Whole 30 - Meat and Brains?

No, no. I'm not saying you need to eat brains. We're not zombies here. However, I read an article lately which claimed that a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle would not have allowed humans' brains to grow as large as they did. Apparently, a raw vegan diet requires too much time and effort (chewing) in order to get the large amount of nutrients necessary to support brain functions. Yet another reason to eat Paleo/Whole 30/Primal.

Early humans eating only raw vegetation would have needed to munch

for more than nine hours a day to consume enough calories.

Cooking food reduces the amount of time necessary for chewing. So once our ancestors learned about cooking, they didn't have to spend as much time ruminating on food. And their brains were able to grow. Cool, right?

Just some food for thought... Get it? Lol.

Sorry vegans, eating meat and cooking food is how humans got their big brains

Whole 30 - Italian Greens Frittata

My dad sent me an email a while ago about this and I'm finally getting around to posting this... Apparently cooking with dry heat isn't good for you... or at least not for mice. Cooking meat with dry heat increases Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), such as the compound methyl-glyoxal (MG). With sustained exposure MG, mice (across four generations) "developed significant abdominal weight gain, early insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes." The study recommends that we stop cooking foods with dry heat (grilling) and replace them with lower heating methods or methods that use a lot of moisture (stewing, poaching or steaming). So check out my slow-cooker recipe from yesterday.

Check out the article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120820152102.htm

And now that I've shared that it's possibly bad for you, let's bake breakfast...

Italian Greens Frittata
7 eggs
1 lb ground turkey/beef
1 baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup frozen, chopped spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch broccoli, chopped to bite size pieces
1 green onion, sliced - for topping
1 tbls olive oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp basil

Preheat oven to 350F.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on the stove over medium heat. Once hot (test this my getting your hand slightly wet and flicking the excess water onto the pan. If it sizzles, it's ready.) Add the onions and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes. While this is cooking, rinse and chop your bok choy, separating the stalks (white part) from the leafy green part. Toss the stalks in with the onions and garlic and cover for ~3 minutes. Now add the leafy bits, broccoli, and mushrooms. Cook until veggies are soft. Transfer the veggies to an 11" x 7" pan.

While the veggies are cooking, use a separate pan to cook your ground meat. Once browned, transfer to the pan with your veggies and spread evenly. Crack your eggs into a separate bowl and whisk with your seasonings. Pour eggs into the pan and put into the oven for ~20 minutes or until the eggs have solidified. Take out, sprinkle with green onions, and slice into 6 pieces. Breakfast for the week. Sweet.

Whole 30 - Tomato and Beef Stew

I'm not sure whether this qualifies as a soup or as stew. I generally think of stews as thicker than this one, but I think of soups as thinner than this one. Sooo, I'm going with a stew. Call it what you will.

Tomato and Beef Stew
1 lb beef for stew chunks
1 - 28 oz can of peeled whole tomatoes
1 - 6 oz can of tomato puree
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chopped spinach, frozen
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
a few shakes of salt
(optional) a little bit of your own blood... Just kidding. I happened to slice my finger open while trying to find another fast way of chopping onions, but I promise, no blood went into this stew...

Chop up all of your ingredients. Put into the crockpot. Stir. Set for 8 hours on low. Check back 8 hours later. Eat. Enjoy.

Today, I ate a piece of my Italian Greens Frittata (recipe tomorrow) with avocado for breakfast, had nuts and a Lemon Pie Larabar for lunch, a banana for a snack, and almond butter and a Cashew Cookie Larabar for dinner. Too many nuts. Way too many. And I used myfitnesspal.com to track the nutritional values of my food, and my "dinner" ended up being ~500 more calories than if I had eaten a cup of my stew. Yikes. Darn nuts.

And as a side note to all of you wondering why corn isn't Paleo: Mark's Daily Apple: Corn is not a Vegetable.

Whole 30 - Paleo Thanksgiving

I returned to the grand state of Texas on Friday night. On Saturday, I couldn't stop from weighing myself. And I'm happy to report that I'm one of the few people who lost weight over Thanksgiving break. I know most people would say that it's because I cut out carbs, but that's not really true. The main thing that changed last week was cutting out alcohol and chocolate.

