My New Favorite - Small Kitchen Appliance

I love the veggetti!

My First Attempt at a Paleo Pot Recipe

I have a crockpot. I use it often, but it's mainly for making one recipe. It's really not even a recipe, so I'm not sure why I'm calling it that...it's just pinto beans. Add water. Add dry beans. Boom, dinner! I'd like to use my crockpot more often and add some variety. Monday, was my first stab at trying a paleo pot recipe.

This is what I made, Stuffed Pork Chops with bacon, green apples, and pecans. I can't believe this golden recipe has been sitting in my Pinterest for over a year.

I never grabbed a photo of the end result
1. Because crockpot photos never really look appetizing. Am I right?
2. Because it was too yummy for me to stop and take a snapshot.

The stuffing is the bomb.com. I would make this recipe again and again, the only thing I'd change is, I would probably add a little bit of water and add an extra onion or two. Here is the full recipe from Paleopot.com.

Dakota loved the meat.
Chey ate it, but I could tell it wasn't her favorite.
Trey wasn't at home, if he was home I'm 100% positive he wouldn't have even tried it.

My Week in Photos

Occassionally, I buy Amanda and the kiddos donuts. They were pretty excited this morning.

Fill in the blank....
This girl is still not ____________!

I got some purple Cauliflower from Central Market. All I could think of while I was eating my salad was -- Go TCU Frogs!

More food related images. The kids made apple pie this week. Chey brought some home to share with us and ended up eating most of it. I don't blame her, it was delicious!

Sleep Before Food. I'm the opposite. I'll wake-up just to eat.
For several years my ice machine stopped working. A few months ago, Trey wiggled the ice box around and all of a sudden it started working again. STRANGE!
Earlier this week, the water dispenser started gushing out water and it wouldn't stop. Trey had to drag the fridge out and stop the line or something like that -- I don't know, I'm a girl. If I was home alone and that happen -- I would probably just scream.

My Week in Photos

Dakota needs to slow her arm rolls, she is growing too fast for me.

The girls sitting in the mudroom, playing

This is the time of year when sandals are on sale. I got a pair and since this is Texas, I should be able to wear them until December.

I'm now using this paleo bread recipe. It's delicious!
http://www.myprimaladventures.com/2012/05/gourmet-thin-crust-pizza.html

It's really dense and filling. One slice, goes a long way.

More yummy food, I've been eating this week. Lately, I've been on an arugula kick. 
I took the leftover Paleo bread to Ladies Night. This was my dish, that I shared: Gluten-Free Chicken Meatballs with Tomato sauce from Trader Joes's, Arugula salad and Almond Meal (paleo bread).

I hope Trey got something for the girls

Check out Trey's spectacular view, on the plane.

I Want to Keep Everything, Dripping Bacon & Getting Use to the Mess

Do I have to return these Le Tote items????? I love everything they sent me. I'll send my tote back tomorrow and wait in anticipation for my next one. I kind of want to add dresses to "my le tote closet" --- which is basically a wish list, but I'm not sure the length on the dresses. They'd have to be work appropriate, ya know? This girl is not going to the club.

I have fallen behind on my week in photos blog post, so let me just throw them at you, right now. Let's start with the good stuff. Bacon? No, dripping Bacon.
Typical Monday meal prepping stuff...

throw in some choclate and this is what I call a balanced meal

My grocery store started carrying this! I'm super excited to make kale chips and I don't have to wash or chop anything. Easy-peasy.

Giving her fruit popsicles are such a mess (this pic, she looks clean, but fast forward 5 minutes later and mess!), but she loves them - so I just need to get use to the fact that things will be messy for a while, until she gets older and learns how to feed herself.
Crammed in the back of the focus with 2 pretty girls

Play-time at the mall with mrs. amanda! Today, she took the kids to see Turbo and next week they are going to the aquarium. I'd say Mrs. Amanda is pretty cool.

Eats, Treats and What is that?

Chyenne and I made homemade pizza. Gluten-free.
Almond Meal pizza crust.

Dakoata had a puree treat. This comboniation sounds so weird, but I'm telling you it tastes amazing -- It's avacoado slices, oranges, bananna slices and spinach. I added a lit bit of water, pureed it and that's it.

It looks scary, but Dakota and I ate it up.

Half Marathon Training Week 3

I'm going on week three of training for the Dallas Marathon. I'll be running the half. Here is my training from last week.

2 Weeks in and it's still hard. I really like when I see on the training schedule easy run, that's my favorite. Although, I love the way I feel after my speed workouts.

Saturday, I ran long:
6 Miles Duration: 1:05
Average Pace Per Mile: 10:54
Weather: Rainy
It rained the entire time. I kept the effort on the comfortable side, but towards the end I was really tired! Getting to the last .25 was a struggle.

P.S. I made another batch of paleo almond brownies. Mmmm, these are good.

