How to Make Cold Brew Iced Coffee

This morning, I had a craving for cold brew coffee except I didn’t feel like getting a babysitter for Bull (our very large pitbull) to make a trip to Trader Joe’s. After searching the web, there were two main recipes which sounded doable. The only bad thing about this plan was waiting at least 12 hours for coffee. Either way, I was pot committed, poker term meaning, you’ve already invested too much to turn back.

You might ask, if you have a coffee maker which can make hot coffee in 5 minutes, why wait 12 hours and spend all this energy for cold brew. The reasoning is the flavor of cold brew is smoother since it is less acidic than coffee fewer with hot water and because I love coffee. It also stays fresh for 5 days in the fridge if I don’t drink it all on day 1.

Meal preppers:
You can make a batch of cold brew on Sunday while you are prepping everything else. Portion the cold brew with almond or coconut milk and honey into individual mason jars so you can grab and go during the week.

COLD BREW COFFEE
2/3 cup coarse ground coffee*
2 water bottles (16.9 oz)
Pitcher or Mason Jar
*Coffee filter
*Mesh Strainer

Add 2/3 cup of coffee and two 16.9 oz water bottles to a pitcher or mason jar. It’s best if you freshly grind the coffee, it’s not a big deal if you don’t. Mix coffee grounds into water until it’s all wet. Cover and let sit on the counter for 12 – 18 hours. Put coffee filter in strainer over a bowl and slowly pour coffee through. Clean pitcher and pour strained coffee back into the pitcher.

Chill for ~1 hour.
Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.

*Original ratio from the Noshon.it was 1/3 cup coarse ground coffee to 1.5 cups water, you can multiply based on the size of the container.

PALEO COFFEE
1 cup cold brew coffee
1/2 cup almond milk or coconut milk
Add honey to taste

BULLETPROOF COFFEE
1 cup cold brew coffee
1 cup almond milk or coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil or MCT oil (contains medium chain triglycerides which help with fat burning)
1 tbsp grass fed butter or ghee (Kerrygold butter can be found at Trader Joe’s or Costco, Trader Joe’s has ghee)
1 tbsp raw, unfiltered honey (I found mine at Costco)

Put everything in your favorite kickass mug, microwave for about 1 minute or so depending on how hot you like your coffee. Then use a blender or frother to mix, this makes it like a super creamy, frothy latte.

http://instagram.com/p/jwg3T1ryrG/

UPDATE:
I’m the laziest cook EVER so of course I found a couple shortcuts.

SHORTCUT 1 — FRENCH PRESS
If you have a French Press, you can use that to steep your coffee on the counter, DON’T PUSH THE PLUNGER DOWN until you are ready to strain the coffee into the pitcher you are storing in the fridge.

SHORTCUT 2 — NUT MILK BAG
If you have a nut milk bag, you can put the coffee grounds into the bag, place that into your pitcher or mason jar and then pour your water over. Eleven hours or so later, you can pull the nut milk bag out and then set the pitcher in the fridge.

Put the coffee grounds into the nut milk bag, then place in the pitcher or mason jar.

Add water to the pitcher and let it steep on the counter for about 11 hours.

Let me know which of these methods you’ve used to make your own cold brew, enjoy!

Sources:
Noshon.it Best Cold Brew Iced Coffee
Chow.com’s Basic Cold Brew Coffee

No Excuses Workout

Why are there days where I am just glued to the couch, watching TV or reading? It seems all the fall shows and stacks of books I want to consume are conspiring to make me a couch potato. Well, not this year, I’ve got all my fitness stuff scattered behind the couch to get my bootie in gear.

We have about 90 days before the year ends and for some reason, I thought it would be a brilliant idea to lead a fitness challenge to get in the best shape EVER before the the year ends. Some days, I kick ass and other days I want to kick myself. Anyway, one of the goals for the fitness challenge is to exercise for at least 30 minutes, 6 days a week, totally doable, right? Not so much on colder days, when comfy sweats and my favorite blanket are much more inviting than getting all sweaty. On days I don’t want to workout, I set the timer on my phone for 30 minutes and head out the door for a walk/jog or do body weight workouts like burpees, push-ups, scissor kicks, planks, squats, tricep dips and jumping jacks. I moved the stepper, exercise ball and bands to the living room to workout while watching TV.

