Madison James

This is the recipe for the Cinnamon Bun Muffins I brought to the BBQ/Paleo wrap up last Friday. I had some requests for the recipe, and so here it is.

CinnaBuffins

Topping:

• 2 Tbsp Honey (or maple syrup)
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon
• 1-2 Tbsp Coconut oil

Muffin Mix:

• 1 C blanched Almond flour
• 2 Tbsp. of unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 C unsweetened apple sauce
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Combine dry muffin ingredients in a bowl.
3. Combine wet muffin ingredients in a bigger bowl.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet.
5. Fill muffin liners 3/4 full with batter.
6. With a spoon, drizzle topping on top of each muffin.
7. Bake 8-12 minutes until toothpick comes out of the center clean.
8. Let cool on wire wrack until consumable. Devour.

The results are in! Thank you all for waiting patiently for the results to be properly calculated, and the Holiday to be properly observed before we delivered the highly anticipated news!

By the numbers: (straight from HQ- that’s Bob! ;) )

Workout Fitness Challenge
Female: 1st Christy Dustin (6:27 improvement WITH an extra 400m thanks to Madison), 2nd Julie Anderson (6:03 improvement), 3rd Esther Geizendanner (4:57 improvement)
Male: 1st Tad Lowder (3:58 improvement), 2nd Mark Lester 3:50 improvement), 3rd Dustin Ward (2:10 improvement)

Paleo Challenge 2010
Athletes signed up for challenge: 18
Athletes completing challenge: 12

Most improved body fat %:
Male: 1st Dustin Ward (3.57% drop with 1.5lbs weight gain), 2nd Tad Lowder (0.49% drop), 3rd Mark Lester
Female: 1st Denece Boren (0.3% drop), 2nd tie: Julie Anderson (0.22% drop) and Becky Lowder (0.22% drop)

Most inches lost:
Male: 1st Dustin Ward (2.5 inches lost), 2nd Mark Lester (2+ inches lost), 3rd Tad Lowder (1.75 inches lost)
Female: 1st Janice (5.3 inches lost), 2nd Julie Anderson (3.75 inches lost), 3rd Esther (3.25 inches lost)

Overall Paleo Challenge Winners:
Male: Dustin Ward
Female: Julie Anderson

Congrats everyone for all your hard efforts! They’ve obviously paid off- these numbers are incredible. The Workout Challenge I 1st place winners will each be awarded a one month unlimited membership. The Overall Paleo Challenge winners (we factored in both inches and BF% lost) will each be awarded half the pot of money collected from all the participants, which equates to $90 each. Don’t spend it all in one place, kids!

Keep up the training and eating- you guys are forces to be reckoned with. It’s been fun. For anyone interested in continuing their Paleo adventure, I’ll be weighing, measuring, and photographing anyone interested at the beginning of August to get an approximate 60 day results. There is no monetary prize involved in this one, just the reward and satisfaction of getting legitimate scientific proof that eating well is way worth it.

Come tomorrow at 6- everyone's doing it!

Tomorrow is the OFFICIAL finish of the Paleo Challenge. In celebration we will workout, and eat (two of my personal all-time favorite things to do!). Because of the event (and because we know you all HOPEFULLY put this on your calendar and planned around it… ahem!) there will be NO other CLASSES all day Friday, July 2nd. Sorry if it inconveniences anyone, but we encourage anyone and everyone to show up to The Workout Challenge, whether your involved with the Paleo Challenge or not! It starts at 6 p.m. and we’ll be running the workouts in heats. Show up, bring a healthy side dish and a friend/spouse/family member, and get ready for some friday night fun! At least my idea of fun… ;)

P.S. the grub should be GOOD! I hear some of our own gym members have become quite the Paleo Chef’s. My mouth is salivating just thinking of all the goodies.

As promised, I tried out the Paleo Cobbler recipe I found last week, and the verdict is: it’s great! I used raspberries and it ended up pretty tart, so i’d recommend sticking with the original suggestion of blackberries- or maybe mixing berries. I put fresh blueberries and coconut milk on top, and it was plenty sweet enough for my raging sweet tooth.

