Heavenly Paleo Coconut, Garlic, Lime Fish with Arugula, Roasted Pepper, and Grilled Onion Stuffing

This is one of those dishes where I knew kinda what I wanted to eat, but didn't really know if it would *work*. I'm here to tell you, that it worked so well, be used the same idea last night for a chicken stir fry with chopped onions and carrots over a bed of green beans, and tonight I'm making shrimp and onions with the same sauce, and cauli mash.

For the sauce

1/3 C coconut oil

4 large garlic cloves, sliced or roughly chopped

For the dish

4 white fish fillets. I used talapia.

1/2 of a jarred roasted red pepper, or fresh if you like to make your own, cut into 4 long strips

1-2 C fresh arugula 

6 "petals" off of a grilled onion. (I had them left over from dinner he night before, but you can cook fresh, or roast an onion in the oven wrapped in foil)

1 whole lime (for juice)

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 375.

In small fry pan, melt coconut oil and begin to toast garlic over low heat so you don't burn the garlic.

Lay your filets out to arrange the filling/stuffing, and salt and pepper each fillet.

Place a 1/4 of the arugula on each fillet.

Place one of the pepper stips on top of the arugula.

Place the cooled grilled or roasted onion petals on top of the peppers.

To get this shape/size of onion, I cut the onion in half, from stem to root so each half had root to keep it together, then grilled. I peeled the large outer layers then cut them in half again. Each piece you see here is a quarter of an outer layer, in other words.

Starting at the thin end, roll the fish and secure with tooth pick. I used 2 toothpicks per fillet, because the talapia fillet has 2 parts at the thick end.

This shows what the seam will look like, but flip it to the bottom of the dish.

Arrange seam-side down in a casserole dish, with a lid, sized so that it will allow them to be secure but not crowded. 

Take the remaining onions and place in the spaces between the fish rolls.

When your garlic is beautifully toasted, pour the garlic infused coconut oil and the toasted garlic over the fish.  

Squeeze your entire lime over the fish.

Cover your casserole, and place in your heated oven for about 15-20 minutes, until the fish is cooked through.

Serve over something you can use to collect the insanely awesome sauce! (I have to admit, we ate ours over jasmine rice. Not 100% Paleo because of that, but you can use your *base* of choice to ensure pure Paleo. Tonight, I'm making something similar to this again using shrimp over cauliflower mash, to mimic a Caribbean coconut-lime shrimp and grits.)

The combination of the mild fish, with the peppery arugula, the sweet of the pepper, the slight smokey and sweet onions drizzled with the savory garlic, the sweet coconut oil, and the tangy lime is an amazing combination! My husband isn't a huge fan of lime, but we both gobbled this up like it was our first meal out of prison. He added red pepper flakes to his, but I'm a spice-wimp, and scarfed it all up just as it came out.

Eat real (awesome flavorful) food, move your body, improve your surroundings, and stay hungry.

Arrangement #7,482

I rearrange the furniture like other people change their sheets. I've done this since I was a pre-teen. I think it was my way of having control over something. (ME?!? Having control issues? WHAT?!?!) 

Now, as a grown-up, it's ... me having control over something. 

And constantly wanting something "new" but not being able to buy new things whenever I want. This is another reason I love to recycle, fix things, paint things, change things, and make things. It's my way of having something *new*. Plus, as a child, my family did not have disposable income, so we were that family who pulled things out of other peoples trash and Daddy would fix it. I think I was in high school before Mama ever had a "new", and I mean, *out of the box, she's the first-owner* "new" vacuum. 

One of my favorite memories was of the day the cleaners a few doors down from Daddy's office went out of business. Everything that wasn't picked up was thrown in the back dumpster. Daddy came home, got me, and took me back there with him. He quite literally threw me into the dumpster, and I started tossing out furs. Yes! Furs. Fur coats. Shawls, wraps, full length, jackets, hand-poufs... It was a PETA nightmare, but to a little girl, it was princess dress-up heaven!  Most we're ruined, worn, torn, and unwearable, but we kept the nice ones. I think there's one or two still around somewhere, but I'm not sure where.

