STUFFED PEPPERS! PUNJENE PAPRIKE!

I made stuffed peppers. It's pretty simple. Brown some beefs with spices, put them in hollowed out peppers. Then put them in a pan and cover with stewed tomatoes. After that put them in the oven for an hour on a heat of 425. And then EAT!

I served mine with a salad made from Italian greens, sliced strawberries and some walnuts.

YUMMY YUMMY!

HOLY SCHEISSE! It's been a while.

So, I've been seriously neglecting my blogger duties, and I apologize for that. I've been in a bit of a rut lately, but I'm still all paleo, hahaha.

I've recently become a convert of almond milk. Sooo good. And it's doesn't make me feel sick.

I got through easter without eating any chocolates, candies, baked goods, bread. I'm proud of myself. so yeah I'm gloating. Although I wish I could say the same for my workouts.

Haven't really been ontop of those lately. I'm considering joining the YMCA, so I can use the pool daily in the morning, and use their strength training equipment. I think it would be good and more motivating than just working out at home. That or I'm gonna buy myself a dip station and a sandbag, and start doing the workouts on BodyRock TV...and get all jacked :P

I really wanna be lean, and toned, and muscular. And I can't wait to start my college program in the fall. And I've been having big dreams about the business I want to own one day.

Anyways that's it for now, I'm gonna go eat some stuff peppers! NOM!

Peace, XOXO

Bolognese Spaghetti Squash and Paleo Brownies

I am in the process of baking a spaghetti squash and making Bolognese sauce to go with it. I also made brownies today, which are delicious!

I made the brownies with:
1 cup of macadamia nut butter
1 cup of shredded unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup of honey
1 tbsp of almond butter
2 eggs

Mix it all together in bowl and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes at 375 Fahrenheit.

As for the Bolognese sauce...
Ground beef
Garlic
1 Spanish onion
2 chopped carrots
Chopped celery
Chopped mushrooms
Diced smoke bacon
2 bottles of stewed tomatoes




Chop 3 cloves of garlice and a spanish onion and caramelize them and in sauce pan or a pot.
Add the beef and brown it. Then add in the carrots, celery, and smoked bacon. Then add the two bottles of stewed tomatoes and lastly the mushrooms. Let it simmer on the stove until the vegetables are tender...it may take a while.

The squash is simple, cut it in half, clean out the seed and bake it in the oven at 425 for about an hour...or until it is soft. Once it's done baking, let it cool for a bit, then grab a fork and drag across the inside, the squash will fall apart in little strands, and it will all come out of its skin. I normally like to drizzle mine with olive oil and serve it with sauce. NOM.

I can't wait to eat. Soooo yummy, take care :)

Peanut Butter

Is anybody else addicted to this creamy crack?

I ate some yesterday...a tablespoon (on the heaping side). I've always loved peanut butter. I could eat half a container by myself in one sitting.

However it is non-paleo, and it has been added to the list of foods not to eat. And so I've been abstaining from its consumption.

I was doing well, until last night. I gave in. I caved. And I went to creamy peanut butter heaven.

That's my story for today. I can't stop thinking about it. But I'm taking a break from it...again.

The At-Home-Fitness Movement

I'm sure there are plenty of you out there like me. We're people who are cheap and still want it all.

So if you're cheap you probably believe you don't have enough money to spend on the gym, like me. Then you might want to consider the at-home-fitness movement. You can find free workouts all over youtube. My favourites are Jennifer Nicole Lee and Zuzana (from BodyRock TV)

I don't necessarily follow their workouts to a T. I don't have all the equipment. What I do is choose 4-5 exercises, do 10 repetitions of each one, and keep repeating the cycle for 15 minutes.

By the time I'm done, I'm sweating and heaving. So I've called it the "Power 15" or  the "15 minute ass-whooping."

I like it. Then I go and take a shower, cause I need it. So far I've been doing it every other day. I might do it every day cause it's only 15 minutes, which isn't a huge sacrifice for me. I think you should try it too.

Some really good exercise are squats, plyometrics, explosive jumping jacks, ab bridges (I don't know what these things are called, you lie down with your legs bent and lift your hips to form a bridge...you can add flys for more of a challenge.

Real Men Eat Quiche.

Real men eat quiche. Not that I would really now. But anybody will eat anything when it has a crust made of bacon.

So here's the lowdown. I love quiche because it's easy to make, minus the crust. Since I went paleo I have no reason to not make quiche now. I decided this time to line the bottom of the pan with bacon...it was a good idea.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix:
6 eggs
Broccolli
Sliced ham
Pieces of smoked bacon
Sliced fresh Basil
Some butter...for good luck.

Line a pan with bacon. Pour the mixture in the pan, place it in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes.

Smoothie time.

