The Paleo Mama

Homegrown and Handmade

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8 Amazing Popsicle Recipes

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I almost forgot to share with you all that I had the opportunity to write a guest post for the infamous PaleoHacks website! Please click here to see 8 of my most popular and kid- friendly summer popsicle and smoothie recipes are! 

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Click here to see these amazing and very simple recipes: 

  1. Blueberry Cobbler
  2. Monkey Smoothie
  3. Tropical Creamsicle
  4. Fudgesicle
  5. Strawberry Watermelon
  6. Chocolate Dipped Strawberry
  7. Pumpkin Pie in a Cup
  8. Spirulina

Go over here to check out what I posted!

Click here to buy the popsicle molds I use. I love them because they are dripless so the kids don’t make a mess!

Vitamix Giveaway (Closed)

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I wanted to give my fans and followers a incredible giveaway to jump-start the fall season. However, the price tag for this giveaway was a little more than I can handle right now, so a few other of my blogging friends are teaming up with me to to throw this amazing giveaway.

I am super excited to announce that along with 11 other bloggers we are giving away a Vitamix Blender!!!

 Vitamix 5200 Blender – $549.99 Value!

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The Vitamix 5200 is SOOOO much more than just a blender. This machine is an all-in-one: blender, mixer, food processor, and soup maker.

 How can we win it??

We are using Rafflecopter, which is a reputable resource for online give aways. In a few easy steps you will be entered in a drawing to win.

Step 1):  Click RIGHT HERE to find out more about this Vitamix

Step 2): Leave a comment and let us know what you would make most if you won a Vitamix.

Step 3) Scroll to the bottom and enter on the Rafflecopter!

Bonus entries for going to each of the bloggers below and entering on their site! 

The Skinny Pear

Learning and Yearning

Don’t Mess with Mama

Nourishing Herbalist

Wellness and Workouts

We Got Real

The Darling Bakers

The Paleo Mama

Rethink Simple

Real Food Outlaws

Natural Family Today

 Moderately Crunchy Mommy

Healthy Roots Happy Soul

 Right now, the Vitamix 5200 Blender is on sale for almost 15% off retail price. That’s $64 SAVINGS — a wonderful deal. If you want to take advantage of this deal, CLICK HERE – that is if you can’t wait to see if you win the giveaway!

ENTER BELOW!!!! 

rel=”nofollow”>a Rafflecopter giveaway

20 Recipes Using Bacon Fat!

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Paleo is so liberating! Before Paleo, I used to shun away from fat and gave into the whole “low-fat” culture. I hung that up 2 years ago when I began my journey into eating whole, real, unprocessed foods and realized that saturated fat is not what’s killing us.  And the best thing Paleo has done for me is given me a love for BACON! Oh I heart bacon…and I no longer feel bad about eating it, as long as I do in moderation. I’ve continued to lose weight and I continue to feel amazing all the while eating bacon a few times a week. We cook it on our griddle which cooks it perfectly. We prefer thick sliced bacon and try to get bacon that comes from pastured pigs.

A few years ago, I would just throw the bacon fat away, but as I was becoming more aware that bacon fat is not bad for your body and it makes food taste even more delicious, I started saving it and using it in various ways.

How to Save the Fat: once the bacon fat has cooled, pour it into a little jar and store it in the fridge. Some people recommend straining it to prevent any larger clumps of bacon or fat from going into the jar. Scoop it out as needed.

In the fridge, bacon fat will last for months and months (especially if you are careful about making sure all the chunks of bacon are out of it) and even several YEARS!  Ask your grandparents! Just give it the “whiff” test before using. If you have large amounts of bacon fat to save, you can toss it in your freezer.

On the countertop, bacon fat will last for several weeks. It’s best to put it in the fridge to prevent it from becoming rancid.

20 Delicious Recipes Using Bacon Fat

1. Roasted Beet & Basil Salad with Hot Bacon Vinaigrette – Oh my!

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2. Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

brusselsprouts

3. Make Bacon Mayo.

4. Use it to fry my Fishy Bites in…or anything else!

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5. Make these Silver Dollar Pancakes with it, subbing out the grapeseed oil for bacon fat! (We order our almond flour from here) 

gluten-free-pancakes-almond-board-california

6. Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits – these are from my FAVORITE cookbook right now, Beyond Bacon! It’s a beautiful cookbook dedicating to the hog! Use bacon fat in place of lard (it’s really the same thing).

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7. Stir Fried Eggs!

