Paleo Breakfast!

When you have a lot of dietary restrictions, food prep becomes your best friend. I like to have breakfast ready and waiting for me in the morning because when I get up I have to take my herbal meds and it's very time consuming. I have herbs to take before I can eat. Then, I have other herbs I have to take with food. It's this big ordeal every meal time. And when I first get up in the morning the last thing I want to do is cook. I want to take my meds, eat, then take the rest. Period. So, since we don't eat grains and oatmeal and cereal are both out, I have to prepare ahead of time so I can have healthy breakfasts at my finger tips (or at least in my freezer). I try to spend one day a week in the kitchen preparing foods that can stay in the freezer and be taken out the night before as needed. This is quite difficult when you have an illness because I get fatigued quite easily and standing on my feet is tough. Thankfully my wonderful husband is such a big help to me.
I try my best to have variety and change it up as I go. My toddler asks me each night at bedtime what's for breakfast and again in the morning. It's like a surprise each day. Here's a glimpse of what it takes to feed us breakfast for the week.
We call it "baking day", and typically it's on a Tuesday. This is actually very strategic, as I pick a day of the week with nothing else going on. I have to be very careful not to plan more than one thing on any given day because once I've done one thing, I'm pretty much down for the count. "Baking Day" usually starts off with making coconut milk.

This is because many of my breakfast recipes require it, I need it for smoothies for the week, and it's a great fat! Search my blog for my coconut milk how to!


Once the coconut milk is finished I start the baking process. I try to double recipes a lot to cut down on time...mostly our favourites get doubled.


Here is one of my favourites, banana bread! (this recipe is also on the blog)

We eat this with grass fed butter, yum!

Here is another of our favourites, blueberry muffins! These are lightly sweetened and have lots of that yummy, fatty coconut milk.

Now, even though these are one of our favourites, I don't make a double batch (well, actually I do, but a double batch of these only makes 12 muffins because the original recipe makes only 6). But, I only make the 12 because they have a lot of almond flour in them and I try not to consume too many almonds. It's easy to consume too much when using almond flour. We also do not make them every week but they're a great treat in the morning.

Here is the recipe!

https://livinghealthywithchocolate.com/desserts/paleo-blueberry-muffin-grain-free-gluten-free-low-carb-997/

I tried something new this week... I made this chai coffee cake, but instead of adding the topping from the recipe, I just sprinkled it with blueberries because I felt the topping would be too sweet for a breakfast. I think the topping would be delicious, but I would sub maple syrup or honey instead of the coconut sugar. https://www.theroastedroot.net/chai-spiced-paleo-coffee-cake/

The last thing I made for breakfast this week was a yummy grain free "granola bar". I totally need to do this more! And, I need to make a bigger batch. I love that I didn't have to bake it so I made it while I had something else in the oven and cut down on time. This will also be great for summer when I don't want to be running the oven so much.

We will eat these in the morning with a side of berries. I didn't use a recipe for these, just threw together a little bit of almond flour, sprouted sunflower seeds, tons of shredded coconut, almond butter, ground flax, coconut oil, and raw honey. Mix until it's the consistency you want and add things as needed. Easy peasy. Press into a glass dish greased with coconut oil. So good.

Well, that's what it takes to feed the kiddos and I breakfast for the week. My oldest has been asking for me to make cereal so I plan on mixing up some grain free "granola" soon.

I'm always looking for new ideas; do you have any great paleo breakfast recipes to share?

Just Part of the Journey

It's been a rough couple of days in this house. When you have an autoimmune disease, and people in your house come down with the flu, extra precautions are taken to keep it far from you. So far it's working...

On Tuesday night I put my toddler to bed ( he still sleeps in my bed) and after he had been sleeping for a couple of hours and I headed up to bed myself, he started to cry. This was just as my head had hit the pillow and I was ready for rest. I tried to console him and then he sat up and threw up all. over. my. bed. I quickly rushed him into the bathroom to clean him up and my hubby came to help. He kept our little guy occupied while I cleaned up the mess. Then, I brought him back to bed hoping for some of that rest I mentioned earlier. But, after only a few minutes in the nice clean bed, he threw up all over again. Let's just say, it was a long night.

