W30D5

I'm currently watching the end of the movie The Croods right now. And man, am I a sucker for happy endings. I'm telling you, there were tears, laughter, and shouting at the TV - all within the last ten minutes. I clearly get too emotionally invested in movies... and books... and really any story. What can I say? I've got an active imagination that lets me become fully engrossed in a character's life. Hence my long history of late-night bouts of reading. I just can't put the book down. Anyways, I'm getting off track. The Croods is a movie about a caveman family which must venture out of its comfort zone and experience new things when their cave is destroyed by an earthquake. It's cute and fun. I enjoyed watching the Croods run around chasing their prey and chucking rocks at each other. Give it a go if you've got some free time. I turned it on so that I had something to watch while I used my rowing machine in my room. I find I can keep myself going longer if I have something to keep myself entertained. When I'm on the water, its the changing (though familiar) scenery; at home, it's movies.

Well now that I've jumped from movies to books to exercise, let's cover food. Here's another pasta sauce that I made to go along with yesterday's meatballs.

Fresh Basil and Mushroom Pasta Sauce

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cup grape tomatoes

1/2 cup packed fresh basil, chiffonade cut

1 small yellow onion, chopped

3 large cloves garlic

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp parsley

1 tbls olive oil

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan.

2. Once hot (a few drops of water will sizzle), add the onions, garlic, and half of the fresh basil. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. (Just a little note that I like my onions to be really thoroughly cooked, meaning that they tend to be extremely soft in whatever it is I'm cooking.)

3. Add in the remaining ingredients and reduce heat to medium-low (level 2 or 3 on electric stoves). Let simmer for 1 hour (you could reduce this cook time, but I think it tastes better if you let the flavors meld).

I layered the spaghetti squash, pasta sauce, and meatballs in my Mason jar that made splitting it up into two lunches during work super easy.

W30D3

OMG this pesto sauce is YUMMY! If I hadn't restrained myself, I might have eaten the entire jar of pesto sauce. Who needs "pasta"? I was eating it by the spoonful, but it tastes damn good with the spaghetti squash and meatballs.

Pesto

4 oz fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 clove garlic
3/4 tsp sea salt
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/3 cup EVOO

1. Place the basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes into a food processor.

2. Process until smooth.

3. Slowly pour in the EVOO. Stop a couple times to scrape down the sides of your food processor bowl, if needed.

Serve it up... and try not to eat it all at once.

Slow-Cooker Paleo Pad Thai

Hi, folks!

If you're from the US, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! If you're not, well, I hope you had a great week anyways. You probably didn't overeat like the rest of us. I really enjoyed my week; I took the entire week off from work. It was glorious, but it's back to the grindstone tomorrow morning. I've been working a lot these days, given that I'm currently performing two roles at work. Nothing like taking on a second job part-time while your first job gets busy. I've been eating horribly, that is when I do eat. To be completely honest, my life prior to vacation basically consisted of waking up, going to work, eating lunch while working, going home, and going to sleep. I was only eating one real meal per day and snacking for the others. I've barely been working out and I need to change that. So I took today to clean up my room a little bit, try to prep for the week, and relax before getting busy again. Right now, I'm currently watching/listening to "The Perfect Human Diet." I highly recommend checking it out. It's on Amazon Prime and Netflix, just so you know.

With that, I'll leave you with an easy recipe that I threw together once I returned from the airport last night.

Slow-Cooker Paleo Pad Thai

1 1/2 lb chicken

1 1/2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

Chicken Seasoning

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Sauce

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken broth

3 Tbls sunbutter (sunflower seed butter)

1 Tbls coconut aminos

2 tsp fish sauce

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 bunches green onion, chopped

"Pasta"

2 zucchini, julienned

2 carrots, julienned

1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced

Optional Toppings

chopped cashews

green onions

cilantro

1. Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a pan on the stove. Chop the chicken into roughly 1" pieces. Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Place the chicken into the pan and brown the chicken. It doesn't have to be thoroughly cooked yet because you'll be cooking more later.

2. Mix together the ingredients for the sauce in the crock pot. Stir until the sunbutter has broken down and is fully combined.

3. Stir in the browned chicken.

4. Place the "pasta" ingredients on top of the sauce/chicken. Do not stir to combine.

5. Cook on low for 6 hours. If you have a programmable slow-cooker, you probably don't have that option, but just set it on low and check it after 6 hours. If you cook it too long, the "pasta" will brown a bit more than you might like.

