W30D9

This round of Whole 30 isn't going as well as some of my others. Usually I feel better within a few days of starting a round of what I term super-strict Paleo. I normally feel more energetic, I sleep better, my stomach gives me no issues, and so on. My skin has gotten a bit better on this round, but it's still isn't clear. I'm not as bloated as I was the morning that I started (1" from my waist to be exact).

I guess part of it probably comes down to the fact that I've continued to consume alcohol for the last week, which means I'm technically not doing a Whole 30. While I'm not drinking on a daily basis, I'm thinking that I'd probably feel better if I cut out the alcohol completely. The problem is that I like drinking alcohol with friends. So I'm making my own rule: no alcohol Sunday through Thursday. In addition to this, I'm no longer going to watch TV shows on my iPad just before bed. I'm not going to cut TV out completely, because I fully intend on watching some of the Olympics which starts up this weekend, but not watching it while laying in bed is probably a good idea and will help me fall asleep more quickly. Starting today, I'm also cutting myself off from facebook, excluding my blog posts to my facebook page: Adventures in Paleo-land. I seem to have a lot of caveats to everything. Here's the complete list of my new rules:

1. No alcohol Sunday through Thursday
2. No TV at night, except for the Olympics, but not within 1 hour of bed time
3. No social media
4. Exercise every day -- The most important of the bunch!

According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise...

1. controls weight
2. combats health conditions and diseases
3. improves mood
4. boosts energy
5. promotes better sleep
6. puts a spark back into your sex life
7. can be fun

And based on the article "Physical Activity and the Prevention of Depression: A Systemic Review of Prospective Studies" by George Mammen and Guy Faulkner, moderate exercise can both treat and prevent depression. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2013; 45(5):649–657.

I'm really bad about exercising these days. I need a goal or some sort of punishment if I don't exercise. Which is why I'm having my parents hold me accountable. If I don't exercise in some form, whether it's a walk, yoga, rowing, or Krav Maga, for at least 1 hour per day (barring the plague/flu or serious injury), I have to pay my parents $100 each. That's $200 that I could devote to shopping or travel or eating out. And that's $200 that my parents get to hold over me. I don't like failing. And I really don't like giving my money away when I have control over the cause. Plus, if I win, my parents have to buy me a steak dinner. Yum! So wish me luck.

Exercise Challenge Day (ECD) 1: 1 hour Krav Maga Flex (somewhat intense yoga)

Spicy Pepper Frittata

6 eggs

1 1/2 Tbls coconut oil

1/2 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced green pepper

2 minced jalapeno

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.

2. Heat 1 Tbls coconut oil in a medium oven-proof pan. Add the onions, green pepper, jalapeno and spices to the pan, cooking for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the last 1/2 Tbls of coconut oil and spread across the pan. Pour in the whisked eggs, and cook for 2 minutes or until the eggs at the bottom of the pan start to firm up.

4. Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the eggs are thoroughly cooked. Remove from pan, slice, and serve. I ate mine with a quarter of an avocado.

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.

Chorizo Sausage Frittata

The thing about my parents' house is that they have an incredibly well-stocked fridge and pantry. And I mean incredibly... to the point that every time we went grocery shopping, we had to spend a little while rearranging the fridge to fit everything in. And why are they so well-stocked? Sam's Club. My mom likes to buy in bulk. It's both good and bad. On the one hand, you get food for a cheaper price per item/unit of measurement; on the other, you get more than you can eat at any given time. So when we chopped up three bell peppers, we used some for our Christmas Eve salad, and then placed the rest into Tupperware. This turned out to be very handy for us because when breakfast rolled around, all I had to do to make a frittata was to toss all of the pre-chopped veggies into the pan to cook and then transfer to a baking dish and add scrambled eggs. For our morning after Christmas breakfast, we did just that and tossed in some chorizo pork sausage that I bought from Whole Foods. So here's a total list of what went into breakfast:

Chorizo Sausage Frittata

2 links chorizo sausage

8 eggs, whisked

1/3 red, orange, and yellow bell peppers, chopped

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

1 1/2 cup broccoli florets, chopped

1/2 cup of chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped kale

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Heat 1 Tbls olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the kale, toss, and cover with lid. Cook for 5 minutes until kale becomes a darker green. Add carrots and broccoli and cook covered for another 5 minutes. Remove lid and set aside. Add in the mushrooms and peppers and cook for 3 minutes. Transfer veggies to an oiled baking dish.

While the veggies are cooking, cook your chorizo in a separate pan. Start by cooking the full links on each side over medium heat until browned, about a minute per side. Then remove from the pan and slice into pieces. Return to pan and cook for about 2 minutes per side. 

Mix chorizo sausage with the veggies and pour the whisked eggs over the top of the meat and veggies. Transfer to the oven and cook for 25 minutes or until the eggs are firm. Remove from oven and slice into 8 pieces.

Here's the resulting frittata served with leftover potato sausage and a handful of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

After eating breakfast, my parents and I finished up this cute puzzle:

And just to finish off, I want to give everyone a warning about bread in the microwave.

NEVER EVER PUT BREAD IN THE 

MICROWAVE FOR THREE MINUTES!!! 

One of my co-workers did that today with a hot dog bun and OMG does the it smell terrible! The burnt smell has permeated half of the floor so far and someone called our safety manager to report a fire. Yikes.

Sunday Shopping

Sunday has been deemed my shopping day. Every blog post, article, advice I've seen and received since deciding to go Paleo has said to dedicate one day per week to groceries and food prep.

So here's my intended menu for the week. (Forewarning - I made way too many pork chops this morning, so I will be eating a lot of those this week. Also, most of my breakfasts are eaten in a rush, so I'm sticking with the same thing each morning this week.) I made the frittata tonight and am letting the beef stew cook over.

Sunday
B: Omelet with leftovers from the week
L: Almonds and grapes
D: Veggies (I snacked a lot while I chopped)

Monday
B: Frittata with chipotle sauce and guacamole
L: Beef Stew with side salad
D: Pork Chops (mushroom-rosemary) with sauteed kale

Tuesday
B: Frittata with salsa
L: Grilled Chicken "Sandwich" (with lettuce)
D: Zucchini "Spaghetti" with meat sauce (meat sauce is leftover from last week) See right.

Wednesday
B: Frittata with salsa
L: Pork Chops with roasted broccoli
D: Beef Stew

Thursday
B: Pork chops mixed into veggie/egg scramble
L: Thursday Noon Tradition (TNT), a.k.a. lunch out with co-workers
D: Beef Stew

Friday
B: Frittata with chipotle sauce
L: Beef Stew
D: Dinner out

Saturday
B: Omelet with leftover veggies
L: Pork Chop Sandwich
D: Salmon with sauteed kale



Frittata Recipe:
7 eggs
3/4 cup bell peppers, diced (I used red and orange)
3/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup onion
1 precooked chicken breast, diced (precooked with a BBQ rub)
3/4 cup broccoli (I ended up not using all of the florets in the photo)
2 cups spinach
1 tbls + some olive oil
pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 375F. Coat the bottom and sides of a baking pan with a olive oil or butter. Heat 1 tbls olive oil in a skillet on the stove. Add peppers, mushrooms, onions, and broccoli and cook until onions are translucent. While these are cooking, crack the eggs into a separate bowl and beat. Spread veggies across pan and put the spinach in the skillet, heating until wilted. Distribute spinach in baking pan. Pour the eggs across the pan, making sure it's well spread. Bake for 20 minutes or until the center is firm (my oven runs a little hot, so it may take a bit more time).

Beef stew recipe will be posted tomorrow once it's done cooking.