Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler

Happy Monday!

I am enjoying my last few days of eating all the food since my favorite girl just upped my macros! But that all ends this week when I go back into a cut. I doubt I will be fitting two doughnuts and steak into my cut numbers, but I am ready to slim down for summer. Regardless of whether I am cutting or reversing I can always fit today's recipe into my macros. Being a girl from the deep south that loves to celebrate Mardi Gras is a great reason to celebrate and eat. I want to share with you a recipe that is delicious whether you are celebrating Fat Tuesday with all the foods or if you are starting to slim down for summer.


Let me tell you about this Etouffee....

It is my favorite, I really am partial to this tweaked version from Strictly Paleoish. I found this recipe when I was Paleoing last year after a Whole30, I had been in a food rut and this took me out of it! I tweaked it because I am not only lazy, but now that I calculate macros I do not use the bacon grease. You can swap out the coconut and almond flour for regular flour and you can still use the bacon grease if you would like. The meats are your choice and mine vary based on what I need to hit my macros or budget. I like adding two meats each time and those vary between chicken, shrimp. crawfish, and sausage.

Paleo Etouffee (Macro-Friendly Style)
Serves 8

2 T (30ml)              Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil
3 cloves (10g)        Garlic Cloves
3 stalks (100g)       Celery
1/2 (100g)              Bell Pepper
1/2 (100g)              Onion
1 T (8g)                  Tapioca Flour*
2 T (18g)                Almond Flour*
2 T (20g)                Coconut Flour*
1 1/2 c (360 ml)      Chicken Broth
1/2 T -1 T               Garlic Powder
1/2 T                       Onion Powder
1/2 t                        Paprika
1/2 t                        Tabasco Sauce
2 or 3 pounds         Meat of your choice (I used Cajun Chicken Sausage by Johnsonville and cooked chicken breast)
                               Salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning to your taste
                               Cooked rice of your choice

* Could substitute these for 5 tablespoons of all purpose flour


1. Take your bell pepper, celery, onion, and garlic and put it in the food processor or Ninja and pulse it until you like the consistency. Do not skip out on these vegetables it is mandatory in Cajun cooking and is called the Trinity.

2. If you need to cook your chicken go ahead and cook it now with a little salt and pepper. 

3. Put the oil in a large heavy pot and get it warm on medium to low heat. Add the Trinity mixture and sauté them.

4. Mix the three flours together in a small bowl and add it the flour mixture to your pot and stir until it has a golden look to it. This can burn, so watch it carefully.

5. I like to add my spices at this point, only adding a little Cajun Seasoning since I can add more at the end.

6. Add the broth to your pot stirring vigorously, you can add it one cup at a time if you want a thicker etouffee. I like an etouffee that soaks into my rice, so I leave mine a little thinner.

7. Add the Tabasco Sauce and the meat at this point. I leave it on the stove on low for a couple of minutes to heat up the meat and let everything come together.

 8. Place over rice or rice or spaghetti squash and enjoy!

This day I added Cajun turkey sausage and shrimp.

 Let me know if you make this and what you think!

Love,

Jamie Lynn

Self-love

Just finished my workout and ready to tackle the rest of my Saturday errands.

I have been thinking a lot about self-love lately every since Lady Gaga's belly was a topic of conversation. I am not a big fan of Lady Gaga, but I was so proud of the stance that she took for women, young girls, and even young boys. By showing that little bit of belly she was saying that I am okay with that, I am more than that little bit of exposed skin. Even if she had "hid" that stomach, it is still attached to her. It is still under her clothes, it is still her stomach. I am glad that she rocked it, because if you think she is any less of a person because of her stomach you are a petty person. So I thank you Lady Gaga for showing everyone out there to rock who they are because they are more than a little flesh.


A girl in the Macro group will occasionally ask us to name something that we love about our body and it has really made me think. I am so grateful that Katie asks this question, because it makes me think about the positive things with my body vs. the negative. It is easy to tell ourselves what we need to work on when it comes to our body, but it is hard to focus on the positive things going on with our body because everyone is telling a fit girl to put her shirt back on.


Then the lovely Poppy went and did a scope on self-love and finding something that you love about yourself. It need not be anything else loves about you, but something you love despite what size you are. I agree, we so often look at what we need to improve on vs. loving something about ourselves. She pretty much said give a shout out to that thing that you love about yourself.

