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Paleo Crock Pot Chili

It’s that time of year for … Chili! I am not sure what the weather is like where you are, but it is getting really “chili” around here. 🙂

I decided to make a HUGE crock pot full of paleo chili for the week. It’s perfect for this cold weather and it also crosses another thing off of our 2013 Fall Bucket List!

I came across this awesome “recipe”. I LOVE how it uses pictures and it’s so colorful!

Image Source

You can follow this picture recipe exactly or you can do what I did … use it as a guide.

Paleo Crock Pot Chili

Ingredients

  1. Sweet onion, peeled & diced
  2. (2) Green bell peppers, diced
  3. Red bell pepper, diced
  4. Yellow bell pepper, diced
  5. (2) cups sliced mushrooms
  6. (2) Tablespoons coconut oil
  7. (1.5) lb sausage
  8. (1.5) lb ground turkey
  9. (1.5) lb ground beef
  10. Can crushed tomatoes
  11. Can diced tomatoes with garlic
  12. Can tomato paste
  13. 1/2 Tablespoon dried basil
  14. 1 teaspoon black pepper
  15. 2 teaspoons sea salt
  16. 1 teaspoon hot chili powder
  17. 1/2 Tablespoon smoked paprika

Directions

  • Wash and dice/slice all of your veggies. In a large pan, melt coconut oil over medium heat. Add vegetables, cover. Let cook until veggies are softened.

  • Dump veggies into the crock pot. 
  • Break up and cook sausage, ground turkey, and ground beef until cooked. Leaving a little pink is okay. You may need to do half, place into crock pot, then the other half and place into crock pot. It depends on how large your pan is.
  • Open and dump in your can of crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste.
  • Stir well!

  • Add in all of your seasonings!
  • Stir well, again! Place lid on and let cook 4-6 hours. Our crock pot cooks quickly so it took about 5 hours on low.
  • Top it with fresh avocado!

 

Note: I WAS going to add in the sweet potatoes as shown on the picture above BUT I completely forgot 🙁 I think it would add a lot if you add them in an hour or so before you serve. Again, our crock pot cooks quickly, so I did not get a chance.

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite chili recipe?

The Great Pumpkin!

First off … I am so excited about Midwest Mom & Wife right now! I have a Twitter account, Instagram account, Pinterest account and now a very own Facebook page. Everyone should follow along to get the latest updates on everything! You can also visit these by clicking on the icons on the right hand side of the screen

I am also excited to annouce that I will be participating in the Great Diaper Hunt with Diaper Decisions! It is such an awesome thing to be a part of and if you have not already done so, go sign up for the hunt. It’s a great way to support small businesses and bloggers, while winning prizes.

On to our laid back, fall weekend! We crossed a bunch more things off our 2013 Fall Bucket List.

1. Crockpot Applesauce 

Nothing smells better then apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and apple cider brewing in the crockpot!

I did not follow a specific recipe and making apple sauce can be done pretty much however you want.

This is what I did …

1. Cut about 10-15 apples into chunks. I did not peel my apples and the number of apples used depends on the size you are using and how much sauce you are wanting to make. We used Wills Orchard apples, which were pretty small.

2. Squeeze half a lemon on top.

3. Add about 1 – 1 1/2 cups apple cider. We used Iowa Orchards tasty cider!

4. Sprinkle nutmeg on top, approximately 2 Tablespoons

5. Add 4 cinnamon sticks

6. Put on low about 6 hours. My crockpot cooks VERY fast! So this may differ for everyone.

7. Scoop the mixture out into a glass bowl and mash it up with a masher.

2. Carved and Painted Pumpkins

Monte did such a woderful job and he took the task very seriously!

 He is such an artist 🙂

3. Watch It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown 

Papa Tony was nice enough to buy Monte the movie on DVD so we can watch it whenever! Sunday evening was the perfect night to cuddle up and wait for the Great Pumpkin to appear!

 If you do not own It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, ABC is airing the show at 7 pm on Thursday!

Record it if you will be trick or treating, so you can watch it!

 

It’s was a PERFECT Fall weekend 🙂

What fall and/or Halloween things did you do this past weekend? 

 

 

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

Another item has been crossed off our 2013 Fall Bucket List … Make Pumpkin Pancakes!

Since my Paleo obsession … I came across these Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes and thought we should give them a try! I cannot take all the credit for making these though … my wonderful father made these for us Sunday morning.

This is a doubled recipe from the original.

 Here are the ingredients and steps we used to make this Paleo fall favorite!

