Chicken Thigh, Chicken Thigh

Have you ever heard the chicken wing song? No, I hadn't either until a friend's little brother sang it constantly one day that I went to visit. It goes something like this:

Chicken wing, chicken wing,
Hot dog and Baloney
Chicken and macaroni
Chillin with my homie!

It seems there might be more verses, but I'll spare us all. It's one of those songs that are ridiculously simple, and get stuck in your head on repeat All. Day. And for some reason, it's all I could think of when I was trying to come up with a title for this post.

And now it's stuck in my head again. And probably yours, too. I'm sorry.

To make up for it, I do have two recipes for chicken thighs, because sometimes plain ole chicken breasts get boring.

This first recipe reminds me of Australia. Why, you ask? Because the week that I made this, my dinner-time entertainment was a show called The Koala Brothers (yes, I watch kids shows; don't judge). So, whenever I think of this single-skillet chicken thighs with bacon, brussell sprouts, and apple jus, I think of the hot outback desert and small, adorable animals.

That randomness aside, this really was an easy, delicious meal. And it truly was "single-skillet", unlike some other "one-pan" meals which combine all your ingredients into one pan at the end, but in reality have used every single dish in your kitchen. But, if you're cooking for more than two people, you probably want to do this in more than one skillet. I over-crowded my skillet, and my bacon ended up soft and squishy, not the crispy, crunchy bacon we all know and love so well. Also, make sure to defrost your brussell sprouts before cooking, if you decide to use frozen. =P

My second recipe is for paleo pizza chicken. Now, before you get too excited, let me burst your bubble - this doesn't taste as much like pizza as the recipe claims it does. Trust me, I just had a little pizza at a friends birthday party last week, and this aint it! But, it's still a new and yummy way to cook chicken, so don't stop reading now.

The sauce, pepperoni, and seasonings were reminiscent of pizza, and paired well with the chicken. The skin really did get nice and crispy and yummy! I think next time, I'd add a little more pepperoni, since it kind of got lost after baking under the skin, and I might serve it with extra pizza sauce for dipping. My other problem, what side dish do you put with this? I mean, with normal pizza, you get a side of chicken wings (we've already got chicken) or breadsticks (I could make paleo ones, but I need a veggie!!), or potato chips. What are your favorite more-nutritious-includes-a-veggie side dishes for pizza?

The Crazy Days of August

To be honest with ya'll, I was ready for August to be over on July 31st. August is one of the busiest months at work, and just a busy time for "life". I've got a few really fun things happening this month, but other than those I'd be happy if August disappeared.

So, when it's consistently 90 degrees or hotter, and you're working long days to prep for the biggest event of the year at work, and your man is working 12-hour days and always during your times off, and finding energy seems well nigh impossible some days - those are the times when you have to choose joy, and find things to be thankful for.

Things like lovable animals: Tom the horse, and Elevensies, Teatime, and Luncheon the piggies.

Or your favorite meal waiting for you in the crock-pot when you get home from a long day at work. Pulled pork carnitas with avocado mayonaise over baked sweet potato.

A cold drink in the "I love Florida" mug - dreaming of the vacation we're taking to Florida later this year.

Finally starting in on sewing a dress that you've had planned and prepped since the middle of April.

Something to be especially thankful for is a sweet friend who brings you coconut macaroons because, she gets it.

And, Amazing Grace. Especially the Piano Guy's version of it, because sometimes, God's grace is the only thing that keeps me fighting on every day.

How To Tame Your Dragon

Did you know that you have a dragon? A Sugar Dragon, to be exact. Don't worry, I didn't know I had one either until I started the Whole30. Apparently, though, we all have a Sugar Dragon which causes us to love, crave, and sometimes downright obsess over sugar.

Well, meet Freideborg. She's my Sugar Dragon.

Don't let her big eyes and chubby claws fool you. She can be downright vicious if she's not happy. When Freideborg IS happy, she's cute, cuddly, and pleasant to have around. I mean, who doesn't love a nice sweet treat every once in a while?

But, if I feed her TOO much, she'll wreak havoc on me; stomach aches, head aches, mood swings, afternoon crashes, and wacky hormones. And yet, she is so insistent sometimes that I must feed her sugar, and I must feed her now! I didn't feed her at all for the Whole30 month, and I certainly felt better in many ways; but man, she protested loudly and almost committed mutiny a few times.

Since the Whole30, it's been a tough struggle to maintain a balance between a happy, moderately-fed Freideborg, and an out-of-control, raging, over-fed Freideborg. After all, she's absolutely wonderful when I am feeding her.

So, really, how DO you tame your Sugar Dragon?

Beautiful Food

I love color. Actually, I thrive on color. I love to have a multitude of color around me, in all shades and tints.

The same is true for my food. Although I'm not one to plan my meals based on color, I do love it when my food is both delicious and beautiful! With that in mind, here are four recipes for yummy, colorful food.

First are these strawberry covered chocolate brownies. Seriously, these were amazing. I think the brownies would have been amazing by themselves - deep, dark, intense fudgy chocolate. But, the strawberry topping just added that extra punch of fresh flavor and bright color.

