Happy Easter!

Yeah, I'm a day late, but I hope you all had a fantastic Easter.. if you celebrate it. If you don't, you can at least enjoy all of the candy that's now on sale. Except if you're hard-core Paleo that is. In which case, go buy yourself a high-quality dark chocolate, like this bar of 75% Cacao Fearless Chocolate that I found on sale at Whole Foods. The two (yes, only two) ingredients in this bar of chocolate are organic cacao and organic cane sugar. Sure, we try to stay away from added sugar, but if you're going to have a bar of chocolate, aim for the stuff with the least amount of sugar, and go for organic. They also have a 85% cacao bar.

Anyways, in honor of Easter, I decided to cook myself a yummy breakfast. Because what's Sunday morning without brunch?

Veal Chorizo and Artichoke Scrambled Eggs

1/4 lb chorizo-flavored ground veal (Click here to find a chorizo seasoning recipe)

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped (you can use frozen or marinated artichokes)

1/4 cup frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed

2 eggs, whisked

1. Heat a pan over medium heat. Break the ground veal into small bites and add to the pan. Heat until thoroughly cooked.

2. Toss in the artichokes and spinach, then add the eggs. Cook for a few minutes until the eggs are done.

Serve with a side of sweet potato hash browns and a small glass of blueberry kombucha. Happy Easter!

And in exciting news for today, I convinced myself to do the Chest and Back P90X workout today after work. I also have finally managed a headstand. I got myself up and held it for 20 seconds without using the wall for support. Huzzah! I'm super excited about it! I never knew I had a goal to do that, but after practicing inversions with my Krav Maga yoga class, that goal just developed. And today was a good start on my way to doing a handstand. I feel productive. And enthused. But now, I'm going to go to bed and get my eight hours of sleep. Sweet dreams, y'all!

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!

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.

Green Eggs

This morning I had Green Eggs for breakfast after my 5 a.m. workout. It's very easy and yummy if you like artichokes, but fair warning, the artichokes changes the coloring of the eggs a little bit...

Green Eggs

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup spinach

1/4 cup canned artichoke hearts, quartered

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

1. Thoroughly wash and pat dry your spinach, pulling off the stems.
2. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat (mine was set for level 3). Once ready, toss in the spinach and cook until wilted.
3. Gather roughly 1/4 cup of quartered artichoke hearts and cut in half so that the leafy bits are loose. Add these to the pan and heat for a few minutes.
4. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk. Season with salt and pepper (but don't use too much salt, it can be overbearing with the artichoke).
5. Pour the eggs into the pan and heat, stirring frequently for even cooking. I'm sure you know how to scramble eggs, and it's the same thing here, just with green bits thrown in.
6. Transfer to a plate/bowl/cup/frisbee/whatever you use to serve food. Pick up fork/spoon/stick, scoop the Green Eggs onto your utensil, and raise to your open mouth. Close, chew, swallow, enjoy.

P90X - Day 17

All of this week I have been/am going to be in all-day meetings, starting at 8 a.m. and going until 4ish in the afternoon. This means that all of the other work sitting on my desk waiting to get done will continue waiting. However, because I hate the idea of missing deadlines, I decided to get into work by 7, so that I have an hour before my meeting and an hour or so after to work on my other tasks. In order to get to wake up, work out (1-1.5 hours), shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get to work, I have to start my workout at 4:30. I've found that it generally takes me an hour from the time that I start to get ready for work until the time that I get to my desk.

So... yesterday morning I intended to wake up at 4:30 a.m. I turned off my first alarm when it started ringing and decided to wait for the 5 a.m. alarm. But I ended up getting out of bed at 4:50 to do P90X Shoulders and Arms. I strongly dislike waking up that early. But I'm going to try to do 4:30 a.m. for this week. Fingers crossed that I manage it for yoga. That's a full 1.5 hours, so I NEED to be up by 4:30 to get to work on time.

Last weekend I made Paleo Spinach-Artichoke Dip based on this recipe from PaleOMG. It turned out really well. The cashews definitely did the trick. The only variations: instead of using onion powder and garlic powder, I used a few shakes of garlic salt; my cashews were raw (unroasted and unsalted). I think it turned out just fine. And it made a lot. More than my friends and I could eat at Girls Night In.

In scary news, there are zombie amoeba in your tap water! Just kidding. But seriously. Though the result of the study just got published on August 22, 2012, the study covers "brain-eating amoeba" found in tap water that led to the deaths of two people in Louisiana. The actual term for the disease is primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It's caused when Naegleria fowleri–containing water enters the nose, such as while swimming. The N. fowleri migrates to the brain via the olfactory nerve, which, you guessed it, is critical to your sense of smell. N. fowleri is a "climate-sensitive, thermophilic ameba found in the environment, including warm, freshwater lakes and rivers." The warm climates of southern USA makes nice breeding grounds. Boo!

