Mexi Pork Taco Boats!

Another one of my new favorite recipes: Mexi Pork Taco Boats!

I am a huge fan of Mexican food. I love it all! But, as you may be aware, Mexican food is not always your friend. Taco shells and flour tortillas are not all that great for you. But how do you eat a taco without a taco shell?

Well, I've found a solution! You make the taco using romaine lettuce. And you get to put in all kinds of yummy stuff inside! I promise you will not be disappointed if you give this recipe a try! And it's super easy, so what's not to love?

I cannot claim to have created this recipe on my own, but I will help the original owner out and pass it along! I originally found it on fastpaleo.com.

So, without further adieu, here is the recipe! : )

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First, you have to make the pork. There are three ingredients. It does not get simpler than that!

Credit: fastpaleo.com

Shredded Mexi Pork

Ingredients:

• Lg Pork Roast of your choice (about 4lbs)
• Pkg Epicure’s Burrito Seasoning (I made my own seasoning: click here)
• 1 Onion, wedged

Instructions:

1. Coat your roast in salt, pepper, and sear in a hot pan.
2. Coat roast in burrito/taco seasoning.
3. Put in crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours, or until done.


Once you have your pork done, you're ready to make the tacos.

Mexi Pork Taco Boats

Credit: fastpaleo.com

Ingredients: 

• Shredded Mexi Pork
• Romaine Leaves
• Epicure’s Salsa – prepared
• Sour Cream
• Diced Avocado
• Shredded Cheese
• Epicure’s Guacamole Dip Mix
• A Lime

 Instructions:

Load the Mexi Pork into the romaine lettuce, then top with any or all desired ingredients. At the end, sprinkle on some fresh lime juice!


Such an easy recipe and it is so good! I actually did not use cheese when I first made these ... because I forgot. And it was so good even without it. I can eat Mexican food again and I don't feel like I'm missing any of the experience! I love it and I'm sure you will too!

Breakfast: To Eat It or Not To Eat It?

I would say the answer would be both! Eat it, but don't eat it!

When I say it it, I mean that you should eat something within a half hour of waking up. Studies have shown that eating within that time frame boosts your metabolism and it gives you the energy you need to get through your day. It also means that you won't be starving yourself after your fast (sleeping), so when you do decide to eat, you won't pounce on anything that crosses your path.

Eating breakfast isn't just important for adults though. Kids need that boost in the morning too. Studies show that people who eat breakfast in the morning are better-able to perform the required tasks of the day, but also children who eat breakfast are less likely to be absent from school.

I have noticed that you kind of train your body to get used to this. I used to skip breakfast, which is bad, I know now. And I was also very heavy during that time (which is also very common for people who skip breakfast). But when I skipped breakfast, I noticed I wasn't as hungry in the morning. Once I started eating breakfast, I'd hear my belly groaning each morning within minutes of getting out of bed. Just like most other animals, it gets on a schedule and likes to stick to it! I can't vouch for others, but that was my experience, so even if you think you aren't hungry in the mornings, try it for a week or two and see if that changes.

Ok, now, when I say "don't eat breakfast!", I mean do not eat the foods we have all come to know, and love, as breakfast foods. This means waffles, pancakes, french toast, donuts, muffins, bagels, and cereals! I don't care if it says "Nutri" or "Natural" or "Fiber" or "Gluten-free" on the box/bag/can ... check the labels. Check the ingredients. If you can't pronounce the ingredients on the list, then you should put it down and go find something that wasn't created in a laboratory. The food industry has got a sneaky way of marketing their products. They can get away with "less sugar" and "natural" because there aren't very good guidelines for what they have to take into account. For example, sugar is hard to track because there are many different types of sugars and they aren't required to include all of them on the nutritional guide. So here is my solution to that:

grams of carbohydrates / 4 = tsp of sugar that you consume with each serving

ex: 20 g of carbs / 4 = 5 tsp of sugar

Ok, so that is just one serving. How many of you eat just one serving of cereal? Anyone? I know most cereal serving sizes are 1/2 c to 3/4 c and I know that I used to fill that bowl to the top! And sometimes I would even go back for a second bowl. That is a lot of sugar, which we know is very bad for you.

So now that I've told you what not to eat, what should you eat?
I would recommend getting in the 3 key food groups: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. And by "carbohydrates" I mean veggies! So a plate of eggs (protein/fat), veggies (carbs), and half of a sweet potato (carbs) with real butter (fats) will not only fill you up and be a great balanced breakfast, but it also is super delicious!

If you insist on finding something prepackaged, due to lack of time or resources, just check the ingredients list and see exactly what they are putting in the product. I can't say I have checked every label, but it is easier, for me, to just shop the perimeter and stick to real foods without the boxes or bags.

