Happy Easter!

Yeah, I'm a day late, but I hope you all had a fantastic Easter.. if you celebrate it. If you don't, you can at least enjoy all of the candy that's now on sale. Except if you're hard-core Paleo that is. In which case, go buy yourself a high-quality dark chocolate, like this bar of 75% Cacao Fearless Chocolate that I found on sale at Whole Foods. The two (yes, only two) ingredients in this bar of chocolate are organic cacao and organic cane sugar. Sure, we try to stay away from added sugar, but if you're going to have a bar of chocolate, aim for the stuff with the least amount of sugar, and go for organic. They also have a 85% cacao bar.

Anyways, in honor of Easter, I decided to cook myself a yummy breakfast. Because what's Sunday morning without brunch?

Veal Chorizo and Artichoke Scrambled Eggs

1/4 lb chorizo-flavored ground veal (Click here to find a chorizo seasoning recipe)

1/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped (you can use frozen or marinated artichokes)

1/4 cup frozen cut leaf spinach, thawed

2 eggs, whisked

1. Heat a pan over medium heat. Break the ground veal into small bites and add to the pan. Heat until thoroughly cooked.

2. Toss in the artichokes and spinach, then add the eggs. Cook for a few minutes until the eggs are done.

Serve with a side of sweet potato hash browns and a small glass of blueberry kombucha. Happy Easter!

And in exciting news for today, I convinced myself to do the Chest and Back P90X workout today after work. I also have finally managed a headstand. I got myself up and held it for 20 seconds without using the wall for support. Huzzah! I'm super excited about it! I never knew I had a goal to do that, but after practicing inversions with my Krav Maga yoga class, that goal just developed. And today was a good start on my way to doing a handstand. I feel productive. And enthused. But now, I'm going to go to bed and get my eight hours of sleep. Sweet dreams, y'all!

W30D16

What can I do with all of that chicken that I roasted the other day? Easy. Time to pull out that crock pot...

Spinach, Pepper, and Chicken Quiche

12 eggs

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups shredded chicken (for me, this was all of the meat from the wings and thighs)

1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 cup chopped bell peppers (I used red, orange, and yellow)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

3/4 tsp hot sauce (cayenne pepper)

1. Whisk the eggs and coconut together. Mix in the spices.

2. Spread the chicken, spinach, and peppers in the bottom of the crockpot.

3. Pour in the egg and coconut mixture.

4. Set crockpot on high and cook for 2.5 hours.

5. Slice into six pieces and serve.

Look at that thick slice of quiche. Isn't it pretty?

ECD8: 1 hour Krav Maga Flex (yoga)

W30D4

I'm admitting a slip-up when it comes to the Whole 30. I had alcohol tonight with some of my current and former co-workers. I started Whole 30 with the knowledge that I already had plans to consume alcohol during the 30 days. I totally understand the reasons why I shouldn't consume alcohol and I know how alcohol affects my bodily functions. I also firmly believe that our ancestors did not have easy access to fermented beverages. So while I believe that they probably had irregular access to some sort of alcoholic beverages/materials, I don't believe that it would be a commonly consumed product. However, I also recognize the fact that while I do follow a Paleo lifestyle, the foods, whether they be meat or vegetables, that I eat now are not the same foods as what my Paleolithic ancestors eat. Food products have evolved (or been genetically engineered) to be different from what humanoids ate 10,000 years ago. The cow meat that I buy at a store now, is not the same as what would have been hunted and killed by our ancestors. Just accept that fact. I do recommend that you should aim for grass-fed meat whenever possible. And speaking of grass-fed meat...

Spinach Meatballs
1 lb grass-fed ground beef
3/4 cup frozen spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine all of the ingredients together using your hands.
3. Roll into 1" diameter balls and spread across broiler pan.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

5. Serve with spaghetti squash and pasta sauce or pesto sauce.

Breakfast for Dinner

You know how I said I've been lazy lately. Well, that laziness has continued. I'm being more productive this week, but I didn't do my weekly meal prep, so here's what I tossed together for dinner today:

Leafy Greens, Sweet Potato, and Avocado with Eggs

1 sweet potato, diced

2 cups spinach

1 cup kale

1 cup Swiss chard

1 carrot, chopped

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 avocado

pinch of cumin

pinch of cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp lime juice

1. Heat 1 Tbls olive oil over medium/medium-low heat (setting 4 on my stove).

2. Once hot toss in the sweet potato. Add the cinnamon, pepper, and salt. Stir and cook for 3 minutes.

3. After a few minutes, toss in the carrots and stir with the sweet potato. Add the spinach, kale, and Swiss chard to the top of the pan, but don't stir. Cook for 4 minutes.

