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Hey there! I'm Holly. A 40+ year old insurance-nerd wife, mom, beauty lover, and about a million other things in between.
This is the place where I share about our lives, what I'm currently loving, books I'm reading, plus-size style, beauty recommendations, health + fitness endeavors and anything else I'm finding interesting at the moment.
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Category Archives: Paleo
#SundayPrep — What We’re Eating This Week
I posted a picture of my #SundayPrep on Instagram and a couple of you suggested I blog it. Not sure what to write about except what we’re eating, so here we go!
*****
Breakfasts in our house usually come in a box. Not the sexiest food styling, but it is what it is. 🙂
I have time to eat mine at home on most days but Garrett is out of the house by 6:45 so he needs to be able to take his with him.
I prep them once on Sunday and then don’t give it another thought until I’m eating it. It’s nice. This week in Garrett’s boxes I put hashbrowns, chicken sausage, and two hard boiled eggs. That may sound fancy but it’s just about the simplest thing ever.
The chicken sausage is from Trader Joe’s, I cook it up all at once and then with the fat leftover in the pan I dump in potatoes, onions, peppers and spices. I make one pan of hashbrowns for him and split it into 5 containers. It doesn’t seem like much but it actually works out to the perfect little serving. Top it off with sausage and then slice up a couple of hard boiled eggs (which I also purchase those from Trader Joe’s because paying for the convenience of not having to peel hard boiled eggs has MADE MY LIFE!) and it’s a yummy little package.
Lunches are boxed up too (tupperware how I love thee) and this week I cooked up a batch of soup for myself (it’s a new recipe to me but it sounded easy and tasty) but there ended up being so much of it that I’m planning to serve it as a dinner as well one night after we go to the gym. Clearly I’m one of those people who can eat the same thing over and over and not get sick of it. I figure I’ll top it with cheese one day, avocado one day, olives another — that’ll spice it up enough for me.
Dinners are going to be meat + veg. (Shocker! LOL)
For the meat part, I did some marinating this week:
Two of them came from Whole Foods – these are also new to me but they looked and sounded good:
*Saturday Night Steak Grill Sauce – the name just called to me, what can I say? It’s basically a garlic and peppercorn marinade but the plan is to eat it on Friday because I DO WHAT I WANT.
*Sweet Hickory Chicken BBQ Sauce with Agave + Orange seemed like it could be good. Gluten free marinades that aren’t full of TONS of sugar are hard to find. This one, while certainly not sugar free seemed like a fun option.
And with the two strip loins I had leftover I decided to mix up this delicious little marinade that is always a crowd pleaser.
I tossed them in the sous vide for a couple of hours so they are perfectly cooked and just ready to sear off and eat on the night’s they are scheduled. I do stuff like this (or crockpot receipts) on night’s when we go to the gym because we won’t get home until after 6 and by the time we shower and all that I am usually not interested in cooking a fussy or time consuming meal, you know?
I know prepping once a week and meal planning sounds a little automated and regimented, but for the two of us — both working outside of the house full time — it’s mostly welcomed to always know there is at least something tasty and nutritious that is basically ready to eat in the fridge.
Go-To recipes, convenience food, and par cooked meat/protein is what keeps our house going on the week nights. What do you do to eat healthily during the week? I’m always looking for new tips!
Suprising Book Recommendation: Jorge Cruise’s The Belly Fat Cure: Fast Track
A few weeks (crap, maybe months. OY!) a blog reader sent me an email after I posted about needing to get my weight loss jump started again. She recommended Jorge Cruise’s The Belly Fat Cure: Fast Track and mentioned that she emailed me the recommendation because she didn’t want to write about it in the comments and risk people being critical.
Wait a minute, people being anonymously critical on the internet? THAT NEVER HAPPENS! 🙂
Well, luckily it doesn’t happen too much around here (LOVE YOU GUYS FOR THAT) but I knew where she was coming from. Especially because my first thought was “UGH. Jorge Cruise? Isn’t he the 8 Minute workout dude? I don’t know about this.”
I am kind of over Info-tainment health people, you know? Nutritionists on Good Morning America, Doctors hosting TV Shows, Celebrity Trainers — OH MAN, don’t even get me started on Dr. Oz. I am 100% NOT a fan, but that is a conversation for another day. Maybe never. Dang, it gets me riled just thinking about it. Anyway, all of that to say: I was a skeptic. But I also love blog-reader recommendations (Seriously. Email me anytime) and so I immediately put it on my Library Hold List like the good little book nerd that I am. No harm, no foul — if I hated it, I would just return it to the library. Win-win.