8. Bacon Fat Vinaigrette Dressing – we make this all the time and it’s delicious!

courtesy of simply recipes
courtesy of simply recipes

9. Maple Bacon Aioli to dip Sweet Potato Fries in!

10. “Cornbread” – follow this recipe, BUT while putting the batter together, add a few TB of bacon fat to the 9″ baking square and melt in the oven. Then add the batter and bake according to directions. No joke…this tastes like cornbread and it’s a staple in our house. (We buy this almond flour)

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11. Bacon Cookies – substitute some bacon fat for the coconut oil!

12. Fry your steak in it!!! OMG!

13.  Yellow Lard Cupcakes (or Cake) – I made these and LOVED them. We substituted bacon fat for lard and it was incredible!

unfrosted cupcakes

14. Bacon and Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms – if you do dairy, this is amazing!

stuffed-mushroom-recipe-bacon

15. Bacon Deviled Eggs – I have had these a few times and they are sooooooo good!

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16. Paleo Roasted Stuffed Tenderloin – doesn’t this look beautiful!

stuffed tenderloin

17. Saute your spinach, in bacon fat!

18. Saute your cabbage in bacon fat!

19. Saute your kale  in bacon fat!

20. Spinach Bacon Potato Frittato – eliminate feta if dairy-free. This is on the menu!

fritatta-finished-for-real

 

So, don’t throw another drop of that delicious bacon fat away! You have no excuse now…eat up and enjoy! 

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You can find some of the ingredients for these recipes here:

Shared at Real Food Forager

Guest Post, She is Clothed With Strength: How Fitness Saved Me

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It’s always great when I have a “real-life” friend want to share a part of their life with me on my blog. This article is written from my friend Sarah at She is Clothed With Strength…and that she is! I have watched her transform her body, run half marathons, and encourage others to do the same. 

How Fitness Saved Me

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Hi Everyone! This is Sarah from She Is Clothed With Strength. I’ll start by saying that I am a fitness fanatic, nutrition geek, homeschooling mother of one, devoted wife, and Jack Russell Terrier Lover.

When Jackie invited me to write for her blog I wanted to write something EPIC. Something that will rally the troops to the gym or the road but ultimately I came here. What better story to share than my own. * shy grin *

I do love fitness. I love talking about it. I love researching it. I love teaching about it and writing about it. I guess you could say I am a fitness geek. Not only do I like to learn new moves that work but I also like to learn WHY those movements work…down to the muscle fibers. Gah! It is great stuff. But, I promise I won’t go into any ‘boring to other people’ details.

Today I want to talk about how fitness really did save my life.

Fitness is a fairly new addition to my life and it is a welcome one at that.

Let’s go back quite a few years.

I have never been an athletic person. I loved to swim, ride my bike, go on hikes, and jump rope. I was never remarkable at anything I did. Honestly, I preferred to read my books and create from within the house. I enjoyed the outdoors but reading curled up on the couch was far more attractive. I went through phases of running but they never really stuck for very long.

I was never a big girl growing up. I was slender but I don’t think I would ever say I was thin either.

There was one thing that was always present in my life…

Depression

The Blues

Melacholy

Never feeling good enough

There were some pretty dark times in middle school and high school. I never talked about it. I suffered in silence. I am not a very open person by default. I am getting better about being more vulnerable with people but that is a more recent development. Until then, I was quiet. I am sorry to any family members or friends who just never knew. It was my fault that I never shared.

Okay, onward….

Ultimately, it was my faith that saved my literal life. I really don’t think my I would have made it out of that pit alive without finding my faith in Jesus. He saved my soul.

But, it doesn’t end there. Just because I have faith does not mean I don’t still struggle. I am not perfect and won’t be on this side of heaven.

Good thing and bad things have happened. I’ve gotten married. We had our son. Job loss. My Mom died suddenly. Secondary Infertility. Etc. Etc. Etc.

One thing was always consistent in the good and the bad. I always ‘medicated’ with food. Stress eating. Sadness eating. Happy eating. Celebrating Eating.

Despite all the amazing things in my life I always kept one foot in that pit of depression.

One day I decided to start running again. I wasn’t good at it. It is hard to run when you weigh a lot. I was slow. But, I did it.

Slowly, my moods started to stabilize. I lived for the endorphin rush that running provided. I got addicted.

Then guess what happened. After lots of 5K’s and two half marathons and training for a full marathon I had to hang up my running shoes. My knees just couldn’t take it. I grieved the loss of running after I limped the last 3 miles of a long run in tears because I was too stubborn to call my husband for a ride home.

