Recipe: Vanilla Latte Scrub

I'm trying to ease my way into a healthier, less chemically-overloaded body care regimen as part of my paleo lifestyle (I don't mind if you call me a hippie) and this is an amazing way to start. Besides the fact that this exfoliator smells so good I feel like I should be eating it, coffee can help reduce cellulite and puffiness, reduces redness, fights against free radicals, is loaded with antioxidants, can help increase blood flow, and smooths the skin. This scrub would also make for a nice little power snack if there's a zombie apocalypse, lol. 

Here's how: 

1 c. ground (organic) coffee 

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. melted coconut oil 

2 Tbsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and store in an airtight container or jar. (Thank you coconutmama.com for the recipe inspiration!) 

Spicy Vegetable Chicken Soup with Lime

Here's a really yummy recipe that's filling, gut healing, nutritious, and great to keep on hand whenever you need a quick meal or snack (you can also freeze it!).

Spicey Vegetable Chicken Soup with Lime

1 white onion, finely chopped 

3 c. Chopped celery 

3 c. Chopped carrots 

1 lb (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes

3 large chicken breasts, cooked & chopped  

1 quart plus 1 c. bone broth or chicken broth

2 Tbsp hot sauce

Juice of two limes

1 Tbs crushed garlic 

1 tsp grated coriander 

1 tsp cumin

Salt, pepper, cilantro, and any other spices your heart desires to taste.
(If you want to make this more like tortilla soup, you can add red bell peppers)

Sautée the onions and garlic in butter or oil in a large pot until onions become clear. Add in everything else except chicken, cilantro and tomatoes. Bring to a boil then let simmer until vegetables are soft (about 30 minutes, depending on how they are chopped, it may take longer). Add (cooked) chicken and tomatoes and continue cooking until hot, garnish with cilantro. 

Grass Fed Stir Fry

I'm trying to work on recording my recipes as I go, because I always throw stuff in the pan and have no idea how much... and that's exactly what I did with this. Here's a very rough recipe, but please add more or less of anything according to your taste. The best parts of cooking are the taste tests!

1 lb of grass fed beef 

2-4 carrots, peeled and chopped 

1 cup of peas 

1 lb of bok choy roughly chopped 

3-4 tablespoons coconut aminos (more or less to taste) 

Ground ginger, salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. 

I cooked up the beef, then scooped it out and sat it aside so I could cook the carrots in the leftover "grease" (don't want to lose any of that grass fed goodness) until they were soft (about 15 minutes). Then I added in the bok choy and peas, added the beef back in, and a few tablespoons of coconut aminos.  Add ground ginger, salt, pepper, and garlic to taste, and sauté until the vegetables are cooked (about 10 more minutes). So delicious, simple, and so healthy.

Favorite breakfast!

This is seriously the most delicious cereal concoction. When I went paleo, one thing I missed the most was cereal. I used to eat it before bed all the time. One night I was rummaging around my kitchen desperate for a cereal replacement and just threw a bunch of stuff in a bowl with some coconut milk and it pretty much turned out like this.

Normally, I use berries, a sliced banana, coconut flakes, slivered almonds, chia seeds, cinnamon, and coconut milk. You can also add in raisins, paleo granola, honey, any kind of nuts you like, seeds, etc. It's delicious and easy which goes a long way in our cook-everything-from-home paleo world. It is also a great substitution for yogurt, something else I desperately miss! 

Sausage and apples with creamy pumpkin maple sage dipping sauce

It sounds fancy, but this was probably easier to make than it was to type out the title. I just sliced up some sausage and 1/2 an apple and sautéed it with a little bacon grease and maple syrup. While that was cooking, I mixed about 1/4 cup of pumpkin purée, 2 Tbsp coconut milk, 1 Tbsp maple syrup, and a tsp of sage in a small bowl and microwaved it until it was warm. The combination was delicious! 

Spicy, Creamy, Potato, Leek, Sausage Soup.

I know you are probably freaking out because potatoes aren't paleo. But first of all, I got white potatoes in my organic vegetable delivery box this week, and second of all, I absolutely adore white potatoes, and although I don't eat them often, life is just too short to cut them out completely. So my Paleo diet does include potatoes every now and then, but if yours doesn't you should skip this recipe. Also, I threw this recipe together with what I had, so the measurements are a little rocky. Adjust it however you need to make it taste good and get the texture you are looking for. Can I just say, the finished product was AMAZING. Probably the best soup I've made so far.

Spicy, Creamy, Potato, Leek, Sausage Soup

3 Leeks (go ahead and slice off both ends, chop them, sauté them in some grass fed butter, and blend them in a food processor so they are smooth)

3 White potatoes, peeled, boiled, then mashed. (Or about 12 small ones, thats what I used)

1-2 lbs of sausage (cooked and ready to go)

3 Tbsp grass-fed butter

1 can of full fat coconut milk

4 cups of chicken broth

1 tsp of cayenne pepper (more or less if you want, this stuff freaks me out so I start slow and add more to taste)

1 Tbsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

The hardest part is cooking and blending the leeks, mashing the potatoes, and cooking up the sausage. Once all that is done, dump everything in a pot and cook on medium heat for 20 minutes. Hope you love it!

Mini Zucchini Pizzas

Here's a really good paleo alternative to pizza. I sliced 4 or 5 zucchini's in half, cut out a little of the inside, (pre-baked them for about 10 minutes) and then filled them with sausage (that I pre-cooked) marinara, garlic, mushrooms, spinach, and raw cheddar cheese (that I found at Trader Joe's!). I baked them in a square baking dish to help hold them together on 350 for about 20 minutes until the cheese started to brown. The cheese made my nose stuffy almost immediately, so depressing! So I guess I won't be eating any more raw dairy. But if it doesn't bother you, I seriously recommend these! And if it does bother you, skip the cheese all together and use more veggies! Next time I'm adding olives and onions, maybe sundried tomatoes.