In November I got this magic pot (That’s what the kids call it) called an Instant Pot! It is a programmable pressure cooker. This thing isn’t your grandma’s pressure cooker. It is so much more than a pressure cooker. It can sauté, steam, slow cook, cook rice and (the Duo version) makes yogurt. As you will see in a few minutes it can also “bake” with pressure!

This is the exact way to make the cheesecakes. I have not failed a single one yet. I have made a total of 8 since November! This is the basic recipe. You can add flavor like lemon or chocolate to this recipe and change it up a bit! I even swirled blueberry pie filling in one and it came out great!

You will need a 7 inch springform pan to make this cheesecake! I recommend the Nordic Ware 7 inch springform, but any brand will work. This cheesecake has been made with a slightly larger springform pan and a 6 inch, but your results will vary.

Ingredients

Crust
1/2 cup crushed cookies or graham crackers, about 6 cookies
2 tablespoons butter melted

Filling
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature!! (Important!!)
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 eggs, room temperature (Important!!)

Instructions:
1) Grease cheesecake pan with butter. I spray with cooking spray also. I make sure the butter is mashed into the cracks. This keeps it from leaking.
2) Crush cookies finely and add melted butter. Mash into bottom of cheesecake pan and put in refrigerator until butter firms up. Approximately 5 minutes.
3) Mix together everything but the eggs. Once mixed add egg one at a time. Do not over mix!
4) Add mixture to cheesecake pan and lift pan and tap gently on the counter to get the air bubbles to come to the surface.
5) Make a foil sling. Fold approximately 2 feet of foil lengthwise to make a sling to lower and raise your cake out of the pot.
6) add one cup of water to instant pot. Add metal rack that came with the Instant Pot.
7) lower cheesecake into pot using the foil sling you just made.
8) fold sling inward to make and “A” shape or teepee. Leave it that way.
9) put instant pot lid on and lock in place.
10) press MANUAL 30 min.
11) IP will come to pressure and count down when pressurized.
12) When unit beeps that it is done allow the time to count up to 10. This is a natural release of pressure. Once it reaches 10 release the rest of the pressure by moving the valve to “venting”.
13) Immediately remove the cheesecake using the foil sling and set on cooling rack.
14) using a paper towel, dab the corners of the paper towel along the top of the cake and the bottom of the outside of the pan to soak up as much water as possible.
15) WALK AWAY!! LOL. Leave the cake to cool to room temp for two hours. Don’t mess with it.
16) At this time put it in the refrigerator for 4 hours. If you can wait that long. I like to leave the edge of the springform on until I am ready to serve the cheesecake.
17) enjoy.

TIPS:

The post How to make cheesecake in the Instant Pot Pressure Cooker! appeared first on That Savage Life.

I am so excited! I have been eyeing Stitch Fix for a while, but as I was losing weight I was slightly outside their scope of sizing. Now after losing 125 pounds I am able to be styled by Stitch Fix! They style up to a 14/16 and X-large! They are also looking to extend their sizes, but it hasn’t happened yet. I was nervous at first. My body is not shaped like a model and I definitely have “trouble areas”, but I set aside my concerns and let stitch fix do their thing! Here are the steps you take to sign up for Stitch Fix:

1) Sign up for an account here:  Stitch Fix Account Sign-up!

2) Fill out your Style Profile. This will include questions about preferred item pricing, sizing, colors, etc and you can leave a personal, more detailed note to your stylist!

3) Order your first fix! Pick your date that you would prefer it to be delivered. At this point you will be charged a $20.00 styling fee. If you choose to keep any items from your box the styling fee is applied to that item making it $20.00 less!

4) Receive your fix in the mail! Try your items on and decide what you want to send back or keep. You have three days to do this! Your fix contains a postage paid envelope to return your items back to Stitch Fix! After you have decided what to keep and what to send back log into your account and go to checkout. This is where you leave feedback and notes about the items you received!

5) Schedule your next fix! While you CAN receive a fix monthly, you can also choose to receive it two months, three months, etc, out. I wish there was an option for twice a month!

I have to say. I honestly thought that I was going to order my Stitch Fix and not a single thing was going to fit or look right. I was so wrong! I wasn’t sure on sizing, whether to pick large or extra large, but luckily they also ask for you weight and height and I think that helps to fit you in the correct clothing! It turns out that everything fit, but a few of them I didn’t love enough to keep. I made a deal with my self that if I didn’t love it I was not going to add it to my already tiny RV closet! For this fix I chose to keep 2 out of 5 items that were sent! I feel like that is extremely awesome considering I expected nothing to work for me on my very first fix! Below are the items I received and my review of each one!