On Saturday night, my friends, LMR, LD, DD, and I held a Paleo Thanksgiving. LD was in town from Oklahoma and he also does Paleo. Yay for another friend who follows Paleo. Our dinner menu consisted of chicken with homemade Paleo cranberry sauce (courtesy of DD), roasted Brussels sprouts (LMR), and mashed cauliflower (DD). So it was almost identical to my Thanksgiving dinner.

But LMR sets a much fancier table than my paper plate Thanksgiving...

I made the non-Paleo chocolate chip bars because Laura requested that I make the extremely non-Paleo pumpkin trifle from a few weeks back, but then I ran out of time and forgot to get more pudding mix. So I regret to report that I did not stick to Paleo/Whole 30 for the evening. I did eat some of the pumpkin bars. Judge away. I'm judging myself. And wishing I could take it back. But it made me feel better that my Paleo friend went a bit crazy on those bars. They're just THAT good.

I'm also realizing that my version of Paleo is much stricter than others. The mashed cauliflower was made with a LOT of heavy whipping cream, which I normally wouldn't have. Also, I think LMR put some Parmesan cheese on the Brussels sprouts. And I ate some of the pumpkin chocolate chip bars - I felt bad contributing something that I wouldn't eat. So basically, the only thing that I would have eaten if I was following strict Paleo would be the chicken. I didn't want to be rude, so I relaxed my rules a little bit. I'm back on though. Definitely.

Whole 30 - Thanksgiving

So my family really likes Crock-pots. We're from the Midwest... it's a thing. We love us some Crock-pots.

And here's my Thanksgiving plate: Turkey, ham, mashed cauliflower, and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. And I drank chamomile tea almost constantly for the last few days.

Shortly after eating, my cold took over and I fell asleep on the couch, with my head on my father's shoulder while watching a football game. He fell asleep, too. And his snoring woke me up. Thanksgiving Day was not a good one for my cold. But tea made my throat feel better.

On Friday, my family celebrates Christmas (a.k.a. Thankmas). My uncle's family (kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) all gather for Thanksgiving, and it makes more sense for them to celebrate Christmas at the same time so that they don't have to travel to the same place twice within a month. Starting Thursday night, Thanksgiving decorations start getting switched out for Christmas ones. And on Friday, we go for Scandinavian foods, like pickled herring and Swedish meatballs. Though I didn't eat the meatballs, because they come in a cream-based sauce. It was killing me, trust me. I love Swedish meatballs. They're delicious!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day to all of my American readers! I hope you take this day to enjoy time with your friends and family. And don't forget to enjoy your delicious Thanksgiving meal!

And to all my other lovely readers, enjoy good food today, too! Just because there's no holiday today which forces copious amounts of food into your bellies is no reason not to enjoy some delicious meat and veggies  I recommend using self-restraint that most Americans lack when it comes to Thanksgiving... a food-induced coma is not your goal.

And in the sarcastic holiday spirit: The Haters Guide to the Williams-Sonoma Catalog

Whole 30 - Family Gathering

Today was my first full day with my family, and it was a bit of a later start than I was expecting. I ate a small banana for breakfast before leaving the hotel. After my parents and I got our ID passes from the Air Force base (the hotel at which we are staying is on the base), we stopped by the grocery store in order for me to pick up some ingredients for Paleo meals. My grocery list consisted of:

• Butternut squash 
• Cauliflower 
• Broccoli 
• Onion 
• Scallions 
• Garlic 
• 2 tart apples 
• Bacon (as organic and free-range as I could get) 
• Ground beef (as organic and free-range as I could get)

While I was there, I also grabbed some acorn squash because it looked delicious. Once we got to my uncle's house, I immediately started cooking. I started off with Mashed Cauliflower, Roasted Broccoli

and Spicy Kale Chips

I also chopped up two bags of Brussels sprouts for a side dish tomorrow. By this point, it was about time for lunch. So while my family ate BBQ pulled chicken, I snacked on some broccoli and salami. And because of happy coincidence, my Atlanta-born college roommate and I happened to be in the same city, so I met up with her in the early afternoon for a catch-up -on-your-life tea break. When I got back from hanging out with her and her hubby, I started making non-Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars for my family. Yeah, I'm just that nice; even though I couldn't eat it, I wanted to share the deliciousness with my family. I think they liked it... just kidding, it was awesome!

