We went to South Carolina this weekend. I brought nuts with carob chips in the car for a snack, I still ended up getting a chicken salad from Wendy’s and eating it with only a 1/2 of a pack of dressing.  We were in the middle of no where Georgia and there was really no where else to eat other than McDonald’s and I would take Wendy’s over Mcdonalds if I had to eat fast food.

Most of the time we spent eating and I actually had to take a hiatus from from grain free diet because I really wanted to enjoy things like shrimp and grits.  The food in south Carolina is freaking a-MAZING! So I did eat 1/2 of a cupcake (so good, so rich), and an awesome sandwich which I had with whole wheat bread.  We went to the Blue Marlin, Grouchos, and a candy shop that had loose candy of all sorts. I got a bunch of candy to put on top of cupcakes, so as I make those I will post pics.  Now that we are back home…with the dogs, I am planning my week of grain free eating again. I was actually feeling really good without grain in my diet.  I felt like I had more energy, better digestion and I am excited to continue this journey to enjoy the other health benefits.  When we got home I jumped rope and learned another cool jump rope trick.  Jumping rope is awesome for burning calories and I think it has really helped my cardio levels and made weight training easier for me. It also keeps my attention because I can learn harder tricks.  I am going to try to post some videos of my workouts later in the week…….

I am including some pictures of some really gorgeous statues and the state house in S. Carolina.  There is so much history there and I had some good photo ops. 

I am also considering adding some more green juices to my diet along with the boat load of nuts and veggies and fruit that I have been eating since giving up the grain.

I’ve been eating a lot of chicken lately. This is DAY 3 of the no grain eating plan.  I have bad bad skin and I have been on anti biotics, retin A and everthing and it hasn’t worked consistently.  So I changed up my eating plan and face routine, I talked to my mom who recommended a grain free diet for 3 weeks to see if my body is having a reaction.  So, I am doing the grain free thing and I actually feel better, more energy, I don’t feel near as bloated as I used to.  I can eat Quinoa but no rice, flour or pretty much anything like rice, or couscous.   I always eat whole wheat and I did the gluten free thing a while ago but stopped for some reason?? not sure what it was?? Anyways, here I am trying the grain free thing and if this works or even sort of works I will be so freaking excited it will be ridiculous. If it doesn’t work then I am going to eliminate dairy after 3 weeks and see if that helps, if that doesn’t help then I give up.  The reason that I am doing this is because I have read a lot about grain allergies and how this can affect your digestion, energy and overall health. At this point it’s worth a try and it’s keeping me from tasting any of my baking.

So with that said, here is a recipe that includes whole wheat breadcrumbs that I can’t eat right now. This is a recipe I made up a while ago for “breaded” baked chicken.  It’s really good, not fried or battered and tastes awesome as well. I use 2 eggs on the outside but you can use egg whites if you so choose.  

1- 1 3/4 cups Panko whole wheat bread crumbs

1 tsp garlic salt

1/4 tsp rubbed sage

1/4 tsp pepper 

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper if you like spice

2 eggs

2 chicken breasts

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley

This recipe is soooo easy!!! 

heat oven to 385 degrees

take chicken breasts and placed in baking dish or cookie sheet

taken eggs and beat in a bowl you can add hot sauce to the egg if you want to

put garlic salt, sage, pepper, cayenne pepper in a bowl with bread crumbs and parmesan

take each chicken breast, dip in eggs then cover chicken with bread crumb mixture and place on tray. 

Place in over and allow to cook for about 35-45 minutes (depending on your oven and thickness of the chicken) or until done. 

Sprinkle parsley on top when cooked

When they are are done, grate parmesan on top if you love cheese like I do….i hope i don’t have to give up dairy….i’ll be so sad.

Also, I made sweet potato fries and left them in a long long time to get them crispy (see recipe in previous posts) and steamed broccoli.

Tonight I made a shrimp and scallops seafood bake.  I put it over a bed of pasta but you could really do it over a bed of veggies, rice, quinoa, or whatever you feel like eating.  This is a really yummy low fat, no junk dinner.  It’s also really easy to make!

