Dijon Mustard Salad Dressing

Happy Monday, y'all! The summer weather has definitely hit Texas. To celebrate the heat, one of my best friends and I went for a walk after work. LMR is currently fostering an adorable little Pomeranian, so we got a dose of cuteness to counteract the heat. I returned home to do a P90X workout, and then whipped up a hefty salad to stave off my hunger. My salad ingredients consisted of red leaf lettuce, carrots, celery, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and pine nuts. And here's the dressing I whisked together to add some extra flavor...

Dijon Mustard Dressing

2 Tbls Dijon mustard

1 1/2 Tbls extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper, to taste

Whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl, then drizzle over your salad.

I added some chopped prosciutto to make myself feel fancy while I lounged around in my sweats. What a wonderful Monday night!

Avocado Lime Dressing

Avocado Lime Dressing

1/2 avocado, mashed
1 Tbls olive oil
1 tsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper

1. Mix the ingredients together and toss with a salad. Because this dressing is kind of thick, I found it best to put the salad and dressing in a Ziploc bag, and then shake until evenly covered.

Yeah, it looks kind of like my guacamole recipe, but this has olive oil and more lime juice, so it's a bit more smooth and creamy than a typical guacamole.

The Virgin Diet

In my continuing journey for health, I've started a new "diet" today. It's slightly different, but not much of a stretch from what I've been doing for the last year and a half. It's just more strict, because obviously my diet wasn't strict enough (read with sarcasm). Before I get into what this new diet change entails, let me give you some details of what's been going on for me lately (since I've so rudely disappeared lately). For the past three or four weeks, I've been severely lacking in energy/will power/excitement. Suffice it to say that I've been feeling burnt out. I wasn't sleeping well and I was under stress, which resulted in a massive migraine that left me crying at work and being driven home by one of my co-workers. The pounding headaches lasted for the next five days, and consisted of me taking my migraine medicine more over the course of one week than I have in the past year. The irony of the whole thing was that I had just gone in for a 6-month check up with my doctor a few days before and talked about how my daily headaches were manageable and I wasn't having to take the migraine meds. I should have known better than to say that out loud and jinx it.

At the beginning of this month I started a 6000 squat challenge, meaning 200 squats per day for 30 days. After the first day of squats, I had to start icing my knees. For the next couple weeks, I was icing my knees every day. Walking up and down stairs as well as just plain walking was painful. Then it seemed like all of my joints started hurting. Both knees, my left ankle, my shoulders, both elbows, my left wrist and thumb, my right fingers... it was ridiculous. I'm 26 years old and sitting hurts. Something obviously isn't right. Add in the fact that my jawline has been breaking out like crazy for the last month or so, and I think I need to make a change.

So that's what I'm doing. Last week I listened in on Real Food Con and while most of the sessions I listened to talked about eating quality foods while cutting out gluten and dairy, I heard something new. What I heard was the Virgin Diet. It's very similar to Paleo, but it doesn't exclude legumes. On the other hand, you can't have any eggs. I took the leaky gut quiz associated with the Virgin Diet and scored a 52. 16+ is a "high likelihood of leaky gut," so I'm literally off the charts. I needed a change, so here goes. The 7 foods that you can't have are:

1. Gluten
2. Dairy
3. Eggs
4. Corn
5. Soy
6. Peanuts
7. Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners

So the things that I'm going to be changing are cutting out eggs (which supposedly will help reduce joint pain - please!), and reducing my sugar intake. No, I don't eat foods with granulated sugar or artificial sweeteners in it, I'll be cutting down on the amount of natural sugars I consume. So when I eat fruit, I'm going to try to stick to berries and citrus fruits which tend to have more nutrients. Anyways, let's see how this goes.

BLT Salad

2 cups butter lettuce/radicchio salad mix

1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half

3 slices bacon, sugar-free, no nitrates

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

sprinkle of pepper

pinch of dried thyme

dash of garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and lay strips of bacon on the pan.

