Whole 30 - Day 1

Over the last couple weeks I've been allowing myself to have a lot of cheat meals, meaning that I've been snacking on gluten-free crackers lately. I've also been experiencing more headaches and stomachaches during the last few weeks. I even had to leave work early the other week due to a migraine and stomachache. So, I decided last Thursday that I was going to start a Whole 30 today. And I did. I was in Atlanta over the weekend so I had some free time this afternoon after I got back from the airport. Here's one of the recipes I made today...

Cauliflower Hummus

1 medium head cauliflower, broken into small pieces

1-2 cloves garlic, smashed  **UPDATE (see below)**

1/3 cup tahini

2 Tbls olive oil

1 Tbls lemon juice

1/2 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Steam the cauliflower. Boil your water, then add the cauliflower in a steamer basket, and steam for 15 minutes.

2. While the cauliflower is steaming, heat some olive oil in a small pan and add the garlic, cooking for about a minute while stirring.

3. Transfer the cauliflower and garlic to your food processor. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth.

Serve with carrots, celery, cucumber slices, etc. Or use it as a topping for chicken or salads or whatever you feel like using it for.

**UPDATE : The longer you let the hummus sit in the fridge before eating, the strong the flavors get. The garlic flavor got really strong by the second day - to the point that I have to run to the bathroom to brush my teeth because I'm worried I'm going to scare someone off with my breath. Yikes. It still tastes good, but is a bit strong.**

Chemo - Part 2 - Day 1

Today was our first day of chemo. We all went to the oncologist for this first one so that we would know what the procedure is for when I'm not in town. Each patient gets a reclining chair in a "room" with curtains as walls between each patient. There is a small TV with 15 channels and a DVD player for you to use, but my family each brought something to do. A book, the newspaper, and my iPad for typing up this blog post. Oh, and for your first day of chemo, they give you a folder of information for you to review if you wish. My dad is currently highlighting the important parts of one of the booklets. Did I mention that we came prepared with highlighters? Yeah, that's how we roll...

Today's cladribine drip took two hours, but the overall visit lasted four hours. We were told to expect each visit to take roughly that long. We started off with Zofran, "The Mercedes of Anti-Nausea Medications," which is taken orally, so requires some time to kick in. After that, we chatted with the nurse for a little bit. She gave us a brief summary of what to expect and what to watch out for: shortness of breath, red blotches, itching, lower back pain, and sore throat. If we notice any of these, we're supposed to let her know immediately. (So far, so good.) The nurse then inserted the IV, which is to be kept in for the next three days. Who knew that an IV connection could remain for that long? She connected a bag of saline "to keep things flowing" and then connected the cladribine bag via a pump which maintains a steady flow of the chemo drug.

Because we were here during lunch hour, we each brought something to snack on. Altogether we brought water, yogurt, almonds, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, Toasted Oatmeal Squares cereal, a Diet Coke, Sweet Potato Scrambled Eggs, carrots, celery, and pistachios. I ate the eggs.

Here's what I put into my Sweet Potato Scrambled Eggs (mainly a mix of leftovers):

2 eggs

1/4 cup baked sweet potato, mashed

1 handful of celery, chopped

6 cherry tomatoes, quartered

a pinch each of oregano, basil, salt, and pepper

Start with the celery in the pan, adding the tomatoes once the celery has softened a bit. Add the sweet potato, whisked eggs, and seasoning, cooking until the eggs are done.

This morning, before heading off to the doctor, I whipped up some Stuffed Peppers to cook in the slow-cooker while we were at the doctor.

Stuffed Pepper with Rice

4 bell peppers, thoroughly scrubbed

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/3 cup + 1 Tbls olive oil

2 Tbls lime juice

3 chipotle peppers

2 tsp adobo sauce (the sauce that canned chipotle peppers come in)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped green bell peppers

2 cups cauliflower, roughly 1.5" diameter bunches

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the olive oil, lime juice, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce, cumin, oregano, paprika, pepper, salt, and green peppers. Mix in the ground beef and set aside.

2. While the beef is marinating, prep the bell peppers (you can use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and remove the white flesh on the inside of the pepper.

3. Put your cauliflower into a food processor and pulse 6 times, or until the cauliflower has been reduced to rice-sized pieces.

