healthy-ish {paleo} living

i know, i haven't posted in months... 

we decided to turn our internet off for the summer

because we were both out of town more than we were in town this summer. 

i shouldn't complain that i was able to go to the beach 6 times this summer, several times with work and a few days with my husband as well. but i definitely disliked living out of a suitcase and am very convinced that although i LOVE traveling, i am a bit of a home body and i really missed being at home with my husband and our puppies. and i missed my kitchen more than i should admit.

my favorite trip this summer was definitely our trip to iowa to visit family.
{we decided to take the dogs, which was quite an adventure}
we had a family camping trip with about 25 family members. it was such a fun week with so many fun memories.

here are a couple of my favorite pictures



after 17 hours in the car together they were the best of friends.
this is just the sweetest picture of my puppies

uncle dave's girlfriend, krista got this awesome picture of amos at the campsite

paisley loved the easy access to nature.

 there were so many things that she could chew on .

this is most of the collogan clan at the campsite

and this is my favorite! 3 generations of collogans- topher, lyle, and jim

this summer has been anything but relaxing, but despite the craziness, i have been busy with projects and cooking and baking here in our own kitchen.

my husband and i had both gained a little weight in the last several months. 

and a few months ago my husband decided that he wanted to join crossfit and he assured me that he was more than serious about living a healthy lifestyle, so i bought him a membership at one of the local crossfit gyms. he has been incredibly dedicated to it for several weeks now and i am so proud of him. i know that i don't need to lose much weight, but i also know that i need to 

work on eating a healthier diet and i am training for my first race... and i decided to start with a big one. i am hoping to do a half-marathon at the end of october, so i would appreciate any support and insight that any of you runners might have for me.

i am doing my best to encourage my husband to continue in his workouts and to make healthy dinners for us.

we have been trying to stick to the paleo diet as much as possible.

and honestly, the meals that we have had since we started eating more healthfully have been delicious!

the only thing that i have really missed has been cheese. i am pretty sure now that i could live without sugar, bread, and pasta, but cheese is definitely my guilty pleasure.

several of our favorite paleo recipes so far (which i will attempt to blog in the next few days) have been zucchini hummus (which i must say, i could not even begin to imagine that it would taste so much like hummus), eggplant stacks = amazing!!!!, and tilapia with peach-mango salsa, which i think was our favorite.

tonight i made the HUGEST batch of paleo marinara sauce, which i plan to use in 3 of our dinners this week.  i know that i am probably a little prejudice, but it was incredible!

****note: this makes an EnORmOUS batch of marinara,

but it is SO worth it.

i sauteed 

1 large red onion

5 large cloves of garlic, chopped

1 1/2 T. olive oil

for about 5 minutes,

then add

2 carrots, grated

1 large zucchini, grated 

and sautee for 3-5 minutes

add

3 T. fresh basil, chopped

2 t. fresh oregano

1 t. red pepper flakes

4 packets splenda

salt and pepper, to taste 

( i added about 2 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper)

then add 

1 - 35 oz. can roma tomatoes (i used Nina, roma tomatoes from costco), chopped, with juices

let simmer at medium heat for 30 minutes to 1/2 hour.

tonight we had grilled chicken marinara 

(a grilled chicken breast, seasoned with balsamic vinegrette, salt and pepper), 

and it was everyone seemed to enjoy it. 

omorrow we are going to try paleo 'spaghetti' with julienned zucchini 'noodles' and marinara...

i will let you know the results. 

semi-simple sushi

Over the past 4 or 5 months i have been more than slightly addicted to japanese food... namely SUSHI. those of you who share my cravings realize how easy it is to fall into such an addiction. I am not sure if it is the fish, the rice drenched in soy sauce, or the crunch of the vegetables... likely the combination of all of the of the above. But whatever it is, i have been wanting it often. And as my fellow sushi eaters know, good sushi does not come cheap... in reality, even the sub-par grocery store sushi rolls can cost close to $10 each. so i had to come up with a more cost-efficient answer to my cravings.

Now i am sure that any trained sushi chef would cringe at my attempts at homemade sushi, but i think it tastes pretty delicious and it keeps me from sending myself and my new husband (who i have recently brought over to the dark side as a sushi lover himself) to the poor house. 

this is my handsome husband enjoying sushi the night that we got engaged... he definitely knows the way to my heart! :)

Simple Sushi-

I will say that the initial investment towards homemade sushi is a little pricey, but it definitely saves a TON in the long-run. (for me within a couple weeks).

Step #1- make your sushi rice according to the package instructions (well, for the most part. i have found that i need to add more water than it says on the rice package. just watch it closely).

I found this rice at publix, but any sushi rice should work.

After cooking the rice I add 1 Tablespoon of rice vinegar per each 1 cup (uncooked) rice that I have made.

Next you will need the seaweed ('nori') sushi wrappers. they sell them at many grocery stores. i got this pack of 50 sheets at whole foods about 3 years ago... in other words, they go a LONG way.

I place one sheet of nori on a sheet of waxed paper (i tried the bamboo mat and honestly, it's easier for me not to use it).

I put about 1/4 cup of the cooled rice on the seaweed wrapper and spread it evenly to the edges of the wrapper with the back of a spoon.

this is what it should look like once the rice is spread out. the wrapper is very brittle at first, but it softens up a lot once the rice sits on it for a minute or two.

this is my secret weapon for sushi making- my julienne peeler. it makes perfect little skinny slices (juliennes) of your vegetables for in your sushi rolls.

this is what the julienned cucumber looks like

my favorite sushi fillers (for homemade rolls anyways) are cucumber, zucchini, carrots, asparagus, avocado, crab, shrimp, and cream cheese (any combination of these is tasty).

some people prefer the rice on the inside of the roll, i like it my sushi better with the seaweed inside the roll.

place your ingredients lengthwise across one end of the sushi.

use the wax paper to roll the sushi as tightly as you can. you can sprinkle your rolls with toasted sesame seeds or tobiko (orange caviar).

I generally slice each of my rolls into 10 pieces and then lay them on their side.

and here's the final product! :) YUM!!!

i like to give it a little kick with some chipotle mayonnaise drizzled over the top.

and of course, LOTS of soy sauce (low sodium) , some people like it with pickled ginger (which is something that i find rather nauseating), and wasabi...

you can make your own from powder that comes in a little can like this one or in a little bottle. it isn't quite as good as the freshly grated, but you just add water so it's very convenient. 

hope that you have fun with this one. :) 

<3 <3 <3

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