Whole 30 - Day 13

Guess what I got to do tonight? No, I didn't spend my evening cooking or working out. Instead I went to a Backstreet Boys concert! OMG! Right? This is my first BSBs concert despite being a fan of the band since the mid 90s. Epic! My BSB love has been reignited!

SD and I ate at a Tapas restaurant that was subpar. Personally I think my food tastes better. And therein lies my dilemma... Because I follow the Paleo diet, eating out is doable, but requires me to remove half of the ingredients from the dish. This irks me becausr I'm paying the same ridiculous price for half of the food. Unfair. Why should I spend the extra money for someone else to prepare my food when I don't like it AND I'm only getting half of the food? But then again, I don't want my friends to think that I'm a hermit. So I usually suck it up and silently fume at the restaurant. Friends are worth it. And sashimi... I like eating raw fish sometimes, but only if someone else makes it look pretty for me.

Whole 30 - Day 12

Cutting it close again tonight...

I've used most of my Whole 30 posts so far to share recipes, but I haven't really talked about what I've been feeling during the past 12 days. I honestly think that when I've had an inclination to partake in non-Whole 30 food, it's been because I wasn't prepared with appropriate snacks when I got hungry. It would be just so easy to break open that bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chip cookies... or to pick up some gluten-free almond crackers when I go to the store, but I don't because I remind myself that cheating is just me choosing momentary and fleeting satisfaction over my overall health. When I look at the big picture, I feel more motivated. It's tough to stay strong, but I think it's worth it. Don't you?

Anyways, here's one of the meals that I've threw together using the leftovers from last weekend's cooking escapades...

Leftover chicken with roasted Brussels sprouts, sautéed baby kale, baby spinach, zucchini, and orange pepper.

For wilting the spinach and baby kale, I heated 1 tsp ghee over medium heat and tossed in the greens, stirring until they turned dark green, so just for a few minutes. I chose to use ghee to add some more good fat into my diet. In a separate pan, I heated some coconut oil, before scooping in a large handful of zucchini slices with some chopped pepper. I just wanted to give the zucchini some color and get them just a little soft. I like having the dark leafy greens in there because they're just so good for you. Good omega 3 to omega 6 ratio, and good potassium to sodium, as well as working in some calcium. All good there!

Hope you enjoyed the start of Labor Day weekend!

Whole 30 - Day 11

I'm really cutting this close with getting a post out today, aren't I? Well, my reasoning is simple. I had crew practice after work, where I took out a single and gouged some more skin off of the knuckles of my right hand. Then I rushed home to shower and grab a bite to eat before meeting up with my out-of-town friend J. I figured nobody at the bar would appreciate me showing up sweaty, and I didn't really want to sit in my sweat-drenched clothes (Boy, was it warm today, so I didn't exactly have time to sit down and type up a post, but I'm doing it now. So there.

Despite being up and out so late on a weekday, I'm still pretty energetic, probably because I was so excited to see J again. We had interned together up in Pennsylvania five years ago, then had both lived in Texas for a while, before he returned to the North. Work brought him back to the grand state of Texas, so I abandoned my 9 pm bed time and caught up with him and his wildly ridiculous stories. He is the BEST storyteller. I always have a blast with him!

Anyways, I'm going to share with you a way of steaming asparagus in the microwave... without any dishware. Say what? Keep reading.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus

1/4 cup water

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

1 packet of Proscuitto

1. Grab 3 papertowels. Use the 1/4 cup of water and lemon juice to wet the entire papertowel. Lay flat.

2. Rinse the asparagus and trim off the bottom inch to inch and a half of the stem.

3. Spread the asparagus on the papertowels, sprinkle with salt and peppa, and roll that sucker up. Proceed carefully so you don't tear the sheets apart.

4. Place in the microwave and nuke it for 4 minutes. And your asparagus is ready.

5. Wrap up 5-6 stems in each piece of Prosciutto and serve... with some chicken and wilted spinach and baby kale.

Whole 30 - Day 10

Yeah, this may not look like the most appetizing meal, but get past the appearance, and give it a try anyways. It's a yummy way to incorporate cabbage into your meal, and it comes wrapped up in a package. Awesome.

Pork Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Stuffing

1 head cabbage

2 lb pulled pork

1 carrot, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1/2 onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp oregano

pinch of salt and pepper

Cooking Liquid

2 Tbls tomato paste

2 cups beef broth

2 tsp white vinegar

1. Rinse the cabbage and remove the leaves individually. You'll need at least 8 leaves depending on how much meat you actually use, but I used around 12 leaves. And keep in mind that the leaves get progressively smaller...

