Post Work Out Dinner: Mediterranean Chicken and Rice

I am on a journey to getting healthy.

I have struggled with this a lot lately, for many reasons. There are so many conflicting voices telling me to love myself for who I am but then to also be healthy and happy. To do that, I need to be more comfortable in my own skin, which at the moment I am not. People are very supportive and have given me wonderful ego boosts but the bottom line is, for me personally, I don't like how my body has changed since having kids. So that means being truly honest with myself. How can I get to a better place, mentally, physically, and emotionally? through exercising, eating better, and the power of positive thinking. For a long time now, I have struggled with exercise. I have made a lot of excuses but I have realized that it isn't so much the excuses but the sacrifices I have to make to make it work. My day is full of rushing around; wake up before 6, pack the kids into the car, drop them off, drive through traffic to work. Repeat to get home. Then its the dinner/bath/bed-time rush. Before I know it, it is 8 pm and I just want to crawl into bed and go to sleep. I have started different work-out regiments but I have often failed because I didn't take it seriously or I didn't see the results I wanted to see in a short time. I haven't sacrificed my time or my desires enough to stick with it. This time, I can sense a new drive within me to succeed because it is one of the most positive lessons I can teach my kids. I want to be able to run around with them this summer, to be as active as they need me to be, and I can only do that if I make my health a priority. This does mean missing out a night or two a week of the dinner/bedtime routine. Someone has told me that I should always put myself first, that so many women become mothers and make their children their first priority. For a long time, I struggled with this idea because it sounds so selfish. I think what she meant was that be able to give my children the best I can give them, I need to be the best I can be. It doesn't have anything to do with who comes first so much as it comes with making the best choices for my family. I am one week in and I feel great. I am going to take this one day at a time and focus on the positive.

I am sharing a meal that is delicious, filling, and wholesome. I made a batch of this last night, after a good cardio workout, and it was a light and yummy dish that filled me for the night. Enjoy!!!

Mediterranean Chicken and Rice
Ingredients:

• Chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces.
• 2 tbsp of Olive oil
• 2 small onions, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 lb of mushrooms, sliced
• 2 small zucchinis, sliced
• 1 cup white rice
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp thyme

Directions:

1. Brown chicken in oil, set aside.
2. Saute veggies in oil left - 3 mins. Add rice, cook and stir for one minute. 
3. Add tomatoes. Cook for 1 min.
4. Stir in stock, vinegar, and seasonings; bring to boil.
5. Return chicken, cover and simmer 20 mins. 

"Creamy" Paleo Vegetable Pasta

Guilt free creamy pasta? yes please!!! I love pasta, I really do. All versions, all sauces, tossed, baked, cold, hot, smothered in melted cheese. Ohhh yum. Unfortunately, my poor tummy doesn't always enjoy the richness or heaviness of pasta and it sits there, feeling like an enormous weight that tires me and weakens me. My body just does not seem to enjoy digesting all those heavy carbs. So, we have been experimenting with all kinds of different types of "noodles" and I have discovered some truly delicious tricks that my stomach and my tastebuds thoroughly enjoy equally and happily. I will be sharing a few recipes I have played around with.

The first was a really simple recipe using the creamy avocado. Honestly, avocados are truly the most versatile vegetable (wait, its a fruit isn't it?). You can make so many things and it is such a little powerhouse of healthy fats, rich folic acid and vitamin K and more potassium than a banana. Basically, it is a super food for a reason. I had heard of people using it as a pasta sauce, to get away from the creamy, cheesy alfredo sauces so I thought I would try it myself. I paired it with some baked spaghetti squash and eureka, one of my new favourite dishes was created. I topped it with some bacon and some veggies and really, it could not have made me happier. I encourage everyone to give avocado a try as a pasta sauce, especially with a vegetable "noodle". You will not be disappointed. I should mention that I gave my fussy little eater some of the pureed avocado and he ate it all up, licking his plate. It is always a good sign, when LMG cleans his plate, to me as his ever-worrying-about-his-health-because-I-am-crazy mother. Also, I apologize about my pictures. They do not do justice. I am still "mastering" the IPhone camera.

Creamy Paleo Vegetable Pasta

Ingredients: 
- Spaghetti Squash
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1 ripe avocado 
- The juice from 1 lemon
- 2-3 minced garlic 
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3-4 pieces of bacon, fried and crumbled.
- 1-2 Leeks, diced
- 1 yellow pepper, diced
- Half a pint of cherry tomatoes, cut in half. 

