Whole 30 - Day 17

So I’ve been listening to Backstreet Boys since the concert on Saturday. Yes, I’m a 26-year-old woman listening to my favorite childhood band. Don’t judge. I find it interesting that I can still identify who is singing based on the sound of the voice... yeah, that's Brian singing, now AJ, oh and switching over to Kevin. Is that not crazy that even though I haven’t really listened to Backstreet Boys for 10 years, but I still remember each of their voices. I bet I can still do the same thing with N’Sync too. It’s incredible what the mind can do. I can pick out the sound of some of my old choir buddies’ voices even when they’re singing in a group, like our old choir tour CD or one of my friend's a cappella group's CD. I guess some people just have very distinctive sounding voices. Sorry for that tangent. I’m just listening to BSB right now, so it’s on my mind.

If you want an easy side dish, give acorn squash a try. It’s got a nutty flavor and is a bit sweeter than summer squash. Some tips for picking a good one: You want the squash to be 1-3 lbs, because larger squash tend to end up stringy and dry. There should be no soft spots and the skin should be smooth and dull (shiny skin is either applied wax or the squash was picked too early). I aim for the ones with more green color than orange, but some orange color is okay. Too much orange and you could get a stringy squash.

I think the most common non-Paleo way of cooking acorn squash is to cook it with butter and brown sugar and/or cinnamon. If you’re Paleo, here’s one way to do it, and it smells delicious while baking!

Cinnamon Acorn Squash

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Cut your acorn squash in half length-wise. Scoop out the seeds.

3. Rub coconut oil or ghee over the surface of both halves of the squash.

4. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a little bit of nutmeg.

5. Place halves face down on a lined baking sheet (or unlined if you don’t care about cleanup).

6. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

You can eat as is, or you can add some chicken or eggs inside to make an acorn squash bowl.

Another random side note… did you know that there are gluten-free dating websites out there? Go figure.

P90X - Day 5

Day 5 is Legs and Back. This work out consists of 23 exercises, with the general format for area of focus being a leg-leg-back pattern. In other words, two leg exercises, like balanced lunges and calf raise squats followed by reverse grip chin ups. I like this workout. It makes my quads burn. Burn, baby, burn!

I think my body is getting used to waking up at 5:00 a.m. again. It's been a while since I've consistently woken up at 5, and I have to say that I like it. I always feel accomplished when I work out in the morning.  Of course, this is after a decent night of sleep; I'm sure I wouldn't be so happy if I hadn't gotten 7+ hours of sleep.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@8a.m.): 1 tbls almond butter, leftover sausage, brisket, and bbq chicken

Lunch (@11a.m.): Sliced turkey, lettuce, and 1 slice provolone cheese (yeah, yeah, it's dairy...). I was in a lecture during lunch about Piping and Relief Systems (thrilling, huh?) and the lunch that was provided was a boxed lunch of a sandwich, potato chips, and a cookie. So all I could eat was the inner parts of the sandwich.

Snack (@3p.m.): Apple, 2 more slices of leftover sausage and 1 slice of brisket

Dinner (@9p.m.): Rack of lamb with ginger beets, steamed vegetables, and a butternut squash salad.

		Goal	with Exercise	Actual
Calories	kcal	1,330	2,133	1,510
Carbs	g	183	293	70
Fat	g	44	70	81
Protein	g	50	80	113
Calcium	g	100	100	29
Fiber	g	15	25	13
Cholesterol	mg	-	-	181
Sodium	mg	-	-	1,510
Sugars	g	-	-	34

Steak with Zucchini "Pasta"

Last night I cooked up some steak and paired it with zucchini that I had sliced julienne-style with my nifty mandoline. It's really sharp btw, and I've got the cuts to prove it. I seasoned the steak with some blackened seasoning. Below and to the right are the zucchini that I used. That's one massive zucchini (the above picture is maybe 1/4 of the large zucchini). I grabbed the largest and the smallest one from the local farmer's market just because... and I picked up some grass-fed steak.

The pasta sauce was way easy but I'll share it anyways...
Basic Pasta Sauce
1 can organic crushed tomatoes
1 can organic tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, finely chopped
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp parsley
1 fresh tomato, finely chopped (optional)
1 tbls EVOO

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a medium pot. Once hot, add the onions and garlic, cooking for ~4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and spices. Cover and cook for ~20 on low heat to incorporate the flavors. Uncover and cook on medium heat until you reach your desired pasta sauce thickness. Or... you can let the pasta sauce sit overnight in the fridge for flavor incorporation. Up to you.


Despite the fact that I worked just over 12 hours yesterday and I really just wanted to go home and go to bed, I convinced myself to do 30 minutes of yoga. So it wasn't very intense exercise, but I still did it. Give me props. Plus, I haven't had any sugar or fruit in over 48 hours and I have yet to tear through the office searching for dark chocolate despite my current stress level. And I've been resisting the pear that's been staring at me from my desk. Go me!

I really want to try this recipe Pork Avocado Cream Enchiladas. If you're nice, maybe I'll let you sample it with me.

Lamb Stew

Lamb Stew

Acorn Squash - I ended up only using the one of the left.
The picture below shows the squash after chopping.

2 lbs lamb (cut into bite-sized chunks)

2 tbls EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbls EVOO

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 onion, roughly chopped

7 cloves garlic, chopped

3 strips of bacon, chopped

1 acorn squash (~1 lb), peeled, seeded, and chopped (can use butternut squash)

splash of white wine (any kind will do, I used Sauvignon Blanc)

1 1/2 cups carrots

1 can diced tomato

1 cup beef broth

1/2 cup red wine (any kind will do, I used a blend)

1 tbls dried thyme

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 2 tbls of olive oil over medium heat in a large pot. When the oil is hot, add the chopped lamb, and cook until browned (if some pink remains, don't worry), stirring occasionally. Remove lamb from the pan, leaving the small bits of meat and fat. Set lamb aside.

Without cleaning the pot, add 1 tbls olive oil, celery, onion, garlic, and bacon. Add a little bit of white wine, thus deglazing the pot. Cook for 5 minutes or until soft. Add carrots, squash, diced tomato, tomato paste, red wine, browned lamb, red wine, beef broth, thyme, salt, and pepper. Stir. Cover the pot and turn heat to low. Cook for 2 hours. Stirring every 30 minutes. After 2 hours, remove the lid, and turn heat up a few notches. Set timer for 30 minutes. (This last 30 minutes will boil off some of the liquid and thicken the stew. It's up to you how thick you want the stew, so adjust the time accordingly. For a thicker stew, mash up some of the chunks of squash.)