6. Remove from the crock pot and serve with any of the optional toppings if you so choose. It'll be a bit spicy, but sneakily so (at least to me). Enjoy!

Bolognese Sauce

Bolognese sauce refers to a meat-based red sauce generally used on broad/flat pasta (e.g. tagliatelle or fettuccine) or shorter tube shapes (e.g. penne). It typically consists of onion, carrots, and celery, as well as meat like ground beef or pancetta, a bit of tomato, and some wine. I cooked mine without the wine, but it still tastes delicious. The carrots give it a bit of sweetness. Enjoy!

Bolognese Sauce

1 Tbls olive oil
1 1/4 lb grass-fed ground beef
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 cup carrots, finely diced
1/4 cup celery, finely diced
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 6-oz can tomato puree

1. Heat 1 Tbls olive oil over medium heat on the stove.
2. Break up the beef into small pieces and cook until thoroughly brown.
3. Once cooked, remove the beef from the heat and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
4. Drain some of the fat from the pan, then add the onions, carrots, and celery to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until veggies start to soften.
5. Mix the beef back in and stir in the tomatoes. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 20-30 minutes to thicken.
6. Serve with zucchini noodles. If you don't have a mandoline, use a peeler to cut the zucchini thin and wide.

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 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.

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

First off, I want to say HUZZAH! During the month of April, I managed to get 2,032 pageviews. In one month! And that's managed to bump us over the 10,000 mark. Thanks y'all!

Anyways...

What do you do when you have leftover pasta sauce? It's obvious, make pasta. And what do you do when you don't eat grains? Turn to squash. I prefer zucchini, but yellow squash and spaghetti squash work really well, too.

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta

1 cup Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Sauce

1 zucchini

Use a mandoline to slice the zucchini. My mandoline has 3 settings, I picked setting 2. Toss the zucchini and 1 cup of the pasta sauce into a pot. Cook until the zucchini is hot. Eat. Nice and easy, right?

Here's some food for thought...

• Whole Foods has a post about how to make bacon yourself. Granted you need a smoker, which I do not have: Makin' Bacon
• Everyday Health has an article about how a chemical reaction caused from eggs may predict heart attack and stroke risk. Apparently when you eat lechthin (in eggs, liver, beef, and pork), the body produces trimethlyamine N-oxide (TMAO), which changes how cholesterol is managed in your blood.

Chemo - Part 13 - Day 16

Have I mentioned that cancer sucks? Apparently the allergic reaction is enough that my parents made a trip to the dermatologist. The doctor biopsied a part of the rash to run some tests. They also ran blood work to test liver and kidney functioning. My parents finished off the day with two units of blood transfusion. They were at the doctor from 7:45-8:40 a.m., and from 10:40 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Yikes. I'm hoping that the transfusion will help and improve energy. At this point it looks as though the second round of chemo will get pushed back a bit. We'll have to wait and see what the test results are.

While we're waiting, check out this YUMMY version of Paleo lasagna. It's delicious! Enjoy!

Paleo Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients

2 zucchini, sliced
1 lb grass-fed ground beef

Macadamia Nut Cheese

• 2 cup macadamia nuts
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 2 Tbls of water

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Sauce

• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in water for 1 hour
• 2 Tbls olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of diced tomatoes
• 3/4 head of broccoli, chopped to ~1" pieces
• 3 stalks celery, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp fresh basil, chiffonaded
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Macadamia Nut Cheese

1. Dump the nuts into a food processor and run until the macadamia nuts are fully ground. 

2. Mix in the lemon, salt, oregano, basil, and parsley.

3. Add in the water 1 Tbls at a time. The mixture should become slightly sticky and look a bit like ricotta cheese.

Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Sauce

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pot.

2. Add the onions and garlic, cooking until onions are translucent.

3. Add the rest of the ingredients, cover, and cook for 30 minutes until the broccoli and other veggies are slightly soft.

Paleo Zucchini Lasagna

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Use a mandolin slicer to cut the zucchini into thick slices.

3. Place one layer of the zucchini slices at the bottom of a greased 8"x8" square pan

4. Spread out a ~ 1 cup of the Sun-dried Tomato Pasta Sauce and top with ground beef. Spread out some of the Macadamia Nut Cheese on top of the ground beef.

5. Repeat the layers, finishing with the pasta sauce.

(You can also use small Corningware if you have leftovers like me.)

