Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls

Since I am going to be doing Paleo this coming month, I had a few recipes I wanted to try out before the deadline came. One of those recipe I tried was from Pinterest (of course!). Look at how delicious this looks!! But, I was actually a little disappointed. I think if I make them again I can probably adjust them to my liking. The picture above is not the ones I made but from the person I got this recipe from.

Surprisingly, they were too sweet for me! So I think next time I make them I'm going to add half the amount of sugar. They were also a little dry, so I'll bake them a little less longer and add less flour. My last complaint is that it needed WAY more fruit! I actually didn't have any raspberries so I used just a bag of mixed berries, which was delicious by the way, but I wanted way more than what the recipe called for.

Ok, so I lied when I said that was my last complaint. I hated the glaze recipe. Absolutely hated it. I'm still searching for a recipe for glaze that I like, but I definitely wont be using that one again. Granted it was just powdered sugar and milk, but there has got to be something better than that. Maybe I will look for a copycat of the Cinnabon glaze....

So that was my weekend! As fun as it was to make it, I probably won't make them again for a good long while.

I rate this recipe: Leave it

Paleo (Part 1)

All my life I have been known for my insatiable sweet tooth, but believe it or not I have actually done a lot of studying on healthy eating. This last month I've been trying to get healthier and just eat better in general. One of the things I've experimented with is called the Paleo Diet. Starting in February I'm going to be on it exclusively. The principle is fairly easy: eat like a cave man would have! Seems simple right? Wrong! Some of the things I'll have to cut out is all dairy (sob), peanuts (yep, that means peanut butter too), and even oatmeal!

Since I'm probably not going to be able to keep track of every single little thing that's Paleo and what's not, I bought an app called Paleo (io) for about  $.99. This will help me make sure that what I'm eating is actually Paleo. I also have an app that I got for free called HealthyOut for when I'm going out to eat with friends. Dieting can be so hard when you eat out often or if you don't want to feel left out. So this app shows me restaurants in the area and I can type in what foods I'm allowed to eat and it will pull up meals available at those places. It even has a Paleo option to make it that much easier!

If you're not really sure what Paleo is, let me break it down into the very basics:

EAT THIS

• Fish & Seafood
• Meats
• Fruits (but in moderation, as sweets are high in sugar)
• Veggies
• Eggs
• Nuts & Seeds
• Healthy Oils (like coconut oil, olive oil, etc)
• Natural Sweeteners (my personal favorite is Stevia)

NOT THIS

• Grains
• Legumes (beans, peanuts, peas, etc)
• Dairy
• Refined Sugar
• Potatoes (I know, it's devastating)
• Processed Foods
• Refined oils (canola, corn, grapeseed, hydrogenated, etc.)
• Soy

This diet is pretty straight forward, with no weird hoops to jump through that a lot of extreme diets have. You could live on this diet, and actually I believe if more people did they would be healthier and happier. But just like with any life changes (especially ones that affect your health), make sure this is right for you and wouldn't have any bad repercussions before you try it.

For me personally, I like this diet because it's fairly easy to remember what's ok to eat and what's not. Not only that but it cuts out all the stuff my body reacts badly to anyways (all the delicious stuff of course,).

Like I mentioned earlier, I'll be starting this diet at the beginning of February. I'll write a post at the end of the month to tell you how it went! Throughout the month I will also be posting Paleo friendly recipes that I find and try out to make sure they taste good enough for you to try (if you're so inclined).

October Favorites

October has just absolutely flown by, and I can’t believe its November already!! I always get really into whatever holiday is coming up, so naturally I went all out for Halloween. I decorated with orange lights, black curtains, and plastic pumpkins everywhere. I made a Halloween Playlist on Spotify to set the mood while I made spooky recipes and tried (unsuccessfully) not to eat the trick-or-treater’s candy.

ENTERTAINMENT

For this category I picked two things, because I felt like not all people enjoy especially scary things so I picked one that was family friendly and one that was more intense. I picked The Nightmare before Christmas because it’s a Halloween classic and family friendly! It’s a musical movie by Tim Burton and it’s just fun and spooky without being actually scary. My other choice is much more intense. American Horror Story:Freak Show is so far amazing! I don’t usually care for horror movies/shows, but the characters are so well written and the stories so heartbreaking, that I've gotten sucked in. It is quite a bit graphic, so if you don't like that kind of thing I recommend not watching it and sticking to things like Hocus Pocus (another good movie). Both of these are perfect for curling up on the couch with your (or maybe the candy you taxed from your kids, haha) Halloween treats.

WEBSITE

This website, called Pinterest, is my go-to for quotes, fashion, and food ideas. It’s amazing for finding specific things you need or for idea hunting. It’s way too easy to end up spending hours on here, so beware! It has everything from humor, fashion, food, and cute animals. It’s even free! So anybody can use it, which I definitely recommend doing.

FOOD

This Panda Express Sweet Fire Chicken Recipe turned out absolutely AMAZING!!! Even though it took quite a bit of time to make, and was a bit messy as well, it was definitely worth it. I will say that if you are sensitive to spicy foods, it does have the tiniest bit of bite. This would be perfect for if you're having a friend or two over and it also makes delicious left-overs. I probably wont make it again soon because it does take quite a bit of prep (and clean up), but it was worth the effort.