Spicy Cashew Chicken & Pumpkin Hummus

Hey, guess what this post is about?!  😀

And I bet I can guess what you’re saying… “Spicy Cashew Chicken is something I can get behind, but Pumpkin Hummus sounds like an awful combination of flavors!”   Ahh, my dear friends, think again.  It’s pretty freakin amazing.  Well, that’s as long as you 1) like the taste of tahini 2) like pumpkin flavored things.

Pumpkin is such a fall flavor and for me, fall can’t come soon enough.  I already have several different fall scented soaps around my house and if I’m not careful, I think it’ll start smelling like an Autumnal, French whore.  Gotta keep myself in check… but I digress.  Pumpkin ANYTHING around this time of year, makes me so happy!  My friend, Maria, just posted a recipe the other day for Vegan Pumpkin Custard and when I’m done with our Paleo Challenge, I am SO making that!  (Recipe will follow once I’ve had it… look for it around Sept 10th-ish)

So, let’s get back to the topics at hand; today’s recipes.  We’ll start with the Spicy Cashew Chicken.  I got it off of the AMAZING site The Foodee Project.

For the Cashew Chicken:

1 C chicken stock/broth

2 tbsp arrowroot powder

1 tsp honey (opt)  **I didn’t use this because of my Paleo Challenge, but I’m sure it’s yummy to add!

4 tbsp tamari  ** I used coconut aminos and combined it with a red chili paste.  Came out great 🙂

2 tbsp white vinegar

juice of 1/2 lime

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (opt) ** Depends on how spicy you want it

1 1/2 lb chicken breasts, diced into 1-inch cubes

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger root

1/3 c chopped cashews, plus extra for garnish

Directions:

1. Whisk together broth, arrowroot, honey, tamari, vinegar, lime juice, cayenne.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil on medium heat in skillet. Add chicken pieces, garlic, and ginger. Saute’ until chicken is mostly cooked through. Don’t burn your garlic!

3. Whisk the broth mixture again, and add to the skillet. Turn the heat to high. Cook and stir until the sauce thickens. About 1 minute.

4. Stir in the cashew and spoon over toasted cauliflower “rice.”

**The Rice Recipe**

For the Toasted Cauliflower (i.e. ‘Rice’):

Grind 1 head of cauliflower in a food processor (I had to do this in batches.) Spread evenly over a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Watch for it to become toasted on top, then take it out, toss it, and redistribute it across the pan.  Put it back under the broiler until toasted again.  Now you’re ready to top it with your Cashew Chicken!

I suggest making a lot of this if you’re feeding other people because you’re definitely going to want leftovers and you’re barely even going to want to share it 😀

 

Now, as for the Pumpkin Hummus (Big thanks to Coach Cheryl for the heads up on this!!):

• 2 T tahini (sesame-seed paste)
• 2 T fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground red pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
• 1 garlic clove, chopped

Place ingredients in a food processor, and process until smooth.  Spoon hummus into a serving bowl; sprinkle with pumpkinseed kernels, if desired.  You can also fry up some bacon if you’d like and add that.  SO GOOD!

You can put this on turkey slices and make roll-ups or even make a lettuce wrap with it.  Today I’m going to try to mix in some tuna and see how that works.  I’ll let you know on my FB page how that works out.

If you’re wondering how the Paleo Challenge is going, it’s going well!  Thanks for asking 😉  I’m 18 days in with 24 more to go, and I have cravings that come and go, but I’m sticking to my guns, even with eating after 5:30.  I just don’t do it anymore and I’ve slept and felt much better since.  Now if I could just stick to getting into bed by 8 or 8:30, that would be fantastic!

Questions, Comments, New Recipes?  Lemme know!

Til then,

~KK

Oh… it’s THAT time…

On the inside… this is what I feel like today.

and maybe even a little like this….

I am so hungry and it’s not because I haven’t eaten.  It’s because it’s that time… that dreaded time of the month where things that are not nailed down or aren’t bearing the name of someone, will be eaten!  Why on top of having us do what we do during this week, do we on top of that, have do deal with an insatiable appetite!  It’s some cruel, evil trick…

Thankfully, and I don’t know how, I’m not craving chocolate or really anything sweet.  I was craving fruit a little while ago, but thankfully, that’s paleo.

Well… now that we’ve gotten that out of the way…

Let’s move onto the menu for today, shall we?  I’m pretty much just going to list what I’ve eaten because I have a weird schedule and when breakfast comes at 5am and lunch is a 9am, it just makes it look weird.

Food/Supplements for today:

2 teaspoons of Carlson’s Fish Oil, Multivitamin

3 eggs – only 2 yolks

Plantain Chips

Kale Salad

Apple

Romaine lettuce salad with avocado, onions, red cabbage, and apple cider vinegar

Coconut chips

Handful of blueberries

White Nectarine

Pulled Pork with mashed califlower

Not too bad, huh?  Now that I’ve written it all out, it looks to me, like I don’t eat as much as I thought I did.  Maybe someone on the outside thinks I eat a ton 😀  But ask my boyfriend, I don’t eat a ton.  He laughs at me because there are times while we’re at work, where I forget that I haven’t eaten my breakfast yet and we’ve already been at work for 3 hours.  He says he doesn’t know how I do it.  I think it’s just because I trust my body to let me know when it’s hungry.  And TRUST ME, it does.