As always, if you see something you like feel free to pin it on Pinterest!

1) Skies Are Blue: Lyley Embroidered Yoke Knit Top

2) Gorjana Cress Shimmer V necklace

3) Brixon Ivy: Jarred Lace Detail Cap-Sleeve Blouse

4) Papermoon: Matti Pleated Front Blouse

5) THML Mario Pullover Sweater

Here is the style card and note that was sent with my items to give me ideas on how to wear them!

The post Stitch Fix reveal 1 appeared first on That Savage Life.

I bought this awesome electric pressure cooker called an Instant Pot. This thing is king of the kitchen right now! It pressure cooks, sautés, steams, slow cooks, ferments, and lots more! The ability I am most excited about is being able to make cakes and bread in it! I thought this was so neat!! Most of the recipes I found for bread or cake are not Paleo compliant so I had to come up with one of my own! I used this steamed banana bread recipe and substituted ingredients for Paleo ingredients. The results were AMAZING! This pressure cooker Paleo banana bread is dense and moist! I am still incredibly shocked that this works in a pressure cooker!! You can get the Instant Pot IP-Duo60 7-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker here: Amazon

My mom used to make a very similar Pumpkin bread around the holidays! I plan to order more cassava flour and make a Paleo pressure cooker pumpkin bread! I am thinking it will turn out the same and that is really exciting!

Pressure Cooker Paleo Banana Bread!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup softened ghee
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1 egg (room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
2 mashed, very ripe bananas
1 1/2 cup cassava flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/3 cup cashew milk (or coconut, almond, etc)
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

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Instructions:
Add alternative milk (can use coconut, cashew, almond, etc) and cream of tartar together in a small bowl and set aside. (This makes “buttermilk”)
Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
Add mashed bananas and continue to mix.
In a separate bowl mix cassava flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to wet ingredients while mixing.
Add in the “buttermilk mixture” of alternative milk and cream of tartar.
Cover with foil. If you make a foil “tent” and spray with cooking spray it won’t stick!
In a greased 7 inch or smaller cake pan (I used my AMAZING 7 inch springform pan) add the mixture.
Add 2 cups of water to the instant pot.
Set metal trivet rack in the bottom of the Instant Pot.
Lower your pan filled with batter onto the trivet.
Close lid of Instant Pot and move knob on top to SEALING.
Press MANUAL 30 minutes. The Instant Pot will start to count down AFTER it has come to pressure.
When the Instant Pot beeps finished allow it to NATURALLY release pressure. Mine took 17 minutes, but this time varies.
When the pressure is gone and you can remove the lid do so.
Carefully remove the trivet and pan. Remove the foil. Allow to cool on a wire rack IN THE PAN. Once it is cool if will easily remove from the pan.
I let mine sit out until completely cool and then put it in the refrigerator overnight to enjoy with my coffee in the morning!

The post Pressure Cooker Paleo Banana Bread appeared first on That Savage Life.

I posted these on my Facebook page and everyone wanted to know my recipe. Honestly when I posted them I didn’t have a real recipe. These are so easy I just toss everything in a muffin pan, bake, cool and store so they can be reheated all week for breakfast. My boys love that they can pull it out of the refrigerator themselves and toss it in the microwave. When we reheat these we only heat them for around 40 seconds, otherwise they will get crunchy.

My general recipe for a 12 muffin tin:
12 eggs (we strongly prefer farm fresh)
2 heaping tbsp of cooked meat (we use turkey breakfast sausage, ham or bacon would work well also)
Various vegetables. If the veggies are hard like peppers, onions then we pre-saute them until they are soft. If the vegetable is already soft like spinach, kale or arugula we just toss it in.

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Directions:
Grease each cup of the muffin tin. We use a Pampered Chef tin so I don’t use liners.
In a large bowl scramble your 12 eggs.
Place 2 tbsp of meat in each muffin cup.
Add vegetables to the top.
Fill each cup with egg about 3/4 of the way to the top. The egg will expand.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes until the tops are golden and the centers are no longer runny.

To order your own non-stick awesome muffin pan please click here: Kati Woods Pampered Chef

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If you really want to change it up sometimes we add spices like creole seasoning or garlic. The boys really just like the turkey sausage and egg muffins. Experiment a little and see what your family likes!

The post Breakfast egg muffins appeared first on That Savage Life.

I am on a quest to find what the average family spends a month on groceries! I polled a ton of people on Facebook and I would love input from my readers!

What do you spend a month on groceries for your house?

