Chocolate Sunbutter Swirl Cheesecake Bites

Life is funny sometimes. For months I was going full force at 110% with working out and accounting for every piece of food that I ate to make sure I was in top shape for my figure competition. After the competition I let myself have a few indulgences before I was ready to get right back to it for another show in June. Then a series of unfortunate circumstances set me back to a point that I haven't been able to work out for 3 weeks and might not be able to for another couple weeks. On one hand I am relieved that my body has been able to rest, but on the other I feel like I need to be going going going!

One good thing that has come out of my extra time is that I am able to write and test recipes! I have missed this so much!

My co-worker and friend, Megzilla, had a birthday recently so I decided to make her a little treat and this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy them as much as she did :)

Ingredients:

For the crust

• 6 Sweet Potato Biscuits
• 4 Tbsp Stevia in the Raw
• 2 Tbsp grassfed butter, melted

For the filling

• 1 package cream cheese, softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Stevia in the Raw
• 2 heaping Tbsp Sunbutter
• 2 heaping Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

Directions:

1. Prepare the sweet potato biscuits as normal (link is above).
2. Keep the oven on at 350F.
3. After biscuits are cooled, crumble 6 of them unto a bowl with the melted butter and stevia. Combine until thick and crumbly.
4. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners and ration the crust evenly (should make 12). Then press the crust firmly into the bottom of the liner with a spoon or shot glass.
5. Place the crust in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until it starts to brown on top.
6. While the crust is baking, cream the cream cheese with a hand mixer, then add in the yolks, coconut milk, vanilla, and stevia. Blend until very smooth, at least 2 minutes.
7. Scoop out 1/2 cup of the filling and place in a separate bowl.
8. In the original bowl, add the sunbutter and mix with the hand mixer until smooth.
9. In the other bowl, add the cocoa and mix until smooth.
10. Take the crust out of the oven when finished and let cool slightly but not all the way, about 5-10 minutes.
11. Divide the sunbutter filling evenly between the 12 cups and spread to cover the crust.
12. Dollop the chocolate filling on top of the sunbutter filling and create swirls with a butter knife.
13. Place back in the oven for 10 minutes.
14. Let cool before serving and store in the refrigerator.

She Hulk Omelet

I have had so many life changes this month and I'm so excited about them. I have been working two jobs for over a year now and it has taken it's toll on me. My full time job as a personal banker just wasn't making me happy anymore so I decided to pursue a passion of mine and make my part time job full time. I will be working as a trainer in an awesome gym working with awesome people and I couldn't be more thrilled!! That also means I have more time to write and create recipes!!!!!!!!!!!!

I met with my posing coach and started learning all the poses required for the figure competition I'm going to do in May. I learned a lot about myself in that session, mostly that I have a few things to work on. Luckily, with my career change I will have more time to train. This is my first figure competition and I want to go in strong! This means my diet is going to change to strict Paleo, no cheat days. I'm talking Whole30 strict! Except this is going to last for 11 weeks. Anyone else want to take this challenge with me? Anyone??

I'll be posting progress pics as I go to show everyone just how much diet plays a part in how you look.

So... This recipe is delicious, easy, and completely clean. So make it, try it, and love it!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 2 cups mixed greens (spinach, chard, kale)
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

1. Heat pan over medium heat and melt the coconut oil.
2. Saute the greens until tender.
3. Whisk the eggs, egg whites, and Dijon mustard together then pour over the greens.
4. Cook for 5 minutes or until the eggs are done.
5. Flip one side over the other to form an omelet and serve.

Nutrition Info:

Calories 207

Fat - 9.94 g

Net carbs - 5.27 g

Protein - 19.58 g

Scrambled Cheesecake

What the heck is that you ask? Well, it's my way of having dessert for breakfast and not feeling guilty about it. As you know, I've been experimenting with ways to eat eggs and not get bored with it so here is a sweeter side of eggs.

Pretty soon I won't be able to have cream cheese so I might as well enjoy it while I can, right?! It isn't extremely conducive to fat loss and I have two more weeks of bulking before I start cutting back and losing fat.

What does that mean for you? It means that the recipes will start getting much healthier and less complicated... Maybe a little more boring but in my experience, the boring ones will get the fat off of you faster.

