Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Primal Day 6 and Day 7

I went to the party last night with the best of intentions.  I was going to eat primally and have, at the most, 2 glasses of red wine.

My good intentions were not enough to prevent a hangover today, unfortunately.  I drank more than I intended, partially out of an over-developed sense of not being wasteful (e.g. it would be wasteful to not use a free drink ticket), and by fault of being too nice.  Someone bought me a dirty martini, which I really did not want, but I felt obligated by their generosity to drink it.  I wish I hadn’t.  All day today I wish I hadn’t.

Food-wise, I did better.  At the party I ate a coconut chicken skewer and 1/2 a plate of shrimp stir fry (no rice, of course).  Once we got home, I snacked on pistachios.

Today, since I was not feeling the best, we did not do a whole heck of a lot.  We started off the day with a good primal breakfast – bacon, over easy eggs and a couple of left-over coconut flour pancakes.  Tim was not a fan of the pancakes, but I kinda liked them.  I would make them again, at least.

For lunch we headed to La Rancherita, a local Mexican joint.  I ordered the chicken fajitas and a side order of guacomole.  I was disappointed in the fajitas – they were super sweet.  Maybe I am more sensitive to sugar since I haven’t been eating much of it, but Tim thought they were really sweet too.  Between the mediocre food and the cash-only policy (and the in-store ATM that charges you a $1 in fees), Tim and I have now written La Rancherita off.  If we want good Mexican food in the Quad Cities, we are going to have to make it ourselves.  We’re going to have to open our own restaurant one of these days. Sleepy Chihuahua, here we come!  I’m sure I could concoct some delicious primal Mexican meals.

After lunch we retired to the house for a little nappy-poo, and then we headed to Monticello to visit the folks.  We stopped at HyVee on our way to pick up some groceries – Amana ground beef, an organic salad, yellow and green peppers, and avocado.

At Mom and Dad’s I watched Mom, Dad, and Tim eat a whole loaf of delicious-smelling, airy fresh-out-of-the-oven bread and oatmeal, banana, walnut, chocolate chunk cookies while I again filled up on pistachios.  On Day 7 the book says you can eat a non-primal favorite (as long as you think seriously about it and how it makes you feel), but I figured I used up all my free passes last night, so I refrained.

After the snack I fried up the hamburgers and made a salad with the aforementioned veggies – dousing it all with salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  It was super delicious.

We finished out the evening by playing 500 (Dad & Tim beat Mom & me.  If Iwasn’t short a few brain cells from Satruday night, that never would have happened).

One good thing did come out of drinking last night.  My allergies all night were horrible.  I realized that my allergies seem to be exacerbated by alcohol.  I’m going to have to test this out over the next week.  If I was really able to find the cause of my evening/morning allergies, that would be awesome.

Cooking/Recipes

La Rancherita 2

Tim and I were lamenting the lack of really good Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities these days.  Los Agaves used to be good, but the quality of their food has nose-dived as of late, likewise with the Aztecas.  It seems as if they all offer the same things – cheap ground beef inside a lackluster pocket of fried corn meal, smothered in cheese and the cheapest tomatoes, lettuce, and sour cream that can be bought.

I resorted to using Yelp in my own home town to find something new and better.  I stumbled upon a couple of good review of La Rancherita  2 on Elmore Ave (by Wal-Mart).  Tim and I had actually tried to eat there right after they first opened, but they do not take credit cards, and we never carry cash, so we walked out.  Well, I had $24.00 in cash on me for some reason, so we decided to give it another shot.

The restaurant itself is nothing to write home about – except for the chairs, that is.  The chairs are the hugest, sturdiest, most colorful things you will ever see.  They look as if they belong in a play-room for giant-sized children.  They are pretty awesome, actually.  On the downside, the outer door opens directly into the restaraunt, keeping the innards very chilly.  You’ll be warmed up stat by the delicious chips and salsa, however.  The salsa is fresh pico de gallo, and it is spicy and delicious, as are the chips.  On Saturday they were selling $2.75 Mexican import bottles, so Tim and I chased our lunches with Corona.

Tim got 3 steak tacos in corn shells.  They were delicious, especially once they were coated in the red hot sauce that is brought to your table with the chips and salsa (by pretty Mexican ladies in Santa hats). I got a torta (always searching for a torta in the QC that can rival El Olmito’s in Muscatine).  It was good, but it lacked El Olmito’s  jalapenos and carrots and ultra- crispy chicken tidbits.  Truth be told, I think that El Olmito’s torta is better because it is all around crispier – the chicken is crispier, the torta is crispier.  Which means that El Olmito must slather everything in oil and/or butter.  It’s probably why my cholesterol and blood pressure is up over last year.

All-in-all, Tim and I really liked La Rancherita.  They also serve breakfast, so over Christmas break, we are going to check it out.  I can’t wait to try some of that pico de gallo on eggs and toast.  Deeelicious.