Sometimes it's not just about the clean eating!

Yay for the holidays that fall from November to January!  I love this time of year with all the excitement, festivities, family, and friends!  If you're like me, you also have that one little thing always hanging over your head though...  will I gain any weight this season?  Will I at least maintain the weight I have lost?

The holidays are often a sugar-filled whirlwind.  MR and I try to offset that as much as possible by making clean treats.  There are lots of great baking and candy recipes.  I will post some of my favorites in the days to come.  But this time of year, more than ever, I know I have to also ramp up my exercise.  Last year we did the weight gain challenge.  You weigh yourself on the day before Thanksgiving and then again on New Year's Day.  The goal is to weigh less on January 1st.  MR actually did it last year.  I did not.  But I only gained two pounds, so I put a small "w" in the win column.  (Previous years would have told a different story!)  This year we are doing it again.  And I know I will have to be extra vigilant this year, especially after that awesome (Paleo) pie I made for Thanksgiving.  Desserts are desserts, folks, and should be eaten in moderation, even when made without refined sugars!  (Tell that to my taste buds!)

My idea of exercise on a regular day is walking.  It has been so ridiculously cold lately that I haven't even been able to do that as much as I'd like.  So I have added the Plank Challenge to help build my core, and have also committed to a minimum of 30 minutes of exercise every day.  Not an average over a week but every single day.  Today, because it's the first day and I am all excited about it (call me next week to discuss), I did the Plank Challenge and a Kickboxing video (I can view it free through my Roku... I am all about free), and I am about to walk 3 miles (round trip) in the freezing cold to buy some coconut sugar.  I don't need the coconut sugar today, but I do need the walk so it's a good excuse and gives me a reason to keep moving.  Truth be told, the walk may turn into a bike ride... we'll see.  Nonetheless, exercise!

This is my idea of how to spend the next 30 days, and it doesn't have to be yours.  But none of us want to gain any weight this season, so find something you do enjoy, and move it move it!

And keep it clean!

Cinnamon Rolls - pardon my sticky fingers!

I am so excited to share this with you that I still have sticky fingers from eating it!  If you have followed me for any length of time, you may remember that cinnamon raisin braid recipe is one of the recipes that convinced me I could do this clean eating thing.  I continue to go back to this recipe, because it's pretty easy and always good!

Yesterday I thought I was dumping some leftover cinnamon and chopped pecans into an empty container.  It turns out there was a little bit of honey in the bottom.  Not to be wasteful, I just stirred them all together.  I tasted a little on a spoon!  Holy smokes!  I had to do something with this stuff!  So I got to thinking that maybe I could use them to make the center of some cinnamon rolls.

This morning I whipped up a batch of cinnamon raisin braid recipe dough.  Instead of rolling it into individual braids as noted in the direction, I took half the dough and rolled it out into a rectangle.  (The other half you can make as usual, or do two batches of cinnamon rolls.)  I then coated the dough with mixture of honey, chopped pecans, and cinnamon, leaving about 1/4" of dough uncoated.  Roll it up like a jelly roll and cut into individual rolls.  I use dental floss to cut it because it doesn't squish the dough.  Place into a round cake pan, sides touching.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or so.  When done, invert over a large plate and allow them to detach from the pan.  And Voila!  Clean eating cinnamon rolls!

Guess what we're having Christmas morning?!

A Girl's Gotta Eat!

Thanksgiving week!  Already?!  Lucky for me I am not expected to prepare anything.  The MIL likes to make the bulk of the meal, although I do help the day of.  And MR makes the pies... clean, of course!  He found whole wheat frozen pie crusts at Whole Foods, and makes a pumpkin one and an apple one.  No sugar added, but every bit as good!  But the week leading up, we still have to eat!  So here is this week's short week recipe round-up!


Mexican style sirloin steaks and avocado salad - I made these last summer and they were amazing!  So definitely time to drag it out again.  I just hope we have at least one day of good grilling weather this week!

