Apple Date Muffins

These actually turned out awesome!  I made these for our paleo potluck a few weeks ago.  Like many of my recipes I just kind of made it up as I went along.  It is funny how those usually tend to be the best ones.  Perfect for the occasional sweet tooth.  This does contain honey which keep in mind is a limited Paleo sweet and still spikes your insulin levels. 


Apple Date Muffins

Ingredients 

• 1 large apple (pink Lady or Pink crisp)
• 6-7 medjool dates pitted 
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup  Raw creamy almond butter
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup coconut flour 
• 1/4 cup coconut oil 
• 1 tsp real vanilla extract
• 2 tbs honey (can go to one if like a little less sweet)
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder

For the date mixture:

• 6 Medjool dates, pitted
• 1/2 tsp all natural vanilla extract 
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Put dates in a separate bowl and microwave for 30-45 secs until you can mash with a fork mix in the coconut and vanilla and set aside to add to muffin batter.

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Cut Apple into slices then small cubes and place in a saute pan with small amount of coconut oil less than 1/4 cup water and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice.
3. you want to stir them until they are only slightly cooked.  Remember the oven will do the rest.
4. take out of pan and set aside to add to muffin batter.
5. In a large mixing bowl, or a mixer add all of the rest of the dry ingredients, honey, eggs, almond butter, and coconut oil. Mix ingredients well
6. add in the date and apple mixture and continue mixing for another minute or so.
7. Pour mixture into a muffin pan.  Different sizes will call for different baking times.
8. Make sure to grease the pan if not using muffin cups.  
9. Bake time 35-40 mins.  stick toothpick in middle to see when done. 

Coconut Crusted Tilapia

I have seen recipes for Coconut Crusted fish before but none of them have had too much flavor.  I decided to make my own coconut concoction.  I really enjoyed it, and am looking forward to leftovers. 

Coconut Crusted Tilapia


Ingredients
3-4 Tilapia Loins
1 Cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3/4 cup Coconut flour
3/4 cup full fat coconut milk (from can)
1/4 cup red onion
2 garlic cloves

2-3 cracks sea salt
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
1 1/2 tsp coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 tsp cayenne red pepper

Directions 

1. preheat oven to 400 
2. in food processor blend together coconut milk, garlic onions, ginger, salt and oils until becomes less clumpy.
3. on an empty plate mix together coconut flour, coconut flakes, chilli powder, salt, and cayenne pepper
4. Place coconut liquid mixture in a separate bowl.  Dip Tilapia loins in liquid mixture and then dip in the dry mixture breading the fish.
5. With left over liquid mixture pour over the top of the fish in pan and bake for 30 mins. 

Salsa Verde Pulled Pork

I tried a recipe in my crock pot last night that turned out surprisingly well. It was super easy and less than 5 minutes prep time.  It is a great protein to throw in as taco meat on top of a salad or just eat plain for some quick protein. Hope you Enjoy!


Salsa Verde Pulled Pork 

Ingredients  


Pork Tenderloin from Trader Joes

1 small can of tomato paste

1 small can of fire roasted green chiles

1 jar of Salsa Verde

1 tbs chili powder

1 tbs cumin

cayenne red pepper

Sea salt

3 garlic cloves


Directions

1.  Chop garlic in halve.  Poke about 6 in the meat and shove the garlic halves in the meat.
2.  Sprinkle the seasonings on the meat.  And pour the remaining amount of ingredients on top.
3.  Turn the CrockPot on and let cook for 8 hours. 
4.  When done you will be able to shred the pork with a fork.

Check this out!!! New and upcoming great cookbook to add to collection

 I am always looking at other paleo blogs and cookbooks to get inspired for my own ideas or just to try something new.  You can pre-order from the link below.  It has a forward from Robb Wolf which usually means its a good thing. 



http://paleocomfortfoods.com/

Paleo Cashew Almond Butter

So I decided to get creative with what I had in my pantry.  Surprisingly with a little patience it turned out really well. It was a nice change to just almond butter.  You can spread on bananas, or apples for a little bit of a treat. This will not have the consistency of almond butter it will be a bit more dry that is why I added the coconut oil.

Ingredients
1 cup cashews

1 cup raw almonds

3-4 tbs coconut oil

Few cracks of sea salt

extras ( honey, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice etc)

Directions

Have patience because it takes a bit to get the consistency that you want.  Place in a food processor and blend till the right consistency.  You may need to change the amount of coconut oil to help with dryness if you see fit. 

I read this and thought it was perfect !!!

