Whole-Roasted Butter, Lemon & Rosemary Chicken With Garlic & Root Vegetables {Gluten-Free, Paleo}

Comfort food.

It doesn’t always have to be Mac & Cheese, Biscuits or Doughnuts (even though, #OMGYumGetInMyFace). To me, comfort food often means making Kalua Pork in my crock pot, or simmering Red Wine Braised Short Ribs on the stove. It’s therapeutic food that cooks slowly and fills up your house with the most delightful aromas, in this case BUTTER. It’s the kind of food your grandmother would make. The type of meal that you’d want to eat after coming home from work on a rainy day. You know, it’s comfortable. Comfy. Like sweats, but edible. (I should have quit while I was ahead with the descriptions…Oh, well.) […]

Honest Whole 30 Recap, Week Three + Rosemary Meatballs With Dijon Collard Greens & Apricots + Enter to WIN the Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook!

Well, my lovely friends–It’s been THREE whole weeks. If you are just joining us this week, I can catch you up with Week One and Week Two!
For three whole weeks, no cheese has touched these lips. No grains have graced my tongue. Nary a bean has entered this pie hole. More than that… no actual pie has entered this pie hole (not even pizza pie). These days I stress eat carrots. Do we call this progress? Maybe. Does the fact I think those carrots taste dang sweet feel like a victory? Not sure. Mostly I feel like nature is tricking me into feeling like veggies belong in a Willy Wonka film. That’s fine. We can make that chocolate river into a green smoothie. Add some chia for texture. Not too much, though, or we can’t boat on it.  This has already gotten weird. You’re welcome.
All in all, things have been going really great. I don’t feel as tortured and dramatic in the day to day. There have been a few evenings of cravings where I just sub in something benign. Oh, I can’t have a hunk of chocolate? No problem. I’ll just eat this apricot and some almonds. The substitution does one of two things–it either satisfies you or you’ll find yourself grumpy and not able to eat it because it’s not chocolate. The second one means you’re not really hungry. If you’re looking all sideways at an almond and blaming it for not being dessert, just put the almonds down. No need to curse at them. I’ve already done it for you. We’ve had a dialogue. It turns out it wasn’t the almond that has issues, it was me. Typical. […]

Easy Beef Kebabs With Tangy Rosemary Chimichurri {Gluten-Free & Paleo}

I’ve been slowly but surely learning some lessons in the past couple of weeks. Shall we discuss?
1) If  you happen to be jogging and someone pulls to the side of the road, rolls down their window, and extends their arm out towards you to hand you some sort of piece of paper, don’t stop. Keep jogging. Maybe you thought this piece of paper was just some sort of pamphlet. You have been getting a lot of Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets lately from the nice people that like to knock on your door early in the morning when you aren’t wearing pants. What’s another one, right? Wrong. This is not a godly pamphlet. This is a crudely written note stating “Please you call me.” Elaborate, right? Is he driving around with a stack of these things? Well, more elaborate would be the stick figure drawing off to the right of his written plea. Although the arms and the legs are stick-ly, he has managed to tack on what I can only describe as a shocking portrayal of genitalia. Jog. Jog faster.
2) If someone knocks on your door and you are not wearing pants, it’s usually a Jehovah’s Witness. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with them. Everyone has freedom to their own beliefs. The problem I have is how often they seem to knock on my door when I am pants-less. Don’t open the door when you aren’t wearing pants, even if you think you can just peek your head through and cover your body with the main part of the door. You have a crazy Golden Retriever. She will try to get outside. You will be on your door step with a couple of Jehovah’s Witnesses, pants-less, trying to wrangle your dog. This is uncomfortable for everyone. Also, can we discuss how every single one of the pamphlets I receive has some version of kids smiling while eating a bounty of fruits and veggies, along with some sort of moose or other woodland creature. I’m confused. Probably as confused as the poor JWs were because I wasn’t wearing pants at 2:00pm on a Tuesday. […]

A Homemade Christmas: Rosemary Bath Salts

Christmas is swiftly approaching our doorstep.  I am reminded of this every time I leave the house. There are no longer good times to go shopping. The malls are crowded with families clambering for time with Mall-Santa and fellow last-minute shoppers. Even the grocery store is a battleground. I had to drive to three different stores in my small town yesterday to find shredded coconut. Holiday baking is in FULL swing. Tensions are high. Coconut is scarce.

As much as I love buying people anything and everything, it’s hard on the wallet. Plus, there is a certain sentiment about receiving a homemade gift. It feels extra special.

This is one of the ideas that I came up with recently. […]