Ingredients:

olive oil

2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you like it!)

1/4 tsp sage

1/4 tsp pepper

2 tsp chopped parsley

half of a lemon to squeeze over bake

1/2 cup of whole wheat panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup of shaved parmesan

2 cloves of garlic minced of diced

shrimp and scallops ( I used a half of the bagged shrimp and a half of the bagged mini scallops form Publix)

Heat your oven to 385-400 degrees

Put spices, breadcrumbs, parsley and cheese in a bowl

In a casserole dish  drizzle olive oil ( I coated the bottom).  Place shrimp in casserole dish,   sprinkle(liberally) the mixture over the shrimp.  Add scallops on top and add the remaining mixture.  Place in over and cook for at least 20 minutes.  Once the shrimp is pink and scallops change in tone you can pull them out. I would cut one open and make sure they are finished before eating them.  I believe mine were in the oven at 400 degrees for around 30 minutes. 

While this is cooking throw whole wheat pasta into a pot and boil it.  Once the seafood is cooked; squeeze lemon all over the seafood and eat!!!

i did a huge leg workout today and usually when I do heavy squats, presses and lunges I always try to feed myself really well when I am done.  Leg workouts usually exhaust me and I was craving quesadillas….so here is my alternative…….

1/4-1/2 tomato

1/4-1/8 onion (i used white because it was what I had in the fridge)

whole wheat quesadillas (2) or 1 and make a half of a quesadilla

hot sauce (i use franks)

Olive oil (optional)

shredded cheese, i shred my own in a food processor….i use manchego, cheddar and actually sometimes i throw in some mozzarella (I don’t shred that though)

or you can use one of those 3 cheese blends.

I use a very small amount of cheese on anything like grilled cheese or quesadillas because the more cheese you add the more fattening it is.  I want just enough cheese to flavor and give the appropriate texture.

Dice the tomato and onion, saute in a pan until onion is cooked…I added the onion first and several minutes later added the tomato.  I also added a slight splash of olive oil just to ensure the onions didn’t burn.

After they are both cooked, remove from pan and place in separate bowl or plate to the side

Put the whole wheat tortillas on the pan, add tomatoes and onion, add cheese (a sprinkle of cheese, cover the whole tortilla ((barely)).  Add hot sauce, I cover the whole thing in hot sauce.  Put the other tortilla on top and wait for it to cook.  When the cheese starts melting you can flip it but becareful that everything doesn’t fall out of it.  

When it’s cooked slice with a pizza cutter…….

Here are some more shots of my cupcakes that I made yesterday……still typing with one hand

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is actually my grandmother’s recipe that I have tweaked a little. I used to make this with her whenever I visited her house….. she was always very anti butter.

banana nut bread:

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs or 4 egg whites

1 3/4 cups flour sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about two bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 add milk if to thick

1/4 cup milk

if you want to make this chocolate chip banana bread.

1/4 or 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips (I use enjoylife)

beat egg whites well and add sugar and oil

add to flour and baking powder and soda mixture. 

beat well and add bananas 

stir in nuts

beat again

pour into 9X5X3 pan. bake @ 350 degrees and cool on rack. 

I woke up this morning and wanted to make pancakes however…… the big however….is that my fiance hates whole wheat pancakes which is what I usually make on the weekends.  We have been together over three years and today was the day I decided to humor him in his request for “anything but whole wheat pancakes”.  So…..I decided to make pancakes from scratch however I didn’t want to fill them with butter or other unhealthy stuff. Here is the recipe I came up with and he loved them which I know is the true test…as he doesn’t like anything to wheaty or “healthy” tasting.  *It’s like having a small child who is a very picky eater…I have to trick him into eating healthy.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour ( I almost always use whole wheat however because this was for the picky eater I made them with all purpose flour) I will try them with whole wheat next weekend.