How many people do you feed?

Do you buy some, all or no organic foods?

Click the picture below and it will take you to Instagram so that you can be a part of the conversation! If you don’t have Instagram that is ok! Leave me a comment here!

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I’m doing a little research for my blog and would love for my readers to answer this question for me!! Leave a comment here or send me a dm please! Also knowing if you buy all organic would help too! #research #blogger #foodblogger #food #help #question #feedbackneeded #qa #answerthis #paleo #weightloss #budget

A photo posted by Jennifer Hodgkiss (@the_paleo_gypsy) on Sep 15, 2015 at 11:10am PDT

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The post What is your monthly food budget? appeared first on That Savage Life.

We found ourselves with an abundance of overly ripe bananas. What I was wanting was Paula Deans Banana Cake with cream cheese frosting, but we all know that would have been a terrible idea! This recipe is my attempt to replicate the taste of Paula’s famous cake in a bar format that my family can eat.  The boys wouldn’t stay out of it and the entire pan of Paleo Frosted Banana Bars were GONE in less than 24 hours. My husband might have helped a little! These are great as dessert, but they are super awesome in the morning with a cup of black coffee! I like mine without the icing, but the boys really ladled their icing on! I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

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Paleo Frosted Banana Bar recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter or Ghee
3 cups Casava flour or a mix of almond/coconut flour
2 cups Coconut Sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt
3 eggs beaten
3/4 cup coconut oil
4 large very ripe bananas mashed
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions: 
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) In a large bowl gently combine butter, flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, eggs and oil. Don’t over mix. Just mix enough to combine ingredients.
3) Mash in banana, pecans and vanilla.
4) In a greased (you can use coconut oil) bar pan press the dough all the way to the sides.
5) Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes until the dough is firm and cooked lightly golden brown.
6) Allow to cool completely and drizzle icing just before eating! (Recipe for icing to follow!)

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Icing:

Ingredients:
1 can COLD coconut full fat milk from the refrigerator.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions for icing:
1) Open can and drain off the liquid. The fat should be solid.
2) Add coconut milk fat and vanilla in a bowl and whip with mixers until fluffy.
3) Drizzle and enjoy!

** You can also use a cashew cream cheese, but I have not tried this yet!

The post Paleo Frosted Banana Bars appeared first on That Savage Life.

So, it sounds really strange, but we got a whole bag of dried hibiscus flowers from bountiful baskets and I wanted to find something other than making tea to do with it. Thus Paleo Hibiscus Ice Cream was born! Plus he bought be this awesome new ice cream maker and I had to use it! I made homemade coconut milk and infused the hibiscus flowers! It turned out great and the kids loved it too! Plus the color is really cool!

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Ingredients:
4 cups almost boiling water
2 cups shredded coconut
1/8 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp vanilla

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Instructions:
First, we need to make the coconut milk. If you want to skip this part canned, full fat coconut milk can be used. Bring water almost to a boil. Place 2 cups of shredded coconut in a blender (we use a Vitamix), pour 4 cups of hot water over it and blend on high until thick and frothy. During this part I added my dried flowers to the hot coconut milk mixture and allowed it to sit for about 15 minutes and steep. Next, using a nut milk bag or fine strainers strain the mixture. You will be left with a wonderfully creamy coconut milk. Then, allow the mixture to cool completely and add to an ice cream maker with the honey and vanilla and allow it to freeze for about 20! My boys decided to add some Enjoy Life chocolate chips to the ice cream about 5 minutes before it was complete.

The post Paleo Hibiscus Ice Cream appeared first on That Savage Life.

It’s no big secret that I am a southern girl who was born and raised in Texas. In the South we fry EVERYTHING! Seriously… have you heard of our famous state fair deep friend Oreos or deep-fried margaritas. Yes, that is a thing. Anyway, I digress. What I was really wanting was some good, southern fried chicken. Other Paleo fried chicken recipes with nut flours just weren’t cutting. They ended up soggy or had a strange texture. I wanted a good, crunchy, slightly salty, juicy, fried chicken. I was at the store buying our weekly 15 bags (they are tiny) of plantain chips and I had an epiphany. Plantain chip crusted fried chicken! We buy the Inka Chips brand that come in a green bag from Natural Grocers. I do not recommend the dehydrated plantain or banana chips. I have never had a good experience with them!

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I already had the boneless , skinless chicken thighs at the house so I rushed home, ground up the plantain chips (as my kids watched in horror as I crushed their favorite snack in the food processor), add some spices, coated and pan-fried the chicken. What happened next was a surprise to the whole family.  The paleo fried chicken was so good!! Like down home, southern fried chicken!  This is a MUST try!!