I got off track. Again... ME?!? Distracted? Naw... Can't be. JESUS! What kind of bird is that? It's HUGE!

The furniture. I was originally writing about the furniture.  

Our house is long and narrow. Not a square, or even a shallow and wide box. Nope... It's narrow and long. It's a GREAT house, with a LOT of WONDERFUL features, upgrades, and flash things that make me say, "Ahhh" when I see them... But furniture placement and "flow" has been a constant struggle.

Take a look. This is the family room. I just moved the couch long-ways in front of the fireplace and TV. And I *think* I LOVE IT!!

No, I didn't "pick-up" before taking the pictures. I'm a real mom with real kids and real dogs. The house will never be clean all at once all at the same time. If it is, something is either very very wrong, or I have aquired the entire staff of Downton Abbey.

So this is the current arrangement in the family room. We can all sit on the sofa together to watch TV. I can sit between the kids to keep them from fighting. I can snuggle with both kids, AND my 110 lb gigantic baby lapradore Homer can snuggle with me too.

Then... We have *this* space up front. Ugh... What/how do I do anything with this? It's designed to be a formal sitting room and dining room. We do entertain enough to keep/need the big table, but it needs a bit more space. I have to get the knee walls down and out. They totally make the space unlivable, and half of my first floor is waisted space.

Take a look...

So, how would you arrange this space? If I had the knee wall gone in the dining room, I'd love to have a round dining table to soften the corners and edges. With the knee wall gone by the front door, I'd be able to bring the furniture all the was to the entry-way wall, after brining the hardwood all the way from the door to the family room. It will soften the entry, and would eliminate the bottleneck at the front door.

Speaking of remodeling, in the above pictures of the family room, the wall that currently has my wedding portrait (and the kids preschool alphabets) needs to go as well. There is also a useless wall in the foyer that needs to go. We'll have to leave supports, but they need to be round columns instead of the jagged angles that they are now. I have more right angles than the Bush Administration up in this joint. 

So... Donations to the "Oh Sweet Jesus, Girl Your Home Needs Some Serious Work" fund can be mailed, addressed, and written out directly to me or my Honey. Checks always accepted. I'm southern, so your thank you note will be hand written, and will include pictures of what your donation contributed.

Thank you.

Keep improving, my friends.

Almond Awesome Brownies

I found a recipient for regular brownies in a cookbook, then changed everything around to suit my tastes. 

I wanted to use almond flour, but I didn't have any, so I made my own using roasted plain almonds I had saved in the freezer. I think the container I had was a pound (but I'm not swearing to it, so buy extra and freeze what you don't use.) I put them into the food processor and whirred them into a mixture of a course grind and a medium grind. I wanted a slight crunch from the nuts, but I'm not a fan of huge pieces of nuts in my brownies. I'm very much a texture girl, and consistence is a big deal for me. The only thing really crunchy I want in my brownie is the crunchy chocolatey edges.

After I had the course ground almond flour in the mixture, I wanted/needed more flour, so I put the remaining half of the almonds back into the food processor, and let it go until it was almost almond butter. I saved my leftover flour in the fridge in a plastic resealable container.

In deciding which brownies to make, I had thought of making a peanut butter swirl, so if I had gone too far with grinding my almonds, I would have had almond butter, so I would have just added that and made an almond butter swirl brownie. 

But I stopped it just short, and had beautiful fine ground almond flour.

This is all important, because y'all know I don't measure. I try sometimes, but then I do what I want and what I think will work. For instance, I added more total flour than the original recipe called for. I added double vanilla because I LOVE the good stuff. I added double the salt because I love sweet and salty. The recipe below is what I used. If you don't like sweet and salty together, only use half of the salt listed. But these were seriously incredibly tasty. 

