If it’s the End of the World…What Would You Eat?

12/21/12….the end is near!

Actually I don’t think the world is going to end.  But if it did, and you were to have one last meal – your all-time favorite meal – what would it be??

Back in the day (a year or so ago) I would’ve said pizza…or pasta…even old school Pasta Jay’s. Those were the days.  Days filled with bloat and a sick feeling after every meal.  No thanks.

I have to say my hands-down favorite meal of all time is a perfectly grilled filet – (new favorite: Whit’s Amuse Bouche’s restaurant style filet - love the blogger and the steak.  It was seriously the most perfect filet I’ve ever cooked indoors.  I used my regular old non-stick pan – just remember to wrap the handle of your pan with foil!), a loaded baked potato, and grilled romaine.  And a big ol glass of wine (or 3).

Where?  Not in some fancy restaurant, but on our deck, in the summer…which kinda conflicts with the Mayan’s prediction for Friday, but whatevs.

For dessert…I’d totally eat a dozen or so of those pumpkin cheesecake truffles I mentioned a couple posts back.  Hey, it’s the end of the world, who cares about gluten?

What’s your favorite meal of all time?

Thanksgiving Recap & a Recipe Roundup

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that I love to love.  I enjoyed every single bite.  No guilt, just indulgence.  We go to my boyfriend’s parents house every year.  They have allllll the fixins and everyone brings something.  And knowing I was going to indulge, I wanted to make sure I had a big side of veggies to put on my plate.  I also wanted to make sure I had something to snack on before the big meal.  And I wanted a sweet treat at the end of the meal but knew I wouldn’t be able to stuff a whole slice of pie down my gullet after all that yummy food.

So here’s what I brought:

spinach artichoke dip (adapted from my vitamix cookbook)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup mayo
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 slice lemon, peeled & seeded
• 1 large package of fresh spinach
• a pinch of salt & pepper
• 1 garlic clove
• ¼ cup shredded parmesan
• ½ cup canned artichokes, drained

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except artichoke hearts in vita-mix
2. Turn it on (variable 1, increase to 4)
3. Blend, blend, blend (took me a while to get all that spinach in there and blended up)
4. Add artichokes and blend a little more
5. Usually I put it in the oven on 350* for 20-25 min, but this year I brought a cute little mini warmer.  Poured that in there and gave it about 20 min to warm up, stirring every now and then.
6. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan on top and tortilla chips to dip.
7. Enjoy!

No pic – it was green and not very photo-worthy.

guacamole – my boyfriend’s special secret recipe  also green and not very photo-worthy.

roasted veg - the great thing about this recipe is that I cooked it in the morning and dumped it all in the crockpot to take over.  Plugged that bad boy in and set it on warm.  When it was time to put it on the table, I just took porcelain container over to the table and drizzled some balsamic on top and sprinkled it with shredded parmesan.  Voila!  Easiest dish to bring for Thanksgiving ever.

pumpkin cheesecake truffles – totally not primal or paleo or even gluten-free but VERY tasty

My plate was full of spinach salad and roasted veg, a big serving of turkey (mmm…dark meat), and a little bit of mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy.  And a dreamy buttered roll.  I didn’t finish it all (my plate that is, you can be damn sure I ate every bite of anything I describe as “dreamy“).  And I enjoyed every bite.  And most of all I was grateful to have a wonderful family to celebrate with.

What did you have for Thanksgiving?

Mmmmm…Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I was planning on making these chocolate chip cookies from Primal Palate….but then saw this recipe from my bff Holly at Holly Would If She Could.  BTW, she does not know she is my bff, but I think it’s a realistic assumption were we to ever meet.  If you don’t read her blog, you should.  I don’t think she’s ever posted anything that I haven’t loved.  And that includes the crossfit posts – I don’t even do crossfit!  (I know, *gasp*)  But I’m always learning and loving and laughing with her over on her blog.

But back to the cookies.  I did exactly as she said, so I’m not going to repeat the recipe here.  The only thing I changed was that I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.  Just sounded better to me when I bought them.  And oh. my. gaw.  Check out the results:

I mean – those are some regular ol’ chocolate chip cookies!  And tasted like it too!  I’m all for eating the real deal just as much as I like paleofying recipes.  And this one worked.

PS – they did NOT work when I shoved them in a ziploc at the bottom of my purse for my flight to Phoenix.  They were just a crumbly mess by the time I landed.  I think that would happen with regular chocolate chip cookies too.  My bad for not putting them in tupperware.  Duly noted for next time. 