2. Place the 3-4 cabbage leaves in a microwave-safe bowl (depends on the size of bowl that you have available). Pour ~1/4 cup water into the bowl, and cover with saran wrap. Microwave for 3-4 minutes until the cabbage leaves are soft. Repeat as necessary.

3. Mix the stuffing ingredients together in one bowl, and the cooking liquid ingredients in another.

4. Put ~1/4 cup of the stuffing into a leaf...

...and wrap the sides of the cabbage leaves over the stuffing.

5. Place the cabbage roll face down into your slow cooker. Repeat with the remaining cabbage leaves and stuffing. It's okay to stack the rolls.

6. Pour the cooking liquid over the rolls, and set the slow cooker on low for 6 hours. My programmable slow cooker can only be set on low for 8 or 10 hours, so you may need to set a timer.

Before:

After:

7. Carefully remove the cabbage rolls using a large spoon. The cabbage is very soft and can easily tear.

8. Eat.

Whole 30 - Day 9

Watermelon Basil Salad

1 small ("personal") watermelon

1/2 bunch basil, chiffonade

1. Cut the watermelon into bite-sized cubes.

2. Toss with the basil.

3. Eat.

4. Enjoy.

5. Eat again.

I think the basil makes the watermelon taste better. Is that strange? The basil just seems to bring out the watermelon flavor. I highly recommend trying this. There's no downside: easy and delicious. Yum!

Whole 30 - Day 8

This week's daily breakfast is...

Lemon Chicken Artichoke Frittata

2 chicken breasts (Baked Herb Chicken), diced/cubed/shredded (your choice)

2 cup spinach, sauteed or frozen chopped

1 cup artichoke, chopped

1 Tbls lemon juice

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

6 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl.

3. Heat 1 Tbls coconut oil in an oven-safe pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot and the bottom and sides of the pan are coated (swirl the oil around the pan), 

4. Add half of the eggs to the pan. Let cook for a few minutes or until the bottom layer of eggs starts to firm.

5. Mix together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl.

6. Once the eggs start have started to firm, spread out the chicken-artichoke-spinach mixture. Pour the remaining eggs over the top.

7. Transfer pan to the oven, and cook for 15 minutes or until the eggs are completely solid (check the center).

And because my dinner on Friday was so yummy, here's a photo, just to make you jealous: Baked Herb Chicken,  Heirloom Tomatoes, and sliced kiwi. I've been eating a lot more fruit lately in the attempt to increase my potassium. Kiwi has a 107.5:1 ratio of potassium to sodium, with 215 mg in a ~42 calorie-kiwi. Awesome!

Whole 30 - Day 7

Heirloom Tomato Salad

3-4 heirloom tomatoes of varying sizes and colors

1 1/2 Tbls olive oil

2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Slice the tomatoes, roughly 1/4" thick.

2. Layer on a plate. Making it pretty is optional.

3. Drizzle olive oil and vinegar over the tomatoes. Serve and enjoy.

Whole 30 - Day 6

Today a few friends and I went kayaking. I loved it. More and more lately I've discovered that I like spending my friend time doing something active. Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm not drinking alcohol and it's tough going out to eat at certain places and finding something on the menu that's Paleo-friendly that I don't mind paying for. I have serious issues with paying $30 for a dish when I ask them to hold 75% of the dish.

Anyways, you're here for food, right? So here's what I made for myself after 3 hours of kayaking.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Egg

1 slice Prosciutto
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Use olive oil or coconut oil to grease the inside of one muffin tin.
3. Place the Prosciutto into the tin, arranging it so that it covers the bottom and sides.
4. Place in oven and bake for 8 minutes, until starting to get crispy.
5. Remove pan and crack an egg into the Prosciutto bowl and return to the oven. Bake for 10 minutes or until egg is cooked through.
6. Use a large spoon to carefully remove the Prosciutto from the pan. Then eat.

Whole 30 - Day 5

So there's a concept to be avoided in the Whole 30 called "Sex With Your Pants On" (SWYPO). This term refers to paleo-ifying junk food, such as pizza, pancakes, etc. So even though I can make a paleo pizza with all paleo-friendly and even Whole 30-friendly ingredients, I shouldn't. By substituting ingredients, I'm just giving myself a way of continuing my cravings for non-paleo foods, because just like SWYPO, it's just not as good; you always end up wanting the real thing. Am I right? I'm right.

