Whole 30 - Day 31

Kind of doesn't make sense, right? Day 31 of 30. But we'll go with it.

The other day I bought some grass-fed ground beef. I used half of it as some back-up protein to just toss in with veggies for a salad or whatever else I needed it for. I used the other half for meatballs. And what do we eat meatballs with? Spaghetti. We don't eat spaghetti? What to do? What to do? Grab all of the veggies you have in your fridge and "make it work" (Thanks, Tim Gunn).

Spa-veggie and Meatballs (I don't know how I feel about this name)

Meatballs

1/2 lb grass-fed ground beef

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp oregano

3/4 tsp ground pepper

3/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbls olive oil

"Spaghetti"

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

10 stalks asparagus, steamed and cut into 1.5" pieces

1/2 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 leek, thinly sliced

2 Tbls ghee

Sauce

2 Tbls tomato paste

2 Tbls chicken/vegetable/beef broth

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1. Mix your Meatball ingredients together. Use your hands. Place in a Ziploc bag and let sit in the fridge for a couple hours if you have the time. If not, it'll be fine, just do step 2 first.

2. Preheat oven to 350 F.

3. Roll the meat + spices into 1" diameter meatballs. I made 7 out of 1/2 lb.

4. Cook in oven for 15 minutes.

5. While the meatballs are cooking, cut up all of your veggies for the Spa-veggie.

6. Heat ghee in large pan over medium heat (I used setting 4 on my stove). Once hot, add in the veggies and cook for 5 minutes, or until the veggies almost reach your desired softness.

7. Once the veggies are almost done, add in the Sauce ingredients, stirring until evenly coated.

8. Remove the meatballs from the oven, and toss in the pan. Serve, or store half in a glass jar for lunch tomorrow.

Whole 30 - Day 23

Breakfast today was leftover veggies from Sunday night's stir-fry with a few slices of Proscuitto and watermelon.

Lunch consisted of leftover steak and fajita veggies, some "power greens" from Trader Joes. I also had a snack of plantain chips, apple slices, 3 strawberries, some pineapple, and some grapes (we had a meeting at work during lunch and my only viable food options were fruit).

Dinner was a post-workout sweet potato with an egg, and some pomegranate seeds.

I read an article recently from Fitrocracy about weight loss: http://www.fitocracy.com/knowledge/weight-loss-101/. This article provided a link to a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator in order to determine your ideal caloric intake for weight loss. Your BMR is the amount of calories that your body burns while at rest. Now to accurately determine the BMR of your specific body, lab experiments need to be run, including a gas analysis through direct or indirect calorimetry. I bet most of you don't want to spend the time or money to have these tests, so in the meantime, you can get an estimate of your BMR from one of these websites: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/ or http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html. You can then use the Harris-Benedict Equations (http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/) to determine what your caloric intake should be based on your lifestyle/activity level. Alternatively, if you want to use the Mifflin St Jeor Equation, this calculator can be used: http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm. The Harris-Benedict equations were originally developed in 1919, and then updated in 1984. The Mifflin St Jeor equations were developed in 1990 and take into account the change in lifestyle over the last century, a.k.a. we're a bit more sedentary. Keep in mind that these formulas don't take into account lean body mass. If you know what your % body fat is, then you can use your lean body mass [your weight * (100% - %body fat)] with the Katch-McArdle or Cunningham formulas.

As you can probably guess, I've read about this just a bit and would in fact like to lose weight. I wouldn't say that I'm actively counting calories, but it's a side effect of using PaleoTrack.com to keep track of my nutrient intake. I've posted before that it's rather difficult to achieve ideal Paleo nutrition. To add another layer of difficulty, the article I mentioned above said that you should eat your goal weight in grams of protein, i.e. if your goal weight is 100 lb (not that mine is), you should aim for 100 g of protein per day. That's a LOT of protein, and it's much higher than what I tend to consume in a day. And I've found that a lot of protein sources, like beef and chicken, have high omega-6:omega-3 ratios, which messes up my fatty acid ratio. So I guess that means I should eat fish every day? Yikes. Though I've gotten past most of my aversion to raw meat, I haven't quite gotten used to the idea of handling raw fish every day. I still find it gross.

Whole 30 - Day 16

Want an easy and inexpensive family meal? Go for a roast chicken. It's one of the least expensive options and it can easily feed your family. Oh, you're single? Join the club, and congrats! You now have enough chicken to last you for the next few days. I've posted recipes for roasting a whole chicken in the past, but here we go again. Slight variation from what I made when I went to Atlanta in April for my family's first round of chemo, so here you go.

Crispy Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken ~5-6 lb

2 small lemons, cut in half

1/2 bunch of thyme

salt and pepper - I used roughly equal portions, probably 2 Tbls each

3 Tbls olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced

4 carrots, cut into 1" pieces

3 stalks celery, cut into 2" pieces

1 leek, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and set rack in the middle of the oven - if you have two racks in the middle, pick the upper one.

2. Thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of the chicken. Pat dry.

3. Sprinkle the entire inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. Rub in with your hands.

4. Make two small slices in the skin near the legs, and use your fingers to rub salt and pepper under the skin.

5. Stuff the inside of the bird with the thyme and three of the lemon halves.

6. Spread olive oil over the outside of the bird, rubbing it in (of course).

7. Sprinkle again with salt and pepper, and rub into the skin, yet again.

8. Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the bird to get some lemon flavor on the outside. Use a zester to add lemon zest to the outside of the bird.
9. Put the bird into a roasting pan if you have one, breast side down. If not, you can use a lasagna pan. 

10. Surround the bird with the onion, carrots, celery, and leek. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little bit of thyme if you have any leftover.

11. Cook for one hour, then flip over the bird. Use a baster to remove some of the liquid to a leftover glass jar. Remove the veggies from the tray.

12. Cook for another 30 minutes, then remove more of the liquid from the pan. Flip the bird over again, and cook for another 10 minutes. This is mainly to get the skin crispy and brown. Congrats, you're done.

21DSD Day 2 - Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke Frittata

Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke Frittata

6 eggs

2 Tbls ghee

1 Tbls olive oil

1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 lb chicken breast, diced

1 leek, green and white parts, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Heat 2 Tbls ghee over medium-low heat in a pan. Once melted, add in the sliced leeks. These will cook while the frittata is cooking.

3. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in an oven-safe pan. Once hot, toss in the chicken and cook until thoroughly cooked.

4. When the chicken is cooked, add in the artichokes, spinach, garlic salt and pepper, cooking until thawed.

5. Whisk the eggs and pour into the pan with the chicken, spinach, and artichokes. Cook for about 5 minutes until the eggs on the bottom have solidified a bit. (Pssst... Don't forget to stir the leeks)

6. Transfer the pan to the oven. Cook for 20 minutes or until the entire concoction has solidified. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes. By this time the leeks should have caramelized. Serve with a topping of leeks.