2. Cook the bacon for 20 minutes or until the bacon reaches your desired crispiness. I prefer mine super crispy, but not burnt.

3. While the bacon is cooking, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, thyme, and garlic.

4. Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces, and toss in a bowl with the lettuce and tomatoes. Add the dressing and enjoy.

I tossed in a couple blackberries and some mushrooms because I had them lying around, but make it your own and add in whichever ingredients you want.

Whole 30 - Day 29

I'm almost done... Except I'm adding a couple more days to make up for my cheat days. I'm obviously the type of person that can be really good about following something until I have one slip up, and then it's a lot harder to stick with it. So, I'm going to keep up the Whole 30 until Friday (day 33), even though I know that the 30 days have been blown by the fact that I had those cheats. Once you put that in your system, you can't "make it up" by extending it. I know this, but I'm doing it anyways. Kind of as penance I guess. The only things that I intend to change come Saturday are:

1. I will allow alcohol for some social situations.

2. I will allow myself to make foods that contain Whole 30-approved ingredients, but could be labeled as Sex With Your Pants On (SWYPO). I see Paleo pumpkin concoctions and crackers in my future.

3. I will restrict the amount of nuts and fruits I'm consuming.

Reasoning behind number 3: I've noticed that I seem to be eating a lot more nuts and fruits which I guess I'm viewing as "treats" since I'm not letting myself have "sweets" or cheats, like gluten-free crackers. I think that my face might be breaking out because of the increased nuts and sugars, so I'm going to give it a try. One of my weaknesses lately has been dried fruit, in particular dried mango, which is vaguely hilarious to me, since I used to hate mango. My how Paleo has changed my taste buds.

This will coincide nicely with a day excursion for Highland games. I love all things Celtic, so I'll be in heaven surrounded by kilts, dancing, men in kilts, bagpipes, men in kilts throwing trees, turkey legs, men in kilts throwing trees and giant stones, Celtic jewelry... need I continue? I may even go for mead. We'll see what the day brings. I promise to provide photos!

Now to what I ate for lunch today...

Ground Beef Salad

1/2 lb grass-fed ground beef

salt and pepper, roughly 1/4 tsp each

2 shakes tabasco sauce

1/4 orange bell pepper, sliced (chopped is better if you're not feeling lazy like I was)

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes

2 cups mixed greens

1. Heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium heat on the stove.

2. Once the pan is hot, add the ground beef, crumbling as you toss into the pan. Add the salt and pepper and stir.

3. Cook for 5-10 minutes, or until all of the ground beef has turned brown.

4. Serve with the remaining ingredients. Easy peasy.

Whole 30 - Day 24

Taco Salad

1 lb grass-fed ground beef

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 red pepper, roughly chopped

1/2 green pepper, roughly chopped

1/4 onion, roughly chopped

1. Heat 1 Tbls oil oil in pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and cook for a few minutes.

2. Once the onions are just starting to get soft, crumble the meat into pan. Sprinkle the seasonings on top, and stir to combine.

3. When roughly half-way cooked, add the peppers.

4. Once the meat is completely cooked, throw some together with shredded green cabbage and baby kale and spinach (or use whatever leafy greens you have on hand. Add a handful of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half, and 1 avocado (or half of one if you feel like sharing the other half with a friend).

Whole 30 - Day 3

Baked Herb Chicken

1-2 lb chicken breast tenders

1 Tbls lemon juice

1 Tbls olive oil

2 tsp dried parsley

1 tsp oregano

pinch of salt and pepper

1. Place all of the ingredients, other than chicken in a plastic bag. Seal and shake to combine.

2. Add the chicken to the bag and place in the fridge, allowing it to sit for a couple hours.

3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Place the chicken in a baking dish and bake for 8 minutes on each side. Check to make sure the chicken is fully cooked.

