W30D6

I don't know what it is about weekends that make me feel so darn lazy. I still worked out, cleaned, cooked, and did laundry. But I did spend 30 minutes of the day just relaxing on my un-made bed. It seems as though the dryer at my house decided to stop working after I started washing my bedding. So it's taking me hours with a combination of hanging the sheets and running the dryer on timed dry to get my sheets close to being somewhat dry. Fun, huh?

My friend Jay (of Health Nuts Anonymous - go check it out!) is doing this Whole 30 with me. It's not quite the same as having a support system with you, but it's the next best thing. It keeps me a bit more accountable than if I were just doing this alone. During our brief conversation today, we talked about our communal love of chocolate and our associated sadness in not eating chocolate for the next three weeks. Can there be a version of Whole 30 that requires the consumption of a limited amount of dark chocolate every day? Please? I think that's the thing that I've been wanting the most over this past week. Especially because it's so easy to snack on. Anyways, we also discussed fish, in particular sardines. Jay has found some excellent sardines that come in olive oil with sea salt, and because the sardines have been roasted, you can eat the spine. Um, not exactly my cup of tea, but props to him for choking that down. I'll allow that it may be good for you, but I think I'm going to need to work on Paleo for at least another couple years before I make it to eating sardine spine... if I ever get there. Don't count on it.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is that even if your support system doesn't physically see you, it's still helpful having someone else do Paleo/Whole 30/21DSD with you. Sign up for newsletters, join online forums, or even just comment on blogs. Give it a go!

Paleo Hollandaise Sauce

2 egg yolks, room temperature

1 Tbls lemon juice

1/2 cup melted ghee, this should be warm, not hot

pinch of salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

1. Blend the egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and cayenne pepper on low for 30 seconds. Keep the blender running...
2. SLOWLY add the ghee drop by drop to the blender. If you add the ghee too quickly, the emulsion will fall apart and then you'll just have a yellow mess. No bueno. After the emulsion has formed, you can speed up a little bit to a trickle, then to a steady, but slow, stream. Continue until all of the ghee has been incorporated.

Poached Egg with Hollandaise

Lemon-Paprika Salmon

It's the second day of my Virgin Diet. Nothing new to report. As I mentioned yesterday, the Virgin Diet isn't significantly different from how I normally eat. However, thanks to the handy website PaleoTrack.com, I noticed that during these past two days my protein intake has increased and my carb intake has decreased. And by carb I mean starchy veggies and fruits. So I'm falling into the ketosis/intermittent fasting range of carb intake, or < 50 g of carbohydrates. Reference this graph here. I had talked about ketosis the other week as a way of potentially reducing my migraine frequency, but I never really expected to do it. Seriously, I had already cut down on so many things, that the idea of cutting down on my fruit/starchy carbs intake was unappealing. Yet here I am now, cutting down on fruits. Ketosis, here I come... Let's see how long I can keep it up without having a bad day or a weak moment and attacking an entire bag of dried fruit (dried mango has become my weakness over the last couple months... curse you, Trader Joe's for have unsulphured, unsweetened dried fruit). In the meantime, get some Omega-3's into your diet with this salmon.

Lemon-Paprika Salmon

1 wild-caught Coho salmon fillet
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsp lemon juice (or orange juice)
1 Tbls olive oil

1. Mix the garlic powder, paprika, sea salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil together in a small bowl.

2. Coat the salmon on both sides with the mixture, and place in a covered container in the fridge for half an hour.

3. Set oven to broil.
4. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the salmon has turned a light pink shade and is slightly flaky.

5. Let sit for a few minutes and then slice and serve.

Steamed broccoli or asparagus are good side options.

Whole 30 - Day 16

Want an easy and inexpensive family meal? Go for a roast chicken. It's one of the least expensive options and it can easily feed your family. Oh, you're single? Join the club, and congrats! You now have enough chicken to last you for the next few days. I've posted recipes for roasting a whole chicken in the past, but here we go again. Slight variation from what I made when I went to Atlanta in April for my family's first round of chemo, so here you go.

Crispy Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken ~5-6 lb

2 small lemons, cut in half

1/2 bunch of thyme

salt and pepper - I used roughly equal portions, probably 2 Tbls each

3 Tbls olive oil

1 onion, halved and sliced

4 carrots, cut into 1" pieces

3 stalks celery, cut into 2" pieces

1 leek, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and set rack in the middle of the oven - if you have two racks in the middle, pick the upper one.

2. Thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of the chicken. Pat dry.

3. Sprinkle the entire inside and outside of the bird with salt and pepper. Rub in with your hands.

4. Make two small slices in the skin near the legs, and use your fingers to rub salt and pepper under the skin.

5. Stuff the inside of the bird with the thyme and three of the lemon halves.

6. Spread olive oil over the outside of the bird, rubbing it in (of course).

7. Sprinkle again with salt and pepper, and rub into the skin, yet again.

8. Squeeze the remaining lemon half over the bird to get some lemon flavor on the outside. Use a zester to add lemon zest to the outside of the bird.
9. Put the bird into a roasting pan if you have one, breast side down. If not, you can use a lasagna pan. 

10. Surround the bird with the onion, carrots, celery, and leek. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a little bit of thyme if you have any leftover.

11. Cook for one hour, then flip over the bird. Use a baster to remove some of the liquid to a leftover glass jar. Remove the veggies from the tray.

12. Cook for another 30 minutes, then remove more of the liquid from the pan. Flip the bird over again, and cook for another 10 minutes. This is mainly to get the skin crispy and brown. Congrats, you're done.

Whole 30 - Day 11

I'm really cutting this close with getting a post out today, aren't I? Well, my reasoning is simple. I had crew practice after work, where I took out a single and gouged some more skin off of the knuckles of my right hand. Then I rushed home to shower and grab a bite to eat before meeting up with my out-of-town friend J. I figured nobody at the bar would appreciate me showing up sweaty, and I didn't really want to sit in my sweat-drenched clothes (Boy, was it warm today, so I didn't exactly have time to sit down and type up a post, but I'm doing it now. So there.

Despite being up and out so late on a weekday, I'm still pretty energetic, probably because I was so excited to see J again. We had interned together up in Pennsylvania five years ago, then had both lived in Texas for a while, before he returned to the North. Work brought him back to the grand state of Texas, so I abandoned my 9 pm bed time and caught up with him and his wildly ridiculous stories. He is the BEST storyteller. I always have a blast with him!

Anyways, I'm going to share with you a way of steaming asparagus in the microwave... without any dishware. Say what? Keep reading.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

1 bunch asparagus

1/4 cup water

1 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

1 packet of Proscuitto

1. Grab 3 papertowels. Use the 1/4 cup of water and lemon juice to wet the entire papertowel. Lay flat.

2. Rinse the asparagus and trim off the bottom inch to inch and a half of the stem.

3. Spread the asparagus on the papertowels, sprinkle with salt and peppa, and roll that sucker up. Proceed carefully so you don't tear the sheets apart.

4. Place in the microwave and nuke it for 4 minutes. And your asparagus is ready.

5. Wrap up 5-6 stems in each piece of Prosciutto and serve... with some chicken and wilted spinach and baby kale.

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.**

Summer Salad

Summer Salad

2 cups mixed greens

1/2 cup blueberries

1/4 cup chopped orange bell peppers

1 tsp flax seeds

1/2 cup lemon-herb chicken pieces

Can be eaten without dressing which is what I usually do, or whip up a Lemon Vinaigrette (1 Tbls olive oil, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, lemon zest, pinch of sea salt, 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard).

And in other news, I found this photo I had taken while I was packing up my apartment for my recent move and came across all of the presents that I've gotten from one of my best friends. See the photo below... I bet you can pick up on a theme. Anyways, I've kept them all over the years and for the most part they all get displayed on a shelf together. So all of these presents got packed into a box together. By the time I decided to take a photo of all of these, I had already packed my Nerd Chapstick and OCD Action Figure (still in its original packaging, of course), so sadly those are absent from the photo.

The bricks are "Two senior bricks fighting over a guy," with photos of the two senior guys in question. I believe these were a 16th birthday present, in return for the two bricks that I gave to her.

The cow wrapped in plastic behind Brick David is a stuffed animal that was dipped in scented wax. It can be unwrapped and left out to freshen your room. Obviously, you can see Cow-baby up front, with the cow Eiffel Tower in front of it. The box in the back is a decorated shoebox with a photo of KM and I from high school! On top is a cow planter and hand-standing cow salt and pepper shakers. The notebook in the front is a present from Prague, that KM gave me with the picture frame box just to its right. And on top of the picture box is a cow stuffed animal. Phew. That's roughly 10 years of friendship... in one photo. Amazing!

