Urban Cave Girl

Just a quick post about a really great meal we had last night.

Mashed Cauliflower -
Cut up and steamed a heat of cauliflower until it was soft.
Put it and a few tbsp of butter in my food processor and let it go.
Faux mashed potatoes.  I like them even better cause I hate potatoes.

Chicken Breasts -
Mix .5 cup of brown mustard with 2tbsp of organic raw honey.
Dredge chicken breasts in the mustard/honey mixture and then coat
with chopped up nuts.  I used almonds and macadamia nuts.
Place the chicken breasts in a greased baking dish and cook 40-45 minutes
(depending on size of chicken) at 375.

Mixed Greens topped with some avocado.

The chicken recipe I had originally found here, at Everyday Paleo.
Of course NOW I can't find the exact link to the recipe but it's there...some where.....
I hate to use a recipe spot on and not give credit.  I'll keep looking.
The entire site is filled with great recipes though!  Check it out!

Whole family gave the meal a thumbs up!
Even my 8yr old who proclaims she doesn't like cauliflower loved them last night.

It's not rocket science.
I made a video...ok it bled into two videos...about some of the things we keep on hand to make living a healthy primal lifestyle that much easier.  I just want to say that it's doesn't have to be hard.
You don't have to burden yourself with all the details.
Do what you can, with what you have, RIGHT NOW!!!!





Part Two

Yesterday was my fabulous husband's birthday!
Seeing how he loves PB I decided to come up with a cheesecake I could make it.
It was completely on the fly and I didn't follow a recipe.
But I'll share because it came out REALLY good!
(P.S I know Peanuts aren't Paleo/Primal)

I'm actually just going to paste in here an email I sent to a few friends who wanted the recipe.  So much easier than retyping and I'm kinda lazy like that.

I got a bag of mixed nuts from trader joes. Roasted unsalted. It had no peanuts or macadamias, just everything else. I pulled out all the brazil nuts just cause they are Roberts fav and then I put all the rest into my processor and chopped them up. Not too much. I didn't want a nut meal and I didn't want a nut butter. But just enough so they get good and chopped up.

Mixed all those crushed nuts with 1 egg, a tiny tiny dash of my organic stevia extract from trader joes and about 1, maybe 2 tbs of melted butter.

I greased a pie pan with some coconut oil. It is a dark nonstick round pan..not very deep. 

Put the nut mixture in the greased up pan and spread it all around the bottom and up the sides. I then baked the crust at 350 for about 10-12 minutes. Then pull it out.


Here is a picture of the crust:

For the inside I mixed up two boxes of cream cheese from traders joes, 3 eggs, about 3/4 cup crunchy organic pb, 2-3 tbs of heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp of vanilla, and then did about 3 dashes of the stevia extract. If you've never used the stevia extract BE CAREFUL!!!! seriously, it's soooo potent!!! Always err on the side of caution. I added the stevia at the very end of the mixing and kind of just did it to taste. I'd add a tiny bit, mix, then taste. Cause really too much would RUIN your cake or whatever else you're making.

I poured the mixture in the pie crust and spread it around. It was kinda thick-ish. Not super thick but like a mousse.

Then I put it in the oven at 300 and baked it for about 55 minutes. Then turned the oven off and let it sit for about another 20 or so minutes. 

The top cracked and got kinda golden. After the oven I put it in the fridge till it was time to serve it.




At serving time I just melted up some 85% dark chocolate and then drizzled it over the cake. I made whipping cream too just cause I wasn't sure how the cake was going to taste and I figured some good ol' whipping cream can make everything better, but really Robert said the cake didn't need it.




I'll admit I had a TINY ever so tiny sliver this morning and it is WAYYYYYY better the next day after sitting in the fridge. Just my thoughts on that. 

I didn't compute the carb count. But it's per slice it's probably pretty low. 

Hope that makes sense.

Sorry, nothing good and kinky like an STD, or worse even a pregnancy test!  It's just some nasty ketones.

I've been following my fat fast for four days now, feel fantastic and I totally think part of that is related to the no caffeine, and I'd like to say I'm about "back to normal"  whatever that might be.  Last nights pee test showed me to be a in decent state of ketosis.  People - The Sugar has left the building!!

I'm unsure if it is moderate ketosis or large.....
I made my older daughter hold the bottle and stick for me while I took the picture over her shoulder.  I didn't tell her exactly what it was till the photo was done because I knew that holding a stick mom peed on was NOT on her top 10 list of things to do.  But she seemed to think the color was more dark.  I made sure to take the test in the early evening after I'd drank a lot of water that day.  I guess my thought is the more diluted my pee the better cause if it shows ketones in a really diluted state then it's more accurately reading that I'm definitely there.  Make sense?  Doesn't matter, to me it does.

The holidays always wreck havoc on me and it's because I let it happen.  This year was pleasantly stress free and enormously filled with many treats, none of them paleo friendly.  Well, except for the bacon ;)
 I enjoy baking at the holidays, it's what I do.  After the holidays are over and I feel like shit....I'm just not sure yet if it's worth it all or not.  I did get by this year with no eggnog and brandy...hhmmmm  imagine that.  I think I made up for it with irish cream though in my many pots of coffee.