The way in which these two people were exposed were via sinus rinses. For those of you who don't suffer from chronic allergies or frequent sinus infections, you may not have heard of a sinus rinse. Doctors recommend a rinse to their patients basically as a way of cleaning out the sinuses. Previously the only option was a neti pot, for which you had to turn your head on it's side and pour the water mixture through your nose. Yes, into one nostril and out of the other. There's now a "sinus rinse" option which is a squeeze bottle. And as I'm sure you can guess... you squeeze the bottle to send the water + special formula up one nostril and out of the other. Then repeat on the other side.

You may think this is gross, and it kind of is, but it is helpful. I start using the sinus rinse every time I feel a cold/sinus infection coming on and I do believe it helps to get rid of the cold sooner. The key thing to take from this story is that you NEED to use distilled, boiled, or filtered water.

For reference: 

Yoder, Jonathan S., et al. "Clinical Infectious Diseases." Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis Deaths Associated With Sinus Irrigation Using Contaminated Tap Water. Oxford Journals, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/22/cid.cis626.abstract>

P90X - Day 2

Monday morning

5:00 a.m.: My alarm clock sounds.

5:05 a.m.: I convince myself to get out of bed.

5:10 a.m.: I start the 1-hour P90X Plyometrics routine.

6:10 a.m.: I foam-rolled my hamstrings, calves, and shins.

Plyometrics is almost my least favorite of the P90X workouts (yoga wins the least favorite award). I did more squats yesterday than I have in the past month, and my body is unhappy with me for not maintaining the fitness level that I had achieved the first time I did P90X. Here we go again!

I've talked in the past about where to get things like fiber or calcium, and I started thinking about whether I was getting too much or too little of a particular nutrient. So I created an account on myfitnesspal.com today as a way to track the amount of nutrients that I'm consuming. It unfortunately doesn't track all vitamins, but it covers the "big" ones that most people watch for. Based on my weight, goals, lifestyle (I spend ~10 hours/day sedentary), etc., the website predicts that I should consume 1330 calories, 183 g carbs, 44 g fat, 50 g protein, 100 g calcium, and 15 g fiber. These goal values change when you log your workouts so that you get enough nutrients. So when I added in the Plyo from this morning, my target values changed to: 1980 kcal, 272 g carbs, 65 g fat, 74 g protein, 100 g calcium, and 23 g fiber.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@7:30a.m.): 1 egg scrambled with spinach and artichokes

Snack (@10a.m.): 1 Gala apple

Pre-lunch (@11:30a.m.): 2/3 serving of 72% dark chocolate with cacao nibs (I'm bad, I know.)

Lunch (@1p.m.): 1.5 cup homemade chicken and vegetable soup

Snack (@4p.m.): 1/4 of an orange, 2 Tbls Sundrops

Dinner (@8:30p.m.): Rack of lamb with Brussels sprouts, and artichokes, with a dessert of 1 Tbls of almond butter.  The lamb was seasoned with salt, pepper, rosemary, sesame seeds, and thyme. The artichokes were just sprinkled with some salt and pepper, and the Brussels sprouts got pepper, garlic salt, and about 1/2 tsp of bacon fat.

Nutritional data:

Calories:      1226 kcal

Carbs:          108 g

Fat:              54 g

Protein:        83 g
Calcium:       38 g
Fiber:           32 g

Cholesterol: 381 mg

Sodium:        1272 mg

Sugars:         51 g

As you can see, I was below my suggested intake on everything except for protein and fiber. Hmmmm... then again, I don't eat too many carbs being on the Paleo diet, so I hope I wouldn't reach 272 g of carbs per day. And eating more protein is a component of Paleo. Either way, I ate when I was hungry, and felt incredibly full after dinner.

This week's goal: No "sneaking" food. If I eat it, it counts and I'm posting it here so that all of you can judge me. Accountability!

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.

Paleo Braised Chicken

Paleo Braised Chicken
2 Tbls bacon fat
1 lb chicken thigh fillets
(you can use chicken thighs or chicken legs)
1 cup pearl onions, frozen or fresh
2 shakes each of:
    parsley
    coriander
    marjoram
    thyme
    salt
    pepper
pinch of cloves
2 large cloves of garlic, sliced
1 cup artichokes, frozen
3/4 cup Brussels sprouts, frozen
1 cup chicken stock
2 Tbls balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 325F.
Heat bacon fat in pan on medium heat. Season chicken with spices, then sear chicken in pan.

Remove chicken and set aside. Do NOT clean out the pan. Put the onions into the pan from which you just removed the chicken. Once the onions are carmelized, add the artichokes, garlic, and season with more salt and pepper.

Transfer to a covered baking dish. Add chicken, chicken stock, and vinegar. Cover and put into the oven for 50 minutes.