So... Here goes...

1 C sugar (I'm going to use coconut crystals or dates next time)

1/2 C coconut oil

2 teaspoons VERY GOOD vanilla extract

2 eggs

2/3 C course/medium grind almond flour

1/3 to 1/2 C fine ground almond flour (reserved)

3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, or other large granule salt

Heat oven to 350

Grease a square 8x8 or 9x9 with coconut oil.

Mix sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, and eggs in a bowl big enough to mix it all in. (I used a wooden spoon, didn't need a mixer.)

Stir in the course/medium almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. 

Add enough of the fine ground almond flour to make a thick, dough type "batter"

Spread the batter in the pan evenly.

Bake 20-30 minutes, or until toothpick in center comes out without liquid chocolate on it. You don't want it "clean", because they'll be dry, but you'll want to make sure they're done.

Cut into 16 squares, and enjoy. Or hide them from everyone, and gobble them all up yourself.

Baking and Prep

You read right, my friends. I baked. 

See, we had some bananas that had passed the point of being acceptable to the kids, so I broke out the gluten free flour, and whipped us up a batch of banana muffins. Haven't tried them yet, but they smell dreamy.

I also made a batch of meatballs to freeze. 

1 pound extra lean ground beef

1 pound ground turkey

2 tiny yellow onions (because that's all I had, but one normal sized would be fine) finely diced

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1T dried Thyme

A lot of Worchestershire Sauce. I didn't measure, sorry. I just splashed in as much as I like, which for us, is a good bit.

Into a big bowl it all went, and I mixed it up, then used my hands to form golf-ball sized balls. Didn't use a scoop, or official measuring tool. (Shocking! I know.)

I put them on a foil lined baking sheet into a 350o oven for 35/40 minutes, or until an instant-read thermometer says 170, since there's turkey in it.

After fully cooling on a paper towel, they went into a gallon ziplock, and into the freezer.

Earlier this week I roasted 3 large spaghetti squash, then let them cool completely. Meaning, I completely forgot about them until this morning. I peeled the skins off, which came RIGHT OFF LIKE A DREAM once they were cooled, and portioned them into quart plastic zipper top baggies and put them in the freezer too.

It's like I'm organized, or something. What's come over me? AND... I keep cleaning the kitchen as I go. 

Oh, sidebar, I've become slightly obsessed with my kitchen as of late. See, I reorganized, thinned out stuff, and gave her a serious scrub-down. Now I kinda have a mini emotional fit when I see she's messy. I go into a whirlwind of a frenzy cleaning, wiping, scrubbing, and storing things in their new homes. And I also *might* get really pissed when someone puts trash on the counter next to the trash can. It's a foot-pedal trash can. Not like you have to put down something in order to open the lid to toss out said trash. 

I also want to redo my color scheme. I want yellow and blue now, and I want white and blue dishes. I want to replace the kitchen table with something smaller, and paint the cabinets some version of off white. And the cabinets and drawers need pulls.

More on these changes as I magically find money and time. But for now, stay hungry, and play with your food.

The (ongoing) Journey to Fabulous Fit Forty

Sunday, January 12, 2014 = My first Cross Fit WOD (workout of the day). It was a running WOD, in which we were to run a 400, then do 50 lunges, then run BACKWARDS a 400, then do 25 cross-over push-ups. And do this routine 4, yes four, times. I think y'all will remember, I'm not a runner. I've tried, oh, how I've TRIED to love running, and I just don't. Now, you've got the understand that the WOD does not include the warm-up. A Cross Fit warmup, is what most advanced gym classes consist of as their work out. Our warmup was to run a 400, then at every 100 point do some strength work. Then, do 50 jumping jacks. THEN we start our WOD. So, needless to say, I walked most of the laps. I shuffled and jogged, trying to look like I wasn't dying in front of the spandexed beauties who were cheerfully singing encouraging words and praise every time they lapped me. This is one of the very best parts of Cross Fit. The encouraging, the closeness, the teamwork, the feeling that you won't fail. 