4. Heat ~1 Tbls of olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Transfer the ground beef mixture to the skillet and brown the beef. Once the beef has finished cooking, remove from heat and stir in the cauliflower.

5. Spoon the ground beef and cauliflower into the bell peppers, leaving 1/4" of space from the top. Brush the outsides of the peppers with a little bit of olive oil.

6. Place the peppers into the slow-cooker, cover, and place on the lowest setting. Cook for 2 hours.

Before

After

This really only needs to cook on low for a couple hours, but let it go for as long as you're away. I'd suggest cooking this one weekend while you're at home doing chores, or running a few errands.

Another note about this dish. It can be pretty spicy depending on how many chipotle peppers you add, so this would be best at the beginning of chemo before any potential stomach/intestinal issues pop up. Spiciness doesn't always agree with people.

More Celtic Things

To maintain my love of Celtic things, I'm going to a Dropkick Murphy's concert tonight. Technically, by the time you read this, I should already be at the concert. I went to a Flogging Molly concert a couple weekends ago and it was amazing! I'm sure tonight's show will be the same. I don't know if there's many Paleo-friendly Celtic traditional dishes, besides Paleo Shepherd's Pie... I'll look into it.

I also got a kick out of the sign-off used by one of my teammates from crew (rowing). They closed their email with:

"Slow the  Slide"

For those of you who aren't rowers and don't understand this, let me explain. First off, your feet are strapped into foot stretchers and don't move. Your seat is on wheels on tracks (a.k.a. slides), so your butt slides backward and forward in the boat. There are two main parts of rowing: the drive and the recovery. The drive starts when you're as compressed as you can be. In other words, your legs are bent, you're back is leaning slightly forward, and your arms are extended in front of you. This position is called the catch. You then explode with your legs (straighten your legs quickly), lean back slightly and pull the oar into your chest (bend your arms). You're now at the finish. At this point, you would tap your oars out of the water by lowering your hands, and feather your oar by rotating your wrists back so that your palms are facing forward-ish (feathered: the blade is parallel to the water. this cuts down on wind resistance and is easier to avoid hitting your blade against the water). You're starting your recovery now. You extend your arms, lean forward, and bend your knees, up until you end up back at the catch. During this recovery process, you have to make sure that you don't compress your legs too quickly. Doing so can "check," or slow down, the boat. Slowing down this compression, so it's controlled is called the "slowing the slide," because you're slowing otherwise frantic rush up the tracks.

Anyways, what do you do with leftover Curry Burgers and Roasted Curry Cauliflower? You make a frittata with it.

Curried Frittata
1 lb curry burger ground beef

1 1/2 cup roasted curry cauliflower

6 eggs

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Grease the bottom of a round pan with coconut oil or olive oil. Transfer your cooked and seasoned meat and cauliflower to the pan, and stir to mix. In a separate bowl, whisk together 6 eggs with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Pour over your beef and cauliflower in the pan, making sure it's evenly spread. Move your baking pan to the preheated oven, and cook for 25 minutes. The frittata is done once the egg is solid. Let sit for 15 minutes. Slice, reheat if necessary, and enjoy.

One-Year Anniversary

On this day last year I made my first ever blog post. Last Wednesday was the one-year celebration of starting the Paleo diet. I went to a happy hour, but not exactly in celebration of Paleo, not to mention that drinking probably isn't the best way to celebrate Paleo. Anyways, yay for one year! I'm excited about it.

In honor of this day, I decided to try to mix it up a bit and go for a different genre of food. So I made myself an Curry Burger

Curry Burger

1/2 lb ground beef
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Mix up the spices and then use your hands to mash it into the burger. Heat over medium-low heat on a skillet. Flip after about 3 minutes. Enjoy with a side of Roasted Curry Cauliflower.

Roasted Curry Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, chopped

1 1/2 Tbls EVOO

1 tsp curry

1/2 tsp tumeric

1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Place your ingredients into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag. Seal and shake until evenly distributed. Spread over a tin foil-lined baking sheet, and place into the oven for 35 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

The last morning that I was in Atlanta, my parents made a frittata for me. Aww, aren't they just the sweetest? I don't know exactly how they prepped everything, so I'll just tell you what I would do.

