Toasted Pumpkin/Squash Seeds

You know what sucks? Migraines. Do you know what sucks more than migraines? Crying in front of your supervisors while you have a migraine. Yeah. That happened to me. I had a headache all morning, but then again, I have a headache most mornings, so it's nothing new. Anyways, I fought off succumbing to the headache for a couple hours before I finally took my migraine meds. 45 minutes later, the headache was significantly worse and every little sound was pounding in my head. The thing that finally set me off was a phone ringing. That was it. My final straw. I walked over to tell my supervisors that I had to go home (with tears in my eyes), and that's when they started freaking out, because in the words of my supervisor "You look terrible. You can't drive yourself." So one of my other co-workers drove me home, where I promptly crawled into bed and fell asleep. Let me just say that I have a renewed love of black-out curtains. Only black-out curtains were able to stop me from dragging myself under a pile of blankets... probably in my closet. Otherwise, being in my room with regular curtains in the middle of the day/morning would have been torture.

Today was the worst migraine that I've head in over a year. Since starting Paleo, most of my headaches haven't been too terrible. Yes, I still have headaches pretty often, but I can usually ignore them because they're not as intense as they used to be, and don't usually take any medicine for them. Unfortunately, I think that the lack of sleep this past week is what did me in. I've had such difficulties waking up this past week because I've been so tired and today's migraine is yet another sign that I need to pay better attention to my body. Obviously my goal of getting enough sleep (the 21-day challenge from Mark's Daily Apple that I mentioned) is not working out so well. Clearly, I still need some work. Health is a work in progress.

Anyways, enough of me, my migraines, and my need for sleep. Here's another pumpkin-related recipe.

Hot Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from one pumpkin

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

pinch of cayenne pepper

1. Preheat oven to 275 F.

2. Thoroughly clean the seeds after scooping them out of the pumpkin. I pull the pumpkin bits out by hand and then rinse the seeds in a colander.

3. Dry the seeds with a paper towel. It doesn't have to be completely dry.

4. Place the seeds in a bowl and add the salt and pepper. Stir to coat evenly.

5. Spread on a baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook for 25-30 minutes. The seeds are done with they're nice and crunchy if you bite into one.

Sweet Toasted Acorn Squash Seeds

Seeds from one acorn squash

1 tsp coconut oil, melted

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp nutmeg

pinch of allspice

1. Preheat oven to 275 F.

2. Thoroughly clean the seeds after scooping them out of the squash. I found the seeds to be more thoroughly attached to the acorn squash flesh, so it took some extra time to separate the seeds from the stringy bits.

3. Dry the seeds with a paper towel.

4. Place the seeds in a bowl and add the coconut oil. Stir to coat.

5. mix in the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice.

5. Spread on a baking sheet and slide it into the oven. Cook for roughly 25 minutes. The acorn squash seeds are smaller and I found they didn't need to bake as long to dry them out.

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.