flour and tapioca likes to do!)
5. Now place dough on a piece of wax paper (I sprinkled tapioca starch on top) and knead dough until it feels like it’s ready to be rolled!
6. Sprinkle tapioca flour on top of dough and place a second sheer of wax paper over the top and then roll the dough to desired length/width. I like mine thicker so I rolled mine to 1/2 inch thick by 7 inches wide and 10 inches long. Was the perfect size!
7. As stated in the ingredients you can use whatever filling your heart desires – Just make sure it’s thick enough of a mixture so it doesn’t make your dough too moist! – I used toasted coconut flakes, finely chopped roasted pecans, 100% maple syrup, water and cinnamon! It was DELICIOUS (Next time I wanna try an apple and cinnamon one!!)
8. Now spread your mixture onto your dough just be sure to leave an inch on each edge so it doesn’t come spewing out 😉
9. Then roll your dough slowly and tightly until you’ve got it completely into your log!
10. Then cut to your desired thickness (I did 1 inch pieces. And used a serrated knife! I tried the fancy-shmancy floss trick and paleo dough is just too thick.)
11. Lay down new wax paper onto a pan and place your beautiful (by paleo standards 😉 ) cinnamon roll pieces down flat and put into your 350*F oven for 30 minutes, remove and place on plate.
12. Mix your frosting in a blender so it gets really whipped (I NEVER knew how amazing this worked til now!)
13. Once your cinnamon rolls have completely cooled COVER THEM IN FROSTING AND ENJOY!

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Obviously they aren’t like normal cinnamon rolls but they tasted INCREDIBLE and stomped out every craving we had! Now for the tradition part. I will officially be making these with/for my family every Christmas morning now. I heard of the tradition but obviously is mainly done with traditional cinnamon rolls. I want to show my kids that healthy eating/cooking can be fun, rewarding AND taste just as delicious!

🎄 CAN CHRISTMAS COME ANY SOONER?! 🎄

Ghoulish Halloween Dinner (For Kids!)

It’s almost Halloween!! Our kids are SO excited. They’ve nearly got their costumes by the front door hahaha! We’re excited for all of the plans we have starting today til Halloween! Pumpkin carvings, haunted houses, festivals, Boo at the Zoo, and ghoulish treats!

For dinner tonight I decided to make the kids some delicious and hilarious looking goodies – Mummy Dogs and ghost bread! I preheated the oven to 350°F and grabbed a roll of Crescent Rolls, some cheddar cheese and a pack of Oscar Meyer Weiners!

I opened the dough roll, laid it out flat and cut the dough into long strips to make it easier to wrap the dogs in their Mummy Wrappings (I placed the cheese over the weiner before wrapping it) Obviously they weren’t going to eat ALL the weiners so I used the leftover dough to make Ghost Bread (I didn’t have any Halloween cutters so I used a gingerbread man and joined together his legs hahaha!) and BRAINSS (Which was balled up leftover dough with red food coloring)!

I placed the pan in the oven and cooked for about 13-15 minutes! I kept a watchful eye on the ghost bread since they were a little thin (But they got SO fluffy! So they cooked ALL perfectly at the same amount of time!)

 

Once they were done I dotted eyes on the mummies and biscuits with ketchup and mustard and the kids DEVOURED them! I added a jack n’ cheese cup to their dinner for a cute Halloween extra 😉

The kids had some pumpkin honey on their brainssssss and ghost bread! It was sooooo yummy!

It’s little meals like this that really get the kids excited for Halloween AND helps them eat if they’re being picky hahaha!

Try it for your kids today, they’ll love them!!

Paleo Margaritas

Happy College Game Day y’all! Geaux Tigers!

 

Today, we decided to have some family also from Louisiana to come over and root for the LSU Tigers with us! So we wanted to have some good drinks to serve everyone that’s also paleo still! SO I just randomly came up with an idea for a drink and it came out amazing! Try it for yourselves and let me know what you thought or what you did differently ❥

We’re going to be thoroughly enjoying these drinks AND some amazing food I’ve got in the works that I’ll also post tonight! Football is back, y’all!

Paleo Homemade Fruit Strips / Roll-Ups

Y’all.. I’m OBSESSED with our new dehydrator! I’ve used it literally everyday! So far.. I’ve mastered jerky and fruit strips. Fruit strips seemed pretty tough at first and after a few epic failures we’ve finally mastered some adult enjoyed and child approved/LOVED fruit strips/leather! It’s SO good. This is just the recipe for fruit strips but I promise to share my jerky recipe VERY soon (My meat OBSESSED Husband very much approves of my method 😉 )

You can use any dehydrator but we really love our Magic Mill! It’s affordable, quiet and works AMAZING. Most dehydrators will come with a tray specific for fruit strips/leather. I begin by making sure my dehydrator is set at 158°F for 10 hours – I spray my fruit tray with non-stick spray (Just incase) and use whichever fruit is going to go bad! (Used blackberries in one but it was SO texture-y because of the seeds) So far, our favorite is JUST bananas! All you need to do is blend up whichever fruit you’re wanting to use and then pour the mixture into the tray (Ours have lips so they don’t spill out). The more mixture the thicker the strips, we like them either way!

It’s good to check it constantly but once they’ve been in the dehydrator for 10 hours (May need longer if you’ve used a TON of mixture!) you can remove them and let them sit out for about 5-10 minutes then you can cut them longways and make them into “fruit roll-ups” our kids have been LOVING this alternative to the sugar-y snack and they love that they’re “being healthy” for their school snacks!

It’s seriously THAT simple. And instead of spending money on unhealthy snacks or money on one tiny strip at a time you can make your own with any fruit you choose or any fruit that’s going bad to avoid ANY waste – And it makes a TON!

 

Try it out y’all! You’ll love having a healthy treat to turn to and your kids will love the delicious taste of their healthy lunch snacks!

Simplykaraliz’ Chia Seed Pudding

I’ve always wanted to make Chia Seed Pudding but never had the patience to wait for it to set overnight! But I recently had some wonderful inspiration from Just BE Kitchen and their delicious pudding →

So I was inspired to create a delicious version of my own for my family! Instead of cacao powder I added my favorite chocolate protein from Purely Inspired!

I love this recipe because it’s really versatile. You can eat it for breakfast, as a side with any meal or for dessert! And it’s so sweet the kids LOVE it! It’s also really easy to change up (Vanilla instead of chocolate), can add peanut butter/nut butter, add chocolate chips or just anything you can possibly imagine!

I added a little coconut cream in the middle to give it a little more depth 😉 SO GOOD!

I like to add fruit into a glass then scoop my pudding in – Then top with anything yummy I have in my fridge or pantry 😉

Enjoy!