I ate some of this chicken yesterday in a salad, which just happened to be a red and green salad. As I ate it I was thinking it was a Christmas-colored salad. It must be the fact that I was just in Atlanta over the weekend where the weather was rainy and 65 degrees Fahrenheit and it felt like autumn. Obviously, my calendar has sped up and I'm already a few months ahead of schedule.

Christmas-Colored Chicken Salad

1 strip of Baked Herb Chicken

1/4 cup chopped red pepper

1/4 cup chopped green pepper

1/4 cup chopped cucumber

handful of grape tomatoes

2 cups mixed greens

What I'm absolutely loving these last few days is "Red Hands" by Walk Off the Earth. The music video is awesome, too. Check it out.

Here's the uncut version:

And the final product:

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 - Days 13-14 - I'm On a Boat...

I made it through the entire weekend without slipping with 21DSD. I'm incredibly proud of myself. I managed to have fun the entire weekend while being the sole sober individual in a large group of people. Impressive, huh? A few people even commented that they couldn't tell that I wasn't drinking... as in I was having fun, chatting, laughing, and dancing like everyone else. I didn't sit in the corner and brood while everyone lowered their inhibitions and went wild. So yay! It wasn't as bad as the last happy hour that I went to where I just felt excluded for not drinking.

Overall, it was a good weekend. My friends and I rented two pontoon boats and hung out on a lake for 6 hours on Saturday. It was a blast. However, major downside is that I managed to get incredibly sunburned. As in, I think this is the second-worst burn I've ever had. The first-worst burn consisted of my skin turning purple and scaly-like. Gross. This one, on the other hand, covered more skin - my shoulders, back of the neck, chest, stomach, arms, and thighs got burnt. Bright red, almost purple. Whenever I walk, I can feel a burn almost down to my muscles. I guess it's that my skin got tight and every time I moved it stretched the skin... painfully. Luckily, I brought aloe, and reapplied frequently Saturday night and Sunday morning, and I was in the bed closest to the A/C unit, so there were a few times during the night that I'd stand in front of the A/C and let the cold air cool down my body. Yep, you got that right, I was HOT. Damn skippy. Seriously, just walking in the sun was enough to make me cringe and exclaim "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow... ow," until I made it back into the shade. Sunburn plus sun = crazy heat = bad = sad sober Gitta. (My nickname for the weekend from my buddy DK was Sober Sister of Sunburned Sober Sister, because I wasn't drinking, and I was her "sister" from sharing a room together in Jamaica. Good times.)

Anyways, what did I eat for lunch when stuck on a boat in the middle of a lake for 6 hours? Pre-made supermarket salad sans dressing? Yep. So while everyone else made sandwiches with deli meat, cheese, mustard, mayo, and wheat bread, I hunkered down over what comparatively looked like a monstrous salad, and ate around the olives (gross) and blue cheese (double non-Paleo gross!). Basically, I ate lettuce, chicken, hard-boiled egg, and some bacon chunks. I admit, the bacon probably wasn't 100% 21DSD-friendly. I bet the bacon was made with sugar. The horror! But I'm not counting that because it wasn't enough to send me into some wild sugar-craving spin. Once I was done eating, it barely looked as though I had touched my salad. I'd say 80% of the salad was still there: lettuce, onions, olives, blue cheese, and some bacon. I brought a Ziploc bag of carrots and celery, as well as a bag of mixed nuts (walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and pistachios), and beef jerky. I only ate the carrots while on the boat though. And when I pulled out the carrots, most of the people on the boat wanted some. Apparently, sandwiches, chips, and Cheetos puffs don't completely satisfy people. Yeah, never would have guessed that... eye rolling ensues.

The hotel we stayed at provided breakfast, but its offerings consisted of cereal, yogurt, toast, bagels, muffins, waffles, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs. I ate two eggs for breakfast on Saturday and on Sunday, and I supplemented that with some beef jerky after we got back to the room.

