I’m pretty excited, this is the first dish I’ve cooked & blogged about in my new place — and let me tell you the lighting here is SO much better for photos! I’m eeking over this whole new place thing still. Next week I’ll have a photo-tour of my new kitchen up for you guys! That way you can take a peak and see what some of my essentials are, what my fridge looks like when it’s stocked and what I keep on hand in my cabinets 
But in the mean time — enjoy this new yummy side dish / light lunch. I love this dish. You can easily roast the mushrooms in the oven {like I’ve done here} or you can grill them when you’re making dinner!
And if you’re looking to make this more of a full-meal than a side dish, just add some chicken into the salad and boom, insta dinner! I like to serve 1 per person if it’s a side dish and if it’s lunch I like to serve 2 of them!
I’ve been pretty MIA the last few days! Don’t worry, I haven’t moved to some private – remote location sipping iced coffee pool side {but hello, that’s great idea for a vacation!}.
I’ve been taking some much needed R & R since I handed in the book on Friday — and let me tell you, that was a BLAST to write, and I’m so excited to share it with you guys!!
However the rumors about the book are true — I was completely fueled by Starbucks, Fall Out Boy and Chocolate. What does that mean exactly? I was highly caffeinated and ready for a dance party the ENTIRE time I was writing / photographing the book. HA! That’s pretty freaking epic if you ask me! Or it’s just very Liz-Like….
So my R&R was more just to get my recipe-creating-brain back on the right track… And good news, he’s back! There’s just some not-so-cool news to go with that awesome news.
Most of you guys know I’m moving and well with that comes packing and that means most of my awesome kitchen-gadgets {like my mixing bowls} and pretty blog-worthy-dishes are all packed up into my 10 “kitchen” labeled boxes {And umm….I’m still packing up the kitchen …. go team?}.
So because all of my awesome-sauce stuff is packed and my house is a hot mess of boxes, I’m going to hold off on posting any recipes until after we move in {we move in a week from today, so you don’t have to wait too long I promise!}.
How much of a hot mess is my apartment? Erm in my mind it’s pretty chaotic and scary, Mr. Not So Paleo being the champ and veteran mover he is, isn’t phased by the stacks of boxes at all. Primal Puggle is in a love/hate relationship with the ordeal and Evil Primal Kitty is having a blast …
To sum-up today’s exciting random rambling:
• Book, all handed in — Yay!
• Moving, can’t blog recipes till post-move in – Boo!
• Shiny new kitchen to cook in next week – Yay!!!!!
However I thought before I go, I’d give you a little illustration as to how I’m feeling about my current apartment:
And because I’m moving with Mr. Not So Paleo, my sister and her girlfriend….I figure moving advice like this for the four of us is needed:
Happy Thursday!
Some of you may or may not remember that I’ve been dropping not so subtle hints about a big surprise. Well…this surprise is big, wicked big. So big I’m actually a little nervous to tell you guys. And as we know that NEVER happens.
You ready? Here it goes…
I’m writing and releasing a book — a real book with a publisher and all {not the Liz Kind of book that involves lots of “wanting” and never any “writing” LOL!}! Cedar Fort publishing approached me way back in February about writing a Budget Friendly Paleo cookbook and of course I said yes! Seriously this is one of those things I’ve always wanted to do. Even when I was a kid and learning to cook from my Dad I always knew I wanted to do something big that was food related. Sure I absolutely LOVE photography. But cooking? It’s been this amazing and oddly comforting passion I’ve had since I can remember. And now? Now I get to release a cookbook for you guys and all of our soon-to-be new friends. How cool is that? {And isn’t the cover wicked pretty?? I’m in love!}
Expected Release Date: December 10, 2013!
Paleo On A Budget is going to have some of your favorite stand-by recipes {that are slightly revamped and re-photographed} like Oversized Meatballs | Sauce + Greenbeans, Kale + Tomato{ish} Soup and Sweet Potato Chili. But also a lot of new ones that are quickly becoming a staple in my house like Roasted Cauliflower Salad, Summer Shrimp Salad, Almond Butter Truffles and Lemon Chicken.
It’s even going to have a mini-paleo 101 and my tips and tricks for staying on a budget. I’m even adding a splurge and gray area recipe section for my friends who like rice, white potato and chocolate {of course there’s chocolate, we all know my obsession with it}.
