Sunday Letters

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Sunday Recap

heather

Wow. What a week.  I thought the week before last was busy, but this week put it to shame.  First of all, an update on the topics discussed last week:

  • Meals
    • I DID make the Crockpot Coffee Ancho Chile Short Ribs.  I think they turned out fine, but I wasn’t blown away by them, which was really too bad because Tim has been knocked out by a severe stomach issue for the past 7-10 days, so I had to eat all 4 pounds of this by myself.  It was tasty at first, but after about the 5th meal of ribs and sauerkraut (which Tim made and which turned out SUPER awesome), I was very much over it.
    • I made Heavenly Paleo Meatloaf, leaving out the onions, red pepper, and cayenne to protect Teeeeeeem’s tummy.  It still turned out really good.  It seemed to sit well with Tim, too, who got all creative and made meatloaf and sauerkraut soup with some homemade chicken broth (recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman).  The meatloaf recipe can no longer be found online, but if you want a copy, let me know in the comments.
    • Paleo Fudgy Brownies.  A large portion of my favorite recipes are from Health-Bent; however, this one did not turn out well for me.  I baked the brownies for 18 minutes as indicated in the recipe.  They still looked very under-done when I took them out, but I didn’t take the time to really test them.  I waited for them to cool and realized that they were still completely doughy in the middle.  I refrigerated them and was then able to scoop out bars and microwave them for about a minute (they burn something fierce if you microwave them for 2 minutes, fyi).  They get a little more cooked that way.  The flavor is pretty good – but very nutty.  These won’t stay in my dessert rotation, especially since they call for 1 cup of almond butter.  These are some EXPENSIVE brownies.  In fact, after failing this recipe, I went through my recipe binder and tore out all the recipes calling for full cups of nut butter.  I’m trying to be more thrifty with my cooking.  More on that in a later blog post.
    • I didn’t get around to making the Cowboy Breakfast Skillet, but that’s on the docket for this week.  Since I’m trying to be more frugal, I didn’t plan many official meals this week; we are just going to scrounge around and eat what’s here.  That means we’ll have a lot of scrambles, stir fries, and tomato soup.  If I can get our monthly food spend below $700, I’ll be happy!

And to tie up some more loose ends from last week:

  • My water kefir turned out!!!  YAY!!!  I’m so excited.  I did a double ferment which means I fermented the water for 2 days, then transferred it to a flip-top bottle, added 1/4 cup of organic cherry juice, and let it sit for 6 days.  When I opened it up on Thursday, it shot carbonated water 6 inches into the air! Out came fizzy pink, delicious water kefir.  The flavor was great.  The only disappointment is that the kefir didn’t stay very carbonated after I transferred it to a regular mason jar.  Maybe I have to keep it in the flip-top bottle for it to stay carbonated.  I need to get some more of those bottles.  The single-fermented water kefir is way too sweet for me, so I’m going to have to double ferment everything.  I’m so excited that this turned out.
  • Yoga – We didn’t go on Monday, but we did make it on Wednesday.  There was a different teacher this time, and instead of telling you exactly what to do, she allowed you to make it “your workout.”  That meant that she described several variations of what you could be doing at any point in time.  It was very confusing to me.  I just want to be told to do one thing, so I can look at the teacher or the other students and figure out exactly what I should be doing.  We are trying a different class with a different teacher on Tuesday to see if we can find something more our style.
  • Swimming – We actually made it to the pool yesterday!  We went to the Y at 9AM, and had no trouble finding a lane.  The water was tortuously cold though!
  • CBRC Chili Chase – The 4 mile run last Sunday was an adventure!  The sun was out, but the temp was only about 20 degrees.  The course was damn hilly too!  The finish line is at the TOP of a hill, which is just so painful and cruel. I probably would have stopped and walked if there wouldn’t have been so many people watching the finish line.  As it was, out of 123 female runners, I came in 39th, which means I got a free CBRC coffee mug! It’s the first time I’ve won any award for a race, so that kind of made up for being extremely cold while simultaneously hot and sweaty and generally miserable.   This was our first CBRC run, and it was actually, all told, a really fun time.  The crowd was in good spirits, very supportive, and they gave us beer afterwards.  🙂

So there’s my update!  This week looks to be another busy week – yoga on Tuesday, drinks with coworkers on Wednesday, Wine & Art at the Figge on Thursday with my Mammacita, and then a trip to Monticello to visit the folks.  HOW do people regularly exercise and/or take exercise classes in the evening??  It seems impossible to get anything else done (like making supper).  I can’t wait until the weather warms up so I can start running in the AM again.  It makes me feel so much better all day, and then my evening is free.