Chili - Easy peasy!  1# grass fed ground beef, one can of tomato sauce, chopped onion, chopped green pepper, chili powder to taste!   (EDIT:  Oh, yeah, add some beans!  We like black beans and pinto beans!)

This picture has nothing to do with the post, I just really like it!  And I took it myself!

Maura's BBQ - This is from last week's menu.  I never got it made until today, so it counts for this week now!  If you want the recipe, see the previous blog post.  Thanks, as always, to our friend Maura who turned us on to this a very long time ago!

BBQ sandwiches - Leftovers from that fabulous Maura's BBQ spooned over whole wheat hamburger buns from Trader Joe's.

Chicken coconut soup - I have some leftover cooked chicken breast from last week, and just happen to have some coconut milk in the cupboard, and the rest of the ingredients too!  This makes my grocery bill light and sounds delicious!

Keep it clean!

More Granola!

I just pulled this out of the oven!  Didn't even wait for it to cool!  Poured some almond milk on it and threw in a few dark chocolate chips!  Snack time!  Simple as can be!

Coconut Pecan Granola
based on a granola recipe from www.thegraciouspantry.com

3 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup honey
1/2 TBSP cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

Blend all ingredients together.  Spread out on a parchment covered baking sheet.  Bake at 325 for 15 minutes.  Stir around on sheet.  Bake another 15 minutes.  Stir around on sheet.  Bake another 10-15 minutes, until golden brown.  Allow to cool and stir in 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips.

Recipes for a Friend

Baby Girl and I went to a bridal shower today for a really darling friend of hers... and mine!  We were supposed to bring a favorite recipe.  Uh... I forgot!  I feel so bad about that I am dedicating this week's menu to her.  She needs some easy yummy recipes, and these are some of the easiest and yummiest I know!

So let's get to the recipes!


Beef bacon butternut squash - I haven't actually ever made this yet, but it I love squash and I love bacon so how can it be wrong?!  This sounds so incredibly tummy-warming I can't wait to try it!

Black bean avocado quesadilla - I have made these before.  I don't always have exactly the ingredients, but quesadillas are the kinds of thing you can adjust based on what's on hand.


 Potato soup - I just love potato soup!  We used to eat this with crusty bread, but now just toss in some whole wheat hard pretzel pieces!

Maura's BBQ - This is so easy!
2 - 3 pounds of stewing beef, cut up
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped onion
1/4 cup chili powder
1 TBSP dry mustard
1 TBSP worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses

Mix all ingredients except stewing beef together.  Then stir in beef and coat.  Put in slow cooker and cook 6 hours on high or 10 hours on low.  Serve over cooked rice or noodles.

(Edited to add blackstrap molasses.)

Baked chicken and acorn squash -
I will season the chicken breasts with some olive oil and Italian seasonings and bake at 350 about 30 minutes.
To make acorn squash, cut in half and remove all seeds.  Place face down on a baking sheet and cook for about 30 minutes at 350.

Beef Vegetable Soup

Beef vegetable soup -
Last week I made a rosemary pot roast.  Because the pot roast has onions in it, and some great flavors, I don't really need to add any additional seasoning.

2 cups leftover roast beef, shredded
2 cups mixed vegetables
2 cups vegetable broth
26 oz can crushed tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste 


We will also have some yummies around the house like:

www.thenakedkitchen.com/cinnamon-raisin-braids

Granola - This is a really great basic recipe.  You can make it as is, as I often do, or you can dress it up with some other favorites.

Keep it clean!

Autumn Harvest!

While I surely will miss all the awesome produce we get throughout the summer, I am enjoying that apples, squash, pumpkins, and cranberries are back!  MR made some more applesauce this week.  There is just nothing like the taste of fresh, still warm applesauce on a cool October day!  There is no real recipe for it.  Just core apples and cut them up into chunks and cook them with some water and cinnamon.  When they are soft, grind them in a food mill.  We don't add sugar and we use whatever apples we happen to have.  As you make it, you will find combinations of apples that taste best to you.

