Baked avocado and eggs

Perfect breakfast: separate an avocado in two halves, remove the pit, carve a biiger hole, break an egg in each half, bake for 20-30 minutes (depending on how you want your yolk- I baked them for 30 and they were solid, but people mostly like them runny). Sprinkle with sea salt and black peppe. Served with iceberg salad leaves and some prosciutto crudo. ENJOY! :)

Best pizza ever!!!!

Yeah!!! Pizza! Awesooome! Cauliflower pizza "scratched record sound"...right? No, honestly, best recipe ever! The credit goes to Detoxinista (check her out, her blog is amazing! http://detoxinista.com/2012/01/the-secret-to-perfect-cauliflower-pizza-crust/) for the crust- I substituted some items in the crust but the idea comes from her and it tasted amazing. Instead of goat cheese I added cottage cheese and a tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese and instead of oregano, basil :)  I feel it could have stayed longer in the oven (mine was 40 minutes but wasnt as brown as hers. I was scared I'd burn it... but no worries! Dont make it too thick and have the confidence to brown it properly). Topped with home made sweet ketchup mixed with shredded basil leaves and Himalaya salt, prosciutto, mozarella and fresh basil leaves. Its grain free but not paleo! Really important tip: do the cheesecloth step Detoxinista mentions, its worth it!! ENJOY!

Zucchini "pasta" and pesto

ZUCCHINI PASTA AND PESTO

Easiest recipe in the world (also with the worst picture in the world.. taken with the phone camera, while it was rather dark and I was incredibly hungry and I just might have been shaking with enthusiasm :P). One medium sized zucchini, shave really thin slices, cook them in a dry non stick skillet until they get a nice brownish color, add a tablespoon of dairy free pesto and top with shredded almonds (non paleo version- also gluten and grain free- top with normal pesto and Parmesan cheese). ENJOY! :) Macros 162 kcal, 10 g of carbs, 5 g of fat, 5 g of protein.

Zucchini oven baked "fries"

ZUCCHINI OVEN BAKED "FRIES"

Long strory short: was craving fries, i don't eat potatoes, read about these fries on a bb forum, here ya go: one zucchini, cut into sticks (fry-style), tossed with one eggwhite, some almond flour (like a teaspoon) and some za'atar, oven baked on high, on a sheet of baking paper, for about 30 minutes or until crispy. Delicious!!!! Enjoy! :)

Protein Chocolate Thins (non-paleo)

PROTEIN CHOCOLATE THINS (non- paleo)

Non paleo but lifting friendly, these thins are AWESOME. They have started out as brownies (base recipe: Layne Nortons's recipe, via Anna on Protein Power's : http://www.proteinpow.com/2012/08/the-best-low-carb-protein-brownies-in.html), but my pan was mega huge. So instead of 20 brownies I got 32 thins :))

Slightly modified recipe: 

230 g soft no-fat cottage cheese, a tablespoon of softened butter, 6 eggwhites, 1 tablespoon fat free milk, vanilla extract, half a packet of baking powder, 2.5 scoops (about 70 g) of chocolate whey (I used Optimum Nutrition Double Rich Chocolate), 90 g of very dark chocolate- chopped, 2 teaspoons of unsweetened cocoa, 20 g of crushed almonds, all mixed together with a hand mixer. Baked in a pan lined with baking paper, for 20 minutes. 

They taste like perfection, I swear. They are also low carb, low fat, grain free and high protein. Because of the cheese and whey they are also non-paleo, though. Macros for 1 piece out of 32: 40 kcal, 2 g C, 2 g F, 4 g P. Enjoy! :)

Zucchini fritters (can be made paleo friendly)

431 kcal, 12C, 32F,24 P (if you leave out the coconut and cheese, it becomes 265 kcal, 8C, 18 F, 19 P)

These are delicious! One whole zucchini, shredded (salted and let to express all the water, then dried), mixed with 3 whole eggs, 2 teaspoons of shredded coconut, paprika flakes, garam masala, salt, tons of pepper. Heat up some coconut oil/ghee/clarified butter/olive oil etc in a non stick pan (not too much, a teaspoon will do) and cook the fritters (one is a tablespoon of mixture). I shredded some goat cheese on top, if you want to make it paleo friendly, omit it. I have been eating cheese lately, so I am veering a little from the paleo nature of this blog- but I tolerate it very well, I can get tons of proteins and basically no carbs so there's that. Enjoy your fritters :)

In on the craze: The keto diet

So in order to reach my goals I decided I really need to step it up diet-wise. So now I am on a keto/psmf/IF LG style mix and I wait to see what happens. I feel just fine (no typical keto side effects like headaches, irritability or anything, except for drinking boatloads of water). Anywhoo, I eat protein and veggies and thats about it. But I still try to find some innovative ways to make them yummy, so there you go:

PEPPERY PORK WITH VEGGIES (what an original name :)) 

240 kcals, 22P, 6C, 11F (it does not get lower carb than this)!

Marinate 1 small sliced zucchini in a teensy bit of olive oil, lemon juice and rosemary. Grill them. Grill some  thiny sliced button mushrooms, put some salt on them. Slice 1/4 avocado and some cherry tomatoes. Take a pork chop (clean and lean!), add some salt and tons of freshly cracked (important) pepper. Grill it. Put all those things on a plate and eat them. End of story :)

Tuna salad (with a crap picture :/)

Sorry for the crap picture! I really need to step it up in that department. Its just that Im really looking forward to eating what I post that i just want to get it over with the picture taking time and just dig in. I assure you that  this salad is delicious!

