...and SOME fruit...

Dinner in Ten!

2011-08-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Yeah. It's been four months exactly since I last posted something. That really sucks! But I've been really busy. Life! I'm still really busy, but trying to be better. This is me being succinct. Let's see how it works:

Here's how to make this super delicious paleo meal in minutes flat, just like I just did!

Whenever you see an asterick, mentally insert the words 'or whatever the hell you want'.

Fish and Veggies (or * and *)

1) Heat pan. Add coconut oil. Season ahi tuna * with garlic, red clay sea salt, and fresh cracked black pepper*. Put in pan and leave the hell alone for about two minutes.

2) cut up a yellow squash* and have ready to dump in the pan when you flip the *.

3) in food processor, dump 3 tomatoes, a red onion, a whole bunch of cilantro (seriously, the WHOLE bunch, stems and all), 3 deliciously fresh jalapenos (thank you to Debbie Bannock for the fresh jalapenos from her garden! fresh produce for your trainer means no burpees for you today!), some salt and pepper and the juice of one lime. Blend the heck out of it.

4) Flip fish *, add squash, stir squash briefly, then leave the hell alone for another minute. at least if you want pretty brown bits instead of mushy yucky looking bits.

5) when it's nearly done, dump copious amounts of spinach over the squash and mix and let wilt a bit. oh..and add * spice wise to your squash and spinach too.

6) Plate. Mix some salsa with the veggies and dump about a cupload on the side to eat with your fish or *. enjoy.

Pork and Apples

2011-04-02T23:39:00.001-07:00

This is what my house smells like right now! Grilled pork and perfectly seasoned apples. I used to say I didn't like meat with fruit. I have so gotten over that! Fruit juices have long been used in marinades for meat, since the acid in fruits acts as a natural tenderizer. And the combination of sweet, juicy fruits with rich, savory, tender meats is absolutely to-die-for! And fried pork chops and sugar-laden applesauce has long been a Fall dinner table staple. This recipe yields all the great taste of a classic, but with less calories and no crap. A win-win!

Caveat...I made this tonight for six families. When cooking for that many people, I don't necessarily follow the same steps as when I'm cooking for myself. This is a case in point. To work with 15 pounds of pork, I seasoned them and grilled them outside. I cooked the apples in roasting pans, and then combined the two. Since this is how I cooked it, these are the pictures I have. But the recipe will be written as if I were cooking for one family...most importantly, all cooking is accomplished in one skillet.

Pork and Apples

Season pork with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on both sides. You can use pork loin or a nice chop, even pork steaks. Heat large skillet to very hot and then add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add pork, cook until nicely browned (about a minute or two), flip and repeat on other side. Remove meat to a plate.

Add chopped green onions and sliced apples to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and a bit of cinnamon. Cook for about two minutes, then add pork chops back in. At this point you can do a couple different things...

a) either put lid on skillet, decrease heat, and cook until pork is cooked through.

b) slip skillet (only if oven proof) into a 350 degree oven to finish cooking.

c) you can also add white wine to the pan before slipping the pork back in and finishing the cooking. It depends on how strictly paleo you want to keep things.

This is really quick, really easy, and super delicious. You can even swing this for non paleo company and they won't look askance at it! Enjoy!

SoCal Mojito!

2011-04-02T23:19:00.001-07:00

So, all of us fun-loving Paleo peeps are familiar with Robb Wolf's NorCal Margaritas! Yeah, yeah, yeah...we know alcohol isn't paleo. However, we are human. And though we do indulge every now and then, we do attempt to keep it as clean as possible. And though the NorCal margaritas are damn tasty, tequila just is not usually my go-to hard alcohol of choice.

So, a couple weeks ago I had my first mojito and LOVED it! And last night, my friend, Lupita, gifted me with a wonderful mojito making kit at my housewarming party. Never one to let something sit and collect dust, I decided to test my mojito making skills right after I finished cooking tonight.

I started with fresh mint, since at one point I planted some in my garden and now have enough to keep a few continents in mojitos for the entire summer months.

Then, I simply followed the basic mojito recipe, leaving out and/or substituting any non-paleo ingredients. I left the sugar out completely, because I like tart better than sweet any day. And then I used club soda instead of lemon lime soda. The taste was still very refreshing and it will definitely be made again. Maybe in ten minutes.

SoCal Mojitos

Put in bottom of glass: 2 Tablespoons crushed ice, 10 mint leaves, juice of half a lime. Muddle. Muddle, muddle, muddle. The little muddler looks just like the one used for real Mexican hot chocolate. It is TRES cute!

THEN add 2 oz white rum and 1/2 oz of orange liquer and mix. Then strain into another glass filled with ice. Top off with club soda.

Lose to Live!

2011-01-29T13:35:00.000-08:00

So this week, I launched a new Facebook group, called Lose to Live. It's a closed forum where those looking to lose weight, and those of us who have, can come together and support and learn from each other. We have almost thirty people so far, which makes me so happy! The more of us there are, the more comments and interactions and relationships made. Which will just make us stronger and better! I have had some questions about what kind of content is there, so I figured I'd share two posts from today to give you an idea. Now, these are two notes from me. Everyone this week has been sharing stories and struggles and successes. And that camaraderie is what is going to make this work. This isn't MY group. It's not a platform for me to tout the paleolithic diet or Crossfit. It's for you guys. So here's two posts. If you like what you see, and think it might help you in some way, let me know and I'll add you to the group! Happy Saturday!

How It Works

I have intended to start this page for over a year. I remember how intimidating it was when I was first trying to lose weight. Sometimes (a lot of times) I wouldn't ask for help or ask a question, because I felt I was the only one who didn't know the answer. So I wanted a closed forum for my clients and friends who are trying to loss weight. A place you can come and ask questions and share hints and tips, and not feel embarrassed or uncomfortable or judged in any way.

I want to build a support group! I can attest that this support system is the vital little push that got me started on my successful 200 pounds weight loss. My tactics at the beginning weren't all that different from the umpteen other times I had tried unsuccessfully to lose weight. It was knowing that I had these friends out there, and that I would have to honestly tell them how I'd done that week, that made the ultimate difference.

So, if you want to be included, it's pretty darn easy! ...

First off, introduce yourself! I know some are shy, but we're all in this together! You can share whatever you're comfortable sharing...or nothing more than your name. But along with your name, share a goal or two or three! What are you trying to accomplish right now with weight loss and fitness?

Second, every Friday we're are going to report in. Like an official weigh in! NOW...no numbers need to be shared! You can say give your starting weight or not. It's up to you. But even if you don't share a weight, you can report whether you've lost or gained, and how much, the past week. then we'll applaud or commiserate. Steal good ideas from you that worked, or brainstorm solutions to problems that were encountered. The more we connect and communicate and help others, the more we help ourselves!

Third, minimum posting to belong to this page is every Friday. This is accountability! Share your loss/gain, something that was a difficulty and how you overcame it, if you did. and at least one suggestion/tip/healthy recipe to share. Throughout the rest of the week, it'll be organized chaos. Have a question? POST IT! I can guarantee that SOMEONE else has had or has the same question. And I can answer it one time, in one place, and everyone gains knowledge! And if YOU have an answer, YOU can respond too! I want to build a community here!

Why This Group Will Work

From the introductions, you can quickly see that we’re all at different points in our odyssey to get fit and healthy and strong and happy. And that’s ok. Actually, that’s damn perfect! For each and every one of you in this group, there is SOMEONE who has ‘been there, done that’. There is at least ONE person, if not multiple, who has been exactly where you are and have managed to move beyond and grow. Demons have been conquered. Fears have been faced. Walls have been either climbed or simply torn down. Not only have we survived and learned, but knowing how hard it is, I think it’s an intrinsic quality in any good human, to WANT and NEED to help each other. We need to use our experiences to make it less painful or time consuming for others struggling with the same issues. I believe we’re called to do this. We’re all here to share and support and motivate and commiserate.

The reason I started this group is because a similar, though less Internet-savvy, group was the linchpin in my weight loss journey. This group of five or six woman, scattered across the United States were all different ages and all had very different lives and very different goals. But we all were trying to improve our health by losing extra, unhealthy weight. Some had ten pounds to lose, some had forty, and one had two hundred, but it didn’t matter. What mattered is that once a week, I knew that I would have to write an email and tell these ladies whether I had lost or gained weight over the last week. This was huge. This was major. This seemingly LITTLE detail…this public accountability… is the only difference I can find, when I compare my myriad previous weight loss attempts with what was ultimately my successful, two-hundred pound weight loss. Actually, it wasn't even the PUBLIC accountability, because weight watcher meetings were actually one of my failed attempts. I think what is was, was actually accountability to a group that I knew and liked and respected. Friends...though I only knew ONE of them to begin with. The meetings with groups of strangers didn't do it for me. I needed to be accountable to people who I had more of an intimate connection with. So I love that I'm already seeing connections being made and friendships being forged. Because I think this is what we need. It worked for me. And I hope and pray that it will be the same way for you.

Losing weight is a daunting prospect. And if you’re new to this, it’s going to involve making multiple changes. Face it, what you’re doing now isn’t working. And things you’ve tried in the past, didn’t work. So logically, to obtain a different result, you’re going to need to try DIFFERENT THINGS! Ah-ha! Can I just get a hand raise from anyone out there who has lost weight, gained it back, and then went straight back to the original plan when they decided to lose weight again. There’s a reason the weight came back…it could be that your plan was too restrictive to actual maintain…or you weren’t eating the right things…or you didn’t deal with WHY you are this heavy. Seriously, I’m pretty sure none of us made a conscious decision at any point in our lives to be miserable and feel ridiculed. Did we? There are countless reasons the weight comes back on. And they need to be addressed so we can keep moving forward.

Losing weight requires soul searching and honesty and commitment and self love. At some point you need to realize that YOU are more important than that damn bagel. That getting up in the morning and LOVING what you see in the mirror is so much more soul-satisfying than yet another plate of fettuccine alfredo at Olive Garden. That the ability to look forward to every day…to not dread something as simple as getting dressed in the morning…will have more of a positive impact on your life than you can even imagine. And not just your life. This impacts the lives of your spouse, your children, your friends. You come first. But they definitely will reap the rewards of your hard work too.

Weight loss isn’t just about eating right, getting enough sleep, and exercising. It’s about fixing what’s broke…inside and out…so we don’t need to rely on food as a crutch or a solace or a safety net any longer. And it’s totally do-able. Especially since we have each other.

How The Hell Do You Get Started

OK….now on to the more pressing issue at hand. How the hell do you actually get started?

Honestly, I could throw a boatload of information and facts and statistics at you. And while I do think it’s important that you know the science and the reason behind things, so you can make informed decisions about what you put into your body, I also fully believe that overwhelming you right out of the gate is detrimental! Keep it simple! That’s my goal. And believe me, it took awhile to put the weight on, it’s going to take a while to get it off. We’re here. We’re not going anywhere. Let’s start by making a few major changes that can have the biggest impact and then taking it from there.

This week you have three assignments.

1)

Clean up your diet.

You don’t need me spouting off about paleo or telling you why you shouldn’t eat xyz. Deep down, you know what you should be eating and what you shouldn’t. Take some responsibility for yourself, your choices, and your actions. No one can make you eat crap. No one is ramming burritos down your throat. It's all you, baby! lol! So stop. It makes you feel like crap. So why in the world would keep doing it? You will be amazed at how simply making one good choice will make you feel like a million bucks! It's self rewarding. I promise. And yes, down the line, fine tuning your diet will be vital. And soon, I will give you more information and links and recommended reading. For now, you just need to start. You know you shouldn’t eat donuts. You know frosted flakes have no inherent nutritional value. So don’t eat them. Eat natural food, as close to the way nature made them, as possible. How simple is that? I tell people, that if they eliminate stuff that comes in boxes, cans, or bags, they’re 80% of the way there, in terms of healthy eating. Of course, there are considerations to be made…but if you start questioning whether canned salmon is ok, you’re missing the point and I will bop you on the head. Don’t be argumentative and don’t whine. If it’s ever a true question, ask it…but also don’t nitpick. This isn’t rocket science. Don’t make it harder than it is. Obviously this will be more of a change for some of you, then for others. Don’t kill yourself if it’s not perfect this week. Even two or three a week will add up…so this week, you might cut out soda, drink more water, eat at least one veggie at each meal. Great start! Next week, you’ll keep doing those three, and add something else. Obviously, the faster you start making positive changes, the faster you’ll see results. But it is much better, in the long run, to start slow and FINISH, then to go balls to the wall right out the gate and be so miserable that you stop.

2)

Weigh yourself once a week.

Now, I’m no longer a scale whore. Yes, for years I weighed myself multiple times a day. And it was a very hard habit to break, and if you’re one of my students or clients, you hear me talk about how weight is actual such an ineffectual measure of our progress. Especially if you are doing strength training. That being said, it is still the easiest and most universal form of documenting our progress. I highly recommend having someone take your measurements too, and I will write something up soon about how to do that. But for now, the scale will be a gauge. If you didn’t weigh yourself yesterday, do it today. AND THEN PUT THE SCALE AWAY until next Friday. Yep…you heard me. Don’t obsess. Weigh once a week. First thing in the morning. Me…I weigh myself the instant I wake up, butt naked, before I’ve even had water or coffee, right after a trip to the bathroom. Whatever works for you, just be consistent. Weight varies too much throughout the course of even a single day…so if you start off weighing in the morning, stick with it.

3)

Move!

If you’ve never exercised, make a goal to walk around your block ten minutes three times this week. If you’re already taking classes or working with a trainer, go ten minutes more than usual or up the intensity or try something new. The goal is to move MORE than you did last week.

Next week we’ll talk about goal setting, priorities, and food journaling! This week, just focus on these things!

Meaghan's Famous Mac-n-Cheese

2011-01-19T12:09:00.000-08:00

My sister, Meaghan, makes the best macaroni and cheese in the world! So, of course, her recipe was instantly bogarted! This is total comfort food. NOT paleo, NOT healthy, NOT anything except damn good and thoroughly filling! And no...the recipe won't be a metric crap-ton of mac-n-cheese, as in the picture below. That's the recipe times eight because I was cooking for 16 families that week.

Meaghan's Famous Mac-n-Cheese

- 1 pound pasta (a heavy shape with nice nooks and crannies to hold the VERY THICK sauce!)
-1/2 cup butter (BUTTER! not margarine! nomz!!!!!)
-1/2 cup flour
- 2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper
-4 1/2 cups milk
-1 pound grated cheese (I tend to use the pre-grated ones from costco... half the cheddar/jack mix and half the mozzarrella. I've made it all white before, all cheddar other times. honestly, you can't screw it up. cheese is just good.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a 9X13" Pyrex

Cook and drain pasta according to directions. once drained, stir in a bit of olive oil to prevent sticking...unless your sauce is ready and you can just mix that in immediately.

While pasta cooks, melt butter (in a BIG pot!) and then remove pan from heat. Stir in flour and seasonings until smooth. Put back on heat. Stir milk in gradually. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly (honestly...CONSTANTLY!). It will take a while to bring to a boil too! making a good roux (which is what this is), is akin to beating egg whites, as far as forearm development! and do follow the steps above exactly or you will have lumps!

Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 3 cups of the cheese and all the noodles (see why the BIG POT!). If you're going to add ham or bacon or something equally yummy, do so now. Pour into the pyrex. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

***at this point you can refrigerate for days!***

Bake 15-25 minutes are until brown and bubbly. If cooking from refrigerated, bring to room temperature to retain cooking time stated. If popping straight into the oven from the fridge, then of course it's going to take much longer to cook! In that case, cover with foil for the first half hour or so, then remove for last ten or fifteen minutes. that way your cheese won't burn!

Enjoy!

Paleo Crockpot Chicken Jambalaya

2010-12-30T16:43:00.001-08:00

I promised healthy crockpot recipes and paleo recipes to two separate friends. This one hits all the salient points and is today's contribution. I'm actually making it TOMORROW, so will add a picture then. For now, though, the recipe...which is all you really need anyway!