So with almost 2 weeks (out of 6) already done, I’m feeling really good about this challenge!  I hope my fellow challengers are feeling this way, too.  I know some had expressed that when challenge started, they, like me, were feeling anxious.  Like we had pulled off some kind of magic trick the last time we were serious about a challenge and that maybe nothing would change over the next 6 weeks.

I’m super glad to report that we were all just being silly. 😉  I hope you’re all enjoying your challenge and that it’s not too difficult.  And for those who read this blog and aren’t doing the challenge or The Whole30, I hope you’re able to gleen a little insight as to what it feels like when you go Paleo.  AND for those who are already paleo, maybe just not strictly, I hope you’re able to relate.

Until next time 🙂

Love and Paleo Cravings,

~KK

New Laptop = New Post!

So, today, it happened.  After dealing with my crummy, barely there memory computer for a long time, I decided it was time we parted ways.  Well…technically, IT decided we were done because it just refused to do anything beyond simple tasks and it CERTAINLY would not allow me to log onto the internet to write a blog post!  So, it’s awaiting its Office Space type demise and I’m typing on my new laptop!  Nothing fancy, just something that would work without causing me further anxiety 🙂

Obviously, I haven’t been posting my menus, and I don’t think I’m going to go back and write them all, so I’ll do my best to write them going forward.  What I will write about today is my ordeal with being Paleo at a Dodger game.

Before going to the Dodger game, there was much preparation.  My amazing, boyfriend was kind enough to research the stadium for me to find out if I had any healthy, paleo friendly options for the night.  Turns out they serve sushi there, but not sashimi.  They serve salads, but there’s cheese all throughout it.  Sooo, it seemed that, though their Health Carts were healthier than garlic fries, they still weren’t paleo.  So I packed a lunch bag with kale salad, pineapple chunks, and cherries and off we went.

I was really trying to be happy about my choice, but it was hard once we were on line for hot dogs.  I wanted a hot dog so bad!  I wanted a hot dog with mustard, and onions, and relish, and cheese, and I wanted to wash it all down with a beer bigger than my head.  But I couldn’t… rather, I didn’t.  I totally could have, I’m a grown adult!  But as I said, I’m really commited to doing this challenge 100% this time and if that’s what I planned on, then I have to follow through.  And so I did.  And all through my kale salad, I was miserable.  I was trying to hide it because my boyfriend’s mom was there, but I wasn’t happy.

I was having an internal struggle.  My inner child was stomping her feet, while my inner adult was being reasonable and saying, “Calm down, it’s all for the best and not having a hot dog is NOT a big deal.”   And that’s when I realized it wasn’t about the hot dog.  It wasn’t about having a beer.  It was about the experience.

The experience of being at a stadium, watching a baseball game with people you care about, laughing, drinking some beers, and having hot dogs!  The signs that all say, “I’m relaxing and having fun!”  The food association with the game was actually, in that moment, stronger than the fun of being at the game and being present!  It was definitely a moment where I couldn’t believe what I had just realized.  Food truly has a special place in my life when it comes to fun, friendship, and events/experiences.   Such a special place, that the memory tied to it, seems way more enjoyable than being present at the event/experience.  I must be off my rocker!

Once I had that realization, I worked on being happier and being present and actually had a great time!  Now, I don’t know that I’ll ever not have that feeling in the future, but now that I’m aware of it, I’m sure I’ll be more enjoyable to be around during the entire event 😀

It was definitely a good way to end the week and I was able to stay on track with all of my points and staying strict paleo for the first week!

How is your paleo adventure going?

Here’s to a great week 2!!

Love and kale salad!

~KK

Close…sort of

I know I said that I’d be writing once a day… and WELLL, I’m close.  I didn’t write yesterday, but I am writing today, so I’ll just say that I didn’t RX this blog quite yet… still scaled 😉

 

Anyhoo, so it’s DAY 2 of the Paleo Challenge Pt 2 and I’ve already noticed some of the changes I’ve made are having their effect… in a good way!

1) No sugar withdrawals thus far, which is exciting because maybe that means I wasn’t eating as much sugar as I thought I was.

2) My coconut creamer seems to be doing the job for my coffee.  I was using another creamer that was dairy and had sugar in it and I thought it was going to be a huge change.  Like give up coffee until the end of the challenge huge.  But it turns out it’s not so bad after all!

3) I’ve changed my bedtime from around 9 or 10 pm to 8-8:30ish (I wake up at 4am for work).  Seems to have made a difference this morning, as I felt more awake 🙂

4) I’ve stopped eating after 5:30p.  Last night I think it helped with my sleeping, so we’ll see how it goes again tonight.  Kind of excited about my sleeping results so far because I usually have a problem getting to sleep and staying asleep.  Hopefully this continues and only gets better!

So, far Day 1 & 2 down and no cheats!  (Just about 40 days to go!) I’ll let you know tomorrow if it’s all going as planned!   I’ll also try to post what I’ve eaten that day as well.  (First, let’s tackle writing one post a day 😉  )

Hope you all have an amazing rest of your day!

~KK