Now that we are all settled into 2019, we are ready to tackle nutrition with the annual UpReach Crossfit nutrition challenge!  Each week I will be posting a new recipe that I have either made up or pulled from the internet.  Rest assured, each receipt will be tested before I post it!

If you have known me a while, you might know that I LOOOOVVVEEE to cook.  I love to cook full fat southern food.  You may also know that when Matt and I first started dating in 2007, that he gained almost 20 lbs the first year that we were together!  Food is my love language.

I have always enjoyed cooking.  Growing up, we would go over to my Ginny’s (my dads mother) house at least once a month.

She would cook the most amazing things.  Chicken fried steak, pot roast, fried chicken, hamburger steaks with home fries, enchiladas.  You name it, she made it!  I would help as much as could given my age at the time.

As time passed and I got a little older the family get togethers got larger and larger.  Eventually, the dinners just got too big for Ginny to handle and we no longer met at her house for dinner. 

Although, not for me!  I attended UT Austin, I lived close by.  I would go over to her house at the minimum of once a week.  We would visit, cook, and drink iced tea for most of the afternoon.  It was in these times that I really learned how to cook southern food and how to make a mean chicken fried steak.

As I started to learn more about health and nutrition, I knew that I had to make a change in my cooking habits.  No more Crisco!  At first, healthy cooking seemed so boring.  I did not want to put another piece of dry chicken breast in my mouth.  Blah!  I was over it to say the least.  It was at that moment that I decided that my love of southern cooking didn’t have to be over, I just had to change a few things about what ingredients I used and how a cooked things.  Boom! I was back to loving cooking and going on new cooking adventures.  There were some fails here and there, but overall success!  One of my biggest fails of all time was a Paleo chicken pot pie.  I love chicken pot pie, but this recipe almost killed it for me.  Just ask Matt.  WORST PALEO RECIPE EVER!  The crust was like licking a salt block.  Barf!  I searched forever to find a decent Paleo chicken pot pie recipe, then one day, I found one!  Just in time!

This weekend is going to cold and rainy.  Perfect soup weather!  I found this Paleo Whole30 compliant Chicken Pot Pie recipe on Pinterest a few months ago and the whole family loved it!  Success!!!!!  I changed up a few things for this second go round, and had a few special helpers, which I think made the soup taste even better!  My version is posted below in this blog.  The original can be found at the link posted above.  Both are great!

Paleo Whole30 Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Servings: 7-8

Time: 1 hour

Credit: recipes77.com

Chicken Broth

1. In a large dutch oven or pot, bring chicken, salt, and water to a boil.  Cover and let cook for 20 minutes
2. While the chicken is cooking, In a small saucepan, combine potatoes with enough water to cover them. Cover and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once cooked, turn heat off, dump into a blender or food processor.  Add the coconut milk and puree until smooth.  Set aside.
3. While the potatoes are cooking, saute the veggies. In a large pot , combine coconut oil, carrots, celery, green onions and potatoes. Sauté for about 5 minutes.
4. Remove chicken from boiling water but continue to heat water.  I used only 2 breast and saved the legs for another meal.  Remove bones from chicken and chop.
5. Add sauted veggies to the large dutch oven. Add thyme, rosemary, green beans, and salt. Cover and cook 10 minutes, stirring regularly.
6. Now, slowly stir in potato puree.
7. Add the chicken
8. Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I did!  Check back every week for a new southern inspired health recipe!  This recipe along with others that I would like to try can be found on our new UpReach Crossfit Pinterest Board!