May - Date #2: Rangers game!

If you will remember for Mark and I's anniversary I game him 12 months worth of dates. So this month for our date I got him tickets to the Ranger's game! It was a really good time! We saw them play the Angels and they won! This is exciting because although we have been to several Ranger's games since Mark has been living in Dallas, he has only been to one game where they won. So we like it we are there and they win.

This was our vantage point. 9 rows up from right field. Unfortunately no home runs were hit out there for us to catch. 

So date number 2 was a success! I hope that all the rest are as awesome.

Solar Eclipse!

It has been 18 years since the last solar eclipse. Because of my location we were only going to be able to see a partial eclipse at sunset. I love sunsets! So when I heard about the one happening this evening I knew I wanted to catch in with my camera. (I have been really getting into photography.) Here is what I captured. Good thing I had my telephoto lens.

I made Mark ride with me to find the perfect spot. It started while we were still searching so we stopped on a bridge.

This is on top of a bridge. We just stopped hoping no one would come.

Traffic on 35 southbound.  We stopped on the side of the road on the bridge over Lake Lewisville.

The sun disappeared behind a cloud. I caught it just as it was peeking out.

Sun setting right on the horizon. 

I was pretty excited to shoot this. I think I got some really good shots!

Enjoy!

Healthy Crab Cakes!

Normally I don't think of crab cakes as particularly healthy. As mentioned in my last post however we are eating extremely healthy this month. So I was happy to find this recipe at Everyday Paleo.  The crab cakes are SERIOUSLY good! I will be keeping this recipe and making them again for sure!

For these you will need:

1 pound of crab meat. (We used canned crab meat, making sure that it had no preservatives or sugars in it.)
2 tbsp of finely chopped red onion
2 tbsp of paleo mayo (We made this from the same site.)
1 tsp of crushed garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/8 tsp of chipotle powder
1 egg
2 tbsp of almond meal (They called for coconut meal, but we had almond so we went with it.)
2-4 tbsp of coconut oil

Mix all ingredients, except the coconut oil, in a large bowl. Heat a large pan with the coconut oil until hot. You will know the oil is ready to go when you can splash a drop of water on it and it sizzles. Form patties out of the mix with your hands. Then put them in the oil for about 2-3 min on each side. You want to make sure the side is browned before you flip it over. This will make around 10 cakes.

We served this meal with some of the homemade mayo on top. To add a little something extra we put  some dill to the mayo. (You can find the mayo recipe at the everyday paleo website as well.) It worked really well with the crab cake. This is for sure something we will be making again.

It is so neat to me that we are working hard to eat 100% paleo and here we are coming up with some awesome food. We wouldn't normally have made ourselves crab cakes, but now that we have I see no reason not to continue.

Enjoy!

A change to the Paleo lifestyle.

For lent this year Mark and I started a new eating plan. (I have not posted about this yet because I didn't want to put it out there and then fail miserably.) We started off with the slow-carb eating plan, which comes from the book the 4-hour body by Tim Ferriss. This book really spoke to us. It is very well written and most of all gives you the reasons behind why you should do things. (It gives you a clear option when you can skip those parts if you aren't interested in them.)

Anyways, the change in diet had a profound effect on me. For the past, well forever, I have been plagued with a constant headache and full blown migraines at least once a week. I had never really figured out what was going on they were just always there. So a little over a year ago I went to a neurologist to find out what might be wrong. They did an MRI and some x-rays and found that I was completely normal. I guess that was good to hear... I mean it isn't like I would want to have a tumor or anything. It was just a little disheartening to realize there was no real reason for the constant headaches. So they diagnosed my with the condition chronic migraines. This is when I found out what I thought was a "headache" everyday was really a migraine. Just a lower intensity then what is normally thought of when talking about migraines. So they gave me some medication and sent me home. From there we tried a few preventative drugs to see if they could lower the number of daily migraines. It was horrible. The first one gave me a SEVERE panic attack. It happened at work and was so bad I wasn't able to even drive myself home, Mark had to come pick me up. It lasted for something like 3 hours of attack and then the rest of the night I was shaking and feeling on the verge of an attack. So needless to say I quit that after only 3 days. The next one I tried was subtly bad. I had just about EVERY side effect they list on the side plus a few extra. They weren't as severe though so I pushed through thinking maybe they would go away. They didn't and started to really effect my life. So we got off it. After that we decided maybe the preventatives weren't really for me. So we just tried to manage it daily. I tried I few other things... one being a juice fast. (A family friend has had great results with changing her food intake. It allowed her to get rid of MS and go back to a normal life. So turning to food was on my mind.) I know that seems strange but I saw a documentary touting the juice fast and featuring a woman that got rid of migraines with it. Well it didn't work for me, not to mention it was very hard to stick with and follow.  Which bring me to the end of my tangent. After just a few weeks on the slow-carb my daily migraines were nearly gone!

