Puerto Rican Beef – Day 25

About half of the recipes that I make are things that I see and think sound absolutely strange. Whereas most people wouldn’t think twice about them, I for some reason am drawn to these types of recipes and they often end up being some of my favorites.

Tonight’s dinner was one of those. I had to try it because when I originally came across the recipe on Everyday Paleo I thought, “Who would think to put green olives, beef, kale and cumin together? That’s either really awesome or really disgusting”.

1 lb grass fed ground beef

1 bunch kale chopped

1 white onion sliced

1/2 of a green, red, and yellow bell pepper sliced

1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives

3 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tbsp dried oregano

Pinch of saffron threads (optional)

Sea salt and black pepper to taste

3 sweet potatoes

In a large skillet saute onion and bell pepper until soft, about 5 minutes. Add ground beef and brown, then add all spices and mix well. Add the kale and green olives, continue cooking stirring often until the kale is tender (about 4-5 minutes). Serve over mashed sweet potatoes.

I actually really really liked this recipe, its definitely not something I would have ever thought to put together on my own. The flavors worked well together though, it was quick and its colorful. Win/Win/Win.

5 days left!

Whole30 – Day 24

Every single week just about I swear that I am the most sore that I’ve ever been in my life, but I really think today might be the real thing. The funny part is that I can literally run for 3 hours straight on Saturday, feel perfectly fine and get up and run again on Sunday with no problem … but that 18 minute WOD we did at CrossFit last night has me TORE UP!

2 Rounds:
2 min. Max Rep Front Lunges (95/65)
100M Run
2 min. Max Rep Burpees
200M Run
2 min. Max Rep Sumo DL HP (95/65)
2 min. Rest

I was moaning and groaning like a wild animal. It was ugly. Oh, and I was only using 35 pounds for the lunges and Sumo Deadlift Highpulls.

That’s 71 lunges, 44 burpees and 90 Sumo Deadlift Highpulls!

My sweet hubby got up early and made me breakfast before I went to work this morning.

She ain’t pretty but I think this is my favorite Paleo breakfast I’ve had so far. Leftover roasted butternut squash with pork breakfast sausage and 2 perfectly over-easy eggs. It kept me full for atleast 5 hours!

After work I headed out to tackle my 7 mile easy run for the day. I started off nice and slow, my quads and butt cheeks are killing me afterall. About halfway through the run I realized if I didn’t pick it up some I was going to be in the dark soon on a deserted creepy road.

8:53, 8:40, 8:35, 8:37, 8:27, 8:26 … and then I realized I was going to be ok … 8:40.  Finished just in time.

The rest of my eats have been pretty mediocre today. Lunch was leftover beef stew which you saw on Monday and dinner was Chicken Cabbage Curry from the crockpot that I’ve posted a couple of times before. It’s becoming a regular.

A very successful day 24! Only 6 days to go.

Slap Ya Mama Paleo Beef Stew – Day 22

I’m going to be honest here. I miss wine something fierce. Last night in a moment of weakness I was almost prepared to throw this whole challenge away for just one glass. But I pulled myself together and realized what a loser that would make me feel like. Plus I’d have to blog that I failed and that’s just not something I’m going to do.

So thanks for holding me accountable!

Breakfast today was my ol’ stand-by: Bacon & Egg Cups with balsamic spinach and tomatoes.

I knew I was going to be out all afternoon running errands and working on my Christmas shopping so I pulled out the crockpot for our supper.

My crockpot is my best friend.

Today I decided to make Paleo Beef Stew.

• 2lbs Grass-fed Stew Beef
• 2 Peeled and cubed sweet potatoes
• 5 chopped carrots
• 1 large chopped onion
• 4 celery stalks chopped

Now you know I’m the world’s worst about not measuring, but I think I used about 3 cups of V8 tomato juice and about 1 cup of Chicken Stock (didn’t have beef stock on hand).

I also added in dried Italian Seasoning Blend, probably about 2 tbsp.

Cooked on low for 10 hours.

