When you just HAVE to have Pizza :-)

This recipe is Paleo. I love that. It means I can have pizza, enjoy pizza and not be eating crap! The crust is made from almond flour, extra virgin olive oil and eggs. (I put the exact recipe at the bottom of the post) What you choose to put on it for toppings, is of course your choice :-)

This time around I made a double batch and Matt and I topped our own pizzas. This is waaay too much food for us, but we wanted leftovers for lunches - it reheats well in the microwave and even better in the toaster oven if you like your crust a bit crispy!

Matt looooves his red sauce, can you tell? :-) But there is also chicken sausage, caramelized onions, bacon, kale, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, black olives and diced orange peppers. His pizza had the same toppings all over the entire pizza.

I decided to split mine, 1/2 chicken sausage and 1/2 bacon and then I piled on the toppings. ALL of them: caramelized onions, kale, mushrooms, black olives, diced orange, red and yellow peppers. Plus a little bit of low-fat shredded cheese as a treat.

Reese was sad, no pizza for him :-(

Perfect Primal Pizza (from the Primal Blueprint aka www.marksdailyapple.com)

2 cups almond meal flour

2 eggs

2 Tsp Extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt (optional)

-mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. This should give you a ball of 'dough'. If your dough is too 'mushy' add a bit more almond flour.

-grease pizza sheet or use a non-stick baking sheet

-press dough onto sheet evenly so it's about 1/4 inch in the middle and 1/2 inch at the edges

-put crush into the oven (350F degrees) for 15min or until just golden brown

-add pizza sauce, toppings, cheese, etc

-put back into the oven for 15 more min 

I let it cool for a few minutes before slicing and eating :-) 

Enjoy!

Graduation for Mrs Rand!

I'm slowly catching up on the month of May, so thanks for sticking with me!

The weekend of May 17 & 18 Matt and I traveled down to Baltimore for his mom's graduation. We were lucky enough to get to squeeze a visit in with Annelyse too!!
After landing Friday night we met Annelyse and her hubby Mikey at The Lodge for dinner in Frederick, MD. (It's Super yummy! http://www.lodgerestaurant.net/) I was really bad and didn't remember to take any pictures until we were already in bed and half asleep that night :-(
BUT Saturday morning I did get a couple pictures of us after a killer Crossfit workout at Annelyse's box :-) and by killer, I mean K.I.L.L.E.R. drop on the floor like you're dead, 150 weighted squats, running, burpees, sit-ups, DEAD!

One of her friends photo-bombed us! :-)

It was an AWESOME crowd to work-out with and it felt great to get in a work-out while traveling!

Annelyse spoiled us with tee-shirts too! woohoo! My first ever Crossfit tee-shirt :-)

We met up with her again on Sunday after graduation festivities 

for dinner before we hopped on our plane home. We had a BLAST!

But now onto the reason for the trip down - graduation!!

The Graduate with husband and son on the Riverwalk

We stayed at the Westin right outside downtown Wilmington. 

The hotel was attached to the hall where the graduation ceremony took place so it was super convenient! 

There was also the lovely Riverwalk right outside the door!

The Riverwalk is slowly being filled in with lovely restaurants and this wonderful park

The big squares at the top of the picture are solar panels that provide the energy for the lights at night.

This portion was a favorite - it was very Zen

Matt and Mr. Rand

This little grove of trees was so lovely! It was just off the Riverwalk 

and if I'd had a pillow with me I could have sat down and read a book for hours.

Sunday morning we all piled into the hall next door and waited. 

This was the first of 3 graduation ceremonies happening on Sunday

my phone didn't like the dark, so I didn't take too  many pictures

The stage and 1st speaker

The Graduate! 

awwww! Matt giving his mom a kiss

It was so exciting :-) After pictures we headed out to lunch to celebrate!

Memorial Day - where has the time gone?

A few weeks ago, (maybe it's been a month now!) I was chatting with a co-worker about planting a few hydrangeas along the back of the house. She said she had way too many young shoots that she was going to be cleaning out and she'd be happy to give me a few!
Here they are, 4 little shoots of hydrangeas starting to take root. Well, while planting them I found more grubs (ICK!) than I would like in my garden beds and since we've had an awful infestation of Japanese beetles the past few years I knew it was time to take drastic action and not wait for them to attack again this year.