Wednesday, our middle child wasn't feeling well (thankfully no puking from that one). And Thursday the oldest was hit.

I've had the diffuser going non stop for the past few days. Thieves is my best friend at the moment and I've got my trusty Digize on hand at all times. I absolutely love my oils!! I'm convinced that these life savers have kept this illness from lasting longer than it could have.

Here is my little guy taking one of MANY showers over the last couple of days. He's such a trooper, the poor thing. He kept telling us he didn't want to puke anymore and he just broke my heart. But, he's thankfully right back to normal. My husband and I have been super dosing ourselves with vitamin C and are determined to not catch this bug.

My amazing husband stayed up half of the first night doing the laundry for me while I tried to rest with the toddler. So, today I finally got to the folding and putting away of the mounds before me. Mom life can be so glamorous sometimes, right??!

I'm hoping and praying that we're at the end of it all. But, I'm still pumping the house full of Thieves to purify the air, keep germs at bay, and strengthen our immunity. I've been walking around with my spray bottle of Thieves cleaner, spraying down everything in sight. We've been taking daily walks to get fresh air and eating right as always. I'm super thankful it has passed everyone so quickly and I'm convinced it is because of proper care.

I'm being extra diligent about taking care of myself right now because if mom gets sick, well, not a lot is going to get done. So far, so good. Hoping for a more restful weekend :)

Keeping it Real

When I first started this blog I promised I'd be sharing the good, and the bad. I sometimes worry that I'm inaccurately portraying my life as something it isn't by my posts: beautifully plated food pictures, wonderful recipes, nutrition facts, and tips.  But the reality is far from perfect. I don't want to make it seem as though this is easy for me, or that I've got it all figured out. I'm not well today, it's nearly 6:00 in the evening, I haven't fed my family, and I'm sitting in my bed blogging while the kids watch Netflix on the iPad. Like the title of my post says, I'm just keeping it real.
I haven't been well for a few days...this illness is unpredictable and presents itself in many forms and has its own schedule it seems. It doesn't wait for my work to be done to rear its head. And, on top of that, I recently started a new protocol of meds that's been hard on my mind and body. I've been so blessed with amazing people in my life that help. My husband  has been keeping the house clean, helping with the kids, and emotionally supporting me. My mom came over yesterday and did my laundry and took me to get a few things I needed. She's been stopping by with groceries, and even cooked an amazing Easter meal for all of us this afternoon and kept the kids at her place for the afternoon while I rested at home. Friends have been understanding that I've been unable to keep plans, and hold me up in prayer.
It has been a tough week and I've really been struggling. But, I'm making it through because I know I'm not alone. And, I'm learning that a big part of my healing is taking the help when it's offered and allowing myself to take time for myself. Nourishing food is so crucial to our healing. But, so is rest and taking care of yourself emotionally. As a mom, it's hard to take time for yourself without feeling guilty. But, we're no good to our family when we are sick or just plain burnt out. I'm learning that. I still need to be told to stop, or to slow down. And, I don't always listen. But, I'm trying to listen more because I'm starting to understand how important this is to my healing.
I'm trying to live one day at a time (sometimes one minute at a time) and understand that I can't do it all or be it all. I don't need to because He is. This post is quite fitting for today. Today we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior. Because He defeated death on the cross, we are given new life in Him. And, because of that, I don't need to be everything because He is everything. I don't need to depend on my own strength because He is my strength. When I can't make it through, He gets me through. I'm so thankful for that. I'm so thankful I serve a God who makes a way when there seems to be no way and gives me hope for another day. So, when I'm feeling like I just can't go on anymore, He reminds me that in Him I can do all things.