I topped it with half of a avocado and some of this Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning that I picked up at World Market today. I’ve been looking for a good alternative to Tony Chachere’s seasoning which has preservatives and other nasties.

This was an awesome meal to come home to after a kick ass CrossFit workout tonight. I overcame a huge fear! I upgraded from the “baby box” to the next size box for my box jumps. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but this is a huge deal to me.

Our WOD was: AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) in 15 minutes of 10 Push Presses, 10 Kettlebell Swings and 10 Box Jumps.

I started off with 55 pounds on my push presses and a 35 pound kettlebell. After the first round I realized my form wasn’t great with the kettlebell so I scaled myself down to the 26 pound bell. After the 3rd round I was starting to fail on my Push Presses so I scaled that down 10 pounds to 45. But I jumped on the big-er box the whole time!

Ultimately I ended up finishing exactly 8 rounds before time ran out. That’s 80 push presses, 80 kettlebell swings and 80 box jumps!

After my moment of weakness last night, I’m feeling rejuvenated and ready to finish out these last 8 days.

Sorry boys, you’ll have to wait!

Paleo Sketti – Day 21

I ended up with a ton of leftover ground beef from my Stuffed Mushrooms that I made on Thanksgiving. I wasn’t about to throw away all that meat so I bagged it up and brought it home with me to make Paleo Spaghetti. I’ve made spaghetti with Spaghetti Squash before, but I don’t love the texture of those “noodles” for some reason. They seem too wet and clumpy for me.

I tried it tonight using the technique I used for my Zucchini Pasta Salad last week and it worked out really well. The secret is to salt the zucchini noodles and let them sit in a colander for a half an hour to sweat the water out. Then rinse and squeeze dry.

I spent about 15 minutes in the store today reading every single pasta sauce label looking for one that didn’t include sugar of some form.

I eventually found 2 that didn’t, Bove’s and Garden Good.

The Bove’s was much cheaper than the Garden Good, so I went with it.

Since I wouldn’t be able to top my sketti with parmesan cheese, I cooked up a piece of bacon to crumble on top of it. Yummy!

Nothing else exciting to report, its been a pretty low key day. I did do a short 3 mile recovery run on my treadmill this morning while my little man slept. Legs felt great after yesterday’s 20, but I tried out my new shoes that I purchased on Black Friday and HATED them.

Asics Gel Nimbus 14.

I’m still looking for my perfect replacement for Brooks Glycerin 9s since they aren’t made anymore. These felt great in the store, but were way too tight in the width once I got going and hurt my feet the whole time.

They might just need another chance to break them in (maybe on the road) or it might be back to the drawing board.

20 Miles for Day 20

I thought I’d celebrate Day 20 of my Whole30 with a 20 mile run.

Just kidding! That was a total coincidence, pretty fitting though.

My day started at 4:45 am preparing for my first 20 mile run of this marathon training schedule. It’s been a while since I’ve run this distance, and although I didn’t feel as amazingly spectacular as last weekend it was still a really really good run.

Kaitlin, Barbara, Chad, Mike and I started without a specific route in mind and made split decisions as we went along for the first several miles. It was pretty fun for a while and then we finally decided on a route. I feel like we ran around the entire east side of Montgomery!

Before our run I had a Banana Bread Larabar and a Banana … yeah, that was kind of weird. I didn’t plan it that way, it just happened.

Instead of carrying Gu with me during my Whole30 I’ve been carrying an extra Larabar in the pouch of my water bottle. Last week I didn’t end up needing it, but today I was glad to have it. I never bonked energy-wise, but I got HANGRY at about mile 14. I believe that’s the first time I’ve ever actually eaten something while running.

After the run I headed home for a quick breakfast of fruit and scrambled eggs, before heading off to yoga.

My energy has been through the roof today! After four and a half hours of exercise I’d normally spend the rest of the day either on the couch or in the bed. Today I went out to lunch, went shopping, cleaned my entire house including sweeping and mopping and doing laundry and cooked dinner. I like it!

Dinner tonight was a simple one: baked chicken, roasted asparagus and balsamic mushrooms. Nothing fancy.