Next is a slightly thrown-together meal that was way better than I expected! I made the walnut crusted pork tenderloin from the Whole30 book, which is rubbed with a spice mixture containing mustard powder, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and lots of paprika to give it a beautiful red color and slight kick. I then made mashed potatoes, and decided to use my leftover kale to make colcannon. Not familiar with colcannon? It's an old Irish dish of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. I chopped the kale into "ribbons", and then 1 inch pieces, and then steamed it while the potatoes were boiling. After mashing the potatoes with some coconut oil and milk, I added the kale. It was SO. GOOD. I like kale, but I really think that this would be a great way to hide it if you didn't. And come on, look at the bright green! How could you not love that?

Breakfast this week is also all about hiding. Hiding my two daily eggs. Because sometimes I get sick of eating eggs every. single. day. So, I'm making coconut flour pancakes, and topping them with bright, beautiful strawberries. These whip up super quickly, and taste pretty good, though I'll admit they're still not as good as fluffy, gluteny, buttermilk pancakes. But, I get my eggs and my good fats all in one. Speaking of good fats, if you decide to cut the recipe in half to make just for yourself, make sure you cut the coconut oil in half, too. Your stomach will thank you. (Yup, I forgot that yesterday.....)

Lastly is dinner this week. This recipe for buffalo chicken casserole was shared with me by my friend Sarah, who rather coincidentally switched to the same diet as me at the same time (yay for buddies to help you get through!). And when she told me how delicious this was, she mean't it! This may be the healthiest junk food around. And by junk food I mean it tastes like you're devouring an entire bucket of buffalo chicken wings loaded with creamy ranch dressing. And by healthy I mean it's packed full of protein, good fats, and a full serving of veggies. Plus it's bright orange. Major win.

So, if you ever crave color like I do, there are four great ways to feed you stomach and your eyes!

Rain, Rain

Today, it rained. Wonderful, glorious beautiful rain, on and off and very heavy for at least an hour or more.

It's been an interesting summer, being in a drought and all. Especially with working at the museum, where I'm much more connected to the earth, and really notice the effects of the weather. Brown, crunchy grass; crops not growing; deer eating anything that is watered; real and true threat from fires.

I've been feeling a bit like I'm living Sarah, Plain and Tall - Skylark. Although I haven't seen that movie in a while, I distinctly remember their desperation for rain and joyous thankfulness when it finally came.

So, in lieu of pictures of today's rain (since my phone camera is kinda pathetic and wouldn't do it justice), I've complied a few of my favorite rain pictures!

 E. H. Shephard

 Rain In The Oak Grove - Ivan Shishkan

 Rain's Rustle - Leonid Afremov

And, because chocolate makes even the best things better.....chocolate chip cookies tonight! This was a last minute recipe choice, after realizing I only had coconut flour, and not almond flour. They are delicious! Yup...there's one missing on that tray =)

Summer Nights

Amazing, breath-taking sunsets in Penn Yan.

"...Thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice." - Psalm 65:8b.

Peach muffins and a berry pie for an Independence Day Picnic. Forgot to take pictures, but here are the recipes!
http://cookeatpaleo.com/peach-paleo-muffins/

I used this recipe for the pie, substituting tapioca flour and coconut sugar:
http://tiphero.com/old-glory-berry-pie/

Here's the pie crust - definitely not the flaky, golden crust I'm used to, but still a delicious crust!
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-pie-crust/

Batavia Muckdogs and a picnic with Stephen's co-workers.

When it's been a terribly hot day full of house-cleaning and sweaty chores, you kick back with a cookie dough milk shake and a favorite movie.

Praying for rain, but it just won't come.........

No More Training Wheels

I started this whole diet-change journey by doing the Whole30. Totally changing your diet can be really overwhelming, so I was incredibly thankful to find that there was a very detailed, here's-everything-you-need-to-know book written just for Whole30. That book was definitely the "training wheels" for my foodie-bike. I could find any meat or vegetable recipe, and they had suggestions for what other recipes to pair it with in order to make it a full meal. Hey presto, a super delicious meal plan, all ready to go.

But, there are only so many recipes in that book; as good as they are, I still need more variety. So, the last few weeks I've begun expanding my horizans and searching for more recipes (thank you, Pinterest!) This week, I really feel like I have been able to shed the training wheels and meal plan all on my own; finding new recipes, combining them with Whole30 recipes, lots of mixing and matching. So, here are some of my meals:

Breakfast this week has been egg burritos. I found a new recipes for paleo flatbread, combined it with an egg, bacon, and veggie filling I had used in the past, and added avocado mayonaise from the Whole30 book. Yum yum! The flatbread was way too salty, but otherwise great! They were a little too small to actually wrap the filling in them, so I opted for open-faced, but it was still nice to have something "bready" to make it more like a burrito than just scrambled eggs.

Lunch this week was meatloaf muffins with sweet potato "frosting" and roasted broccoli. The meatloaf muffins were super tasty, and I loved how quickly they cooked! I'm not sure if I would put the effort into topping them with the sweet potato if I was storing it for lunches again (especially since I had extra sweet potato that just got lumped on the side anyways), but it would be fun if you were serving them that day. The roasted broccoli was a staple from the Whole30 book.

My first dinner for the week was chili-lime chicken, paired with grilled pineapple and roasted peppers and onions from Whole30. I was afraid that this chicken was going to be too spicy, but it was just perfect! I've really grown fond of lime recently.

Mmhmm....and people think I can't eat anything ;-)