So last night I had the PERFECT excuse to skip my workout, I was making dinner and while cutting a baguette for garlic bread, the knife slipped and cut my finger. I had to ask Mark to wrap my finger because blood was dripping all over the bathroom sink. It’s crazy how a little cut could produce so much blood! Part of me said, “you should probably skip the workout so you don’t bleed to death” while the other said, “don’t be a wimp, nobody ever died from a kitchen cut.” Anyone else have this constant battle inside your head where part of you wants to workout except your body doesn’t want to move?

Anyway, after he wrapped my finger, I finished making a paleo version our meal. Then about an hour after dinner, I put on my heart rate monitor and went to the park to go jogging. This time, I managed to jog 2 miles nonstop and came home 30 seconds faster than the last time. The best part was I felt like I could breathe like a normal person instead of like a crazed zombie.

No Excuses Workout
Cardio: 30 minute walk or walk/jog around the neighborhood
OR
BEGINNER: REPEAT 2x, take breaks as needed
INTERMEDIATE: REPEAT 3x
75 jumping jacks
25 squats
50 leg levers (beginners: do this with knees bent)
75 jumping jacks
50 sit-ups
25 burpees

The body weight exercises usually take about 30 minutes to do 3 rounds, a little longer depending on how many breaks you take. That’s it, don’t forget to drink 64 oz to a gallon for water a day!

It’s not too take to join the fitness challenge, email, FB, tweet or leave your email in a comment.

4 Minute Paleo Chicken & Kale Sauté

Eating good doesn’t need hours in the kitchen, here’s a 4 minute chicken and kale sauté. During meal prep, I shredded a rotisserie chicken, chopped tomatoes and other veggies and put them in containers. When I need to make a quick breakfast or lunch, I just heat up a pan, add a good fat and sauté meat and veggies.

Ingrdients
1 rotisserie chicken – shredded
1 tbsp coconut oil
2 handfuls of kale or your favorite vegetable
Cracked black pepper
Sea salt
Chopped tomatoes
Green salsa – I use the green salsa from Trader Joe’s

Heat the coconut oil until it’s melted, toss in a couple handfuls of kale, add cracked black pepper, sea salt and minced garlic and saute for about 2 minutes. Next add the shredded chicken and saute for another 2 minutes to heat the chicken.

You can replace the chicken with leftover meat you have on hand and swap out the kale for your fav veggie. Enjoy!

Paleo Mocha

Good morning! I made a creamy paleo mocha to go with breakfast. It was inspired by the Cafe Mole at the Java Bean Cafe in west Seattle. Once I’ve perfected the spicy version of the Cafe Mole, I will update this post.

Ingredients
coffee
1 tsp pumpkin
1 tsp cacao
1 tsp almond butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 scoop super greens+ (optional)
homemade recipe
honey to taste

Brew your favorite coffee, then while it’s brewing gather the ingredients. Add all of the ingredients to the single serve cup of your blender if you are making one serving, multiply the recipe if you are making more than one serving and use your blending pitcher. Add the coffee, then blend until the honey is incorporated and the coffee is frothy. Enjoy!

If you make this coffee, let me know what you think and any variations on the recipe in the comments.

Losing Weight the Easy Way

Selfie
949 calories burned – leg/booty + stairs
135 of the 949 above was from cardio, the rest from weights
GREEN JUICE RECIPE: coenzyme q10, scoop of super greens+, 1 cup baby spinach, 4 baby carrots, half a peach, 1 cup aloe water, then fill the rest with water
BREAKFAST: Kale sauteed in coconut oil, cracked pepper, sea salt and onion powder. Then topped with 2 over medium eggs. I sprayed a glass bowl with olive oil, then cracked the 2 eggs in and microwaved for 20 seconds at a time until it was done how I liked it
BODY PIC – 167 in this photo: Feeling slimmer after eating more veggies/proteins and limiting simple carbs.