Wow, this is kind of a long post.  Maybe I should start writing more than once/week.

I want to thank the new subscribers to my blog – thank you for reading!  I’m used to my blog only being read by my Mom, husband, best friend, and occasionally one or two of my brothers.  While I’m sure they are always RIVETED by the content, I realize they are bound by love and duty to read this; whereas, you are not.  So thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the posts and find them useful.

Have a great week!

Books, Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Spring Fever Medley

heather

Yet again, it’s been more than a few days since I’ve posted.  I really have no excuse other than I’ve been both really busy, and when I’m not really busy, I’m really lazy and don’t feel like doing anything.  So…yeah.

I’m sure you’re not interested in the stories of me being lazy, so I’ll enthrall you with the stories of me being busy.

I made FOUR new recipes last week – all from the Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals cookbook.

1. Buttery Eggs & Leeks with Bacon p. 17.  This was simple meal consisting of leeks sauteed in butter over scramby eggs (with coconut milk in them), topped with bacon bits.  Very simple and very delicious.

2. Greek Salad with Lamb p.81.  This was a simple romaine salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, kalamata olives, and ground lamb mixed with spices.  The recipe calls for fresh spices, but they are too expensive this time of year, so I used dried.  It still turned out very tasty.  Tim LOVED this salad.

3. Pork Chops with Shredded Brussels Sprouts p.95.  This was another ultra-simple recipe.  You shred a pound of brussels sprouts in the food processor and then cook them in a sh!t ton of olive oil.  So easy, but so good.

4. Cauliflower “Arroz Con Pollo” p. 109.  This recipe was more work than the other three, but since you can chop everything (onion, jalapeno, garlic, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and cauliflower ) in the food processor, it goes pretty fast.  This made a TON of food, and it turned out really tasty.  The recipe calls for saffron, which was $12.99 for a tiny bottle at HyVee, so I subbed paprika and turmeric for it instead.  From what I’ve read, nothing but saffron will give you the flavor of saffron, but I wasn’t willing to spend $13 to test that out.

That leads me to an observation I’ve had after being paleo for 2 years.  At first, I felt as if I had to go out and buy all these expensive ingredients (ghee, sesame oil, coconut aminos, spices, avocado oil, etc. etc. etc.).  However, as we’ve settled into our pattern of eating healthier, we’ve found that as long as we have olive oil, some meat, and some veggies in our fridge, we can eat pretty good!   Eating this way can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

And, as I mentioned on the outset, life is starting to get busy again, so I’m trying to go with the more simple recipes that make leftovers.  On the docket this week is Coffee Ancho Short ribs (which are currently slow-cooking in the Nesco and making our house smell amazing), cowboy breakfast skillet, brats & homemade kraut, paleo meatloaf and salmon with salad (FYI – Target has wild-caught frozen salmon on sale this week for $9.99 – $3 cheaper than normal!).  Oh, and I’m going to be decadent and make Paleo Fudgy Brownies.  I’m kind of scared to make them because I think they are going to be crazy delicious, and then I will have to eat them all.

Now on to what’s been making me busy besides making and eating food.  Let’s see.  Work is busy, which takes away my mental energy to do much of anything else in the evening.  BUT I have gotten some things done.  I’ve been making water kefir, for one thing.  So far it hasn’t been turning out – the water is still too sweet after the fermenting process.  However, the instructions say it can take up to 3 weeks for the grains to really get activated, so I just need to be patient.

I also finished Mindset which was an awesome book that really made me look at myself and my abilities/talents in a new light.  I don’t want to write a review because this post is already getting too long, but take my word for it and read it.  It’s a good perspective-shifter.

