Week 2 Paleo Challenge and 30 days of Crockpot Meals

I have survived week one. I have  made Slow Cooked Cumin Pork, Paleo Brownies, and Paleo Macaroons. Tonight I am having the girls  over for dinner for Paleo Sheppard's Pie. I came across this  little link today and thought it would be helpful to you all!

Go over  and Check out  Holly's listing of 30 Crockpot Paleo Meals!! This  week I am going  to make Slow Cooked Roast Chicken and Gravy. Yum!! I am also going to make Paleo Bison Burgers. I do not  know what Bison is BUT I will figure  it out  before I get  to the  grocery store.

Breakfast was  a huge  challenge for me last week. Stay Tuned as I found a recipe for Blueberry Muffins. I will let you know how they turn out.

Have  a great week.

Photography Giveaway

Anyone want to win a Free Photo Session? I do! Well head on over to see Julia Ryan's beautiful work and enter her giveaway.

And there are even extra chances to win!

paleo diet day 2 dinner

paleo diet day 2 dinner, a photo by AdventureOfShaw on Flickr.

So my gym is having a challenge... a Paleo challenge.

First up -- take a picture of myself in a bikini ...ummmm not yet. I got the email last week with all the details for the 30 day challenege. 30 days -- I can do this right??
Day 1 * had all the best intentions in the world. I will be honest here. I brought ALL Paleo freindly foods. Even researched NON egg related beakfast because I did not want to get them from the cafeteria. But I FAILED... yep I said it....FAILED. I ate girlscout cookies and not just one but MANY. Then my daughter came down with the stomach bug SO .... we had soup. That was not Paleo.

DAY 2 *** Winner because I didnt eat anything :) I did cook Slow Cooked Cumin Spiced Pork. It was delicious. I am so excited to make it and have it for lunch. Thanks to Sarah for this recipe.

Cumin Spiced Slow Cooked Pork

2 lbs of Pork Loin (I used 2 – 1 pound loins)

Cumin, Sea Salt, Pepper

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 cups sliced mushrooms

Sauce

1 1/2 cups green or red salsa (I used the salsa verde from Trader Joe’s)

1 1/2 cups strained tomatoes

1 tablespoon Cumin

3 garlic cloves, minced

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

In a large skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium to medium high heat.  Sprinkle the pork on all sides generously with salt and pepper and then with the cumin powder.  Use your fingers to rub the cumin into the pork loin.  Sear the cumin spiced pork in the hot coconut oil for about 3 minutes per side or until the pork is nice and brown all the way around.  Move the pork from the skillet to the slow cooker and top with the sliced onions and mushrooms.  In the same pan that you seared the pork in, add the salsa, strained tomatoes, the 1 tablespoon of cumin, and garlic, and whisk together until bubbly.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.  Pour the sauce over the pork, onions, and mushrooms in the slow cooker and cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 7-8 hours.

Bon Apetit!

My enntire family loved dinner and I cannot wait for Desert.
Here is too the rest of the week!

Fox Hollow by Monaluna

I am swooning.... Picturing LilMan in some organic Cotton very soon. Well in May when the fabric is released!

I love the little Foxes. The mustard yellows, oranges, reds and blues. This will be very boy oriented in our home. Monaluna wil release this fabric coming in May.

March Photo A Day

Thanks to FatMumSlim for putting this together. I HOPE to do better in March. I still plan on going back and doing all the days I haven't done yet so I can have a year of photos. Hoping and Doing are 2 completely different things for me.

Here is my day 1. UP ....
I constantly sit here at my desk looking at a computer screen. I have tried to bring in little pieces to make me smile every once in a while when the day becomes to mundane or overwhelming.
So here are my UP's

My Favorite thing to look up to all day long... Of course it never looks like this but I know they are hiding in the background.

Beautiful drawings from my girls, Love notes from my husband and family photo mixed among my work things.

A little slice of heaven in the corner of my office.

What does your UP look like?

Hey There!

One of our Lacrosse Stars

We have been really busy around here lately with new sports, family visiting and vacation planning. Oh and Sewing!! Here a sneak peak.....

Remember the Make This  Look post? Well I am almost done!! I have found another blogger out there who is making my same look. I have asked her assistance on the neckline. Hoping mine turns out as well as hers. Thanks Mary. I am doing OK on my goal of only buying patterns / fabric for one project at a time. I did however cheat and order a pattern to make this dress next! I am loving Jamie Christina patterns.

I saw this beauty displayed over on Hello Beautiful where she has made this dress at least twice! I am loving the Navy and Lime jersey knit.
Moving On..... Dana has the best boys tutorials. This Friday is Dr. Seuss Day at school. LilMan needs some new shirts and I wanted to play with the 90 minute shirt tutorial. So I took 120 minutes and made a shirt from on old College Bar T-shirt. Appropriate right? I had already used Dana's tutorial to make him Dr Seuss pants.

I think he is going to look adorable tomorrow!! At least this time all the seams met up and there are no holes in the arm pits. I did make one mistake -- one of the sleeves in inside out. Ughh.