Now, I used four different types of oil on these to see which one crisped up the best and allowed the chicken to cook thoroughly without burning and I must say that animal fats take the cake for this recipe. I had a ton of bacon grease and it most definitely worked the best. I also tried avocado oil, grape seed oil and coconut oil. If I absolutely could not use animals fats I would go with coconut oil. It has a higher smoke point and can be used to fry with.

Ingredients: 
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (you can use breast)
2 cups ground plantain chips
4 eggs
1/2 TSP paprika
1/2 TSP garlic POWDER
1/2 TSP Herbs de Provence (found in spice aisle at most grocery stores)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil (animal fat preferred)

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Instructions: 
Pour oil into skillet (about 1/8 inch deep) and heat on low-medium heat.
Using a food processor grind the plantain chips until they resemble flour. Set aside.
Mix spices into the plantain flour. Set aside.
Crack eggs into a separate bowl, whisk and set aside.
Dip thighs into egg and then into the plantain mixture.
Pan fry on medium to low heat until coating is darker golden brown and chicken is cooked thoroughly.
Lay out on a napkin or on a cooling rack with a paper towel under it to catch extra grease.
Serve right away with salad, in a wrap or as part of a spaghetti dinner. Can also simply be eaten with a side of vegetables!

The post Paleo Fried Chicken appeared first on That Savage Life.

Easy Salt Dough Ornaments!

We wanted to do something a little different with our Christmas tree this year so we decided to make our own ornaments! I put this off for a long time because I thought it would be too difficult or time consuming. I was surprised to find out that these ARE really simple and quick to make! We used gingerbread cookie cutters this time and we decided to use some of the more natural ingredients around the kitchen to color these with. We used turmeric for the yellow, cinnamon for the reddish-brown, cocoa for the dark grey and just plain salt dough for white. The “people” came out all different shapes, colors and sizes so the boys called them “Gingerpeople of the world”. I thought it was a great idea! The boys had so much fun making these that I know we will make them again next year! I am told that these will preserve until next year, but we might decide to donate them instead of keeping them in the RV all year.

Gingerpeople of the world recipe:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 cup salt
Various seasonings for color

Instructions: 
Heat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix ingredients together. It will feel really dry, just keep mixing. The dryer the dough the better they dry out while cooking!
At this point you can separate into a few bowls and add the desired color. We used cinnamon, turmeric, and cocoa powder!
Roll out until about 1/8 inch thick.
We rolled the dough right on the cookie sheet so we didn’t have to move them after we cut them out.
Bake at 325 for about 1 hour or until hard. We have a convection oven so we did about an hour and a half.
Let cool completely on a wire rack and then decorate!
Varnish can be used once decorated to seal the ornaments if you want to keep them for next year!

The post Easy Salt Dough Ornaments! appeared first on That Savage Life.

This year the kids and I are participating in a large cookie exchange. We tested TONS of recipes (no one was complaining) and found the perfect ones! These cookies are so simple. With only four ingredients they really are amazing. I tested these out on my co-workers, friends at Thanksgiving and the neighbors and they were a hit!

It’s very simple. Buy a box of cake mix, add ingredients and bake. That’s it. They are guaranteed to turn out soft and chewy every time! We tied SEVERAL combinations and we liked them all. I am really convinced that you can not go wrong with any combination!

Cake batter cookie recipe!

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix
2 eggs
1 tsp baking POWDER
1/3 cup vegetable oil (Others work fine also)

Yes, that is really it! Although you can add any mix-ins that you want. I will include some of our combinations after the instructions!

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Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix eggs, oil and baking powder in a bowl until combined. Slowly add dry cake mix. You want the batter to by thick so you can roll it into balls.
Now is the time to add mix-ins. This could be nuts, chocolate chips, candy pieces, dried fruits. You make up your own fun combinations and report back!
Roll into 1.5 inch balls and place on a baking sheet. We used a pampered chef stoneware, so we did not need it greased, but you may.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
Remove and let cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack.

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Our personal favorite Cake Batter Cookie combinations:
Cherry Chip cake mix + Dried cherries + Chocolate Chips
Spice cake mix + Roll in cinnamon sugar before baking
Funfetti cake mix + Extra sprinkles before baking
French Vanilla cake mix + Chocolate chips
Devils Food cake mix + Chocolate chunks
Strawberry cake mix + Chocolate Chips

What combination will you come up with? We would love to hear!

The post Cake Batter Cookie Recipe appeared first on That Savage Life.