NEWS FLASH: There Is Such A Thing As Too Many Brussel Sprouts

Today was a great morning! I got up early and had some more Egg Cupcakes and blueberries...and then I made Paleo Apple Muffins.  I had tried this recipe last year with baking cups and that was a disaster.  They stuck to the paper and looked a mess...so this time doing as they said and greasing with coconut oil was definitely the way to go...they came out beautiful and great with a cup of coffee!  There are also good with almond butter "frosting". 

After my morning of baking (not really...it actually didn't take that long), I headed over to Crossfit Burn to meet our special guest, Josh Courage, from Courage Performance.  We did some back squats (I got to 175) and then we did a crazy workout of 15-12-9 of Squat Clean Thrusters (115/75 lbs) and Chest to Bar Pull Ups. It was awesome and I was proud to complete that workout with Chest to Bar! Could it be the paleo...or am I just bad ass? Haha..I'll ponder that for awhile.  During my time at the gym, I ate a bag of beef jerky, a hard boiled egg and at least 3 muffins!

Then I started trimming brussel sprouts and I kept thinking we needed more, so I kept trimming.  Well, after my dinner, I'll be quite happy to not see another one for a long while.  Dinner was True Cod coated in Almond Meal, Cauliflower Mash, and Brussel Sprouts cooked in Bacon.  Cheers!

Someone's Got a Case of the Mondays!

PALEO: DAY 11

Well, husband was a little discouraged because he gained a little weight back. For his 1st full week on Paleo, he is down 4.5 pounds. Which is phenomenal...but for him all he sees is the day before he was down 5.5 pounds. I of course explained all the reasons weight might fluctuate and this is why it is best to only weigh in weekly. 1st task for today: hide that scale! Breakfast was two Egg Cupcakes with an apple spread with almond butter. After that, a big step was made, I removed the toaster and the bread bin from the kitchen since we no longer needed anything bread related!

Then I did laundry for awhile and ate some roasted chicken with some nuts and watermelon.  Then I headed to Crossfit Burn to do a workout of 10 rounds of 10 Toes-to-Bar/10 Abmat Situps/ 10 Ring Pushups.  I beat my time last month by almost 4 minutes! Awesome!

Then I picked up my kids and I did pull ups with my daughter at her school (we got some funny looks).  My daughter did 3 strict pull ups in a row!  She couldn't even get one 6 months ago! Then we went home and practiced jump roping and played games.

Dinner time was Paleo Spaghetti!  All in all an easy day for cooking (especially since I made the spaghetti sauce the day before)! Have a great week, everyone!

Paleo Weekend

PALEO: DAYS 9 & 10

Well, let's see, the weekend started off pretty good, a nice chill Saturday morning.  Breakfast at home of veggie/bacon scramble (yes, again) with some fruit.  I made extra bacon for Sunday's Egg Cupcakes. The family trekked over to the Danville Farmers Market to visit Prather Ranch.  Expensive but it turned out to be worth it.  I bought two bone-in pasture raised pork chops (for about $17!!), some grass fed ground beef (I must have asked the guy about 20 times if it was grass fed because it isn't really labeled as such...he really liked me..haha), and I also got some grass fed hot dogs for my daughter which she has reported that they are very tasty.

For lunch my husband had a hot dog in a lettuce wrap and I had a big salad with roasted chicken and veggies with my simple balsamic dressing (3 parts olive oil, 2 parts balsamic, ground black pepper...and shake it up..and save it in the fridge).  After that we got to drop the kids at my parents for a little while and my husband and I went on an 8 mile run.  I was definitely scared I wouldn't make it at 1st (since my once thriving running hobby has taken a serious downturn since I hurt my leg on Easter Day 2010), but it felt really good once I was out there.

Dinner was the delicious pastured raised pork chops barbecued (just seasoned with pepper) with steamed broccoli and carrots, and cauliflower mash.  Every single thing on that plate was from the farmers market!

Sunday was a little crazier...my daughter was going to a party that I needed to get balloons for.  You try fitting 16 balloons in a BMW 3 series with a kid in it!  Prior to that we had a fun morning of making Egg Cupcakes! You can put whatever you want in these, I did 1 zucchini, 6 slices cooked bacon, 2 green onions, 1/4 cup each of red, orange and green peppers and 3 handfuls of spinach chopped...everything either finely chopped by hand or in the food processor.  I baked mine 20 minutes because I didn't want them overcooked!