Ingredients

1 lb. chicken, chopped and browned (or leftover is fine!)
1/2 lb. shrimp (or leave out shrimp and use more chicken)
1 large onion, chopped
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
2 medium ribs celery, chipped
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes with the juice or approximately the same amount of fresh tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp dried thyme or 3 tsp fresh chopped thyme
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
hot sauce (tabasco) to taste
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions

Mix all ingredients except shrimp and parsley in crock pot. Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours or until veggies are tender.

Stir in shrimp, cover and cook 20 minutes or until cooked through. Stir in parsley and serve.

NOW...that's the recipe. If you know me, you'll know I never actually measure, but rather chop haphazardly and throw in the pot. I usually will also stir in a couple generous handfuls of chopped kale or collard greens or spinach at the end.

Turkey Meatloaf

2010-10-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

So I just spent half an hour looking through my pictures trying to find ones of when I made the turkey meatloaf. I mean, I ALWAYS take pictures when I'm cooking! and I've made this TWICE in the last month (it was such a hit, that I had a request from one of my paleo clients to make it for her every week). But, apparently, no pictures. But I promised I'd post the recipe...and I have people asking where it is. So here goes...cut and dried, not pretty at all...but damn, the meatloaf is GOOD!

The original recipe was one I found in 'Giada At Home'...a cookbook written by Giada de Laurentiss, that I'd checked out from the library last month. Definitely not a paleo cookbook, but that's OK. You can take most any recipe that you find that looks promising and 'paleo-ize' it!

Meatloaf is super easy. Mix everything together. Shape. Bake (350 degrees for 40-45 minutes, or until internal temperature of the loaf is 165 degrees). So I've listed all the ingredients for the paleo version. then, for my non-paleo friends, I've tacked on the additional ingedients that you can throw in. And if you eat paleo with dairy, then you get to add the feta cheese! mmmmm!

Turkey Meatloaf

1 pound ground turkey
1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/4 chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil (see note below)
2 cloves garlic
2 large eggs, @ room temperature and lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

NOTE: my sun dried tomatoes came packed in olive oil, so this is what I used for the olive oil in the recipe. Hate wasting!

Mix. Shape into a loaf or cute balls or whatever the heck floats your boat. Cook! MMMMM!

For my non-paleo friends, you can throw in 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I always use the non-fat one from Trader Joe's! Delicious!) and/or 1/2 cup PLAIN breadcrumbs.

So there it is. Short and not so pretty. But I promise you your tastebuds won't care!

Paleo Veggie Prep

2010-10-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

I first wrote this blog over a year ago, but I decided it is definitely worthy of being pulled to the top for all my new paleo eaters! A blog on Paleo Protein Prep is a'coming!

******************So I know I've talked a lot about prepping being one of the cornerstones for making this whole Paleo thing work! But I realized today that it might be helpful to some if I went into a little more detail. So...

Went to Henry's today and did a quick run through to pick up some essentials. I buy tons of stuff at Costco also, so this isn't all my veggies for the week, but about half. It took about an hour to prep it all once I got home. My BIGGEST tip to you would be to try and do your grocery runs when you have an hour or so after to spend chopping. I love to cook. I love to chop. It means nothing to me to spend 20 minutes making lunch. But I've learned the hard way that when I'm tired - walking to the outside fridge to get that entire head of cauliflower...knowing I'm going to have to get the plastic off and cut the damn thing. Ugh - too much! I'll grab whatever happens to be in the fridge and fast (usually raw asparagus or cherry tomatoes)...yeah, still Paleo...still veggies...still healthy. But we're also going for variety here for numerous reasons. And honestly, woman can not live on asparagus alone. It would make eating boring...and that's sacrilegious! And I know that if I shove everything in my fridge when I get home from the store, it's chances of staying right in there, wholly intact, increases tenfold! I will even leave the stuff on the counter for an hour or two until I can get to it, before putting it away unprepped! So, if at all possible, prep immediately upon unpacking!

******************Now first thing I do is make my greens for the week. Those are the numero uno veggie of any good Paleo diet. I try to eat them with every meal - and it's really not hard, so I guess it's really not 'trying'. : -) I saute them with a bunch of other veggies with my eggs in the morning. It's the basis for my lunch salad. At dinner, it usually is sauted with onions to make a nice cushy bed for whatever animal fell to my spear that day or gets thrown willy-nilly into the chili pot. So lots and lots of greens!

******************Today I bought red chard, dandelion greens, kale, collard greens, and napa cabbage. Got home, chopped them all up, and mixed them all together with a head of cilantro just for good measure. Now I know that it looks like a huge pile...but ...it condenses nicely when packaged up; if you're eating as much of it as you should, it won't be around that long; it takes about ten minutes to do and is cheaper than buying those pre-packaged bags that were cut days ago; and - most importantly - you control what goes in them. You'd be hard pressed to find a salad mix as nutriently dense as this one is! And leave those beautiful stalks and stems on when you chop them. You won't notice them in your salad, or if you do, it'll be like celery! And another helpful hint...any veggie that's a 'heavy breather' needs to have a paper towel thrown in the bag with it to absorb the excess moisture, which will keep it fresher, longer. I'm actually a huge fan of Tupperware's FridgeSmart storage system - NOTHING seems to go bad in those things! But right now I'm prepping so much - that even with two fridges, I wouldn't have room for that many containers. The bags make it easy to stack and fits lot in a small space.

******************After the greens, I prepped the rest of the stuff I'd bought. That included celery, radishes, peppers, red cabbage, red onions, 4 heads of cauliflower, a second head of napa cabbage all by itself, Italian parsley, portabello mushrooms, and jicama. It really is amazing how much more likely I am to grab that celery or a radish if they've already been topped and tailed and put in a bag! Just this hour of prep will save me numerous hours over the coming week! But bear in mind that some veggies don't respond well to pre-prepping. Tomatoes, zuchinni, squash, cucumbers...all lose a little something when left to sit. And if everything else is prepped, it's not that bad to just chop one of two things!

Hope that's a bit more helpful that just telling you to prep! Now, go eat those greens!

Paleo Links

2010-10-06T21:24:00.000-07:00

In the interest of keeping everything together, especially for the couple people who are not on facebook, I'm re-posting these links. Tons of good information out there...just start in on one and you'll find it'll be a chain reaction as you start following links. Have fun! And don't forget to share if you find something really good that's not on this list!

And, of course, I highly recommend that everyone get themselves a copy of 'The Paleo Solution' by Robb Wolf. Everything you need to know in one place. Funny. Portable. Recipes. Best $15 you'll spend!

BASIC INFORMATION:

http://www.thepaleodiet.com/

http://robbwolf.com/blog/

http://www.paleonu.com/get-started/

http://www.urbangetsdiesel.com/2009/07/change-your-life-in-thirty-days.html

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/

http://paynowlivelater.blogspot.com/2009/08/getting-started-brief-guide-to-paleo.html

http://hunter-gatherer.com/why-hunter-gatherers

http://huntgatherlove.com/content/about

http://arthurdevany.com/ (subscriber only, for a fee. I don't have this, but wanted to give you all the options I was aware of.)

COOKING AND RECIPES:

http://www.crossfitgenius.com/paleo-cookbook/

http://www.glutenfreecookbooks.com/?hop=whatasite

http://paleolickinggood.blogspot.com/

http://cavecooking.blogspot.com/

EATING OUT PALEO:

http://robbwolf.com/category/the-road-forager/

http://hunter-gatherer.com/blog/how-eat-wild-chipotle

30 Day Paleo Challenge

2010-10-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the Paleo Workshop last Friday night was a success and everyone is gearing up to start the challenge officially on Sunday, October 10th. I figured I'd open up my blog page as a place where we can all connect with each other for the next month or so. If you have a question, comment, idea...if you need support or just want to talk...we can use the comments section of the blog. that way it's all in one place. Now it might not be a blog sensation. most days it will be cut and dried and too the point. but it should serve it's purpose!

My goal is to post a little something every day, just so we can have a fresh comments suggestion to start in on. Hopefully will make it easier to keep track of stuff also.

To begin, here's an email I got today with a bunch of good questions. I'm sharing the original email and my responses.

EMAIL RECEIVED

Hi Jenn,

I wanted to send you an email because FB email seems to cut me off!

So, first and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you for hosting the Paleo informational on Friday! It was super informative, and goes great with the book.

I have some questions for you. My main goal is weight loss- as you know by now.

1)I've read less than 6 eggs per week for weight loss - true? If so, I need another breakfast suggestion. I'm currently sauteeing veggies, meat, and throwing an egg on it. But, later in the day, I'll have an egg as a snack.

2)Veggies - steamed vs. stir fried? My guess is stir fryed might be a healthier Paleo option, depending on what you stirfry it with; because steaming takes out nutrients?? However, if you don't know what it's being stirfried in, steamed might be the better pick @ restaurants... si or no?

3)You mentioned not to cook with olive oil because it becomes carcinogenic when heated - however, checking out your blog, you cook with olive oil. 'splain please?! I only ask because I cook with olive oil all the time!

4)Pork Loin. Should I slather oil on a pork loin, then spice it up? Or, just add spice and cook? Does it matter?

5)You mentioned < 4oz nuts / seeds daily for weight loss. Is this separate from my healthy fat intake? For example, if I eat 4ozs of almonds, should I skip the avocado that day?

I know you're super busy, and I appreciate any feedback you can give me, when you have time to give it! I've read your blog too. I saw the Galeo's dressing! I love that stuff. It's probably not the best choice for the 30 day challenge, however, it's good to know that I can eat some of that with my salads! YUMM!

Thanks again Jenn for all that you're doing and all that you continue to do!

You rock!

MY RESPONSE

Let's see! first: you're welcome! :)

OK...

1) I agree with the egg bit. I would go with 1 whole egg and 2-3 egg whites instead. I buy the following because it just saves me a hell of a lot of time, and because I'm not wasting the yolk: http://www.eggwhitesint.com/store.php?crn=66.

...and regarding other breakfast selections. The biggest thing you're going to have to learn to do is stop thinking of breakfast, lunch, and dinner as totally separate beasts. We don't eat the majority of things people consider breakfast food, so we have to re-classify breakfast foods. Me...I love eggs, so I don't have a problem eating them every morning. You can have sausage and bacon instead...traditionally thought of as breakfast far, yes...but probably something you want to limit if you're goal is weight loss. I'm just as likely to have steak or chicken or whatever meat I have in the fridge instead. Most mornings I eat 1 egg and three egg whites cooked with hot peppers, an apple (cause berries are out of season and getting more expensive), and either some almond butter and cinnamon on my apple, or about 6-8 almonds, if I'm eating in the car. then on the weekend I tend to maybe do steak and eggs with mushrooms and asparagus or something a bit fancier, like making a frittata or an omelet (no cheese). the first thirty days may be easier to get through if you find one of two things that work for you, and just stick with them. trying to do too many fancy recipes or different things might be too much to take on at the beginning. and while there are paleo versions of baked things, I think it's better to not use them at the beginning and give your taste buds a chance to get used to the bulk of the food you'll be eating...ie, the meat and veggies.

if you do a google search on paleo breakfast ideas, you'll find a lot of stuff. this link is specifically to a thread of paleo breakfast ideas not using eggs. :) http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/index.php/t-257982.html

2) if you steam them in the microwave with a tiny bit of water, you don't loose the nutrients. that's what I do with my brocolli, cauliflower, etc. Stir frying is fine...I just use a little bit of Pam when I do it. so either or. :) In a restaurant, go for steamed, if possible. and make sure you say PLAIN. no oil, no butter, no nothing. you can ask for a little olive oil on the side if you want. I usually just use lemon juice.

3) I just learned the bit about olive oil being bad to cook with recently. :) I use pam for almost everything, and then dress with olive oil at the end for flavor now. if I need to cook with more than pam, I use coconut oil or grapeseed oil. flaxseed is another I use cold, for dressings, not cooking with.

4)Pork loin...slather...lol!!!! you'll find that a tbs or so of olive oil will cover a huge 10 pound loin. you just want a thin coating on the top because it makes it brown up nicely, plus it holds the spices on.

5) Limiting your nut/seed intake to 4 oz a day for weight loss: this is including the 4 oz as part of your daily fat intake. Another thing to limit for weight loss is your nut butter intakes. they count into that nut/seed total too. :) So for example...for breakfast, you might have 1/4 of an avocado, lunch might be 2 tbs of seeds on your salad and 1 tbs olive oil in your dressing, dinner might be another tbs of olive oil on your veggies. that's probably a good 50-60 grams of fat right there. it really doesn't take much!

and yes...the miso dressings are good, but not recommended for the challenge because they are soy based. but afterwards, it's nice to know there's a salad dressing you can use as a treat now and again without being totally bad! right now I'm living on that dressing I posted last week: equal parts lemon juice and dijon mustard, minced garlic, a bit of olive oil, and some coconut milk. whisk together. nommmmmmy!!!! of course, I add crushed red pepper too! :)

'The Very Short Life and Times of Turkey Joe' or 'SOUP! It's what's for dinner!'

2010-09-26T16:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, Adeline Grace woke me up barking at 6 am. I wasn't able to fall back to sleep, so I did what most people would do if they found themselves in this situation. I roasted a turkey breast!

I mixed olive oil, minced garlic, dijon mustard, crushed red pepper, sea salt, and parsley to a thick paste-like consistency and then liberally smeared it UNDER and on the skin of the turkey (chickens for the clients, a turkey breast for me...they only had one left!). My intention was to get the flavor from the skin and use it to really seal in the rub, but not actually eat it. I made the mistake of trying a piece when I went to put it away. At lunchtime. Before I'd actually eaten lunch. at noon. when I ate breakfast at 6 am. Uhm....I think that's all the excuses I can come up with for ripping into this bird while it's still in the pan. but hey! less dishes! And it was delicious!

And I knew the kids would LOVE it. But they were at Chez Papa this weekend. And it only took three people (one of which is a body builder and one was me,a paleo eating Crossfitter. The other was just a normal red-blooded man.) twenty-four hours to reduce that beautiful bird to this:

I know! Pretty damn impressive amount of carnage is such a short time!

So that left me with a carcass that needed to be disposed of. And I hate wasting anything! And since it's over one hundred degrees today, the first thing that pops into my mind is making soup. And the first thing we need to do to make soup is to make stock.

So I throw the turkey carcass in a pot, add a roughly chopped onion (leave the skin on and it'll help give your stock that nice golden color), and some chunks of celery. Cover with water and simmer. Some people say to bring to a boil and then simmer for a short period of time. I tend to be more of the 'bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a couple hours' kind of girl. I like thinking that I'm wrestling every last iota of flavor out of that bird. Especially since I don't add salt...the flavor needs to actually come from your ingredients! Once it's cooked, you let cool for a bit and then strain the solids out. You're left with a nice flavorful base to start building your soup with!

******************I always pick through the debris from the stock making and give the poached meat and veggies to Adeline Grace, along with some of the liquid. It makes for a very happy dog!

******************Next step: heading outside to raid the garden. I got a tomato, a baby yellow squash and a bit of basil.

These I chopped up, along with some sweet peppers, onions,a jalapeno, and the last chicken breast I had in the fridge and sauteed in a bit of olive oil.

****************Don't sautee to long, you don't want a sodden mess of veggies. Just nicely tender-crisp, thank you very much!

From here, it's simply a matter of adding your stock and letting the whole thing simmer for a while to marry the flavors. And then all that's left to do is eat it! Simple, easy, fresh, and paleo!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

2010-03-04T13:40:00.003-08:00

I am in a happy, happy tummy place right now! Why? Because of this amazing stuff:

So I went to Henry's today because I needed Sunbutter (which is worthy of a blog of it's own! We're talking tons of fiber, good fats, and 25% of your daily magnesium needs, but I digress...) So...sunbutter shopping today led me to discover this little gem: Galeos World's Best Miso Toasted Sesame Seed Dressing. My first thought...Hey! I can eat seeds! I mean, I love lemon juice...and right now I get to enjoy freshly picked lemons from the E.S.G.'s yard... but a salad dressing I could have once in a while, that I don't have to feel guilty about, would be nice!