Directions: 

1. Turn on your oven to 375. Cut the spaghetti squash in half (also, if ANYONE out there has a good way of doing this that doesn't involve me hitting a can on top of my knife, I would love to hear it...). Remove the seeds and guts. Rub the coconut oil over the flesh of the squash and sprinkle sea salt and pepper to taste. Put the squash flesh down on a baking sheet and bake for 30-45mins. 
2. Using a food processor, add the avocado, lemon juice, olive oil, and garlic, to taste. Add some sea salt and a little pepper, again to taste. Puree until smooth. Set aside. 
3. Using a small amount of either butter or bacon grease, saute the veggies until soft. The flesh of the tomatoes will blister. Set aside. 
4. Once the squash is cooked, using two forks, pull the flesh into noodles. It happens easily, put into a bowl and toss with the avocado sauce. Top with the veggies and crumbled bacon.
5. Enjoy. 

Paleo Spicy Chicken and Tomato Soup

There is nothing better on a cold and snowy day then something warm and filling in our bellies. Soup is definitely one of my favourite meals of all time. All soups, I love them, and I enjoy making them myself as I have control over all the vegetables and flavours. I am a big believer in adding vegetables into pretty much everything I eat and with my little picky eater, I have been slipping extra veggies into all kinds of meals. Why not? if I can trick him, then I feel pretty clever. It is fun feeling like I have one upped my three year old, who has proven himself to rather clever as well. Its a game of tricksters. Silver lining is that the kid does get a lot of veggies in his diet.

Last night's dinner was a big pot of tomato and chicken soup. So delicious. I was really happy with how all the flavours worked together and how the veggies were a little crisp but still infused the broth and the chicken with a yummy, rich, warm flavour. I kept it lightly spiced but I imagine you could also add to the spiciness by throwing in a bit of fresh, chopped red chili peppers on top of the spices. I actually did not feed this to the kids, as I made it with a bit more of a kick then I think they would enjoy. I cooked the veggies and the chicken before hand, and fed that to the munchkins instead.

Paleo Spicy Chicken and Tomato Soup

Ingredients: 
2-3 chopped chicken breasts.
1 yellow onion, chopped.
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
Two leeks, diced. 
2-4 celery stalks, chopped small. 
2-4 carrots, peeled and diced. 
1 full red pepper, chopped small.
1 full orange pepper, chopped small. 
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes.
1 28 oz can of stewed tomatoes.

3 cups of chicken broth.
1 1/2 tsp chili powder.
1 1/2 tsp oregano. 
1 tsp cumin. 
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions: 
1. Cook the chicken in some coconut oil. Put aside.
2. Use the left over oils and begin by saute the onions and garlic. Cook a couple of minutes and add the leeks and the carrots. Let cook for a bit, before adding the rest of the vegetables. Cook about 10 mins.
3. Add the chicken, and spices. Stir and cook for about a minute. Add the tomatoes and broth. I used my hands to smush the whole tomatoes before putting them into the soup (after washing my hands thoroughly of course). Allow all the flavours to boil up and simmer for 10-15 mins. 

Wonderful for lunch leftovers. 

2014 - Back on the Paleo Wagon

Last year passed us by in its speed. So many changes as our little family of three grew into a family of four. My little baby boy is growing into a little man with a mind of his own, one that is very hard to change when he really decides to take a stand. The biggest fight is definitely at the dinner table. I told myself this year would be different and I need to keep reminding myself that patience and determination will win out eventually. Considering how much I enjoy cooking, the fact that LMG refuses to eat what is put in front of him has brought me all kinds of stress and frustrations. Here is a kid who eats well at breakfast and eats his lunch pretty good most of the time, so I know I need to step back and be less upset if dinner isn't consumed every night. That said, the fact that he seems to enjoy this fight (and refuses to get down from the table, while refusing to eat at the table) leads to me feeling exasperated at the end of the meal and ready for the wind down to bed. Being a parent is a difficult job, and I do believe that there is so much judgement placed on mothers these days to be perfect, that we often hide behind this facade of wonderful happiness all the time. I love my children, and I am very blessed they are happy, healthy, and bring me such joy but it does bring some headaches and moments of exasperation and frustration, tears and fears and stress. So, this year I am going to embrace every aspect of motherhood while trying to be the best I can be for myself. With the New Year, my husband and I decided to get back to eating Paleo, which had some wonderful effects on my digestive issues. I felt better, healthier, and lighter than I had in a long time. So for the last week and a bit, I have jumped back on and embraced the easier meals to be found under the Paleo heading and I am going to share them with you as we work towards getting our picky eater into a better place.

I will say the wonderful thing that so far God has granted us is a second child who will eat absolutely everything and anything that is put in front of her. I pray every day that she sticks with this mentality because one picky eater is enough in our house.

I will be typing up a few meals all at once as I meant to start this up again last week.

Cheers and enjoy!!!