When I picked it up I was pleased to see that it looked fun: square and spiral bound — almost a mini-binder instead of a book — but it still had Jorge Cruise’s giant picture on it exclaiming we could all lose 14 lbs in 14 days. I mean, listen — I lost 30 lbs in a month when I first started eating Paleo, so I know it can happen, but when a diet-book puts that on it’s cover I am EVEN MORE skeptical. But I began flipping through the glossy pages…
The first thing I found was the foreward was by Christiane Northrup — who I LOVE LOVE LOVE. She’s a doctor who talks about chakras! Rock and roll! Such an awesome combination of women’s health/hippie healing and I love a good advocate like that. I have a bookshelf stocked with her books that have changed my understanding of my own body and I have to admit I was a little surprised to see her addressing what I thought was going to be a gimmicky diet book.
Next, the book delves right into the causes of weight gain and how to avoid it. I expected to read a mix of recommendations encompassing the Eat Less, Move More mentality, but lo and behold the entire first chapter explains simply and succintly that if you want to lose weight, you need to understand how insulin works in your body. Period. He immediately calls out sugar (and even more insidiously) hidden sugars as enemy number one. He doesn’t demonize carboyhdrates, but he does break down how they work in your body, and how they relate to weight gain. I was starting to get on board.
But this is also the chapter where he discusses the concept of “Losing 14 lbs in 14 days” and whether or not it is healthy, and I still wasn’t sure I’d be down with that. Right from the start though, he owns the fact that losing 14 lbs of fat in 14 days is NOT healthy or desirable (or frankly even possible, really.) But he talks about the idea that there are many things involved in weight gain, not only just fat. In this chapter he introduces a concept called “Hidden Belly Fat” that I can totally identified with and understood. He goes on to explain that “Hidden Belly Fat” isn’t really fat but it sure looks like it. (You may know it too — that soft spare tire layer that springs up out of nowhere after a few weeks of eating garbage.) In reality it is a sign of that metabollic disconnect that happens to a lot of people (myself included!) when they don’t keep the insulin/hormone situation in their body in check, and I have to applaud Jorge Cruise for discussing some of the consequences of Metabollic Derangement in such easy to understand terms. I think this is one of the most revolutionary concepts in his book and I was happy to think about it with new analogies. (Sidebar: Stacy from Paleo Parents wrote a great blog post on this exact topic of hidden belly fat, although from a different perspective, that I think is a really worthwhile read.)
The next section is pages and pages of testimonials and pictures of people who have completed the program (he has yet to outline it at this point, but of course all of the results pictures are pretty impressive) and then he finally gets on to outlining what the Fast Track program is based on. I was really intersted to see — would it be an elimination diet, would it be about timing your food intake, would it be more of this “eat 5 small meals a day by properly combining foods” crapola — WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE??? I was very curious at that point. Curious and surprised. Surprised that I was enjoying his voice and that so far all I had done was nod my head at his information and his references.
Speaking of references, each chapter begins with a quote — and when he gets into the section about what to eat — guess what person he choses to quote?
I was floored. Was Jorge Cruise about to espouse eating Paleo? I read on…
Turns out Jorge Cruise is all about an Ancestral Diet. Who knew? (I sure didn’t, clearly.) He leans more towards a Primal approach (including dairy and wine…woo hoo!) but his book outlines very well researched (the appendix at the end is large) nutrition advice that is not only completely sane and unscary or restrictive sounding, but the book also includes meal plans and recipes at the end that look really delicious. And he even talks a little bit about fat burners and why it is such a more effective replacement for chronic cardio, so obviously he got some points for that!
The Belly Fat Cure: Fast Track is smart, easy to understand, and is a new interpretation of Paleo that isn’t so tied to food politics and nutrient density. It’s mostly just a functional weight loss book that doesn’t really espouse any food philosophy, so I think it might appeal to people who are scared off by the words Paleo or Primal but want an easy guide on how to lose weight that also explains how your body works. I’m obviously very pro-Paleo, so I don’t really mind that label, but not everyone is down for that so I think this book could have good mass appeal. I was so happy that I read it and really, really surprised I liked it. Maybe you know someone who might too?
Fun Food Inspiration
It always surprises me that with the arrival of fall I always feel pulled to get back into the kitchen. Probably the fact that it’s no longer 900 degrees outside and the oven is no longer the enemy has a little something to do with it — Guess that’s no surprise! 🙂 But lately I’ve been pinning up a storm of food inspiration because I’m ready to get back to cooking for pleasure AND for health. WOOT!
Also, Garrett and I have decided to embark on another Whole 30 in September. We’ve been wanting to do one for a while and my friend Karie mentioned doing one recently and September seemed like a month that would work for us. Then of course there was that whole Circus Animal Ice Cream Situation so, you know, it’s probably time. Doing another Whole 30 could be (gasp) FUN!