Now, the ingredients aren't 100% Paleo - it's made with fermented soybean paste, pure honey, toasted sesame seeds, rice vinegar, and sesame seed oil. But at least I can pronounce it all! And the nutritional information is what landed it in my cart: a 1 Tablespoon serving has 22 calories, 2 grams of fat, only 35 mg sodium, and the card, fiber, sugars, and proteins are all 0.5 grams. So very little damage done, sugar-wise...and there was a potential for some great taste!

So I took it home and had it for lunch. Shredded napa cabbage and sunflower seeds with flaked ahi on top...mixed up really nicely with my new Miso. Took a bite...and that was that. It tasted so amazingly good that I ate it...right then and there...without even thinking about taking a picture! So you'll have to just imagine it in your heads!

So, minimal badness...maximal flavour goodness. I'll take it!

Foreshadowing...

2010-03-03T23:20:00.001-08:00

So I was answering comments on my blog, and realized I still had an old draft sitting out there...alone and unread. Looked at the date and realized it was written 4 days before Brett told me that he was moving out...that, without a word or a shot at working things out, he was simply walking away from our 20 year marriage. And I was struck by my last couple sentences... "I'm learning, I guess. Life doesn't usually work exactly how we'd like it to, or think it should...but I guess you let yourself be maudlin...for a second! and then move on and make the best of it." ha! how's that for a nice bit of foreshadowing?! Thank goodness I already was thinking like that, huh?! It's been six months now...and I'm truly happier than I've been in years. And though I hate what the kids are going through right now, I do have to respect him for having the courage to do what I'd been wanting to for years. I have a couple friends going through some really tough times right now...and I just want to remind them that things happen for a reason and that you are never given more than you can handle. And that no matter how crappy things seem, you still have us...all your friends...who love you tremendously! And though sometimes it seems that fate is awfully heavy-handed in dealing with us, maybe it's because we're just too damn stubborn to do what needs to be done on our own!

End of Summer Blues

So today was the last day of summer for my kidlings. My daughter starts her first day of high school tomorrow. My boys are still at school right down the street from the house. They went to bed excited and a bit nervous. Reilly asked me when you stop feeling like that before new things and I'm not sure how much he appreciated me telling him that I still get those wriggly worms in my stomache before I do something new. Now they're finally asleep and I'm supposed to be loading the music for my back-to-back Xbiking classes tomorrow morning. Instead I have those same wriggly worms in my stomache, but it's because I feel guilty.In years past we always celebrate with something special. One last trip to the beach for them and our favorite fish tacos at Harbor Fish and Chips. Or going to see a movie, which we very seldom do. Or having friends over for a last fling. Today I taught smack dab at noon...and we had to pick up Katy's clarinet from school...last minute school supplies...a two hour meeting. We did go to the mall so Katy could buy the coveted checkerboard Vans for the first day of school and we gnoshed hardcore at Soup Plantation for an early dinner. So we did have a little treat, but nothing spectacular. What sucks - is that I KNEW today was going to be like this - so we went and saw Harry Potter 6 last Friday when Brett was actually home with us. But today was sort of anti-climatic. And I honestly don't know whether they are feeling gyped or not.So today was the last day of summer for my kidlings. Which means that tomorrow is the first day of school. Funny how one follows the other, huh?! Katy is set. Carpool is picking her up and she would absolutely die if I even entertained the idea of walking her into high school for the first day. But my boys are still my babies. And regardless of whether they might normally walk or ride their bikes to and from school, everyone knows it's a mandatory mom duty to take them the first day and embarrass them with pictures and generally make a nuisance of yourself. But tomorrow I can't. Our one instructor had knee surgery today and the other one has kids of her own. Not a lot of options. I'm praying that the entire population of Riverside County stays healthy tonight, so that Brett can get off half an hour early and do the honors. If not, the boys will be off to school alone on the first day. And that makes me sad.But I will wake up early in the morning and make them a kick-butt breakfast and give them big hugs and kisses and make sure Ian walks Reilly to his class if Daddy isn't there. Then Thursday morning, I'll be up bright and early to walk the boys to school - camera in hand - ready to get a picture or two with the teacher. I'm learning, I guess. Life doesn't usually work exactly how we'd like it to, or think it should...but I guess you let yourself be maudlin...for a second! and then move on and make the best of it. Tomorrow - bright and cheery me will be back. Tonight - thanks for listening to me ramble!

Tales of a 40 Year Old Salad Whore

2010-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

Today is Monday. And it’s the first of the month. Most auspicious day to change one's diet all to hell and back! But first, a very important matter of business…

*get’s down on her knees*…

*shoots exasperated look at all her guy friends who instantly went there*…

*prays*…

Dear Heavenly Father….please, please, PLEASE! Pretty please, with coconut on top! Let Robb Wolf be right. Amen.

And for those who think I mock - I don’t. True, heartfelt prayer offered up!

OK. So. I work my ass off. I’ve been eating paleo for 8 months now. But with all that, I haven’t seen any more weight loss and I haven’t seen any strength gains. If anything, I’ve seen strength losses. I got my pull ups, I lost my pull ups. How frickin’ frustrating is that!? Now, I know there are multiple contributing factors. First, I tripled the number of classes I was teaching at globo’s starting in January, while still trying to maintain CF and Kettlebells (and I tried to throw some P90X in there too, because there’s some good stuff in there! ). Can you say overtraining? I’ve been called on it before, and though I try my hardest, it keeps rearing its ugly head. But I solved it! I started my catering business back up and something had to go while I got everything situated. Couldn’t be anything income producing, so there went my CF. and Kettlebells. *Sigh* But I did use my first profits to get all those pretty toys in my garage.
******************And though I used them on my own,as well as the kettlebells that were added also, I totally missed my CF family. So that’s just not going to work for me. So I can fit two mornings a week Crossfit in at the box itself, and can throw some WoDs in at home to fill in the gaps. But the point is, my activity level got a bit more sane this last month. So we’re working on the overtraining issue. Stress was a huge issue last month too, but I’m getting that under control. Which leaves my diet…

How can you improve on paleo? I’ve been eating paleo for 8 months now and, overall, am pretty darn strict. My cheats are dark chocolate (daily. sometimes twice daily.), coffee (one cup a day, but in the interest of honesty, it’s a damn big cup!), alcohol (hard liquor…usually rum or jack. About once a week. Is there a better alcohol to cheat with?). That’s all. Oh wait…and that sinfully orgasmic Pomegranate Raspberry dressing that Ken makes. Damn Ken! Just saying. But back to the question at hand…how to improve Paleo, besides the obvious cutting back on cheats. Personally, I’m going to try to dial in my macronutrients, not just indiscriminately eating. I’m honestly going to keep my coffee and my alcohol and my dark chocolate (I’ll drop that one to an ounce a day) because I’m human. If these changes don’t really kick in, then I’ll look at my small handful of cheats. But only then. At least the dressing won’t be a problem any longer, because I’m apparently now a converted salad slut…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

So I head over to Robb Wolfs’ site to do some research. And it was definitely my lucky day, because there was an entire post where he gives the macro breakdown for a 150 pound woman, with my activity level, looking to lean down. Hey! I’m that women too! Frickin’ exactly! Talk about having my information spoon fed to me! (is information paleo?) So, knowing that the numbers may have to be tweaked and personalized, I guiltlessly bogarted everything on that post. It’s as good a place as any to start!

So starting today, I’m going for 1950 calories *gulp* broken down as follows: 150 grams protein (600 calories), 50 grams carbs (200 calories), and 127 grams fat (1150 calories). Uhm….*GULP!* This is where that prayer comes in!

Really?! That’s a 31:10:59 breakdown. That scares the shit out of me! I’ve been doing about 75 grams fat a day…and it was hard for me to get it up there. My breakdown has been roughly 30:40:30. This is a huge tweak! After losing 200 pounds and being restricted to 12 -15 grams of fat for the years it took me to do that, it’s a huge mental leap to start upping your fats so drastically. But I understood the science and reasoning behind it and did it. Now I have to apparently do it again. But it’s still scary!

******************And apparently one can be a carb whore even if she’s eating mostly vegetables – which up to today has been the mainstay of my diet. So changes are a’coming!

First thing I did was load the Chron-o-meter software to my laptop. I’ve used it before and love it! You input your weight and the macro breakdown you’re aiming for and it keeps track of it all for you. Right down to your daily allowances of vitamins and minerals too! Way cool! And free! Awesome! It has a huge, existing database of foods, and you just add the specific stuff as you go. After about a week or two, you’ve compiled your own specific database and it gets less arduous to enter your meals.

And when I entered in my breakfast and pre- and post- WoD snacks, I instantly saw that my percentages were seriously off already. So to get everything back on track, lunch today was 4 oz chicken breast and 4 oz of avocado. No veggies for me! Will definitely forgo the fruit in the morning from now on, so I can get some veggies back! And I’ll have to get some different fat sources. Almonds are getting old. Started cooking with the coconut oil again this weekend, so that’ll help. And just discovered the existence of coconut butter as an alternative to almond butter, so am going to get some of that too. I really need to plant an avocado tree!

So…goals for March. Make a schedule that allows for CF, along with teaching, without killing myself. Stick to these new macro breakdown for at least a month to see what happens (except if I start gaining weight, all bets are off! I can take staying at the same weight while my body adjusts, but gaining will totally fuck with my head!). Try to minimize the stress as much as possible…get 8 hours a sleep a night. So totally do-able, right?! It’s my own personal 30 day challenge!

Flank Steak, Rice, and Artichokes...oh my!

2010-02-18T14:09:00.000-08:00

So...you guys want to know what we're eating at Chez Clements tonight for dinner. Honestly...it's leftovers! That's one of my sanity saving devices...never cook a meal that can only feed you once...eat multiple times off of it. Either as the exact same meal or with bits and pieces reincarnated as something else. Trust me...this time honored habit has stopped my head from spinning around like something out of the Exorcist many, many times!

So Sunday's dinner is the starter for this! It was the Tomato-Marinaded flank steaks with herbed basmati rice and artichokes...we also had a cauliflower gratin...but I have to leave in 17 minutes for high school carpool...so you guys get the down and dirty version...rice is starch enough! The gratin will wait!

Oh...and if I decide to reincarnate this, it will be as steak fried rice! yum!

Tomato-Marinade Flank Steak

To make it ridicously simply, I got the recipe for the flank steak from Gavan Murphy, hunky 'Healthy Irishman'. mmmmm! Here's the link to his blog with the recipe. (Oh, and Reet...you can use this for any bit of steak you have on hand!)

http://thehealthyirishman.com/2010/02/touchdown-tomato-flank-steak/.

Yeah...I know. It's not blue. Copy and paste into your address bar and I promise, at some point, I will figure out the whole hyperlink thing!

Now...one thing I did do that isn't in his recipe was save the marinade after I took the meat out. While the meat was grilling, I put the marinade in a pot on the stove and cooked it at medium heat for about 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally (which means whenever I walked past the stove with nothing in my hands). At the end, I added a generous dollop of extra virgin olive oil (about 1/8 cup) and about a tsp of sugar. Mix, cook a couple minutes more, and use it as a sauce to dip the artichoke leaves in. Yum!!!! If you're not doing the artichokes, simply serve the sauce with the meat and rice.

Herbed Basmati Rice

Ingredient:
1 cup uncooked long-grain white basmati rice
1 3/4 cup water
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs minced fresh parsley leaves
1 Tbs minced fresh dill leaves
1 Tbs minced fresh scallions, white and green parts (green onions)
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
Combine the rice, water, salt and butter in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce the heat to low, stir once, and simmer, covered tightly, for 15 minutes. (Sometimes you need to pull the pot half off the burner to keep it from boiling over. Depends on your stove. Gas is easier to control than electric!) Turn off the heat and allow the rice to sit covered for 5 minutes. Add the parsley, dill, scallions, and pepper. Fluff with a fork and serve warm.

Note...substitute any herbs you have or want. Fresh is obviously best...dried will work, in a pinch!

How to cook Artichokes

Cut the stem off the artichokes level with the bottom. You want them to be able to stand up. Slice about the top 1 inch off also. If the leaves are super-pokey and will cause bodily damage while eating, use kitchen shears to trim the needle off the top of each leave. If they're not bad, just leave 'em alone! Put about an inch of water in a large pot. Stand artichokes up in the water (stem end down). Slice a lemon and add that to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover, turn down to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or until a leave easily comes off.

Now...I have to run and get kidlings for school. I have no time to edit yet. So please ignore and forgive any typos...they will get fixed later. Y'all know I'm too anal to leave 'em!

Breakfast Frittata

2010-02-16T16:28:00.000-08:00

Zuchinni, mushrooms, spinach,eggs, avocado. Zuchinni, mushrooms, spinach, eggs, avocado. Zuchinni, mushrooms, spinach, eggs, avocado.

*sigh*

Yes, I do honestly LOVE my morning veggie scramble with my two yolky eggs on top! It makes my tummy happy, and my body, and always gives me the energy I need to get through my mornings! And I have found that by not eating fruit at breakfast, I avoid any of those wacky sugar highs that sometimes hit me if I eat breakfast too close to working out. And then I have the fruit right afterwards to get that quick glucose to the muscles. And for some reason, eating the veggies in the morning, as opposed to the fruit, seems to set my taste buds for the day to 'less sweet'! I mean, there's a reason my blog is entitled 'and SOME fruit'! I love fruit and would eat it all day if I could. But I guess it's the same philosophy I used when I introduced my kids to solid food...veggies first, to set their taste buds to 'less sweet'! Just never applied it to myself before! Still works when you're 40, apparently!

So anyway...back to the whole 'zuchinni, mushroom...' deal. Yes, I love then. But even I get tired of the same thing day in and day out. But I still wanted my eggs...truly the easiest breakfast protein for me! And I still wanted my veggies. I just wanted them different. Enter the breakfast frittata! Easy, nutritious, and delicious. Hits all my criteria for a successful breakfast!

Jen's 'I Just Want Something Different' Breakfast Frittata

Chop up whatever veggies sound good. This morning I was ALL about change, so I had diced orange peppers, baby asparagus, and mushrooms. I know I've told you about big pans = lots of space for the veggies = non-soggy veggies...but today's goal is a compact pile of veggies that can be covered by my two eggs. So I picked a small saute pan...one that's oven safe! Very, very important!

So heat up that pan nice and hot...we still want to cook the veggies quickly to avoid a sodden, mushy mess. EWWWWW! (and I'll just briefly say that I think most people who 'don't like vegetable' just haven't had them done right...ie...fresh and cooked properly. But I digress...) So, where are we...ah yes...heat pan. Spray with Pam. Add veggies. I added my put-in-absolutely-everything spice mix (see below for recipe) mixed once and then let it alone for a minute or two to get nicely browned. Don't stir them a lot...they don't like that! You make them cry...they get mushy. EWWWWW! again! After a minute or two, stir them ONCE! Cook another minute and then trust that they're done...and still nicely al dente!

While you are cooking the veggies, you should be turning your broiler on to high, mincing some fresh herbs (I used parsley and thyme) and beating the crap out of two eggs in a bowl. Now make sure the pile of veggies is nice and even, then pour the eggs over them. DON'T STIR! no, no, no! Just let them be for a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on them. You'll be able to see the edges start to set. Once the edges start to brown and the middle is starting to set, sprinkle your fresh herbs on top and then take the whole pan and slide it under the broiler. You want to finish cooking the eggs and get a nicely browned top on it. But watch it carefully so it doesn't burn!

When done, grab that pot holder and remove from oven. I served it with half an avocado and you have the perfect paleo breakfast! mmmmmm!

The Super Secret 'Put-in-absolutely-Everything' Spice Mix

Things taste better fresh! That includes your spices! And if you find yourself reaching for the same three or four containers almost everytime you cook, why not save time and combine them? That's how this spice mix came about.

Got an extra coffee grinder? Cheaper than heck, and the easiest way to grind your own spices!

