Crust Less Breakfast Casserole {enough for the whole week!}

Full step by step {with pics} below.

So since I told you all about our eating Paleo, {AKA “eating clean”}, I thought I would show you some of the recipes we eat and how easy they are to make. Here is a breakdown of how we make our breakfast for the week.  Everything is pretty much by feel and we make them in all different combinations, so feel free to play around with the ingredients.  I put a * next to the ones we like the best. I make this on Sunday afternoon and it lasts all week with both Griff and I eating it every morning for breakfast. I usually eat this with a small avocado and eat half of it for breakfast and the other have for lunch.

The following veggies I sauté in olive oil or coconut oil until they are browned or soft:

*Diced Onions (thick, not fine)

*Sliced Mushrooms

*Sliced Bell Peppers

*Sliced Hot Pepper {any kind}

The following veggies you can sauté in olive oil or coconut oil just to soften them up:

Sliced or Grated Carrots

*Sliced Squash {yellow or zucchini}

*Fresh Spinach

Fresh Chopped Cauliflower {not our fav}

Fresh Chopped Broccoli

*Chopped/Diced Garlic {the more garlic the better in our opinion!}

The following veggies can be added fresh to the mixture:

Chopped Broccoli {Fresh or Frozen}

Chopped Cauliflower {Fresh or Frozen}

*Steamed Broccoli Chopped

*Steamed Cauliflower Chopped

*Drained Spinach {Frozen}

*Grated Squash {yellow or zucchini}

Grated Carrots

*Chopped Scallions/Green Onions

Meat you can add if you so choose:

Cooked Ground Beef/Turkey/Chicken cooked in olive oil or coconut oil

**Cooked Bacon Crumbled {nitrate free of course!}

**Cooked Ground Sausage {we prefer turkey sausage}

*Cooked Sliced Sausage

Once you’ve figured out what combo of  ingredients you want to use, prepare them and pour them all into an oil sprayed Pyrex dish.   Then pour your egg mixture over the ingredients until the pan is no more than ¾ of the way full (it will rise a little when baking so don’t fill it to the top). 

We buy the pints of liquid egg whites and  just pour 1 and 1/2 pint cartons of liquid egg whites.  You can use cracked eggs if you want, but you will be eating a lot of yolk, so I don’t recommend it. 

Bake it in the oven at 350 for 45-60 minutes.  It really depends on how much you are making on the cook time.  If your making one pan it’s closer to 45 and two could be an hour or more.  Just check it around 45 and see if it looks firm on the top and if it is a little brown.  Once it is done, let it cool for an hour or two and put foil on the top and stick it in the fridge.  It will keep like that for a week and a half without any worries.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Here are the ingredients I used to make ours. Just today actually. {I forgot to take a picture of the eggs with the other ingredients. Can you tell I’m a novice at this? Hahahaha. SHUT UP!}

First I took the sausage out of their casing by squeezing them in the middle. Crumbled it up with a spatula and browned the meat.

One the sausage was done I placed it in an oil sprayed Pyrex dish. Then, using the same pan, I threw in my cut up squash, zucchini, garlic, and roasted tomatoes. And sautéed them up real nice.

Once the veggies were done I spread them on top of the sausage. Then I poured the egg whites in.

Once everything it’s ready to go in the oven it will look like this.

In case you don’t know what Coconut Oil is, {cause I didn’t}, it looks like this. And don’t think it’s gonna look like what you think oil should look it. It looks more like lard than oil.

Once it’s all done it looks like this! Delicious!!! I can’t wait till tomorrow morning to eat it! MMMMMMMM……

Let me know if you have any questions!

The Paleo Plan = Skinny Jeans

Holy Skinny Jeans Caveman! Lately Griff and I have been “eating clean” by eating Paleo. If you don’t know what Paleo is don’t fret, neither did I when Griff first brought this caveman idea  to my attention. At first I thought, “you want me to give up what now?”.  But the more I listened to him the more it made sense and the more I wanted to give it a try.