Happy National Donut Day!

June 1st is National Donut Day!!!

Are you thinking Dunkin Donuts?  Krispy Kreme?  What about Winchells – do those even still exist?  How about good ol fashioned Hostess powdered?

Are you drooling yet?  Cuz I kinda am.

I wouldn’t say no to a Krispy Kreme one day in the future as a treat, but it simply isn’t available to me.  I live in Boulder where there are no donut shops.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.  And I’ve looked.  If there is one, do tell.  But I have not found one.  Sure there are some in Denver or some other driveable distance from me.  But I like my Boulder bubble and I’m not driving 30 min – an hour for a donut.

And let’s get real.  I’m trying to be healthy here.  Donuts just aren’t on my kinda meal plan.  They certainly aren’t paleo!

Or can they be…..?

I’m here to let you know that on National Donut Day you too can celebrate!

Go get yourself a donut pan – I got one from Target for cheap, but here’s one from Amazon.

I found this awesome recipe for donuts from Multiply Delicious and the frosting is from The Clothes Make the Girl – both are awesome blogs that I highly recommend.

The recipe below yields 6 yummy donuts.

Donut Ingredients:

• 5 pitted medjool dates
• 1/2 T vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 1/2 T cacao powder
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Grease donut pan w/ cooking spray (I used a coconut spray)
3. Put pitted dates + 1 T of water in a bowl and microwave for 30 seconds
4. Remove and add another tablespoon of water and mash it all up into a paste
5. Mix date paste, vanilla, and eggs
6. Add coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, cacao powder and melted coconut oil
7. Once it’s all smooth and combined you can pour it into the donut pan about 2/3 full
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes
9. Then let it cool and move on to making the frosting!

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup coconut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 T honey
• 1 T maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Put coconut butter and coconut oil in a bowl and microwave – watch carefully though – you only want to soften, not melt.  I have yet to master this step, so I usually melt it and go on to step 2.
2. Add honey, maple syrup, and vanilla
3. Mix it all up until it’s nice and fluffy.  This usually doesn’t happen for me because I have accidentally melted the butter and oil.  So I mix it all up and either let it sit on the counter or put it in the fridge until it’s a frosting-like consistency.  You will probably have too much frosting, in which case I recommend making the delicious Paleo Pumpkin Gingerbread Cake that the frosting recipe is from….I made those for Thanksgiving last year….YUM!

So now you have some cooled down donuts to frost away and enjoy!  I like to put them in the fridge to really get the frosting to set. I’ve also frozen them to enjoy later.  Wrap them individually in aluminum foil and take them out the night before you want to eat them and store them in the fridge.  I did not have much luck microwaving them from frozen – the frosting just melted and it kinda all crumbled.  So have a little patience and thaw them out in the fridge.

And like with regular donuts – this is a treat, not something I have everyday.  So I enjoy every single bite!

Happy National Donut Day!

Back on the Horse

Days 5-7 were great!  On plan and everything.

Days 8-12…life happened.  This last week did not go as planned.

Enter The Kiwi from Athletic Greens.  He wrote a blog post last week that fit me to a T.  You can read about it here, but let me give you the highlights that hit home for me.

He mentions 3 scenarios of unplanned cheat meals. I think all 3 scenarios happened to me last week.

1. I got busy and forgot to eat.
2. I got HANGRY. (hungry + angry)
3. I ate out and did not care about the ingredients.

The solution for me is to be better prepared:

• In a house with kids and guests visiting…I can’t always throw all the bad stuff out.  It’s there and I need to have PALEO ALTERNATIVES to choose from.  And variety too!  More than one alternative, just in case I can’t choke down one more hard boiled egg.
• I need to EAT MORE OFTEN.  Like Kiwi says, eat before you go out.  So that I don’t ever get so hungry that I can’t say no to whatever is tempting me.
• Always have snacks on hand – I try to keep a larabar in my purse at all times.  But I don’t always eat it.  EAT WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY.
• For me, I need to have a FREE MEAL ONCE/WEEK to look forward to.  Something that is planned.  Something that I don’t have to feel guilty about.
• And most importantly to me – DON’T BEAT MYSELF UP.  I am very good at that one.  I have become consumed with being “good” vs. being “bad”.  And I don’t like it.

I think it’s in my best interest to put My Whole 30 on hold for right now.  I need to focus on the basics.  When I get the basics down again, I can focus on refining the details.

