I am on a protein shake roll lately. This is my third this week. After today’s CrossFit class I made the green monster you see below.

Made with coconut milk, protein powder, Superior Greens powder, some frozen peaches/cherries, and some ice cubes. Yes, that is a pickle jar. ;)

I also had a Cocomo Joe bar. It is paleo and made with nuts, coconut, fruit, chia seeds, and other ingredients like maca root, all organic. My hubby really likes them but I think they are just “okay”. I am pretty sure the maca root tastes like to soap to my palate. The Cocomo Corn, however, is to die for. I rarely eat corn on a paleo diet but once in awhile I have some kettle corn or caramel corn and and you can’t go wrong with this organic popcorn sweetened with coconut sugar. Yum!!! If you have a weakness for kettle corn like I do, try it now…

I don’t drink protein shakes very much anymore because I am not lacking for protein on a paleo diet but I still like to drink one every once in awhile. Plus, I spent all day outdoors in the hot, hot sun yesterday so the idea of a cold shake appeals to me right about now.

This delicious concoction included:

Homemade coconut milk/cream made with Coconut Cream Concentrate from Tropical Traditions
A half scoop of vanilla protein powder
A packet of Superior Purples powder
Ice cubes

It was yum and refreshing on this oh so hot day. Enjoy!

The weather warmed up pretty fast here in Central Ohio of late. I went from having the heat on to having to open windows and put box fans in them so we wouldn’t have to resort to using the A/C, all in the span of one week. My kids reminded me that this was popsicle season and to avoid all the plastic wrappers and popsicle sticks that ALWAYS make their way to the carpeted areas of the house, we generally make our own. Here is our latest recipe. I have been making the popsicles for the kids and I drink the remaining as a smoothie. Delish and easy peasy!

Coconut Berry Smoothies and/or Popsicles

2 cups vanilla flavored coconut milk
1 half of a ripe banana
1 cup mixed frozen berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)
1-2 tablespoons Kids Calm Multivitamin Liquid- Fruity Splash flavor (optional)

Blend well and pour into popsicle molds or smoothie glasses. Enjoy!

The Natural Vitality Multivitamin I use in this recipe is a great product with vitamins sourced from whole foods. That is important to me. It is really tart so it is best to add it to water or put it in a sweet smoothie. We tried adding it to juice but since the juice was tart it made for a drink that was just to sour for my kids. They love these popsicles and smoothies though and supplementation for them is important to me with the nutrient depleted food and soil conditions today. It also has lots of magnesium, which is very important for them to get enough of. We have tried their other magnesium products like the Natural Calm but they like Calm Multi better.

Features:

24 Fruits & Veggies
Omega 3 DHA and EPA (fish oil)
Vitamins and Minerals
Natural Calm Magnesium
Calcium
Amino Acids

This is good stuff and we plan to use it all summer. Enjoy!

A few weeks back Cascadian Farm asked me to participate in an all organic Earth Day feast celebration. My mission was simply to create an Earth Day feast, or rather a feast worthy of Earth Day since I would have to do it earlier in the month, and use organic foods. To facilitate they sent me an Earth Day Celebration Kit with Cascadian Farms products and coupons. So of course I decided to incorporate Cascadian Farm foods wherever I could.

In honor of the warmer weather of late I decided to go with a backyard picnic feast. I dug out my fave yard sale quilt (only $1.00!) that we use for picnics and I made light and fresh foods. That ended up being paleo chicken tacos, homemade salsa, and blueberry coconut milk smoothies. Perfect for a mid day picnic in the back yard. All the fresh fruit and veggies just scream Earth Day.

Pretty much everything was organic and to make it a Cascadian Farm affair we used their Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes in the salsa, frozen sweet corn as a taco topping, and frozen blueberries in the smoothies. It was delicious! We might just do the whole thing over again on Earth Day for reals. ;)

We buy organic most of the time but it is always good to have that reminder that it is better for the planet and for our health. Supporting organic is a crucial step in voting for the world we want. “Like” the Cascadian Farm Facebook page to get more information on their Earth Day celebration. Also many thanks to them for our kit, which came in that nifty canvas basket seen in the pictures.