Dinner on Saturday was delicious. A group of us made the drive over to Trudy's for some yummy Tex-Mex. Trudy's is famous for their Mexican Martini, which is basically a strong margarita that comes in a large martini shaker. You're only allowed to order two, and then the waitress cuts you off. Sounds intense? It is. I order the beef fajitas, hold the tortilla. And let me tell you, that was probably the best fajita that I ever had. Seriously. It was fantastic. If you're ever in Austin, go to Trudy's. You won't regret it.

Oh, and I never shared what my pre-road trip dinner was. Chicken and eggs. I heated some olive oil in a pan over medium heat, tossed in some chicken strips with a couple dashes of coconut aminos, cooked, added whisked eggs, and made up some Stir-fry-esque chicken and eggs. Not bad when you've only got 10 minutes to cook and eat before running out the door.

Which is worse: gluten or dairy?

My friends (BK and DK) and I went to a basketball game last night. As you can see, I wore my glasses so that I could actually see what was happening on the court. The most exciting part of last night was that we magically got upgraded from our level 4 seats to level 1. And by magic I mean that as we were riding the escalator up to the 4th floor, a guy on the escalator (who works for the team) asked us if we wanted better seats. We said yes. We got new tickets, and all was well with the world.

Anyways, I got myself a G&T and was Paleo-bad and ordered a buffalo chicken tender basket. Surprisingly there was a separate  "restaurant" for gluten-free food available, but most of it was hot dogs (I shudder at the meat) and cheese-covered options. And for me, I choose gluten headaches over dairy-induced stomach cramps.

I often wonder which is worse for me, and I'm not really sure. I know that I react poorly to both, but overall it's a person-by-person sort of decision. I fell like every time I eat dairy, it's with gluten, but no necessarily the other way around. So if I have to pick one or the other, I choose gluten, plus I love bread. Though a lot of Paleo people out there would say gluten is worse.  What's your thoughts on the matter?

(Of course after I got my food, I realized that there was a salad place just past the gluten one. I smacked myself in the head for that smart move. Note to self: put on glasses when looking at things far away.)

I'm being healthy at work though. Here's what I ate for lunch today:

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (recipe to come soon), Thrive Brussels Sprouts, and salad with carrots, celery, and a hard-boiled egg.

My snacks for this week have been: celery, carrots, plantain chips, roasted unsalted pistachios, bananas, oranges, and almond butter.

Business Trip: Part 3

On my second full day in Glasgow, my friend asked me what I wanted to eat for lunch. I replied with “salad,” and he was at a loss for where to go to get a good salad. He even googled “Glasgow salad” to see what would pop up. The first search result was Urban Dictionary, which defined a Glasgow salad as chips (French fries for you Americans). So, we ended up going to an Italian restaurant, where I had a bowl of soup and chicken, and got worried looks by the waiters for not clearing my plate. We then took the subway from Buchanan Street to the Kelvinbridge stop, meaning we ended up in West End, the “posh” neighborhood. We went on one of the free tours of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

and walked past the University of Glasgow on the left (oh, how I wish the architecture of Georgia Tech were as cool). We ended up on Ashton Lane, where our first bar stop was Vodka Wodka, where I read truth while watching a rugby match.

We then had a few pints of cider at Ubiquitous Chip

and made a friend who was probably as in love with America as I am with Scotland. We finished up the trip to West End and Ashton Lane at The Wee Curry Shop where I ate more non-Paleo foods, and found a Glasgow specialty: Haggis Pakora.

After a stop back at the hotel, we headed to the opposite side of town to Calum’s friend’s house so that we could watch the superbowl. Yeah, apparently the Scots like some American football, too. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the couple whose house we invaded had lived in the US for a while, and Calum grew up in Texas… Anyways, we finally made it back to the city center around 4 a.m. Obviously, I had a late start the next day. We stopped at Elia Greek Restaurant for lunch, during which Calum and I continued to discuss how my diet is not well suited for Glasgow foods. Alas, it is so true. But, I’d say most of the world has not learned how to be Paleo-friendly either. So maybe we’ll call it a draw.

