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. 

the "eating-moon"-inspired, pasta-less lasagna

well, i am once again months overdue on a blogpost, and while there are many wedding-related posts that i plan to do, i decided that since this recipe was still fresh in my mind that i would go ahead and blog it, and save myself the time of writing it down or the disappointment of not being able to remember it if i try to make it again in a few weeks.

we returned from the honeymoon (or "eatingmoon" as my cousin referred to it) on sunday night feeling ginormous from eating all of the delicious food that chicago had to offer us.  in an attempt to counteract our weeks' worth of indulgences, we are both doing a carb-restricted (atkins) diet for a few weeks. i must admit, i am not as disciplined as i was the last time that i was on this 'diet'. i am trying to be a little more creative this time around so that we don't have to eat salad or a slab of meat for every meal.

tonight's experiment:
one of the few carbs that i really miss when i do a low-carb diet (besides the obvious 'sugar' food group, which in my perfect world would be the only food group) is pasta. i have to admit that although lasagna is one of my favorite italian dishes, i often end up eating around the lasagna noodles because it's too filling with them. but trying to make a lasagna without the pasta is difficult, as it ends up just being a tomato-cheese soup. so i thought that i would attempt to replace the pasta with eggplant and zucchini slices. i was really worried about it since the last time that i made eggplant it was not a favorite with my main food critic. fortunately my experiment was a HUGE success! we both loved it... and hope that you do too.

this recipe is a little extra work than your average lasagna, but it is definitely worth it.

Pasta-less lasagna-
one large egg plant, sliced into 1/8" slices
2 zucchinis, sliced lengthwise into 1/8" slices
several tablespoons olive oil
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 pkg. sausage, cooked
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1- 28 oz. can spaghetti sauce
1- 10.5 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
2 tsps. dried basil
2 1/2 c. mozz. cheese, divided
1- 16 oz. container ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 T. dried parsley
1/2 t. pepper
salt to taste
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

• preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• on a lightly-oiled grill pan on med-high heat, grill eggplant and zucchini slices about 3 minutes per side, until slightly tender.
• in a medium saute pan, cook mushrooms in 2-3 T. olive oil until soft and slightly browned. add minced garlic and cook a few more minutes.
• in a bowl combine spaghetti sauce, diced tomatoes, cooked sausage, and mushrooms. salt to taste.
• in a second bowl combine ricotta, 1 1/2 c mozz., 2 eggs, parsley, and pepper.
• spread 1 c. of sauce mixture on the bottom of a glass 9" x 13" pan. top with a layer of grilled eggplant slices. cover with all of ricotta mixture.  cover with all of the zucchini slices then pour about 1/2 of remaining sauce mixture over zucchini. top with remaining eggplant slices. pour the rest of the sauce mixture over the eggplant and then sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of mozz and 1/2 c. parm. cheese. 
• cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. remove foil and bake additional 10-15 minutes.

hope that you enjoy this low-carb, pasta-less, eggplant lasagna as much as we did!