2 eggs (organic)

2 tablespoons apple sauce (i used musslemans with no sugar or anything added to it)

1 tablespoon coconut oil (melt in microwave before adding to mixture) + small “pat” of butter optional (melt in microwave)

3/4 cups milk

2 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoons coconut sugar,

1 tablespoon stevia

1 tsp cinnamon (add to egg mixture when blending)

1 tsp vanilla (to batter)

1 teaspoon salt

coconut oil cooking spray (for pan)

Let the pain heat on low to medium heat while you mix everything together.

I pretty much threw everything in a big bowl together EXCEPT the eggs, oil and butter. I mixed the eggs to get a little air in them (with a hand mixer) and then added the cinnamon to the eggs.  I melted the oil and butter together and then poured both eggs and oil into the batter and mixed with a hand mixer.

Once the pan is ready (test with a splash of water), spray coconut oil cooking spray (I got mine at Trader Joe’s) and slowly pour the pancake batter into the pan. When the batter starts bubbling and the edges have turned hard, it is probably time to flip the pancake.  Once you cook both sides for several minutes, I would recommend cutting a small slit into the side of the pancake to make sure it is fully cooked. I usually rinse the pan in between each pancake as this is the only way I have found it possible to not burn the pancakes. Then i respray with cooking spray and start over.

When I served these for my fiance I just used regular maple syrup (organic, real syrup non of that aunt Jemima junk).

For my pancake I added cut up peaches and agave syrup. I did not use maple syrup. 

agave syrup, add peaches

Well this is my first post. EVER.  A little bit about myself; I am a bodybuilder and I work constantly. I also love biking specifically mountain biking. I knit and sew in my spare time and will be sharing my projects as I complete them. I also am passionate about cooking which is a fairly newly discovered hobby.

I have been saving my recipes basically so I could make a log here to keep track of everything I cook. I cook a little bit of everything.  I have always been a very healthy eater but sometimes I stray from my norm and make white chocolate rice crispy treats (recipe coming soon).  When I make something like that I take them to work or tell my fiance to take them to work so that I don’t eat the whole trough of treats.

The newest recipe I came up with last night. COCONUT FLOUR CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES.  You can make these with lemon extract or you can make them without.  I made two different batches and both were very good.  The lemony cupcakes were not over powering at all (hint: i usually am not a lemon person).  You can also make these gluten free as coconut flour is gluten free and the chocolate chips I used are gluten free. 

ingredients:

you will need a muffin tin (i didn’t use muffin papers), i also use a hand mixer for everything I make unless I specify otherwise. I also use the whole egg in everything I make because I’m not afraid of egg yolks however if you want to eliminate the yolks just add an extra egg white. I also use organic milk and try to stick to organic products in my cooking however I stray from this rule sometimes because I may not be able to certain things in organic.

1/2 cup coconut flour

1.5 tsp vanilla

1.5 tsp baking soda

4 eggs or 5 egg whites (organic – I use eggland’s best)

1/2 cup coconut oil (i didn’t melt it) +may need to soften batter and add a little more

1/3 cup milk (I use regular 1% organic)

1/4 cup coconut sugar (lower glycemic index doesn’t cause the crash that regular sugar causes)

if you want to add lemon

1 tsp lemon extract

Set over to 350 degrees. Note: Melt coconut oil in microwave prior to mixing for  easier mixing. Put wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. When mixing slowly pour wet into dry ingredients and blend until smooth.  Pour or spoon into muffin tins and cook for 30-35 min.  I cooked mine until they were slightly browned on top.  Also, the batter will seem thick but if it is so chunky and really dry you may want to add a little coconut oil and/or a little milk to the mixture.

glaze or frosting: There wasn’t an exact science to this when I did it…I dumped about 3/4 -1 cup  of confectioners sugar in a bowl and slowly added milk.  I organic 1% milk in most of baking unless i specify otherwise. I must note that you should add the milk SLOWLY because this concoction gets to thin very easily.

add confectioners sugar, add milk and stir till thick, 

put in fridge or freezer till it becomes thicker and spread of cooled cupcakes.

To make chocolate melt dairy free nut free sugar free chocolate chips in microwave  

add to sugar mix and spread over cooled cupcakes.  ( I sometimes use carob chips but I didn’t use them in this, I used the chocolate chips by the brand “enjoylife”.