21DSD Day 12 - Stay Strong

Bored with plain old water? Mix it up with lemon or lime. Or if you want to be fancy... Cucumbers!!! Because really, what's life without cucumbers in your water? It tastes so crisp and cool... like a cucumber.

I'm currently writing this in the car as my friends and I road trip to the lake for Memorial Day weekend. The song we're all singing to right now is "Wagon Wheel" by Darius Rucker. Fun fact: Darius Rucker was the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, who just really wanted to sing country. And I mean, can you blame him? Country is awesome. So is Texas. Oh, and he's awesome, too.

Anyways, I'm mentally preparing myself for saying "no" to alcohol. As I mentioned, it's really hard to go out with a huge group of friends who are all drinking and not join in. I mean, my mom even said that it wouldn't be a big deal if I just had a drink... She wants me to have fun and not feel like the sober outsider, which can happen sometimes.

But I'm just reminding myself of the reasons to stay strong:

1. It's just plain good for my body.

2. My body will thank me tomorrow when I'm not hungover.

3. I'll be one of the few people with a clear recollection of the events of the evening.

4. I get to avoid filling myself with empty calories devoid of any nutritional value.

5. I want to be able to say that I stuck with 21DSD without cheating or slipping. It's a pride thing.

6. My face will stay clearer by staying away from the sugars in the alcohol mixers.

7. I want to win $200 in my work "Baywatch Challenge"

Speaking of the "Baywatch Challenge," I was heating up some Paleo Chili for my lunch today when I saw one of my competitors pulling a Lean Cuisine out of the microwave. It just made me think of the days when I used to eat microwave dinners. I did it for years, even back in high school because my schedule was so crazy with school, studying, and my abundance of extra-curriculars. I just remember always feeling hungry after I finished eating it. It just didn't seem like enough food, yet I was always worried about my total calorie count for the day, so I just sucked it up... Until I couldn't restrain myself anymore and I attacked the snacks. Not so good for weight loss. So today, when I tucked into a large bowl of Paleo Chili, I silently thanked the Paleo gods... Jk, I felt immensely grateful that my "Twin" (the other half of my crew team's stroke pair) introduced me to Paleo. Granted it took her a few years of telling me how great she felt to get me to try changing my eating habits, but it finally happened.

Though eating Paleo takes a lot longer and it makes me that person at restaurants when I say "I'll have the special, hold the bread and the sauce and the potatoes, and can I get a salad instead of that cheesy nonsense," I still prefer the foods that I'm eating. I don't think I can rave enough about how great my meals end up tasting in comparison to how i used to eat. Going Paleo forced me to hone my cooking skills. Don't believe me? Just ask my ex... He was the cook in our relationship; I was the baker. I attribute that to the fact that I love to bake from scratch and raw meat used to terrify me. Baking just seemed like the better option for me. But I've adjusted. I still love baking way more than cooking, but I enjoy cooking now, and it's not so much of a chore anymore. Yay!

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!

Chemo - Part 11 - Day 10

Well, there's good and bad news today about the chemo recovery. The good news: "Feeling more human." The bad news: A rash has developed on the face and chest, and was spreading a little. It's possible that it's a heat rash resulting from being feverish (so a side effect of a side effect) or if it's a side effect of the chemo itself. My parents haven't called the doctor yet, but if it's not better by morning, I'm calling the doctor myself.

I've been busy today after work, doing grocery shopping and cooking. Those recipes will come soon. In the meantime, I had found and tried out a recipe for pear sorbet here: http://rikishore.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-all-of-my-favorites-in-one-meal/. Because I don't have an ice cream maker, I made granita instead.

Ginger Pear Granita

3 ripe pears, cubed

2 tsp ginger, sliced

2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup water

1 tsp vodka (to prevent freezer burn)

Put the pears, ginger, and 1/2 cup water in a large pan over medium heat. Cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove the ginger slices, then transfer to a food processor. Run until smooth. Mix in the water and vodka. Transfer to a tupperware and place in the fridge until cool. Once chilled, transfer to the freezer. Stir every 30 minutes, until the mixture looks like icy flakes (see below).