Bacon and Veggie Frittata

1 cup kale, ripped to pieces

1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup orange bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup yellow bell pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

1 cup roasted cauliflower (precooked)

5 strips bacon, chopped

8 eggs, whisked

Preheat oven to 350 F. Place your uncooked and chopped bacon into a large pan over medium-high heat. Cook for 5 minutes or until the pieces are crispy. Remove bacon pieces.

Add the onions and cook until starting to turn translucent. Toss in your kale, stirring to coat with the glorious bacon grease. (If you're not using grass-fed bacon, you could remove the bacon from the pan and pour out the bacon fat. Instead use coconut or olive oil for cooking the veggies.) Cook for a couple minutes before throwing in the rest of your veggies. Remove from heat and stir the bacon bits back in.

Transfer the veggies and bacon to a greased 13"x9" baking pan. Pour the eggs over the veggies and bacon, making sure that the ingredients are evenly distributed. Bake for 25 minutes.

Whole 30 - Thanksgiving

So my family really likes Crock-pots. We're from the Midwest... it's a thing. We love us some Crock-pots.

And here's my Thanksgiving plate: Turkey, ham, mashed cauliflower, and roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon. And I drank chamomile tea almost constantly for the last few days.

Shortly after eating, my cold took over and I fell asleep on the couch, with my head on my father's shoulder while watching a football game. He fell asleep, too. And his snoring woke me up. Thanksgiving Day was not a good one for my cold. But tea made my throat feel better.

On Friday, my family celebrates Christmas (a.k.a. Thankmas). My uncle's family (kids, grandchildren, and great grandchildren) all gather for Thanksgiving, and it makes more sense for them to celebrate Christmas at the same time so that they don't have to travel to the same place twice within a month. Starting Thursday night, Thanksgiving decorations start getting switched out for Christmas ones. And on Friday, we go for Scandinavian foods, like pickled herring and Swedish meatballs. Though I didn't eat the meatballs, because they come in a cream-based sauce. It was killing me, trust me. I love Swedish meatballs. They're delicious!

Whole 30 - Family Gathering

Today was my first full day with my family, and it was a bit of a later start than I was expecting. I ate a small banana for breakfast before leaving the hotel. After my parents and I got our ID passes from the Air Force base (the hotel at which we are staying is on the base), we stopped by the grocery store in order for me to pick up some ingredients for Paleo meals. My grocery list consisted of:

• Butternut squash 
• Cauliflower 
• Broccoli 
• Onion 
• Scallions 
• Garlic 
• 2 tart apples 
• Bacon (as organic and free-range as I could get) 
• Ground beef (as organic and free-range as I could get)

While I was there, I also grabbed some acorn squash because it looked delicious. Once we got to my uncle's house, I immediately started cooking. I started off with Mashed Cauliflower, Roasted Broccoli

and Spicy Kale Chips

I also chopped up two bags of Brussels sprouts for a side dish tomorrow. By this point, it was about time for lunch. So while my family ate BBQ pulled chicken, I snacked on some broccoli and salami. And because of happy coincidence, my Atlanta-born college roommate and I happened to be in the same city, so I met up with her in the early afternoon for a catch-up -on-your-life tea break. When I got back from hanging out with her and her hubby, I started making non-Paleo Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars for my family. Yeah, I'm just that nice; even though I couldn't eat it, I wanted to share the deliciousness with my family. I think they liked it... just kidding, it was awesome!

Because the oven was full of baking lasagna and mozzarella breadsticks, I postponed prepping my own dinner until the oven was free. Because I'm on vacation I didn't want to think of any new recipes and the acorn squash reminded me of a PaleOMG recipe that I wanted to try. So I made Stuffed Acorn Squash.

1/2 acorn squash

1 lb ground beef (go for free-range/grass-fed if possible)

1/2 onion diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbls + 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375°C. Cover a baking sheet with tinfoil.

Cut the acorn squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Coat the flesh of the squash with olive oil (1 tsp on each half). Now shake 1/2 tsp of cinnamon onto each half and rub the cinnamon across the squash to ensure even distribution. Place the squash, cut-side down, onto the baking sheet and transfer to the oven. Bake for 20 minutes before flipping over and baking for another 10 minutes.