A couple of my friends have shown interest in doing a Whole30 of their own and have specifically asked about what to buy at the grocery store. Of course everyone’s taste is different but I thought I’d list a quick breakdown of what I’ve been buying and where.

I typically shop at 3 different stores: Costco, Earth Fare and Publix.

At Costco I get: Frozen Wild Alaska Salmon, Frozen Tilapia Filets, Chicken & Apple Sausages, canned wild caught Tuna, avocados, sweet potatoes, onions, eggs, bananas, coconut oil, clementines, organic apples, spinach, bell peppers, pre-cut butternut squash, mushrooms, asparagus and a fruit bowl.

At Earth Fare or HealthWise Foods (local) I get: Organic Grass-Fed ground beef and steaks, organic pork breakfast sausage, bacon, chicken legs, breasts and thighs, Larabars and sunflower butter.

Any other random ingredients or vegetables that I’m not buying organic I get from Publix.

Those have pretty much been my staples for the past 20 days.

Now I think its couch sittin’ time. Have a great night!

I Survived! – Day 17 & 18

I successfully survived what I expect will be my 2 most difficult days during my Whole30: my birthday and Thanksgiving. It wasn’t easy with Peanut Butter Pie staring me in the face every time I opened the refrigerator, but I stayed strong.

Yesterday was my 31st birthday and as far as I know my first cake-less one. It wasn’t so bad actually. My day started off with a speedy 7-mile Tempo run with Kaitlin.

Tempo runs are always easier with company.

Yesterday afternoon my little family headed to South Alabama to spend the night with my parents, sister, neice and nephew for our birthday/Thanksgiving celebration.

My family made me a special Paleo birthday dinner.

Grilled steak and chicken apple sausage, collards, asparagus, baked sweet potato and stuffed cabbage rolls. Yum!

My sister even brought me home a special rice-less sushi roll from work that she had made for me. I ate it for breakfy this morning.

Since I would obviously not be going to CrossFit today, I set up my own CrossFit style workout in the yard. My hubby, sister and I did a 400m run and then 3 rounds of 1 minute stations: air squats, kettlebell swings, push-ups, sit-ups and rest. Each round we followed with another 400m run.

The rest of the day was spent cooking and eating, of course. My parents made the typical Thanksgiving foods: green bean casserole, dressing, turkey, etc and I made a few dishes that I knew Tim and I could eat: stuffed mushrooms, deviled eggs, cabbage rolls, butternut squash soup and roasted sweet potatoes.

My plate:

It was so nice being able to eat a big beautiful meal but not having that sick, hungover feeling afterwards. Win/Win.

Of course I knew going in to the Whole30 that these 2 special days would fall during that time period. I could have easily decided to start after Thanksgiving and nestle my Whole30 snuggly between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I viewed the timing as an added challenge and opportunity for growth. I actually really love the fact that I’m learning how to enjoy healthy holidays.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

The Best Steak Ever

This is what I get for posting my blog before I ate dinner, but this was definitely blogworthy so I’m back.

This was my pre-birthday dinner to myself. Since I won’t be consuming cake this year … or wine, I splurged on a few high quality grass-fed local steaks. This one was a New York Strip and was actually only $7. I’m saving the $20 Ribeye for tomorrow night.

1. Bring steak to room temperature. I left mine out on the counter while I went to the gym tonight.
2. Heat oven to broil and place cast iron grill pan in it.
3. Heat burner to high heat.
4. Put a little oil on the steak and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
5. Take the grill pan out of the oven and place on burner, cook steaks on each side for 30 seconds.
6. Return pan to oven and cook for 2 minutes per side.
7. Let steak rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

I ate every last bite.

Whole30 – Day 16

I am so sore I can barely get on/off the toilet.

Damn wall balls and sit-ups. Luckily I got my run in for the day before the sore really starting setting in. It was just a easy 4-miler. I aimed to keep my heart rate below 140, which ended up being just over a 9 minute pace.