This dessert is yummy, sweet, and good for nausea. Yay ginger! It also helps with mouth sores and difficult swallowing. Who knew eating yummy things could be so good for you? I mean, besides everyone who follows Paleo that is...

Chemo - Part 10 - Day 9

Well folks, I'm beat. I've been up since 4:24 am Texas time (5:24 in Atlanta). I went to bed after scrambling to hold one of the dogs over the toilet as it threw up, and woke up with carting the same dog to the trash can in my room so that he didn't get sick on the bed. I took the dogs out, finished packing my car, ate scrambled eggs with my parents, and was on the road by 6 am CST. I powered through 1.5 L of water and 4 cans of Diet Coke while I spent over 12 hours today driving back West. (Given that I don't usually consume caffeine, that amount of soda is enough to keep me wide awake for a long drive on endless highways.)

After deciding that there's no way that I'd be able to convince myself to leave my apartment after unpacking my car to go buy food, I stopped in at my local Whole Foods to pick up some pre-cooked meat for dinner. I finally got back to my apartment at 6:20 pm CST, and then managed to completely unload the groceries, cooler, rowing machine (erg), a couple boxes of old books from high school (including all of my high school yearbooks), a box of wine glasses and two pillows my parents gave me for Christmas, a bag of shoes, a potted plant, my suitcase, a duffel bag of shoes, my backpack, a case of Kopparberg cider, and a couple other bags of sundries. All in my apartment by 6:45. Phew. My erg is currently sitting in a corner of my bedroom, and all of my clothes are unpacked and toiletries put away.

Enough about me. Today was apparently a day of sleeping back in Atlanta. I think, overall, the aches and pains are a bit better, though a lingering headache has been today's biggest annoyance. I'm hoping today is a good sign. Sleep is good. It gives your body time to rest and attempt to repair itself. Maybe by resting today, tomorrow will be better. Fingers crossed.

This is another recipe from The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen. This vegetable dish helps with constipation as well as general nutrition. Plus, the ginger can help a bit with nausea. If made according to the instructions, the serving contains 50 calories, 2.5 g of fat (0.4 g saturated fat, 1.7 g mono-unsaturated), 7 g carbohydrates, 1 g protein, 2 g fiber, 195 mg sodium. It can last for 3-5 days in the fridge.

Shredded Carrot and Beet Salad

2 Tbls freshly squeezed orange juice

2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tsp EVOO

1/2 tsp freshly minced ginger

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 cup carrots, peeled and shredded

1 cup beet, peeled and shredded

2 Tbls mint, chopped (optional)

1. Mix together the orange juice, lemon juice, EVOO, ginger, and sea salt in a bowl.

2. Pour half of the dressing over the carrots and toss to cover evenly. In a separate bowl, do the same thing with the beets.

3. Mix together and serve.

If you're going to store this in the fridge, I'd recommend keeping them in separate containers because the color of the beets may end up overwhelming the carrots. But if you're lazy and don't care if there's color bleeding, just go ahead and put it in the same gallon-sized Ziploc bag.

Lemon-Rosemary Salmon

After studying with SD at a Barnes and Noble for four hours on Sunday, I came home with the intention of using my Sunday evening to cook some of my meals for the week. I'm trying to get back into that habit. We'll see if I can or not...

Lemon-Rosemary Salmon Packet

1 whole side salmon, scaled, with skin, de-boned (~3 lbs)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp coarsely chopped rosemary (use fresh if possible)

2 lemons, thinly sliced

6 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425°F. Rinse the salmon under cold running water and pat dry. Put a large piece of aluminum foil (large enough to make a packet around your salmon fillet) on a large baking sheet and place the salmon in the center, skin side down. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Then place the lemon slices, onion, and garlic on top of the fillet. Pour the olive oil evenly over the salmon. Fold the edges of the foil up and crimp to seal.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. The salmon should still be moist when it's ready. Here's the final result. Cut it into portions and drizzle with some of the lemony olive oil you can see below. Serve with kale, cauliflower rice, or a side salad.

Please practice good office etiquette and DO NOT bring salmon into the office for lunch. There's nothing worse than the smell of fish permeating the office as someone heats it up in the communal kitchen. Be kind, leave the fish at home!