Chocolate Almond Butter Bark - NO Bake!!!

You know how some people are "morning people" while others are "night owls"?  Some are coffee, some are tea?  The great office debate - Blue Ink vs. Black Ink!  And the always popular 'salty" or "sweet".

I was always a salty!  If faced with a pan of brownies or a bag of chips...I went for the chips.  Popcorn is the only snack needed at the movies in my opinion.  Extra helping of mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving or another piece of pie....Mashed Potatoes - no contest!

I feel certain there is some scientific, biological reason for that and an equally logical scientific, biological reason behind the fact that since adopting a Paleo diet - I now have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Thankfully, a tablespoon of coconut sugar in my morning coffee usually does the trick.

USUALLY!

Other days, I want a piece of chocolate, a piece of candy, a cookie or a cupcake or that extra piece of pie I didn't eat last Thanksgiving!

So, I have been playing around with Paleo baking.  It's different.  I've mastered a chocolate chip cookie recipe, a brownie recipe made with zucchini and a banana chocolate cake that you make in the blender (found it on Pinterest and tweaked it a bit - but it's super easy - you should try it!).  I can make a wonderful Paleo fruit crumble (my sweet husband's favorite dessert) and a healthier version of a Wendy's chocolate frosty.

I decided on Tuesday that it was time to try and make candy.  I've been seeing all these Paleo truffle-like almond butter balls with dates and chopped nuts and some chocolate and these chocolate and almond butter bars (that look really complicated to me!), which made me think of bark or brittle.  I used to always make the white chocolate, peppermint bark at Christmastime.  I also used to love to make the chocolate, Saltine cracker candy (you Pinterest fans will know exactly what I'm talking about!) and my mom's friend Katherine used to always make chocolate bark with dried fruits and nuts around the holidays.

I was pretty sure I could manage a decent bark with just what was in my pantry and without turning on my oven!  SCORE!

I tried 2 versions - one where I mixed the chocolate and almond butter together and one where I swirled them so they mixed, but still stayed separate.  The swirled version was prettier, but the mixed version set up better - so that's what I am going to share with you.  If you want to try the swirled - just start with a layer of chocolate, spoon on big dollops of almond butter and swirl with a butter knife, be gentle!

Dark Chocolate Almond Butter No Bake Bark

12 ounces of chopped organic dark chocolate (85% cacao)* - check out these fun facts about choosing the best dark chocolate here.
6 Tablespoons of creamy, sugar free almond butter (I prefer Trader Joe's for so many reasons)
1/4 cup thinly sliced raw almonds
1/4 cup no-sugar-added dried cherries
1/4 cup no-sugar-added dried apricots
Healthy pinch of coarse salt

Line a small rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and have all your ingredients ready to go.

Melt your chocolate gently - you can use the double boiler method or you can do what I do (and Ina Garten does) melt yours in the microwave.  I start with 30 seconds, check and stir if it's started melting at all, 30 more seconds, stir, 30 more seconds, stir - that should do it in my experience, but you may need to go one more or one less round depending on your microwave.

Add the almond butter to the chocolate and mix.

Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet, smoothing it out to an even layer (about 1/4 inch).  Sprinkle the dried fruit and nuts into the chocolate almond butter mixture, then sprinkle with the coarse salt.

Place in the freezer for at least an hour.

Once it is frozen solid, take it out and break into pieces.  I put mine into a zipper bag and back into the freezer.  It's crazy hot here in Texas, so things melt quickly.  I let it sit at room temp for 3-5 minutes before eating - it was great!



*My kids thought this was too bitter, so I made a second version for them that they loved.  Substitute 6 ounces of Enjoy Life chocolate morsels for 6 ounces of the dark chocolate and add 1 T of unsweetened vanilla cashew milk during the melting process.  This lightens up the flavor, but still gives them the benefit of all the antioxidants in dark chocolate.

At The Risk Of Being a Downer...

It's time.  Time to spill the beans.  Time to go public.  Time to share.

I have cancer.

Very treatable, beatable cancer that started like so many other cancer scares...an "inconclusive" mammogram.  And that's where this all began.

I've been smushed, poked, biopsied, cut into, examined, consulted with and my teeny-tiny tumor has been sliced and peered at and evaluated and gotten a grade from the big brains that dissect all the features and tendencies of a tumor.

A teeny-tiny tumor.  That was found!  Early!

And that's what makes me want to share the story here - I've had 2 of my 3 doctors tell me that switching to a Paleo (they said healthier and less processed) diet probably saved (or at least prolonged) my life.  The cancer would have been much harder to detect if I were still 80 pounds heavier.  And, my type of tumor feeds off estrogen which is overproduced by obese women....that was me!  So having less fat means having less food for my teeny-tiny tumor.

But I have to tell you....it was so frustrating to sit in the rooms with the paperwork and nurses and doctors and answer all the questions about my health.  I take no medications, I have great numbers (cholesterol, sugar, blood pressure, etc.), I exercise, I don't suffer from any symptoms or allergies or migraines (thank you no gluten, no dairy!) or any of the hundred things they ask about.

I'm the healthiest I've been in over 30 years...except for this damn cancer!