Breakfast was a repeat from yesterday, so I’ll save you the pic. Two more leftover peppers to go and then I can move on to something new. I tried to trick the hubby into eating one for lunch also, but he wasn’t falling for it.

I whipped him up this instead:

Sesame Salmon, Bok Choy and Green Cabbage Slaw with Sunshine Sauce and Stir-fried Snap Peas.

I pulled that one out of my ass in like 9 minutes flat.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m so tired of cooking today. I got a head start on some Thanksgiving prep and it has gotten the better of me. Specifically deviled eggs.

You can explain to me 15 different ways to perfectly peel a deviled egg. I still can’t make it happen. It’s bullshit. Peeling eggs is bullshit.

I boiled 24 eggs today, and I think I might have gotten 9 useable ones out of the batch. I was getting so irate I had to take a break to cool off.

I finally calmed myself down and tried to have a little fun with it. This is one of the methods I found online for perfectly peeling eggs …

Take 1:

 

Aaand Take 2:

I ended up having to eat like 5 of the eggs on the spot. Heeeeey, protein.

I wasted much of the afternoon with my eggs and now its time to head to CrossFit. Happy Birthday to me ….

“Happy Birthday Hunter and Amanda M.!”

1 Round for Time
11 Handstand Walk Ups
20 Pullups
200M Run
31 Pushups
100M Run
31 KB Swings
200M Run
11 High Pulls
20 Burpees

I’m going to try to pull this one out of my ass as well. Wish me luck!

Whole30 – Day 15

Woohoo! Half-way there!

At this point I really don’t even know what that means. I’m not planning on changing my eating habits after the 30 days are over, so I’m not exactly sure what I’m so excited about.

Wine. Thaaaat’s right. Now I remember.

This was breakfast today:

Stuffed Bell Pepper topped with a Sunny Side Up Egg and a sprinkle of dried sage.

I had a few leftover peppers from dinner a couple of nights ago, and in a moment of brilliance I remembered a burger I saw on a restaurant menu recently that was topped with an egg.

Today I got to do something that I’ve been looking forward to for a long time. I finally got a new Driver’s License! I’ve certainly been looking forward to this day as my old license still says that I weigh 225 pounds. I feel like a fraud whenever I’ve been carded and have to hand over that thing. Take a look at the difference:

I don’t even care that it almost looks like I’m topless in the new picture.

I’ve been working on my Thanksgiving menu the last couple of days. My family is tricky to cook for because we have vegetarians, gluten-free, dairy-free and now Paleos who will all be gathering together. I decided to come up with several Paleo options to make for the hubby and I and a couple of things that don’t include meat but are still paleo friendly as well. This is what I came up with:

1. Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms
2. Deviled Eggs
3. Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with a tomato/cranberry sauce
4. Butternut Sage Soup

While I was out shopping for all the ingredients to make these dishes I got overwhelmingly hungry and decided to stop for lunch.

Another salad from Earth Fare.

I decided that Well Fed and I are going on a break. I’m going back to Practical Paleo.

Tonight I made the Lemon & Artichoke Chicken with some roasted cauliflower. Deeeee-lish!

And yes, the color scheme is horrible. I’m choosing to ignore that based on the flavor factor, but next time I’ll definitely make a more brightly colored side dish for the chicken.

CrossFit tonight was pretty hardcore. We learned how to do Thrusters and did 3 of them EMOM (every minute on the minute) for 12 minutes. I used 55 lbs.

Then the real WOD started:

40-30-20-10 Wall Balls & 10-20-30-40 Sit-Ups. 1st round is 40 WB and 10 SU, 2nd round is 30 WB and 20 SU, etc.

It was harder than it sounds. I think the rest of the night shall be spent sitting on my ass, watching Food Network and drinking wine tea. See you tomorrow!

Whole30 – Day 14

I’ll make this short and sweet tonight.

7 mile run with the hubs and friends, veggie omelet and lots of coffee, Sampoorna Yoga, salad bar, grass-fed local beef …

Sunflower butter, Food Network, hot tea.

Day 14 done.