The last year has been a blessing and a curse. I met the love of my life and our mutual love of yummy food resulted in a 20 pound weight gain. I hit my heaviest this summer and when I couldn’t shake the feelings of insecurity, I knew I had to make a change. I hated that I weighed more than when I was pregnant with my kids. I lost my sparkle, passion for life and ability to have fun because I was so uncomfortable in my body. I didn’t want to hide the extra pounds, I wanted to get rid of them for good! I knew it was time to get consistent with my workout and change my eating habits.

Anyway, I started looking at the Paleo and fitness hashtags on Instagram and Pinterest for inspiration on what to cook when I started seeing before and after pictures of regular people losing weight by EATING. This inspired me to change the way I ate and to workout when Mark goes to work at o’dark 30 in the morning. I also watched Forks Over Knives and Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on Netflix when I decided to put my weight loss plan into action.

I started posting what I’ve cooked on Instagram and then decided to include them in my blog in case anyone else was feeling the same way and needed motivation or inspiration. You’ll see some of the recipes I’ve tried from the Well Fed cookbook or some of the Paleo blogs. I am happy to report I’ve lost 7 lbs since I started my weight loss journey in August. I could have lost more weight if I eliminated alcohol completely or didn’t indulge in the occasional burger. However, this is a lifestyle change and moderation is the key for long term success.

Here is my current progress:
Starting weight 8/11/2013: 174 lbs
Current weight 9/11/2013: 167 lbs
Goal weight: 130 lbs

Yes, I am super embarrassed to share that I weighed 174 lbs a month ago, even more embarrassed to share my progress photos (coming soon). While I am losing weight, I know the scale might not budge as much as I want because my focus is to replace fat with muscle. I want to get stronger and since muscle is heavy, I told myself I wouldn’t freakout if I gain some weight in the beginning as long as my clothes continue to get looser. I’m heading into the gym tomorrow to have them take my measurements, my only wish that I had my measurements taken a month ago.

You can email me at fitgirl at cherylmarquez.com if you are interested in joining me for a 90 day fitness challenge or in having me become your virtual coach. Follow me on Instagram as I post workout stats and what I eat daily, my blog will eventually contain all of the recipes and fitness tools I’m using. Feel free to add me on MyFitnessPal: bombchel

Mark’s kids were craving shrimp tacos so we headed to the store to grab what we needed to make them. As much as I love shrimp tacos, I was thinking about how to eat them so I got the flavor without the carbs. What I ended up doing was using the slaw as the base, scooped the shrimp over the slaw, then drizzled the homemade Baja sauce over it. I had a side of fish from Mark’s fish tacos and veggies (not pictured). It was pretty yummy!

Fajita Shrimp
2 lbs of frozen shrimp, thaw and remove the tails
1 package of Rick Bayless’s Chipotle & Lime Fajita mix
1 package of coleslaw
1 onion (diced)
1 tbsp coconut oil

I took the tails off the frozen shrimp. Then add 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the pan, after it melts, add the diced onion and sautee until translucent. Next add the thawed shrimp and pour the entire package of the fajita mix to the shrimp. Let the shrimp simmer in the sauce for about 10 minutes to absorb the flavor. While it’s doing that make the Baja sauce.

Baja Sauce
1/3 cup mayo
2/3 cup crema Mexicana (it’s like sour cream but more liquid)
Juice of 1 or 2 limes
Sea Salt
Cracked Pepper

Add the mayo, crema Mexicana or sour cream, the lime juice, sea salt and cracked pepper to a bowl and whisk it together. Start with the juice of half a lime, whisk, then taste. We liked ours with a strong lime flavor so I used 2 limes.

Next, you can just add the slaw to the plate, scoop your shrimp over it with some of the fajita sauce, then drizzle with a little bit of the Baja sauce. Yummy!

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