NEW CHALLENGE – Get outdoors and active!

The sun is out and it is time for another 30 day challenge!

For the next 30 days I challenge you to 30 minutes of physical activity a day plus 30 minutes spent outdoors a day. I propose that these can be done concurrently but the point is to get fresh air and active!

The challenge is easy enough when the weather is sunny and nice but on those dreary, rainy spring days the fresh air can still do us a lot of good.

What are your favourite spring activities?

Day 30

you did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

can't wait to go eat like 5 loafs of bread tomorrow mmmm...jk..sorta

baguette; scones; bagels..

I'm actually in a pretty good routine finally.

Happy Friday everyone :)

Day 28- TGIPD

Nothing to do with Paleo, I'm just grateful it is pay day for me today :) My bank account was needing some love.

Check out my post on how to make the best spaghetti squash!

Day 27- Time flies when you're eating paleo

Carrot Ginger Soup with Coconut Milk-
I winged it-onion, carrots, ginger, roasted yellow pepper, coconut milk

These were by far the best thing I have made recently-
Sweet Potato fries, I used a special good grips potato cutter (shown below) that cuts them rippled
and my recipe for sweet potato fries

Dessert at my parents- fruit and dark chocolate :)

Coffee with Almond Milk and a Paleo pumpkin muffin -recipe coming soon

Otherwise, not much to report. Are you all feeling tired from the time shift? I know I am! it is so nice for it to be light out after work though.

Oh check out this article from the Citizen. It talks about a foodie dating site where you can meet like minded eaters. The creator of the site is Paleo, and his description of how people react to him is hilarious and probably dead on-


Nimoy admitted to some eyebrow-raising reactions when he mentions his unconventional diet to dates.

"It's actually a two-pronged approach. The first part is they all look at me and go: `Wow, you look really fit and really healthy, how do you do it?' And then when I tell them how I do it, they say: `Wow, you sound really crazy and I want to get away from you," he said with a laugh during an interview from Los Angeles.

Have a great day!

Day 25- realization

I heard Paleo eating can help with migraines, which makes sense to me as a lot of trigger foods are excluded- cheese, wint etc. But lets take this one step further. Yesterday a friend was talking about advil and It made me think how I used to have to take a lot of it. At least one every few days,  to fight my constant headaches.


well strangely and miraculously enough I haven't had a headache or needed advil since starting Paleo.. yahooo!!!


I will try and go for a run later, but now, going back to sleep!

Day 23- colourful meals- TGIF

This sweet potato dish-from Jerusalem cookbook- with green onion, jalepeno and balsamic reduction-amazing

Stuffed eggplant with ground turkey- also from Jerusalem-

Happy weekend everyone!!! I for one, will be drinking some vino 

Red pepper stuffed with leftover ground turkey and fresh spinach, roasted carrots (Well fed) and green beans (Well fed)- they were delicious. 

I will be posting some of these recipes on double trouble kitchen edition.

Day 21- Paleo Memes

 Just because I love memes-

These made my day!!

Day-20

I'm not going to lie, I am looking forward to the end of these 30 days-

Things I miss and can't wait to reintegrate:
-Greek yogurt
-Quinoa
-Oatmeal
-Brown/wild rice

Things I miss but should definitely NOT reintegrate:
-Milk Chocolate
-Candy
-Sugary baked goods
-Baguette
-Bagels
-Chips
-Crackers

I am noticing how much baked goods at the office or free samples at Starbucks could add up. With Paleo,  It's easy enough not to think twice about it and just say no.

To keep motivated over the last 1/3 of this challenge, I ordered a new cookbook! Apparently its quite thin but has some tasty middle eastern recipes.

Thanks to amazon prime free trial, I should be receiving this in my mailbox in 2 days. woo!! Until then, hardboiled eggs, almonds, more almonds, more hardboiled eggs...

Oh and I did make spaghetti squash with pesto and turkey sausage. It was really good but isn't that filling. Maybe I should make a veggie side dish next time to supplement it.

Day 19- Weekend tidbits

Happy Monday everyone!!! wooooooooo. My weekend was all over the place and definitely not perfect in terms of paleo-ness. I ate steak twice in about 2 days, as it is an easy paleo option for eating out, although often accompanied with not such healthy french fries etc.. I had a slice of french bread and some crisps- no self control!!- at Canvas restaurant (amazing!!) and a little bit of wild rice at a friend's place- but i'm not letting it get to me. With 11 days left, I am determined to stick it out, and be more strict. After the 30 days I will re-evaluate, but I have to at least get there.

I think part of the problem is its hard for me to see what the results are, and results are a big motivator to keep with it. My skin definitely seems smoother and clearer, so that's good.

I found these cultured almond yogurts at the health food store, and tried the coconut one. with the least amount of added fruit juice etc. I had heard they are horrendous but it was actually pretty good. I can't tell anymore what is actually good, and what i think is good because I haven't had many sweets (aside from fruit).

I made this pumpkin custard, and it was good! I'll post the recipe one of these days soon

I also baked this recipe for "Quinoa blondies" but switched mine to "almond blondies" as I used almond flour instead of quinoa flour. I will be sharing the recipe, however i warn you, these are highly addictive. I shouldn't make them again.. 

I finally hung up this message bulletin/white board from Kristin- love it!!

This salad was a success- spinach, walnuts, artichoke hearts and orange- then i added avocado and hard boiled egg. It would also be good with chicken or steak. I made a new dressing- 2 tablespoons orange juice (freshly squeezed); 3 Tablespoons olive oil; 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp dijon mustard; salt and ground pepper- its very refreshing! 

My attempt to plan out my meals- I will probably deviate from this, but at least it's a general plan.

How was everyone's weekend? Plans for the week?

I am addicted to the show Sons of Anarchy- Love it!! Have you seen House of Cards? It's amazing. I can't wait for the next season. 

Day 17?- Life in the gray zone

As the title of this post alludes to, this week has forced me to take off my rose coloured paleo sunglasses a little...all I can say is thank goodness for the gray zone.

In hindsight I haven't done too badly, but I have definitely been finding it more difficult to feel full this week, and been irritable to the max (I woke up every morning this week from a sore throat, partially from my body crashing I think but also largely from raising my voice (ok maybe even yelling) in class.

Anywho it's the weekend! And even though it will be spent working it's all good as I've come to terms with the fact I will have no life until March 15th..which coincidentally (or not) is around when this challenge will end! I was telling my wonderful co-worker and friend Andrée-Anne this while we made a (totally amazing) paleo diner last night, and it hit me that it's already March! Craziness...

So yeah our paleo diner, was so good as we were starving after an insane day or running with our students/ teaching and hot-yoga ing. We decided to make steamed cauliflower, yam fries, and chicken fajitas with laituce wraps. Andrée-Anne said that it was even better with laituce than with normal wraps (still not sure if she was just being polite and supportive but I agree they were amazing!).
 I've included some pics, there may or may not have also been some red wine invloved. Oh and maybe also some dark chocolates...yay gray zone!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend its many potential shades of grey :)