For the love of cereal

        Of all the things that I've been having trouble cutting out, I have found my cereal to be the most difficult. Beer and cupcakes and chips have been also hard, but I never realized how much I actually go through cereal.... I was told to cut gluten/soy/dairy. I was given a very specific plan with approved food lists and meals. I have obviously been having trouble sticking to the plan. This week may give it a shot because it's recovery week. I noticed that with my workouts averaging 15hours a week, the portions were not enough, but this week is less, so will give it a shot again.
      Back to my love of cereal. Since I can remember Honey Nut Cherrios have always been a favorite. I was told if I'm going to eat starchy carbs, go gluten free- I'm not allergic to it, but after the most disgusting cereal experience I've ever had, I started looking at the nutrition labels and starting thinking why? The gluten fre had more calories and more carbs per serving- but my favorite Honey Nut more sugar. Again, I sat there thinking why? I decided that Ironman is my goal this year, but an occasional bowl of delicious honey nut cherrios is not going to destroy my race. I will continue to make good choices about what I fuel up with, how much I'm eating, and the effefts it has on my body and energy, but Mr. Honey Bee- I'm glad you're back in my life.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Had an extra can of pumpkin from the Thai Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup so thought I would try this out. Not bad, tastes a bit like pumpkin bread.
I also added a little molasses for some more flavor- and I didn't have "pumpkin spice" available so used this recipe for pumpkin spice:
Measure 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into a small bowl or cup.
Makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice or ground cloves.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
Stir to blend. (makes 1 tsp of pumpkin spice blend)
I followed the rest of the recipe pretty closely (only I doubled it)
ORIGINAL RECIPE:
Paleo Pumpkin Muffins from PaleoPlan.com
Makes 6 muffins.
Approximate cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1½ cups almond flour
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (or cook and puree pumpkin yourself)
3 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup raw honey (optional)
2 tsp almond butter
1 Tbs sliced almonds
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350℉.
Coat 6 muffin tins with coconut oil (or use paper muffin cups and add 1/2 tsp melted coconut oil to batter).
Mix all ingredients and pour evenly into tins.
Bake for 25 minutes on the middle rack.
Sprinkle almonds on top immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Thai-Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup

Not sure how crazy I am about this one. I did have two generous bowls and it did make me pretty happy though. Not sure if it cooked too long and the citrus / vinegar was too strong, or not creamy enough for your typical pumpkin soup? Overall not bad. I'm going to try the butternut squash soup next as far as soups go- so this one is good for a different taste.
(Again adapted from Best Loved Slow cooker recipes)- I need to order that Paleo book....

Ingredients (as is makes 4 - 6 servings in a smaller crockpot- I have a 5qt so I also increase ingredients)
*1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
6 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes (I used about 12)
1 large white onion, thinly sliced ( I only had red in the house, it was fine)
3 cloves garlic, minced (I used 6)
1/2 - 3/4 crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbsp minced fresh giner (I only had ground so had to follow the conversion- and used 2 tbsp)
*2 stalks celery trimmed and diced (I used four)
2 carrots, peeled, trimmed and diced (again 4)
1 can (15 ounces) solid- pack pumpkin ( I used 30)
1/2 cup mango nectar
1/2 cup fresh lime juice- I put almost a full cup- probably too much
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter- ( I used almost a cup- could have substituted for almond butter but wanted to use up the last of my peanut butter)
4 cups low- sodium chicken broth (almost 8)
*3 tbs rice vinegar
1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro, divided
*1/2 cup heavy cream- (I took it easy on this- not supposed to have it, but oh well)
1 tbsp cornstarch
*2 to 4 cups hot cooked rice (I used Jasmine)
3 green onion, minced
1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
lime wedges (optional)


First heat the oil over medium heat, adding chicken to cook, stirring occasionally only about 3 minutes (doesn't need to be completely cooked) Add onion, garlic, giner and red pepper flakes, cook for 1 or 2 minutes longer until mixture is fragrant.

 

        Transfer chicken mixture to slow cooker. Add celebry, carrots, pumpkin, mango nectar, lime juice, peanut butter, broth, and 2 cups of water, stir to combine. Cover; cook on LOW 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours. 

          Stir in rice vinegar and 1/4 cup cilantro, mix cream and cornstartch together in small mixing bowl. Stir mixture into soup. Turn setting to HIGH. Simmer, unconvered, 10 minutes or until soup thickens.

      
     To serve, put rice in soup bowls. Ladle soup around rice. Sprinkle reaming cilantro, green onions, and peanuts. Squeeze fresh lime juice over soup if desired. (enjoy with Tostitios lime chips if desired :) ) Not exactly on the approved food list- oops!

               

  

 

Slow Cooker! Chicken and Sweet Potato Stew

I had a late start today and thought it would be perfect to try out the new slow cooker. Most recipes call for about 8hours- I ended up leaving it for 10 and it was ok. I won't be able to do this during the week because 10hours is usually the average so any am or pm workouts means I'll be away from home from 12+ hours, no good for a slow cooker. I'll probably be able to get it ready on Sunday mornings, do the workouts for the day 4-5 hours on a different setting if I want to try out different recipes.
All ingredients were bought from whole foods (Jewel would be just fine I'm sure but I was already at the WF, I'm sure Jewel would have been cheaper, but the turkey sausage I used was really fresh and yummy)
Recipe taken and modified from "Crock-Pot Best Loved Slow Cooker Recipes"

The longest part was the chopping which I did the night before. I ended up doubling the recipe, but not using all of it when I put it in the pot.

(I'll include original recipe, and what I added to fit the 5qt size)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces (I cut about 10)
4 spicy Italian Turkey sausage links (not in recipe, I just added it)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (I peeled and cubed 2, but only about 3 fit into the pot)
2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cubed. (I peeled and cubed 2 small potatoes and about 1 cup of cauliflower)
2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices (I peeled 4)
1 can (28 ounces) whole stewed tomatoes, undrained (I used 4- 14.5 cans- too many, too soupy and wanted it more stewy)
1 teaspoon salt (I added 2)
1 teaspoon paprika (I put about 2)
1 teaspoon celery seeds (2)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (1)
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (1/4)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (0- I didn't have it, oops)
1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth (2)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (used it to taste for serving)


Combine chicken, (turkey), potatoes (cauliflower), carrots, tomatoes with juice, salt, paprika, celery seeds, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg (oops) and broth in slow cooker. Cover, cook on LOW 6 to 8 hours (10 for me and the apartment didn't burn down) or on HIGH 3 to 4 hours. To serve, sprinkle with basil
(This was for the original recipe for 6 servings- for the 5, 6, or 7 quart double all ingredients like I did for my 5 qt)
I served over a leftover quinoa / brown rice / lentil mix so that it was more like a stew instead of a soup and I liked it this way. You could also add rotini pasta to make it more filling, but not bad served with the rice mix :)