TUNA SALAD WITH SPINACH

Toss a handful of fresh spinach leaves, one can of tuna chunks in water (drained), 2 medium sized sliced tomatoes, some broccoli sprouts and the juice from half of a lemon and add the dressing made out of one tablespoon coconut milk, salt, and generous amounts of pepper. Enjoy :)

Post-Workout Red Curry Stir Fry

So...stir fry. You'll be seeing A LOT of these.. they are my favorite PWO meal... they are done in 10 minutes and depending on what condiment's in there they can taste absolutely different from one day to another (even with the same veggies and meat). This one had chicken breast, carrots, apio, brown button mushrooms, broccoli, sweet potato and other stuff. Just the right amount of carbs to fuel my muscles after leg day and enough protein to keep me full. I made the mistake of using raw sweet potato, I advise anyone to cook it beforehand. Otherwise, the stir fry will take you way too long and you'll overcook the other vegetables. 

PWO RED CURRY STIR FRY

So...one chicken breast, marinated with some red curry paste, sauteed in coconut oil. When it was almost done, I added my sweet potato, some garam masala and fenugreek seeds. Thats where I went wrong- the sweet potato was raw... after sauteeing it for ages I added some water and let it simmer, until the water evaporated. It just took longer for the stir fry to be done. when the water evaporated, I added sliced carrots and apio, let them cook together a minute or two and then added sliced green peppers and brown button mushrooms, as well as broccoli (I like my broccoli REALLY crunchy). When everything was cooked, I added some fish sauce and that was that. Enjoy!

Paleo Icecream

I think Im on a roll with the sweets... which is bad. STOP ME! But before that, I give you

THE BEST ICECREAM EVAH

For one person: 2 bananas, sliced, frozen, then blended. Add some droplets of vanilla and some raisins. Done.

Options:

fruity icecream: add some frozen berries and a splash of lemon and mint leaves

Cocoa icecream: 2 teaspoons of cocoa and some crushed raw cacao beans.

The possibilities are endless: honey, a dash of yogurt (not paleo but delicious), cinnamon, cardamom, slivered almonds, walnuts, mix two flavors etc. Enjoy the hell out of it!

Breakfast again

As I said before, I dont eat breakfast, but other people do. This one consisted of smoked salmon, boiled eggs, shredded horseradish and a delicious arugula salad.

ARUGULA SALAD WITH AN AVOCADO AND HONEY DRESSING

So get a bunch of arugula, mix it with some cherry tomatoes, throw in some grilled brown button mushrooms (thinly sliced) and some fried bacon bits (fried them dry in a non stick pan). Dressing: leftover avocado (I had 1/4 avocado left), mushed with a fork, add a teaspoon of dijon mustard (I found my dream! mustard without sugar!!!), mix, add a bit of olive oil, mix, add the juice from half a lemon, some salt and pepper and a teaspoon of honey. Enjoy!

Deseeeeeeeeeeert!

Of course the focus is on the birds.... of course. Nevermind, you can see these are balls. Ok, truffles. yeah, that's right, raw, paleo, protein packed delicious truffles. 

RAW CHOCOLATEY TRUFFLES

250 g of pitted dates, soaked in hot water, blended with about 100 g of shredded unsweetened coconut, 3 tablespoons of dark cocoa powder, about 100 g of chocolate protein powder (optimum nutrition gold standard), some cinnamon, to which I then added raw cacao beans (crushed in a mortar, about 10), crushed almonds (handful) and dried cranberries (handful). Roll them into balls truffles with wet hands and then roll them through a mixture of cocoa powder, sliced almonds and coconut. Done. Delicious and fast! Enjoy!

Marci's Pancakes

Soooo... breakfast. I myself do Leangains (Intermittent Fasting) and I dont eat breakfast. But I got a request from a sweet sweet friend so there ya go (oh, and this is one of my favorite post-workout meals, I just add some protein powder!)

MARCI'S PANCAKES

Best pancakes ever: blend 2 eggs with some vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of shredded coconut, add a small banana and half a cooked sweet potato, blend some more, add a pinch of baking powder, some cinnamon and make pancakes in a non stick pan. I used a bit of coconut oil so that they wouldnt stick. Slice another small banana, stack them up (the recipe above is for 3 really big pancakes), pour a teaspoon of honey and sprinkle some cinnamon. Enjoy!

First post :)

So... crappiest picture ever, especially for a first post :) Its a combination of bad lighting, a phone camera and my hand shaking due to being ravenously hungry. Get used to it, that's what you will get from now on. When I had the old food blog, I kept trying to make real food photography. Yeah, it was pretty, and also hard work. I decided Ill focus on the taste and ingredients more this time, and spend less time just arranging my food. So with no further ado, I give you, paleo people, 

SPICY CHICKEN PATTIES WITH TOMATO-MUSHROOM SALAD

That's about 600 g of chicken breast mixed in a food processor with 3 sliced green onions, a tiny clove of garlic, 5 brown button mushrooms, 2 eggs, sweet paprika, salt, pepper, chili flakes, some home made red chili peppers paste to taste. Form patties and fry them in a bit of coconut oil (I made about 20). Side dish was 3 sliced green onions rubbed with salt. I added some olive oil, apple cider vinegar (its sweetened with honey, not sugar) and a teaspoon of mustard (its REALLY difficult to find mustard with no sugar inside :/). Mixed it all, added a handful of diced cherry tomatoes and 5 sliced and grilled brown button mushrooms. Freshly cracked pepper, and that's that. Enjoy!