Basically Paleo is short for the Paleolithic Era, {or the Caveman Era}. During the Paleolithic Era, all people were hunter-gatherers, that is, animals were hunted and plant foods were gathered. Until about 10,000 years ago, no society existed that farmed animals or grew crops. So during the Paleolithic Era there were no crops of cereal foods such as rice and wheat -- staples in most societies today -- and no-one ate or drank milk products. {Griff drinks milk like it’s going out of style so we won’t be giving up that any time soon.}

Below is a list of what we have been eating for the past 3 weeks. And I have to say I DO feel healthier. Actually, we were eating very close to this before we started “eating clean”. We just removed grains and processed foods from our diet. Couple that with me giving up Dr. Pepper for Lent… yikes! But I wouldn't be able to have Dr. Pepper while “eating clean” anyway so it’s a win-win I guess.

• Lean proteins (ideally) grass fed meat, free range fowl and wild caught fish
• Seasonal fruits and vegetables
• Healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, avocado, olive oil, and coconut oil

So how did we get started? First Googled Paleo Meal Plan to see if I could find a sample meal week that would show me how to eat Paleo. I found a great site called Paleo Plan. On this site they have a Shopping List and a Meal Plan. Woo-hoo! This site made it SO easy to get started. It was all planned out for me and I didn’t have to do anything but print it out and head to the grocery store.

But lets be real OK? How hard is eating like this really? I have to say there are only 2 downsides to “eating clean”, the prep time and the price. Every Sunday I gather my meals for the week, make a shopping list, and head to the grocery store. {Let’s be honest, I already did this, so that part is not a big change for me.} But every meal is made. There is NO pre-made stuff with this lifestyle. But Griff has been a big help. We have prepared many meals together and I really like our time together in the kitchen. The second downside is the price. It’s a bit pricier buying all organic items but look at the benefits of eating clean.

• Reduces face acne
• Prevention of age related degenerative diseases such as Stroke, Ischemic Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease
• The best one of all…. weight loss

And the meals? They are DELICIOUS! Seriously y’all they are dang good!! Here are some links to our favorite meals and deserts. {For sides we usually have steamed squash, zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, or fruit and avocado, or a mixed green salad with sliced strawberries and sliced almonds.} We get a lot of our recipes from this site.

• Sun dried tomato chicken bake
• Meatloaf {we use ground turkey thigh meat and Nitrate free bacon} We made this for my Mom, Aunt and Uncle the other day. They all went back for seconds and wanted the recipe!
• Paleo Brownies {Ha! Yup, brownies!!}
• Shrimp Avocado Omelet
• Grilled Flank Steak with Pineapple Salsa
• Chicken with Rosemary and Mushroom Glaze
• Egg Cupcakes {These are SO good!}
• Grilled Tuna Steak {No link, we just add olive oil and  lemon pepper. So dang good!}
• Paleo Pizza {Yum to tha scrum!}

Seriously I could go on and on with a ton more recipes. But if you just cut out grains and processed foods then you are basically eating Paleo. It’s not hard at all. If you want more information or have questions about anything please email me or add a comment. While I don’t claim to be a Paleo expert I have done a lot of reading on the subject and I would love all of you to give it a try.

I promise. You. Will. Feel. Healthier! {And maybe lose a few pounds while eating delicious food!}

St. Patrick’s Day

My brother Sean and his co-worker Eric were in town on St. Patrick’s Day. They work for our parents company, Surface Systems of Texas and the job they were doing was like 5 minutes away from our house so they decided to stay with us. Eric’s parents are actually friends with our parents, they were at my wedding, and my first job at the snow cone stand was with his older sister Tiffany. So it’s not like I just let some unknown dude crash our pad.

Sean and Eric are really into Frisbee Golf and there just happed to be a course right by our house. {Griff and I had no idea.} They wanted to go play a few holes before we went out to dinner. So we loaded up a cooler and hit the links.