While the squash is baking, heat 1 Tbls of olive oil in a skillet over the stove. Once hot, transfer the onion and the garlic into the pan and cook until the onion is translucent. Add the ground beef. Once the beef has been browned, reduce heat to low and keep warm until the squash is done.

Now that your squash is done (the skin of the squash will be squishy when you poke it), carefully scoop the flesh out of one half of the squash, making sure that you don't break the skin.

Transfer to the pan on the stove and mix into the ground beef. Transfer back into the skin of the squash. When the half is almost completely full, use your spoon to make a dent in the mixture and crack an egg into the hole you just made. Put the squash back into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or until the egg is cooked.

You could do the same thing with the other acorn squash half, or you could use a knife to cut the squash into squares for use in some other dish. I did the later, but I haven't decided yet what to make... I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow.

So it took an hour after my family ate for me to finish cooking and get around to eating, but hey, I managed to stay Paleo and eat a delicious meal. And I have exercised INTENSE self-control and have not eaten any of the pumpkin chocolate chip bars which you all know that I love. That's dedication to Whole 30. Your admiration of my mad self-control is appreciated.

Fried Rice

4 out of my last 5 posts were for pumpkin recipes. Yeah, I'm having a love affair with pumpkin. Don't judge. It's a seasonal tryst, though apparently this one has decided to last a while longer. Alas, I can't seem to be upset about it. Maybe you're tired of pumpkin recipes? To which I reply, how?? Anyways, in the spirit of mixing things up and trying something different because even I can get bored with eating stuffed pumpkin for days, I made fried rice last night. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm crazy. Rice is a grain and is therefore not Paleo. You're right, which is why I made "rice." I probably should have led with the quotations. Technically, it's cauliflower, but it looks like rice... and it's yummy.

Cauliflower "Rice"

1 head cauliflower, broken into pieces

1 Tbls coconut oil

Place the cauliflower into your food processor. Turn on and process until the cauliflower is now in rice-size pieces. Heat coconut oil over medium heat on the stove. Once hot, transfer your "rice" to the pan and cook for 5-10 minutes. Done. Enjoy that rice.

Fried "Rice"

Cauliflower rice

1/2 onion, chopped

1 Tbls coconut oil

2 eggs

1 tsp sesame oil

3/4 tsp rice vinegar (apparently it's okay according to Whole30 guidelines)

2 tsp coconut aminos

1/4 tsp ground ginger

salt and pepper to taste

Heat coconut oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped onion, a few shakes/twists of salt and pepper, and cook for ~4 minutes. Whisk two eggs in a bowl (or you can crack them straight into the pan and just stir the daylights out of the eggs and onions, but then you risk eating bits of eggshell). When the egg is almost completely scrambled, add in your seasonings, mixing thoroughly. Because your "rice" has already been cooked, toss this in after your eggs and onion are done cooking and you've found your ideal flavors. (Yes, I encourage you to play with the proportions a bit. You may not have the same taste preferences as I do.) Stir for another couple minutes and then transfer the "rice" to a bowl, plate, mug, or whatever you choose to eat out of. Now devour that rice.

Sadly (or fortunately), I was so overwhelmed by the deliciousness of the fried rice that I forgot to take a picture before I demolished it. So I'll post a photo once I make it again. I also intend on adding some greens, like broccoli or kale.

As a side note regarding table manners... I know a few people who will immediately add salt and pepper to their food without even tasting it first. Etiquette faux pas. It is considered very rude for you to add seasonings to a dish without trying it first, especially if this meal was cooked for you by a dinner host/hostess. Sure the chef at a restaurant may take offense that you messed with his masterpiece, but most likely he or she isn't your friend or loved one.

Breakfast Bites

Breakfast Bites - Veggie Base

1 dozen eggs

1 red pepper, chopped

1 white onion, chopped

5 mushrooms, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, sliced

1 head cauliflower

1 head broccoli

salt and pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Start by roasting your cauliflower and broccoli. Use 1 Tbls olive oil with a little bit of salt and pepper for a flavor base. Wrap with the aluminum foil, and cook in the over on 425°F for 25 minutes. It doesn't matter if you don't roast it enough for your usual liking, because it will cook further later.