Berry Cobbler

• 3 cups of berries
• 1 1/2 Cups Almond Meal
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil
• cinnamon to taste
• drizzle of raw honey (optional)
• coconut milk to top it all off

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Pour berries into ceramic pie dish.
3. In a small bowl mix together almond meal, egg, coconut oil, and cinnamon. Should be rather thick and maybe a little bit clumpy.
4. Drizzle some honey for added sweetness over berries in pie dish.
5. Crumble the almond meal mixture over the berries by hand.
6. Bake for 35 minutes.
7. Top with coconut milk (and fresh berries, if you’d like!) and devour. :)

step 5

step 7

In fact, for many of you, it’s just beginning. You made it past that 21 day hump, and hopefully the cravings are less persistent. You’re starting to get the hang of things, and recognize and appreciate REAL food. Maybe you cheated and paid dearly for it, because your system is becoming more sensitive to poor quality “foods” (i.e. taco bell…. waffles…. toast- sound familiar?). Or you cheated and realized you can enjoy one cookie and be satisfied, instead of munching on a whole half dozen… or entire package. You are realizing that it’s fun, exciting, and downright yummy to eat this way- oh yeah, and it’s totally maintainable. This isn’t a diet about restrictions and measurements. It’s about celebrating good food and cleaning out your body so you’re more sensitive to the array of flavors natural, healthy food has to offer.

While the days are getting warmer and the berries, fruits and fresh veggies are in abundance, I encourage you to try to whole heartedly embrace this way of clean eating, take advantage of the season’s local produce and meat. Most of the delicious things I’ve found require no processing, and hardly any cooking to modify them. I’ve been less inclined to post recipes because, frankly, I haven’t been using them as much! When everything tastes so good on it’s own, I don’t WANT to detract from it’s deliciousness.

Yesterday I grilled buffalo steaks, asparagus, broccolini, portobello mushrooms, and onion for lunch. Along with that we had some locally grown strawberries, Rainier Cherries, and avocado. The only thing we did for “seasoning” was douse the veggies in a bit of olive oil, garlic, and basil (my current favorite herb). It was easy, quick, satisfying, and provided a few meals worth of left overs.

While we are on the TAIL end of the Challenge, remember that some things are best left unaltered and undressed. You don’t HAVE to find a recipe for everything or plan every meal out, because intuitively, your body knows what it needs; plain ol’ meat, veggies, fruit, and fats. Happy BBQing!

This is admittedly not the prettiest picture I have posted… however, despite their motley exterior, they taste marvelous. I threw these in a bowl and put some avocado on top for quick post workout consumption. The picture was an afterthought, obviously, but if my haste is any indication of how delectable these suckers are, you’re in for a treat. ;) If you want to do the real deal meal, there’s a recipe for a yummy looking sauce here, at everyday paleo. These are ideal leftovers to pack for lunch, or picnic with.

Marvelous Motley Meatballs

• 1 lb grass fed ground beef
• 1 lb ground turkey
• chopped onion and carrots
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 Cup almond meal
• lots of dried oregano, garlic powder, cracked black pepper, and a little cayenne
• small drizzle of honey

1. Mix all ingredients by hand, and form into meatballs.
2. Brown in frying pan in olive oil, over medium heat.
3. Once browned, turn heat down to medium-low, cover, and let sit for about 20 minutes.
4. Thasssit! Enjoy.

…and mother’s, too. Just thought I’d try and be festive about the occasion. Happy Father’s Day, everyone! First time I attempted Paleo Pancakes was Mother’s day. Since then, I have spent many attempts tweaking and trying recipe’s to find the ULTIMATE paleo pancake recipe. The one i’ve settled on is pretttttttty dang scrumptious. So much so, you might forget you’re eating primally…

Paleo Pancakes

Serves 2

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp. almond butter (one Tbsp. if you like them crepe like, two if you like it a little thicker)
• 2-3 Tbsp. almond meal (optional, if you prefer a more bready consistency- I omit this)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• berries of your choice to top it all off

1. Mash the bananas well with a potato masher.
2. Add egg, almond butter, vanilla, and cinnamon, and mix well with wooden spoon.
3. Grease griddle with coconut oil, and set at medium to medium high temp.
4. Cook small, thin pancakes until they start to bubble (2-4ish mins each side) and careeeefullly flip to brown other side.
5. Serve with fresh berries and protein side of your choice. Super yummy.

Footnote: Christy told me she was successful cooking them individually in small ramekins in the oven. That way they turn out more like german pancakes, without the hassle of flipping an admittedly hard to flip flap jack.