I also went to an official yoga class for the first time in 6 years!  I’ve been using the yoga app on my phone, but going to a class is so much better.  It’s great to get teacher feedback. My iPad can’t tell me if my form is bad.  I really enjoyed the class.  Even though it gave me a good workout for my core, legs, and back, it was still very calming.  Maybe it’s just psychological, but after only one class, I already feel as if I stand up straighter!  We are going back on Monday.  We are scheduled for Wednesday too, but Tim and I might try a spinning class instead.

We’ve been trying to swim too, to prepare for the tri in 4 months.  We joined the Y, and it’s been really difficult to find times where there are open lanes.  There are a lot of water walkers at the Y, we’ve found.  It’s getting frustrating.

And, well, that’s about it.  Tim and I are doing a 4 mile run in about an hour, so I should go get ready for that.  Hope you are having a great Sunday!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Primal Potluck

heather

Back in early January, I proclaimed my intention to re-do the 21 Day Challenge (after being primal for 2 years).  After a long road trip, subsequent vacation, long road trip back, and then a long, cold, dark winter, I felt as if I needed a primal re-fresh.  The 80/20 was slipping to 70/30 or even worse.  So on 1/6, I started The Challenge.  Some of my friends at work were also trying to eat better, so I invited everyone over for a Primal Potluck to be held on 2/8 to celebrate our success.

Well, if you read this blog, you know that my plan ran into some snags, so I fell of the wagon.  We still had the Potluck, however.  This winter has been brutal, and hanging out with friends and eating good food makes one evening of it less brutal.

I originally invited 6 other couples, which including Tim and me, would have made 16 people and one oblivious chihuahua in our little house.  I would have loved to have everyone though – the more the merrier, right??  Well, it ended up that only 2 other couples could make it, and the 6 of us made a full, merry household.

For the main course, I made this Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket.  I usually use honey instead of sugar, but we were all out, so we used organic sugar instead.  Also, instead of the beef stock, I used home-made bone broth.  It turned out very tasty!

For a side dish, I made Chipotle Slaw.  To be more exact, Tim and I made Chipotle Slaw.  As I was chopping the cilantro, I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what I was doing.  I sliced off the right 1/3 of my left index fingernail.  It hurt like a mother.  Tim had to take over chopping duties, after tossing the fingernail-tainted cilantro.  Despite the drama, the slaw turned out quite tasty and went well with the brisket.  I also defrosted the chicken liver pate I made a couple of weeks ago (read more here).  We served it with Blue Diamond Almond Nut Thins.  People said it tasted better than it looked as if it would taste – which is a compliment I will take.  I think the flavor did improve whilst in the freezer.  It tasted more like braunschweiger the second time around, which is a good thing.

For dessert, I hazarded a new recipe – Lemon Basil Cookies.  I was intrigued by the idea of basil in a sweet dessert.  These turned out fabulous!  They have the consistency of a peanut butter cookie – very dense and flavorful.  They go great with coffee and are not too sweet.  I cross-hatched the top with a fork like you do with peanut butter cookies, and they looked beautiful when baked.  Everyone liked them, or at least said they did.  😉

Our guests brought a delicious array of food as well – French wine, a salad with endive, radicchio, apples, walnuts, capers, avocado and a lot of other stuff, baked salmon with fresh dill, dark chocolate bars, bacon-wrapped shrimp, and bacon-wrapped pineapple.  It was a smorgasbord of tastiness.  Oh!  And we bought a Bota Box of wine – the Redvolution.  For $17.99, you get a box full of the equivalent of 4 bottles of wine. It’s pretty good too, for wine that average $4.50 a bottle.  While searching for wine, I picked up a bottle of Pinot Nior for $9.99 and a bottle of Malbec for $10.99, but then I heard Mr. Money Mustache’s  in my ear.  I decided to be frugal and smart instead of a fancy pants, and went with the cheaper (probably just as tasty) alternative.