*****************

My personal holy spice trinity is peppercorns (I usually use a mix that contains black, green, white, and red peppercorns...but if I'm out, like I was today, than plain old black ones work just fine!), crushed red pepper, and dried minced garlic...and I recently added dried minced onions to the mix also! I throw them all in my grinder and GRIND! Then it gets dumped into a pretty blue bowl that sits by the side of my stove, complete with spoon! It is honestly put in everything from scrambled eggs to my salads...marinades...you name it, it's probably in there! Couldn't be easier!

French Country Chicken

2010-02-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Just for Reet! Short, sweet, to-the-point recipe so she can maybe have it for dinner. I give you the basic recipe and you can play with it as you want. Personally, I usually add celery, and always use way more vegetables than called for. I always use the chicken thighs too...the breasts usually end up drying out and the slight reduction in calories is not worth the hugh reduction in taste, in my opinion!

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and Pepper
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast, thighs, or combination of both, cut in chunks
2 Tbs butter
2 shallots, chopped (or 1 medium onion)
3 small carrots, thinly sliced
10 mushrooms, sliced (cremini, button, portabella...whatever you want!)
1 tsp oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 cup dry red wine (I've also used white, if that's what I already have open)
1 - 32 ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes

In a large skillet, over medium high heat, warm the olive oil. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and brown in oil for about 3 minutes each side - until browned. Remove to plate.

Return pan to stove and reduce heat to medium. Add butter to the pan and saute the shallots/onions and other vegetables. Saute 3-5 minutes or until carrots are fork tender. Add the oregano, garlic, and parsley and stir well. Add wine and reduce liquid for 1-2 minutes. Add tomatoes and stir. Add chicken back to pan and simmer chicken in sauce for 6 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

Nice and paleo on its own. For all others, try it over rice or some buttery noodles!

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Jen's Baked Vegetarian Chimichanga's

2010-02-05T13:54:00.001-08:00

So I've been asked for my chimichanga recipe. And I'm going to give it to you guys! Along with every other recipe for the foods I'm cooking for my home catering business. No, not paleo, but tasty, overall pretty darn healthy, doesn't take hours to prepare and doesn't break the bank yummy food. I figure it's not the lack of recipes that has me in such high demand, but lack of time...so I feel pretty safe that I'm not going to be losing customers doing this! So let me know if you have any questions, and as always, let me know how it turns out for you!

Jen's Baked Vegetarian Chimichangas

Makes 8 servings

2-3 cans of beans...I like using a variety of black, pinto, and kidney. Sometimes I soak and cook my own beans. When I don't, I use the no-sodium added beans from Fresh-n-Easy...still rinsing them really good!

1 can (7 oz) diced green chilis...I'vve been known to roast my own anaheims and poblano's and dice them up for these. Not hard to do...roast over your gas stovetop, in your oven, or on your grill...just turn frequently to avoid burning. Once roasted, but in a brown paper bag, fold the top over, and let them sit in there until they're cool enough to handle. Then peel the charred skins off, chop, and use! Good in anything Mexican! Delicious in scrambled eggs!

3 cups prepared coleslaw mix with carrots...personally, I adore the brocolli slaw mix for these!

1 cup shredded cheese...recipe calls for sharp cheddar...I'm a huge fan of multiple cheeses for a more layered flavor. Love the 5 cheese mexican mix from Costco for this one!

2 cups salsa...this is approximate. You'll want to add enough salsa to the mix to combine well, without being watery.

8-10 flour tortillas

1 can sliced black olives (optional)

In a bowl, combine beans, chilies, slaw mix, cheese, salsa, and olives (if using). Mix well.

Wrap tortillas in a cloth towel and microwave until hot and pliable. I usually do about 1 min for a dozen tortillas. Lay tortillas flat. Divide the slaw and bean mixture among the tortillas, spreading in a band near the edge of each tortilla. Fold over the sides, then roll up tightly to enclose.

Place bundles seam side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake in a 425 degree oven until crisp and brown, about 15 minutes.

To eat, top each chimichanga with additional salsa, sour cream, sliced green onions...whatever sounds good!

Sometimes You're Just Meant to Eat Pancakes

2010-01-23T16:05:00.000-08:00

so...came downstairs this morning and Ian was whipping up pancakes for him and Rei. Mmmmm! I do miss pancakes! and waffles! But though they smelled absolutely heavenly, I resisted. Whipped up my normal 2 pounds of veggies with eggs and tabasco and went off to teach. Afterwards, I went to Soup Plantation and had THE.BIGGEST.SALAD.IN.THE.WORLD. Dave will attest to that, when he logs in! It was a spectaculary large salad and he got to talk for at least a whole hour while I ate it! I should not have conceivably been hungry for at least another 3 hours and 42 minutes! Left S.P. feeling very satisfied! Walk in the door and I smell good things again...and find Katy in the kitchen making herself pancakes for lunch. Seriously?! How much temptation is one girl supposed to resist? But resist I did...and went upstairs to start working. Checked my blogs real fast first and lo and behold.... a recipe for paleo pumpkin pancakes. There's no use resisting anymore...I am obviously supposed to have pancakes today. I was in my kitchen within 30 seconds! Salad or not....I was hungry for pancakes and pancakes I was going to have! Took about 5 minutes from start to finish and they were DELICIOUS...though the consistency was more bread pudding-ish than pancake-ish. Probably because the pumpkin doesn't spread out like a regular batter does, so they were thicker. I liked them bread-pudding-ish, but if you want yours less so, just spread the batter out right when you pour them onto the griddle.

Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes

(who doesn't love a good alliteration in the morning?!)

In a bowl, mix together 2 eggs, 1/2 cup pumpkin, 3 oz almond butter, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 1/8 tsp nutmeg. (and you guys know me...I just eyeballed and threw crap in and they still came out good...though I guess that could be another contributing factor to the bread pudding-ish-ness of said pancakes...but not enough of one for me to consider measuring when I make these again in an hour. I mean tomorrow! Tomorrow! ha! Freudian slip! but the point here is, like soup, the recipe is forgiving...measure if it makes your world rotate a little more smoothly on it's axis, but don't worry if you don't). While all this measuring and mixing is occuring, heat up your griddle. Apply oil or Pam, and pancake-make away. I don't really have to tell you guys how to make pancakes, right?! Right!

These were SO good! Warm, sweet, yummy paleo goodness! I need to get me some 100% pure maple sugar as a treat. Then this would border on a near-sex experience! Try 'em out and let me know how you like them!

Catch and Release

2009-10-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

OK...so I'm not so sure about the whole touchy-feely, sacred place aspect of this blog...but I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of writing what you want and need to let go of on leaves and leaving them. Mental fall cleaning. It works for me. Check out the post here: http://www.owningpink.com/2009/10/12/mojo-monday-exercise-letting-go-of-that-which-no-longer-serves/

Chinese and Split Peas

2009-10-26T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's October.
*
*
*
It's the end of October.
*
*
*
It is cold. There was frost on the windows this morning, and I could see my breathe as I walked to my car to go to Crossfit.
*
*
*
Ok. That's a lie.
*
*
*
BUT...it's supposed to be cold.

Living here in Southern California, sometimes we have to pretend a bit in order to enjoy the seasons that our friends in other parts of the country take for granted. We pull out our dutch ovens and fill the house with the delectable scent of braising short ribs...and while dinner's bubbling in the oven, we're outside trimming the bougainvillea in our bikinis. We visit Riley's Farm in Oak Glen to go apple picking Saturday...then drive the opposite direction to go spend the day at the beach on Sunday. And we'll start making soup in October...even though it's been in the mid-nineties these last couple days.

So the last recipe posted was that wonderful curried lime shrimp soup. This new soup entry - Nori Shrimp Egg Drop Soup - is 100% paleo and ready in 5 minutes, which makes it totally lunch worthy! Dinner tonight is yet another soup - one that's not-quite-so 100% Paleo. A rib-sticking, been bubbling in the crockpot all day, down home split pea soup. Will the next post be yet another soup recipe? I don't know! Maybe I'll stray into the territory of paleo chowders or a succulent stew. But for me 'soup' equals 'autumn' ...and when you live in Southern California, that sometimes means quite a crapload of soup to try and pretend that the palm trees are finally changing colours!

Nori Shrimp Egg Drop Soup

This made 2 nice bowls. Perfect for lunch with a friend! This isn't the nicest picture in the world, but the soup was very good. The lime juice and extra grated ginger were added in after the first bite and made ALL the difference! If you want to make it vegetarian, use veggie broth and omit the shrimp. They weren't in the original recipe anyway!

2 cups water
2 cups low sodium broth (veggie, chicken, beef...whatever! soup is so forgiving!)
1/2 cup diced red onions
about 1 cup thinly sliced zuchinni
1 cup shrimp
2 sheets Nori, cut into strips, then squares (scissors work best)or organic kelp/sea vegetable flakes
about an 1" square knob of fresh ginger (skin removed), finely grated
pepper to paste
juice of 1 lime

Combine water and broth in a medium pot, throw in the onions and heat to boiling. Once the broth is boiling, add in the zuchinni, shrimp, Nori, grated ginger, and pepper. Turn down heat and cook about 1 or 2 minutes over medium heat, until shrimp are cooked through. In the meantime, whisk the eggs in a separate bowl with a fork. Reduce heat to low and quickly stir the eggs into the hot broth, whisking with a fork as you slowly pour the egg in. Add lime juice, stir, and serve immediately.

and now...just because I love you all, here's a little 2 minute bonus recipe! Takes 10 minutes to prep and dinner is done! Gotta love that!

Split Pea Soup

Dinner tonight at chez clements!

OK...first off, you need to have that ham bone that you bagged and threw in the freezer last time you had a ham. If you don't have a ham bone, well...then you won't have chunks of tasty ham unless you go buy some to throw in. For the simmering part though, you can also throw in a ham hock (you DO have those in the freezer, right?!) or even a chunk of salt pork. Basically, you're looking for salty pork goodness to flavor the peas! If you want ham and are sans bone, you can buy a ham steak and dice it and throw it in. You can also omit the ham altogether and make it vegetarian.

So...haul out the crockpot, plug it in and turn to low. Dice a big yellow onion and throw it in. Follow up with diced celery and a crapload of carrots in nice big chunks. Add pepper and (here's my secret)dried ground mustard. I usually put mustard seeds and pepper corns in my spice mill and grind them fresh, but obviously the pretty yellow tin of dried mustard works fine also. Add a couple cups of dried split peas. Throw your ham bone, or whatever you're using, in on top. Cover with broth or water (broth obviously adding yet another layer of flavor). Cook on low for 6 hours, adding more liquid if needed.

******************About an hour before serving, take the ham bone out of the pot and let cool. Mix the remaining ingredients in the pot. By this point, there should be no mashing of peas required...it should be all melded together into creamy green goodness! Add extra water if it's too thick for you. Personally, I like my split pea soup like my chili...able to stand a spoon up in it! Anyway, pick all the ham off the bone and throw it back into the pot (the meat...not the bone!), and let warm through. Serve and enjoy.

When heating up leftovers, you'll probably need to add some water and stir up before sticking in the microwave.

So try 'em and let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Curried Shrimp Soup with Lime

2009-10-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

OK folks...it's a race to beat the clock and be IN BED by 10:15 and clock in a full 8 hours of sleep. So here goes...

First off, I'm going to give you the original recipe for this soup. It's amazing! You can make it in minutes and can be served warm on a chilly evening or cold on a hot summers night. I've done both and have made it numerous times for company and everyone loves it! My kid's love it too! It's definitely one of my favorite keeper recipes. So un-adulterated version first, then I'll tell you what I did to make it paleo. And, for my vegetarian friends...ixnay the shrimp, use veggie stock, and ramp up the veggies (suggestions below with the paleo version) and you're good to go too!

Curried Shrimp Soup with Lime

1 tablespoon butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons curry powder
28 ounces lo-fat chicken broth
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup honey
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
1 cup milk (preferably 2%)
1/2 pound shrimp (cooked or uncooked)
Salt to taste

Heat a dutch oven on medium high. Add butter. When bubbly, add onion and saute for 3-5 minutes until onion is tender. Stir in flour and curry and cook for 1 minute. Slowly whish in chicken broth, lime juice and honey and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a slow simmer. Stir in corn and simmer for 3 minutes. Add milk and shrimp. If serving warm, heat completely but do not boil until shrimp is fully cooked (if uncooked) or warmed through (if cooked). Season to taste. If serving cold, remove from stove and refrigerate.

Jen's Tip: if you're planning on serving cold, go with a homemade broth or a storebought one. I made this once with a homemade stock and when it was refrigerated, I ended up with an aspic-esque mold! This is obviously not an issue if you're serving hot!

This stuff is SO good that this is what's left at the end:

Paleo Curried Shrimp Soup with Lime

Too simple! I omitted the butter, flour, honey, corn, and milk. I added zuchinni and red pepper - browning with the onions in some spray olive oil. I also used the juice of 2 limes. Other than that, no substitutions made for the deleted ingredients. Instead of a creamy looking soup, it was broth based. All the flavor was still there...just none of the non-paleo junk!

Honestly...if you only try one of my recipes, let it be this one! Delicious!

OK...good night! *sprints off to bed....*

Eggplant and Garlic

2009-10-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

...two of my favorite things! Dinner tonight contained copious amounts of both. And since it's already past my bedtime, we're jumping straight to the recipes without further ado... (after I apologize for any typo's that might appear, because I'm hitting send and going to bed!)

Lebanese Style Stuffed Eggplant

*******************Take 6 of the 5- or 6-inch long baby eggplants and hollow each out with a melon baller. Leave about 1/3 inch of eggplant flesh along the interior. Set aside.

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Fry about 3 tablespoons of pine nuts until golden...keep a close eye on them and stir frequently or they will burn! Once toasted, tranfer them to a mixing bowl.

Finely chop about 4 cloves of garlic and 1 large onion. In skillet, heat up a little more olive oil and saute half garlic and onion. After a couple minutes, add about 3/4 pound of ground meat (I used pork. you can use lamb, chicken, beef...whatever!) and brown with a bit of salt and pepper. After meat is cooked through, transfer to bowl with pine nuts. Add about 1 teaspoon of allspice and salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside for a minute.

******************In same skillet, saute the other half of the garlic and onions. Add about 2 cups of chicken stock and 14 oz diced tomatoes with juice...recipe called for canned - I used fresh. I also threw in some fresh parsley that I had chopped and a bit more salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered and go stuff the eggplants with the meat mixture.

Transfer stuffed eggplants to skillet with the sauce and simmer, covered for about 45 minutes to an hour. Carefully turn the eggplants once about halfway through the cooking process.

Once cooked, serve with fresh lemon juice and parsley sprinkled on top.

Roasted Cauliflower

Had this tonight too. It's my favorite way to cook cauliflower. Simply pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Throw cauliflower florets into a baking dish. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle on thyme and fresh parsley, salt and pepper. Roast until golden brown, stirring frequently to avoid burnt spots. Tonight...I took it straight out of the oven and tossed it into a bowl of baby spinach. Once mixed, the heat from the cauliflower wilted the spinach a bit. It tasted good and looked pretty and snuck in yet another serving of veggies!

Garlic Sauce

I believe I've mentioned how excruciatingly delicious this stuff is! It's good on asparagus or green beans. Fresh yellow squash rounds are to die for when used to scrape the last of the sauce out of the food processor! It elevates a piece of fish or a chicken breast to haute cuisine! But be careful! It's NOT low fat! It has tons of flavor, so a little really does go a long way. And it will keep in the fridge for about a week!

****************** First mince 4 or 5 cloves of garlic...start by thinly slicing the cloves, then roughly chopping.

Once it's all chopped, add about 1 tsp of sea salt, then mash the hell out of it with the side of the blade of your chef's knife until it looks like this:

Once minced, throw it in a food processor. Begin processing, adding a total of 1 cup canola oil and 1/4 cup lemon juice...alternating a little of each at a time until all liquids are added. Easiest way I've found to do this is to stick a funnel in the top of my processor!

Once done, slowly add one or two egg whites while still continuously blending, until you get a nice mayo-like consistency. And that's it! Minimal input...amazing taste!