Lunch was a bit of a disaster.  We have found out that husband despises salad.  He complained and complained about this for hours and hours after...I think he's still talking about it.  Wraps only for him from now on!  It was just a simple chicken and veggie salad with almonds.

I decided to prepare my meat sauce for Monday's dinner (Paleo Spaghetti) while prepping for Sunday's dinner.  A grass fed New York Steak (rubbed with olive oil and pepper) served with Baby Bok Choy (steamed in foil on the grill with grated ginger, chili, garlic and a little tamari soy sauce), and Grilled Yellow Squash (just rubbed with a little olive oil and pepper like the steaks). Served with blueberries, cashews and walnuts.  So yummy!!

And that concluded my paleo weekend!

Burgers and Cookies...How Can People Think This is a "Diet"?

PALEO: DAY 8

So, last night I made those fabulous cookies but one batch only made 13 cookies..which is not enough to share with people! So, after my breakfast of the last of the pork carnitas, a hardboiled egg, some fruit and nuts, I made yet another pilgrimage to Whole Foods. They are getting to know me well over there. Whole Foods is the best place I've found pitted dates and they have the dried cherries I like to use (Bare Fruit). So, I rushed home to start baking to get done in time for the noon class at Crossfit Burn.

On my way the gym, I chowed down on another hardboiled egg, some jerky and one of the delicious paleo cookies. Once at the gym, my cookies were very well received. Yay! :-) On to deadlifts..8 sets of 3 for me. I made it to 210, but felt that I should have been able to do more. But after my nearly 3 weeks off in December, I'm guessing it will take some time to get my strength where it was. That of course got me thinking of paleo and what it's doing for me so far and I had a great realization...I haven't felt sore hardly at all. Positive? Yes, I'll take it. As far as benchmarking, maybe I'll try something like Helen soon to see where I'm at. After I was done pondering, it was time for Lunch WOD.  Lunch WOD was born a couple months ago with my friends Stephanie, Kathy and Coach Jamie. We all really do love hanging out with each other. Anyways, lunch WOD members have fluctuated throughout the weeks. Today was Jamie, Stephanie, Kristina, Matt, Joe (21st birthday boy) and myself. We head to Jacks a lot in Pleasant Hill because the food is pretty good and they put up with us. Today I ordered a bacon burger (which is consequently also what I was having for dinner sans bacon) with no bread and a side of steamed veggies.

After refueling at jacks and having another cookie, I was back at the gym and did the metcon (400m Run/30 Kettlebell Swings@35lbs/50 Air Squats) in 3:42. Pretty decent but the run is definitely slowing me down...I am no sprinter!

After spending a few hours playing with my kids, they went to clubsport with dad so I could get dinner ready. I started by preheating the oven to 375 (although i might go higher next time) and peeling 3 small sweet potatoes and then slicing them. Of course afterwards I realized I had a mandolin for this...oh well.

Then I moved on to Dusty's burgers:

1 lb Grass Fed Ground Beef
1 tsp chili powder (Dusty and I disagree on this he says 3/4 Tbsp)
1 1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp white pepper
1 Tbsp Green Chili minced
2 Tbsp Onion minced

Mix all ingredients together by hand in a large mixing bowl. Form into 4 burgers.

Ok...then I came back to the sweet potatoes. Get a baking sheet and drizzle it with olive oil. Then crack an egg white into a bowl and start dipping your sweet potatoes in it.  Then lay them on the baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil again.  Also add whatever spices you like on top (I used smoked paprika). Put in the oven for about 40 minutes - shuffling them around a few times during that time to avoid sticking. Then cook your burgers as you prefer (we did ours on the grill), serve with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, avocado and salsa if you miss ketchup.  Enjoy!

I Found Nemo's Friend and Covered Him in Almond Meal...And He Was Good!

PALEO: DAY 7

I had a great night's sleep (10:30-6:15) and woke up to my snugglebug, Aidan, crawling into my bed. Morning as usual except for my breakfast of curry and extras.  Spent an hour wandering around and around whole foods procuring ingredients for my lunch, dinner, Howard's paleo cookies and Dusty's burgers.  And somehow it only managed to cost me $75. Haha. And no...cost is no excuse....paleo-ites can also shop at lower-priced Safeway or Trader Joe's!