I’ve been testing out curry recipes, and have found one that I really like. It’s got a more coconut milk taste than some of the other curries I’ve tried, which is what I was going for. You could probably make a pretty mean one with shrimp instead of chicken, too. The picture was taken in haste, because after one bite I wanted to chow down the whole thing! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Chicken Curry slightly modified from My Paleo Kitchen

Serves 2-3

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 spoonfuls coconut oil
• 1 onion (diced)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• small piece of ginger (minced)
• a tomato
• 1/2 a zucchini
• 1/2 an orange bell paper (use a whole if you like- any color!)
• 3 spoonfuls of curry (or more to taste)
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• pinch of salt (optional)
• cayenne pepper (to taste)
• lemon juice

1. Take a wok type of pan. As long as it’s slightly deeper than a frying pan you’re ok. Start with heating up the oil.
2. Add the curry powder, ginger and cinnamon to the oil and stir until you smell the spices.
   
3. Then add the onion and garlic. Stir for another minute or so.
4. Next add the chicken. Wait for it to brown before you add the zucchini and bell pepper. Push that around in your pan for a bit, and when you’re satisfied…
   
5. Pour the coconut milk over the mix. Also add your diced up tomato. Make it small dice. Add a bit of salt if you like. Leave this on a lower heat for about 20 minutes.
6. Before serving stir in lemon juice and cayenne pepper to taste.
7. Enjoy! It’s terrific as a soup type dish, completely devoid of rice. It’s so good, you won’t even remember why you ever ate rice!

Okay, so it isn’t Sunday. It’s Thursday. But it’s THURSDAY, and I’m craving a sweet, so I’m bringing the sweets (and a taste of the weekend!) a leetllle bit early. Forgive me? Thought you might!

I present to you a photo-blogged recipe of coconut almond macaroons- I am personally rating this one DELISH on the yum-o-meter (if there was one, I’m pretty sure that’d be pretty high…).

Lemon Almond Macaroons

Makes 5 cookies (Yes, just 5!! Might wanna double the recipe if you’ve got a hungry clan)

• 1 1/4 Cup almonds
• 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. grated lemon peel
• 3 Tbsp. shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 1/4 Cup raw honey
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 250F.
2. Grind almonds coarsely (I used my blender, which kind of pulverized them, but got the job done).
3. Combine cinnamon, lemon peel, and coconut, and add to almond mixture.
4. Beat egg whites very stiff (I whisked it as briskly as humanly possible for a good chunk of time; maybe next birthday I’ll get a beater….)
   
5. Fold in honey and continue beating, then fold in almond mixture, and lemon juice, if extra lemony taste is desired.
6. Drop from spoon onto ungreased parchment paper over a cookie sheet.
7. Bake 30 minutes.
8. Remove from paper to rack with a spatula while still slightly warm. CONSUME!!

Cod and Cherry Almond Salad w/Orange Dressing

First of all, let me say, I’m not usually Cod fan (not the team, if there is a team with a Cod mascot). However, the fresh (and wild caught!) variety, broiled with a sweet and tangy marinade makes for the best Cod I recall ever meeting. Makes one wonder why anyone would ever suffocate the poor things in deep fried batter… perhaps that’s what they do with the non-desirable, past prime (aka fishy tasting) cod. I’ll pay the extra few bucks for a fresh one, thanks! Hold the golden fried heart attack.

Cayenne Citrus Cod

• 1/4 Cup of fresh squeezed orange juice
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. of lemon juice
• juice of 1 fresh squeezed lime
• 1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 Tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 lb cod fillet (2 servings worth)
• 3 Tbsp. chopped purple onion
• 1 Tbsp. of dried thyme after it’s cooked and ready to serve

1. Combine orange, lemon, and lime juices in a bowl with cayenne pepper, garlic, olive oil, and 1/3 Cup water to make the marinade.
2. Place fish in a glass baking dish, pour in marinade (saving a few Tbsp. for later), and marinate 15 minutes, turning fish over halfway through.
3. Broil fish on high for 5-7 minutes each side, depending on how thick your fillet is.
4. When done cooking, pour spoonful of marinade over each serving of fish, and sprinkle with thyme.
5. Serve with dried cherry, sliced almond, and cucumber salad, with orange dressing.

Orange Dressing

Whisk:

• juice squeezed from 1/4 of an orange
• about 1 1/2 Tbsp. of olive oil
• pepper (optional)