Another great option is to make breakfast foods ahead of time so you can just grab them and go. Casseroles are great, quiches are delicious. One of my new favorites is making meat muffins. That doesn't exactly sound the best, I know, but I'm talking like meatloaf in a cupcake tin. You can throw just about anything into some eggs, whip it up, pour it in muffin/cupcake tins ... 20 minutes later you have got meat muffins to last you all week that you can grab, heat, and go! It's also nice because you can include the 3 key food groups in them and get the balance all in one item.

Below is one of the recipes that I tried recently and thought was pretty good. I made them last night, breakfast for dinner, but my husband will be saving the rest for his breakfasts this week (he doesn't enjoy cooking and doesn't like waking up early to do it, lol).


Southwestern Omelet Muffins
 (found on Fast Paleo)

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces breakfast sausage links, chopped
• 2 bell peppers, assorted colors, chopped small
• ½ cup green onions, chopped small
• ¾ cups kale, chopped small
• 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves chopped fresh garlic)
• 4 ounce can green chiles, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I omitted due to not liking cilantro)
• 1 dozen eggs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat large skillet on medium high heat. Add sausage and brown all around.
Add peppers and kale and cook to soften, about 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat eggs with remaining ingredients.
Add sausage and veggies.
Line muffin tins with papers and divide egg mixture among them, filling about ¾ full.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the center is firm to the touch.


So, eat your breakfast, but don't eat breakfast! ; )
Enjoy!


Sources:
Mayo Clinic
Fast Paleo
WebMD

Recipe: Honey Mustard Burgers and Sweet Potato Apple Mash

This is another one of the new recipes that I have tried recently. This one, very quickly, moved to the top of my list of favorite meals! I really wish I had doubled the recipe because the amount of mash that came from the recipe only lasted through one meal. The six burgers was fine, but I think I will double or triple the mash recipe next time. I'm also not that great at keeping burgers in one piece (not a lot of practice), so I didn't take any pictures of my own this time.

I really love this recipe from Civilized Caveman Cooking because the two different pieces go so well together. The mash is sweet and tart at the same time while the burgers are sweet and savory. It's a perfect combination. I also love this option because I can make burgers and not need a bun. I even think the mash could be used as a dessert or with pork chops too.

Credit: civilizedcavemancooking.com

Ingredients

• 2 Lbs Ground Beef
• 1/2 Cup Honey
• 1/2 Cup Dijon Mustard
• 1 Tsp Sea Salt, 1 Tsp Pepper

For the Hash:

• 2 Cups peeled, diced Sweet Potato
• 1/2 Red Onion Diced
• 1 Granny Smith Apple peeled, Diced
• 1 Tbsp Cinnamon

 Cooking Steps

Taken from: http://www.civilizedcavemancooking.com

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine your ground beef, honey, dijon mustard, sea salt, and pepper.
2. Using your hands, mix the meat well to ensure an even coating.
3. Once mixed, make 6 patties about 1/2 inch thick and set on a plate.
4. Grill over medium high heat about 7-10 minutes on the first side and 5 minutes on the second side
    until done to your liking.
5. Serve over a bed of Sweet Potato Apple Hash below

For the Hash:

1. Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Melt a cooking oil of your choice, I used coconut oil.
3. Add your apples and onions and saute until the onions start to caramelize.
4. Next add your sweet potatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes.
5. Now take some water and pour it into the skillet, mixing well, and ensure nothing is stuck to the
    bottom of the pan.
6. Cover the pan and let the water steam your potatoes.
** If after all your water has evaporated your potatoes still aren’t done, add more water and repeat.
7. Once done to your liking, turn off the heat and add the cinnamon and mix well, then plate.

Recipe: Bacon and Vegetable Quiche

My husband has a habit of grabbing his breakfast on the run. Normally it is a bowl of oatmeal with different fixings, sometimes fruit, sometimes protein powder, sometimes peanut butter .... or even combining the three. He used to be hooked on cold cereals, all loaded with sugar and other artificial ingredients, but we haven't seen one of those boxes in our home for about two years. And he feels so much better now that he's starting his day out a little better.

However, sometimes the oatmeal can get a little boring. So I've been searching for suitable breakfast meals that I can have ready for him to just grab and go. I recently have come to appreciate quiches and was on the Fast Paleo website and came across one that I'll be sticking in my box of favorites!

It's called "Bacon and Vegetable Quiche" and is super yummy and filling, which is perfect for my husband. I tried it for the first time this week and he's been happy to have options in the morning. All he has to do is pull it out of the fridge, slice a piece, heat it up, and put it in his container to go!