I wasn't working out at Crossfit Burn today but still couldn't stay away!  I stopped by to bring goodies from Life As Rx and of course ended up chatting as usual.  Then I drove out to Crossfit San Ramon.  Before the torture (aka training with Dusty) began, I had several slices of rotisserie chicken, a hard-boiled egg, and an apple with raw almond butter.  For some reason I wasn't on my game today (except double unders...I guess the curse of the blue inov8s is over).  Redeemed myself a little when it came to back squats...but all in all not a day for the books.  But that is totally fine with me...some days are just hard mentally AND physically.  I rewarded myself with a little more chicken, another hard-boiled egg and a coffee with a splash of almond milk (much better than an almond milk latte).

I finally took beginning yoga at 5:30 with Ali Laetsch at RCS.  It was very pleasant...fairly relaxing except the lighting....and the people talking outside the door.  But it was a good experience...I will try this again. :)

Dinner tonight was a lovely wildcaught Alaskan true cod.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I just dipped the bits in almond flour/meal for a nice coating.  Then heat some olive oil (maybe a couple teaspoons) in a frying pan (one you can put in the oven).  Once the oil is heated, put the fish in and cook for about 3-4 minutes, then turn it over and put it in the oven until the fish reaches about 140 degrees (approximately 10 minutes). Don't forget to keep the towel/oven mitt on the frying pan handle after you take it out or you might forget it's hot!  I served it with mashed cauliflower and steamed green beans.  So yummy!!!

As if dinner wasn't enough...I baked some cookies based on the recipe on Howard's blog...except mine had NOOOO sugar and I think they were a little well done...but so tasty and very sweet from the dates. :)

PALEO COOKIES (with a couple changes):

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pitted dates that you chop into chunks
1 cup of mixed nuts (I used equal parts of raw pecans, macadamias, cashew and walnuts)
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1 teaspoon coconut oil (I may have used a little extra because I had trouble getting it off my spoon!)
1 Omega 3 Egg
1/2 cup unsweeted dried cherries (cut in halves)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

How to prepare:

Put nuts, dates, coconut, oil, and cinnamon in the food processor with the S blade on it. Pulse until nuts and dates are broken down and it resembles loose crumbs (I may have done mine a little further than needed)

Pour into mixing bowl and add in egg and dried cherries. Use your hands to mix together.

Use an ice cream scoop or tablespoon to get uniform sized cookies. Form into patties like you would burger meat.

Put on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet into an oven that you have heated to 350. Space evenly on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 30 minutes (mine only took 22..but it could be because my mix was ground a little bit finer). You will know they are done when they look golden brown and delicious.

Cool on a wire rack


That's it for today.  I had my cookie....now time to sleep!



Leftovers and Tidbits...

PALEO: DAY 6

I woke at 5:30 when my husband got up and I wasn't too happy about missing out on that extra half hour of psychological repair.  But the upside was my husband ran over from the scale to tell me he lost 2 more pounds (4 total in 2 days).  I know the scale isn't everything, but it can be a good indicator that you are generally moving in the right direction.  I laid in bed reading for a little longer.  Mark's Daily Apple had a great article on the trend of cutting out the middlemen (doctors) and taking charge of our own bodies.  This tied in to what Nathan talked about at his nutrition talk last night.  We know what's best to put in our bodies by the way we feel.  We can be in charge of our own health.  Nathan also talked a lot about metabolic typing.  Basically Nathan made it sound like grains are good for some people because they are slow oxidizers...but it made me think that there has to be another way to get the appropriate foods within the paleo diet for that metabolic type.  My paleo methodology is completely against grains due to leaky gut and other issues.  I would welcome any comments on this stuff please! I definitely plan on doing some more research as time permits.

Enough about that...moving on! One thing I've noticed when some people try paleo is breakfast can be a problem.  Maybe they can't or won't have eggs every morning.  Even my husband said last night that he wanted something other than hard-boiled eggs for breakfast...my solution...leftover pork carnitas with avocado.  Luckily, I slipped him some koolaid when he started, so he was on board with my idea.  The main thing is we have to get over the our ideas of what breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack foods should be.  Call them meals (and foods can be interchanged between them all).  Eat what you have around you that is high in protein and good fat with carbs from veggies (1st choice) and fruit (2nd choice).  It's really that simple.  So, for breakfast tomorrow, feel empowered to grab a big bowl of leftover chicken curry like I did!  And chomp that food down with pride even though it is 7:30am!

