Eggplant and Beef Chili

Eggplant and Beef Chili

 

 

 

1 pound of ground beef

1 small yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1 eggplant, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

3 cans diced tomatoes

1 cup water

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 yellow bell pepper

package of chili seasoning

1-2 tablespoons garlic

salt and pepper to taste

 

Brown your beef with coconut oil and the chopped onions. Once meat is cooked, add in eggplant, tomatoes, water, cilantro, bell pepper, and seasoning. Bring to a boil. Let boil for a few minutes then turn down heat to simmer and cover with a lid. Cook until eggplant is tender. Taste and add more seasoning. We can't do beans and they are hard to digest so the eggplant really gives another texture in there. It is sooo good. Garnish with cilantro and even avocado if you like. You could also add a jalapeno in there to kick up the spice.

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

Last Few Days...

So I am like 5 days behind on getting these pictures up. I have been like a mad scientist in the kitchen trying to make stuff that tastes like stuff we used to eat. Crackers for Superbowl- FAIL....Macaroons without sugar-FAIL. So yesterday I had this thought. We have been eating some amazing meals and having fun with a lot of different vegetables. I think we are going to relax into this for the last few weeks and enjoy it. I am feeling so much better - energy, digestion, and sleep that I am really considering maintaining this. Well...wine is coming back but I don't know that I will do breads again. What is great about taking all of these things out of your diet for 30 days, you really have the opportunity to recognize your symptoms once you add them back in.

 

Paleo Chicken Stiry Fry

Paleo Chicken Stir-Fry

 

My trainer said that I needed to incorporate WAY more veggies into my meals. It is true...it is so much easier to just prepare a protein versus thinking about making veggies all around that protein. But guess what- this meal has tons of veggies and is so good.

 

 

 

Serves 4-5

 

1 lb of ground chicken

1 head of green cabbage, chopped

1 cup of bone broth or stock of your choice

1 yellow onion, chopped

6 carrots, chopped

1/4 cup of cilantro, chopped

1 jalepeno, minced

1/4 gluten free stir fry sauce of your choice

1 tbs coconut oil

1-2 tablespoons of garlic powder

1-2 tablespoons of ginger

1 teaspoon of chile powder

1/4 tumeric

dash of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper to taste

seasme seeds (optional)

cashews (optional)

 

Brown ground chicken. In a dutch oven or deep pan, add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, cabbage and onion. Cook on medium heat and stir to mix the oil in with the vegetables. Add your bone broth, seasoning and the rest of your vegetables. Cover on medium heat to let the vegetables cook down. Once your meat is browned, drain it and stir it into the mixture. Continue to cook down until the vegetables are a soft consistency or to your preference. ( about 10 mintues) Scoop a spoonful in a bowl and add some chopped cilantro and a sprinkling of seasme seeds. Cashews would be great here too! I always taste test and usually continue to add more seasoning. Homemade bone broth is preferred in this recipe.

 

After making this stir fry, I poured a jar of homemade bone broth over the mixture to make soup for our lunches tomorrow. This will stretch out what is leftover and change it up a bit. I also wanted to make sure we were using that nutrious broth we cooked for 24 hours. Enjoy!!!

 

xo Elle

 



Still want wine....but no cookie cravings!

Okay...so big progress. Brent and I had a long conversation about cookies yesterday. I said that if he chewed up a chocolate chip cookie, then let the dog chew it up and then stepped on it I would still eat it. We both went back and forth- pure sugar addicts I tell ya. But we are being strong! I am holding him accountable by cooking all of our meals and he is dragging my big ole butt to the gym.

So I am kinda excited because I am going to share a recipe for a meal tonight that I cooked up. It is pretty dang good! I am also feeling guilty that I want Justin Beibers acoustic album...what? he has an amazing voice! So here is a quick recap of my meals today. I will be posting the recipe for the chicken stir fry soon!

Day 7...

So we were freaking yesterday because our weight went back up even after we worked out and we have not had a single cheat bite. Don't even know how we are sticking to it. Especially when our friends are sending us pictures of hamburgers with bacon and mashed potatoes..who does that? BUT today- guess who dropped weight again ME!! We also had to do an incline of 12 on the treadmill. I will eventually post our workouts too so you can see the whole 30 days.

Breakfast (leftovers)

Brussels and sausage

 

Lunch

Eggs and a date (um maybe 2 dates)

 

Dinner

Hamburger patty with jalapeno, bacon, and mushrooms

And of course a Mississippi Salad ( cucumbers and tomatoes)



Day 6...officially caught up!

Hmmm....woke up with a determination to not eat eggs again for breakfast. I needed something to resemble a pancake- stat. So.....stumbled across this blog (balancedbites.com) and found a recipe for pumpkin pancakes that are.....drum roll please...gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, nut free and badonka donk free! woo hoo! I kinda played with the recipe. I also played with the topping. This website has a great book that I just purchased but haven't even read because I have this new found dedication to this blog! It is called Practical Paleo....looks awesome.

2 pumpkin pancakes with blueberry topping, gf bacon, fried egg

 

For the topping:

 

1 cup of frozen blueberries

2 tbs coconut butter

1 teas cinnamon

1 teas vanilla

1 teas coconut oil

 

Place all ingredients in a small sauce pan. Simmer until everything blends together and the fruit is soft and sweet.

 

Now of course you are thinking...how does this get better? Well...this also happened ( pardon the sloppy picture)

 

PBJ Pumpkin Pancake ( added sunflower seed butter and blueberry mixture) SO GOOD!

 

 

it does kinda look gross because I just put it on my egg plate but whatever.

Lunch

 

 Left over gumbo with cauliflower rice. SOOOO good. PaleOMG.com is rocking my world right now.

Dinnner

 

 Pumpkin Chicken Curry with Cauliflower Rice- Again from PaleOMG.com Pretty dang good. I tweaked it based on the ingredients that I had/didn't have.

Dessert...

My trainer said that this is probably better than what we were doing on Sundays but should be a treat once in awhile. Not sure why- he has to explain to me on Tuesday because it is sooo good. You literally just freeze ripe bananas. Pull one out and put in your vitamix or food processor and it will eventually make it's own ice cream! I added sunflower butter and a little dash of coconut milk. Don't judge me by my picture taking abilities...not cool.

Oh and we squeezed in a killer workout today too!

 

 



Garden 2013

Brent says I shouldn't make so many lists. I make lists for everything. He doesn't like to sit down every day and look at our goals and talk about celebrity gossip but I do. So there. So of course I made a list of things that I want to grow in our garden. I am super pumped that I got my heirloom seed catalog in the mail and spent nothing on some rad seeds! You can go here and order yours! http://rareseeds.com/
This company is just awesome- I kinda want to be them. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company- non-gmo, non-hybrid, non-treated and non-patented. ( non-Frankenstein vegetables basically) "OMG my carrot has an eyeball." Huh?

Okay so I ordered a bunch of cool heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, okra, peppers, eggplant and some really cool flowers. I love this site because you can read reviews and see what was easier to grow AND you can also see when that particular vegetable was first grown. My tomatoes are antiques so boom. Here is one that I bought(picture from rareseeds.com) They are called ivory pear tomatoes- they are one of the three white ones I ordered. Good thing I will be learning to can things this year....

I know what you are thinking husband "oh great, I am going to be the one to water all of these things." NOT true. I am turning over a new leaf! A green one and I am super excited to grow this garden. I already am saving up my old egg cartons to sprout these little babies when I get them in the mail. Look out Arboretum....!!