So there...three new recipes! Now it's time to go sleep!

Cobbler and Gratitude...

2009-09-20T22:29:00.000-07:00

...or 'When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Gingered Peach Raspberry Cobbler'. Yeah, that was the working title. But it was too unyieldy.

So today started off so nice. A calm, peaceful Sunday morning...A rest day for me - my first this week - so much needed. But you guys know me. A rest day simply means I didn't bust my hump at the gym or at Crossfit. Not that I actually rested. What a thought. I honestly don't know if I know how to do that! I'll even clean if I'm sick...but I digress...

Let's see..Reilly had a hike with his Cub Scout troup. We went to church and then hit up Winco, Costco, and Henry's to stock the pantry and fridges for the week. Started working on the food prep for the week...everything was going good. Then Rei volunteers to go get the mail from yesterday, which is still sitting around the corner in the mailbox. And in the mail is a damn overdue notice for my water bill. This brings up all kinds of angst that I had actually managed to put on the back burner for a day or two. And the him, who is supposed to pay those bills, even though he's not in the home any longer, is not answering his phone. So I remain stressed. and pissed.

Then, I get in the car to take Katy to youth group and as I pull out of my driveway, it sounds like legions of demons straight from the depths of hell are screaming for mercy underneath my car. Even I know that means I should stop. And my neighbor, Gary, who is very automotively inclined and just happened to be outside, informed me that "blahblahblah metal blah blah on my rotor blah blah brake failure".

hmph.

Ok then. Do I need a tow truck?

No, he says...I can probably get about 30 miles out of it before they go completely.

well, ok then! Thanks!

and with that, me and my daughter and my caterwauling car return to my driveway.

So now I have 30 miles minus 100 feet of driving left on my brakes. I'm pretty sure that'll get me to the dealership.

So, it could be much worse...but for some reason, it was all I could handle today. I sent Katy inside and proceeded to lay my head on my steering wheel and bawl my eyes out. Either one of these things I could have handled...both together were my undoing. I apparently do have limits. Unfortunately, crying in your driveway is not a good way to avoid discovery. Just in case you are in need of a good solitary cry, you might want to keep this in mind. I would recommend driving somewhere where no one can see you and then parking and crying. I recommend doing that in a working car.

So me and the kids head inside and have a good talk. Then I need to finish the food prep and feed these kidlings. But first I need to re-group. So I grab a glass of merlot and head upstair and give myself a five minute time-in in my bedroom. where my laptop and that happy little world known as Facebook lives.

Now, I know a lot of people don't get Facebook...but let me tell you what a mental lifesaver it can be. Here I am, dressed in my 'hanging out at home, so no one is going to see me' clothes. Hair thrown on top of my head because I can't chop with my hair down (that's a true statement...I make exceptions when I have company and have actually put some effort into my appearance...but for the rest of the time, hair on top of my head means I'm in business! But again with the digressions...). Eyes red and puffy from crying. Nose red and swollen from blowing - which you all know goes hand in hand with a good gut-cleansing cry! And I still have children that need to be fed and chores that need to be finished. I don't have time to call my girlfriends one by one and coordinate a meeting place and time and see who can possibly come and get me and take me away and get me drunk and return me safely home again. (though my across the street neighbor and new friend, Leticia, has graciously offered good wine and hugs at her house next time the need arises. Leticia...read the above description of what I looked like. Consider yourself forwarned!)

Yet with one merlot-inspired post, my girlfriends rally around me. Old friends and new. Friends across the street and friends in Pennslyvania. Friends I've known forever and friends I've never actually met in person. Posts on my wall. Emails. IMs. Words of wisdom...cyber hugs...offers to send out a hit team.

Girlpower strength and love being served up cyber-cafe style. What's not to get about that?

So, soul soothed, I open my bedroom door and rejoin my life. I made the kids carne asada nachos. I thought about what I wanted for dinner. Call it the merlot talking, but what I wanted was NOT dinner and was NOT paleo. And I said 'to hell with it'! And proceeded to throw caution to the wind, and peaches in the pyrex, with reckless abandon. That was probably the merlot too!

Jen's 'If-this-(and half a bottle of Merlot)-don't-make-me-feel-better-nothing-will' Gingered Peach Raspberry Cobbler

6 perfectly ripe peaches. You know the kind...the ones that drip down your forearm when you bite into 'em. The kind that smell like summer. The kind that, with the right person, makes you lose the afternoon after a well-meaning lick of that drop of peach juice running down the other's chin ignites a fire! Yeah..those are the ones! Now... leave the skin on, and cut 'em into wedges. Grab a pint of raspberries and about an inch square knob of fresh ginger root, grated. Mix fruit and ginger in a pyrex with about 1/4 cup of sugar. Cover with about 2 cups of organic peach cranberry granola. Evenly sprinkle about 1/2 cup of brown sugar on top of the granola, then liberally and lovingly dot with beautiful chunks of butter. Bake at 350 degrees until all bubbly and gooey looking underneath and all nice and toasty looking on top.

Mmmmmmmmmm! It was TO.DIE.FOR! I will admit it's the first non-paleo baked treat I've had in almost two months, but I don't think my tastebuds were that hard up. It tasted amazing! The fresh ginger had a lot to do with it! Perfect complement to the fruit! and normally I would make my own streusel topping with oats and walnuts and other good things. But for some reason I thought of the granola and I really liked the way it turned out! And I would have pictures for you - it was like eating a sunset, what with the peach and the reds of the raspberries...but alas, my camera broke the other day.

So here it is, almost midnight. Way past my bedtime. But I couldn't sleep tonight, even after a shower. But now that I've purged today and transfered it here to my blog, I think I can. I'm going to bed thinking not about what what wrong today, but what went right...

I'm grateful for my beautiful, strong, amazingly resourceful children who are handling this situation with more grace and aplomb than I sometimes feel I am.

I'm grateful that every time I go to church, something speaks directly to me and what I'm dealing with in my life at the time. Sometimes it's an entire service, sometimes a song, sometimes a snippet of prayer. But there's always something.

I'm grateful for the perfect watermelon and pineapple that I cut up for the kids today. The pineapple had that wonderful cinnamon undertone that is so elusive. It was delicious!

I am grateful that the asparagus at Costco today was tiny, tender little baby asparagus. And I'm grateful I decided to treat myself and buy the smoked salmon there too. The salmon, wrapped around the asparagus, made the perfect before bed snack just now.

I'm grateful that I have such an amazingly diverse group of friend - near and far - that have my back when I need them too.

I'm grateful for my health and my strength and my spirit and my fortitude.

I'm grateful that it's now time for me to go to bed.

Night all!

9-18-09 Log

2009-09-18T16:11:00.000-07:00

Slept so well last night! about 7.5 hours...and I didn't wake up once!

CF was good today! After toasting my lower body over the last three days, I did offer up a prayer to the Crossfit deities as I drove to the gym this morning, asking for a good upper body workout that I could actually do. And apparently, I've been a good (enough) girl that my prayers were answered! The CF WoD was 5x3 of push presses, which I couldn't do since I'm still, still, STILL dealing with tendonitis in my right shoulder (but which I am, as I type, icing like that good girl we already ascertained I am!) - but the Kettlebell workout was exactly what I wanted! 20 rounds of (5 each side single arm swings, 5 each side cleans, and 5 each side presses). Because of my shoulder, I held the bell with both hands to do the presses and really concentrated on keeping my shoulders back and using my lats to pull down (thanks, Louie!). Just what the doctor ordered! Took me about 33 minutes and made me sweat. Those presses were the hardest thing at the end, even with two hands! Used the 16 kg 'bell for the whole thing.

Ended up at Kohl's after CF to buy another pair of my new shorts...when two people compliment you, and the dang things were on clearance for $4.20, you'd have to be a moron not to go buy another pair! : -) So I went there with innocent thoughts of actually paying cash and leaving the credit card securely holstered. Alas, I wandered into the junior's section. Stacy and Clinton would be SO very ashamed of me! They constantly belabour the fact that 40 year old women are never to shop in the junior's department. Never, ever, ever under any circumstances. Well, I'm going to assume they mean 40 year old women who aren't in shape and don't have discerning taste! That caveat works for me! ha! And I honestly needed stuff...none of my jeans from last winter fit anymore, and I really didn't want to be caught in one of our ruthless Southern California cold snaps with nothing but CF duds and frayed cut offs and tank tops! And I no longer have to worry. My new best friends are the Levi Tilted Low cut straight leg jeans...black and dark rinse...in size 7. Oh my goodness? Can I say that again? *ahem* Size 7! Damn, that feels good! And my daughter is going to be so proud of me because, after a year of her harping on me, I actually now own a pair of skinny jeans! Beautiful darkones with a deep green rinse that I adore! IAbsolutely love them! And a black mid-thigh mini with the most awesome big belt. And a red plaid not-quite-mid-thigh pleated mini. Which I oh-so-seriously need to finally get those 20-eyelet Doc Martens to go with! And a sage green silk baby doll with cap sleeves and sort of Mandarin-inspired embroidery. And three! yes, three! of the 'they-must-have-used-my-body-as-the-model-when-they-made-it' butter soft shirts. One blue and green plaid, one red and white, the other the perfect slate grey. they fit perfectly! Nips in at the waist...fits the old boobs...doesn't pull across the butt. And I know I'm going to be fighting Kaity for those shirts every week! I can't remember the last time I had this much fun shopping!

Now, down to business:

7:45 1 egg scrambled with mushrooms, zuchinni, 1/2 diced jalapeno and a crapload! of garlic.

8:30 - 9:30 The totally awesome, I could do it all, kettlebell workout!

10:00 Cashew Larabar

1:45 Last of the ground turkey cooked with onions, jalapenos,and green peppers...threw it on top of a big salad of greens, artisian lettuces, cucumber, radishes, zuchinni, avocado, and grilled corn. Dressed with lemon juice, paprika, cayenne, cumin, fenugreek, tumeric, and crushed red pepper.

4:30 small handful of walnuts

Obviously, not done for the day yet...but it's time to shower and get ready for the first high school football game of the season. My daughter is in marching badnd and it's their first show! and my boys are so excited to be going to a football game! More later!

9-17-09 Log

2009-09-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

So...I wasn't planning on weighing myself today. Am back on track and want to stick to once a week weigh ins. But had a doctors appt today and they threw me on the scale. I was all mentally prepared for the difference that being fully clothes and hydrated mid-day - as opposed to butt naked first thing in the morning - would have on my weight. So was oh-so-excited to see a nice strong 148 pop up on that scale. Booyah! First time in recorded-in-hospital-record history that I'm officially NOT overweight. Yeah me! So then WHY oh WHY, when I go to Kohl's afterwards to buy some new exercise pants, do I still insist on bringing larges into the dressing room with me. I never want to mentally fuck myself by trying on something to small to begin with and feeling bad. Old habits die hard, I guess. So I will bring in 4 different sizes and start working my way down from the top. It really makes shopping take to long. I ended up with some perfect Fila pants in XS!!!!! XS!!!!!! on the bottom! with this ass! Ha! Maybe from now on I can start with the mediums or, dare I say it, the smalls?

Less than 6 hours of sleep last night because I was worrying someone was trying to break in. So not off to a good start. Then with the turmoil of this morning, I didn't have time to pack something to eat post-wod, and didn't have time to stop and get anything on the way to the Drs...so very large, very bad, big empty void in my eating. won't happen again!

8:00 1 hard boiled egg, 1 apple, 2 Tbs of almond butter and cinnamon

9:45 12 minute WOD. I'm going to pretend today was a rest day.

2:00 Ground turkey with big salad (greens, cucumbers, radish, zuchinni, tomatoes, peppers). Sunflower and pumpkin seeds for fat. Lemon juice and spices.

4:00 1 nectarine

7:30 4 oz chicken breast, 1/2 yellow squash, 12 almonds.

10:30 couldn't sleep because I was hungry. Ate about 2-3 oz flank steak and an apple with almond butter and cinnamon

9-16-09 Log

2009-09-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Sooo...as many of you know, this last month has been pretty darn stressful for me! Can you say 'understatement'?! And when I was finally brave enough to weigh myself monday, for the first time since this all started...I was up to 151 from 147.5. And it wasn't from eating to much...just the opposite...I had no appetite and would forget meals and I wasn't sleeping. A sure-fire recipe for disaster! So Monday I re-dedicated myself and hit the ground running. almost 8 hours of sleep the last two nights...and nary a skipped meal! and today...149. Yes! So I know you guys don't always believe me when I say to eat more or get more sleep, but the proof is right here! : -) Have a great day guys!

7.75 hours sleep.

7:45 2 hb eggs, 6 strawberries, 12 almonds

8:15 teach xbiking

9:15 coconut water and 1 larabar (yeah...I said screw it to the whole 'I'll only eat half' idea! ha!)

9:16 teach xbiking

11:00 Nice bowl of paleo chili (ground turkey and tons of veggies)...no oil or avocado since it's post wod!

12:30 3 stalks asparagus and a small handful of walnuts

3:00 3 oz chicken breast, a small bag of tomatoes and baby peppers

7:00 4 oz grilled tilapia with a huge salad (greens, mushrooms, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, zuchinni), sunflower and pumpkin seeds for fat. lemon juice and spices.

8:00 WANTEDNEEDEDABSOLUTELYHADTOHAVE something sweet. Into the blender: 1/2 banana, some lite coconut milk, some walnuts, shredded coconut, and ice cubes. Whirled it all up. Threw about 1 oz raisins in their to because for some odd reason, that sounded too good!

9-15-09 Log

2009-09-18T16:08:00.000-07:00

only 6.75 hours of sleep. But it's hard to get to bed any earlier than 11:30 on the night I teach until 7:30...too much energy!

7:45 1 egg scrambled with ground turkey, jalapenos, green peppers, zuchinni, tomatos, garlic and tons of greens. EVOO on top. Need to buy more avocados!

9:00 - 10:00 Kettlebells (swings, squats, deadlifts (48kg)

10:45 3 oz beef jerky, 1 apple

2:00 ground turkey with tons of veggies (leftover from last night), 4 stalks asparagus

3:45 lemon larabar

6:00 strawberries

8:30 carne asada, 4 stalks asparagus, small handful of almonds and walnuts

9-14-09 Log

2009-09-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

First off...an apology to anyone who might have noticed I haven't been around much lately. My husband and I just separated, and me and the three kidlings have been adjusting these last couple weeks. But I'm quickly putting up the last four days food logs, though there are no pretty pictures. And I'm now back in the game! So thanks for sticking around!

9-14-09 7.75 hrs sleep~

8:00 1 egg with mushroom, pepper, tomato, cilantro, garlic, mixed leafy greens. 8 strawberries and 2 Tbs sun butter.

8:30 Kettlebells: 5 min TGUs with 12 kg. then 30 sec. swings, 30 sec. overhead press and hold, 30 sec planks...repeat for 20 minutes.

9:15 "annie" Time: 16:42 rx.

11:30 Lunch at Soup Plantation. Huge salad full of good things (beets and banana squash were my treats!)...2 oz of chicken and sunflower seeds for fat.

3:00 8 strawberries.

5:45 4 oz shrimp, 4 stalks asparagus, a couple cherry tomatoes

6:30 - 7:30 Taught Xbiking.

7:45 Larabar

9:30 ground turkey with a gazillion veggies.

bed at 11:30. Hard to go to bed earlier after teaching so late!

9-6-09 log

2009-09-06T10:26:00.000-07:00

bed at midnight, didn't set alarm...still woke up at 6:30...ugh! managed to doze for another hour, but still not 8 hr. Apparently I need to just assume that my body wakes a 6:30 and always make it to bed by 10:30.

9:00 2 eggs, sauted mushrooms, red onions, garlic, tomatoes, and greens. 1/4 cup guacamole.

12:00 pint of raspberries on the way home from Costco. Too delicious looking to wait.

1:00 Turkey patty, 1/2 cup guacamole, veggies (zuchinni, radishes, celery, cucumber).