After that I went and hung at CF Burn as usual..doing a bit of coaching, eating (leftover pork and some almonds), and then finally worked out myself!  Great workout too until I swallowed a bug at the end....that stayed with me for quite awhile afterwards.  I kept saying it was trying to get out, which amusingly kept activating my good friend Stephanie's gag reflex!  I'm so mean!  After my unexpected snack, I went out to lunch at Stanford's with Stephanie and a very funny gay couple...who were disappointed that I was having a "dry" lunch...but we still managed to have a good time.  I ordered a salad with grilled chicken, hard-boiled eggs, cucumber, bacon, tomatoes (and no I didn't ask if it was pasture raised chicken/eggs or nitrate free bacon).  I used olive oil and balsamic to dress it.  It was actually very tasty.  Eating out is possible with paleo!

Tonight was more leftovers!  It's just a fact of life when you cook in larger quantities.  I started looking into procuring the pasture raised chicken, eggs and pork that was mentioned at the nutrition talk last night.  I'm going to head over to Danville's Farmers Market on Saturday to visit Prather Ranch and get some goods to try.  Then I'll visit the Walnut Creek market to hit up Holding Ranch to see which meat I prefer.  Based on my preference, I will start exploring purchasing larger shares of meat to split with other like-minded people. :)

My homework is to watch Food Inc this weekend...I think I'm the only one who hasn't seen it.  Tomorrow's menu will include some wild-caught fish of some sort.  I'm thinking I will make brussel sprouts and bacon with some cauliflower mash to go with.  And Friday, I'm making Dusty's Green Chili Burgers! Recipes to follow........

It smells so good in here!

PALEO: DAY 5

Kids back to school today after holiday weekend! Started the day off with my usual egg scramble minus bacon (had a couple slices of beef jerky and a few macadamias instead to up the protien and fat).  I love eggs..what can I say.  I will TRY to post some more interesting breakfasts (but if it ain't broke..don't fix it, right?). 

Then at 9:00am I started my magic that will become dinner. I love love love the slow cooker and it's so easy.  I remember the first time I made this recipe in front of my huband, he was like "That's it?".  I should have continued making this dish in secret to maintain his image of me slaving away to prepare it.  So, here's the beginning:

After setting dinner going in the slow cooker and dropping the kids at school, I headed over to Crossfit Burn to do some weighted pull ups and front squats.  I had a snack there of a hard boiled egg, a couple pieces of beef jerky and a tangerine.  After kicking around there way too long as usual, I ran home to have 4 oz of turkey, an apple and some almond butter.  I guess 2 big snacks = lunch...it happens sometimes.  After going to get fingerprinted (no..it wasn't accompanied by a mug shot), I ran back to Crossfit Burn to do a met-con of pull-ups, sumos and thrusters!  Fun....

 

I attended a nutrition seminar tonight given by my friend., Nathan Brammeier, from Crossfit Adventure.  I will post more about that tomorrow!  During that I had a snack of 2 oz of rotisserie chicken, a serving of walnuts and a small tangerine (but my nuts hadn't been soaked...haha...more on that another day).

Then I came home to find this delicious pork butt waiting, which I proceeded to attack with two forks and turn into this:

Then I got some romaine leaves (Whole Foods was out of butter lettuce) and stuffed them with this yummy protein, and topped those with some different peppers and fresh tomatoes.  I put avocado on my husband's for his healthy fat (I'm allergic...sad face...so I had some almond butter for dessert).

That's it...off to bed by 10:00ish, because Nathan said my body physically repairs itself from 10pm - 2am...which will be good after 3 workouts today.  But I'm really looking forward to the psychological repair that apparently goes on from 2am - 6am (we all know I need more of that kind of repair).  Goodnight!

Pork "Carnitas" Recipe (adapted from allrecipes.com):

2 teaspoons salt (I used sea salt)

2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) boneless pork shoulder roast well trimmed of fat
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

1. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.


2. Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Use cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.