4. Stir everything together, reduce heat to medium-low (3) and cook for another couple minutes, or until the greens are wilted.

5. Push everything to the side of a pan and crack the eggs into the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the egg white is cooked through.

6. Serve in a bowl with the eggs resting on a bed of leafy greens.

Top with avocado, and sprinkle with the cumin, cayenne pepper, and lime juice.

Backup Protein

The one thing that I feel is the most important thing to have in the fridge, especially when you're feeling lazy, is a carton of eggs. Often when I'm not in the mood to cook, I'll just toss some veggies and eggs in the frying pan and call it dinner. Yeah, eggs are typically considered a breakfast food, but you learn to move past that with Paleo/Primal/healthy eating. When you start eating steak or meatloaf for breakfast, then "breakfast" kind of becomes unimportant. Tonight's meal (since it's not a typical "dinner") consisted of smoked salmon with spinach, shredded cabbage, shredded carrots, and eggs.

Vegetable Scrambled Eggs
1 cup spinach, packed
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1/4 cup shredded carrots
2 eggs
1 pinch salt
1 pinch pepper
1 shake of crushed red pepper

1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Once hot, add the veggies. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until desired softness.
2. Add the eggs and stir. Cook for a few minutes until eggs are fully cooked, then serve.

Whole 30 - Day 26

Check that out, y'all. I'm almost done with a Whole 30. I admit to having my first cheat today. I had a soda... I know! It's terrible, but I needed it. I have an out-of-town regatta tomorrow and had to drive this afternoon, because I had no desire to make a 2:30 a.m. drive before a day of races. As I was driving, I was having a lot of trouble staying focused and kept wanting to close my eyes, just for a little bit. Sleeping while driving is really not acceptable, so I pulled off at a Bucee's gas station to buy myself some caffeine. Try not to judge so much. I at least made it to my destination in one piece.

Want to know what I ate for a pre-drive breakfast? Of course you do...

Asparagus and Pepper Scramble

3 eggs

1/2 red pepper, cut into large chunks

1/3 bunch of asparagus

1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1 cup shredded cabbage

1 cup baby kale/spinach/arugula

1 tsp garlic salt

3/4 tsp fresh ground pepper

1 pinch cayenne

1 Tbls olive oil

1. Rinse your asparagus and cut the bottom 1-2 inches off the stalk.

2. Wrap the asparagus in paper towels, and briefly run the wrapped bunch under the faucet so it's a bit damp.

3. Microwave for 3.5 minutes.

4. While the asparagus is being microwaved, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat.

5. Toss in the peppers once the asparagus is hot. Cook for a couple minutes, until starting to soften.

6. Chop the asparagus into 1-inch pieces, and add to the pan with the peppers.

7. Add in the tomatoes, cabbage, and mixed greens. Cook for about a minute, then add the whisked eggs.

8. Stir often until the eggs are cooked, then eat.

After checking into the hotel, I immediately drove over to the boathouse to help unload boats from our trailer and then rig them. After dinner, we went to Rodeo Goat (http://www.rodeogoat.com/) for dinner, where I had the Caca Oaxaca, minus the cheese and the bun. It was good, but not mind-blowingly good for a burger joint which was rated the best burger in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Here's my burger below...

Whole 30 - Day 21

Wow. Has it already been 3 weeks? It doesn't feel like it's been that long. At least not right now. There are other times that it feels like ages, but as I've mentioned, it's primarily when I'm craving snacks or something to drink other than water. That might be when I most want to drink alcohol. Not for the fact that it's alcohol, but for that fact that it's a flavor other than plain water. Sure, sure, I could give my water some flavor by tossing in a couple slices of orange, lemon, or lime, or some frozen raspberries or something like that. There are options, but that also requires effort. More effort than opening a bottle of wine and pouring myself a glass would be.

Anyways, it's not a super difficult struggle, so at least we know my willpower is still kicking. I just want to remember the way I feel now so that when my Whole 30 is up, I don't attack all of those foods that aren't Paleo, but are gluten-free and dairy-free. We'll see what happens in 9 days. Maybe my Whole 30 will last a bit longer?