And it's so small and so new and so inside and hidden and I feel great every day.  But it's in there.  And I'm about to start the real war against my teeny-tiny tumor (which has been removed, but apparently ventured out into my body through a lymph node.)

I am going to do all the traditional things that my oncologist recommends.  Chemotherapy.  Radiation.  Endocrine Therapy.  AND, I'm going to stay on the Paleo pathway - eating clean, exercising, getting a little Vitamin D in nature, meditating, yoga and staying positive.

And my medical oncologist - who is clearly an angel put on this Earth for me and my family! - is well-versed in the Paleo diet.  She is a firm believer in the harm of inflammation in our bodies.  She mentioned all the books I've been reading and all the studies I've been seeing and I love that even before I knew I had a teeny-tiny cancer tumor, I was already fighting the good fight by committing to a Paleo diet and lifestyle.

I'm not sure how much of my journey I will share here - I mean really, this is about recipes and tips and sharing info....but just in case, I wanted to go public with my battle.

I will be launching a Fundraising Page in the next couple of days....even with insurance, cancer is EXPENSIVE!  And until I have my first chemo treatment (on Tuesday...yikes!), I have no idea if I'll be able to work through the next 12 weeks.  That is where I will share photos and updates and stories for anyone who is interested.  I'll share the link here once it's all up and running.

I will tell you - my friend Indi (artist extraordinaire...check out her website, IndiPlanetStudio ) has designed a couple of really fun shirts to help me raise money to offset the ridiculous cost of kicking cancer's butt.  I have trouble asking for straight up money, but I would and will buy these shirts.  So feel free to check it out and support my fight with a really cool t-shirt!  (I promise I'll share the link before Tuesday's treatment!)

And there it is.  It's my new reality.  And I feel scared and pissed off and ready and positive and frustrated and anxious all at the same time.  But my plan is to kick the crap out of my teeny-tiny tumor and any little brothers and sisters that have invaded my body.  Feel free to say a prayer or two and put any excess positive energy out into the Universe in my name.  I believe in the power of prayer and relationships and positivity and love.  Most of all, I believe I will win this fight!

#superheroes&pinkdaisies

Cutting a Watermelon with LESS MESS!

We love watermelon in our house.  It was actually my pregnancy craving with my daughter...I carried these little tupperware containers and zipper bags of watermelon chunks with me everywhere I/we went for the last 5 or 6 months of my pregnancy...which seemed to last about a year and a half!

Not surprisingly, my daughter's favorite snack and summer food item is watermelon....which is great from a health point of view.  But from a shopping and kitchen point of view...ugh!

My mother taught me how to pick a ripe watermelon a long time ago.  And 90% of the time - it works beautifully.  To hedge my success rate up even higher - I try and buy my watermelons at a farm stand or at a store that consistently has great produce.  I will pay a little more because once I've lugged them home and cut them up - I want them to be FABULOUS!  Watermelon is seasonal - I have to make the most of the few months we have together!

Mom always said - "to get the best watermelon money can buy" you have to look for a watermelon with a large, flat yellow spot.  The place where the watermelon rests on the ground.  If it's large and flat - that means the watermelon is heavy and has had time to ripen on the vine.  The rest of the rind needs to be green and without blemishes or dents.  That speaks to the care that was taken in harvesting and transporting the watermelon.  I know you are supposed to knock on the watermelon with your fist and it's supposed to sound hollow...but I've never mastered that.  I still do it - I keep thinking if I do it long enough, I will figure it out...but they all sound the same to me!!!

As far as the kitchen stress...it was always the huge, juicy mess of cutting a watermelon that I dreaded.  Not enough to keep me from buying watermelons - but I dreaded it just the same!

I have great knives.  I have a kitchen island.  I am pretty solid in the kitchen.  But man, oh man - I couldn't control the mess every time I cut up a watermelon!  I mean, juice running down the side of everything, splatting all over the place from the slicing and dicing and chunking.  And I didn't really have a system for cutting.  I just dug in and kept going until I had all the goodness in chunks and in a container in my fridge!

That all changed last year when I watched a video on cutting a watermelon.  It looked a little too good to be true, but as chance would have it - I had a watermelon on the counter, so I tried it.  And it worked!  I have since made one small adjustment to help make clean up easier, but it's the easiest, tidiest way I have found.

I hope you'll give it a try next time you find yourself with a beautiful, nutrient-soaked watermelon (think antioxidants, lycopene, vitamins A, B6, C....check this site out for more watermelon nutritional fun facts)

Here you go...(this is where I apologize for the poor quality of these photos...I am home alone, it's a cloudy day and I used my phone...I figure it's okay, because this is all about a time-saving, mess-easing technique...not making art or something for a fancy party...so I hope you won't be offended by my amateur pics!)