Wow someone sent this link to me and I could not relate better.  This is me to a "T".  I work my butt off and could hear everyone say that I look great or wow they wish they could be as strong or lean etc.  But in my head I keep thinking how if only I could be better.  Will my body ever be good enough?  I thought about it and even if my body looked the way I thought I wanted it would still be a never ending battle of it is just not good enough.  At times like these I have to take a step back and be thankful for the things I do have, the positives. I realized this weekend when I am surrounded by positive people and in a good spot my body image and feeling about myself completely changes.  It is amazing how that carnival mirror in my head works. I hear so many people talk about what they would change about themselves.  I am so lucky to get to see amazing people change everyday in the gym.

so I share this article with you from everydaypaleo.com, as it is perfectly fitting and Jason could not have said it better.

Funny How a great weekend can change whole outlook!

Always nice to have someone who brings out your positives!

You Can’t Fix A Body You Hate

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Jason

*Note from Sarah:  Here is a new and eye-opening post by Jason Seib.  It all begins with loving who you are, inside and out.  This post could have been written directly to me only 4 short years ago and not until I changed my goals and focus to obtaining good health rather than working towards obtaining some fantasy of what I wanted to see in the mirror was I able to switch to a more realistic and healthier perspective and learn to love and appreciate myself for who I am and not for what my ideal body image might be.  

You Can’t Fix A Body You Hate

For those of you with purely aesthetic goals, you absolutely must understand that you are playing a game that you will only win if your head is in the right place.  To put it more bluntly, (insert post title here).  In all my experience, with all types of people at nearly every possible fitness level imaginable, I have yet to see even one person turn a body they hate into a body they love.  To be honest, I don’t think it can be done.  I am not saying people don’t end up appreciative of their gains, but many will never be satisfied with their bodies, even when they far exceed their original goals.  You don’t want to be one of these people.

(Brace yourself, here comes some finger pointing.)  If you have been on a thousand diets, lost 10 or 20 pounds more times than you can count, weigh yourself a minimum of once per day, can’t see yourself naked without disdain, and absolutely loathe clothes shopping, you probably won’t win this battle without some serious soul searching.  Don’t get me wrong, you can certainly build a body that crushes others with envy, but you probably won’t see it.  You already know people who are exactly who you will become.  They have that amazing body that you wish you could have, and they are insecure about every inch of it.  Of course, this is the extreme example, but any amount of this behavior saddens me.  It’s so frustrating as a trainer to watch someone make unbelievable gains only to nitpick their bodies under a magnifying glass while the rest of the world admires their success in awe.

I have seen as much as 40 pounds of weight lost in only a few months go seemingly unnoticed by the person doing the losing.  I have seen people become a primary source of inspiration for the new people in my gym, yet I have to walk on egg shells when I talk about their goals lest I bring them to tears.  I have seen bodies evolve into absolute magnificence and remain as covered as tolerable on hot summer days.  What is the point of all this?  Why go to all the trouble of busting your ass in the gym and eating right if your goals are actually unattainable?

I’m asking nicely, please stop and think about these questions.  What’s riding on this?  What will you have when you get there?  For that matter, how will you know when you are there?

My goals for you are all about health and the physical capacity to enjoy your life.  I have come to understand that bodies that feel great and perform great usually look great by accident.  But my goals for you don’t matter.  So, health and performance aside, what do you think you would gain if your body looked exactly the way you see it in your dreams?  Do you think you would be happy?  Be honest now.  In my opinion (and experience), if you are the type of person who spends a good portion of each day miserable because you hate your body, you will not reach a point where your body suddenly becomes a source of great pride.

I have theorized, but have no proof, that this might be how some people develop exercise addictions.  Insecurities that run deeper than skin level are addressed by changing the body instead of changing the head.  When this futile strategy doesn’t work the assumption is that more exercise must be the answer.  If food takes the blame for low self esteem, the result might be decades of yo-yo dieting or, in drastic cases, an eating disorder.

Am I calling you out?  Again, I don’t want to hurt your feelings.  I just want you to win.  So what should you do?

First off, love your body.  It’s the only one you have and it’s actually a pretty amazing example of biological engineering, performing astonishing biochemical actions millions of times per day despite the fact that you don’t appreciate it.  Get educated and treat it right.

DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE INTO YOUR LIFE WHO HARMFULLY CRITICIZES YOUR BODY!  EVER!  Life is too short to let assholes take anything from you, and your self worth is no exception.

And finally, change your goals.  If you can force yourself to focus on your fitness capacity and health instead of the size of your thighs or belly, you will find that it is much easier to stay motivated and confident.  Then one day you will wake up to a body you love, and the change will have happened while you weren’t paying attention.

I sincerely wish I could lay out a step by step plan that would guarantee you a new outlook, but sadly I can not.  My hope is that you will catch yourself in depreciating thoughts and put things back into perspective.  Being fit and healthy is awesome – don’t rob yourself of these things by dwelling on the stuff that will come naturally when your mind is right.  And truth be told, it’s probably not too bad in that skin of yours.