Here's what I whipped together for dinner last night and tonight (I've been lazy this weekend, so it's mainly just me tossing veggies together with leftover chicken, egg, and some seasonings).

Chicken with over-easy egg and sautéed zucchini, leek, cherry tomato, and baby kale.

Chicken with egg and stir-fried carrots, leek, zucchini, and baby kale and baby spinach. I cooked the veggies with some coconut aminos (from my shopping trip yesterday) and a few splashes of fish sauce.

Whole 30 - Day 8

This week's daily breakfast is...

Lemon Chicken Artichoke Frittata

2 chicken breasts (Baked Herb Chicken), diced/cubed/shredded (your choice)

2 cup spinach, sauteed or frozen chopped

1 cup artichoke, chopped

1 Tbls lemon juice

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

6 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl.

3. Heat 1 Tbls coconut oil in an oven-safe pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot and the bottom and sides of the pan are coated (swirl the oil around the pan), 

4. Add half of the eggs to the pan. Let cook for a few minutes or until the bottom layer of eggs starts to firm.

5. Mix together the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl.

6. Once the eggs start have started to firm, spread out the chicken-artichoke-spinach mixture. Pour the remaining eggs over the top.

7. Transfer pan to the oven, and cook for 15 minutes or until the eggs are completely solid (check the center).

And because my dinner on Friday was so yummy, here's a photo, just to make you jealous: Baked Herb Chicken,  Heirloom Tomatoes, and sliced kiwi. I've been eating a lot more fruit lately in the attempt to increase my potassium. Kiwi has a 107.5:1 ratio of potassium to sodium, with 215 mg in a ~42 calorie-kiwi. Awesome!

Buffalo Chicken Egg Bites

Buffalo Chicken Egg Bites

4 eggs, whisked
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup frozen cut spinach

Sauce
1/4 cup (4 Tbls) hot sauce
2 Tbls (2 oz) Tbls ghee, melted
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sea salt
pinch of ground black pepper

Chicken
1 lb chicken, cubed and seasoned with
1 tsp olive oil
pinch of salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Pull out your 6-muffin tin and either insert paper liners or coat with oil.
2. In a bowl, stir together the chicken, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
3. Spread the seasoned chicken across a baking sheet, and cook for ~7 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from oven and pat dry.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a medium-sized bowl (large enough to hold 2 cups).

5. Stir in the cooked chicken, making sure chicken is fully coated.

6. Evenly distribute the pepper, spinach, and chicken among the 6 muffins.
7. Add 3.5 Tbls of the whisked egg to each muffin.

8. Bake in oven for 15 minutes.

Alternatives: You can use a loaf pan, or 8"x8" pan instead of muffin tins if you like. I had leftover eggs and chicken, so I chopped up some more pepper and made a mini souffle dish of the buffalo chicken egg bites, as you can see at the top...

21DSD Day 2 - Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke Frittata

Chicken, Spinach, and Artichoke Frittata

6 eggs

2 Tbls ghee

1 Tbls olive oil

1/2 cup diced artichoke hearts

1 cup frozen chopped spinach

1/2 tsp garlic salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 lb chicken breast, diced

1 leek, green and white parts, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

2. Heat 2 Tbls ghee over medium-low heat in a pan. Once melted, add in the sliced leeks. These will cook while the frittata is cooking.

3. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in an oven-safe pan. Once hot, toss in the chicken and cook until thoroughly cooked.

4. When the chicken is cooked, add in the artichokes, spinach, garlic salt and pepper, cooking until thawed.

5. Whisk the eggs and pour into the pan with the chicken, spinach, and artichokes. Cook for about 5 minutes until the eggs on the bottom have solidified a bit. (Pssst... Don't forget to stir the leeks)

6. Transfer the pan to the oven. Cook for 20 minutes or until the entire concoction has solidified. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes. By this time the leeks should have caramelized. Serve with a topping of leeks.

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!

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Mini Peppers

I had an open can of chipotle peppers from the Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes I made the other day, so I decided to use a few more of the peppers. I also happened to stop by Sam's Club after work last Friday and found mini sweet bell peppers, and I stopped at the Whole Foods on the way home from crew practice and bought pasture-raised split chicken breast. And so I decided to combine the results of my grocery shopping sprees.