Anyways, I find this concept somewhat difficult to understand. I mean, what is really considered SWYPO? Is my zucchini pasta with meatballs considered SWYPO? I mean, it's veggies and meat with some almond meal mixed in. Where does that line get drawn? Because technically, I'm taking a traditional non-Paleo meal of spaghetti and meatballs and making zucchini and meatballs. Does that count as SWYPO? I vote no. I'm choosing to believe that SWYPO refers to junk foods that contain significantly more grains, such as cakes and brownies, and Paleo-ified versions of things like ice cream or pizza.

Buffalo Meatballs

1 lb ground buffalo
3 Tbls almond meal
1 1/2 tsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1. Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Use your hands; they work best.

2. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the fridge for an hour or so.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Separate into heaping tablespoon-sized pieces. Shape into spheres.

5. Spread on an oiled baking pan.
6. Bake for roughly 20 minutes, until there's no pink in the middle.

Serve with ribbons of zucchini and pasta sauce. YUMMMM!

I ate mine with a side of heirloom tomato salad... And boy was it good.

I was starving by the time I finished crew practice last night (and my stomach was grumbling while I was rowing), but this is so filling that I had to make myself keep eating. I've been using PaleoTrack to check my protein, fat, carbs, omega 6:omega 3, and potassium:sodium intake, and yesterday's grand total of food came out to be 1053 calories, including this dinner. Factor in a moderately intense crew practice for an hour and half, where I burned around 600 calories, and that would mean my calorie balance for the day is 500-600. You may think that's awesome if you're trying to lose weight, but it could also trigger your body into thinking it's in starvation mode. So I sat and at all of my zucchini and meatballs, and 3 tomato slices, because I just couldn't force myself to eat more at 10 at night. Oh well. It was yummy, so I suffered through.

In exciting news, I got the "Optimal Primal" designation yesterday.

My fish oil supplements and flax seeds (0.3:1 omega-6:omega-3) on my lunch salad helped significantly in bumping up the omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids ratio. It's believed that our paleo ancestors had a 1:1 ratio of omega 6:omega 3, though the PaleoTrack website says to aim for a 2.3:1 ratio, whereas most people today have a 10:1 or 20:1 ratio. Also, the potassium to sodium ratio should be at least 5:1, while most of today's society gets about a 1:1. The zucchini, tomato sauce, and freshly sliced heirloom tomatoes helped with the potassium to sodium ratio. I've basically decided that you can't add salt to your food at all to try to meet this last ratio. It's rather difficult to achieve, but fruits are a good source of this. Kind of makes me wonder how to get my potassium when doing a 21DSD.

Also, I've noticed that foods that have a good fatty acids ratio, tend to do poorly on the potassium:sodium front, or vice versa. For example, an avocado has a 69.3:1 potassium to sodium ratio, but also has 15.2:1 omega-6 to omega-3. Sad. At least flaxseeds have a decent ratio for both, even though the 27.1:1 potassium:sodium isn't a lot of potassium when compared to the sodium intake.

Whole 30 - Day 4

Steak Fajitas

1 lb flank steak

1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 red pepper, cut into strips
1/2 onion, cut into quarters and then into strips

1. Mix spices together and rub over the steak.

2. Place steak in a Ziploc bag in the fridge for at least an hour.
3. Heat 2 Tbls olive oil in a cast iron pan (or any pan) over medium-high heat. The pan is hot when a few drops of water sizzles when sprinkled onto the pan.
4. Place the peppers and onion into the pan and cook for a couple minutes, then clear out a space in the center and add the steak.

5. Cook for a few minutes on each side. Transfer steak to a plate and cover with tin foil. Let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Then serve with your veggies.

Whole 30 - Day 3

Baked Herb Chicken

1-2 lb chicken breast tenders

1 Tbls lemon juice

1 Tbls olive oil

2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp oregano

pinch of salt and pepper

1. Place all of the ingredients, other than chicken in a plastic bag. Seal and shake to combine.

2. Add the chicken to the bag and place in the fridge, allowing it to sit for a couple hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake for 8 minutes on each side. Check to make sure the chicken is fully cooked.

I ate some of this chicken yesterday in a salad, which just happened to be a red and green salad. As I ate it I was thinking it was a Christmas-colored salad. It must be the fact that I was just in Atlanta over the weekend where the weather was rainy and 65 degrees Fahrenheit and it felt like autumn. Obviously, my calendar has sped up and I'm already a few months ahead of schedule.

Christmas-Colored Chicken Salad

1 strip of Baked Herb Chicken

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped cucumber

handful of grape tomatoes

2 cups mixed greens

What I'm absolutely loving these last few days is "Red Hands" by Walk Off the Earth. The music video is awesome, too. Check it out.

