Happy (Belated!) New Year!

Let's push past the "I'm so sorry for never posting!" crap because I feel like I start every prolonged post with that.

I made my New Year's Resolutions though!

Can you guess them?

If you guessed that I would force myself to post to this blog, you're half right! Let me explain...

I'm going to write this year. Write, write, write, write, write, write! What am I going to do? WRITE! My blog, random reflections, for HerCampus, stories... I want to set aside at least thirty minutes a day to writing while there is no TV in the background.

My other resolutions though...

• Running. I should get back to that. I have the clothes, the sneakers, and the Apple Watch. I am going to go running.
• Dynamic Cardio. Like zumba. At least once a week.
• Toning. Pilates. I'm taking a class for that for credit. But I need to make sure to upkeep it during the summer and next year! I already took a class. My obliques were ON FIRE. I loved it.
• Cooking. Two new recipes per month. That's my goal.

Well, yeah, that's really it. I hesitate to call them "Resolutions" because they're things I already do, I just want to hold myself accountable to them.

I should probably do better on my money spending habit.

Eh.

In the meanwhile, please listen to this. I'm seeing Børns next month. I liked him but then I started LOVING him. Now I'm slightly obsessed with him. I have listened to these 2 songs about 20 times each just today.

Seriously obsessed... Actually, all I did today was listen to acoustic music from a couple of my favorite bands and artists: Walk the Moon, Hozier, Sam Smith, Adele, Imagine Dragons, and Børns obviously. Hope you like the two songs!

Paleo Kitchen: Energizing Milkshake

Easy peasy, lemon-squeezy. I was reading something somewhere that said that raw eggs (hormone free, organic, free range) are good for you. Way better than cooked eggs. When you cook the eggs, the protein structure gets messed up and that's why people have egg allergies. So I started having raw eggs. 

Newsflash: they're not tasty. Yuck.

So I started drinking them with coconut milk!

Tasty but then if you don't mix the eggs well, then you caste feel it going down your throat. Appealing, right?

But then I started getting hungry like an hour after having it! Which really is no surprise. It's protein and 60 calories worth of milk. But I wanted a way to stay full longer. And for the eggs to blend better. So I created the milkshake! YUM. Tastes like vanilla ice cream, so I feel as if I'm treating myself :D! Low calorie too :).

You don't need much.

Energizing milkshake 

Ingredients

6 oz unsweetened vanilla coconut milk (it has a crapton of Vitamin D and Vitamin B12)

6 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk (crapton of Calcium and Vitamin E)

2 raw organic eggs

1 tbsp organic raw honey (if you want it sweet!)

6 - 8 oz of cubed ice

Instructions

Put everything in a blender. Blend. Add more ice if you want to thicker. 

What you have now is a low calorie milkshake with a lot of nutrients which gives you a lot of energy and makes you feel full and refreshed :)! Plus in my opinion, tastes like the Starbucks vanilla frappé.

So, enjoy!

Paleo Kitchen: Pizza + Truffles

Ah! Today's my first installment of my favorite paleo recipes that you need to try out! I'm going above and beyond the basic paleo staples and give you a meal.

I was craving, and I mean craving, some pizza and a nice decadent chocolate dessert. So guess what I did? Made some :). I was so close to running (like actually running, sprinting) to the Pizza Hut behind my house to get some pizza. I keep getting bombarded with Pizza Hut's latest pizza and the resistance has been great until the craving began.

So today I will tell you what I made and how I made it, starting first with the pizza (obvi!)

Goat Cheese Pizza (12 inches)

Guys, I really hope you can eat goat cheese. It is the weirdest best thing I have ever eaten. It's strong and a bit bitter but it grows on you. Plus, it makes a GREAT pizza topping if you can't or won't eat dairy products from cows. I bought goat milk cheese from a local certified farm that lets its animals roam free, pasture-raised, healthy eating... You know, all the good things. So, without further ado...

Ingredients

• 6 oz Tapioca Flour/Starch + 4 oz (separated)
• 2.5 oz Coconut Flour + 2 oz (separated)
• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 cup warm-hot water
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 whisked egg
• 6-8 oz Pizza Sauce (I have a bomb-ass recipe for my homemade pizza sauce. I'll share it in the next couple of days, but more or less I used diced tomatoes, onions, jalapeno, chives, oregano, basil, cilantro, salt all blended in a blender, then simmered for 12-15 minutes, then added 3 ounces of tomato paste and simmered for another 10 minutes.)
• 3/4 cup mushrooms, diced bell peppers, and onions cooked in coconut oil, drained
• 1 cup diced chicken, cooked (I sautéed mine in some rum!)
• 1 oz raw onions, diced
• 1/2 cup shredded goat cheese
• 1 tbsp melted ghee (organic, clarified butter)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• In a medium-large bowl, mix the 6 oz of tapioca flour, 2.5 oz of coconut flour, and salt.
• Add the olive oil and warm water. Mix.
• Add the whisked egg. Mix.
• Slowly add the rest of the coconut flour until it is easily formable into a ball of dough.
• Sprinkle an ounce of tapioca flour on a cutting board and then knead about 2 ounces of tapioca flour into the ball of dough.
• Sprinkle a little bit of tapioca flour onto parchment paper (and then place that parchment paper on top of a pizza pan, if you have one), and sprinkle the rest of the flour on your rolling pin.
• Roll out your dough on the parchment paper to a 12 inch circle, making sure the dough is even (because we do not want the edges to crisp)
• Bake for about 10 minutes.
• Make sure your ingredients/toppings are warm.
• Remove from oven. Lower heat to 350 degrees.
• Apply 2 ounces of pizza sauce.
• Then add the mushroom/peppers/onions.
• Then add the rest of the pizza sauce (depending on how saucy you want it!)
• Add the chicken.
• Add the raw onions.
• Sprinkle the cheese.
• Brush the ghee on the crust area.
• Place back in oven. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese starts slightly browning.
• Enjoy!

Coconut Date Truffles

Healthy, not overly sweet, customizable, and just all around amazing. 

Ingredients

• 2 cups of dates, pitted, diced (try to use fresh ones as opposed to pre-packaged ones_
• 1/2 cup of coconut flakes, broken
• 100% cacao powder
• 1 oz cacao chips
• 2 cups of strongly brewed warm coffee
• 1 tbsp cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp nutmeg powder

Instructions

• Let the dates sit in the coffee for about 5 minutes. 
• Drain.
• Using a wooden spoon, mash and mix the dates with the cacao chips, cinnamon, and nutmeg until the dates have a paste-like consistency. 
• Mix in the coconut flakes.
• Form the paste into round 1 inch balls and then roll them in the cacao powder until it is all coated. 
• Place in fridge to harden for at least 30 minutes. Leave refrigerated until use.
• Enjoy with a nice glass of wine ;). Pictured is a "wine" made out of plums! It works perfectly for both red and white dishes.  

I made these for my family and they loved it! Being paleo has been a bit tough, especially we are a huge rice-eater family. I miss rice, ugh. But from time to time, they let me cook for the family, which has definitely made my life so much easier because then they're doing it with me. I love cooking and baking and I can't wait to discover more recipes and find out what works and doesn't work so that I can share them with you guys! Let me know if you have good recipes I need to try out :).

Voilá! Bon appetite, mon cheri.