Gut Health, the Primal Way

My appointment today with "primal" recommended dr. (Dr. Erikka Curia at I'On Health, LLC​) went really, really well! I'm looking forward to working with someone that actually hears what I'm saying and has an approach to the world of medicine that I can respect and agree with.

Dr. Curia is starting me off with a few things to help with overall digestion: a round of OxyCleanse and a supplement called Zypan (by Standard Process) that will help my body to better break down food so I can actually absorb the vitamins and minerals from all the (healthy) food I eat!  Also trying something called Gymnema (also SP) to control my sugar cravings, AND an oil supplement to replace the fish oil I already take, which is the cheapest I could find on the shelf - not a good choice.

Currently I take daily doses of 2400mg fish oil, 500mg Vitamin C, a prenatal vitamin (for healthy skin and nails, NOT babies), and Juice Plus. Honestly I'm pretty indifferent about them all, even the highly touted Juice Plus - maybe I haven't given it enough time but Dr. Curia told me today about an equal supplement called Catalyn that cost 3x!!! less than Juice Plus. So, yeah, when I'm out of the JP, I'm totally trying the less expensive stuff - another Standard Process product. 

I realize this post is FULL of links, but I encourage you to check them all out - especially the SP products - the ingredients alone have me mega excited! And maybe you'll find something that you didn't know you'd like to try or could replace something you already take but feel indifferent about!

Happy Hearts Day: Free Kids Valentines Day Printable Tag

Searching the internet (e.g. Pinterest) for Valentine's Day ideas for boys, I came across some pretty lovely ideas but the one that really stuck with me was this idea from DesignMom.com (and this one) to roll up a mad lib sheet, tie with thin baker's twine, and attach a little tag (which is the free printable I have for you). Hers was cute but I'm a sucker for designing my own shit using PicMonkey.

Like a sweet little love scroll of hilarity.

Christmas Photo Session: "Merry Christmas!" Love, Sebastian

my tiniest favoritest boy on earth

Video: Collett Hilliard Wedding, 10 November 2013

One of my goals for 2014 was to put together our wedding video. At the absolute last hour (16 last hours, actually!) I started (learning) and finished. It's a little rough but I'm ridiculously proud of it.

Goal: REACHED.

Happy 1 year anniversary, my love. 

xoxo
jess

Recipe Post: Mini Apple Pies with Cinnamon Roll Crust

My coworkers tasked me with bringing dessert for a boss's day and birthday celebration for the office. I initially was going to make something really healthy - but delicious - so that I could also enjoy the dessert but then I realized that as much as I adore these folks - they don't really give a damn about whether or not their dessert is paleo/clean/remotely healthy. 

SO, I found a pin for mini apple pies that I'd pinned THREE YEARS ago and decided it was time to give it a shot. I also remembered seeing a great idea for a pie crust: rolled-out cinnamon rolls. I combined the two ideas and here we go:

FILLING:
5 small-ish apples - peeled, cored, and diced.
1 cup sugar
11 tbsp ap flour
2-3ish tbsp of cinnamon (this is a preferential thing since the crust IS cinnamon.)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 tbsp chilled butter, cut into 20 squares.

• Mix all that shit together in a bowl. 
• Set it aside while you realize how frustrating rolling out/flattening cinnamon rolls is. 
• Preheat the oven to 350. 
• I know we didn't use the butter yet, just wait.

PIE CRUST:
2 cans cinnamon rolls to make 20 lil pies

• Grease a muffin tin or be lucky and have a silicon muffin mold. 
• Open one can of dough at a time, unless you can cook all 20 at once - room temperature dough is a bitch to work with.  
• Cut each cinnamon roll in half - lengthwise - so you have two really thin cinnamon rolls. 
• Press each "slice" into your muffin tin.
• Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. 

• Pull out the dough - and using a TBSP measurer - kind of smash the dough back down into a cup shape and then fill each cup with about a tbsp of the apple mix. 
• Top the mix with a square of butter and put them back into the oven for 20 minutes - or until golden brown. *I can't remember if I baked them for a total of 20 or 25 minutes; sorry! 

After they've cooled a bit, feel free to use a dollop of the icing that came with the cinnamon rolls to top them off - they won't "need" it but why waste it, right? 

Fresh out of the oven!