So here's how you make it:

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1 cup of bacon (I used more)
• 1 sweet potato
• 2 carrots
• 2 handfuls of baby spinach
• 2 zucchinis
• 1/2 white onion (I used a full onion)
• Smidge of coconut oil
• Salt and pepper
• iPhone not needed unless you like music while cooking : )

Cooking Steps

1. Shred sweet potato, zucchini and carrots.  (I just chopped these finely)
2. Chop spinach, bacon and onion and add to vegetable mixture.
3. Combine.
4. Add eggs into combined vegetable and bacon mixture. Mix thoroughly.
5. Add salt and pepper – mix.
6. Rub oil over tray to avoid quiche sticking to the tray.  Pour    mixture onto the tray.

**Size of quiche depends on your own preference and portion intake.



Bake at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
**A knife/toothpick is inserted and comes out clean the quiche is cooked.  
(Some reviews questioned whether the 180 degrees was Celcius or Fahrenheit and they said Fahrenheit, but at the end of the cooking time it still wasn't done. So I put it on 350 degrees and cooked another half hour.)

Set and allow quiche to cool before cutting.

**Vegetable selection is based on what I had in the fridge, but it is entirely up to you! Tastes great with the bacon, or smoked salmon for those who don’t eat bacon – for vegetarians, the quiche on its own also tastes great! 

Motivation: Tools to Use

I find that I perform the best when I am surrounded by helpful tools. These can be friends that help you stay on track, websites that motivate you to keep going, online calculators that help you see your progress, or even apps on your phone to remind you when to weigh in. Whatever it is that you need, there are a ton of options out there to help you lose weight and get healthy. I'm going to share some of my favorites with you!

Numbers: 

I like to keep several options open for keeping tracking of my weight loss. With many different numbers to keep track of, it's easier for me to stay on course than if I am only watching the scale. For example, I can keep track of my weight on Thintopia, a website designed to track weight loss, but not show the actual numbers. This is great for competitions because you can join with others, but they don't have to know how much you weigh; they only know the percentage of your total body weight that you have lost. In addition, I use a target weight loss date calculator so I know of a reasonable completion date and keep it as a goal to finish by that date. I also look at a body fat % calculator, which will tell me approximately how much of my weight is fat that can be lost. And finally, I keep track of my measurements, which you can do on your own or you can log on to a FREE Beach Body account. You get signed up for a coach who can help you stay on track and there are tons of free tools to keep track of your measurements and even your workouts too!

Aside from these tools, I use a calorie counting website to help me keep track of the food that I consume each day. Most of these types of websites allow you to also keep track of your activity calories burned, so you have a net amount of calories at the end of the day. I've tried several different options, but Calorie Count at about.com is my favorite. It seems to be very user-friendly.

1. Thingopia 
2. Target Weight Loss Date Calculator
3. Body Fat % Calculator
4. Beach Body Super Gym
5. Calorie Count
6. My Fitness Pal 
7. Spark People

Food:

Here is a list of some of my favorite websites to gather recipes. Some of them are Paleo, but some, like Skinny Taste or Chocolate Covered Katie, are not. They all have a wide range of recipes to choose from and I know you will not be disappointed with the recipes!

1. Skinny Taste
2. Chocolate Covered Katie
3. Fast Paleo
4. Chow Stalker
5. Dessert Stalker
6. Nutritional Weight and Wellness
7. On Diet and Health

Fitness:

I like FREE so I found a few different free websites to watch exercise videos. And believe me, they are challenging videos. But the nice thing is that the videos are very structured and most of them are run by professionals, so their workouts not only work, but they are safe too. 

1. BodyRock 
2. DailyHIIT
3. ZWow 
4. Hang Tight with MarC

Podcasts/Information:

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love podcasts. My husband got me into them! And I am hooked! I love to listen while I work, and some of my favorites are about nutrition and fitness. Here are the main ones that I listen to that have really helped me understand food and what it does to the body. I also have recently discovered the Get-Fit Guy, who has a great podcast on fitness. 

1. Primal Diet - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/beverly-meyer-san-antonio/id577470427
2. Dishing Up Nutrition - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/dishing-up-nutrition/id339853848
3. Get-Fit Guy - https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/get-fit-guys-quick-dirty-tips/id371750376

Phone Apps

Phone apps are also a great way to stay connected and motivated when you don't have your computer with you. I try not to have too many, but it helps to have a calorie/activity tracker on my phone, which Calorie Count has, and then I have a fitness video app so I can workout even when I don't have anything else with me. And Pinterest is possibly one of the best apps because you can find anything on that site: recipes, workouts, motivation, friends, and tips for weight loss. 

1. Calorie Count 
2. Pinterest
3. Body Rock
4. Facebook

With all of the resources available, it's easier to stay motivated and there is always going to be something for everyone. If something doesn't work for you, then keep looking. I know you will find what you need! I hope my suggestions help, but go out and find some of your own. You never know what's out there until you look!