Here are just a few of the recipes going in! Top Left is {the famous} Kale+Tomato{ish} Soup, Bottom Left is Lemon Chicken and the Right side is a Summer Shrimp Salad!
The best part? My awesome new friends at Cedar Fort Publishing are working really hard with me to keep the costs of the book as low as possible so I promise you won’t walk into a book store and see a list price of $30.00 and up!
The kicker? — I’m not done yet, still writing and still photographing it. I hand it in a week from Friday and lemme tell you — It’s not easy but it is loads of fun! So much fun that I don’t know who’s enjoying the process more — me or Mr. Not So Paleo and Primal Puggle {they graciously volunteered to be my taste-testers!}.
And of course as we go on I’ll be dropping some surprises on you guys, previews and keeping you updated on the books progress!
So if you don’t hear from me in the next week or so I’ll be buried in the land of yummy food and epic writing — And promise to be back ASAP!
Happy Wednesday!
No, no, no not POAB or anything cool like that {actually that would be a headache to move to a different server/company and Mr. Not So Paleo would probably demand shrimp for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I ever made him do it — because you bet your bottom dollar I’d mess it up if I ever tried, so I’d make him do it!}
Anyhoo — We as in: Mr. Not So Paleo, Evil Primal Kitty, Primal Puggle and myself are moving! We’ve found a bigger place, with a nicer kitchen, and an oven that I won’t have to babysit. Is it more money per a month? Sadly, yes…is it worth it? Absolutely! So that means I’ll be extra POAB for the next few months until we get all settled into a new routine!
It’s exciting, but a daunting task. Why? Because this other big super big surprise I have for you is happening at THE SAME TIME. I’m that cool kid that can’t just take on one project at a time — I’ve got to have like 10 going at once, no big deal. I’ll sleep sometime next year, or the year after.
Did I mention we’re also shooting all of our engagement sessions between now and the move date? No? Oh well we are! Like I said we’re cool kids {that’s right hunny, I said you’re a cool kid!}.
So what does this mean for you lovely folks? You might notice that I go quiet and don’t do a few regular updates for the next few weeks while I’m packing and working on said super big surprise + moving.
You might be wondering, how big is this surprise? It’s so big that only a few family members and Mr. Not So Paleo and a handful of other people know about it. And you know me — I’m a talker. I’m having a hard enough time not stopping someone in the street and being like “GUESS WHAT” never mind keeping it from you lot! But…. I think I’ve got like three weeks left before I spill the beans. Unless I break sooner, which is totally liable to happen.
Also after Moving Day I’m going write up an epic post on my tips for moving on a budget {heck you might even see some hilarious statuses and pictures posted on moving day}! Because oh, this will be a cheap move. I’ve budgeted around $150.00 for the WHOLE MOVE. Lucky for me — I’m using my sister as slave labor, I mean — she generously volunteered to help me move and works for food? Yes, let’s go with that statement instead of the whole slave labor thing.
Want to know something wicked funny? I’ve already started packing up some of my kitchen stuff I won’t use till post-move-in and umm… I’m already at 6 boxes and donated an additional two boxes. Apparently this is a sign that I am in fact, a food blogger. And my apartment looks like a war-zone. 
See? That’s only a part of my kitchen packed up! Minus one of the small boxes! It’s crazy, I know. I have a I-Cook-Too-Much Problem!
And before you ask me why I bought boxes — I only bought enough for my kitchen and a few fragile things, the rest are coming from free sources like the grocery store. I’m way to in love with my kitchen supplies to trust them to grocery store boxes. It might be weird I know — but it makes sense to me
I’ll keep you posted on the moving progress and on the super big secret surprise as we move right along {get it…move along — haha!}!
Happy Friday!
It’s true, I’m home! I’ve got some big news on a few different fronts coming your way in the next few weeks — and I will be totally honest, I’m nervous about spilling the beans on one particular bit of news…but I’m guessing that’s just me being me! Anyhoo — because of all this big, over the top stuff we’ve got going on {On top of our regular Wedding Photography + Web Design business and being just well…us} we needed to take a little mini-vacation. We’re famous for stay-cations. We’ll totally rock out day trips, sitting at home in comfy clothes and watching movies and eating almond butter out of the jar… but for the first time since Mr. Not So Paleo and I got together {almost 8 years ago..} we decided to just go on vacation.