Sean and Eric throwing.

Griff and me throwing.

Griff and Sean goofing off.

The course was really pretty, which made for a tough course actually. There were a ton of trees that were perfect Frisbee obstacles.

Griff threw his Frisbee over the fence and it landed on the train tracks. He had to climb through a barb wired fence to get it. Whoops.

After we finished playing, {only 9 holes}, we headed home so we could change for dinner. We went to Texas Land and Cattle and had a steak on Dad. {Since Sean and Eric stayed with us Dad bought us dinner.} Thanks Dad!!

We had a great time hanging out, Eric was a fantastic guest, and we had full bellies to boot!

New Couch Love!

Finally! We’ve bought our new couch and we love it!

I bought our old couches by myself before I moved to Austin about 11 years ago. While we loved their deep cushions and ridiculous softness they had out lived there time with us.

The boys had taken off the pick up the couch so I took this time to vacuum the heck out of the rug and floors. The room looks so bare!

We saved money by pickup the couches and moving them ourselves. I don’t even want to know what their delivery charge would have been. Our friends Wyatt and Andrew helped us move em’.

Andrew wasted no time breaking her in.

And here she is. Isn’t she great! See that corner area where the 2 sides meet? We call that spot “the nook” and Griff and I battle for that spot every time we sit on the couch.

Here’s the back of the couch looking at her from the kitchen and then from the dinning room.

Here’s looking from the entry hall and standing in the corner behind the leather chair.

I have to say when we got her home Griff and I were a bit worried about her softness, seeing as we were coming from the worlds softest couch. But later that same day we both ending up taken a nap on her. And there has since been a few naps actually.

Griff’s first Judo Tourney!

Hi folks! Sorry I’ve been MIA lately, work has seriously got me by the balls. When I finally get home from work I have to do all my other adult duties, i.e. cooking, cleaning, laundry, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, enough poor me, onto Griff!

Last weekend Griff had his first Judo tournament. It was held in San Antonio and we had to get up super early for a Saturday and get our butts on the road. See? Still dark outside.

Griff’s entire Judo school was there are they most of them competedl. Including the kids! They all had matching shirts which was cool. Cause as far as I can could tell there was only 2 schools at the tourney with matching shirts.

There were a lot of competitors. Here’s a wide shot of the adults stretching.

First up? Jesus.

Ever wonder what Jesus would have looked like as a hippie? Well wonder no more. This guy was Griff’s first competitor. And in true Griff fashion, he struck up a conversation with Hippie Jesus. He owns his own school and is a 1st degree black belt. Which, for you Judo novices, means he’s held his black belt for like 3 years. Oh, and he moonlights as Jesus. But only on the weekends.

Here we go!

The fight started off with Griff securing a back mount. Then he locked in a rear naked choke. After the choke, everyone thought the match was over because Hippie Jesus tapped, but the ref didn’t see it. What?! Yup. So they continued and Griff was able to throw him one more time but was not able to end the match. Damn. Griff tried to throw again but Hippie Jesus countered the throw, putting Griff on his back, thus winning the match. In Judo, you can win a match by landing a forceful throw putting your opponent on his back.

Griff second match was against a guy from Griff’s school named Jeff. Bummer. Griff trains with him every week! Not only do they train together which means they know each others strengths and weaknesses but Jeff wrestled in college and is a previous National Judo Champion. Damn the luck Griff would have a match against him! Jeff tried to thrown an Uchi Mata, (over the shoulder throw), and Griff countered with a leg grab and was disqualified, ending the match. Leg grabs are illegal unless they are a counter or in a combination. Which in this case Griff was countering the Uchi Mata, but the ref didn’t see it that way.

Damn blind ref. I’d like to show him MY Uchi Mata! Mess with my husband and you mess with me! Which I can assure you is scarier than seeing a Hippie Jesus at a Judo tournament.

All in all it was a great day. Despite the blind ref’s.