Yes...when I started paleo I had one regret...the lack of yogurt. I am a reformed yogurt addict, I would make smoothies for breakfast every single day. I love fruit and yogurt, it makes my heart sing.

So I still have smoothies now, minus the yogurt.

I use a can of coconut milk, I used the thicker one because it fills me up better. I put in a small handful a blueberries, and a spoonful of organic macadamia nut butter. It's quite delicious. You can vary the fruit in it, I tried strawberry but it was kinda too tangy for my liking.

Recruiting Mom.

It's official, I've recruited my mother to the paleo lifestyle. She said she's willing to try it for two months. Just so you know, she is diabetic and recently had a blood test. Her next test is in two months.

I'm really excited for her, and I look forward to helping her. I love my mom with all my heart, and I really want her to feel good, be healthy and look great.

I know she will be feeling better in no time, and I hope she will be healthier for the rest of her life :)

The New Evolution Diet by Arthur De Vany

I bought this book at Chapters two days ago, because it was one of the two paleo books they had at the bookstore that I didn't already own. It proves to be quite interesting.

Art essentially cures his wife and son's type 1 diabetes by monitoring their sugar levels and insulin administration.  He discovers that non-triggering foods are limited to vegetables, fruit, meats, nuts, certain fats and water. Which is now known as the paleolithic diet.

Art is deemed the godfather of the paleolithic diet, and he also runs a subscription-based blog. It's a really interesting read for anybody on the paleo diet. I personally prefer "Why We Get and  What to Do About It."
 Nontheless this book is interesting because it contains very personal experiences, which is very humanizing and valued in a diet/nutrition book.

The New Evolution Diet @ Chapters

Tomato Beef Soup

I am slowly convincing my mother to jump on the paleo bandwagon. She suffers from type 2 diabetes, and I think she would benefit from it tremendously. Since she occasionally prepares food for the family to eat, she's is trying really hard to accommodate my new dietary needs.

So she made soup. We bought a roast and cubed it. We browned it in the pot with some olive oil and onions, then we added in celery, carrots, parsley and stewed tomatoes (look for ones that have an ingredient list consisting only of tomatoes.) And then you let it cook on the stove or in slow-cooker till the veggies/meat reach desired tenderness.

It's a very filling soup good for any day of the year. It has a fresh feeling due to the veggies, but it's still hearty because of the beef. It is the ideal soup.

Chow down.

Mango Chicken Curry

Today we took our taste buds to the far east...I made Mango Chicken Curry. Not particularly spicy, but flavourful, savoury and paleo :)

I had some chicken drum sticks to use up so I modified them, they were skinned and deboned. They replaced the chicken breast in the recipe. I didn't serve it over rice, nor did I garnish it with cilantro, but it was so damn tasty I could not believe I had made it. I had two bowls of it and didn't even want dessert.

Here's the recipe, from Simply Recipes. Try it, you won't regret it. The recipe calls for two tablespoons of vinegar but it's so minimal I didn't let it bother me.

I'll put notes in bold letters.

Mango Chicken Curry Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp (or more) of vegetable oil ( I substituted with butter)
• 1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 to 2 cups)
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped (I used a whole red pepper)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 Tbsp fresh minced ginger (You can buy it already minced at the grocery store in the spice or foreign foods section)
• 2 Tbsp yellow curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 mangos, peeled and diced (We had mangos pureed in our freezer from before)
• 2 Tbsp cider vinegar or white vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/4 pounds skinless boneless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/3 cup golden raisins (We used Thomspon raisins)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream (can substitute all or partially with coconut milk) (Definitely use coconut milk :) )
• Salt and pepper
• Cilantro for garnish

Method

1 Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the red bell pepper and another tablespoon of oil, cook for a couple more minutes. Add the curry powder and cumin, cook for a few more minutes. The spices will absorb some of the oil, so if anything begins to stick too much to the bottom of the pan, add a little more oil to the pan. Add the ginger and garlic, cook for one minute more.

2 Add the vinegar, water, and a 1/2 of the chopped mango to the pan. Increase the heat and bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain a low simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pan from heat. Scoop the sauce into a blender. Purée the sauce, pulsing until smooth. Return the sauce to the pan.

3 Add chicken pieces and raisins to the pan. Return to a low simmer. Cover the pan and let cook for 8-10 minutes. Chicken should be just cooked through. Use a knife to cut open the largest piece to check.

4 Add remaining mango pieces to the pan. Stir in the cream. Let cook at a very low temperature for another minute or two, uncovered. Do not let boil! Or the cream may curdle. Adjust seasonings. If a little too sweet, add a little more vinegar. If not sweet enough, you can add a dash of sugar. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over rice. Garnish with cilantro. Serves 4.