Hmm.  Am I forgetting anything?  Oh yes.  Well, this is not primal at all, but a friend of mine got me a cheesecake for my birthday.  While I absolutely love cheesecake, it does not love me.  I had a piece at work on Friday, and on my way home experienced one of my old anxiety spells at a stoplight. I just can’t handle the sugar/dairy that well any more.  However, my adoration of cheesecake is so intense, that I will continue to eat it if it’s in my house, despite the deleterious affects.  To relieve myself from that personal demon, I served the rest of the cheesecake to our guests.  Everyone loved it.

While the whole supper was not strictly primal, it was a really fun evening, with interesting company, really tasty food (that was mostly really good for you), and good conversation.  Maybe we’ll do it again in February 2015!

Well, Tim and I need to head off to the pool before we cross over that hump where we don’t get out of our pajamas all day.  Hope you have a great Sunday!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Paleo

Muffins & Acupuncture

heather

My birthday was this weekend.  What does that mean?  Firstly, it means I’m a year older.  Secondly, it means I get a free day off work.  Thirdly, it means I can eat whatever I want for the weekend.  Well, that’s what it SHOULD mean.  And, that’s what it DID mean.  But what it DIDN’T mean is that those calories didn’t count.  I’m getting confused by the double negatives here, so let me state this plainly.  I ate a ton of non-paleo food this weekend, and despite it being my birthday weekend, I still gained 3 pounds.  The world is just not fair.  All that apple crisp, pizza, chicken wings, and beer had no respect for my special day.

But despite the weight gain, I had a really great weekend.  We watched a few movies, did some house cleaning, got my budget set up for 2014, went to the gym twice, got groceries for the week, etc.  I also took advantage of the poopy weather to stay inside and make tasty paleo muffins:  Apple Cinnamon Muffins, in point of fact.  These little gems are super easy and very delicious.  I think they would be fabulous with some pecans on top as well.  They make your house smell beautiful too.

I was also fighting some pretty severe sinus pain over the weekend.  Since going paleo, I rarely get sick for any extended period of time.  However, with the stress of the past month, my immune system just wasn’t up to the task of protecting me.  Tomorrow will be the 2 week mark for this cold.  I am 95% better, but only after a weekend of neti pots, epsom salt baths, hot compresses seething with eucalyptus oil, and tons of bone broth.

To get this cold completely out of my system, I went to the acupuncturist today.  I have to say, getting an acupuncture treatment is one of my favorite things.  In case you’ve never gone, I will explain what the process is like.  First, the acupuncturist takes you into a private room and asks you questions about your health and symptoms.  Mine usually looks at the top and bottom of my tongue as well.  Then she leaves the room while you strip down to your underclothes and put on a robe-type thing, climb on a cot that is covered in a heating pad, and cover up your legs with a towel.  The cot has a pillow for your head and a bolster for your knees.  It’s very warm, cozy, and comfortable.

The acupuncturist returns and swabs all the needle entry points with alcohol.  She then taps in needles in various places around your body.  I got one in the top of my head, my forehead, one of each side of my nose, my wrists, the tops of my feet, my sternum, and my shins.  If she thinks a needle is going to hurt a bit going in, she instructs you to breathe in deeply and then exhale.  It makes the slight pinch less noticeable.

When she is all done inserting the needles, she covers your feet with the sheet, moves a heating lamp over them, turns off the lights, and leaves the room.  You are left in the dark, warm room, listening to the soothing tones of Chinese instrumental music.  Fifteen to twenty minutes later, she returns and gives each needle a turn.  She leaves again, and you are left to your warm nest.  It’s a great time to meditate or fall asleep, or just to enjoy doing nothing for the first time that day.  Another 15-20 minutes later, she returns and removes all the needles and asks you how you felt about the treatment.

I find the whole experience to be very relaxing.  I never notice any *amazing* improvements from acupuncture, but I do feel better, more calm, more relaxed, and more centered.  I highly recommend trying it!

And that’s it for me tonight.  It’s almost 8 o’clock, and I have literally 5 books that I am trying to read right now.  I just picked up Mindset from the library on Friday, so I better get moving with that before I have to return it.