That afternoon, I checked into a new hotel, Radisson Blu, and then walked back toward Glasgow Cathedral to visit the Necropolis. I walked around taking photos there for a couple hours before heading back to my hotel.

On my way back to the hotel, it started sleeting on me. Since I walked around constantly with my winter ski jacket, I survived just fine, but it was a bit of a shock to my Texas system. After changing shoes at the hotel, I walked back to George Square through the snow and had a pint at The Piper on the Square (go there!), before walking down the street and eating dinner at Jamie’s Italian.

The snow!

After dinner, I walked outside to more snow. And I finished up the evening going over notes for my meeting the following morning.

Whole 30 - Traveling

Today was an exceptionally early start for me, with not a lot of sleep on top of that. This morning, my alarm went off at 4:15 a.m. Even for me that's an early wake-up call. But I needed that time in order to get showered, dressed, and well-fed before heading off to the airport. In the past, when I traveled early in the morning, I would skip breakfast at home and just grab something at the airport. However, with Paleo, airport food isn't always an option. Travel can be a daunting task for Paleo-ites. As I sit at my gate waiting for my flight, I see a wall of sugary processed foods at the nearby news stand, a Starbucks full of sugary drinks and grain-based snacks, and a Proof-of-the-Pudding full of to-go wraps, yogurts, bags of chips, and salads with lots of cheesy toppings. But what are most prevalent at airports? Fast-food restaurants - a Paleo nightmare.

The Atlanta airport is a rockin' airport. It's massive and if you have the time, you can check out the different terminals for their food options. I had an almost 4-hour layover today, so I came into Terminal B, walked the entire terminal, then walked to C and walked up and down that terminal before proceeding to Terminal F (the airport's new international terminal) and walking both levels of that as well. I then walked back to D, walked around D, and came back to B for lunch.

Here's a couple shots of Terminal F: 

Here's some of the places to eat at the various terminals: Terminal has a TGIF and Cafe Intermezzo. Terminal D is undergoing some construction. Terminal E has fast-foot restaurants as well as a fancier-looking restaurant with a sushi bar. Terminal F has a Pei Wei, El Taco, The Varsity, and Pecan Grille. (For the life of me I can't remember what was at Terminal C.) Of these, I recommend Cafe Intermezzo. I got an Almond Avocado Salad ("avocados, mandarin oranges, diced cucumbers, red peppers and toasted almonds on mixed greens with orange vinaigrette dressing").

The key to Paleo traveling is being prepared. Most airports have the available dining options posted online so you can check out what will work for you. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int'l Airport has this site which lets you search by terminal. And if you know you won't have time while you're at the airport to grab something, prep some snacks or a meal the day before. For instance, last night I mixed up a Ziploc bag of raw almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and hazelnuts as a snack if I needed it. I also brought along two apples, a banana, and Lärabars. I ended up not needing it while traveling, but at least I came with food so that I didn't have to resort to going hungry or succumbing to unhealthy airport fares. And the nuts came in handy for adding some more variety to my salad during dinner with the family.

P90X - Day 4

Yoga. Oh my gosh. My least favorite of the P90X routines. I know that yoga is supposed to calm the mind or something similar to that, but it doesn't quite work that way. A full 90 minutes of yoga can be exhausting and exhaustingly boring. And when I'm already tired and wanting to go to bed, it really makes me want to crawl back under the covers. I do enjoy the end of the yoga when Tony tells me to do Corpse pose (a.k.a. lay flat on my back and breathe) and then tells me to roll onto my side into the position that I normally sleep in. I finish off yoga feeling calm and ready to go back to sleep, the former of which goes away shortly after getting to work, and the latter is not ideal for waking up in the morning.