Ingredients 

1. 8 eggs, beaten

2. 1 can pumpkin puree

3. 2 ripe bananas, mashed

4. 4 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted

5. 2 Teaspoons pure vanilla extract

6. 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

7. 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

8. 2 teaspoons cinnamon

9. Pinch salt

Directions

1. Whisk the eggs and vanilla extract together, then add the canned pumpkin.

2. Sift the pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and pinch of salt into the wet ingredients.

3. Mash 2 bananas, then add to the wet ingredients and mix.

4. Melt 4 tablespoons of coconut oil and then add to pancake mixture.

5. Spray your skillet, then pour batter onto skillet to make the pancakes!

The original recipe called for coconut flour to make the pancakes thicker and firmer, but we did not use because we thought the bananas would do the trick! I would definitely recommend adding in the coconut flour, because it was hard to flip the pancakes and they were kind of flimsy BUT they tasted great!

This recipe makes 10 pancakes.

Serve with pure maple syrup, almond butter, fruit, nuts, etc.

What is your favorite pumpkin pancake recipe?

Paleo

Okay … let’s talk about Paleo!

Paleo is anything a caveman could hunt or find years and years ago such as meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish and seeds.

I have just become more interested in the Paleo way of living (notice that I did not say diet). After taking a summer off from anything and everything healthy (seriously) I can tell you that I have felt miserable! I had spent about 6 months eating clean, working out everyday, lost 30 pounds, ran my first 5K, and felt AWESOME! Well, of course summer came … I took a trip, had some family emergencies, ate out a lot, and found every other excuse not to exercise or stay on track with my eating.

It is crazy how big of a difference I feel from the spring time (when I was on track) to now. I am more tired, feel bloated all the time, breaking out, etc. Although this probably isn’t the best way to experiment, this experience has taught me what my body can and cannot handle.

One thing I have noticed is dairy. Remember when I talked about my obsession with Pumpkin Spice Lattes and every other latte for that matter?

Well, I have noticed a direct affect with drinking lattes (loaded with milk) with breaking out and bloating. Also bread and pasta! They just make you feel ucky!!!!!

So, I made a trip to our local library and checked out this book …

Wow! This is a great book and I definitely recommend purchasing it! Practical Paleo does a great job explaining what the Paleo way of eating is and how it affects your body. I seriously felt that I was reading a story of how my body felt, according to my body! This book offers TONS of recipes and tear out cards to help you get on track with Paleo.

After reading this book, I continued my research online and talked to a few friends. Another popular thing is the Whole 30 program. For those individuals who are interested in starting the Paleo lifestyle, the Whole 30 is a great way to introduce you to it. It’s a straight, 30 days eating Paleo and no sugar. You also cannot create the Paleo cookies or other Paleo (awesome looking) desserts. It’s just straight up meat, vegetables, seafood, some fruit, seeds and nuts!

I decided against the Whole 30 :/ (for now at least) Mainly, because I know that I have the tendency to binge if I absolutely, cannot have something! I would rather ease my way into something then going cold turkey!

Here are the things I like about Paleo and why I will be easing my way into this lifestyle change …

  1. It’s all whole foods
  2. It teaches you to get creative!
  3. You learn a LOT!!

 

Since I have started looking at everything I eat, it’s CRAZY to see all of the additional things are added into foods that you may think are healthy or “clean”. This week is kind of my first week of beginning this process. For example …

  • Breakfast: I have been eating French Toast Scramble, (from one of my FAVORITE blogs Carrots ‘n Cake!)  With a big scoop of Almond Butter (can’t use Peanut Butter anymore!)
  • Lunch: I cut up a couple of sweet potatoes into fourths and baked them in the oven,with honey drizzled on top, and garlic salt. I then cooked several strips of turkey bacon. I eat a strip of turkey bacon, sweet potato and some pineapple and feel very satisfied!

  • Dinner: Hy – Vee has a lot of pre-made seafood. Last night I had a Sweet and Spicy Salmon filet, delish! Another place to check out is Trader Joe’s, they have a lot of frozen seafood items that can be thawed and cooked up quickly with some veggies for dinner.
  • Snack: GREEN JUICE! If you did not see, I got a Hurom juicer for my birthday 🙂 Also, I have made my own trail mix using banana chips, sunflower seeds, and roasted almonds from Trader Joe’s. It’s the perfect combo of sweet &
    salty!

 

Here is to the beginning of my journey eating Paleo! Any tips and suggestions are appreciated!

Keeping Busy and Upcoming Posts

There has been so much going on lately! And a lot of ideas are generating for posts. Here is a glimpse …

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Starbucks has been my latest addiction! I cannot get enough of the Pumpkin Spice Latte and Salted Caramel Mochas! But, let me tell you, I’m definitely feeling it now 🙁

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Of course, I’ve been spending time with this little nugget! Love him to pieces!

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Ummm … I came across these amazingly, ridiculous chips! Check them out!

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I’m doing some MAJOR research regarding the Paleo eating lifestyle. It’s looking more and more like I may give it a try! Keep your eyes out for my final decision and thoughts!

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Mr. Monte and I are going to give sign language a try! Keep your eyes open on how well it works for us 🙂

A Fall Sensory bin is in the works! Keep your eyes open for the results and reaction!

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AND last, but definitely not least, we have been spending time with our favorite Bassett Hound, Elvis!

Have a wonderful evening everyone!