Because the oven was full of baking lasagna and mozzarella breadsticks, I postponed prepping my own dinner until the oven was free. Because I'm on vacation I didn't want to think of any new recipes and the acorn squash reminded me of a PaleOMG recipe that I wanted to try. So I made Stuffed Acorn Squash.

1/2 acorn squash

1 lb ground beef (go for free-range/grass-fed if possible)

1/2 onion diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbls + 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375°C. Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil.

Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Coat the flesh of the squash with olive oil (1 tsp on each half). Now shake 1/2 tsp of cinnamon onto each half and rub the cinnamon across the squash to ensure even distribution. Place the squash, cut-side down, onto the baking sheet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes before flipping over and baking for another 10 minutes.

While the squash is baking, heat 1 Tbls of olive oil in a skillet over the stove. Once hot, transfer the onion and the garlic into the pan and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the ground beef. Once the beef has been browned, reduce heat to low and keep warm until the squash is done.

Now that your squash is done (the skin of the squash will be squishy when you poke it), carefully scoop the flesh out of one half of the squash, making sure that you don't break the skin.

Transfer to the pan on the stove and mix into the ground beef. Transfer back into the skin of the squash. When the half is almost completely full, use your spoon to make a dent in the mixture and crack an egg into the hole you just made. Put the squash back into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the egg is cooked.

You could do the same thing with the other acorn squash half, or you could use a knife to cut the squash into squares for use in some other dish. I did the later, but I haven't decided yet what to make... I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

So it took an hour after my family ate for me to finish cooking and get around to eating, but hey, I managed to stay Paleo and eat a delicious meal. And I have exercised INTENSE self-control and have not eaten any of the pumpkin chocolate chip bars which you all know that I love. That's dedication to Whole 30. Your admiration of my mad self-control is appreciated.

Whole 30 - Traveling

Today was an exceptionally early start for me, with not a lot of sleep on top of that. This morning, my alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. Even for me that's an early wake-up call. But I needed that time in order to get showered, dressed, and well-fed before heading off to the airport. In the past, when I traveled early in the morning, I would skip breakfast at home and just grab something at the airport. However, with Paleo, airport food isn't always an option. Travel can be a daunting task for Paleo-ites. As I sit at my gate waiting for my flight, I see a wall of sugary processed foods at the nearby news stand, a Starbucks full of sugary drinks and grain-based snacks, and a Proof-of-the-Pudding full of to-go wraps, yogurts, bags of chips, and salads with lots of cheesy toppings. But what are most prevalent at airports? Fast-food restaurants - a Paleo nightmare.

The Atlanta airport is a rockin' airport. It's massive and if you have the time, you can check out the different terminals for their food options. I had an almost 4-hour layover today, so I came into Terminal B, walked the entire terminal, then walked to C and walked up and down that terminal before proceeding to Terminal F (the airport's new international terminal) and walking both levels of that as well. I then walked back to D, walked around D, and came back to B for lunch.

Here's a couple shots of Terminal F: 

Here's some of the places to eat at the various terminals: Terminal has a TGIF and Cafe Intermezzo. Terminal D is undergoing some construction. Terminal E has fast-foot restaurants as well as a fancier-looking restaurant with a sushi bar. Terminal F has a Pei Wei, El Taco, The Varsity, and Pecan Grille. (For the life of me I can't remember what was at Terminal C.) Of these, I recommend Cafe Intermezzo. I got an Almond Avocado Salad ("avocados, mandarin oranges, diced cucumbers, red peppers and toasted almonds on mixed greens with orange vinaigrette dressing").

The key to Paleo traveling is being prepared. Most airports have the available dining options posted online so you can check out what will work for you. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport has this site which lets you search by terminal. And if you know you won't have time while you're at the airport to grab something, prep some snacks or a meal the day before. For instance, last night I mixed up a Ziploc bag of raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and hazelnuts as a snack if I needed it. I also brought along two apples, a banana, and Lärabars. I ended up not needing it while traveling, but at least I came with food so that I didn't have to resort to going hungry or succumbing to unhealthy airport fares. And the nuts came in handy for adding some more variety to my salad during dinner with the family.

