Personalized Cooking Session

When people embark on a new journey to health, learning how to prepare and cook food in a new way can be one of the biggest challenges. Women express to me time and time again how helpful it is when I come to their home and show them how it's done and that it doesn't have to be complicated. 

***Special offer for the month of July ONLY...
Check this out -- I am offering this to you as a gift! Anyone who signs up for my 12-week program before July 31st, pays for the first month, and books their first appointment with me will receive their FREE personalized cooking session ($249 value)!

Personalized Cooking Session
1 evening, approx. 2 hours, in your home!
In-home cooking session customized to your dietary and lifestyle needs. We show you the importance and ease of incorporating healthy cooking into your lifestyle ~ and have fun doing it! :)

*Can also be purchased a la cart for $249! Contact me to book!

Contact me for questions or to sign up!

Crock Pot Roast

4.5 pound roast

2 whole onions chopped into chunks

6 whole garlic cloves

2 chopped carrots

1C quartered mushrooms

1C broth

1 cup rosemary sprigs

Coat the roast in heavy salt & pepper

Pile all of the ingredients in slow cooker as pictured above.

Cook on low heat for 8 hours.

Voila!! :)

Kale Soup!

Holy kale! It has been a long time since I've posted any recipes for you all, so I hope this is a great ice breaker for the posts that are to come! Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions!

Ingredients:
1 large head of kale, washed and ripped into pieces
1/2 head chopped green cabbage
5-8 sliced celery sticks
1 quart organic vegetable broth
1.5 quarts filtered water
Juice of 1 lemon
3-4 tbsp. coconut oil
1 tbsp soy or teriyaki sauce
Fresh herbs from my garden (use yours of choice): chives, rosemary, basil & oregano
3-7 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp red pepper paste
Ginger powder
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Saute celery, garlic & herbs in coconut oil.
Add the remaining ingredients. Kale may need to cook down, but everything should eventually be submerged in broth.
Once everything is submerged, simmer on medium-high for about 30-60 minutes, or until the veggies are to desired softness.

Serve with rice, quinoa or by itself.

ENJOY!! :)

Cauliflower crusted pizza - first attempt - scored!!

Ok, so maybe it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty dang close.. because well, come on, THE KIDS LIKED IT!! And especially for Eddie, that's saying A LOT. His absolute FAVORITE food is pizza and he has really missed it since going Paleo. I'm so happy to find some pizza that he can eat again - happy kids, happy mom!! :)

It's funny because my cooking almost always comes out the best when it's not planned or measured. So, I'll give you my best shot at sharing what I did tonight. If you try it, please let me know how it works out for you!

I'd also like to add, that our *official* Paleo Cooking at Home program is over. Tomorrow Eddie has an appointment with our family osteopath and we will be discussing diet further with her. There are definitely some things we'll be keeping around, such as some meats.. and then of course we'll still indulge in our occasional "treats."

All in all, I have been extremely pleased with where our Paleo venture has taken us. I think all of us have benefited from it in some way or another. It has taken me back into the kitchen and I am going to be sharing lots more of my ventures in food with you again. It is something I have truly missed over the past year and where my passion truly lies.

So, here's that crazy crust I threw together! :)

Cauliflower Crusted Pizza

1 small head of cauliflower, blended in a food processor or Vitamix.

1/4 C whole flax seeds

1/4 C coconut flour
(you can use your own choices of flours: flax, almond, coconut, etc.)

1/8 C or less nutritional yeast

3 eggs

3 oz. tomato paste (optional)

2-3 tbsp. coconut oil

Salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients together. It will have a thick, pasty texture.

Coat cooking sheet with plenty of coconut oil and spread the mixture thinly and evenly on pan.

Cook the crust by itself at 400* for about 20 minutes, until it begins to brown.

Take out and top with homemade pizza sauce and your favorite toppings. I was working with limited options tonight because I need to go shopping. I used a cheese blend because it was all I had, but I prefer shredding my own mozzarella. 

Bake again at 400* for about 10-15 minutes. 

Because this isn't your typical pizza dough, you might not be able to pick it up with your hands to eat it. It just depends on your toppings, your cooking sheet and how your oven cooks it. Either way, you should be able to serve easily with a spatula and ENJOY!! :)

PGP Update!!

Holy guacamole, where did this week go?? 

Hope you all had a happy 4th yesterday!! 

Aside from some major treats on the holiday, the family is staying Paleo-strong this week. I came right home from our overnight outing with the family and got right to cooking. On the menu tonight - turkey chili with kale.. Yummo!! 

Camille's recipes within her "Paleo Cooking at Home" program are absolutely incredible. I've definitely been learning a lot in the meat department and while I can't say the kids have liked all of it, there are surely some things we will continue to implement long after the 2-3 weeks of this program. Not only that, but I know that I'll be able to take so much of it and make it my own, which is what I truly LOVE.. learning and expanding ways to keep my family as healthy as possible!

AND the coolest thing so far, which I'm sure is a combination of diet and some new memory techniques that I've been using with Eddie lately, is when he said to me a couple of days ago, "Mom, I've been remembering a lot more lately." Music to my ears!!

Stay tuned as I prepare to get back on track with our PCAH program after this weekend... 

Pachecos Go Paleo!!

I'm SO excited to share with you all this brand new Paleo journey that I'm taking my family on for the next 2 weeks!! I will be posting blogs, videos and pictures on FB and IG through all of my social media feeds and I would love for you to follow along. Bare with me, as this first post will be the longest as I tell you a little bit of our story as well as WHY we've decided to give this path a try.