The last couple days I'm not going to lie have found me in major psycho bitch mode.  I won't even try to sugar coat that one.  I've snapped at several people, especially family.  They always take the brunt of it.  I've gone off on a few Facebook friends and even at one point contemplated deactivating my account because I thought I would kill some of them.  I ranted a few days ago how much I hate people who've had weight loss surgery, which isn't even true, I don't really hate anyone, and I've gone from giggles to smiles in a matter of milliseconds.
Low carbs + PMS = Aint that a bitch (like me)

Today, MUCH better though!!!


So I think I mentioned a few posts back about how I was theming this year to be the year of "LEARNING"
Learning many things.  Some fun and some not so fun.  Some will probably free me and some will probably take up a shit load of my time.

The first on the list is learning to embrace ME!  With all my faults and flaws.  I am not perfect and I need to learn that is A-OK!

I think you all know by now about my 24 Hour Fitness campaign I did and if you know about it, then you probably also know I HATED the pictures.  I actually can barely stand to look at them.
Well there are HUGE billboards and cutouts of me at the mall.  A very busy mall!  I never seen them but EVERYONE and their mother seen them and I can't tell you how many pictures I have in my email box from friends and family with them standing next to my posters.
Anyone in their right mind would think "wow how cool!"  But all I could think was "NOOOOOO!!!"
I had NO intention of going and seeking out any of them.  I hadn't been to the mall in like 7 months.  I've even avoided the gym for a long time so I wouldn't see them.  The only parts of the campaign I've seen are on their website and newsletters.
My husband though, being the wonderful guy that he is, drug my ass to the mall the other day.  He said
"YOU WILL REGRET NOT SEEING THEM!"  And, he was right.  I let out a big exhale and said to hell with it and I'm glad I did.




Yes, it was kinda fun to see my face all over.  I still hate the pictures though....lol (however my boobs looks fabulous!)

Happy New Year!

Is there anything better than a fresh start?!!  I'm not a huge fan of "resolutions" but I am a big goal setter and I set goals several times through out the year. This time of year being one of them.

Every year I pick a "theme" for the year and then my goals some what follow along.  Last year was all about trying new things and breaking out of my shell.  Leaving my comfort zone and seeing where the trail takes me.  It was a good year!

My 2010 in review went something like this:

1.  Finished a Master Cleanse and kicked my caffeine addiction.   Never thought I could live without caffeine (or food for that matter) and I proved I could.  I did revert back though 6 months later and well....we'll talk about that down below.

2.  Read everything I could get my hands on about anthropology and primal eating and found that we really do thrive off nothing but meats, veggies, fruits, and nuts.  I've NEVER felt better!  I'll admit, I was scared to let go of my yogurt and oatmeal.

3.  Travelled to meet in person 3 people whom I had met on FB.  From virtual friends to true, face to face real friends.  Fantastic people!

4.  Took two road-trips alone with my girls.  One to LA with my oldest and then one to WA and ID with BOTH GIRLS.  It was an adventure to say the least and something I normally would never do alone but, this year was all about doing new things.  We bonded and had a wonderful time.

5.  Went to a modeling casting call.  OMG talk about NOT IN MY COMFORT ZONE!!  Got selected and then went on to shoot a whole campaign for 24 hour Fitness and it turned out to be one of the single best experiences EVER!  Being a supermodel is REALLY hard work though.

6.  Got my business license for photography, made a website, began advertising and starting actually charging people money!!! I never felt confident enough in my work and even though I do still get a twinge of "ugh I'm not good enough for you to pay me" every once in a while, I'm making progress.

7.  We bought our first grass-fed cow and it was delicious!!!  I'd always just bought the meat pc by pc at the market and was a little leery of buying so much at once. It worked out though and that meat is already GONE.  Getting ready to get some more!

8.  Went to a trapeze class (hello I'm scared to death of heights) and had an amazing time!!!  If you missed my video flying high in the sky, check it out here:



9.  Read a LOT of books on the power of positive thinking and the laws of attraction.  I kinda became obsessed with it and still sort of am, however not as severely as I was for awhile.   There is a fine line between the laws of attraction and religious nut-jobs.  It's a really fine line I tread carefully.

10.  Drove with my sister in law cross country from CA to VA.  It was awesome!!  I was scared we might hate each other by the end but if anything it just made us closer.



So, those were some of the high points. It was a great year!

This year the theme is "learning" new things.  Or, relearning old things.

I started the year again with a Master Cleanse because I did pick up my caffeine addiction on that cross country road-trip and I won't lie, by the end of the year I was back to drinking two pots of coffee a day.  The withdrawal was the same as last year, only this time I knew I wasn't going to die.  The massive migraines and vomiting went away after two days and now, feeling Grreeaaatt!!

I'm still working on some of the goals and I'll have them finished up by tomorrow and post about them later.

It's going to be a phenomenal year!  I can just FEEL IT!!!!!