Whole 30: Days 1-4

Grrrrrr. Turkey leg!

I've made it through the first few days. It doesn't seem like much, but when you have multiple occasions for social drinking and have a 1-lb bar of dark chocolate in your freezer, it's a little tough.

What I ate:

Friday dinner - tuna sashimi

Saturday breakfast - two scrambled eggs and two slices bacon

Saturday lunch - half of a turkey leg at the renaissance festival

Saturday afternoon snack - small handful of walnuts and 1 sheet of beef jerky

Saturday dinner - sauteed baby kale and baby spinach, with a few bites of rib eye steak

Sunday breakfast - two scrambled eggs

Sunday lunch - mixed greens salad with chicken and balsamic dressing

Sunday snack - 1 Tbls almond butter

Sunday dinner - 3 oz. of steak with four slices of bacon (go ahead and judge me, I just wanted to finish the bacon off before the holiday)

Monday breakfast - one egg, sunny-side up

Monday snack - beef jerky

Monday lunch - steak salad (~2 oz steak)

Monday dinner - steak salad leftovers

I think the hardest thing for me to give up is alcohol. I know that this makes me seem like an alcoholic and I'm really not. I did have a discussion with SD the other week about whether we thought that we could give up alcohol for 30 days, and both of us said no. It's an issue of social drinking and staying out late. Unsurprisingly, it's not as much fun to stay out late dancing at bars or clubs when you're the only sober person and your high heels are killing your feet.

As I mentioned, I survived my first night of saying no to social drinking. It was just dinners, so there wasn't quite as much pressure to join in as if I had gone to bars with friends. So far, alcohol has  been my one caveat to Paleo. Even when I first started Paleo I didn't cut out alcohol. As a 25-year-old, it's strange when you don't drink alcohol. And it's never a convenient time to stop drinking. Seriously, when I told a few people that I had started Whole 30, most people asked Isn't that bad timing? Right before the holidays? Well, yeah it is, but you can always come up with a reason not to cut it out. So if you don't do it now, when will you? For instance, it's Thanksgiving this week. That means a family gathering which you attend completely sober. I think most people can agree that sober family events is not high on the list of Things I Want To Do. I know my mom is reading this and is asking "What do you mean?1?! Are you saying that spending time with your family requires alcohol consumption?" So, I'm sorry, mom. But, it's not that it'll necessarily be bad, but it would just be more fun if there was alcohol involved.

The bright side of no alcohol is no headache or upset stomach the following morning. I woke up bright and chipper on Saturday and Sunday, despite my cold. Most of Saturday was spent at a renaissance festival where I got to listen to bagpiping music and try on renaissance festival clothing. And Sunday was a lazy day filled with a lunch date, browsing at Barnes & Nobles, and Netflixing Battlestar Galactica. Overall it was a great sober weekend.

And while we're discussing alcohol, did you know that the shape of the glass out of which you're drinking can affect the speed at which you drink? My dad found this article a while ago and found it interesting: Raise your glass! It's shape may influence your drinking. If you drink out of a fluted or curved glass, you're more likely to drink faster. So keep in mind those cool looking glasses may be interfering with your attempts to "pace" yourself.

5000 and Whole 30

5k! That's 5000 page views. It happened yesterday. 5000!!! Amazing! Thank you so much!

In honor of this momentous occasion and in recognition of the fact that I have not been as good about Paleo lately as I ought to be, I've decided to start Whole 30. I've toyed with this idea before, and I had intended to start Whole 30 right after my birthday (back in August), but I kept finding excuses to postpone it. I was going out of town with my parents and my mom wanted to do wine tasting, it was my friend's birthday, I was stressed at work. I had lots of excuses.

So today when I was reading a bit of It Starts with Food, by Melissa and Dallas Hartwig, I was struck by a certain passage:

Start now. Today. This minute.

I'm guessing that you, like me, can always find some reason to put off starting something. And unfortunately, you can end up putting off a really good decision for you indefinitely. I felt like this line I read was speaking directly to me. So I started right then. I'm going to be good and stay good. And re-learn how to say no to my urges and whims. On my first day, when I went out to two birthday dinners tonight, I turned down all offers of alcohol and said no to foods when I didn't think that ALL of the ingredients would be Whole 30.