Here's the uncut version:

And the final product:

Whole 30 - Day 2

2 days down... 28 to go. Haven't had too many cravings today, though I did attack some pistachios with a bit more vigor than I would have liked this evening. It was a nice dessert after my evening walk with my good friend and new-ish neighbor LMR. Oh well. I was truthful and tracked in on paleotrack.com, bringing my grand total caloric intake to just about 1130 calories. I got the "Strict Paleo" designation, but I really want to work on getting "Optimal Paleo," meaning I need to aim for a 2.3:1 Omega 6 to Omega 3 ratio and a 3.9:1 Potassium to Sodium ratio. I really need to figure out how to consume more Omega 3 and potassium.

Anyways, I'm sure you're all wondering what I'll be eating for breakfast this week. Well, look no further than...

Pulled Pork Egg Muffins

1 cup leftover Pulled Pork

6 eggs

1/4 green pepper, chopped

1/4 red pepper, chopped

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Mix ingredients together and pour into an oiled/greased muffin tin (or use liners). Bake for 15 minutes. or until egg is solid.

It makes 6 muffins, so I'm covered for the next 6 days.

Whole 30 - Day 1

Over the last couple weeks I've been allowing myself to have a lot of cheat meals, meaning that I've been snacking on gluten-free crackers lately. I've also been experiencing more headaches and stomachaches during the last few weeks. I even had to leave work early the other week due to a migraine and stomachache. So, I decided last Thursday that I was going to start a Whole 30 today. And I did. I was in Atlanta over the weekend so I had some free time this afternoon after I got back from the airport. Here's one of the recipes I made today...

Cauliflower Hummus

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into small pieces

1-2 cloves garlic, smashed  **UPDATE (see below)**

1/3 cup tahini

2 Tbls olive oil

1 Tbls lemon juice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Steam the cauliflower. Boil your water, then add the cauliflower in a steamer basket, and steam for 15 minutes.

2. While the cauliflower is steaming, heat some olive oil in a small pan and add the garlic, cooking for about a minute while stirring.

3. Transfer the cauliflower and garlic to your food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.

Serve with carrots, celery, cucumber slices, etc. Or use it as a topping for chicken or salads or whatever you feel like using it for.

**UPDATE : The longer you let the hummus sit in the fridge before eating, the strong the flavors get. The garlic flavor got really strong by the second day - to the point that I have to run to the bathroom to brush my teeth because I'm worried I'm going to scare someone off with my breath. Yikes. It still tastes good, but is a bit strong.**

Paleo Pineapple Layer Popsicle

Paleo Pineapple Layer Popsicle

1/4 cup pineapple chunks with ~2 Tbls juice

4 Tbls grapefruit juice (1 Tbls for each popsicle)

1/4 cup blueberries

1. Place the pineapple and pineapple juice in the blender and puree until smooth.

2. Transfer to popsicle tray and place in the freezer for 15 minutes.

3. Pull out the popsicle tray and pour in 1 Tbls of grapefruit juice into each popsicle mold. Freeze for 15 minutes.

4. Place the blueberries in the blender and puree until smooth.

5. Remove the popsicle tray from the freezer and pour in the blueberry puree until each mold is full.

6. Freeze for 2 hours. Then remove tray, dunk the bottom portion in warm water to loosen the popsicles, and enjoy!

Asian Beef Marinade

Asian Beef Marinade

1/4 cup + 2 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbls coconut aminos (similar in taste to soy sauce, minus the soy)
1 tsp sesame seeds
pinch of sea salt
a few twists of my pepper grinder

Mix the ingredients in a quart- or gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Place the beef (cubes in my case) into the Ziploc bag and squeeze out as much of the air as possible before sealing. Put the Ziploc bag in the fridge and let sit for at least 2 hours (I let mine marinade overnight).

After marinading, remove the beef from the bag and cook over medium-low heat on a skillet. Dispose of the excess marinade. Once your meat is done cooking, serve and enjoy. I used the sauce left in the skillet to cook up some mushrooms as well.

Happy Twenty-Sexy!

Today was my 26th birthday, a.k.a. the twenty-sexy birthday. To celebrate, a few of the ladies and I went to a wine bar for dinner. And since it's my birthday, we got free champagne. Awesome!

 

Here's what I ate...

Duck Confit Eggrolls: cured confit duck, napa cabbage, daikon, carrot, mango mustard - I ate out the insides of the eggroll, but didn't take a picture of the mess

Braised Short Rib: boneless short rib, red wine braising reduction, whipped potatoes, honey pesto glazed baby carrots

Gluten Free Flourless Red Velvet: chocolate cookie crust, moist and light red velvet cake, red velvet pudding, cream cheese icing, dusted with powdered sugar

Yeah, I ate some... yum!