Whole 30 - Day 18

For ages when I made hard-boiled eggs, I struggled with removing the shell. I'd try like crazy to remove the shell without pulling the egg with it. I looked online and found lots of different options. I tried one method that had you add vinegar to the water; another where you boiled the water, then removed the pot from the stove, put the eggs in the pot, and put the lid on the pot, but it seemed like every time, the egg would stick to the shell and no matter how slowly or carefully I went, my resulting egg looked like a hot mess. So I decided to try a different way, and this is what worked wonderfully for me.

How to cook the perfect hard-boiled egg
1. Bring pot of water to a boil, ensure the water is high enough that it will cover the eggs. Add a shake of salt to the water and stir.
2. Add your eggs to the pot and boil for 3 minutes.
3. Put cover on the pot and remove from heat. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes.
4. Transfer eggs to an ice bath until they cool completely. Now you're ready to peel and enjoy.

Look at how smooth that sucker is...

As promised, here are some of the photos of the plated Korean Beef Short Ribs I made on Monday. You can also check out the original post (which I have since updated) for these photos. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Whole 30 - Day 15

Well folks, I'm done with two weeks of Whole 30. It's not so bad. This is the third time that I've done a super strict version of Paleo. I did a Whole 30 last fall at Thanksgiving time, then I did a 21DSD mid-May of this year. I haven't been struggling too much with any temptations. As I've mentioned before, the only times when I find myself wavering is when I'm unprepared for hunger pangs. And when people eat chocolate chips cookies in front of me. I've managed to tamp down on these desires out of willpower and the realization that in the past week, I've only had a couple instances of a stomachache or a headache. Before going Paleo, I had become so accustomed to having low-grade headaches on a continual basis that I was able to ignore them altogether for the most part. After starting Paleo, the frequency of these headaches decreased significantly; however, during this summer, I started experiencing more headaches again - not every day, but roughly every other day. In evidence of the benefits of Whole 30, I noticed yesterday that I hadn't suffered through a headache in four days, and with that realization I recounted the past week and realized that I've only had a couple stomachaches in the last week. It lines up with what I had read in both Robb Wolf's book and in the Hartwig's book, that it takes two weeks of the absence of the harmful foods for your gut to heal. I definitely recommend giving it a try.

Even though it was Labor Day (hope you enjoyed the holiday, by the way), I was up at 5:40 a.m. to drive to the river for a morning row with one of my double's partners for an upcoming regatta. We decided to meet at 6:30 a.m. to practice rowing together in a double. You know, it might be a good idea to practice with someone before you compete with them... just maybe. We rowed for about an hour before returning to the boathouse. She went home, whereas I stayed for the 7:30 a.m. club row, meaning I was on the water for about two and a half hours this morning. I ran an errand on the way home from crew, showered, and immediately started cooking. Suffice it to say that I'm worn out now.

The first thing I started cooking was Korean Beef Short-Ribs, based on the recipe from Michelle of Nom Nom Paleo. I saw this post last week and decided I wanted to give it a try. Check out the recipe on her site... Here's some of my pics.

I got 2 lb of short ribs:

After broiling for 5 minutes on both sides.

All of the seasonings. Everything except for the chicken broth got blended together to make...

...the sauce

After putting the broiled ribs into the crock pot, the sauce gets poured evenly on top, before the chicken broth gets added at the bottom of the pot.

After cooking for 9 hours, the meat was literally falling off of the bone; when I used tongs to pick up the meat, the bone just stayed in the crock pot.

If I remember, I'll try to stop myself from scarfing down all of the short ribs before I take a photo of them tomorrow.

And that's a wrap. Y'all enjoy your evening now, ya hear?

Update: here are the photos that I promised...