Have a great evening!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

The Comfort of Home

heather

Well, I’m back.  I can’t say, “and better than ever.”  It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, or actually a crazy month, here in the Longoria household.  We returned from a monster road trip to AZ on January 2nd, finally got all settled in and reacclimated, only to head back out to AZ on January 11th.  We got a call on the 9th that Tim’s mom passed away unexpectedly, so we went down for a week to be with Tim’s brothers and their families and to help with all the arrangements.  We flew back home on the 17th.  We spent the weekend unpacking, cleaning up, spending time with my parents, and getting prepared for really going back to work.

The first week back to “normal” was anything but relaxing.  I caught up on the 3 programming classes I missed whilst in AZ, only to discover that I was in WAY over my head.  The first homework assignment almost had me in tears.  I’m not usually super emotional, but a week away from home handling stressful business had worn away my protective layer.  So I ended up dropping the class, which was hard on my ego and pocketbook, but relieving to my shoulders and mental state.  I also discovered I completed my benefits form incorrectly, so I have to spend $1500 on vision and dental in 2014.  I think I’m going to get all 4 front teeth capped with gold.  Or maybe I’ll get lasik.  Who knows??  Anyway, it was a stressful week.

But today starts a new week, and I have faith it’s going to be a good week.  It culminates in my birthday, so how could it be bad??  I’m trying to figure out what to do for my birthday.  I get a day off for it, and I’m trying to decide if I want to spend it with people or spend it just doing whatever the heck I want to do for a whole day.  The latter would probably mean watching Pride & Prejudice for the 33rd time, eating a pan of paleo cupcakes, and trying to resist the urge to get my nails shellaced and my hair dyed red.  I’m *trying* to be more fiscally responsible.  I guess I have 4 days to figure it all out.

In the vein of getting back to normal, we did a lot of grocery shopping this weekend, so we are fully stocked with healthy food.  The past month has been hell on my digestion (and energy), so I’m looking forward to getting back on track.

I tried a new recipe yesterday – Beef Stew.  I tried this recipe.  Wow.  That really says it all.  This turned out SO fantastic.  I followed the recipe except for I subbed a large sweet potato for the turnips, I used dried thyme instead of fresh, and I used button mushrooms instead of cremini.  Nom Nom wasn’t lying when she said this recipe is a lot of work. I swear I was chopping and sauteeing for 2 hours yesterday!  But the result was fabulous.  The sweet potatoes disappeared into the sauce, making it sweet, and the meat was ever so tender.  This recipe is  definitely a keeper.

It being winter, and me missing the AZ sun and all, led me to crave pancakes today. I have yet to find a paleo pancake recipe that I love, so I searched around and found this one.  The flavor was excellent!  Like all paleo pancakes, I struggled with getting the inside cooked while not burning the outside.  I powered through though, and we ended up with edible, tasty cakes.  I might experiment with baking them next time.  I just get so pissed when they won’t flip.  Dammit.

I tried a couple of new recipes last week too but didn’t get around to writing about them.

Crispy Coconut Kale:  I absolutely love coconut milk.  I love to put it in my coffee, but often I will open a can to use in coffee and not use most of it before it congeals and goes bad. This time I was smart and found a couple of recipes that use coconut milk before I cracked the can open.  This recipe turned out amazingly delicious.  I will definitely make this again.  I used the rest of the coconut milk in these cupcakes, which Tim and I ate up in 2 days.  That’s why I REALLY want a paleo bakery in Dport.  I want to spend $3.00 to get ONE cupcake instead of spending $3.00 to make 12 paleo cupcakes and then eating them all.  I can’t be the only one.  If no one else is going to do this, I’m going to have to quit my job and launch HloDeCello’s Paleo Bakery!  So help me!

Silky-Smooth Chicken Liver Pate:  Hmm.  I do like the taste of liver.  I do.  But pates just go so much better with something crunchy.  I tried to eat this with carrots, and it just wasn’t that fantastic.  I made almost 2 pounds of it, so I need to figure out a good way to eat it.  Tim had the brilliant idea of making hardboiled eggs and mixing the pate with the yolks for the centers.  I may just try that.  This pate had a whole stick of grassfed butter in it, so I  HAVE to use it.  Plus it created a ton of disgusting dishes that Tim bravely washed for me.  Oxidized chicken liver is pretty hideous.

