In the zone

Yes I'm in the zone- I'm doing the zone diet which I briefly discussed in my last week post. It gets a little difficult at times to stick to it I'm not going to lie. Especially for me who likes to go out to eat all the time! Which you can still stay on the zone diet (grilled chicken/fish and veggies) but there's certain foods I love at restaurants that I just can't resist = )  The zone diet isn't a horrible diet though, it's just eating healthier items and eating the right proportions.
Friday night Andrew and I went to one of our favorites, Bonefish, for his early birthday dinner. He got the tilapia burger (which was awesome and I'll be getting tilapia next time- yeah I guess I like some fish now) and I got Lily's chicken. I haven't had this in awhile- I passed on the garlic mashed potatoes too (which I love) and got vegetable medley, which was good though. My lily's chicken had quite a bit of goat cheese and I'm sure the sauce was pretty fattening but I like to think I didn't stretch the diet too far ha!

                    I remembered a little late for the picture = )

Saturday was a lazy day for us until that night and we went to Chuck-E-Cheese for Jonah's 3rd birthday party. Jonah wasn't too sure about the place at first but ended up liking a big truck ride and loved eating his cake.

 I was proud of Jonah for not diving into his cake when it was sitting in front of him for almost 10min. waiting for Chuck-E-Cheese.

   But he decided he would take little licks of the icing- it was too cute

Tonight I decided to make a paleo dinner and dessert. I made Cinnamon Chicken and Brownies (yes paleo style). They were both pretty simple to make and I really liked both. Andrew wasn't really a fan of the chicken- he said he didn't like the cinnamon/paprika together, it was too weird. I loved it though and it was different. The brownies are made with dark chocolate and I actually like them, considering I don't really like dark chocolate candy bars. Here's the recipes in case you want to try them

Cinnamon Chicken

• 1 3lbs chicken, cut into 8 pieces (breasts, drumsticks, thighs and wings); I just bought chicken breasts
• ½ tsp sea salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2/3 tsp cinnamon
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp paprika
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 cup water or chicken broth

Directions: ***I didn't have to cook my chicken as long because I bought thin chicken breast***

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F.
2. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, garlic and cinnamon. Rub the chicken pieces with this mixture and allow it to sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature.
3. Place the chicken pieces in a large roasting pan, sprinkle the meat all over with the paprika and add the onion slices to the pan.
4. Cook for 35 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 F. 
5. Stir in a cup of water to the roasting pan and continue cooking for another 50 minutes.
6. Serve and use the juices from the pan as a sauce.

   Sorry my picture doesn't have great plate presentation- I should know better after watching Top Chef!

Paleo Brownies

16 oz of walnuts

1 egg

1 cup honey

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tbs pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt


1 tsp baking soda

2 oz unsweetened dark chocolate chopped
(I cheated a little and bought semi-sweet because I bought unsweetened cocoa)

1 – 2 tbs coconut oil

Nut butter- I have no clue how much sorry- this part was left out of ingredients part of the recipe but was in the directions, I just winged it

Directions:

1.     Preheat oven to 325.  Grease a 8 x 8 baking dish with coconut oil.

2.     Pulse walnuts in food processor/blender until smooth and creamy.

3.     In a large bowl, beat an egg.  Add in the nuts, almond butter, vanilla and honey- stir to combine.

4.     Add in cocoa powder, salt and baking soda.  Stir in chopped chocolate.

5.     Pour batter into greased baking dish.

6.     Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes.  It will puff up in oven and settle when it cools.  To check doneness, insert a toothpick or knife in the center.  It should come out clean.

7.     Cool for 15 minutes and then cut and eat.

              Um yes those are fork stabs in the middle where I tested to see if they were done

Oh and I made paleo pancakes for breakfast this am after my workout. I meant to put blueberries in them but forgot- they weren't bad but probably would've been better with some fruit in them. I used Agave honey for a syrup which I really liked it. I'm not about to show my picture of them because they did not turn out pretty- next time I need to use a different pan  = )

Paleo Pancakes
Ingredients:

3 large eggs

1 T water

1 T vanilla extract

2 T local honey- I bought Agave honey

1 1/2 c blanched almond flour

1/4 t celtic sea salt

1/4 t baking soda

coconut oil, for cooking

How I wish this picture was from me, it it not- from the website I got the recipe fromhttp://sheridanfrench.blogspot.com/2011/11/paleo-pancakes.html

 

**Use medium to medium low heat, and do not make them larger than 3" in diameter. That is the trick! Flip when little bubbles form, and add more oil as needed.**


I think I messed up because I didn't stir it long enough for a good consistency- I have some batter leftover and I'm going to try a different a pan, I'm sure they'll look prettier.


The picture from the website- oh gosh mine were awful looking compared to these bahaha

Here's the honey I used as syrup, and no not all of this for the pancakes, I used the rest for the brownies

On a different a note- on our TEAMworks Ukraine blog (www.teamworksukraine.com) we've been featuring kids that we saw in the orphanages and have gotten great responses and have families that are very interesting in adopting and some are in the paperwork process right now! I LOVE IT! A family just got back yesterday from adopting their sweet little girl = )


Have a great week!
~Kara~