I am getting excited about meeting with the figure coach and I'm hoping she tells me I can compete in the figure class but I will still be willing to do the bikini class if I didn't gain enough muscle the past few months. I will just need to strive for a little softer look than I was invisioning. There is always a next time :)

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Stevia to taste (I used about half a dropper full of the liquid Now brand)
• 1 teaspoon coconut oil for frying

Directions:

1. Melt coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
2. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the cinnamon and stevia then pour into the heated pan.
3. Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and stir in with the cooking eggs and stir until scrambled and the eggs are cooked through.
4. Serve!

Nutrition Information:
Calories- 265
Fat- 19.41 g
Net carbs- 1.66 g
Protein- 19.87 g

Eggs Italiano

Growing up I always felt sick after eating eggs but I never made the connection that I was allergic to them until a couple of years ago. I would feel very spacey and not myself for several hours to the point I just didn't want to eat them. I discovered that egg whites didn't make me feel that way which to me was weird. After I started eating Paleo, I discovered that chickens are often fed meal that contains soy. After a little experimentation, I found that eating local soy free eggs don't make me feel bad so eggs are now a large part of my diet.

With that being said, I have been eating eggs a lot lately and frankly I'm getting a little sick of them. I only like them when they are runny and for some reason I have been over cooking them. Not wanting them to go to waste I still gobble them down but I'm not terribly happy about it.

Eggs with spinach have been my easy healthy go-to breakfast for the past week but today I decided I wanted something different. Add some spaghetti sauce and badda bing, you have Italian eggs. I know it sounds way too simple but it's nice to change it up sometimes.

Ingredients:

• Eggs (as many as you need to eat, I ate 3)
• 2/3 cup Spaghetti sauce (I used Trader Joe's because it is soy free)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil for frying

Directions:

1. Heat frying pan over medium and melt coconut oil.
2. Pour spaghetti sauce in the pan along with the spices and mix together until slightly bubbly.
3. Crack your eggs into the sauce keeping them intact.
4. Cover and cook until the whites are done and the yolks are still a little runny.

Super Woman Pancakes

Ahhh pancakes, usually your stomach and thighs worst enemy. But alas I have found a way to make them healthy and taste good too! I know I don't usually post recipes with dairy but I have found that cream cheese doesn't make me feel bad, so I'm going to go with it.

This is a very hearty recipe and fills you up fast, especially when you eat it with bacon, mmmm bacon. This is the closest I have come to mocking the taste and texture of wheat pancakes.

Makes 2 servings (Or you can be a piggy and eat the whole thing like I did, don't judge!)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 scoop Pro Whey protein powder, vanilla (32g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon coconut flour
• dash of salt
• Coconut oil for cooking

Directions:

1. Melt about a teaspoon coconut oil in a pan over medium heat.
2. Combine all ingredients (except coconut oil) in a blender and blend until smooth. (I know most people say to combine wet then dry then put them together, but I haven't noticed it makes a difference in a blender and I like to make things easy)
3. Pour half of the mixture into pan, cover with lid, and cook until little bubbles appear in the batter, then flip and cook another minute. 
4. Repeat step 3 for the remainder.
5. Top with some grass-fed butter and eat up!

Hiatus

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and was able to enjoy all that goes along with it, including all the seasonal treats (in moderation of course).

I have taken a short break from blogging because I shamefully took a break from Paleo while trying to gain weight (bulk) for a figure competition. I figured that the standard American diet would help... It didn't. What it did do for me was make my skin break out, made me feel sluggish, and I got sick twice. I had to stay out of work two days. So needless to say the S.A.D. hurt my bottom line as well as made me feel crappy. Now I'm sticking to rice, steel cut oats, and potatoes for my starches. I already feel a little better and my skin is clearing up. I'm glad I went through the experience because now I know for sure that Paleo is the only way for me! I wasn't able to hit my goal weight but I'm still going to go ahead as planned and hope that the muscle that I gained was enough :)

While eating the S.A.D., I also lost my cooking bug for a while and had no desire to cook or be creative. Probably because of the sluggishness and being tired all the time. I'm not back 100% because of my work schedule but I promise that I will do better. Some of my recipes won't be original for a while but I will make sure to give proper acknowledgement to the recipe creators.