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Mini Peppers

1 lb chicken breast, pasture-raised, grass-fed (Paleo)
2 1/2 cup spinach, thoroughly rinsed and dried
1/3 + 1 Tbls cup olive oil
2 Tbls lime juice
5 small cloves garlic, smashed and minced
1/4 onion, chopped (you can use more if you like, but I don't really like onion)
3 chipotle peppers, minced
3 tsp adobo sauce (the sauce that the canned chipotle peppers come in)
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
20 mini peppers (you can only see 14 in the photo, but trust me, you'll make enough for 20)
1 quart-sized Ziploc bag

1. Chop 4 cloves of garlic and the chipotle peppers. Put into a small bowl and mix with 1/3 cup olive oil, lime juice, oregano, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper.
2. Place your chicken breast into the Ziploc bag and add 2 Tbls of the mixture. Place in the fridge for 2-3 hours.
3. While the chicken sits, chop off the tops of the mini peppers, and scrap out the seeds and fleshy insides. Set aside.

4. After the chicken has soaked in the chipotle seasoning for a couple hours, heat the oven to 350 F. Cook the chicken for 20 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Remove the chicken from the oven and set aside to let the chicken cool.

5. While the chicken cools, heat 1 Tbls olive oil over medium heat. Once hot, add the onions and 1 clove of garlic, minced. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add the spinach and wilt the spinach.
6. After the chicken has cooled, shred with your hands. Add into the pan with the onions, garlic, and spinach. Mix in the remaining sauce. Cook for another few minutes until the sauce has been absorbed into the chicken.
7. Stuff the mini peppers with the chicken mix and spread on a tin foil-lined baking sheet. Place the pan into the oven and cook for 20 minutes at 350 F.

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

I found this recipe last week and wanted to give it a try. Here's the original recipe:
http://www.halfbakedharvest.com/healthy-chipotle-chicken-sweet-potato-skins/

Really all that needs to be done to make this recipe Paleo is to not use cheese or Greek yogurt, depending on how Paleo/Primal you are. I changed the heat and timing a little to suit my oven. I also made a little more sauce.

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes

1.5 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

2.5 cups spinach

Chipotle Sauce

1/3 cups olive oil

1 1/2 Tbls lime juice

4 cloves garlic, minced or grated

4 whole chipotle pepper, minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp cumin

2 1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash your sweet potatoes and prick all over with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 minutes or until fork tender. Place your chicken in a baking dish and rub with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place in the oven with the potatoes and bake for 20 minutes. Allow to cool and shred the chicken with your hands. When the sweet potatoes are done cut in half and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
2. While the potatoes and chicken are baking... In a medium size bowl combine the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, chipotle peppers, oregano, cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.
3. Heat a small skillet over medium heat and wilt the spinach (this can also be done in the microwave). Toss the spinach and shredded chicken together, set aside and keep warm.
4. Scrape the sweet potato out of the peel, leaving a medium size layer of flesh inside with the peel and place in a baking dish. Brush the skins with with a little of the chipotle sauce and bake for 5-10 minutes until nice and crisp. While the skins bake mix the spinach, chicken and chipotle sauce together.
5. Remove the skins from the oven, and top with your chicken mixture and fresh cilantro. Eat. Enjoy.

Green Eggs

This morning I had Green Eggs for breakfast after my 5 a.m. workout. It's very easy and yummy if you like artichokes, but fair warning, the artichokes changes the coloring of the eggs a little bit...

Green Eggs

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup spinach

1/4 cup canned artichoke hearts, quartered

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

1. Thoroughly wash and pat dry your spinach, pulling off the stems.
2. Heat 1 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-low heat (mine was set for level 3). Once ready, toss in the spinach and cook until wilted.
3. Gather roughly 1/4 cup of quartered artichoke hearts and cut in half so that the leafy bits are loose. Add these to the pan and heat for a few minutes.
4. Crack the eggs into a separate bowl and whisk. Season with salt and pepper (but don't use too much salt, it can be overbearing with the artichoke).
5. Pour the eggs into the pan and heat, stirring frequently for even cooking. I'm sure you know how to scramble eggs, and it's the same thing here, just with green bits thrown in.
6. Transfer to a plate/bowl/cup/frisbee/whatever you use to serve food. Pick up fork/spoon/stick, scoop the Green Eggs onto your utensil, and raise to your open mouth. Close, chew, swallow, enjoy.

Colors, Crafts, and Steak

So I apparently don’t know how to run without injuring myself. I participated in a color run (5k) over the weekend and managed to roll my ankle once again. It was only 3 miles, yet somehow, I fit in another sprain – at the green color station. Of course, I kept running and finished the race, but my ice pack and ACE bandage were necessities once I got home. Disregarding the return of my ankle pain, the race was a blast. Something about being rainbow-colored is immensely satisfying. I highly recommend it. Just try not to injure yourself.