I was a little disappointed in myself for writing this…I saw it as failure.  I couldn’t hold myself to 30 freakin days?  But you know what?  I’m not going to beat myself up.  I’m not perfect.  I’m a work in progress, people.  I’m aiming high and I will get there.

First Four Days

So how have I done on the first four days of My Whole 30?

Day 1

• Breakfast – 4 scrambled eggs with a little salsa and black coffee.
• Lunch – leftover steak and cabbage salad.
• Dinner – oven “fried” chicken with a big salad with avocado and pine nuts.
• Snack – beef jerky and craisins – which I realize is not Whole30 approved, but not as bad as the 3 or 4 gummy candy I had after dinner, which is totally not Whole30 approved, but hey – it was my decision and considering the day I had, 3 or 4 gummies was the least of my concerns.
• Water – I think I had about 50 oz of water.
• Exercise – 1 hour Bar Method class.

Day 2

• Breakfast – 2 soft boiled eggs and black coffee.
• Lunch – a chipotle salad with guacamole and double steak.
• Dinner – grilled chicken and a big salad with avocado, sundried tomatoes, and artichokes.
• Snack – 1 pear, a handful of walnuts, and a few dried apricots.
• Water – 32 oz of water
• No exercise.

Day 3

• Breakfast – black coffee, fruit smoothie (leftover bananas, strawberries, blueberries, water, ice).
• Lunch – salad w/ chicken
• Dinner – homemade spaghetti with meat sauce (AHMAZING – my boyfriend spiced it up with some mystery spices.  I have no idea what he did otherwise I would’ve posted the recipe), zucchini & spaghetti squash.
• Snacks – a couple dried apricots.
• Water – 50 oz.
• Exercise – 1 hour Bar + 1 hour walk + tabata sprints.

Day 4

• Breakfast/Lunch – black coffee, egg madness (I was in an experimenting mood and tried all sorts of baked egg cups/eggs in a nest combos using the leftover spaghetti squash…actually ate about 3 egg yolks and 2 whole eggs in the end) + turkey bacon.
• Dinner (FREE MEAL) – diet coke, glass of wine (cuz I’m classy like that and have diet coke and wine in one sitting), mini pizza w/ mozzarella, 1/2 cup pesto pasta, 3 chocolate chip cookies, a couple pieces of hard salami & mozarella.
• not much water
• no exercise.

So there you have it – definitely room for improvement.  I like to think of Sundays as a reset day and the start of a new week.  Here’s to more water, more exercise, and more paleo eatin’!

t-minus 7 weeks

I haven’t written in a while and it’s because I haven’t really buckled down like I thought I would.  :(

I haven’t hit that cardio goal.  At all.  I’ve walked the lake by my house once since the beginning of May.  My mom was in town for a week so no gym time/lake time/Bar time was made.  I realize that I should’ve just made it a priority, but I didn’t.  It was gorgeous while she was here and it seemed like we were busy every day doing something.  The day after she left, the temperature dropped 40* and it hasn’t stopped raining.  (we’ve hit the month’s accumulation in just 2 days).  No lake for me.  And I just dread the gym.  I’m still keeping up the Bar though – I will make it 3 times this week and will probably go 4 times next week.

As for food, I had a couple days that I flubbed.   I had a little rice.  I had a baked potato.  I had some brownies.  (Not all on the same day.)  And I’m finding it really hard to get back on track again!

Each meal is a decision and this week I’ve made some great decisions.  I’ve also decided to have a chocolate bar.  I’d like to tell you it was a 98% dark chocolate bar, but it was not.  Milk chocolate all the way.  I just can’t do the dark chocolate.

Maybe it’s the addition of fruit to my diet that has made me crave sugar all the more.  More than the sugar, I feel like I’ve been consumed with eating “right” that I soon feel deprived and make “wrong” choices.  I really don’t want to care that much about what I’m eating.  Protein + veg.  How hard is that?  I get the whole gluten thing.  I get the no grains.  And I get that I feel deprived.  Just sayin.

I think I will go back to the Saturday Free Day – have a day of the week where I can eat whatever I want.  No deprivation.  And maybe knowing that I can have whatever I want will help me stay “good” during the week.

It is t-minus 7 weeks til my birthday and I CAN buckle down and be “good” and see results by then.

Schmoozin & Boozin

That whole giving up fruit and alcohol didn’t really work out this week either.