At that point, I knew I needed to do something. I couldn’t quit my fitness journey.

That’s when my husband and I walked into the weight room at the gym. We were completely lost and wandering. With fits and starts, we found our groove in the gym. We trained together for a few months until his job prevented us from that. I found a program I loved and found my way around the gym again but this time alone.

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Now, I am totally addicted to the gym.

I have found my groove.

I am actually good at this.

I have found my anti-depressant.

I actually discovered that the reason I was never “thin” in high school was because I naturally carry a lot of muscle. So, there really WAS something I was good at. It just took 32 years to find.

There is a meme that I have seen circulating on Facebook that says “Food is the most abused anti-anxiety drug and exercise is the most under used anti-depressant.”

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That is TRUTH right there, folks.

In college I had a professor in my Abnormal Psychology class who said that the first step in therapy for his depressed clients was to have them go out for a run every day.

Do I still get sad and depressed at times. You bet I do.

What do I do now? I go to the gym and I squat and deadlift. I do a butt load of burpees. I run sprints on the treadmill. I get those endorphins to such a high level that I can’t help but feel good about myself, my family, and my world.

I am addicted to endorphins.

Exercise saved me. It has brought my life back. I am better Wife, Mom, Friend, and Person. And I won’t stop talking about it. It saved me and it could very well save you.

Find Sarah Online:

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Sarah is the Wife of Chris and the Mother of Caleb.  When she is not squatting, deadlifting, jump roping, or dying from burpees she is homeschooling and making her house a home.  Fitness is her passion and she longs to help more women see their worth through the transforming power of exercise.

 

 

MythBusters: Protein Powder

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proteincancer

I’m kicking off a series today titled, “MythBusters“; a copy-cat to the popular show on the Discovery Channel, but I’ll be adding in my own real food twist. MythBusters is a science fiction show that uncovers the truth behind popular myths and legends. If you’ve never seen the show, go watch it!

In this new series of mine, I’m going to be taking a real food look at some of the popular “myths” in today’s society. And today I’m going to talk about…

Protein: The Good, The(Not-So) Bad, The Ugly

Before we look at protein powder, I think it’s important to take a look at how much protein our body actually needs.

How Much Protein Do I Need?

Here’s 3 opposing schools of thought for you to chew on:

  1. Protein recommendations from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – according to their website, I should only be eating 5 ounces of protein PER DAY!!! One chicken breast is roughly 6 ounces. Excuse me while I LOL at this one.
  2. Protein Recommendations from The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM): this site is pretty reliable, especially for athletes and endurance runners. Protein should be 15-20% of the diet, and the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 0.8 grams of protein per kilograms of body weight.
  3. Protein Recommendation from Ph.D. Paul Jaminet, author of The Perfect Health Diet: the micronutrients ratio he recommends is 20% carb, 65% fat, and 15% protein. He bases these recommendations off of these things:
  • Observations of our ancestors – a look into the hunter-gatherer diet shows us that our ancestors’ diets were very close to this ratio. They also did not favor lean meats except for periods of starvation and scarcity.
  • Composition of human breast milk – Human breast milk is 39% carbohydrates, 54% fat and 7% protein.
  • Composition of our own tissues – an average male is 60% fat and 20% protein. It makes sense to eat foods in the ratio that composes our body.
  • Preference for omnivorous animals for high-fat diets – all choose to eat an high-fat, low to moderate protein and moderate carbohydrate diet.

15% Protein Looks Like This…

A moderately active 5’10 male of 180lbs should eat 15% protein, which equates to almost 122 grams of protein. His workout day should look like this…

Screen Shot 2013-08-21 at 9.57.01 PM

(Click here to figure out your macronutrients.)

Now that you have an idea of how much protein your body, truly, needs, let’s take a look at the different kinds of protein that we can use to fill our body’s 15% needs.

Protein Powder: The Ugly

What is protein powder? Protein powder is a “nutritional” drink that is packed with protein and can be consumed in a number of ways. Protein powder is not only consumed as a drink now, but many people are building recipes around this “nutritional” supplement. Whether you are trying to lose weight, enhance your athletic performance, or a busy mom with no time to make a real meal, protein powder seems very convenient.

Three Kinds of Protein Powder:

  1. Soy – plant-based source of protein
  2. Whey – a protein found in milk and is fast absorbing
  3. Casein – the main protein in milk and is slow absorbing

What’s in Protein Powder?

Let’s take a look at the top-selling brand on the popular Bodybuilder website.