The slow-carb diet talking about cutting out basically everything that is naturally white, dairy, fruit, and sugars. So you eat meats, fish, veggies, nuts, and legumes (easy on the nuts). Each week you follow this for 4 meals a day and then on the 7th day you have your "cheat day". I found though that while having the "cheat day" helped me stay on track it also brought back the migraines. So I would have the cheat day on Saturday and then Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I would have the lower intensity migraines. Sometimes full blown ones. Also, I HATE BEANS!!! (Not The Beans if you are reading this Suzy ;)) So I had been talking to my brother about the slow-carb program and noticed that is was very very close to the Paleo lifestyle that my brother lives. So we switched.

Paleo is basically meats (leaner is better), fish, veggies, nuts and fruits. No beans!! So I was all about it! We started after Easter and it was working well. My migraines were going away again. This lifestyle doesn't encourage a "cheat day" per say, but I was still putting it in there from time to time. I did find a WONDERFUL website with great recipes over at Everyday Paleo. They were helping limit the cheating. After talking more with my brother he really encouraged me to do a whole30 challenge.

The whole30 challenge I started last Monday. It has been going really well. It is 30 days of 100% Paleo. No slips, no cheating, no skirting around the rules.... 100%. I am not even eating out this week because I can't guarantee what they are cooking my food in.  I think I am up for it, so 6 days down 24 to go. The first week was hard headache wise. I think that maybe it was just leftover from a not great food weekend the weekend before and maybe a little bit of my body getting used to a absolutely no preservative diet.

So that is how I arrived at the switch to the Paleo lifestyle. I am really enjoying it and in our quest to eat preservative free and complete the whole30 we have come up with some seriously dominate dinners. So check my next post about tonights crab cakes and check back to see how I am doing and the best recipes we find.

A beautiful bride with a happy groom!

Yet another wedding!

Last weekend Mark and I went to Arkansas to visit my cousin Jessie and her family as well as go to a friend of ours wedding. It turned out to be a really good weekend. I had a great time visiting my cousin, but boy did her children (mostly the oldest) wear us out!

This is picture from last year, but aren't they so cute!

The wedding was wonderful. It really fit the bride and groom with a bunch of personal touches. It was an outdoor wedding with a half indoor half outdoor reception at a beautiful old home in Fayetteville, AR. I do have to mention the wedding cake. It is my FAVORITE type of cake and well lets just say thank goodness we only have it at weddings. This cake is note worthy though. It was FABULOUS! Some of the best wedding cake I have had in a while, almost as good as my friend Laura's grandmothers. I had 2 pieces. ;)

She was such a pretty bride. 

Unfortunately my pictures didn't turn out the best. I just used my "in the purse" camera and it looks like there were a few focus issues.

We had a great time in Arkansas, such a pretty state btw, and were glad that we were able to be there to share in our friends special day. We wish you both the very best!

Trying my hand at scallops!

Today I made scallops for the first time!

Mark and decided for dinner to have some grilled shrimp, so while I was at the store buying them I saw some fresh sea scallops. I LOVE scallops, but always thought they were above what I could make. I decided to try my hand at it. I have to say I really impressed myself. I googled how to cook them and here is what I did...

1) Sprinkle some sea salt onto both sides of the raw scallops. 

*From here on all steps need to happen together. Make sure you are about 5 min. away from serving dinner.*

2) Heat up 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil on the stove. You want to make sure the oil and butter get really hot. If you put your scallops on and they don't sizzle then the pan is not hot enough.

3) Once you put the scallops in the pan you MUST let them sit for around 2 min. Do not move them to look at the bottom. During this step I also spooned some of the butter on the top. I think that it really increased the flavor. *This is a suggested time based on large sea scallops. You might need to scale the time depending on the size.*

4) Check the bottom of the scallops. If it looks nice and bronzed like the above picture then it is time to flip the scallop over. Let cook for just 1 more minute. The sides of the scallops should still be soft. 

5) Let the scallops sit for around a minute to allow them to finish cooking. Then serve!

Note: A perfectly cooked scallop should be caramelized on the outside, but once you cut into it should slide through like butter.

While making these I had this cute little boy patiently looking on. I think he thought I was making something for him. ;)

We added some shrimp and peas to make a wonderful meal.

This was my first time cooking them and they turned out wonderful. I was very pleasantly surprised. I will for sure be making these again!

Enjoy!!