Seriously friends. I’m a giant jerk. I haven’t posted in almost a month. To be fair, a WHOLE lot of big stuff has happened in the past three weeks. For starters, I had my birthday! Yay. I’m officially 28, so I guess that’s exciting? Also, school ended for the year, which is always a chaotic time. So let’s do a little review in pics of what I’ve been doing that has kept me away from all of you lovely folks. Ready? Go! I’ve been….
Beating the crap out of myself at the gym everyday! Honestly, it’s crazy how easily I bruise.
Hey look! I ran a 5k at my school! Plus, I didn’t die AND I took 12 minutes off of my previous 5k….that means I finished in just under 33 minutes. I’ll TAKE it!
I headed down to Kansas City for a brief getaway. It was GREAT! Love that city and I LOVE road tripping! Speaking of, stay tuned for plenty of talk about my “Tour of Texas” I’m doing in July!
Lastly, and possibly the most important thing I’ve been doing….
Enjoying the HELL out of my summer break! For real. I’ve been enjoying deck beverages, yard beverages, patio beverages, beverages with friends, with family, and by myself! It’s been amazing to JUST RELAX…..which I don’t allow myself to do much. I’m pretty sure I could get used to this!
As you can see, I’ve been a busy busy girl! I know I’ve said it before, but I am going to post more often. I promise. No, I really REALLY promise! Anyways, regardless of all of the awesome going on lately, there have been a few things kind of bringing me down. One of these is body image. I am convinced that I will always struggle with it. Always, no matter how old I get, no matter how confident I become, it’s always lurking….waiting to pounce at one moment of weakness. That’s all a different post for a different day….but be prepared, because I feel like it’s going to be coming soon!
On to food. To be quite honest, I haven’t really been cooking much exciting stuff lately. Just sticking to the basics of a piece of grilled/roasted meat, some veggies, and some fat. Pretty boring folks! But the one thing I have been mildly obsessed with is stuffing sweet potatoes. It’s SO FREAKING GOOD! Not to mention super simple! So I’ll give ya a two-fer on recipes tonight. I owe you…….big time. So here are two of my beauties!
Garlic Jalapeno Pulled Chicken
- 3-4 whole jalapeno peppers, cut in half lengthwise (leave all seeds and ribs IN)
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (just whack them with the back of your knife)
- 2 tablespoons dried minced onion (you could use fresh onion chunks, I just didn’t have any in the house!)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 pound of chicken (I used chicken tenders….they cook faster, but you could sub breasts or thighs….the cooking time might be a bit different)
- In a large dutch oven or stock pot, fill with 4-6 cups of water.
- Put ALL ingredients OTHER THAN the chicken into the pot and bring to a boil.
- When the water is at a rolling boil, carefully drop your chicken in. Turn the heat back to Medium and continue to boil for about 30 minutes.
- To test if chicken is done, simply remove a piece of chicken and split it apart at the thickest part. If it’s not done, just toss it back into the cauldron!
- When chicken is cooked through, remove from the pot and allow to cool before shredding by hand.
This turned out slightly spicy and totally delicious! Not to mention, it can be used for any number of other recipes. In fact, I scrambled some of the leftover chicken into my eggs the next morning! Boom. Plus, it was damn good stuffed into a baked sweet potato and topped with fresh guacamole.
Jalapeno Lime Ground Beef
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1-2 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed, finely diced
- 4 limes, juiced
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion (could sub fresh…about 1/2 an onion, just didn’t have any!)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and Pepper, to taste
- In a deep skillet, brown your ground beef.
- When beef is almost cooked through add in the remaining ingredients and mix together well.
- Turn your heat back to Medium-Low and simmer your ground beef for 8-10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.
- Taste, and salt and pepper as needed!
- Stuff it in a baked sweet potato and SMASH!
Alrighty, well hopefully I’ve gone and made a bit of amends……I promise not to desert you again! Plus, there will probably be a dessert of some sort coming soon. I will be selling baked goods at a competition being held at my gym on June 29th, so I will be a baking MACHINE in the next couple of weeks! Lucky you 🙂 Get out there and enjoy your summer! Peace, Love, and Paleo!
-Meister
PaleoMeister 