I'll be honest. I did my research. Last year we used Grubex. too little, too late. This spring I tried Milky Spore first. It's a natural bacteria that kills grubs. I will say, it's expensive. It's a pain in the you know what to put down because it's powder and has to be applied with a teaspoon in a grid-like pattern spaced 1ft apart. Of course, AFTER I spend hours applying it to certain sections of the lawn (they didn't have enough to cover the entire lawn at the store) I came across this study done at UNH - right down the road from us:  http://extension.unh.edu/resources/files/Resource000876_Rep922.pdf
Greeaaaaattt. I don't have 3-4 yrs for the bacteria to build up and I'm not sure what type of Japanese beetle we have. Sigh. So much for that. So I went to Amazon.com and got 8 bags of Grub Control w/Turf Revitalizer which targets 4 types of grubs and numerous other insects. It works immediately. yahoo!

I spread that on the ENTIRE yard (I won't call it lawn) on Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend and then snapped some shots around the yard:

My Mum brought me some of her Lily of the Valley last summer and I planted them in the front bed to fill around the little bushes and trees. I didn't plant them at the right time of year - just kinda plopped them in there, so I'm thrilled that they are up and flowering this year!

My FIRST LILAC blooms!!!! My little twigs along the garage wall are happily growing and this one decided it could muster 3 blooms :-) I'm so excited!!! I dream of this wall being covered by towering lilacs that bloom all summer long!

This is the twiggy maple tree that we've almost lost to Japanese beetles every year since we planted it (3yrs). Yes, it's still staked, but I've loosened all the ties so it's mostly standing up on its own now. Although with all those crazy leaves on top this year I think it looks like a lolli-pop!

These are the 2 larger lilacs that we planted last summer. No blooms but the leaves are coming in strong. I wasn't really concerned about them too much, but still nice to know they're healthy!

Back of the house for the start of this year - pretty pitiful since I put in those raised beds a couple years ago! I've been slowly putting more dirt/topsoil/loam into them every year in an effort to get them filled. The end boxes are doing better than the taller middle ones.

WOW! the grass is bad back here too :(

Sunday of Memorial Day weekend Reese and I took a trip to Lowe's and stocked up on some bigger hydrangeas that were on sale along with more good garden dirt :-)

I hope to get all of these into the garden this week - it will absolutely help with the bare bones look we currently have going on!

The rest of our weekend was filled with friends, family and a few hours of downtime with Reesey-face :-)
It went by all too quickly, as long weekends are wont to do, but it's a wonderful start to SUMMER!

Belated Happy Mother's Day

Because she said it better than I ever could, here's a Mother's Day Blessing from Shannan of Flower Patch Farm Girl:

"Hope all you ladies had a real fine day.
If you're waiting to be a Mama, have so much hope. 
If your mama is no longer with you, feel so much peace.
If you're not a mama and you think you're really onto something, sleep an extra hour for me. And paint your toes.

No matter who you are, lady, no matter what your situation is or the condition of your heart tonight, you're a woman, and you give life to the world in all the best ways.

Would it be too weird to say I love you?
Would it seem too abstract and hypothetical?

Because I do.
Because we're pretty much sisters. 

I'll split the cookie and give you the biggest half. Pinkie swear.

XO,
Shannan"

Paleo Mayo & Weekend Travels

Spring is here and with warmer temperatures come my two favorite lunches! Tuna and egg salad. Mmmmm! and pickles! :-) I know. They are both a bit polarizing as some love and others hate, but I love them both and they aren't bad for you by themselves - it's what you put with them!
Enter Paleo mayo. I know, I was dubious too - which is why I got a recipe from a Paleo friend who's husband is a much better cook/chef than me! He's also not afraid to try new recipes, which, sometimes, I am.

The recipe can be found here:
http://thehealthyfoodie.com/fail-proof-home-made-paleo-mayo-whole30-compliant/
and it is NOT hard!! I promise! I made both tuna fish and egg salad with this and it was super tasty! The recipe states that you can add other flavors to it and Paleo Friend confirmed that you can easily spice it up with cumin or smoked paprika and a spicy mustard or garlic or pesto or.... :-) you get the idea!

In other news. I went to Connecticut this past weekend.

THIS is Sandlin. 

He is now 5 months and growing like a weed!

He's not sure about the camera though. And he's not the smile-liest of babies

more of a thinker. His expressions are wonderful and inquisitive!

He's a big fan of Mom (Catherine)

and he looooves to be moving, bouncing, jumping, swinging

When he does smile it lights up his WHOLE face!

Super cute and contagious with those dimples!

and his head is covered in the softest peach fuzz :-)

I'm already jealous of his think, long (blonde!) eyelashes!!

I had a great time! 

Thanks for letting me come visit and steal some snuggle-time!!