5:00 larabar and 6 almonds

7:30 Rubio's (Grande Salad with mahi...no beans, cheese, or rice. Extra guac and cabbage.)

10:00 1 hard boiled egg

Daily Logs

2009-09-05T13:04:00.000-07:00

Good Sunday Morning, All!

Made the kid's french toast for breakfast, then enjoyed my usual eggs and veggies. Now it's off to Costco to finish up the shopping for the week.

First, though, I wanted to post my last few food logs up here for you guys. I've gotten a bunch of questions in the last few days about why I wasn't updating my paleo journal on facebook anymore. I had stopped because I wasn't really counting the days anymore. I rocked my first thirty days, survived my first cheat meal, and it's really just how I eat now. But old habits die hard...and especially since my physical activity is so decreased these last two weeks, I did still want to keep track of my food intake. I just moved it on over to my blog, because it was an easier process to update and edit. But I hadn't realized that so many of you read my food journal and used it for 'inspiration and ideas' (one of my readers words, not mine...and thank you!!), so I wasn't publishing them.

So...here you guys go! The last three days of food logs and notes. And I'll keep posting them daily as long as you guys want them! : -)

9-5-09

8 hours sleep! whoo-hoo!

9:00 1 h.b egg, 10 almonds, 1 apple

9:15 - 10:15 Taught Pedal/Pump...the pump part was in classic FGB style. They loved me! they hated me! haha!

11:00 About 1.5 cups of that yummy paleo chili from the other night. Sans avocado, since post - workout.

2:30 Turkey patty, 1/4 cucumber, 1 stalk celery, red, yellow,and orange pepper slices (about 1/2 of a pepper total), a couple slices of jicama. Small handful of almonds and walnuts.

5:00 Larabar

7:30 Flank steak. Guacamole with squash, zuchinni, cucumbers, jicama, pepper slices, radishes and celery.

9:30 apple with almond butter and cinnamon.

9-4-09

7.25 hours sleep (11 - 6:15) for no good reason. Reading blogs last night. : -(

B - 8:00 am: 1 egg, 1.5 cups portabello mushrooms with garlic and 1/2 bunch of cilantro. 1 cup mixed cantaloupe/blueberries/raspberries with slivered almonds mixed in.

9:00 Ran 5K.

10:00 1 hard boiled egg, 1/2 cup blueberries and raspberries.

1:00 Made lunch for my friends... salad (napa cabbage, red bib lettuce, arugula, dandelion greens, ruby red chard, kale, cilantro, red cabbage; yellow, red, and orange peppers, red radishes, yellow squash, tomatoes, cucumber, celery, red onions, avocado, kalmata olives, shrimp) Dressing was fresh lemon juice, EVOO, tumeric, fenugreek, ground coriander, s&P, paprika (which I also cooked the shrimp in). Dessert was strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

4:00 small handful of walnuts, 1 oz raisins

7:45 4 oz Cooked dinner for a friend: ahi tuna, grilled asparagus, zuchinni,and yellow squash; grilled mushrooms and onions with parsley. Dessert: coconut banana 'ice cream' (whirl in food processor: frozen ripe bananas, coconut milk or water and cinnamon. when smooth, add walnuts and unsweetened coconut and pulse to roughly chop. Freeze. Then Eat.)

9-3-09

8 hours sleep! Finally!

B - 7:45 am: 1 yummy runny egg with sauted mushrooms (2 cups) and 3 little tomatoes. 1/2 peach with about 1/8 cup each blueberries and raspberries. 12 g. sliced almonds.

KB's (new TGU, new Swing. 10 rounds of 10 swings, 10 planks (15 min). then GHD WOD...13:10...3:23 off my last time!)

L - 11:00: Cinnamon Roll Larabar, 1 banana, 1 h.b. egg, 1 coconut water.

S1 - 1:30: 6 almonds and 3 walnuts. 5 stalks asparagus..

s2 - 2:30: - 6 stalks of asparagus

s3 - 3:30: 1 oz chicken breast.

D - 6:30: "chili"...7 small tomatoes, 1/2 yellow squash, 1/2 red onion, 2 cups mushrooms, 1/2 ear corn (treat!), 1/2 bunch of cilantro, large handful of brocolli slaw, 4 oz sirlion, all the appropriate chili spices...topped with 1/2 diced avocado. this made 2 servings. Ate half tonight...will eat the other half later. Dessert: 1/2 cup of rasp and blueberries with slivered almonds.

9:00 Larabar

Paleo Prep

2009-09-04T17:24:00.000-07:00

******************So I know I've talked a lot about prepping being one of the cornerstones for making this whole Paleo thing work! But I realized today that it might be helpful to some if I went into a little more detail. So...

Went to Henry's today and did a quick run through to pick up some essentials. I buy tons of stuff at Costco also, so this isn't all my veggies for the week, but about half. It took about an hour to prep it all once I got home. My BIGGEST tip to you would be to try and do your grocery runs when you have an hour or so after to spend chopping. I love to cook. I love to chop. It means nothing to me to spend 20 minutes making lunch. But I've learned the hard way that when I'm tired - walking to the outside fridge to get that entire head of cauliflower...knowing I'm going to have to get the plastic off and cut the damn thing. Ugh - too much! I'll grab whatever happens to be in the fridge and fast (usually raw asparagus or cherry tomatoes)...yeah, still Paleo...still veggies...still healthy. But we're also going for variety here for numerous reasons. And honestly, woman can not live on asparagus alone. It would make eating boring...and that's sacrilegious! And I know that if I shove everything in my fridge when I get home from the store, it's chances of staying right in there, wholly intact, increases tenfold! I will even leave the stuff on the counter for an hour or two until I can get to it, before putting it away unprepped! So, if at all possible, prep immediately upon unpacking!

******************Now first thing I do is make my greens for the week. Those are the numero uno veggie of any good Paleo diet. I try to eat them with every meal - and it's really not hard, so I guess it's really not 'trying'. : -) I saute them with a bunch of other veggies with my eggs in the morning. It's the basis for my lunch salad. At dinner, it usually is sauted with onions to make a nice cushy bed for whatever animal fell to my spear that day or gets thrown willy-nilly into the chili pot. So lots and lots of greens!

******************Today I bought red chard, dandelion greens, kale, collard greens, and napa cabbage. Got home, chopped them all up, and mixed them all together with a head of cilantro just for good measure. Now I know that it looks like a huge pile...but ...it condenses nicely when packaged up; if you're eating as much of it as you should, it won't be around that long; it takes about ten minutes to do and is cheaper than buying those pre-packaged bags that were cut days ago; and - most importantly - you control what goes in them. You'd be hard pressed to find a salad mix as nutriently dense as this one is! And leave those beautiful stalks and stems on when you chop them. You won't notice them in your salad, or if you do, it'll be like celery! And another helpful hint...any veggie that's a 'heavy breather' needs to have a paper towel thrown in the bag with it to absorb the excess moisture, which will keep it fresher, longer. I'm actually a huge fan of Tupperware's FridgeSmart storage system - NOTHING seems to go bad in those things! But right now I'm prepping so much - that even with two fridges, I wouldn't have room for that many containers. The bags make it easy to stack and fits lot in a small space.

******************After the greens, I prepped the rest of the stuff I'd bought. That included celery, radishes, peppers, red cabbage, red onions, 4 heads of cauliflower, a second head of napa cabbage all by itself, Italian parsley, portabello mushrooms, and jicama. It really is amazing how much more likely I am to grab that celery or a radish if they've already been topped and tailed and put in a bag! Just this hour of prep will save me numerous hours over the coming week! But bear in mind that some veggies don't respond well to pre-prepping. Tomatoes, zuchinni, squash, cucumbers...all lose a little something when left to sit. And if everything else is prepped, it's not that bad to just chop one of two things!

Hope that's a bit more helpful that just telling you to prep! Now, go eat those greens!

Shoulder-less WoDs

2009-09-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

******************I love me some split jerks! They are probably my most favorite Oly lift! But I haven't been able to do any for a couple weeks. I'm still battling this darn bum shoulder. I've managed some deadlifts here or there...maybe some front squats. But everything else seems to involve my shoulder. Even pull-ups and push ups are jacking me up right now. *Sigh!* What's a Kool-aid chugging Crossfit chick to do? Going to the chiropractor and trying really hard to be good. And I bought the Hopper Deck today and just went through it and pulled out all WODS that either involve no shoulder, or are very easily subbable.

1) 4 rounds for time: 400 m Run, 50 squats

2) "Michael"...3 rounds for time: 800 m run, 50 back extensions, 50 sit ups

3) 5 rounds for time: 30 GHD sit -ups, 25 back extensions

4) For time: 400 m Walking Lunge

5) For time: 5K run

6) For time: 2K row

7) "Annie" 50-40-30-20-10 reps for time: double unders and situps

8) "Kelly" 5 rounds for time of: 400 m run, 30 wall balls (I'm gonna sub heavy kb squats), 30 box jumps

9) 5 rounds for time: 500 m row, 400 m row

10) Tabata Bottom to Bottom: 8 rounds of 20 sec effort, 10 sec rest of squats only. Rest is in the BOTTOM of the squat position. Note: Don't let the hamstrings go during "rest".

11) 4 round: 400 mtr run. Time each individually. Rest 3 min between rounds.

12) For time: 50 Wall Ball (sub heavy KB Squats), 40 Double Unders, 30 KB swings, 20 Steps Lunging Waiter's Walk (or just walking lunges if shoulder hurts overhead), 10 box jumps.

13) "Nancy" 5 rounds for time: 400 m run, 15 OH squats (once again...I'll be subbing those heavy KB squats. I'm so gonna rock those Lucy shorts when they get here!)

14) "Jason" For time: 100 squats, 5 m/u, 75 squats, 10 m/u, 50 squats, 15 m/u, 25 squats, 20 m/u. (this one has potential because of all those damn squats...will need to sub something for the m/u...can't even do the normal p/u and ring dip sub. Maybe 10, 20, 30, 40 ghd's? Will have to think on that some more.)

15) "Helen" 3 rounds for time: 400 m run, 21 kb swings (1.5 pood), 12 pull ups. Will save this one towards the end, and do the p/u with a bigger band than normal, or do it sooner with a sub for the pull ups...

16)10 -20- 30 reps for time of: Slam Ball, Walking Lunge Steps, OH Squat (Heavy KB Squats for me!)

17) 2 min double unders/ 2 min sit ups...90 sec d/u/ 90 sec sit ups...1 min....30 sec...

18) For time: 150 KB swings (obviously the swings depends on how your shoulder is tweaked. They're no problem for me, thank goodness).

OK...see...almost 4 weeks of WoDs that don't involve my shoulder! That's what I'm talking about! Doesn't seem so dire now!

If You Can't Take the Heat...

2009-09-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

...then get out of the kitchen! As fast as you can!

Lordy...it's been topping 110 degrees here for the last couple days! Blistering! And, on pain of being stoned by all my friends back east, I am going to bravely complain that it's been damn humid too! Ha! Yeah, yeah...I know...nothing compared to you guys. But that's why I CHOOSE to live in Southern California - Hate! Hate! Hate! the humidity!

But enough whining...once again, I am sporting the supremely happy tummy. I'm glad my tummy is happy tonight. After 400 meters of walking lunges yesterday and then teaching two back to back Xbiking classes this morning, just about every part of my body below said tummy is filing a formal complaint. So I was put on notice that I better step up my game and put some prime paleo grub into the engine or all hell would break lose. But I didn't wanna cook. And I definitely didn't want to even crack that back door and venture out to grill. Hell NO! So I threw stuff in a bowl and took a bite. And it was so good, that I knew I had to write down the exact combo and share with you guys. Now, keep in mind that I did not INTEND to post my dinner today, so it's not the most photogenic dish in the world. But, man oh man, it was some TASTY grub! And that's really all that matters! It's the food equivalent of personality over looks!

****************** Real fast first, I have to introduce you to another one of my favorite new finds this summer. It's those adorable little on the vine tomatoes in the bowl - and they are featured prominently in the following recipe. They've started carrying them at Costco and I am head-over-heels in love with them. Perfect blend of sweetness and acidity. Firm, not mealy at all. And they have the staying power of John Holmes! I'm serious! Those things will stay fresh, on my counter for almost two weeks (which only happens when I make Costco runs too close together and forget that I already had some). Plus, they're so damn cute! And quartering them is all you need to do for just about anything you use them in! So less prep also! And no, that picture isn't from tonight. That was a couple weeks ago. Caught Ian having thirds of the cucumber salad that night. I love my kids!

And without further ado....

Jen's 'Too Damn Hot' Salad

First off, I took a beautiful hunk of mahi mahi (the fish of the week here! I bought a bag of individually wrapped steaks at Costco and they are divine!) and patted freshly minced garlic, sea salt, crushed red pepper, and coarsely ground black pepper on one side. I heated up the skillet, threw in a little dab of coconut oil and seared that puppy good. Before I flipped the fillet, I put some all natural seasoning salt I had gotten as a gift from a Pampered Chef friend. Once it was flipped, I squeezed 1/2 a lemon over it and left it to get nice and brown on the second side. Then I turned down the heat and finished cooking it through.

While that was going on, I threw all this yummy veggie goodness in a bowl: about 5 of those beautiful tomatoes, quartered; 1/4 of a red bell pepper and some red onions, both thinly sliced; about 1/2 cucumber, chopped up nicely...let's see..some shredded napa cabbage, a crapload of cilantro (the only measurement of cilantro used in my kitchen), and 1/2 of a small avocado, diced.

In a separate bowl I mixed the juice of 1 lemon, more minced garlic, a dollop of dijon, and about 1/4 tsp each of chile powder (the Indian kind), tumeric, fenugreek, and cumin. Mixed well, poured over the veggies and mixed well. Threw the mahi on top and we were good to go!

There you have it. Less than ten minutes from conception to chewing! And I can't think of anything better than fresh veggies and lean meats and fishes when it's this hot outside, can you! All natural refreshment! And now that I've gotten it posted - I'm off to enjoy some raspberries for dessert. Enjoy you guys!

Spiced Bindi

2009-09-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

So...I was playing at the Asian Market the other day. Poking...prodding...smelling...mentally saying all the words in my head - undoubtedly very wrong! - and accosting the elderly women shopping with questions galore. All in all, a fun time was had by all! You wouldn't believe the plethora of new and exciting foods to try! More greens than you can shake a stick at and about six different types of eggplant alone! Total food porn! I have pictures too - but that will be another post!

******************One of the things I was attracted to this time was the okra. Had never really seen it fresh before. Bought some frozen once, to use in gumbo, I believe...and was not terribly impressed. Soggy and slimy are really the only things I remember. But fresh okra is very cute. Little and bullet shaped (if you have really pointy bullets!) and covered with little peach fuzz (okra fuzz, actually) - far enough removed from that sodden lump of veggie in a bag that I'd had before. So into my cart it went.

******************But what to do with it? Didn't want to immediately go to that old okra standby...the afore-mentioned gumbo. What's the point in experimenting if you play it safe? Half-ass! Not in my kitchen!~ So I figured I'd have to wait a couple days until I had time to find a recipe to use as a jumping off point. But then, lo and behold, Gavan Murphy, The Healthy (and Sexy!) Irishman (check out his blog at http://thehealthyirishman.com/), comes to my aid with a recipe for Spiced Bindi (Indian for okra)delivered into my inbox that very same day! Serendipity or Big Brother? hmmmmmm....we'll never know. But since I'm not one to look a gift Irishman in the mouth (especially a cute one!) - and because the recipe includes HOARDS of marvelous spices - I printed it out immediately! And since I had absolutely everything to make the recipe (oh the joys of a stocked kitchen!), it's been made and eaten tonight and I'm sharing with you now. And share I must, because it was TASTY! And ever-so-NOT-slimy! My boys tried it and liked it also. So that's three votes of approval! I had it with some quick napa cabbage slaw I threw together and a beautiful hunk of mahi mahi. My tummy is happy!

******************So here's the recipe. If you try it, let me know how you like it! And if you have a favorite okra recipe, share please!

Spiced Bindi

Serves 2.