Heat 1 Tbls olive oil over medium-low heat (4 out of 9). Once you think it's ready, wet your fingertips and splash a little bit of water onto the pan. If it immediately sizzles, you're ready to add your onions. Cook the onions until they start to become translucent. Then add your sliced garlic. After cooking the onion and garlic for another 10 minutes, add your red peppers. Cook for ~5 minutes.

In a separate pan, heat 1/2 Tbls olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp bacon fat over medium-low heat (3 out of 9). Once ready, add your sliced mushrooms. The trick to cooking mushrooms properly is don't overcrowd. Cook until they've started to brown and have reduced in size.

While these veggies are cooking on the stove, whisk your dozen eggs. After all of your veggies are done cooking, stir in the broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, red peppers, and mushrooms. At this point you're ready to make veggie muffins.

Veggie Egg Muffins
Veggie base (see above)
1 muffin tin
Muffin tin liners

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Pour roughly 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin liner. Bake for 25 minutes or until the egg is fully cooked and solid.

Chorizo Egg Muffins
Veggie Egg Muffin base (see above)
1-2 chorizo sausage links, casing removed

Take your chorizo sausage links and make a slice length-wise down the link. Pull the link open and turn inside out, removing the meat from the sausage casing. Break the meat into pieces and mix into the egg muffin mix. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin liner. Bake for 25 minutes or until the egg is fully cooked and solid. The "muffin" won't rise, so feel free to fill the muffin tin.

Salmon Frittata
Veggie Egg Muffin base (see above)
~ 1.5 cups of Lemon-Rosemary Salmon, shredded

Mix salmon into the veggie and egg mixture. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a round 8" pan with coconut oil. Pour the egg-salmon-veggie mixture into the pan. Cook for 30-35 minutes or until eggs in the center are cooked through and are solid.

And now you know what I've eaten for the week. Yum!

Chorizo, Eggs, and Roasted Veggies

Wednesday's post-boot camp dinner: Chorizo, Sunny-side up egg, roasted broccoli, roasted cauliflower, and roasted asparagus.

How To: Roast Veggies

This is an incredibly simple way to roast up some veggies.

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Rinse and dry vegetable of choice. Cut into bite-size pieces if applicable (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots)
3. Tear yourself a piece of tin foil large enough to wrap up your veggies and place your vegetable of choice on the foil.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Add 2 tsp of water.
6. Wrap up in tin foil.
7. Place tin foil packet in the oven and cook for ~30 minutes (some veggies, such as beets and carrots, require more time). You can also cook the vegetables longer if you prefer your veggies to be extra-tender.

Optional: You can also add a teaspoon of lemon/lime/orange juice if you want to give your veggies some more flavor. Personally I like adding some lemon juice to my asparagus.

Lemon Herb Chicken

Lemon Herb Chicken Marinade

zest of half of a lemon

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

1 tsp parsley

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup olive oil

Place 1 pound of thawed chicken breast into a gallon size Ziploc bag. Mix the ingredients together and pour into the bag with the chicken. Seal the bag and shake to coat evenly. Open the bag slightly and squeeze as much air out as possible without spilling the marinade. Let sit in refrigerator for 2 hours or more. Cook chicken as you normally would. I served mine with roasted cauliflower, and a summer salad with strawberries and blueberries).

Roasted Purple Cauliflower

I was meandering through the grocery store the other evening (oh, who am I kidding, I went with a thorough list of what I needed), when I found purple cauliflower. I've read blogs and seen photos of purple cauliflower, but this was the first time that I've actually seen it in person. Anyways, I decided to buy some. Once I got home, I roasted it in the oven; and OMG, it was amazing. If you haven't tried it, you should! I was snacking on it right when I took it out of the oven and it was so delicious that my mind combined wow and amazing to WOW-MAZ-ING! I know I'm kind of raving, but it was soooo good!

Roasted Purple Cauliflower
1 head purple cauliflower
2 Tbls Extra-virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F. Rinse the cauliflower and remove the leaves and stem. Chop the cauliflower into bite-size pieces (it's white on the inside). Put into gallon-size ziploc bag. Add EVOO, garlic salt, and pepper. Spread onto baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes.

I did the same thing with broccoli but added red pepper flakes. Again, delicious! And a little spicy.