HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY, and is there a shortage of basil or what?

Oh..Duck Dynasty...happy happy happy is something they say quite often. It cracks me up. It's pretty much in reference to anything. One of the things I absolutely love about the show. Have you been curious to peek yet? Meet the Robertons. I love them. Again if you are needing a pick me up..watch one episode. I am guessing you could either love it or hate it. 

One thing I heard from more than one person this week-getting tired of breakfast stuff!
Here's the deal. I find the same thing from time to time. Probably not as often as most because honestly-I have already learned that it's not odd at all to eat breakfast for lunch, dinner for breakfast, breakfast for lunch or dinner etc etc. The way we eat there are SO many options. 
Tuesday morning last week I had a piece of leftover salmon with an egg and spinach in place of my typical chicken or turkey sausage. It's not odd to see me from time to time eating a turkey burger for breakfast and eggs for dinner. DON'T BE AFRAID TO MIX IT UP!! Especially if you are tempted to eat something that will derail you. Try it out and see how it works. Saturday morning I saw Jo eating her egg with a piece of chicken breast and I think it was kale or green beans, if you are getting bored with breakfast don't be afraid to mix it up. 

Food business is going to be a little sparse today. Here are a few staples I picked up today. I am finding more and more that as I add items in that I would not normally have when I want to try something new I have the ingredients in stock. Like a huge bag of pistachios. I watch my nuts and seeds very closely. Try not to over indulge. That is why I bought the ones with shells.

I have a good breakfast recipe and one that was posted as a possible breakfast but I am using it as a treat. 
Here is the deal on treats. I am actually going to reference a paragraph from Marias post from this recipe. It is so well written and makes absolute perfect sense - then I will add in my take-

"Even with the best of ingredients (nut flours, veggies, eggs, coconut) and lack of the worst ingredients (refined flours, industrial seed oils, added sugars), these little treats can still interfere with your health and body composition goals if consumed frequently.

Regardless of the quality of ingredients, baked goodies should not be touted as a good-for-you food. Good for the palate, yes.
Better than the processed, sugar-laden junk you buy at the bakery, yes.
But will eating these baked goods promote optimal health?
Probably not.
Having said that, indulging in these baked goods infrequently are MUCH better than choosing MANY of the purchased baked goods."

What stands out to me the most that grabbed my undivided attention-is the statement they they can still interfere with your health and body composition. I personally experienced an issue with treats that I am happy to say I finally have under control. It cost me 8# meaning I gained 8#-now granted this was during the holidays and I did indulge in some other things I should not have. AND yes, I had to get on a scale to know this. I preach not getting on a scale but there are times you are just going to have to. I would recommend you just don't do it obsessively. Saturday morning I decided to finally weigh again and FINALLY, almost 2 months later..buh bye you nasty 8#. I have a weight I like to be at and I am there. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. With baked goods, treats-whatever you want to call them I find the same thing I find when I overdo it on my starches, I feel bloated and yuck. So I have a goal to not go completely without some goodness-I feel you need a treat from time to time, I am just going to be really smart about it. With all of that being said. YES! I made this. From Marias blog of course Optimal Nutrition. Urging you again if you haven't ready her post on adrenal health..take the time to read it. So much good info!!! 

http://optimalnutrition1.blogspot.com/#!/2013/01/adrenal-health.html

Carrot Pistachio Breakfast Loaf

Ingredients

3/4 cup almond flour

1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs 1/2 vanilla extract
4 tblsp coconut oil, melted
2 very ripe bananas, mashed (1/2 c)
7 dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 c carrots, grated
1/4 unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 c pistachios, chopped
1/4 c unsweetened cranberries
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Lightly grease loaf pan w/ some coconut oil or line with parchment paper.
In large bowl, combine almond flour, baking soda and cinnamon.
In another bowl, whisk eggs, stir in vanilla, coconut oil and mashed bananas.
Combine wet and dry ingredients.
Fold in dates, carrots, coconut, cranberries and pistachios.
Dump into loaf pan.
Bake about 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean.

Link is below

http://optimalnutrition1.blogspot.com/#!/2013/02/carrot-pistachio-breakfast-loaf.html

Ingredients-again- had most of them on hand. Had a really hard time finding unsweetened cranberries, I am sure you can get them at Whole Foods but I wasn't driving there for 1 ingredient so I had to settle for getting the bag marked "less sugar" eh not super happy, this older lady at the store was getting a complete kick of me reading all the cranberry bags out loud and whining about why everything has to have sugar added and I was getting so MAD. She just chuckled at me..as she wheeled away on her assisted cart with her chocolate chips..I am not judging her..nope. Notice the shredded carrots? awesome..bags of shredded carrots. Best snack ever. Anyway this recipe is great. My home was filled with the most amazing smell. It's not complicated and it is delicious-I had one little corner and then I portioned them all and right into the freezer they went. I will keep you posted as to how it goes this week with treats in the freezer.