I was recently asked for a recipe that would be easy to make and eat on for the week. Something healthy, tasty, and reheats well. The first thing that came to mind was egg cupcakes. This is something that you can create to your own taste because you can put anything you want in them... Almost...

This recipe is from Paleo in a Pinch, I changed some of the measurements but this is not an original recipe of mine. I have made this recipe before and can attest that it is delicious!

Savory Sausage Egg Cakes

(Photo from Paleo in a Pinch)

Ingredients:

• 12 Eggs
• 1lb. Sausage
• 1 each Green & Red Pepper
• 1 cup Mushrooms
• 1 Onion
• 3-4 Green Onions
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup unsweetened Coconut Milk (Optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a fry pan, brown your Sausage on Med/High heat. Break up into small crumbles.
2. While Sausage is browning, chop all of your veggies.
3. Once Sausage is cooked, spoon out and add to the veggie bowl.
4. Add eggs and whisk together. If you are using Coconut Milk, add now
5. Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Fill nearly to the top of the liner. Place in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 min.
6. Remove Egg Cakes from oven and let cool for 10-15min, before transferring to a cooling rack.
7. Serve or let cool to room temp and store in the fridge or freezer. Egg Cakes can be served warmed or chilled.

 

Sweet Potato Souffle

First off, I want to apologize for the hiatus. I have been super slammed lately and being creative was put on a back burner. I basically only cooked to stay alive and it was the same old thing over and over because... well that's easy!

I don't want anyone to think I forgot about them so I thought of my favorite Thanksgiving side dish. The best part is testing it out and eating it before Thanksgiving!! Another awesome thing is that since I'm still trying to gain weight, it doesn't matter that this is normally what you would consider a huge treat :)

So, what is a Thanksgiving feast without sweet potato souffle? A crappy one in my opinion. This is the best part, aside from the pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. I could make my meal off of that! My suggestion is to not do that though.

This souffle is so sweet and delicious. I personally prefer mine with the crust of candied pecans on top. I know some people put marshmallows on theirs but to me that's just wrong! Luckily for me, this is one of the easiest recipes to "paleofy" because you just have to exchange a few ingredients.

Ingredients

Souffle:

• 4 cups cubed sweet potatoes
• 1/2 cup palm sugar (found at Whole Foods)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons Ghee (Whole Foods)
• 1/2 cup coconut cream (Trader Joe's canned or any cream from full fat coconut milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:

• 3/4 cup palm sugar
• 4 heaping tablespoons coconut flour (Whole Foods)
• 4 tablespoons Ghee
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. Peel and cube your sweet potatoes and place in a steamer basket over boiling water and cook until tender, 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and mash them up! 
3. Then add in the palm sugar, eggs, salt, ghee, coconut cream and vanilla extract. Mix them all together until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish rubbed with oil. 
4. To make the topping, mix together the palm sugar and coconut flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is slightly coarse but almost pasty. Stir in the chopped pecans. Sprinkle the topping over the sweet potato mixture as best you can, it's a little sticky.
5. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown and it smells like Thanksgiving throughout your house!

I adapted this recipe from http://allrecipes.com/recipe/yummy-sweet-potato-casserole/

Cinnamon Raisin Biscuits

I was sitting down drinking a cup coffee a couple days go when it dawned on me; I should I should make my sweet potato biscuits into cinnamon raisin biscuits! (I wish I had this kind of epiphany every time I drank coffee, that would be many many times a day!!!)

You know those little cinnamon raisin biscuits from Hardee's that are so delicious and make your pants feel immediately tighter after eating them? I knew them very well in my previous life :-/ Well that's what they remind me of!

I decided not to use sweet potatoes for this, I don't know why really, I just did. I have a jar of applesauce in my refrigerator that was begging to be used, so I obliged. They are moist and delicious and if I didn't have the most self control of any person I know I would have eaten the whole batch!!