2 cups fresh Okra - trimmed and sliced
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup onion, finely diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs freshly grated ginger
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 Tbs olive oil
1/4 cup low-sodium veg or chicken broth
S&P

Preheat large saute pan on medium heat for 1 minute. Add olive oil and saute onions for 30 seconds, stirring...do NOT brown. Add garlic and ginger adn saute for another 30 seconds, then add cumin seeds for an additional 30 seconds. Add in okra and broth and saute for a minute, stirring. Begin adding in the spices: turmeric, coriander and garam masala. Stir to combine all ingredients together. Heat 1 minute. Serve.

******************Jen's Notes: Let's see...I had coriander seeds also...so I threw about 1/2 tsp in when I threw the cumin seeds in - and still used the ground coriander at the end. Didn't use stock, since I had none made. Subbed water instead and it worked just fine. I love the smell of fresh ginger all the time! But the smell that arose from the pan when I added the seeds to the onions, garlic, and ginger was just about 2 steps shy of an orgasm! Delectable, people! Trust me on this one! They should make a room deodorizer fragrance that smells just like it! I'd like it! So would Earz - he's getting tired of eating the 'Fresh Linen' ones!

The Best 12 Hours!

2009-08-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

So - Melissa Byers posts this sleep-apalooza challenge over on her blog a few days ago and I join in immediately - verbally at least. I'm all down for more sleep. I work best on 8-9 hours a night, but seem lucky if I manage to get 6.5 - 7.5. A constant issue for me! But make it a challenge and I'm all over it like peanut butter on rye! But unlike the Paleo challenge, which I started the very day after hearing about it, this sleep one is throwing me for a loop. And you'd think it would be easier! But I had plans, people! Wonderfully amazing, cheesy, girl-bonding, then ass-kicking plans that I was not willing to give up just for some extra sleep! So my wild and crazy twelve hours are now done. I will tell you all about them, and then hit the hay for the first of my 30 day sleep challenge.

First up: last night me and my girls, Amanda and Sharan, rocked the HOB in San Diego! We went solely for Pyromania! The Def Leppard Tribute Band and were wholely and pleasantly surprised to be treated to an amazing AC/DC Tribute Band, Highway to Hell, as the opening act. Now, I do realize that it takes a very special kind of person to appreciate a tribute band, but both these ones jammed! And 'Angus' was spot-on! Awesome musicians, great tunes, a crapload of dancing, and maybe one too many drinks (for me) - all in all a first-rate, girl-power Friday night! Though a little late...got home around 1:30 a.m., still feeling a bit drunk (variations on long island ice teas are potent, potent beverages!), washed my face, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed...setting the alarm for a measly 5 hours later...

And when that alarm rang I was up like a bunny, feeling relatively fine, all things considered. Another quick wash up, threw on my Crossfit duds, tossed down some Dino-chow and headed off to U.C. Riverside with Mike, a fellow CF'er, for a Saturday morning workout with Josh Everette. Yeah....JOSH EVERETT!!!...how frickin' cool is that? That is about the only thing that would have gotten me out of bed this morning!

Now Josh is the Head Strength and Conditioning coach at U.C.R., so he gets to train and torture high level athletes on a daily basis...he even has his own special area called 'The Patch'. But ever Saturday during July and August, he graciously allows CF'ers and others to join in the fun. An opportunity to get my ass whipped by Josh Everett is a no-brainer,but we had no idea what to expect. According to the email he sent when we asked for information '...For those unfamiliar with the patch the workout is a hybrid between military obstacle course & parkour'. Uhhhhh - PARKOUR?!?!?! Have you guys seen this stuff? Crazy! Still haven't had a chance to figure out how to post a link in here...next time, I promise. Until then, cut and paste and go watch this crazy stuff!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeqHj3Nj2c

So we get to U.C.R. and it's already in the 80's and climbing. There ended up being about 40 of us all together. And I don't want to give away any of Josh's secrets, so I'll err on the side of caution. But the warm ups had us all drenched in sweat and out of breathe and newly cognizant of the fact that bear crawls can apparently be performed forwards, backwards, sideways...hell, Josh could probably figure out a way to do them upside down! And then we get to the obstacle course, which is basically five different configurations of ginormous lincoln logs - all expressly designed to kick butt and take names! And in the course of the next hour, those logs were lunged under, leaped over, squatted through, walked on, crawled on, jumped on, and kicked off of. Ever went through a row of twelve stumps in the ground - probably about 20-24 inches off the ground by jumping up both feet, then jumping down into a full-on ass-to-the-ground squat, then right back onto the next in the line? We did and loved it! Though having never squatted from a high jump before, the first one landed me backwards on my hands. Definitely a core workout! Then more bearcrawls! This time across a single log raised in the air. Forward. Then backwards. So challenging! Then bearcrawl sideways across 2 logs set about 4 feet apart from each other and up in the air too...then crab walk sideways across them. Then inchworm across them, with a push up everytime you hit the plank position. It feels very weird doing that knowing if you slip, you're going to face plant a few feet below! Definitely gives you incentive to push UP! There were falls and slips and tumbles left and right...my big one was coming off a jump and not getting back far enough. I came down and my foot got caught between two logs and I continued to fall backwards. Luckily the two quick-thinking gentlemen on either side of me caught me before my ankle snapped and a third extricated my foot. Then we all finished the set! After about an hour, we then ran an obstacle course through them - which is where the parkour came in - it was all about jumping, leaping,and bounding over them. Or, as the coaches kept saying, do it 'in the most athletic way possible for you'. It was so frippin' fun! And now the hardest part: waiting until next July to do it again!

Eggs in a Nest

2009-08-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

****************************
'Eggs in the Basket' is a fried egg in a hole in a slice of bread. Doesn't sound that appealing, but tastes pretty good! Especially if you add cheese to the whole package. This little, sort of plain-jane, meal has a thousand different nicknames: "frog in a log," "hen in a nest," "Rocky Mountain toast," "Soldier in a Boat," "moon egg," "cowboy egg," "egg-in-the-hole," "one-eyed monster breakfast," "hobo eggs", and "One-eyed Jack". My Paleo version has been dubbed 'eggs in a nest' because that's what it looks like to me. And branches, grasses, and twigs are certainly Paleo grub! But whatever you decide to call it, it's what's for breakfast at my house this morning!

And I've decided that I can sum up all my recipes as follows: chop veggies, cook if you want, add spices and protein. Eat. How easy is that? This specifically was chard, red onions, asparagus, and a little tomato all sauteed up until they were warm and snuggly...added some s&P and crushed red pepper for warmth. Cracked two eggs in the middle and flipped them oh-so-gently to ensure lots of warm, runny yolk to mix in. Then, of course, the whole kit-n-kaboodle was doused in a crapload of tabasco and summarily dispatched of! *licking her chops* Such a good start to a busy day!

Sunday Morning Hodge Podge

2009-08-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Various interesting tid-bits gleaned from my reading this week. None of which alone are enough for a blog unless I pretend I'm back in college and am writing a research paper and spend three weeks studying and writing. Not gonna happen! But here's a quick run-down of some of them and my musings, which you know I hate keeping to myself!

~ According the the American College of Sports Medicine, fit girls get hungrier than guys who are just as active. Women experience a higher rise in ghrelin - the hunger hormone. Gnosh on protein-rich snacks between meals to satisfy that hunger without packing on pounds. (So just one more thing to add to the list of unfair advantages you guys have over us girls in the whole weigth loss/strength gain arena! But we still love you!)

~ In a study published in the Journal of Nutrition, eating low-glycemic foods before a morning workout can help you burn more fat during exercise compared to eating high-glycemic foods like sugar-packed cereal. (Hmmmmm! Paleo anybody? Or at least no processed carbs or tons of fruit at breakfast?! Discover the joy of a veggie-packed omelete with yummy avocado!)

~ Having trouble gaining muscle? According to a recent study, it could be your birth control. 73 women were given a 10-week total-body workout program to follow, some took oral contraceptives, some did not. At the end of the 10-weeks, those not taking contraceptives gained 60 percent more muscle mass than those taking the pills. (That is a huge difference! A scarily huge one! I take birth control for my migraines. I'm now wondering if my Paleo diet would have enough of a positive effect on my migraines to give up the pills and maybe see a quicker muscle gain. My CF trainer who put me on probation for a day (love you!!!!) said that with my diet and the intensity and duration of my workouts everyday, I should be seeing more gains. She blamed it on overtraining, which I will say is probably true. But I'm wondering if these birth control pills might be playing a big role also. Something to ponder!)

~ Exercise can affect the placement of breast implants. How much so depends on the surgical techniques used to insert the implants and then on the actual forces appled to the muscle as it contracts during workouts. A lot of times, women will find their implants moving out to the side and might need further surgery to mitigate the implant migration. (Another reason why I'm determined to love these 40 year-old, nursed three kids, boobs in their natural state. But can I just say here that I have first hand knowledge of the actual physical changes in your breasts that pec exercises WILL make! When I first lost the last of my weight, it was all in my boobs. I would jokingly, and very sadly, say that I was a '36C Looooooooooong'. In the last 6 months, I've taken that 'loooooooong' part off? Hmmm - shall I credit Crossfit with a non-surgicial breast lift? Ha~!)

~Yet another reason to love how Paleo levels out your blood sugar levels: Looking at medical records for people with type 2 diabetes, researchers found that a severe sugar crash was linked to a 26 percent increased likelihood of developing dementia in older age. (So if you are already a proponent of functional fitness, you probably already know that one of the goals is keeping our decrepit bums out of the nursing homes if at all possible. We want to live strong and die quickly at a ripe old age - though we will admit that feeling this terrific now isn't such a bad side effect - without having to have someone wipe those afore-mentioned bums for us. So here's a reason to make sure you diet regime is as functional as your exercise one! It would be very nice to know when exactly those afore-afore-mentioned bums needed wiping!)

~Drinking Pomegranate juice is actually healthier than eating the fresh fruit! Why? The heart-protecting antioxidants are packed in its inedible but juiceable rind. (SuperHealth by Steven Pratt, M.D.) (Now ya'll know I'm not a proponent of drinking juice at all. Even before I was Paleo,or had lost half of me, I didn't drink juice, neither did my kids. Total waste of calories, as far as I'm concerned! Drink water! Eat fruit! This is one mash-up that's a waste. Buuuuuuttttt....: -) If you happen to be having a treat and maybe enjoying a drink, if you HAD to mix it with something, pomegranate juice might be the way to go!)

Paleo Pork Larb

2009-08-21T14:26:00.000-07:00

So what the heck is Larb, you ask? Larb is the unofficial national dish of Laos and it is also popular in Northeastern Thailand. I discovered it at the Thai Kitchen a few years back, when I was attempting to steer clear of the more 'weighty' noodle dishes, while still fostering my love of all things Asian. You can get it with beef, chicken, pork, even fish...the main thing is the meat is ground. And mixed with those amazing flavors that I love SO SO MUCH that I sometimes wonder if I wasn't actually conceived when my parents were on vacation in Thailand!

When I was making that awesome Paleo chili last night, I browned both pounds of ground pork together, even though I only used half for the chili. When I do that I tend to use spices that will compliment most of what I eat. You can see exactly what I used in the chili recipe! So after it was cooked and cooled down, into a bag it went and I threw it out in the fridge with it's compatriots, bags of grilled pork, sirloin, and chicken. I could NOT survive without my prepped meat! I don't care if you're not even eating paleo...if you're super busy, especially if you have kids, and you want to eat healthy, make sure you have pre-cooked stuff at your beck and call so you always, always, always have something for dinner!

This is my version of Larb. Obviously no fish sauce or toasted rice (or the chopped peanuts that you sometimes see instead). But you won't miss it! I promise! I mean, it's so damn good that I'm sitting here writing the blog while I eat it, because I wanted to make sure to get it down while it's still fresh in my mind!

Paleo Pork Larb

If you're not lucky enough to have a bag of meat ready and waiting, you'll need to start by browning about 1 pound of ground pork (or chicken or hamburger or whatever you want!). Use the red onion and the spices just like when we made the chili here: http://andsomefruit.blogspot.com/2009/08/seven-alarm-paleo-chili-and-cooling.html. (I will figure out how to do links another day, when I have more time!) This will give you enough meat to make Larb for 4 people or 4 lunches...or get creative and find something else to do with it. I'd offer to share what I do with the rest of the meat, but this Larb is so unbelievably choice, that I believe it's what's for lunch tomorrow also! If you're going for the decorative element, read down a bit and make sure you mix up the dressing and dress the greens before making the top look pretty!

Then get a nice bowl and fill it up with shredded napa cabbage, shredded red cabbage, chopped mint, tons of chopped cilantro, thinly sliced red onions, tomato wedges and cucumber slices. If you want to impress company, take the minute it took to artistically arrange the cucs and tomatoes. Ridiculously easy, but has big crowd appeal! : -)

Whisk together lime juice, garlic, ground ginger, salt, tumeric (I just love it! it finds it's way into lots of recipes that don't necessarily call for it), and crushed red pepper. For my one salad, I used the juice of 1 lime, about 1 Tbs crushed garlic, 1 tsp each ginger, tumeric, and red pepper, and a couple turns of the salt mill.

Once the dressing is mixed, pour the majority over your greens and toss. Add about 4-6 oz of your cooked pork in a nice round mound smack dab in the middle of your greens. Surround with pretty tomatoes and cucumbers if they're not already mixed into your salad. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the meat. Sprinkle with finely chopped almonds.

TO. DIE. FOR. !!!!!! If you make it, let me know how you like it!

Seven-Alarm Paleo Chili and a Cooling Chaser!

2009-08-20T19:42:00.000-07:00

So today was a cool day here in Southern California. A brisk, refreshing 83 degrees that just begged for a bowl of warm, soul-satisfying chili! ; -) Now, I love chili. I adore chili. And what I used to adore about chili was filling it with a colorful array of beans - kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, those fun dalmation looking beans! - the more beans the better. But no more. No beans for this Paleo Goddess! So I challenged myself to make a chili that would seem as satisfying to me as the old bean-laden ones were. Game on!

First, I knew I didn't want to use chunks of meat...even though I have some amazing pork loins grilled up that could have been transformed into a tasty Chili Verde (making a mental note to try that next time I get a hankerin' for some chili)...because then I'd have mostly a bowl of veggies with some random meat chunks in it. I wanted something more 'chili-esque'...thick and with substance...that my spoon would stand up in. Luckily I have just been to the Asian market and bought my usual couple pounds of ground pork. I love the stuff - especially in Larb (an amazing Thai salad full of lime and cilantro and cabbage. Hmmmmm - I think I'm basically doing my next week's meal planning while I write this post!). And I've never seen it anywhere else, so I get a dorkish little bit of pleasure out of buying it because of it's slightly mysterious, out-of-the-ordinary, off the beaten path background. I'm sure it tastes much better than if I could have bought it at the grocery store also! Plus it's freshly ground! Yum! (Now if only I'd get over my squeamishness at the delicious looking squirming around blue crabs they have in a blue garage tote in the corner. I love crab! I don't think I could kill them myself. No matter how much of a cook or how Paleo I am!)

The veggies were the basics that I use in chili. And I will admit to adding the last 1/2 ear of grilled corn to the mix, which isn't Paleo, but is damn good. And honestly, 1/2 an ear over the three or four meals this will be is not going to send the paleo police to my door. I hope.

And if you're going to gnosh on something that leaves your taste buds trembling and smoke coming out of your ears, you need to make sure you have something cool and refreshing to chase it with. Enter my delicious Coconut Banana Walnut 'Ice Cream'. It was actually so good, that I will admit right up front that it wasn't the chaser to the chili. Nope. Ate it all up yum about thirty seconds after taking the picture. Because I totally deserved to eat dessert first today! Then I ate the chili. And chased it with some water instead!