A reader recently commented on this post, that she would like to know what I eat every day. Well, it varies wildly from day to day so I decided to pick a day and make a food journal with photos of everything (or almost everything) I ate that day. I chose Leap Day (yesterday). I post recipes quite often but have never done a food journal which is funny because I follow a lot of bloggers who do. For whatever reason I like to know what you had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. ;)

Anyway, I am not a food photographer so please excuse my awful photos. I can take a decent portrait or candid but food photos… nope, I suck wax fruit. I also didn’t plan any of these meals so they were spur of the moment cooking decisions and food grabs. I think it ended up pretty decent nutritionally but when each meal is planned right then and there it is hard to know. I do usually plan a little more than I did on this day, especially dinner, but some days I am just so busy that we eat a mish mash of whatever we have.

Okay… here we go.

Breakfast was a bowl of grain free cereal with coconut milk. Yes, grain free, paleo cereal is totally possible! It was made with a blend of chopped raw almonds, chopped raw pecans, shredded coconut, and pine nuts, drenched in a half cup of yummy coconut milk. It is low carb with lots of delicious, healthy fats. I didn’t have a whole lot of it though (1/2 cup) because this was a gym day and if I eat too much I will get crampy while working out. Most mornings I just eat a cup of greek yogurt but I felt like mixing it up.

After eating my cereal I showered, put my swimsuit on, and hit the gym. After a one hour swim I rinsed off in the shower and then changed into workout clothes and Vibrams so I could lift some weights. From the gym I drove to the library to pick up some books on reserve and then I drove home to see my youngest kiddo off to school (who was being watched by Daddy). After he left, the husband and I ran some errands and picked up some local pastured eggs (three dozen). When we got home I made lunch for myself. Often times hubby and I make lunch together but he ate and precooked his dinner (for work) while I was at the gym, so I was on my own for lunch.

My lunch was:

• A pork chop
• Salad w/collards, wild arugula, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, bell pepper, and feta cheese topped w/balsamic vinegar
• A handful of yummy roasted seaweed crisps w/wasabi (not this exact brand but close enough)
• A chunk of dark chocolate
• A couple spoonfuls of Cognac Fig Goat Cheese (not pictured)
• Dark chocolate coconut water (not pictured)

My kids spied the fresh eggs in the frig so they requested tuna egg salad, carrot sticks, and apple slices with almond butter dip for dinner. That was super easy but not what I wanted so I made myself something different. I actually wanted to have grilled fish, sauteed mushrooms, and salad but due to poor planning the fish was still frozen solid. Phooey! So I decided to have breakfast for dinner:

• Uncured bacon
• Two eggs fried in coconut oil
• Half an apple topped with almond butter
• Greek yogurt

Throughout the day I also had some fish oil and spirulina as well as water to drink. After dinner we did our 15 minute clean-up and then the kids went off to their rooms to do their own thing until bed time. I gave the kitchen a deeper cleaning and baked some more coconut bars for after school snacking throughout the week. I stayed up late since the next day was/is hubby’s day to get up with the kids and hit the gym himself. Since I knew I would get to sleep in (if I wanted) I decided to catch up on some DVR’d shows… ala Justified and Lost Girl.

So that is a sampling of what I eat in a day. I can’t say that it is typical because I had more sweet stuff this day than I usually do in a week. I also ate more “packaged” food than usual I think but it’s a real look into my lacto-paleo diet. Today I had more paleo cereal and I rectified that fish craving:

Hubby had the same meal except he had a grass fed steak instead of fish. For dinner I have chicken soup (minus the noodles) stewing in the crock pot. It will be soup and salad for dinner.

What are you having?