On a different note, I have decided to limit my coffee intake to one cup (or large mug) a day. Getting to sleep at night has been a problem lately so I'm going to try this out. Plus, it seems like everyone's doing it. Now my only problem is staying awake all day! For those that know me, I know you are in shock! The pumpkin spice tea from Trader Joe's has been my best friend! That is what I was enjoying while devouring these :D

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:

• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons sugar substitute ( I used Stevia in the Raw, it needs to be a cup for cup kind)
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce (I like the kind from Trader Joe's)
• 1 tablespoon palm shortening (If you haven't gotten this yet, you should! You can also use butter)
• 4 tablespoons raisins

For the glaze:

• 4 tablespoons Stevia in the Raw
• 1/2 teaspoon arrowroot powder
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 tablespoon coconut milk

Directions:

For the biscuits:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk the eggs together in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Add the coconut flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and Stevia and continue whisking until a dough  forms.
4. Then add the applesauce and continue mixing until well incorporated. 
5. Cut the palm shortening in, mix thoroughly, then stir the raisins in.
6. Scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet making 9 biscuit shapes.
7. Put in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

For the glaze:

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth.
2. When the biscuits are done and cooled a little, drizzle on each biscuit and serve!!!

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Although I grew up in the South, sweet potatoes were never one of my favorites. I wanted white potatoes!!! Sweet potatoes were nasty unless they had brown sugar and marshmallows on them or made into biscuits! Although I'm pretty sure that negates the health factor.

Now that I'm an adult (most of the time anyways) I could eat sweet potatoes with every meal! They are soooo good! Sometimes with a sprinkle of cinnamon, sometimes without. I could probably incorporate them into just about any type of meal, sweet or savory.

I've really been missing biscuits lately and then I thought "Hey, I could make sweet potato biscuits!" So I did! And they are so delicious that I made them for dinner one night and breakfast the next morning... No, I don't feel guilty, because they are grain and dairy free!!!

Makes 9 biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 small baked sweet potato (about 3/4 cup)
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon palm shortening (you can also use butter if you are okay with dairy)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk the eggs together then add the coconut flour, baking powder and salt until a thick dough forms.
3. Mash the sweet potato then mix it in with the egg mixture.
4. Cut the palm shortening in with the dough and mix well. It will be a tad chunky.
5. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place small dollops on it. This should make 9 biscuits. I like to make mine round and even because I'm a little OCD.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until they are golden brown. 

Nutrition Info:

Per biscuit if 9 are made.
Cal-  65
Fat-  3.64g
Carbs-  3.24g (net)
Protein-  2.99g

Pumpkin Coffee Creamer

Anyone that knows me knows that I need coffee to get started in the morning. I like my coffee with cream and sugar and if one of those is missing I'm an unhappy girl. On the downside, I always felt swollen and yucky for a few hours after drinking it. I switched to stevia, kept the cream, and I still felt sluggish but never associated it with the dairy until I did the Whole30 program. Apparently I am unable to tolerate dairy so I gave it up, just like that. That left me with a void to fill so I started researching dairy free coffee creamer recipes. I took what I liked from each of them and experimented to find my favorite taste combination. You may need to play with the sweetness to suit your own taste. This recipe calls for a raw egg so if you are squeamish about that then you can try it without but the purpose of the egg is to prevent separation of the coconut cream from the milk resulting in a rich cream that is the closest I have come to the real thing.

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut milk, full fat
• 1 pastured egg
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 tablespoons Stevia in the Raw

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. About 30 seconds.
2. Transfer to an airtight container and keep in the refrigerator for up to a week.
3. The creamer should thicken after sitting in the fridge overnight.

Pumpkin Porridge

I love pumpkins!! I love them so much that I have been known to buy enough cans to last all year. I have been making different variations of this for over a year now and I think I have finally perfected it. I used to make oatmeal for breakfast regularly pre-paleo and it would leave me hungry again in just a few hours. This breakfast keeps me satisfied until lunch!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs (preferably organic and cage free)
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon Tahini (or any nut butter of choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons Stevia in the Raw
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until fully incorporated.
2. Transfer the mixture to a sauce pan and heat over medium low heat until it starts looking like cottage cheese.

*My favorite toppings are a pouring some coconut milk on top with a teaspoon of shredded coconut and a sprinkling of cinnamon.