When I was in the grocery the other day I saw that they finally had fresh cranberries back in stock.  So I bought two bags!  This morning I made Paleo pumpkin muffins and tucked a few fresh cranberries inside each one.  It gives it a lovely tart little *pop* in your mouth!  I also made some pumpkin donuts.  Half of the batch was just as the recipe is written.  Except I forgot to grease the donut pan so they didn't pop out easily!  Still edible though.  The other half I decided (since my donut pan was such a mess) to add cranberries and bake them in a (greased with coconut oil) mini muffin pan and make donut holes!

I dumped the rest of the fresh cranberries on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer.  (Freezing them in a single layer in a cookie sheet helps keep them from clumping together in the bag.)  From there, I bag them up and freeze them for baking later.  I use these for baking, not for adding to trail mix or other non-cooked recipes.  But I like tart foods, so I would say these aren't for everybody!

Sometimes this weekend I am going to make Spanish chicken and chorizo.   I am sharing the recipe here but be forewarned, I haven't actually made it yet.  It looks easy yet amazing, so I am hoping for a great outcome.

For some reason, I am guessing it is the shorter hours of daylight, we just are having trouble getting motivated to do a lot of cooking in the evening.  In order to lighten that burden, I want to try to make this week as simple as possible in the cooking department.  If I can, I will pre-make some over the weekend so we just have to heat and serve.

Here's what else I am *planning* for us to eat for supper this week!

Meatloaf with sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms is pretty easy.  I love the flavor of sun-dried tomatoes.  You need to have enough time to cook it, but if the loaf is made ahead of time you can at least save some time that way.

Pizza with whole wheat crust!  We keep Trader Joe's fresh whole wheat pizza crust in the freezer.  There are also tons of alternate crust recipes online if you don't want wheat.  Or you can make your own.  Pizza crust is incredibly easy to make!

Pepperoncini brisket.  Just put a brisket in a slow cooker and dump a jar of pepperoncini (liquid and all) over it. Use a 16 oz. jar for every 2-3 pounds of brisket.  You can serve this shredded on whole wheat buns.

Beef and butternut squash stew sounds very seasonal!  This recipe calls for flour so I will probably sub whole wheat flour.  I think if you want to leave out the flour altogether, you can, but it just won't be as thick unless you add something else to thicken it.  Because this takes 1-1/2 hours to cook, I will make it ahead of time and then we can just reheat it.

It looks like with all these hearty recipes, we will probably also have a leftover night.  The nice thing about that is that if there aren't enough leftovers, we will probably go out for Mexican food!  :-)

One more thing I *intend* to make this week is peppermint patties.  When I crave something sweet, it's nice to have something around that I can eat... occasionally.  I think these are pretty easy to make and you can do it in just a few minutes.

Keep it clean!

In the words of my favorite monster.....

COOKIES!  Cookie Monster stole my heart just for his love of cookies.  And these will definitely creep into your heart.  I was out of town for a couple days and was surprised to find cookies sitting on the counter when I returned. And Clean, at that!

MR took the recipe from our handy dandy Better Homes and Garden cookbook... we have had it since we were married, which is a long time... and cleaned it up!

Aren't they Beautiful!?

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cup old fashioned (rolled) oats

Beat butter with electric mixer for about 30 seconds.  Add molasses, honey, coconut sugar, baking powde,r baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.  Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined.  Beat in the flour.  If it gets too stiff, you may have to finish it by hand. (I really recommend a good quality stand mixer, like a Kitchen Aid, if you can.  It makes life a lot easier in the kitchen!)  Stir in the oats.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes.  Cook on a wire rack.  Seal in an airtight container when completely cooled.  These may seem dry at first, but once you let them sit in the container for a couple hours or so, they will be more moist.

It was a long drive home yesterday, so I sure was happy to have such a wonderful and unexpected treat waiting for me!

Stay clean!