Screen Shot 2013-08-21 at 10.15.00 PM

Questionable Ingredients:

Natural & Artificial Flavors – I could not find the specifics on what these are exactly. However, experience tells me to stay away from artificial flavors.

Lecithin (soy) – read here about all the dangers of soy

Cocoa (Processed With Alkali) – Alkali is simply a base, the opposite of an acid. Natural cocoa powder is lightly colored and has a somewhat sharp acidic flavor. Processing it with alkali neutralizes the acidity and makes the taste milder and the color darker. This treatment is called the Dutch process. Doing this makes it sweeter and helps it to mix easier with liquids, however, The Dutch process reduces the amount of natural flavonols, or antioxidants, in the cocoa powder.

Acesulfame Potassium Sucralose – the two most alarming things about this ingredient is:

  • According to Cancer.gov it causes cancer (source).
  • It contains methylene chloride, a known carcinogen (read source).

Sucralose (aka Splenda)– causes all sorts of issues (source)

  • Gastrointestinal problems
  • Seizures, dizziness and migraines
  • Blurred vision
  • Allergic reactions
  • Blood sugar increases and weight gain

That is a lot of harmful side-effects to America’s top best-selling protein powder. Sure, there might be some protein powders that are less harmful. If you’ve been around the real food world for a while, you will see that this is often a question that is asked.

Protein Powder: The (Not-So) Bad

“Which protein powder is Paleo?” 

Well, none, really. Paleo is about eating WHOLE, unprocessed foods. However, canned coconut milk and almond butter are not whole, yet are accepted as real food. Also, the answer to this question depends on how Paleo you would like to be. I prefer to be 80% Paleo and leave the 20% to other non-Paleo indulgences. Maybe you prefer the same, and this 20% could consist of a decent protein powder.

Here’s a few recommendations:

PaleoPro – a new powder on the block consisting of eggs, beef, and sweetened with stevia.

Great Lake Beef Gelatin – this gelatin powder comes from grass-fed beef. We use it to add to shakes, smoothies, and coffee for added nutrition.

Hemp Protein Powder – it boosts 11g of protein and only ingredient is organic hemp seeds

Egg Protein Powder – this is from egg whites…if you could find one from whole eggs it would be better. Better yet, throw a few pastured, raw eggs in a smoothie.

Protein: The Good

Best Sources of Protein: 

Beef

  • Hamburger patty, 4 oz – 28 grams protein
  • Steak, 6 oz – 42 grams
  • Most cuts of beef – 7 grams of protein per ounce

Chicken

  • Chicken breast, 3.5 oz – 30 grams protein
  • Chicken thigh – 10 grams (for average size)
  • Drumstick – 11 grams
  • Wing – 6 grams
  • Chicken meat, cooked, 4 oz – 35 grams

Fish

  • Most fish fillets or steaks are about 22 grams of protein for 3 ½ oz (100 grams) of cooked fish, or 6 grams per ounce
  • Tuna, 6 oz can – 40 grams of protein

Pork

  • Pork chop, average – 22 grams protein
  • Pork loin or tenderloin, 4 oz – 29 grams
  • Ham, 3 oz serving – 19 grams
  • Ground pork, 1 oz raw – 5 grams; 3 oz cooked – 22 grams
  • Bacon, 1 slice – 3 grams
  • Canadian-style bacon (back bacon), slice – 5 – 6 grams

Eggs and Dairy

  • Egg, large – 6 grams protein
  • Milk, 1 cup – 8 grams
  • Cottage cheese, ½ cup – 15 grams
  • Yogurt, 1 cup – usually 8-12 grams, check label
  • Soft cheeses (Mozzarella, Brie, Camembert) – 6 grams per oz
  • Medium cheeses (Cheddar, Swiss) – 7 or 8 grams per oz
  • Hard cheeses (Parmesan) – 10 grams per oz

Nuts and Seeds

  • Peanut butter, 2 Tablespoons – 8 grams protein
  • Almonds, ¼ cup – 8 grams
  • Peanuts, ¼ cup – 9 grams
  • Cashews, ¼ cup – 5 grams
  • Pecans, ¼ cup – 2.5 grams
  • Sunflower seeds, ¼ cup – 6 grams
  • Pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup – 8 grams
  • Flax seeds – ¼ cup – 8 grams

I hope this gives you an understanding of what your protein needs are and the proper sources for nourishment. Would love to hear what your favorite protein sources are and if you choose to use protein powder, which ones?

This post is linked to Party Wave Wednesday at Holistic Squid.