What you can take away from this is that it's going to be a very sober Thanksgiving..

Bye-bye half marathon

Well, I said last week that if my toe didn't get better I was going to the doctor. I kept my promise. Yesterday I went to the orthopedic surgeon who administered to my left ankle earlier this year. The result? Thankfully, nothing is broken. It's most likely a bone bruise. My doctor gave me a steroid pack and a foot brace thingy to wear that will keep me from putting too much pressure on my toe or bending my toe while I walk. After limping around in that thing for one day, my left shin has decided that it's jealous of the attention, so it has decided to hurt too. It's hard keeping my body happy.

Speaking of joints, I've decided that I have to switch to something with less impact. I'm 25 years old and I have joint problems now? It scares me to think of what my joints will be like 40 years from now. So, I'm going to return to crew in January. And as soon as I can I'm driving to Atlanta to pick up my rowing machine from my parents house. They've only been bugging me about it for the past few years.

And in other fun news, I've managed to catch a cold. Oh yay. Just in time for Thanksgiving vacation... and for my 6:30 a.m. meeting tomorrow. So when I went to my neighborhood Walgreens to fill my prescription, I conveniently got lost in the cold and flu area while waiting. So I picked up three types of lozenges, NyQuil, vitamin C, orange juice, 7up, and Blistex. Hopefully this will nip this sore throat/ear ache/cold in the bud.

I am not graceful about being sick. Considering all of the colds that I've had over the years, you'd think that I'd be more adjusted to feeling under the weather, but unfortunately, I managed to avoid that skill. When I'm sick, I'm sluggish, tired, and lame, and I don't smile as much which makes everyone think that I'm pissed off. I guess I usually smile a lot, so when I don't, it's noticeable. That's good, right? Overall, I guess I get grumpy, which reminds me of my cousin Austin, who, as a child, claimed:

"I don't want to be Grumpy anymore... I wanna be Dopey!"

Don't we all, Austin? Don't we all?

Half Marathon Training

Below is my intended training schedule for my half marathon. It's a tad compressed. And even though I'm only on week three, I'm already behind schedule. Fail.

Week	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total
1	3	Rest	3	3	Rest	4	Rest	13
2	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
3	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
4	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	9	Rest	22
9	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	8	Rest	18
10	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	Rest	13.1	21.1

I attempted to run last Friday morning wearing my Vibrams, but my right big toe, left ankle, and right knee were hurting enough to make me switch to the stationary bike in my gym. And after dancing at a series of bars on 6th street and walking around on Friday night and Saturday, I had to come back and ice my left knee and tape my right big toe to it's neighboring toe. I think I'm broken...

So let me just summarize my issues since starting to run again: right toe, left ankle, left knee, and right knee. Is my body telling me something? Maybe that I shouldn't be running? Seriously, I'm concerned about my joints. If it was solely my muscles that were sore, I wouldn't care. And some joint pain is expected, but when I have pretty constant bone-deep pain, should I listen to it?

This is a dilemma that I've been facing for years, ever since I injured my knee playing soccer at age 16. My doctor literally told me that the worst thing I could do for my knee would be to keep playing soccer... So, I played for another year and kept injuring myself because I was favoring my knee, i.e. twisting my ankle, pulling my groin, etc. I didn't play sports for a couple years, and then I got into crew (rowing). Crew was better for my knee because there's no twisting of knees or anything, you're simply bending your knees in straight lines. Granted, I still had knee problems and sometimes got special assignments from my coach because of it. After one regatta over fall break during sophomore year, my coach assigned us the task of running 10 miles over the next couple days, but because of my knee, I got to do 20k on the ergometer (rowing machine). I think I would have preferred running. 20k on the erg can be mind-numbingly boring because your scenery doesn't change. However, at this point, rowing might be my best option... we'll see.

Fried Rice

4 out of my last 5 posts were for pumpkin recipes. Yeah, I'm having a love affair with pumpkin. Don't judge. It's a seasonal tryst, though apparently this one has decided to last a while longer. Alas, I can't seem to be upset about it. Maybe you're tired of pumpkin recipes? To which I reply, how?? Anyways, in the spirit of mixing things up and trying something different because even I can get bored with eating stuffed pumpkin for days, I made fried rice last night. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm crazy. Rice is a grain and is therefore not Paleo. You're right, which is why I made "rice." I probably should have led with the quotations. Technically, it's cauliflower, but it looks like rice... and it's yummy.