This ankle injury is kind of baffling to me. How do I keep injuring myself? If I didn’t know better, I’d say that I’m klutzy. But I don’t often trip over myself or fall over or knock things down. As a child, I did 6 years of ballet lessons, so by the time I switched over to soccer, my coach was impressed that I didn’t fall over like most of the other girls on my team. I had and still have good balance. Yet make me run on even slightly uneven ground and whoops, there goes my ankle. As I mentioned before, my running career is over.

This past weekend has been a Christmasy weekend. I hit up Ikea twice for some Swedish Christmas decorations, lights, and candles to set up around my apartment. I also spent some time in the crafts section of Wal-Mart. Here is the result of my Sunday afternoon crafting session with KAOS and How the Grinch Stole Christmas playing the background:

Monday and Tuesday of this work week has been spent primarily in training. They have provided fruits, muffins, pastries, and sugared fruit juices for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. One thing that I noticed while I wasn’t eating breakfast was that more of the fruit was gone in comparison to the amount of grain-based sweets. Also, during lunch, I saw that 4 of the 16 people in our training ate the insides of their sandwiches but didn’t eat the bread/wrap. It made me happy to see that other people are also restricting their grain intake (though I recognize that they may be doing so as part of a Southbeach-esque diet).

Anyways, time for a How-To…

How-To: Cook Steak in the Oven 

Need:

Oven

Cast-iron skillet/griddle

~1-lb rib-eye steak, grass-fed, at room temperature

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Set the oven to broil. Let heat for ~20 minutes. Place a cast iron pan over medium-high heat on the stove until hot (heat your griddle in the oven).

While things are heating up, pat dry your grass-fed rib eye steak. Then brush with olive oil. In a small bowl, mix together salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly over the steak on both sides.

Now that your pan/griddle is hot (pull the griddle out of the oven and place over stove), place your steak on the hot surface. Flip over after 30 seconds. After both sides have been seared for 30 seconds, flip back over onto the original side, and transfer pan/griddle into the oven. Cook for 2 minutes for medium-rare, or 4 minutes for medium. Once cooked to your liking, remove from the oven and transfer to plate, covering with tinfoil. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes. Slice against the grain and serve immediately.

You may get some smoke in your kitchen, so I recommend turning on overhead fans and opening a window to prevent your smoke detector from going off like mine did.

If you’re like me, eat ¼ of your steak for breakfast with one scrambled egg, and wilted spinach.

Whole 30 - Italian Greens Frittata

My dad sent me an email a while ago about this and I'm finally getting around to posting this... Apparently cooking with dry heat isn't good for you... or at least not for mice. Cooking meat with dry heat increases Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), such as the compound methyl-glyoxal (MG). With sustained exposure MG, mice (across four generations) "developed significant abdominal weight gain, early insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes." The study recommends that we stop cooking foods with dry heat (grilling) and replace them with lower heating methods or methods that use a lot of moisture (stewing, poaching or steaming). So check out my slow-cooker recipe from yesterday.

Check out the article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120820152102.htm

And now that I've shared that it's possibly bad for you, let's bake breakfast...

Italian Greens Frittata
7 eggs
1 lb ground turkey/beef
1 baby bok choy, chopped
1 cup frozen, chopped spinach
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch broccoli, chopped to bite size pieces
1 green onion, sliced - for topping
1 tbls olive oil
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp oregano
3/4 tsp basil

Preheat oven to 350F.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan on the stove over medium heat. Once hot (test this my getting your hand slightly wet and flicking the excess water onto the pan. If it sizzles, it's ready.) Add the onions and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes. While this is cooking, rinse and chop your bok choy, separating the stalks (white part) from the leafy green part. Toss the stalks in with the onions and garlic and cover for ~3 minutes. Now add the leafy bits, broccoli, and mushrooms. Cook until veggies are soft. Transfer the veggies to an 11" x 7" pan.

While the veggies are cooking, use a separate pan to cook your ground meat. Once browned, transfer to the pan with your veggies and spread evenly. Crack your eggs into a separate bowl and whisk with your seasonings. Pour eggs into the pan and put into the oven for ~20 minutes or until the eggs have solidified. Take out, sprinkle with green onions, and slice into 6 pieces. Breakfast for the week. Sweet.