NOW GO MAKE DINNER AND EAT SOME YUMMY FOOD! :D

Bacon-Wrapped-Chicken, anyone?

Hello there, ladies and gents.

So here's what when down for dinner today. I started by making my salad dressing (essentially a compote.)

Salad Dressing

 Dressing Ingredients:
-1/4 cup of butter
- 1 sliced apple (with peel)
- 2 cups of strawberry
- 3 tsp. of cinnamon

Heat the butter on medium heat in a pot, add the apple slices and let them cook a bit, till they're soft. Add in strawberries (fresh or frozen) and cinnamon. Keep cooking it until it's reduced to a thick liquid. It will smell delicious, but you must refrain from eating it till dinner. Honestly it's tasty enough to be a dessert.

I don't really like salad, so I made a bomb dressing to go on top. It definitely worked.

As for the salad that it was on....it had mixed greens, mushrooms, and macadamia nuts.

Salad

Then I made the chicken. Preset the oven to 400 degrees farenheit.
I bought boneless, skinless, organic chicken thighs, they got the the job done. The meat package said they would cook in 20 minutes which definitely wasn't enough. So just  cut one of the chicken thighs in half when you think they're done, if it's nice and white on the inside it's done. If it's pink you may want to put in the oven for longer to avoid salmonella poisoning (unless you're into eating raw chicken.)

So first I coated the chicken in the following spices:
- BBQ chicken spice (I don't know what it is, it's in the spice drawer)
- Italian Seasoning
-Oregano
-Dill weed

Put the spices in equal portions, about half a cup of the mixture is plenty to coat the chicken. After our chicken is nice and flavourful, we wrap it in BACON! Bacon makes everything better. After you put the chicken in the pan with some chopped onions (spanish or yellow.) Bake it until it's done.

Cooked chicken wrapped in bacon with onions.

 And voila, here is the final product. I'm not a good photographer, the camera doesn't do it justice.

Dinner! Om nom nom nom.

It was so yummy! I can't wait to cook even more :)

Salut!

Skinny Bitch.

So I have a confession to make...other than my motivation to go paleo relating to health...I'm also motivated because it is my goal to be a skinny bitch by the time of my 20th birthday...on June 21st.

I know, I know, it may not be likely but damn it would be nice. I would really hope that I can at least fit into my summer shorts again by then. I mean, I can get them on already but saying they're...uh..."a little tight" would be an understatement.

So I'm gonna work my ass off, once my period is over (it's a bitch.) And I am going to be a SKINNY BITCH! Yaaaaa heard?

Ciao
;)

Organic Israeli Red Hot Chili Peppers.

I dunno if you've seen these bitches in your produce section, but they are fireeeee! And by fire, I mean you'll wish you could gulp an entire ocean of milk in your mouth. Seriously...hot.

I put them in a veggie sautee cause I had to use up some spinach. So I fired up the stove, put butter in the pan, and went at it.

I first sauteed some onions with spices (tumeric, garlic, chili powder.) I then added in some sliced red hot peppers, fresh from Israel, and banana peppers. Once they cooked a little bit, I put in the spinach and waited for it to become cooked. Which took no longer than 15 minutes to prepare the entire thing. I also fried up some sausages to go along with it which took about 17 minutes. This one done simultaneously as to save time.

I wish I would have taken a picture because it looked scrumptious. It fed my dad and my boyfriend, I wasn't hungry so I didn't eat it. But I did taste a small bit of spinach...and that's how I figured out the peppers were fire, like 20 times hotter than banana peppers. I couldn't believe. I could smell the heat on them.

I'm pretty sure my boyfriend downed 3 glasses of milk with that meal, but hey, what can you do? :P

Oh well, tonight, I'm planning on making bacon wrapped chicken thighs with a mixed green salad with mushrooms and wildberries. NOM.

Bon appetit!

Paleo Ice Cream

So I attempted making Paleo Ice Cream today. No recipe. I call it, Wild Berry and Apple Ice Cream. It's really more of a frozen dessert than ice cream, but hey I'll use it as a replacement for ice cream.

Ingredients:
-  2 peeled and sliced apples
- 1 cup of frozen wild berries
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 3 beaten eggs

Step 1: In a pot melt the butter on medium heat , then add the apples and sautee. Wait for the apples to become slightly tender.
Step 2: Add the wild berries into the apple sautee. Stir frequently so the fruit don't burn. Wait for the mixture to be well mixed, very soft and almost syrup like.
Step 3: Add the can of coconut milk into the pot. And stir so the mixture is well-blended.
Step 4: Add the 3 beaten eggs and turn the heat up to high. Make sure you stir and mix the ingredients very well, so they are homogenous. Stir on high heat for about 4 minutes.
Step 5: Place your final ice cream mixture into a big container and let it cool down for bit.
Step 6: Put the ice cream in the freezer.