Cauliflower "Rice"

1 head cauliflower, broken into pieces

1 Tbls coconut oil

Place the cauliflower into your food processor. Turn on and process until the cauliflower is now in rice-size pieces. Heat coconut oil over medium heat on the stove. Once hot, transfer your "rice" to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes. Done. Enjoy that rice.

Fried "Rice"

Cauliflower rice

1/2 onion, chopped

1 Tbls coconut oil

2 eggs

1 tsp sesame oil

3/4 tsp rice vinegar (apparently it's okay according to Whole30 guidelines)

2 tsp coconut aminos

1/4 tsp ground ginger

salt and pepper to taste

Heat coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped onion, a few shakes/twists of salt and pepper, and cook for ~4 minutes. Whisk two eggs in a bowl (or you can crack them straight into the pan and just stir the daylights out of the eggs and onions, but then you risk eating bits of eggshell). When the egg is almost completely scrambled, add in your seasonings, mixing thoroughly. Because your "rice" has already been cooked, toss this in after your eggs and onion are done cooking and you've found your ideal flavors. (Yes, I encourage you to play with the proportions a bit. You may not have the same taste preferences as I do.) Stir for another couple minutes and then transfer the "rice" to a bowl, plate, mug, or whatever you choose to eat out of. Now devour that rice.

Sadly (or fortunately), I was so overwhelmed by the deliciousness of the fried rice that I forgot to take a picture before I demolished it. So I'll post a photo once I make it again. I also intend on adding some greens, like broccoli or kale.

As a side note regarding table manners... I know a few people who will immediately add salt and pepper to their food without even tasting it first. Etiquette faux pas. It is considered very rude for you to add seasonings to a dish without trying it first, especially if this meal was cooked for you by a dinner host/hostess. Sure the chef at a restaurant may take offense that you messed with his masterpiece, but most likely he or she isn't your friend or loved one.

Stuffed Pumpkin

Stuffed Pumpkin

1 pie/sugar pumpkin

3 links mild/sweet Italian sausage

2 Granny Smith apples, cut into chunks

1 cup walnuts, crushed/chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 Tbls coconut oil

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste

Adjust your oven racks so that you have enough room to fit the pumpkin you bought into the oven. Preheat oven to 350F.

Prep your pumpkin like you would if you were carving it. Start by thoroughly washing the outside of the pumpkin. Next, cut the top to make a lid. Then scrape the insides of the pumpkin to remove the seeds and the stringy bits. Save the seeds... I'll explain why. Once the inside is sufficiently clean, set the pumpkin aside.

Pumpkin Seeds: Switch over to your seeds. Rinse them to remove the pumpkiny bits, and spread over a paper towel to dry them a little bit. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper, or any other combination of spices, i.e. cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Stir up the seeds and spices and then spread over a tin foil-lined baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 350F. At this point the seeds will be nice and crunchy.

Chop up your onion. Heat coconut oil over medium heat in a pan on the stove. Once hot, add your onion and cook until translucent. While the onion is cooking, chop up your apple and walnuts. Alternatively, you can just put the walnuts in a sealed Ziploc bag and crush the nuts by pounding with your fist - this is what I did. After the onion has cooked down, add the apple and walnuts. Take your Italian sausage and remove from the casing (you can also buy bulk sausage from most grocers and save this step and some change). Break down the sausage so you don't have giant chunks.  Transfer to the pan with the onions, apples, and walnuts. Add 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Brown the meat.

While this is cooking, grab your pumpkin and place onto the foil-lined pan you used for baking the pumpkin seeds. When the sausage is done cooking, transfer your sausage mixture to your pumpkin. Pour in 1 cup of chicken broth (you can use water if you'd like, just add a bit more salt to the mixture).

Replace the lid of the pumpkin and slide into the oven.

Bake the pumpkin for 1 to 1.5 hours. Check after 1 hour. Your pumpkin is ready when you can easily pull the flesh off of the underside of the lid by scraping with a fork.
And here's your final product. When you serve, just scoop out some of the pumpkin flesh with your spoon/serving utensil.