Paleo Crackers (adapted from this recipe at Elana’s Pantry.)

3 cups almond meal/flour (or any nut meal)
1½ teaspoons salt
1 cup pine nuts, chopped walnuts or pecans, or sesame or sunflower seeds
2 eggs
2 tablespoons olive oil, coconut oil, or lard… pesto is also delicious here

1. Stir everything together
2. Separate dough into two halves
3. Line two large (12 x 16) stainless steel baking sheets with parchment paper
4. Place one half of the dough in the center of each lined sheet
5. Cut another piece of parchment paper and place it over one of the balls of dough
6. Roll dough out between the two pieces of parchment paper, until it is 1/8 inch thick and covers the entire baking sheet; remove top paper and repeat process with the other piece of dough
7. Cut the dough with a knife or pizza cutter into 2 inch squares
8. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown
9. Cool and serve

The crackers at the edges may cook more quickly if you’re an uneven roller-outer. If you don’t want to add another kind of nut to the mix, just use 4 cups of nut meal. Warning: these are dangerously addictive!

I bake one half as plain – Lauren loves them.
And the other half I added herbs for me.
2 tablespoon Rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoon onion powder
Adjust amount for your taste or try your own herb combo.

Bruschetta with Parsley and Basil:
3 Medium Tomatoes – remove seeds
1 tablespoon of fresh Parsley
1 1/2 tablespoon of fresh Basil
1/2 of a small Onion
2 small Garlic Gloves
1/2 tablespoon of Olive Oil
Black Pepper to taste

This is great on crackers and also added to a chicken breast for a change from salsa.

Rock Salt Chicken that can’t be screwed up… seriously

Needed:
1 whole chicken (completely thawed with gizzards removed)
1 large metal pan ( at least 1 1/2 inches deep and big enough to hold the bird with room to spare)
1 large bag of rock salt. Or two boxes of rock salt if you go to Fry’s.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Put 3/4 of an inch of rock salt in the pan. Place the chicken in the middle, on top of the rock salt and season it however you like. Bake it at 350 for 90 minutes. That’s it.

Notice: after it’s done cooking and the chicken is taken off of the rock salt, look…on the bottom of the pan there is “brown” …I don’t know what. The chef that gave me this recipe told me that this method, cooking on rock salt, pulls out impurities and fat from the chicken that does not happen on a BBQ grill or rotisserie. I’ve never been able to confirm that but all I know is its gross and I’m glad I don’t eat it with this cooking method. And you get crispy skin and succulent, juicy meat. Enjoy!

So far I’ve eliminated all fruit in addition to the sugars/breads/etc. As soon as I get that sweet taste I just want more and the cravings for more fruit and other sugar/carbs begin. I’m going to try to slowly reintroduce it but keep an eye out for cravings. Also going to try and cut down on dairy in the next two weeks to get closer to paleo.

Starting to fit back into some of my old pre-baby clothes FINALLY so that is fun! Looking forward to getting to the gym again as the chiropractor makes progress on my back…hopefully this week.