First, place your cutting board on a rimmed baking sheet (my little tweak to make clean up easier) and cut the watermelon in half

 

Then, cut the watermelon into quarters

 

Then, you will slice through the watermelon flesh on the diagonal all the way across the top

Then slice diagonally the other way, making sure you are slicing all the way down to the rind, but not through the white part

 

Next, run your knife along the curve of the rind (if you watermelon is not as ripe as you'd like - cut about an inch up...the center is always the sweetest)

The watermelon is now cut into chunks with very little mess or difficult knife cuts through the hard outer rind

Then you just dump the chunks into a container (if this is your first time doing this, feel free to squeal with delight or call someone over to see 'how cool this is!'...that's what I did!)

You end up with 4 sections of rind, easy to toss into a trash bag 

And look at how little mess/juice you have to clean up.  Even if you end up with an especially juicy watermelon - using the sheet pan will keep it from running all over your counters!

All there is left to do is head outside, put your feet up and enjoy a big bowl!

Happy Summer!

 

Paleo for my Summer Athlete

It's official - it's summer vacation!

No alarms were set.  No homework was done.  No shoes were worn for most of the day.  And now, no one is home except me.  The kids couldn't wait to plan things with their friends now that finals and end of course tests and class parties and bedtimes were over!

And in mom-speak - summer vacation is official because my summer calendar has been uploaded!

All the summer camps, conditioning, practices, recitals, Nationals, vacation and pool parties are set with reminders and lists of special equipment or clothes or whatever.

My son, the football player, is going to be spending 4 mornings a week lifting weights and running and pushing sleds and running into and over other teenage boys for 3-4 hours at a time.  That's a lot.

Last year we (especially HE) was new to Paleo and he lost a LOT of weight.  He eventually gained a lot of muscle and speed and the ability to lift a lot more in the weight room, but I don't think we did it quite right in the beginning.  I was so excited that he was finally eating a wide variety of fruits and veggies and lean proteins and healthy fats that I didn't do enough research on this type of eating for an athlete.

I had to fix that during football season - he was dropping weight so fast they thought he couldn't play his position any more.  So I just fed him more!  More of the good stuff, but just MORE in the beginning. 

Then I got on the internet and to the library and found some very specific info on the best foods to eat to maximize his performance.

Once again, I am compelled to say that I am not a doctor or dietician or personal trainer or physical therapist or anything with lots of letters denoting my expertise.  I am a mom.  A mom who feels strongly about my son eating healthy, but understanding his need to stay strong and solid for his sport. 

I also know my son does not tolerate much food before a morning workout - we've settled on a fruit or fruit and veggie smoothie with some almond butter - either in the smoothie or on a spoon!  The extreme Texas heat is not his stomach's friend either - if he has an afternoon workout or scrimmage, I make sure he eats 2 hours to 90 minutes before we leave the house and it's always a lean, non-spicy protein - chicken breast or turkey usually and grapes or celery or an apple with almond butter.  That meals stays in his tummy where it belongs!  We are also big on hydration.  Water all day, every day!

That leaves me with what he needed to eat AFTER the workout.  I mean, he comes in the door thirsty and ready for a shower and then he comes down the stairs starving!  Like, crazy-eyed starving!  I read a lot about the importance of carbohydrates post-workout.  Sadly, he does NOT like sweet potatoes or blueberries - the easiest, most affordable Paleo carbs that are always in my house.  That's how I made the decision (after lots of research) to add organic russet potatoes back into our diet.  Some people say russets aren't paleo - I choose to disagree.  We prepare them simply and we eat them sparingly AND they are real, organic, completely unprocessed food AND they keep my kids happy!

I rarely have a full meal ready when he gets done with his workout - I mean, it's usually 10:30 in the morning, so I keep healthy, 'snackier' options in the pantry and fridge for him that will tide him over until meal time.  I keep Epic bars or jerky, hard-cooked and scrambled eggs (that can be microwaved) for protein, olives, raw almonds and unsweetened almond butter for healthy fats, plantain chips, unsweetened dried fruit and russets fried in coconut oil (also usually microwaved) for carbs.  This allows him to fuel up soon after his workout without upsetting his stomach or blowing his clean eating for a bag of chips or a plate of pasta. 

For what it's worth - there is a lot of info about pre- and post-workout meals for Paleo athletes and a lot of it is conflicting.  We just played around with it until we found what worked best for my kids (my daughter is a competitive dancer - she is a grazer during and after her workouts, preferring raw fruits and veggies with cashew butter during and an Applegate hot dog after with those fried russet potatoes and an orange for her post-workout meal.) 

All I know is finding and keeping healthy foods on hand (especially the healthy carbs) and making sure they are refueling about an hour after their bigger workouts seems to keep them at a healthy weight and keep their energy levels up ... or maybe consistent is the word I'm looking for.  Both of them have improved their abilities since making the change to Paleo eating - faster, stronger, higher leaps or jumps and endurance.  

Every body has different needs.  I'm all about reducing inflammation in my joints and eliminating bloat and improving sleep.  My kids need clean eating for sleep too and focus and energy - but their level of exercise is so different than mine, I had to do some research and figure it out.

It's tough for a teenager to commit to a healthy diet - I feel like it's really important for me to find and keep food and snacks on hand that don't give them any excuse or desire to go back to our old habits. 

It's officially summer - time to go stock the kitchen with healthy, kid-friendly proteins, fats and carbs before our first practice next Monday!