This is What Comfort Food Looks Like: Mini-Meatloaf

Lately, I've been trying new recipes. Here is the latest one, Meatloaf minis. I found this recipe at Nom Nom Paleo.

It was delicious! They'd be perfect for parties, potlucks or tailgating. Trey doesn't like most of the ingredients, so guess who will have plenty of leftovers? Me!

I Love this recipe because it has common ingredients and they are all natural. Also, anything that includes sweet potato chunks, is a winner.

Since When is this a Long Run? & Brownies!

It was a good first week of training for the Dallas (Half) Marathon. Now, only 11 more weeks, something like that....

Saturday Long Run

Distance: 5.11 miles
Average Pace Per Mile: 10:09
Duration: 52 minutes
Weather: 66 degrees, but I was still sweating like crazy
I felt okay about this run. I took three rest breaks for 30 seconds. I caught my breath for a moment and chugged water. I drank about 8 oz of water.

I was done in less than an hour and this was considered my long run for the week. Yeah, I'm really liking this half marathon schedule. I know, that as the weeks progress, the miles and time, will be more demanding, but still this is not what I'm use to for a training schedule. I might have to reconsider more half marathon races. Now, I feel like I'm cheating on my ultra marathons. I'm sorry, I take it back (maybe).

Other than running and Jubilee of Tables, I also got a chance to spend quality time with my girls!
 
One last thing, this post deserves is chocolate and while I'm thinking about it, I deserve chocolate!....Paleo Brownies! 
I tried this recipe and it is a keeper! Oh, and it's made in a slow-cooker, hellz to the yeah. Here's the simple recipe. 

My Week in Photos

Even Trey has to Share His Toys
Chey is always asking to play with his legos. He has a collection of big boy legos and he insists on displaying them near the entryway. Can someone build him a man cave???? He's cramping my home decor.

Leaning Towards Whole Foods
I'm trying to get back to eating the way, I use to: more whole foods and less junk. 80/20.
80% paleo. 20% wiggle room. Lately, my go to meal is chorizo and eggs with mixed veggies.

Detailed Bumper to Bumper
Friday, after Chey's ballet recital we drove to Dallas and got Trey's truck detailed. Now, his truck sparkles. Chey enjoyed watching the cars drive through the car wash. She use to be terrified of auto car washes, which I thought was strange since I use to love going through them, when I was her age.

I would pretend that I was underwater in the sea or in an aquarium.

OH, when we were done at the car wash, we went shopping at the fancy schmancy Galleria and I've come to the conclusion that Ft. Worth NEEDS an H&M. I seriously love that store!!!!! I kind of went crazy in there, but in my defense I had to because there is not an H&M near my home. Also, the prices are surprisingly reasonable. I thought all the stores in the Galleria would be out of price range, I guess I was wrong. However I was --->A Little Frustrated
Do you know how hard it is to find clothes that are breastfeeding approptiate???? Especially dresses???? It's hard work, trust me.

Junk Drawers Drive Me Crazy...
Yet, I still have them, no matter how many times I organize them. This coming week, I plan on getting serious about organizing things like this...

The More You Know
Just an FYI, Bed Bath and Beyond has the mother load of Keurig Vue cups. I tried Black Magic coffee and that stuff is strong!

Dakota is still as sweet as can be. She's sleeping, eating, and starting to coo.

My Week in Photos

Dakota didn't get the memo, that today is her due date. She's slow cooking and apparently she's in no rush to come out. Dang, my womb must be like a hot spot condo or something. Maybe, it's better than beachfront property.

Well, I'm so glad I didn't invest my hopes in what my doctor predicted, "I think you will deliver as early as 10 days before your due date." Yeah, right.

Here is a text convo between Trey and I.  FYI: C 30 = a 30 second contraction.

Perhaps, I mentioned taking it easy and not exercising, this week. You could say I'm getting impatient, so I walked 2 miles last night, hoping to naturally induce Dakota out of my body. It wasn't all sweat and hard work --- to balance things out, afterwards, I immediately drove to the store and bought cookies.

While Trey and I have been working, Cheyenne has been vacationing in Abilene. I'm so jealous! I also miss her, a lot!


I finally got around to trying the Keurig herbal tea sample. I wouldn't recommend it, but for free, I'd drink it all day. By the way, if you have a Keurig Vue, bed bath and beyond has the mother load of Vue Cups.

A few weeks ago, I used a promo code and order cups directly from Keurig's site. I'm not impressed with the mocha, I prefer the vanilla latte.

Do you eat fish? I do, but it's not my first option. Earlier in the week, I put off grocery shopping until there was nothing left to eat except for fish. Now, that we're going into the weekend, I will put off grocery shopping again. Who knows when this baby will come and I don't want my produce to spoil.

What are your plans for the weekend?
Me, ohhhhh I plan on having a baby. If I'm not in labor, I think Trey and I may try to go out on a date tonight. That is, if he doesn't have to work late. The last two nights he has been working around the clock. All the overtime will be good, but he is beyond exhausted.