So how on a budget did we afford it? LivingSocial.com my friends! In January we found a great Living Social deal for an Inn in Kennebunkport, Maine and jumped on that bandwagon! It ended up equaling a buy one night, get the second night free w/ Breakfast both mornings! Best part? We got to stay in a little cottage separate from the main building that had a whirlpool tub, fireplace and a ginormous bed! Talk about feeling all fancy… and we all know I’m the farthest thing from “fancy” hahah
So my tips for an affordable Vacation? Set. A. Budget, let me repeat – Set A Budget! Because we had already pre-paid for our room with the deal all we had left to spend for the room was taxes + fees. We set ourselves a $200.00 – $225.00 budget that had to include said taxes and fees {which ended up being $42.00}, 2 Lunches, 2 Dinners, Drinks and any other things we wanted to buy {like coffee and souvenirs!}.
Don’t forget to let yourself live a little — just because you’re paleo doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy vacation because of dietary restrictions. I may have wiggled around the paleo-rules a little …. but it was vacation and I wanted to enjoy it… and that meant I splurged on beer and gluten free – flour-less chocolate cake — and I have absolutely no regrets!
So I was actually a good little blogger while on vacation and took pictures of all my food! You’ll notice for breakfasts that I got a few really borderline items {like Gluten-Free Pancakes & muffins} so in the spirit of vacation I tried a little, but didn’t finish them and won’t be eating them again! {I learned I’m not a fan of things turned “gluten free” unless it’s in the form of chocolate! }
So without further ado…my meals!
Day One
So here’s Day One’s Dinner + Dessert! Lunch for Day one was eaten on the road and I totally forgot to take a picture — it was however 3 scrambled eggs w/ bacon, sausage and ham mixed in with feta on top — yumm!
Dinner pictured above is Salad w/ Grilled Steak + Artichokes with feta, tomatoes & red onions. I declined the pita bread that came with it as well as the “greek dressing” and asked for oil & vinegar.
Not pictured: Mr. Not So Paleo and I split a Ship Yard Beer {locally made}
Dessert was to-go and it was the flour-less chocolate cake, which we split — and man was it good!
Day Two
Day Two’s Breakfast {included with LivingSocial Deal, delivered to our room! See I told you, Fancy!} – Gluten Free Pancakes, baked apples {yumm!}, bacon, and a crust-less baked frittata sorta thing, it was good! They also gave me fruit — I ate the strawberry and cantaloupe and gave Mr. Not So Paleo the rest
Day Two Lunch: We split another Ship Yard Beer {we got the export Ale…wicked good!} and I ordered a “Peach BBQ Burger” that I got w/ sweet potato fries instead of the regular fries and asked for no bun. I asked for the Peach BBQ sauce on the side, I just wanted to try it and see what it tasted like, it was way to sweet for my taste, but the onions and bacon on my burger were more than enough! And of course, Mr. Not So Paleo “helped” me eat the sweet potato fries {he is such a champ!}
Day Two Dinner {sorry the picture stinks! it was dark in there!}. I got a grilled chicken Salad that had goat cheese, strawberries, blueberries, onion, tomatoes and cucumber on it — served on a spinach instead of lettuce. I opted this time for the balsamic vinaigrette dressing to change things up!
No adult beverages w/ this meal — we both decided to just stick with water
Day Three
Day Three Breakfast! There was a gluten free muffin {had a bite, didn’t like it}, ham, onion & mushroom omelet and roasted potatoes. Instead of a fruit cup this time we had grilled grapefruit which came with a cherry on top. It was good, but I only had a few bites and didn’t eat the cherry!
Day Three Lunch on the way home wasn’t photographed — but we stopped at chipotle on the way home and man was that ever good! Their guacamole has bacon in it and is so worth the extra $1.00 to add to my burrito-bowl!
Not pictured was also the coffee I drank — you know me, so you know there was lots to be had!
And because we went to the beach… Here’s a obligatory beach picture! It was cold, but so worth it
Anyways, that was my vacation in a nutshell, we had a blast. I stayed pretty freaking paleo, and managed to stay on budget. Which for all parties involved equaled an epic win! We’re both refreshed and happy to be home {we missed the puggle and kitty!}.
Now off to get a ton more work done so I can share my big surprises with you guys {hopefully I won’t combust trying to keep it a surprise for another few weeks!}
Hope you all had a fantastic week!
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