One of my students asked me if I curled my hair because we were having the Park Rangers visit... No! I went to the gym and ran out of time to style it. Kids!

So my shout out goes to...

My eyes- I have always thought that my eyes were so pretty, so much that I had eye surgery so I did not have to hide them behind glasses or have to get asked if I was wearing colored contacts.

My hair- It is naturally beautiful, but often I have not given it the love it needed. I am blessed that it could air dry into beautiful wavy curls or straighten it and wear it sleek.

My calf muscles- We have not always had the best relationship, while they have always looked good and I have gotten compliments on them, I would strategically purchase boots to hide them or hit them in way that made them look smaller. Now I am so proud of their strength the helps me power through runs and leg day.

My body- It is like something out of The Help... "You is kind. You is smart. You is important.", but with so much more because you are strong and you are beautiful.


I hope you find something to love about yourself this Saturday! Because "You is kind. You is smart. You is important."!

 

Love,

Jamie Lynn 

Motivation Monday: Me

Life has been crazy lately, not sure why exactly but it probably has to deal with juggling too many things. And then I had to go take a one day Valentine's Celebration and take it into a three day celebration. I overdid it for me, I had too many sweets and I had to rein myself back in. I loved eating it, but hated the sluggish feeling I was having. I am currently training for a half-marathon (I really just put that fully out there) and I need to be running more for it and all the carbs make me feel horrible.

So today's motivation for me to stay on track is fueling my body to train hard. Training hard in the gym and training hard on the asphalt requires lots of fuel. I want to grow my body, strengthen my body so that it can run those 13 plus miles with grace and ease.

Weekly Gym Selfie 2/17/2017

The half marathon is something that has been on my "Once in a Lifetime" list, I never thought I would run let alone want to try to run a half marathon. I made this goal a long time ago, got a little serious about it last summer, and now I am really planning on the half marathon and the trip around it.

Saying all that I know that I have to get my act together not only with the eating, but the training. I am currently having some IT Band and Hip Flexor issues and by not focusing properly on my training, my stretching, and rolling then how I am going to run it. If I am not putting myself first by taking time for my training and my eating how will my body heal everyday and run the race.



My focus this week for motivation will be am I eating to fuel my body and are my workouts supporting my upcoming goal of the race.

"Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us."
-Hebrews 12:1

Love,

Jamie Lynn

Doughnut Date

I got to be out of school for 4 whole days a couple of  weeks ago due to illness and I was miserable loved every minute of it! It allowed me to have a date with this handsome fellow.

The Village: One of our favorite parts of Gatlinburg
 

We got to just drive around the area enjoying the mountains and eat, two of our favorite things. We went to Alamo to get a steak for lunch. I know I have said this before but it is one of the best steaks I have had, I would put it up against a dry aged one any day. I did good and got a sweet potato and broccoli as my sides, I was actually craving them and it allowed me to eat the whole steak and have doughnuts.



I saved both my doughnuts for my nightly treat. I love having a sweet to end by day and Mad Dog's Doughnuts was a great way to do it.

Maple Glazed Yeast, Chocolate Glazed Yeast, and Coconut Cram Pie Yeast

I hope you and your family are healthy right now!

Love,

 

Jamie Lynn



Motivation Monday

I have always loved fashion; The accessories, the fabrics, and the colors. As a teenager I loved flipping through the magazines and eyeing the hottest trends and what styles were making a come back. As an adult I am loving browsing Pinterest and some of my favorite Instagrammers for fashion ideas. I could spend hours searching for color combinations, how to roll your pants for those new booties, and new ways to wear my closet full of clothes.

While I have always loved clothes, there was a time that I purchased new clothes all the time because I was always searching for "that outfit" the one that would make me look ten pounds slimmer or make me feel pretty.



Tybee Island

Mayfield Dairy 2012

 I seriously had a closet full of clothes that I could not stand, but sadly it was not the clothes. It was not that I disliked the clothes really, deep down I did not like the way that I looked in them because I wanted to look a different way. I wanted to enjoy picking out clothes, not dread it. I wanted to feel cute in clothes.


Now that I have lost weight, I actually love picking out clothes to wear and tend to dress up every opportunity that I get, even for a simple date with my hubby.