Whole 30 - Tomato and Beef Stew

I'm not sure whether this qualifies as a soup or as stew. I generally think of stews as thicker than this one, but I think of soups as thinner than this one. Sooo, I'm going with a stew. Call it what you will.

Tomato and Beef Stew
1 lb beef for stew chunks
1 - 28 oz can of peeled whole tomatoes
1 - 6 oz can of tomato puree
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chopped spinach, frozen
1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
a few shakes of salt
(optional) a little bit of your own blood... Just kidding. I happened to slice my finger open while trying to find another fast way of chopping onions, but I promise, no blood went into this stew...

Chop up all of your ingredients. Put into the crockpot. Stir. Set for 8 hours on low. Check back 8 hours later. Eat. Enjoy.

Today, I ate a piece of my Italian Greens Frittata (recipe tomorrow) with avocado for breakfast, had nuts and a Lemon Pie Larabar for lunch, a banana for a snack, and almond butter and a Cashew Cookie Larabar for dinner. Too many nuts. Way too many. And I used myfitnesspal.com to track the nutritional values of my food, and my "dinner" ended up being ~500 more calories than if I had eaten a cup of my stew. Yikes. Darn nuts.

And as a side note to all of you wondering why corn isn't Paleo: Mark's Daily Apple: Corn is not a Vegetable.

P90X - Day 17

All of this week I have been/am going to be in all-day meetings, starting at 8 a.m. and going until 4ish in the afternoon. This means that all of the other work sitting on my desk waiting to get done will continue waiting. However, because I hate the idea of missing deadlines, I decided to get into work by 7, so that I have an hour before my meeting and an hour or so after to work on my other tasks. In order to get to wake up, work out (1-1.5 hours), shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and get to work, I have to start my workout at 4:30. I've found that it generally takes me an hour from the time that I start to get ready for work until the time that I get to my desk.

So... yesterday morning I intended to wake up at 4:30 a.m. I turned off my first alarm when it started ringing and decided to wait for the 5 a.m. alarm. But I ended up getting out of bed at 4:50 to do P90X Shoulders and Arms. I strongly dislike waking up that early. But I'm going to try to do 4:30 a.m. for this week. Fingers crossed that I manage it for yoga. That's a full 1.5 hours, so I NEED to be up by 4:30 to get to work on time.

Last weekend I made Paleo Spinach-Artichoke Dip based on this recipe from PaleOMG. It turned out really well. The cashews definitely did the trick. The only variations: instead of using onion powder and garlic powder, I used a few shakes of garlic salt; my cashews were raw (unroasted and unsalted). I think it turned out just fine. And it made a lot. More than my friends and I could eat at Girls Night In.

In scary news, there are zombie amoeba in your tap water! Just kidding. But seriously. Though the result of the study just got published on August 22, 2012, the study covers "brain-eating amoeba" found in tap water that led to the deaths of two people in Louisiana. The actual term for the disease is primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). It's caused when Naegleria fowleri–containing water enters the nose, such as while swimming. The N. fowleri migrates to the brain via the olfactory nerve, which, you guessed it, is critical to your sense of smell. N. fowleri is a "climate-sensitive, thermophilic ameba found in the environment, including warm, freshwater lakes and rivers." The warm climates of southern USA makes nice breeding grounds. Boo!

The way in which these two people were exposed were via sinus rinses. For those of you who don't suffer from chronic allergies or frequent sinus infections, you may not have heard of a sinus rinse. Doctors recommend a rinse to their patients basically as a way of cleaning out the sinuses. Previously the only option was a neti pot, for which you had to turn your head on it's side and pour the water mixture through your nose. Yes, into one nostril and out of the other. There's now a "sinus rinse" option which is a squeeze bottle. And as I'm sure you can guess... you squeeze the bottle to send the water + special formula up one nostril and out of the other. Then repeat on the other side.

You may think this is gross, and it kind of is, but it is helpful. I start using the sinus rinse every time I feel a cold/sinus infection coming on and I do believe it helps to get rid of the cold sooner. The key thing to take from this story is that you NEED to use distilled, boiled, or filtered water.

For reference: 

Yoder, Jonathan S., et al. "Clinical Infectious Diseases." Primary Amebic Meningoencephalitis Deaths Associated With Sinus Irrigation Using Contaminated Tap Water. Oxford Journals, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. <http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2012/08/22/cid.cis626.abstract>