It was a later start than I intended, because I fell asleep after my first alarm, despite being half-awake for 10 minutes before my 5:00a.m. alarm went off. So I didn't roll out of bed until 5:30a.m. when alarm #2 sounded. I debated just getting ready for work and skipping yoga, but I knew my schedule for the day and I knew that I would end up not doing yoga at all if I didn't do it yesterday morning.

Here's what I ate yesterday: 

Breakfast (@8a.m.): 1 tbls almond butter, dark chocolate (healthy breakfast? not so much.)

Lunch (@12:30p.m.): Rack of lamb with balsamic glaze, Brussels sprouts, and mixed greens

Snack (@2:30p.m.): Fruit Tray for my birthday celebration at work. Yeah, it's a week late, but I like to keep the celebrations going for as long as possible. I've already gotten a request from one of my friends to have a one-month anniversary celebration of my 25th birthday. I think I may have to oblige. (OMG. I'm 25, how did that happen?)

Dinner (@6p.m.): Chicken and Vegetable Soup
Happy Hour (@7:30p.m.): Gin and tonic

		Goal	with Exercise	Actual
Calories	kcal	1,330	1,612	1,345
Carbs	g	183	221	147
Fat	g	44	53	49
Protein	g	50	60	68
Calcium	g	100	100	22
Fiber	g	15	19	20
Cholesterol	mg	-	-	164
Sodium	mg	-	-	965
Sugars	g	-	-	87

So a random annoyance of mine is when people who are clearly not handicapped, nor have their hands full in any way, decide to use the automatic doors provided for physically disabled individuals. Is there a reason why they can't push or pull the door open by themselves? Are they too weak to open the door? Well, I can recommend some exercises and weight-lifting they can do to improve upon their upper-body strength. I know that the doors at the entrance of my office building are a bit on the heavy side, but they're not that difficult to open. Though I have had co-workers comment to me about how strong I must be to barely break stride in order to open the door. "You must workout a lot." True story. Still I feel that if you are an able-bodied individual, you should stop being so lazy and open your own door. Just saying.

And now for a random tidbit of knowledge: How to get a boy into your room according to Mad Men, Season 1: "The light fixture in my room is out... could you change it for me?" Smooth. I'm sure the poor fellow had no idea (yeah, right...) what was going to happen after that.

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).

Taco Salad and Guacamole

Taco Salad

Beef

1 lb ground beef

1 tbls each of:

   cumin

   cayenne pepper

   chili powder

   garlic salt

2 tbls cilantro, chopped

pepper to taste

Veggies

1/4 cup olive oil

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 red pepper, sliced

1 onion, sliced

2 shakes of cumin, chili powder, and pepper

3 shakes of cayenne pepper and garlic salt

Season the ground beef, cover with plastic wrap, and store in the fridge for 2 hours.

Heat large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil. [Remove ground beef from the fridge.] Once olive oil is hot, add the yellow and red pepper, and the onion. Season with salt, pepper, Cook for ~8 minutes or until peppers and onions are soft and onion is getting slightly translucent. Add the ground beef and cook until the meat is no longer pink.

Plate over lettuce and serve with guacamole and salsa.

Guacamole

2 avocados, mashed
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp cumin
2 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp chili powder
1 tbls garlic salt
2 tsp black pepper
1/3 onion, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

Mix everything together. Enjoy.

Sunburn for the Pale

By Monday evening, I had already managed to get sunburned. It's a really unfortunate sunburn on the back of my thighs and my upper back, so it makes sitting and laying down very uncomfortable. By some miracle, I'm not sunburned down the middle of my back. My sides? Yes. Center of the back where I can't actually reach? Nope. The thing I really don't understand is how I always get sunburned despite reapplying sunscreen repeatedly. I also want to know how my parents are so much tanner than I am. I mean, I am the product of them, so shouldn't my skin tone be at least the same as one of theirs, if not somewhere in between? Ah, genetics... how I don't fully understand you. Yes, I spend a significant amount of time hiding from the sun at work, whereas my mom takes the puppies for walks and plays tennis on the weekends. But even during winter she seems to have more color to her. And my dad? He's just naturally more tan. He's like me and spends an exorbitant amount of daylight hours locked inside an office building and yet, if you take a photo of him and me, you see my white skin boldly declaring my paleness!