Dress: Marshalls Slip: The Southern Belle Boutique

I actually love shopping little boutiques and picking out new clothes from them. I used to actually be intimated by shopping at boutiques because the clothes tend to run different for each brand it just made me feel uncomfortable and I did not want to buy from the curvy section, because it meant that I was "big".

Dress: Loveriche from C.C. Belle  

 I now look forward to putting outfits together again and I am so excited how much more I will enjoy getting dressed as I get to my goal weight.

As we get closer to summer I am sure clothes are going to motivate me even more to stay on track.

Love,

Jamie Lynn 

Workout Wednesday: Gear

This Christmas my hubby spoiled me with some new workout gear. Gloves and headphones are staples that I have to have when I workout because I love not having to listen to gym noises and I do not want calluses on my hands! My gloves were starting to look poor and I hated to always have my phone attached to me when I worked out. So this Christmas he replaced a couple of things and purchased me a couple of other things.

Gloves: Achievefit sold by Drapers
Love them so far! They cover my whole hand and are of great quality leather. I do love the wrist wrap to give me extra support. I love how they fit my hands, we used the sizing guide to ensure they would fit. I also love the fact that my hands are not all sweaty when I take them off. Another plus was that they owner of the company e-mailed me several times to ask how I was liking them so far and asked me to keep them informed of the integrity, that says a lot.

Earphones: Treblab XR500 Bluetooth
I absolutely love the way that they fit into my ears, fit is a big problem for me with earphones. They have amazing ratings on Amazon and on the site that I purchased them from. They charge quickly and have a great charge. I selected this one because it does also have water resistance to a degree, which I wanted incase I get rained on when running. They also allow me to not have to carry my fanny pack around the gym!

Ring: Rinfit Silicon
I got hubby one by back a couple of months ago from Saferingz, but they did not have any that he wanted for me. He picked out this company because they were hypoallergenic and they had colors that I would like. I am really loving them because they are so comfortable, they fit under my gloves, and keep any "gym daddys" at bay. I am so excited about wearing these when we go hiking during the summer months and not worry about losing my ring.

Love,

Jamie Lynn 

Motivation Monday: Mess ups!

This was a rough couple of days food wise, I had too many crazy things going on and too many temptations. We had a Superbowl Party at work, doughnuts from Dippin' Donuts, and a student's mom brought doughnuts from their doughnut shop called Makers. Let me say that a year ago had I messed up with my calories or eaten outside of my restrictions you would find me giving up for a whole week and starting again on Monday. Then came the years that when I would let that whole day be a crap day filled with Nutella, peanut butter, chocolate, etc. anything I had deprived myself of during that time. It was a depressing cycle of deprivation, overindulging, penalizing restriction, and starting again.

Now, when I mess up I try not to let it all go down the drain. I try to take ownership of that mistake by logging the food or still measuring the food that goes into my mouth despite me being over on macros or calories. This is a lifetime journey, not just some monthly try to slim down goal. I want to be healthy the rest of my life and I may be crawling slowly towards my goals, but I am still progressing forward.

The picture on the left was June 2016 and the one on the right is from January 2017. While there is not huge differences between the two but I am down a pants size and there is more definition in my arms than there was before. If I had quit every time I was faced with a temptation or running too much, then I would not be where I am. I can only do the best I can with what time I have and since I have made my health a priority I will put what effort I can towards it, not letting lack of time or abundance of temptations keep me off track for too long.

I hope you have a great week filled with meeting your goals or making the best of the obstacles that are facing you!

Love,

Jamie Lynn 

Saturdate: Double Date

This weekend we went out with the In-Laws, I am so blessed to have such great In-Laws! We went to Greenbrier Restaurant in Gatlinburg because the hubby was craving one of their steaks with Maitre d'Butter and their loaded baked potatoes. I have to say that their steaks are definitely one of my favorites in the area.

I thought this statue was too cute! 

After dinner, we stopped at Mad Dogs for doughnuts and ice-cream. I got the Red Velvet Cake and the Devil's Food with Peanut Butter Icing. I preferred Matt's Maple Yeast Doughnut over my cake doughnuts. We also got this monster of a cinnamon roll to try.

Mad Dogs Cinnamon Roll

We saved it until Sunday since I was out of macros and neither one of us wanted a sugar coma.
It was crazy good warmed up and with a tand more icing that we made, since we like it slathered.

Love, 

Jamie Lynn