If you know me, you know that I generally don't believe in "diets" or the idea that "one-size-fits-all" when it comes to what we should be eating. Every body has its own requirements and it's our job to figure out what foods provide us with the energy and vitality that are needed to live our fullest, healthiest life possible.

You may or may not know that I've been mostly vegetarian for the past 13 years. Sometimes I'm very strict about it, sometimes I'm not. I typically just go with how I feel because I deeply believe that our bodies will unfailingly tell us what we need through our levels of energy, how we're feeling, what we're craving, etc.

Sadly though, over the past 6+ months I lost my passion for being in the kitchen. Life got super busy and cooking (something that I truly love to do) became more of a chore than something that I enjoyed. I also got tired of making the same old things that never pleased the whole family (3 adults and 3 kids). So, I began to settle for less on what I was feeding everyone. I'd make separate meals which usually meant something healthier for the adults and something mediocre for the kids. Lately, it really started to get to me. My #1 commitment in life is to give my family the best in everything that I can, so how was I going to get over this major funk in the kitchen?

And then I no longer had a choice. I wasn't sure if I was going to share this next part of our story publicly or not, but one thing I know is that by sharing the REAL stuff in life then others can benefit in their own struggles. It is my hope that in sharing this part of our family's journey that you will gain something for your own life journey.

Last week we found out that our 8 year old son, Eddie, has Complex Partial Epilepsy. You may have followed some of his story over the past 8 years. His issues have been pretty minor and very manageable. However, more recently we began noticing something a little more concerning - periods of complete absence, loss of memory and/or knowledge of his current setting. (We'll keep this part of the story short for now.) And so the tests began (physicals, EEG, MRI, etc.) and our suspicions were confirmed.

Once the devastation settled, reality set in. Something had to change. I knew deep in my being that the kid who would eat pizza at every single meal if he could, had to change his diet. And that meant this mama was going to have to have a solid plan. Whatever the plan was going to be, it needed to include the entire family.

[Parts of our family meeting will be posted on Youtube.]

After conducting much of my own homework as well as already having some intuition telling me that Eddie needed to be eating more meat, I reluctantly decided it was time to start bringing more meat into the house. After a few very DRY and not-so-yummy attempts (I've never been one to cook meat), the first person I could think to help me on this path was my amazingly talented and passion-about-food friend, Camille from Recipe RX and Paleo Living.

It couldn't have been more perfect that she was literally JUST launching her own program to help people transition into a healthier lifestyle, called Paleo Cooking at Home: Fast, Easy & Cheap. I quickly jumped on her affiliate program last week, went shopping on Sunday and began our cooking journey on Monday (yesterday). No time to waste!

>>>>>Meet Camille here!!<<<<<

And now the journey begins.

Sunday we completely overhauled the kitchen... out with the crap, in with the real food!!

OUT with the enriched breads, pastas & processed carbs~

IN with the fresh produce, healthy fats and yes, the meat!!

Our first dinner was last night (Almond Coconut Crusted Chicken - holy heavens!!) and EVERYONE (yes, I said everyone) LOVED it!! So far, we have made last night's dinner, today's breakfast (plantain crepes) and lunch (tuna salad wraps), and all of them have been a hit!!

Words cannot express how exciting it has been in just 24 hours to make meals that the whole family loves! I'm seriously ecstatic!! I'm already thrilled to be back in the kitchen and I feel like this is exactly what our entire family needed to get on track.

Be sure to follow our 2-week "Pachecos Go Paleo" journey on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and now Youtube!!

Unveiling ~ Part One!

You may or may not have noticed a shift in gears around here lately. I'm sure your news feeds and inboxes are just as swamped as mine, so either way it can be hard to keep up! Definitely though, my articles has been more sporadic and my posts have broadened in topic from self-love to fitness to food. Over the past 2 years I have taken myself on a personal growth and development journey of a lifetime! A personal overhaul, if you will. I have gone through various workshops, seminars, leadership programs; and I have really stepped outside of my comfort zone to shed my past, develop a life that I love, and become a person that I love and that my family and friends can love more. 

*In Part Two of my Unveiling, I will share more of my recent journey with you all. In the meantime, feel free to get to know me by checking out my 35th Birthday post or my About Me page.*

What I'm here to unveil now is what I've been doing more recently. I have been working toward fine-tuning my goals and figuring out how to take my own journey and turn it into something that I can give back to others. I have discovered my mission and my passion in life.. And I've realized that I am here on this planet to make a difference in the lives, in the health, and in the happiness of others. So, I'd like to share with you how I will be starting to bring this all into reality and how I will begin to be available to help YOU create a life of happiness and vitality!

Here are some of the things I'm working on in 2013:

*Open NOW: 
Launched my health empowerment program for women in January (Mimi's Health Camp). Healthy living can have a different meaning for everyone. In my program, we start with the inside and then work our way into developing a lifestyle that works for YOU. This means developing self-love, healthy eating and exercise habits that are sustainable and unique to each individual. 

*Cooking classes and personal training to help women create a healthy lifestyle that works for them. This isn't about following a strict diet or workout regimen. This is about developing new habits that work for YOU.

*Sweaty Betty Ambassadorship: supporting and empowering as many women as possible in their journeys to health in this amazing community of women.

*Working to offer Mimi's Health Camp online by summer 2013 - stay tuned!

*Heavenly Healthy cookbook in the works - to be published by the end of the year!?

To stay in the loop, sign up for my Heavenly Healthy newsletter here:
NEWSLETTER

As always, thank you for reading, following and supporting my journey and please let me know how I can support YOU! 

~Mimi~

PS. One of the greatest quotes and tools that has been of amazing value to me lately: 
Collaboration, NOT competition~
When we can work together as a team, we can truly create miracles!