Dinner Fail – Chicken Zucchini Soup

What do you do when you menu plan, buy all the right foods, and all the foods rot in the fridge before you get to use them? You have a dinner fail. That was us last evening.

I had every intention of using the zucchini in the fridge — until I took it out. The bag was slimy and the zucchini was spotted. Yum. *gag*

It was 45min until dinner was to be completed (in order for the rest of our nightly routine to not fall apart) — what the heck was I gonna make now?! Remember we are eating through our pantry this week and I’m trying not to buy anything until Monday.

I. Might. Not. Make. It.

So I made Chicken-no zucchini soup!

Recipe:
4 chicken breasts — diced/cooked
1 Onion — chopped
4 – 14.5oz cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 head of “riced” cauliflower
1/2 bag of “Fresh Express” spinach
1.5 cartons of chicken broth
salt/pepper/italian seasoning — to taste
Coconut sugar to add a little sweetness to the canned tomatoes
Olive oil to brown the chicken chunks

Directions:
Brown chicken in pan with olive oil and diced onions. (optional: add salt/pepper/and italian seasonings — or add later).
Throw everything else in pot and boil for 30min

We didn’t even have left overs!! — This was a HUGE hit with the kids! We allowed them to eat the leftover crackers and melba toasts in the house — we are cleaning out!!!

For other quick gluten/grain free inner ideas (minus the crackers, of course!) — check out the Grain-Free Solution System

Paleo Lunches

Paleo “Power Lunches”

I love eating like a caveman… hunting and gathering the things I need for my meals.

It is exhilarating!

However, we live in a suburban hell — not too many free range buffalo to pick from. And the neighbors don’t look to kindly on you peering over their fence to check out their pets as potential grub.

So how do I stay on track? How do I feed the kids lunches outside the home? Find out how I pack Paleo for our summer beach trips. Want the secrets to easy Paleo lunches? Pack lunches in minutes!!

I love Paleo Power Lunch. It helps me to have go-to lunch ideas, stay paleo outside the home, feel good about sending my kids out the door with good wholesome lunches (eliminating some mom guilt), and with all the good tips, weekly planner sheets, and checklists included — it helps me manage my time!! (WIN!)

Paleo Recipe Show Down

Happy 4th of July!!! (a little late!)

I know I have disappeared since I did the Paleo challenge — got emotionally stressed — quit — and threw a tantrum, old school. Not apologizing — just summarizing.

But I’m back — and I haven’t quite given up on Paleo and the healthy way of eating… I like healthy. I’m a health coach.

But I’m also a mom and military spouse and I like cheap, easy, and yummy!! (Bonus points if the kids will eat it too!!)

Today we are having a Paleo Show Down!!

I had some zucchini in the fridge that needed to be used and I needed to bring a dessert to the 4th of July BBQ we attended this weekend. In full disclosure – we had never made chocolate zucchini cake/bread before (paleo or otherwise). After searching the internet and my favorite Paleo sites — I found these two recipes. Both had ingredients that I had on hand, easy to follow directions, and didn’t include a bunch of crazy prepping!! (ain’t nobody got time for that sh*t).

We have two different chocolate zucchini breads from two awesome websites!!

On the left is the Blue Team: Living Healthy w/ Chocolate: http://livinghealthywithchocolate.com/desserts/best-chocolate-zucchini-bread-gluten-free-paleo-1566/

And on the right is the Red Team: PaleOMG:
http://paleomg.com/moist-chocolate-zucchini-bread/

 

**I made both recipes as directed with no alterations — I did however not have “mini loaf” pans — so they were cooked in big pans**

Waiting for them to bake and cool is torture. I WANT SNACKS!!

Results are in!!

First let me say both of these recipes were really good!! But there were slight differences that might make you decide for one over the other.

The Blue Team: (results compiled from whole family review)
– looks like chocolate chip brownie
– falls apart easily (in a crumbly delicious brownie/cake type of way)
– kids felt is was “dry” (I thought they were nuts)

The Red Team: (results compiled from whole family review)
– looks like a banana bread
– squishy
– toastable/more dense
– smells like fudge
– has more a a cinnamon flavor/after taste

We asked the kids to “rename” the desserts they tried — collectively the new name is: “Healthy Chocolate Awesomeness”!!

We will be making these again for sure!!

We also toasted “red team’s” the next morning buttered on the griddle. YUM! (not sure the blue team’s would have held up on the griddle).

What is the “Paleo” craze all about? Want to eliminate dairy/gluten from your diet but aren’t sure where to start??

Try the 30 day guide to the Paleo Diet: Click Here!