I was back on Monday for more. Today's warmup was running a 400 (which I got through almost half of, and took a look around for my *goal* points. "I want to be able to run to this street sign, then to these flag, then to this mailbox."), 50 jumping jacks, 10 push-ups, 15 sit-ups (not crunches!), then 20 lunges, then do it all again.  The WOD was a 30-20-10 of thrusters, kettle ball swings, and sit-ups, meaning you do 30 of each, then 20 of each, then 10 of each.

What I've learned so far, is that in CF, you time yourself. I'm still not sure why we're timing. Are we trying to beat our time? Will we do the same workout again? Are we racing each other (they all say it's not a race, but I'm still wondering what the *timing* is for, nonetheless. 

I have also learned, that you do not was to sit on your hiney all day the day after a tough WOD, as this will make your muscles hurt worse. Go for a walk, do your grocery shopping, do some jumping jacks, just do *something* to get the muscles moving and the blood flowing. It honestly makes thing hurt less. Also, soak in a tub with Epsom Salts, then ice anything that specifically hurts. Again, your day-after pain will be significantly reduced. Plus, after a brutal workout, you deserve a hot soak.

I didn't go Tuesday, but I did go Wednesday. I don't have that WOD written down, but I know there was a day that I skipped, then came back the next day, and the AWESOME COOL PART, was that I ran to my second goal point! Blew past my first goal of the street sign, and got to the flags at half way. 

There wasn't a WOD on Thursday, then I was sick on Friday...through the whole week. I missed a week.

Returned on Thursday, 1/23, and did a WOD of a 10 ladder down and a ladder up of sit-ups and burpees. This means we started with 10 of each, then 9, then 8, and so on until you get to 1, then you do 2 of each again, then 3 of each, then 4, and so on until you're back to 10. I was allowed to "scale", which means I was allowed to modify and do a slightly easier version. I was allowed to go by 2's, so I did 10, 8, 6 etc, then by 2's back up to 10.  

Yesterday was Friday, 1/24, and again, I was right back at it. We had a big snow storm while I was sick last week, so both yesterday and today, we didn't warmup with a run because the sidewalks are a sheet of ice. So we did jumping jacks, sit-ups and lunges to warmup. Our WOD was push-presses, weighted back-squats, and weighted sit-ups. And I did the whole damn thing!!! No scaling! I used a 15# par for the press and squats! and a 10# plate for the sit-ups. I'm not breaking any world records for speed... Well, maybe for slowest, but I'm ok with that. I DID IT! And I did it ALL with no scaling.

Today is Saturday, January 25, and there wasn't a scheduled WOD for today, either. There is usually a Sunday WOD, but our fearless leader has kid-things to do for the next several Sunday's, but the rest of us may get together Sunday and do something anyway. We'll see.

I'm still struggling with motivation. See, I love exercising. I really do. I love doing it, and I love being done with it for the day. What I still can't manage to get into my head is to remember this. The getting up and going is the hardest part for me. It may be for you too, but it's still my daily struggle. 

But, I have noticed, that since these women are quickly becoming my friends, I don't want to let them down. They'll worry about me if I'm not there, and I love having adult time! I think this is going to help motivate me to get there and do it. I'm not afraid of being last, not using weights on some exercises, or having to scale so I don't hurt myself, but I am afraid of losing faith in myself.

Today is February 4. 

It's been about 2 weeks, and in that time, I've been out of commission with a tummy-bug that kept me tied to the potty for about a week, then with a flu-bug that has kept me wondering if my lungs would ever be the same again. I'm able to breathe again today, which is such a remarkable turn from this past week of misery. I've missed a lot of WOD's, and I'm afraid my body is going to feel,like I'm starting right back at zero when I'm back at it tomorrow. Today is a day of gradually getting my body moving again, putting the right foods back in my body, and getting the house kinda back into working order. I'm still coughing A LOT, and I'm dizzy, but my fever is gone and besides the pulled muscle in my side from all the coughing, I feel GOOD.