6. Bake for 30 minutes in the oven. Let cool for a bit, then devour!

Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce

Yesterday I tracked my food intake on PaleoTrack, a free Paleo food journal. The cool thing about this food journal is that it let's you know if you're staying "Strict Paleo" or if you ate legumes, sugar, dairy, or grains. It also tracks your nutrient intake, including amino acids, vitamins, and minerals. Additionally, the journal calculates your omega 6:omega 3 and sodium:potassium ratios, and signals if you're within the appropriate Paleo ranges. This is a screenshot of the results of my food intake yesterday: 

As you can see, I got "Congratulations! You are: Strict Paleo!" The beauty of Paleo is that though I only ate 1153 calories worth of food, I felt full after every meal, even after one hour of kickboxing. And when I got hungry at work, I snacked on green pepper slices and a pear while.

Anyways, it's recipe time...

Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves
2 (28-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes, with their juices
2 whole heads roasted garlic, cloves removed from peels

Saute the onion in the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste, salt, balsamic vinegar, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, and basil, and cook for 1 minute. Add the crushed tomatoes and their juices. Stir and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a  simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the roasted garlic and stir to combine. Continue to simmer for 30 minutes longer. Then toss onto your zucchini pasta or spaghetti squash.

Whole 30 - Primal

If you don't read Mark's Daily Apple, you should. If you don't care about the science and facts behind Paleo/Primal and are purely searching for recipes, Mark also has authored a few cookbooks. He just announced the release of his newest book (Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings & Toppings) and is offering awesome giveaways. So check it out!

In other exciting news, I went to the gym today for over an hour! I haven't done that in quite some time, and I feel wonderful. Tomorrow may be a different matter. I'm hoping the 20 minutes I spend icing my ankle while I'm writing this will keep the pain from getting too bad tomorrow

I brought my pumpkin trifle into work today in a small-ish jar for people to taste. One of my co-workers who NEVER gets second helpings of desserts went back for more (and also got a bit of whipped cream in his mustache). My supervisor ended up finishing off the dish, then washed it and returned it to me, "ready to be refilled." I think they liked it.

Anyways, I wanted to share some products I found while perusing Whole Foods tonight. First off is Go Raw Organic Lemon Super Cookies. I was intrigued... Gluten free, wheat free, and nut free. I tried one of the "cookies" and I am NOT a fan. I do not recommend these. It tastes a little strange.

The second thing is Eden Organic Spaghetti Sauce. If you're like me and sometimes get too lazy to make things from scratch. Here is a Paleo option for spaghetti sauce. It just contains tomatoes, olive oil, and herbs/spices. So give it a try.

P90X - Day 13, 14, & 15

I got a nice bruise from Thursday night's archery lesson. It doesn't hurt, but it doesn't look terribly pretty. The string from the recurve bow did manage to perfectly aim for and hit a scar from baking muffins.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I didn't do X Stretch on Saturday (Day 14), but technically, X Stretch is optional, so it doesn't count. At least I'm saying that it doesn't. I'm going to try to make it up later this week. Sunday was Chest and Back again. But before I did P90X, I went for a 4.4-mile run on a jogging trail near me. It wasn't too bad, minus the repeated feelings of nausea, and the lingering chest pain after. By the time I got home, the temperature had cooled down to 91F. So, naturally, I was bright red and sweaty when I walked into my apartment. It's not a great look, but I felt good for running. I walked around a bit to cool down to a point where I could bend over without getting sick, and then I started doing P90X. That's dedication. I skipped the ab workout though. I figured I did enough working out, right?

On Friday night, I hosted a Girls Night In. It wasn't entirely Paleo, so don't judge me harshly. We made spinach pasta from scratch. I didn't use a recipe, just went based on feel. We wilted some spinach and added in flour, egg, and salt in my food processor. The first batch wasn't great, but the second one turned out really well. Here's some photos from it...

First you use a rolling pin to the dough.

Then get really excited about sending it through the pasta machine for the first time on the widest setting.

Once it's a suitable thickness, you switch to the attachment on the other side of the pasta maker,
which cuts the dough into your actual strands of pasta.

Show off your handiwork, 'cause you're awesome!