Seven-Alarm Paleo Chili

****************Add 1/2 diced red onion and copious amounts of crushed garlic to a nice large pan that you've pre-heated. The pan needs to be big enough to hold all the ingredients for the chili, so err on the side of bigger if you're not sure how much room you'll need. Give the onion and garlic a little time to get to know each other. Once they've been stirred a few times, throw in 1 pound of ground pork (or hamburger or turkey or meatless soy crumbles...whatever floats your boat!...though you'll have to drain the whole mess once the meat is cooked because hamburger always has so much grease. That's another reason I like the pork - no grease!). Salt and pepper the meat. Add, based on your tastes, ample amounts of cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, ground coriander, lots of paprika, and ground cumin. Brown the meat. If need be, remove excess fat after meat is browned. Add approximately (you guys know how I cook! And honestly, a little (or a lot) more or less isn't going to screw anything up here!) 3 cups diced tomatoes, 1 cup diced celery, 1/2 ear grilled corn (removed from the cob!), 1 diced green pepper, 2 stalks of celery, also diced, 1 finely diced jalapeno (I include the seeds. If you're less ballsy, don't!) and a crapload of chopped cilantro. (Please remember, that in my recipes, there is no such thing as too much cilantro...or too many spices!) Stir it all up really nice and let it simmer away over a medium flame for a bit, stirring when you remember to. The tomatoes will start to break down and it will stop looking like salad in a pan, and start looking like chili. I promise. If you need to mash those tomatoes up a bit to speed up the process, go for it. You have my permission. And it's fun! Once it's all chilified, taste it and play with those same spices above, adding a little of one, a lot of the other, until you get that perfect taste. Then stir the last of those spice additions in real good, let cook another 5 minutes or so on low heat then serve up in a bowl. My personal favorite way to top this off is with lovely slices of avocado and a generous squirt of lime juice. It was definitely stick-to-your rib's filling too!

Coconut Banana Walnut 'Ice Cream'

*****************(Serves 4) Take 4 frozen bananas and throw them in your food processor (or blender, if you have to - though you'll have to stop and help stir the bananas if you use a blender) along with a can of coconut milk, some cinnamon and some nutmeg. Personally, when my bananas start to get brown, I throw the whole things into my freezer. When I need them, I take one, pop it into the microwave for 20-30 seconds and it peels very easily. Anyway, add the coconut milk and blend it all up. Throw in a handful of walnuts and pulse a few times to make them into nice little chunks. Then stir in by hand a cup of unsweetened coconut flakes. If it's a bit runnier than you want, put it in a freezer safe bowl and chill it down a bit. Then eat. Yum! I even used a green spoon from white lime to make the whole dessert experience more complete!

An Ode to Aubergines

2009-08-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

So this week I'm in lust with Eggplants...or Aubergines, as they're known in Europe. Full, unbridled, intense, I want to spend every minute in its company, and do lots and lots of things to it, LUST. *sigh* It's so glossy and purple and smooth (though they used to be white...hence 'egg'plant!) - you just want to stroke it! And it's as beautiful on the inside as it is on the outside...high in dietary fiber, Folate, Potassium, Manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus and Copper. They are an excellent food to aid in weight loss, since they're low in calories and fat. Eggplant is a nutrient dense food, which will help you feel full, and there are almost no calories in eggplants. And though you can peel it, like most fruits and vegetables many of the health benefits of eggplant are contained in its dark purple skin. The skin contains a high amount of phytonutrients that helps protect the lipids in your brain cell membranes. Eggplant also contains tons of antioxidants.

So why wouldn't you eat it?

Well, a lot of people are still under the impression that you need to slice, salt, let sit, then rinse eggplant to reduce it's bitterness (an act that's called 'degorging'). This is an old practice, however, and it is not as necessary these days because modern eggplants are less bitter. And honestly, that's a lot of work for a vegetable that has been mis-cooked for so long that in some minds, eggplant is synonymous with slimy, squishy, brown, and icky. But how about if it wasn't gross and took only 5 minutes. Come on - you know you want to try it now! And just an FYI ...though not necessary for taste, salting eggplant will reduce the amount of oil absorbed in cooking - but I'm only telling you that in the interest of full disclosure. I'm hoping none of you are going to be deep frying your eggplant. Even for eggplant parmesian, try prepping the eggplant this way!

Saffron Eggplant Chips

1. Preheat your grill.

2. Mix 1 TBS olive oil, sea salt, crushed black pepper, Mexican Saffron, and Cumin in a small bowl.

3. Thinly slice an eggplant, and lightly brush one side with the oil mixture.

4. Lay oil side down on heated grill. Brush other side with oil mixture, if desired. I never do, but it won't hurt anything.

5. Flip when you've got some nice little grill marks on the one side. Remove from grill when done cooking. Watch closely, because the thin slices will burn easily, but they'll also crunch up the best!

Easy-peasy, huh!? I find myself eating them as I take them off the grill, they're that good! I layered them with lemony cucumber salad and scallops last night (recipe to come!) and it was super-delicious! Today I wanted them AGAIN! So I grabbed my other eggplant, which was much wider in diameter and sliced some slightly thicker slices this time. Same olive oil treatment as last night, grilled them up, and used them as the 'bread' in a flank steak sandwich. The concept of eggplant 'bread'...solid. The reality...not so! I ended up rolling the steak, greens, and pepper in the eggplant slices like little summer rolls! Super tasty and fun to eat! What more could you want in a food?

So there you have it...all the reason's to eat eggplant and a quick, no muss no fuss way of cooking it. What more could you ask for? Give it a try and let me know what you think. And if you have a favorite eggplant recipe (that doesn't involve frying) shoot it my way. I need to go to the store and buy more eggplants - then I'm going to test run the baba ganoush recipe I got from another amazing blogger named Melicious. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm thinking eggplant chips with baba ganoush? Too much of a good thing? Never!

Coming Up Next...

2009-08-13T20:10:00.000-07:00

...Saffron Eggplant Chips, Lemony Cucumber Salad, Paleo Blueberry Crumble, and Sweet Creamed Red Bananas. It's what's for dinner tonight here at Chez Clements...along with some tasty, tasty scallops. I'll share the recipes with you tomorrow! Aren't I a tease?! For now...off to spend some time with the family...

Aspergrass!

2009-08-13T17:28:00.000-07:00

Oh My Goodness! I discovered something wonderful today. Something totally new for me...and ya'll have to admit I'm down with my vegetables! Peel cucumbers? Never! Peel anything? Not if I can help it! Not even my beets! Eat my kiwis complete with skin - of course! And let me digress a minute to tell those of you who've never tried this to do so immediately! Besides ramping up the fiber and nutrients in that green little gem, it's just plain ole' fun to gross your friends out! And I promise you it's not itchy/fuzzy/tickly/insert any other kiwi-centric word here! You don't even need to cut it. Grab out of the fridge and start eating. You'll be left with one cute little nub at the end. That's getting your monies worth!

And do you know how much time I've saved by ignoring that whole 'cilantro LEAVES' or 'parley LEAVES'. What an annoying chore...pulling little wet leaves off of little wet stalks. I have better things to do with my time. Almost 90% of the time, I just chop the whole bunch, stems and all. Again - more fiber and more usable herb. The stalks do have taste also! This works anytime you're cooking something, in salsa...usually anytime you're not interested in making a Food Network worthy presentation out of your meal.

So back to asparagus. I love it! I'll buy the big bags at Costco and grill some up. I'll do that again maybe two nights later...but then I don't want asparagus anymore and the rest goes bad in the bag and I throw it away. I hardly ever throw food away, so I was feeling guilty about this. I wanted to eat some at lunch, but I hate re-heated asparagus with a passion. And I usually don't have time to cook some up for lunch. So today I was making one of my infamous car lunches (throwing chicken, nuts, and veggies in a bowl that would sit on my center console in my car as I picked up high schoolers and ran errands). I had to move the asparagus to get to those tasty little grape tomatoes and I thought - well, why not try?! So I grabbed a stalk and put it in my mouth! That's it! Raw! How much simpler could that be? It tasted like asparagus (surprise!) but cleaner...greener! So good. If you gnosh on cold sugar snap peas, you'd definitely like this. If you are lucky enough to have baby asparagus, or stalks that aren't too big, you can eat the whole thing. I had one bigger stalk, and if I was cooking it I would have snapped off the end. Since I was in my car with nothing better to do, I decided to give it a whirl. I bit the end off after only one yank and started chewing. And chewing. And chewing. And chewing. It was like I'd imagine chewing cud would be. I couldn't swallow it. Had to spit it out. So, unless you want a good jaw workout, just go ahead and snap those ends. Compost them if you can!

I was so surprised that I had never considered this revolutionary and delicious way of eating asparagus. And then I thought...well, if I had never thought of it, maybe some of you had never thought of it either. So I am sharing! 'Cause I'm nice like that!

Foreshadowing....

2009-08-12T16:37:00.001-07:00

End of Summer Blues

Grilled Pepper & Tomato Salad

2009-08-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

This delicious looking recipe is courtesy of the amazing Alana, who writes a blog called 'A Veggie Venture', as well as a column in her local St. Louis newspaper. I've gotten so many amazing recipes from her that I don't think twice about running straight to the store and buying ingredients, like I did for her amazing Roasted Carrots last week!

What it did get me thinking twice about was the fact that I've never come up with this one my own! Do I grill peppers? Yep...only for fajita or a roasted salsa. Do I grill tomatos - you betcha...big ones and little ones! Nothing is more fun than little roasted yellow pear tomatoes. Do I combine things I roast? Most definitely! One of my and my kid's favorite is grilled zuchinni, yellow squash, and asparagus. Grill it, chop it all up. Mix in a bowl with EVOO, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Pure bliss! Eat as is...throw in meat...the cold leftovers ROCK in a salad the next day! But combine peppers and tomatos? New one for me. Will be trying this as soon as I have time to run to the store tomorrow. Amazingly enough, I am out of peppers!? So give it a try and let me know what you think!

GRILLED PEPPER & TOMATO SALAD

PEPPERS AND TOMATOES

* Peppers - a mix of bell peppers (red and green, say) and hot peppers (poblanos and serranos, jalapeños and Anaheim peppers, say)

* Tomatoes - preferably something meaty like a Roma tomato

SALAD

*Garlic & kosher salt

*Onion - chopped into thin lengths

*Red wine vinegar Good olive oil

*Plenty of kosher salt

PEPPERS & TOMATOES: Trim the peppers and remove the seeds and membranes to discard. Cut into quarter or halves, press with the back of your hand to flatten. Grill the peppers and tomatoes skin-sides down until the skins blacken and blister all over. Leave the skins on (they provide great flavor) and let cool. (Stop here if prepping ahead.) Chop both the tomatoes and peppers into rough pieces, one-inch pieces or lengths for a side dish, or into tiny bites for a salsa.

SALAD: Mash the garlic and salt into a paste by chopping the garlic as fine as possible with a knife, then mashing the pieces into the salt with the side of a knife; stir into the peppers and tomatoes.

Gently splash the vegetables with equivalent volumes of vinegar and olive oil. Now get salty -- stir in salt, tasting after each addition, it should taste a little salty so that later, when the juices flow from the peppers and tomatoes, the flavour is still where it should be. If the peppers and tomatoes don't taste that good, it's likely because the dish needs more salt.

Surviving my First Potluck as a Paleo

2009-08-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a huge potluck for end of Marching Band camp for my daughter. Even MY contribution wasn't paleo (Meatballs...but the sauce has added sugar) so I wasn't really planning on being able to eat. I had a Larabar in my bag...and knew I was going to go have BBQ and watch the UFC fights with some fellow paleo eaters later that night - so I figured I'd be good. There were hundreds of people, and three separate serving areas and you were only supposed to go to one. So I eeny-meeny-miny-moe'd and started down a line...absolutely nothing that wasn't fried, breaded, covered in goopy sugary sauces or globs of congealed melted cheese. Even the salads were pre-dressed, wilty, sad little piles of once-proud vegetable. Then there in the back was a little bowl of food that pre-paleo I would have passed over as boring and not worthy of being eaten. But right then the plain little strips of beef, cauliflower and carrots, though overcooked and under spiced, was at least something I could eat. So I took a little bit. A very little bit. I still have some standards! But at least I would have something to gnaw on with everyone else. It's never fun being the only one not eating at events like these...and even if I just sat there eating my Larabar, I still wouldn't have felt like I was 'part' of the festivities. I know you guys know what I mean!

I then proceeded to sneak into the second line. SCORE! Someone had brought the mixed greens from Costco and just plunked the bag down with a bottle of dressing next to it. I proceeded to say 'Yes!' very loudly and start piling it on my plate. Of course, I had to open the bag first - apparently no one else had wanted any?! And when I say piled, I meant my whole paper plate was covered in a generous pile of leafy green goodness. And I was getting some strange looks from my fellow buffet goers. Then I notice someone putting the last of a huge platter of enchiladas on their plate...and leaving all the beautiful, fresh cut pico de gallo behind. Tomatoes and onions and cilantro, OH MY! It hadn't even been touched! I so don't understand what people where thinking when they left that beautiful pile of deliciousness there, but I was grateful! So, before anyone could re-consider, I scooped all that pico de gallo up lickety-split and covered my lettuce with it.

Time to have a go at the third line - harder to do this time, because I now had a plate full of food, albeit lettuce and tomatoes, but it was obviously I'd already sampled the fares of the other heaving tables and was being unfaithful ~ but it was the worth it! ~ A half of a grilled chicken breast - El Pollo Loco, I believe! Removed the skin and we were in business! And then the coup de resistance (please mentally insert the accent aigu's and read with appropriate 'Frenchness' and feel all cosmopalitian and sophisticated!) ~ some amazing person had brought a homemade salad of cucumbers and tomatoes and cilantro that wasn't oily looking at all. It did have vinegar, which I adore but isn't Paleo, but all things considered, I was extremely happy with my haul. Yeah, it took a bit of work to scavenge, but still a heck of a lot less then the cavemen I'm emulating, who spent the majority of their days hunting and gathering and foraging. So really can't complain. It actually made me enjoy the meal more than warranted, having had to put some thought and energy into procurring it!

I even had a handful of people comment on how refreshing and healthy my plate looked, while loading up on junk that even a healthy non-paleo eater should steer clear off except for special occasions. And, for the record, a Marching Band potluck DOES NOT qualify as a special event worthy of eating poorly! Nor does your co-worker's birthday! Or the kindergarten picnic! Or any of the million's of other 'special events' that crowd our calendars! I think we'd all be well-served to re-prioritize what events are worth eating a spectacularly decadent meal without any guilt or second-thoughts. There really shouldn't be more than a handful, should there? It would seem that the more there are, the more you are devalueing the ones that are truly special!

So, back to the potluck. I sat down and I ate my meal, while everyone around me scarfed down theirs. I watched as they went back for seconds, and thirds, and first desserts, and second desserts. And I remembered how not so long ago, that was me. And I felt proud of myself for all these changes I've made over the last seven years. And I'm so grateful that my children will benefit from all that they see me doing. Most mornings I come back from the gym and Ian and Reilly have been 'working out' in the loft or the backyard. They love finding exercise videos on the computer and hefting the one- and two-pound weights to bust them out. I love that Ian has been making salads with meat for lunch. And this morning he asked me if he could try eating paleo like me ~ which I will let him do, but not as strict. I think dairy and beans are just fine for his growing body! And it allowed a discussion about how even though it's called a 'Paleo Diet', it's referring to diet as 'habitual nourishment' not a restrictive, short term program designed for weight loss, which he obviously doesn't need.

So I finished off my first potluck adventure quite comfortably sitting in the sun watching the nascent 2009/2010 Marching Band perform their first pieces publically. And listening to some people next to me complain about how much they'd eaten and how stuffed and uncomfortable they were. At first I chided myself for my fleeting feelings of superiority and self-righteousness. But then I forgave myself because I think it's exactly what I need to be doing right now to really cement in my mind how necessary this is for me. Not to just see and feel the positive...but to have some concrete reminders of the negatives. Especially helpful since I'm smack dab in the middle of my 30 day strict challenge and may be needing to buff my shiny new Paleo toy just a bit! Everything losses it's dazzling newness after a while ~ but the way I'm feeling after just a couple weeks is monumental! I think I'm going to have this toy for a very long time!