Account-abili-Buddy

  As you may have guessed, today, I touch on what I think it one of the most important aspects to being successful in the quest for a new lifestyle. Everyone needs a partner in crime, a confidant, an account-abili-buddy! There is no better way to keep on track than having someone to report to. I, for one, needed this. I always wanted to be able to report to my friends and tell them how good I was doing. I never wanted to tell them "oh yeah, I ate a snickers today, and drank a soda, and didn't exercise. It was a GREAT day..." Hell no. I wanted to always be able to say that I ate fantastically and had an awesome workout. It made me feel good about myself and my ability to have some self control. Everything is always more fun with a friend anyway. Don't get me wrong though, if you are attempting to go at this alone, I'm not saying you'll fail. I'm simply saying that having someone to go through it with you will help! Not only will you have someone to keep you accountable, but you will also have someone who knows exactly what you are going through!
  I love having this blog. It helps keep my accountable too! I want to be able to blog honestly everyday and encourage you all through my accomplishments! So congrats, YOU are my account-abili-buddy! Along with Maranda, who I WILL defeat in this paleo challenge, and Robyn, who sits close enough to me at work to monitor what goes in my pie hole, and all of my crossfit family who are there to push me at my workouts! So, go find yourself an account-ibili-buddy, or two or ten. The more the merrier! Now, onto the good stuff... FOOD! nom nom nom
  Today for lunch, I get to scarf down my leftovers from last night. Ohhhhh I can hardly wait! I will go ahead and post tonight's dinner recipe in case you want to cook it for yourself. I'll update you on how amazing it was and add a picture to go with it later after I'm done consuming every last bite!

Pesto Zucchini "Spaghetti"

Total Time: about 30 minutes

Ingredients:

4 medium zucchini, julienned thinly (mandoline slicers are great for this)
generous pinch of salt
6 slices of uncooked bacon
1/2 cup green onions, sliced into 1-inch pieces
2 cups broccoli florets
2-3 T prepared basil pesto
Directions:

Place zucchini strips in a colander over a bowl or in the sink. Sprinkle zucchini with salt and toss to combine. Let the zucchini sit for 15 minutes while the salt extracts the moisture. Drain excess water, squeezing zucchini, if necessary.
Meanwhile, cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crisp, turning frequently. Remove bacon to a stack of paper towels to drain. Crumble bacon. Remove all but 2 T of bacon drippings from the pan.
Return the pan to medium heat. Add the green onions and broccoli, stirring frequently for about 3-5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add zucchini and 2 T of pesto, tossing to combine all ingredients. Taste and add more pesto, if needed. The mixture only needs to warm up, so 2-3 minutes of cooking ought to do it.
Serve with bacon crumbles

My Paleo-Friendly Basil Pesto Recipe-

2/3 cups almonds
1 1/4 cups basil
3/4 cups olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Throw your almonds in the food processor. Turn on until you get a mealy powder.
Add your bail leaves and turn the food processor back on.
After those two ingredients are mixed together, with the food processor still running, drop in the garlic cloves then slowly begin to add your olive oil until combined.
Then add your lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

BAM! My mouth is now watering just thinking about making this scrumptious meal for dinner tonight. Alright, so the meal has been cooked and devoured. Andddd, as promised, it was SOOOOO good! The recipe calls for only 2 tbsp of pesto, but I mixed in the whole batch. One can never have too much pesto, especially when it's paleo friendly pesto! And so, I have a feeling you are all doing really great at this challenge. Sooooo I have an unexpected gift for you all. A BONUS protein shake recipe. This one comes courtesy of Maranda. She's a smart cookie too. Too bad I'm going to kick her azz in this paleo challenge! So, Here is the recipe!

4 Dates
1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
As much cinnamon as you'd like
1 cup almond milk
1 cup ice

Blend it all together and BAM, more goodness! This one is just as good as the pumpkin one. I promise!

Cheers to Paleo Challenge Day 2! We ARE doing this!