My "diet" over the past two weeks has consisted of comfort foods and things that are easily digested. A lot of rice, gluten free bread, and (gasp!) even some potatoes have been consumed over the past couple of weeks. I use the word "diet" not in the context of what Woman's Day Weekly has on the cover of it's magazine in the grocery isle, promising you'll lose 10 pounds by eating just grapefruit and cabbage, but meaning the entire content of foods I've eaten. I don't "diet". Diets suck. I've tried diets, and they make me sad and depressed. I like food too much. My typical food choices are meats and green veggies. 

But, because of the sick-girl comfort-food binge that has been my nourishment this past week, I'm scared to get on the scale. I'll get a reading tomorrow morning before heading out to the WOD. Or, if we have the predicted ice storm, I'll try to run a lap around the block then do hints here at the house to get the blood pumping briskly again.

Monday Feb 10.

Back with the girls today for another WOD. Warm-up was to run a 400, then do line drills of butt kicks, lunges, spider-man stretches, and high-knees. The WOD was running an 800, 50 lunges with weight over head, 50 crossover push-ups, then run another 800. Since it was my first week back after 2 weeks away, I scaled, and I'd half. I ran/walked 400, did 25 overhead weighted lunges, 25 crossover push-ups on my knees, then walked the last 400. GG came looking for me, so for about the last 1/4 of the last 400 I was carrying an extra 35 pounds. 

The coughing fit that ensued, however, was epic. My amazing friend Jen went around for another 400 because she didn't want to scale, but needed to because of her body getting use to Paleo. After she finished her scaled round, she did another set of 25 each lunges and push-ups, then ran another 400. I coughed the entire time she and the ladies were on the additional 400.

And now, I'm home, still coughing like crazy, but I feel so great! I love working out! I really do! It's HARD, and I almost barfed on my last 400 today, and then again when I was recovering collapsed and coughing while the team rallied around and Jen for her last 400, but it's all worth it, and I love it.

April 22. The CrossFit box opened about a month ago, but I haven't been able to join yet. I really miss it, but with one income and ensuring the kids get everything they need it's just not possible for me to have "extra's" right now. I miss my girls and I miss the workouts.

Last year I signed up to be a "Beach Body" coach so I could get Shakeology at a discount. So, why not use the resources that I have to get back on track with my fitness and health, AND earn a little extra income as well? DUH. Yeah. I'm a little slow at times. 

So my goal for the spring is to complete the "Slim in 6" series, follow the eating plans as much as possible, get some good before and after pics, and get the ball rolling with the Beach Body sales. Then, once I'm getting enough income to help out, I will hopefully have enough extra to join the box, plus my fitness level will be improved, so I can start at zero instead of negative 42.

Stay hungry, feed your body with what it needs, and move as much as possible.

Bacon Cups

Oh yes. You read that correctly.

I cut the bacon into 3 sections. 1 long section, and 2 small sections.

The small sections, I layer atop the muffin tin, criss-cross.

Then I wrapped the long piece around the muffin cup, overlapped the top, and patted down to seal.

I baked in a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Half came out PERFECT!

The other half? Ummm... Not so much. (Think I'll use thick bacon next time. Stay tuned for an update.)

Then I poached some eggs. One of these I did the swirling water technique, the other I just put in. I don't see, feel, or taste a difference. I used the tiny splash of vinegar to help coagulate the whites too.

Oh, holy crap! Why am I still taking pictures and not eating?

Seriously, Carter Ann, put down the camera and eat this beauty.

Um hum. Um hum. Yes. This was a good and fun experiment. I love my job.

Stay hungry, and play with your food. Just look at what you can make when you do.