This was still steaming not a great pic wish you could see the deliciousness

All bagged up for freezer time.

The only other recipe I have for you with pics today is ....breakfast quiche. I remembered that I saw this one on PaleOmg. I am not sick of breakfast but again- I like to switch it up from time to time. 

I normally will make a recipe exactly the way it is written the first time then tweak it from there but with this one I was comfortable tweaking it out of the gate. I need to make sure I have enough breakfast to get me through the week so I made just a little extra. I used a combo of regular turkey sausage and hot turkey sausage. With the leftover I made little sausage meatballs which will be my quick source of protein post WOD this week. I also added 2 additional eggs as well as more spinach. I opted to keep my sweet potatoes chunky-AND, I did not salt it at all. This is one thing I am learning I really have to watch. I have noticed when I follow the salt, with the garlic powder that some of the recipes call for, it's just to salty for my taste and if you need salt you can always add it. I always crack up so bad when I read Julies blog. She is a nut! 

As Julie states in her recipe this will shrink

Add caption

Meat Crust Quiche

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 1 pound breakfast pork sausage (or italian sausage)
• 1 small sweet potato, diced
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 4 eggs, whisked
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon ground paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (or other kind of fat)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Now you gotta make your meat into a crust. So pull out a pie plate and begin to press your meat into the pan until it is even all around and pressed up to the rim of the plate.
3. Place the pan on a baking sheet (in case of any spills) and in the oven, and bake for 18-20 minutes until meat presses back when you poke it. It doesn’t need to be completely cooked through, but pretty close.
4. While your crust is baking, place 2 tablespoons of fat into a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the minced garlic.
5. Add in the chopped onions and sweet potatoes to the pan and mix to cover with garlic. Once the onions begin to become translucent, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top and cover to help steam the potatoes and cook quicker.
6. Once potatoes are tender after about 4-5 minutes, toss in the spinach and cover once more to help the spinach wilt.
7. After a minute or two, once the spinach is wilted, remove your mixture from the pan and place in a bowl to let cool.
8. When mixtures is cooled, add in the eggs, garlic powder, ground paprika and a bit more salt. Mix well.
9. After the crust is done baking, remove the excess oil that may be left behind, then pour your egg mixture on top of the meat crust. It’s just fine if some leaks over into the pan because the meat will shrink just a bit.
10. Place the pan back into the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes. My quiche took quite some time to completely cook through because the pan wasn’t very deep, so be sure to just poke at the middle. Once the middle pushes back when you poke it, it’s all good to go.
11. Let cool, cut and serve. Avocado on top was perfect
12. I tested just a corner of this DELICIOUS!!

I have 2 other recipes I am doing this week. The soup is in the pot so I will let you know how this goes. This is why the question is there a shortage of basil? Why is it so hard to find a good healthy handful of basil in your basic grocery store? There are times dried basil is fine but not in a Tomato BASIL soup right? I was so frustrated today and I don't think I ended up with as much basil as I needed but I bought out what was left at WalMart and then the last one at Target as well. That was it..my rant about basil. Again I am sure I could find plenty at Whole Foods but again-already had been to 3 stores. Lame

http://www.freerangecrossfit.com/2012/tomato-basil-soup/

I am saving this one for Wednesday. I still have 3 turkey patties from Friday night and a delicious portabello mushroom that will more than likely be my lunch tomorrow.  And Wednesday I do not train the kiddos so I actually have time that night to cook something different if I need a little break. If I don't make this Wednesday its for SURE on the menu for next food prep day.

http://paleomg.com/herb-spinach-chicken-burgers/

SPEAKING OF FOOD PREP DAY!!! Just to show you what your fridge SHOULD look like after food prep. I get excited when people get excited about being prepared!! Thanks Jo for the photo..Safe to say she is ready for the week eh?

Here's we go..the Open is 24 days away. Are you doing everything you can to be ready? For those of you preparing just for life, have you done everything you can to prep for the week? Always have a plan-even if you have to travel, or you have a really busy schedule. The key to getting and staying on track is simply that you have to put the work in. Easier said than done sometimes but it's truly the most basic thing you can do. Put the work in. 
Have a great week everyone- lift heavy and dirty and always eat clean!!

Croni...Out. (my family will appreciate that)