This week I kind of lazed out and didn’t plan any meals.  I did make a list of all the food in the fridge and freezer, however, so at least we can quickly plan a meal with a quick glance. I see lots of sauteed veggies and scrambles in our future.  But that’s alright.  I’m just so glad to be home and eating our own food again.  I’m sick of eating out.  At least for awhile.

I hope your 2014 is off to a better start than ours!  Take care, and I’ll write again soon.

Health & Fitness, Paleo

Primal Challenge – Day 4

heather

Here are the detes for Day 4.

  • Did 10 pushups, 3 pullups, did the stairs at work 3 times, and JOINED THE GYM!  If I wasn’t such a pussy I would go to the pool tomorrow morning and start swimming.  BUT the pool has a freaking glass wall so that everyone in the lobby can see you.  Also, I’ve never been there before, so what if I do something embarrassing because I don’t know what I’m supposed to do and everyone sees me?  Mortification!  Tim and I will go on Saturday and scope it out together.  Plus it’s supposed to be icy tonight.  I’m sure the roads will be too bad to go to the gym in the morning.  Ya, that’s right.  That’s the ticket.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Homemade chorizo and a whole avocado.
  • Lunch
    • I met friends for lunch today, so I am better socialized but poorer by $13.  I had an unbreaded pork tenderloin and a side salad with oil and vinegar.  I find when I eat out that it’s hard for me to get full, and my budget suffers immensely.  However, meeting friends, keeping up relationships, etc. is supposed to be really good for your happiness and health.  Quandary.
  • Supper
    • Since we signed up at the Y tonight, we didn’t really have time to cook at home. Instead we picked up Chipotle.  I got a salad with barbacoa, veggies, mild and medium salsa, and guacamole.  It’s all good ingredients, but for some reason it always bloats my stomach.  I wonder why.  Do they cook their meat in rancid canola oil or something?
  • Snacks
    • I was hungry again today!  I ate a bunch of walnuts, mixed nuts (no peanuts), dark chocolate, and some coconut butter.  It seems as if I ate a lot today, but according to MFP, I only ate 1500 calories.  I’m not sure how much stock I put in these measurements.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Tim and I both have stiff backs today, but my mood was great!
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!
Health & Fitness, Paleo

Primal Challenge – Day 3

heather

Here are the detes for Day 3.

  • Did pushups, pullups, squats, planks, lunges, and bear crawls – which burned all of 16 calories according to MyFitnessPal. Shenanigans, I say.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Hard boiled egg, 1/2 an avocado, homemade chorizo
  • Lunch
    • I had lunch with my old boss today at Exotic Thai.  I had the Kang Dang Curry, which is delicious as always.  I ate maybe 1/4 cup of white rice with it because sometimes straight coconut milk will upset my stomach.
  • Supper
    • I tried a new recipe tonight:  Hamburgers with Mushrooms Provencale Style.  I undercooked the burgers.  For some reason I have a hard time cooking non-ground meat on the stove. Tim usually grills it for us, but it’s damn winter here.  Overall, this recipe was tasty, but it is not one of my favorites.   It will not get put it into the rotation.
  • Snacks
    • Apple, 2 hardboiled eggs, 1/2 avocado, celery, Kombucha.  I was pretty snacky today!  I think it was because I ate liquids for lunch.  Coconut milk is pretty high fat, so it should have kept me full, but it never does!  Liquids NEVER fill me up.  Besides beer.  Beer fills me up something fierce.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Still have a little joint pain, but my stomach is getting back to normal, and my mood was better.
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!  Still resisting sweets and alcohol.

