Not your Starbucks, but its close and cheaper

On this Paleo Challenge the one thing I miss most is my Starbucks Lattes. All around fav is Skinny Vanilla Latte but during the Fall and Winter I love the Pumpkin Spice Latte and the Peppermint Latte. To me that brings in the season. It made me smile the other day when I saw someone carrying a Starbucks cup and it was the Christmas design. The Season is upon us.

This is a Paleo-ish substitute for the Pumpkin Spice Latte. It isn't quite as good as Starbucks, but it will cure the craving. I did use Protein powder, so if you are doing strict Paleo, this might not help you.

Coffee
2T Pumpkin (Libby's 100% Pumpkin, Not the pie filling)
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I used a vanilla bean powder that was low in calories 50)
cinnamon to taste
Nutmeg to taste

The only thing that really bugs me about this is it is kind of gritty. I'm a big texture person, so this kind of gets to me when my coffee is gritty. It might be the nutmeg that makes it gritty. But all in all. I would have this again.

I got this recipe from Showout Megan Parsons

Paleo Pumpkin Bread

This was so easy to make and was delicious. I will make this again. It will be great for taking to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sorry I didn't take a picture. And sorry for whoever I stole this recipe from. I'm trying to get better at writing them down, where I get them. But this one I didn't.

here we go:

3c Almond Flour
1/2t Salt
1t Baking Soda
1/4c Agave Nectar (I used honey instead)
1/4c Grapeseed Oil ( I used Olive Oil instead)
3 Eggs Whisked
1T Vanilla Extract
1Can Libby's Pumpkin (make sure it is not the pumpkin pie filling, just the all natural pumpkin)
1t Cinnamon ( I might of added a little extra cinnamon, you cant go wrong with that)
1t Allspice

In a large bowl, mix together almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and Allspice
In a smaller bowl, combine agave/honey, oil, eggs and vanilla - then stir in pumpkin
Mix wet ingredients into dry
Place batter in either a cake pan ot two small 7.5"X3.5" loaf pans (I just placed all the batter into a meatlof pan)
Bake at 350 for 40 min ( I cooked for about 50min. after 40min I placed a toothpick in the middle and it still can out a little wet, so cooked another 10 min)
Remove from oven and allow to cool

Mine stuck a little to the pan. Next time I will probably coat the pan with some baking soda and see if that helps.

Spicy Shrimp Salad

This recipe was only for spicy shrimp, but i need to get in my veggies also, so decided to make it a salad. Here is the original recipe and below is what I made.

In a pan saute ready to eat peeled shrimp cooked in the following for 4 min.

Olive Oil

Tabasco Sauce

Worcestershire

Cayenne Pepper

Salt

Pepper

Lemon

That was the original recipe as I found. Sorry I didn't write down where I found it. THe original didn't come with measurements so I just used what I thought was best. Seemed to work for the single portion I was going for.

In a skillet I sauted the following for about 5-8 mins. It took a little longer since I used frozen shrimp

1t Walnut Oil

2 1/2 oz Squash

1 1/4 oz Zuchini

2 5/8 oz Bell Peppers (Red, Yellow, Orange and Green)

5 3/4 oz Peeled with tails off Cocktail Shrimp (weighted Frozen)

Once the shrimp were cooked I placed all the above on top of:

2oz baby Spinach

1 small Avacado

2oz Red Onion

4oz Homemade Salsa (as my dressing)

The salsa itself has a kick to it, so I really was drinking the water while eating this. I love my spicy food.

Enjoy

Are you going on Vacation and thinking of relaxing your diet?

This is a great post from Melissa that went to Prague and decided to relax her diet and take a small break from CrossFit while on vacation. See how that turns out for her.


http://theclothesmakethegirl.blogspot.com/2010/10/valuable-lessons-learned.html

Egg Cupcakes

These were fun and something different for breakfast, but mine didn't have much flavor. There wasn't much more room to add more veggies. Just making an egg scramble seems easier and your able to add more veggies or whatever you would like. Either way here is the recipe below.

Ingredients:
(I had a 12 cup cupcake tray)
12 slices black forest ham (I used cajun turkey)
10 eggs
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, diced ( I didn't find these and left it out)
2-3 TBSP Diced Chives
2-3 TBSP Diced Parsley (I probably messed up here also. I realize now this was suppose to be fresh Parsley, I used dried Parsley)
Salt and Pepper

Grease your muffin cups and line each cup with one slice of ham. Beat 10 eggs and add remaining ingredients. Measure about 1/4 cup of mixture into each of the ham lined muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes at 375.

That is it. Let me know if you try them with different ingredients and they come out yummy.

Not so pretty, but de-lic-ious

Well they are suppose to be meatballs.. They didn't hold together very well. Like most thing Paleo I cook. It doesnt look all that great but it taste good. When cooking Paleo seasoning is your best friend.

With the remainder of this meat, i just decided to go with a meatloaf pan instead of meatballs. Will serve with sauted veggies.

The recipe is below. I made a few adjustments. Recipe recommends cooking in crockpot but I just baked in the oven at 425 degrees for 30 min on the meatballs and then for the meatloaf I backed for 45 min. Also I used jalepeno sausage which I think made these for me. They have just a nice kick to them.

1 lb ground beef ( i used lamb)
1 lb turkey sausage ( i used jalapeno sausage, I cut the sausage out of te casing and then cubed it)
1/2c Onion, diced
1/4c Almond MEal
1 egg
1T Itilian Seasoning
1T Basil
1T garlic,minced
1/2 t onion salt ( i didnt find this at the store, so i skipped it)
28oz crushed tomatoes

Mix all ingrediants together. (If I was to do again. I would mix everything together except the tomoatoes and then pour those on top) Shape into golf ball sized meatballs. Place in crockpot and cook on low for 6 hours.

Recipe from: Dialed-In Nutrition Blog

Let's Salsa

I'm from Texas and I don't like dry food, and ranch and ketchup are out of the question for Paleo. So here is a easy salsa recipe. Great with my eggs in the morning.

Hand full of cilantro
2 Jalapenos
2 Serrano Peppers
1 tsp Garlic
1 Large can Tomatoes
1 can Ro-tel
1 small onion

mix all in a blender and ta-da that's it.

Enjoy