I had an unexpected trip to Colorado Springs that led to the demise of my lofty goals.  On Tuesday morning right after 10am I had 3 soft boiled eggs (I started off ok, right?)…and we decided to go to Colorado Springs – which is a 2 hour drive from Boulder – to go to a conference that my boyfriend was scheduled to be at.  Knowing we would be in the car for 2 hours and arrive at our destination after lunch and would have to jump right into the thick of things we chose to pack a big ol bag of berries (strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries) and a container of almonds to munch on while we drove.  Fruit Fail.  So yummy, and thank GOD we had it because we didn’t end up eating dinner until 8pm that night.  (does that count as Intermittent Fasting??)  But before dinner, we met clients for drinks.  I chose pinot noir.  One glass would’ve been fine.  Two glasses would’ve been ok.  But once we started, the wine kept flowing and before I knew it…Wine Fail.  By this point I was so starved, I just kept drinking what was poured.  Never a good idea.

Dinner that night was at another bar.  Not a lot of choices.  Buffalo wings, nachos, and jalapeno poppers were ordered for the table.  Did I mention I was starved?  I couldn’t even reach the nachos so the wings and poppers were what made it into my mouth.  Then my boyfriend and I shared a chicken sandwich which had cheese and was served with sweet potato fries and waffle fries.  Technically the wings were pure protein, the poppers were a vegetable, sweet potatoes aren’t that bad – well maybe they are when prepared as french fries.  Cheese wasn’t on the strictly paleo list, neither were the waffle fries, or the cream cheese filling in the poppers or that 1/2 a bun I had.  But you know what…I did the best I could.  Perhaps I could’ve done better.  But I can’t kick myself over it.  All I can do is try better the next day.  And I did.  The next day I had a protein shake for breakfast, some fruit for a snack, a cobb salad for lunch, and chinese for dinner.  I still had a couple drinks, but not as much as the day before.

And now that we’re home, it’s so much easier to prepare food for ourselves and I appreciate it all the more.

Friday Night Vodka Tonics

I have not kept up with my no alcohol rule during the week.  Wine with dinner almost every night.  Red, white, whatever is being served.  And I topped off the week with too many vodka tonics…those are paleo, right???  Hm…I’m not sure.  So my renewed goal is to only drink at weekend social events – happy hour with friends, a family dinner, something like that.  Right now, I don’t feel like having any vodka any time soon.  I let the fruit slide too.  Those strawberries are so damn good!  But they are not helping with fat loss.  So I’m going to restrict the fruit too to once a week – kinda like a free day.

My boyfriend’s business partner is in town this weekend – hence the vodka tonics…and me trying to keep up with the big boys.  Anyway, they have a new venture they are working on and we went out for dinner last night to celebrate.  We went to Jax – which is probably my favorite restaurant in Boulder.  I did a pretty good job keeping on plan…with a few exceptions.  We had kushi oysters and clam strips to start.  Oysters were fresh (totally paleo), clam strips were fried (eh…not so paleo).  Then we had lobster mac & cheese.  Totally NOT paleo, but OH. MY. GOD.  DIVINE!!!  The 3 of us shared the appetizer portion.  But let’s be real.  I could’ve eaten the whole thing on my own.  But I don’t think my buddha would’ve appreciated it if I did.  It was so rich.  But my tiny 1/3 portion was perfect.  For dinner I had the blue marlin special which was served medium rare like tuna and set on a sweet potato hash (totally paleo!) and topped with grilled asparagus.  DELISH!  Since we were celebrating and since I haven’t been to Jax in months and months…I decided to top it all off with the molten chocolate cake all to myself.  MMMMMM!!!  It was a small portion and served with vanilla ice cream.  Again, totally NOT paleo….but I savored every bite!

 

These are the Devil

These brownies ARE the devil!  I’ve always had a soft spot for them.  They are literally two bites as the name implies.  They are soft and chewy.  Super chocolately.  Poppable.  Those two bites just pop right into my mouth!

I don’t get huge cravings anymore but when I do, it’s almost better to cave in than try to resist.  The more I resist, the more I want it, the more I want it, the more I think about it.  And I’ve been craving chocolate this week.  These made it into my shopping cart over the weekend as part of a cheat.  They haven’t quite made it into the garbage yet.  So much for being gluten free for the month.  Tomorrow is another day though.  I can try again.  As soon as these devil brownies make it to the garbage can.  Which they haven’t yet.  They will.  After one more tiny bite…