We still haven’t joined a gym, and Tim and I are really getting antsy.  The weather is warming up, but I think it’s supposed to be icy now.  Bah!!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Primal Challenge – Day 2

heather

Here’s the detes for the day.  I started tracking my food on MyFitnessPal, per the recommendation of a friend.  I know it’s not 100% accurate (partially because I estimate the amount of food and partially because you can’t always find exact matches), but it will at least give me an idea of where I am getting most of my calories.  Today I’m at 67% fat, 23% protein, and 10% carbs (it was a heavy bacon day).  I’m at 1719 calories for the day, which I think would be low for me in the summer but is probably pretty accurate for me in the winter time.  I’ll keep using this for a few days and see how it works.

  • Did 30 minutes of yoga.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • Sauteed broccoli, red bell pepper, and kale in bacon fat, 2 pieces of bacon
  • Lunch
    • Salad with mushrooms, sardines, cucumbers, walnuts, red bell pepper, and olive oil and ACV
  • Supper
    • Grilled eggs with chorizo with 1/2 an avocado
    • I think the Fitness tracker probably WAY overestimated the fat & salt in the chorizo, because I used homemade chorizo.
  • Snacks
    • 2 slices of bacon, 2 carrots, handful of walnuts
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • No improvement yet in allergies/joint pain.
  • Verdict for the day:  Success!  I resisted 20th anniversary cupcakes, a veiled insinuation that I should go out for drinks after work, and a counter-top full of toffee and peanut butter cups.  So far I haven’t been seriously tempted, but that’s probably more hormonal than anything.  You girls know what I mean.  🙂

Our gym membership lapsed in December.  We really only need a gym Feb – May, so we can train for the triathlon (pool).  We were going to save some cash and sign up next month, but we are already going stir crazy.  I know the primal community is not big on running, but Tim and I miss it.  We can run when it’s 30 outside, but not when it’s 30 below.  We’re going to have to join up somewhere so we can get our bodies moving again.

Life is ramping up to be busy again.  I start a new class at Iowa State on Monday. It’s a programming class, and I have NO programming experience.  I just read the syllabus, and we have a GROUP project.  Bah!!  That’s going to be no fun.  Hopefully I’ll get lucky and group up with a brilliant programmer.

So between projects at work, school, meal planning and cooking, ramping up training for the tri, and crocheting a scarf (which is turning out super cute, btw), I’m going to be one busy Hlo.  But happiness is growth right??  Hlo in June is going to be happy that Hlo in January was miserable.  You are welcome, future self.

Health & Fitness, Paleo, Uncategorized

Primal Challenge – Day 1

heather

I have a new recipe to tell you about.  I made this tried and true garlic pulled pork recipe on Sunday.  Since we were going to be home almost all day, I cooked it in the oven instead of the crockpot like I normally do.  It turned it sooooo much better – very tender and butter-soft.  To get an even healthier dose of the super food that is garlic, I paired it with Couve a Mineira and a side of avocado.  It was delicious!!  And cheap!  Collard Greens are only 59 cents.  Bonkers.

Anyway, here’s the super exciting food/exercise details of Day 1.

  • Meditated 5 minutes using Mindfulness app.
  • Breakfast
    • 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil.
    • 2 eggs with red peppers & kale sauteed in bacon fat, and squash seasoned with s&p and turmeric. Ate 1/2 at home and 1/2 about an hour later at work.
  • Lunch
    • Salad with organic lettuce, albacore tuna, red peppers, walnuts, mushrooms, green onions, and cucumbers, with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
    • 2 slices of bacon.
  • Snack
    • Organic apple, 1 piece of celery, 1 carrot.
  • After-work snack.
    • Two pieces of celery with almond butter.
  • Supper
    • Leftover garlic pulled pork.
    • Salad with red peppers, green onions, and cucumbers.
  • Drinks – all day long lots of herbal tea.
  • Exercise – Did 10 pushups, 3 pullups, did 10 flights of stairs at work.
  • No improvement yet in allergies/joint pain.

I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to keep a food log.  I have the Evernote Food app, where you can take pics of your food and then make comments on it, but I’m not liking it so far.  It’s too complicated for what I need.  I also don’t like typing my food into my phone and then retyping it here.  I might just resort to a little old school notebook.  We’ll see.  Logging food is pretty tedious, but lots of folks say it really opens your eyes as to what you really eat in a day.  We’ll see!