Monday night dinner was burgers that my mom had brought. My dad chose to have his with bread, but my mom and I stuck with the Paleo version.  I served mine on a bed of romaine hearts and is topped (from bottom up) with tomato, cucumbers, roasted onions, orange bell peppers, mushrooms, and Spicy Kale Chips (recipe below). These kale chips gave the burger a real kick. I also topped the burger with some spicy Dijon mustard just because.

Spicy Kale Chips

1 bunch kale chips

2 tbls olive oil

1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rip the kale into small one-inch pieces. Place into a gallon size Ziploc bag with the other ingredients and toss to coat evenly. Spread onto greased baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, stirring halfway through to make sure that the kale chips don't stick to the baking sheet.

Moving makes me disappear

You may be wondering what happened to me that kept me from posting for the last few days. Last Friday I moved into my new apartment and I cleaned everything before I moved in, including the tops of the kitchen shelves (I didn't originally intend to, but I saw just how dusty it was up there so I HAD to clean it). I hired movers for Friday evening to get all of the big stuff like my couches, table, and bed. I helped move some of the boxes and I have massive bruises to prove it.

On Saturday, some of my amazing friends helped me. The friends that show up on moving day are true friends! I have a few things left at my old place, like clothes and shoes to bring to Goodwill. LR and I still need to clean up our old place.

My new place is currently in an annoying state of unrest and messiness. I'm roughly half unpacked. I've almost finished putting all of my kitchen stuff away, but I have some work to do on my bedroom and bathroom. I realized just how much I need to finish unpacking this morning as I was getting ready and had to paw through a box labeled "Bathroom" to find my makeup and bobby pins.

I finally went to the grocery store today. I've been putting it off until after I settled in. This meant that for the past few days, I've been living off of Lärabars and nuts. I've had one bar for each meal since Friday. My stomach has not been happy with me. So today I finally cooked something. I made a taco salad for dinner: ground turkey, iceberg lettuce, green cabbage, grape tomatoes, and red bell pepper. My giant bowlful has made me very satisfied. Here's what it looked like:

Strawberry Spring Salad with Avocado-Orange Dressing

Strawberry Spring Salad with Avocado-Orange Dressing

Dressing:
4 green onions, roughly chopped
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbls lime juice
1 tsp garlic salt

Salad:
2 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 large tomato (on the vine)

1 cucumber, quartered and sliced 

spring greens 

Dressing: Puree green onions, avocado, orange juice, lime juice, and spices in a blender until smooth.

Toss greens, strawberries, cucumber, and tomatoes together. Transfer to plates. Drizzle with dressing.

Chicken, Cabbage, and Apple Salad

This recipe is based on one that I found in The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf (I varied the quantities a bit). I'm not usually a fan of cabbage, but boy does this taste good.

Chicken, Cabbage, and Apple Salad

• 2 chicken breasts, diced
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/3 head of cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 Granny Smith apple, thinly sliced
• pepper to taste
• sea salt to taste

Heat olive oil in skillet on medium heat. Add the chicken, allspice, and cloves; sauté until chicken is cooked. Once the chicken is done, mix it with the shredded cabbage and apple. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle with olive oil (I used about a teaspoon). Eat and enjoy.

You know how I hate touching raw chicken... Well I managed to dice the chicken for this recipe without any issues. I didn't even think about the fact that it was raw chicken until I had this nice pile of diced meat. Oh yeah! I'm improving!