Fresh Vanilla Chia See Pudding

Well, the CrossFit open came and went this year. A handful of the women at our gym participated. We didn't have any expectations or goals of making it to regionals. We simply wanted to be in the sandbox and play with the big kids. It was awesome. Many of our members found they were stronger than they thought and had skills they didn't know existed. It was also amazing to see the women at our box support each other! So often our worst critiques come from other women, but not at our gym. So at the end of the 5 weeks, my friend and I hosted a brunch to celebrate. One of the ladies brought this recipe and it just about changed my life. So stinkn' easy and so versatile! Not to mention bowl licking good! I have been having fun changing up the ingredients and toppings, and I am sure you will do the same. 

Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding

1 1/4 cups coconut milk
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chia seeds

1. Add ingredients to a bowl or a Tupperware dish.

2. Mix together. 

3. Refrigerate minimum 3 hours or overnight.

*Lemon option: Add 1/8 tsp zest and 1 tsp lemon juice 

Enjoy the pudding alone, or with fruit on top. Canned pineapple makes for an easy addition. Pictured here, I used some fresh strawberries. You really can't go wrong!

Fresh Raspberry Almond Muffins

We love raspberries in our house. Usually we eat them so quickly they never make it into a recipe! But, I did have a ton of raspberries the other day and so I decided to do some baking. They turned out delicious, and I am sure you will enjoy them!

Fresh Raspberry Almond Muffins
6 eggs
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
8 tbsp butter, melted
3/4 and 2 tbsp coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1 1/2 cup raspberries (frozen is ok too)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix wet ingredients together (eggs, honey, vanilla, almond, butter, applesauce). Mix dry ingredients together (coconut flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt). Stir wet and dry ingredients together and fold in raspberries. Spoon batter into lined muffin cups and bake for 18 minutes or until the top brown slightly.  Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Fresh Grilled Maple Cinnamon Apples

Fall right around the corner and I am still enjoying the BBQ. The other night I wanted something "fallish" with my BBQ chicken. I decided to grill up a few of my apples, and they made an amzaing warm, sweet and savory dessert. If you feel like being "fallish" with me, cut up some apples and fire up your BBQ!

Fresh Grilled Maple Cinnamon Apples
Apple (I cut up 4 apples, but you could do whatever you wanted)
Real Maple Syrup
Ground Cinnamon

Heat up BBQ to med-high heat. Slice apples in to 1/8 size pieces. Remove core and seeds. With basting brush rub apples with maple syrup. Sprinkle each apple with cinnamon. Place on the grill for 3-5 min per side or until apples start to soften slightly and grill lines show in the flesh of the fruit. Remove from grill, and enjoy!

Fresh Amazing Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you are like me and you remember back to your pre-paleo days you loved a good chocolate chip cookie. The warm gooey chocolate chips fresh out of the oven. . . heaven!


Who am I kidding, I STILL love a good chocolate chip cookie! My friend Janelle brought this dough over the other night, and we cooked up a batch of the best paleo cookies I have ever had. Well, she cooked them, and I ate them. I love "cooking" that way. ;)


She found the recipe here and followed it just how they had it. She just put the cookie dough into clumps on my silpat cookie sheet and they were fabulous! Even my husband's non-paleo eating softball buddies liked these. (If there is anyone you can't fool about cookies, it is a group of dudes. They will either like it or hate it.) So heat up your oven, make yourself a cup of coffee, and enjoy!

Fresh Lemon Berry Pie

One of the things I LOVE about summer is the huge selection of berries that are in season. This is a perfect recipe for the fresh berries you just picked up at your local market. I made these in individual pie pans, but if you don't have many on hand, just use a large pie dish. Either will work just fine, and you will still enjoy the final result. I modified this recipe from here. I like the added lemon, it gives it that fresh, zesty taste. Don't like lemon- that's OK just leave it out. 


Fresh Lemon Berry Pie
2 cups fresh berries (I made one with just blueberries and one with 1/2 blueberries 1/2 raspberries- see pictures below)
4 eggs
3/4 cup canned coconut milk
3 T organic maple syrup
2 T melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T coconut flour
Juice of one lemon
Zest of one lemon
Pinch of Salt


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 


Grease baking dishes and add the berries to the bottom. Set aside. 


In mixing bowl, add wet ingredients and stir. Add flour, salt and zest of lemon. Stir until completely mixed. 


Pour this mixture over berries. 


Bake for 30 min. The top of the pie will be browned and the center will not jiggle when gently shaken. 


Remove from oven. Let it sit for about 5 min before eating. We added a bit of this ice cream to the top- so good!  Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Shortcakes

Nothing says spring to me more than Strawberry Shortcake. It is crowd pleaser and easy to prepare. I modified this recipe from the Gluten-Free Cookbook. You can make these biscuits to go with a breakfast sandwich, soup, or strawberries and whip cream, as I did here,  for a modification of the traditional Strawberry Shortcake.


Fresh Strawberry Shortcake


2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup walnut, or coconut oil
1/4 cup organic maple syrup
2 large eggs
1 tsp fresh lemon juice


Pre Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper, or if you have a silpat- no lining is necessary.


In a large bowl mix ingredients until completely blended. Drop batter onto baking sheet into desired biscuit size. I made mine about 2 inches wide.


Bake for 15-20 min or until tops are golden brown and toothpick inserted into the center of the biscuit comes out clean.


Add cleaned, and sliced strawberries and organic whipping cream. Enjoy!

But it's PALEO!!!???

Just because something says it's "Paleo" doesn't mean that you can eat it everyday and maintain quality health. Maybe you have been eating Paleo and your weight loss is plateauing or maybe you are even gaining weight? It's not Paleo's fault. . .check out this article off Robb Wolf's site. It clearly explains how we can get ourselves off track by letting the broad term of Paleo be our standard for quality food. Feel free to still enjoy the "Paleo Treats", but just be informed and know what you are putting into your body!

  vs.

Chocolate Cupcake Love

On Valentines day one of our members from the gym, Jamee, brought with her a large Tupperware box full of these chocolate cupcakes. They were so good! I snapped a picture really quickly before the cupcake was history.

Here the recipe she found. She said she used coconut milk from the can, not the carton and they turned out great.  I can't tell you how easy they were to make, but I CAN tell you they were scrumptious.

And yes if you make me treats, I will probably take a picture of them and you will be "famous." So I think that means you should make more treats! :)