You can also add nuts and other fruits into the ice cream but this is what I did.
The ice cream is a little crystalized, but delicious. Om nom nom. I topped it off with some blueberries.

NOTES: You should leave this in the freezer for 5 hours or so. If you leave it overnight it will become very solid, and you will need to chisel away at it to get it out.

All this talk about ice cream reminded me of the number one thing any caveman would think of...LIL WAYNE!

Paprikash. Om nom nom nom.

So I had one of my favourite dishes today...PAPRIKASH aka Goulash. It was prepared with beef, red/green peppers, onions. It was scrumptious and extremely filling, I feel like I won't be able to eat till tomorrow morning.

Traditionally the dish contains potatos or rice cooked in it. But I asked my dad if he could put them on the side, and he did. I am ever greatful for that.

Instead of having a coconut milk/berry smoothie for breakfast this morning I had my egg-bake. Which is just 4 eggs, with sliced ham squares, butter, spinach, parsley, garlic and chili powder baked at 375 for 20 minutes. Which also happens to be extremely satiating.

So far I'm loving paleo, although seeing commercials for cookies or ice cream on TV make me scream "WTF! I WANT!"...in my head. Hahahahaha. But I'm also seeing my waist line shrinking, which makes it completely worth it. My hips are staying the same, but I hope they will change soon :P

Paleo on Vacation.

This past weekend I took a little trip down to Toronto to go to a concert. It is quite difficult to eat a paleolithic diet while staying with people who don't.  I was fortunate enough to have some foods for the road that we didn't eat. So I ate them while as was there instead having the waffle breakfast that my cousin prepared.

It was also difficult to find foods to eat out at restaurants. One of my favourite places to eat in Toronto is Messini's on Danforth Ave. They have the best Gyros ever. Unfortunately all of the foods are made with pitas and tzatziki sauce...so I ordered a salad with pork on top. Unfortunately the brought me a salad no pork, I'm a very non-confrontational person so I didn't sent it back and just decided to pay less for me meal. Although I did really want that pork.

The next day we also went out to a Thai restaurant in the Atrium at the Bay, across from the World's Biggest Bookstore. It was delicious, and the waiter was kind of to point out foods made without rice or grains once I explained my situation to him.

It was a delicious feast. And quite economical too. We had korean ribs, cabbage soup with shrimp stuffed cabbage rolls, green curry with beef (om nom nom), steamed beef balls, mango salad, and a few other dishes. It was unbelievably tasty, filling, and inspiring.

By inspiring, I mean I now wants to learn how to make green curry and beef balls. It was absolutely wonderful. I love being exposed to other cultures because it enables me to learn more things.

Starting Stats.

Name: Maja
Height: 5'7-8" (in that area somewhere)
Y.O.B: 1991
Weight: 165-168 lbs.
Waist: 29"
Hips: 42"

Those are my stats, pretty mediocre. But that's what I think. I'm hoping that with my exercise plan and paleo diet I will be able to at least shrink my waist circumfrence. I'm not really big on measuring weight (.lbs) but more waist and hip circumference.

Hello, my name is Maja.

Hi my name is Maja. I live in Canada. I work a retail job right now so I can save money to go to university. I'm studying Health Promotion next year and I can't wait for that.

I used to be a hairdresser but I decided that industry wasn't for me.

My inspiration for health promotion results from my families various health problems. Many people in my family have diabetes and are overweight.

I myself have suffered from an eating disorder before. I used to suffer from two types of anorexia. It affected my health severely, and then with help from dieticians, psychologist and social workers I became better and decided to do things for my health.

My whole life, I've always been a little on the chunky side (excluding my eating disorder days.)  But because of the history of diabetes in my family I've been putting in a lot of effort into trying to live healthily.

I work out 5 - 7 days a week. I like to train with kettle bells and sprints. I also really enjoy traditional Balkan dancing.However with my rather active lifestyle I have never been able to lose/maintain weight.

Recently, I purchase a book called "Why We Get Fat, and What to do About it" by Gary Taubes. It's an excellent book if anyone is interested. So this book inspired me to embark on a paleolithic lifestyle (as far as eating goes.)

That means I'm going to make my best effort to eat like a caveman. So my diet will consist of fruits, vegetables, berries, some nuts, meats, and mostly fat.

I've already been following this kind of diet for 3 days and I find, I don't feel as tired, and I also tend to eat less because I'm not as hungry.

I'm looking forward to continuing my journey and seeing more results of improved health.

On this blog I will update about my weight loss, health improvements, diet, and exercise regime. I will try to update on most days, and my next post will contain some information on my starting point right now.