We made pesto sauce to go with the pasta and "pulled chicken" (from a store-bought rotisserie chicken). Serve with salad and roasted asparagus, and here's the result:

Go Bad and Go Big

"WHY?" I ask you, "Why?" I was bad, REALLY bad, at lunch yesterday. I wasn't feeling very good; I had a sore throat, just felt generally icky, and was having an incredibly hard time staying awake. I blame running outside and "sucking up" (in my dad's words) allergens, because the sore throat kicked in shortly after my run on Tuesday. Anyways, when I don't feel good, my willpower is zilch. And I guess I have this idea that eating food will make me feel better. Does it? Hell no. And after eating a small square of lasagna I felt even worse. Not only did I have a sore throat and my ever-present headache, but also I could feel the "bad" food just sitting in my stomach. If that food could talk, it'd probably say something along the lines of "F' you!", "Gotchya!", and You're gonna suffer now!" That was one of those decisions that, as soon as I finished eating it (and even slightly before I finished), I thought I really wish I hadn't done that. I wish I could take that back. That was stupid. But I can't undo it. Ctrl-Z does me no good. (Did you know that Ctrl-Y is "re-do"?) There's no way to take it back aside from sticking a finger down my throat to make myself throw up. And I don't do that. Nor does it work on me anyways. I've tried in the past when I've accidentally eaten something with shrimp/shellfish in it, and apparently my gag reflex isn't strong enough.

So sadly, I got the spend the afternoon suffering through a sore throat, achy body, and angry tummy. If it wouldn't have drawn attention, I probably would have smashed my head on the desk a few times for being so idiotic. And do you want to know what the worst part was?? The food wasn't even that good. Stupid catered food from lunch meetings. If only my fellow Paleo-ish buddy (BA) was around to smack some sense into me before I ate anything. I must remember that if I'm going to slip up, I might as well do it at a fancy restaurant with high quality food, or at home, where I know the food is going to taste good and I know what went into the meal, like homemade pasta using my nifty pasta maker. Why do I make such stupid decisions???

In response to my bad decision, I made a Paleo version of lasagna. Now most of you probably think that I'd substitute the lasagna noodles with eggplant, but you're wrong. I hate eggplant. I've tried to like it in the past, but no matter how many times I've tried it, I can never finish the dish. Since going Paleo, a lot of my taste preferences have changed, but eggplant is not one of those. Instead of eggplant "noodles," I used sweet potatoes.

Paleo Lasagna

(prep steps are color-coded)

1/2 lb chicken, in strips or cubed

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/4 tsp pepper

1 link of all-natural sausage

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise (say hello to the mandoline)

1/2 cup canned coconut milk

1 acorn squash, cubed
1 1/2 Tbls olive oil
2 Tbls olive oil

1 1/2 yellow onion

2 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced or minced

1 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup artichoke hearts

1 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

2/3 red pepper, sliced

3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered

3/4 jalapeno, thinly sliced

Mix the purple ingredients in a ziploc bag and marinade the chicken for 2+ hours. After the chicken is chillin' in the fridge, prep your blue ingredients.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Pull out that acorn squash and remove the outer shell and the seeds. Chop the acorn squash into bite size pieces. Pull out a large square of tin foil and put the squash into the tinfoil, drizzling with 1 1/2 Tbls of olive oil and seasoning with salt and pepper. Fold the tinfoil over the squash and put in the oven on 400F for ~30-40 minutes.


Heat 2 Tbls olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat to start cooking the green ingredients. Once hot, add the onions and garlic, cooking until onions are translucent. While cooking the onions, season with salt and pepper. Add the peppers, acorn squash, jalapeno, oregano, cayenne pepper, and 1/4 tsp garlic salt, cooking for another 10 minutes.  Mix in the mushrooms, artichokes, and cherry tomatoes. Cook for another 10 minutes. All of your veggies should be soft at this point. In a bowl, mix your coconut milk with 1/4 tsp of garlic salt, and a few shakes of salt and pepper.

Lower your oven from 400F to 375F. And it's time to start layering. Grab an 8"x8" pan and grease the pan (I used a little EVOO). Begin by spreading a layer of sweet potatoes. Overlap the edges of the slices. Next layer is your veggies, followed by the acorn squash, and then your meat. Repeat until you run out of ingredients (I got two sets in). Top with a layer of sweet potatoes. Pour the coconut milk over. So for you visual learners, out there:

Coconut Milk

Sweet Potato

Purple
Blue

Green

Sweet Potato

Purple
Blue

Green

Sweet Potato

Cover your pan with tin foil and place in the oven. Bake for 40 minutes. Check to see if the sweet potatoes are fully baked. If not, cook longer, checking every 5 minutes until they are ready. Remove from oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.