The Whole 30 always requires planning so the other day I set out to reorganize my Pinterest boards. This is what I do when I have a week off of work…how sad is that? ha! It was so much fun though the entire time I was doing that I just kept thinking “OH DELICIOUS TIME SUCK, I LOVE YOU!” ha
The things we come to think of as luxuries. 🙂
Anyway, I did a little reshuffling and now my food Pinterest boards are nice and organized! Within them you will find Paleo recipes that fall in three camps:
*Strict Paleo recipes
*Primal recipes that include dairy (we eat dairy on occasion, though obviously not when we are doing a Whole 30) and
*Un-Paleo recipes that are very easy to adapt (ie: I’ll pin a recipe with soy sauce and call it paleo since coconut aminos are a super simple swap.)
******************Also, completely separate, if you are looking for a SUPER strict Paleo board I do have a Whole 30 board full of recipes and inspiration for completing a Whole 30. I plan to keep updating it as I prepare for September’s challenge.*************************
I was so pleased with them when I was finished (Organization FTW!) but I also wanted to share them here because when I deleted my old, giant, disorganized “Tasty Paleo Things” board I noticed there were thousands more people that followed that board than who are now follow the individual board. Maybe you were one of them? If so, or if you are just interested in some fun food inspiration, check out the boards I put together below:
*Paleo Recipes – Chicken
*Paleo Recipes – Beef + Bison
*Paleo Recipes – Pork
*Paleo Recipes – Turkey
*Paleo Recipes – Seafood
*Paleo Recipes – Treats
*Paleo Recipes – Breakfast
*Paleo Recipes – Vegetables
*Paleo Recipes – Soups + Stews
*Paleo Recipes – Bread Like Things
*Paleo Recipes – Condiments, Dressings + Sauces
*Paleo Recipes – Superfoods
*Paleo Recipes – Round Ups
Then let’s get cooking!
PS — You can follow any and all my Pinterest boards here.
Paleo Bread
The world does not lack “Paleo” Cookbooks and lately I have one of two feelings about this:
For one, I think it is so exciting to see awesome glossy photos as inspiration for this way of eating that has truly changed my life. Three years ago when I started down this path, the inspiration was a little bit lackluster. It didn’t feel like having a shelf full of beautiful cookbooks could overlap with a Paleo diet. That has truly changed.
But as with all good things, there comes a bit of a saturation tipping point. And sometimes when I see the Next! Best! Paleo! Cookbook! I’m going to be honest — I get that cynical feeling like “Oh great, another book telling me to wrap bacon around something and pretending it’s a mind blowing idea.”
This is probably not a popular thing to say, and who knows, maybe the cookbooks I receive from publishers may slow down because I say it — but I have to think some of you may feel the same way. I think we are sort of in this tenuous time where the QUANTITY of books available is slightly disproportionate to the QUALITY. This isn’t something I’m losing sleep over, and I’m certainly not the arbiter of good Paleo taste, so in the big scheme of things, who cares what I think. But I do think it is important to mention because I want you to know when I talk about a cookbook on this website, I am doing it because I appreciate the QUALITY of a cookbook, and not just because I just want to say HEY LOOK, I GOT THIS COOKBOOK TOO!
Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. I feel like we are all friends here, so I want you to know when I tell you about a cookbook I really enjoy (or anything else for that matter) I want you to know that I mean it.
****
Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry just recently came out, and it is blowing up the internet right now. But here’s the thing: Elana Amsterdam has been making Paleo Cooking look cool even before it was cool. In fact, the first grain free cookbook I ever bought was her Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook and when it showed up at my house I just remember sighing with relief. I could enjoy a slice of bread still! I could bake a tart! Gorgeous birthday cakes were at my fingertips without being full of crappy gluten and ridiculous amounts of sugar.
That sigh, of course, was because back then I thought Paleo was 100% or NOTHING, and while I have loosened up on those percentages, I still so appreciate the idea of gorgeous food inspiration and dishes you once loved — without the grains.
This is why, when I heard Elana was writing a Paleo cookbook I was ECSTATIC and couldn’t wait to get my hands on it, instead of furrowing my brow and thinking “ho-hum, will these be more bacon wrapped recipes?” She makes very simple, delicious food that is incredibly accessible. And on a completely superficial note – I just love the way her cookbooks look and feel in my hands. They are square-ish, soft covered and with clean design and nice photos. It’s a cookbook you want to look at and use and it fits neatly in any kitchen cupboard. Also, her ice cream recipes are what helped me rationalize my recent ice cream maker purchase. Thanks, Elana! 🙂
OBVIOUSLY I was game to talk about it on the blog but I just want to be clear with my disclosure: I was provided a free copy and one to giveaway, but was in no way obligated to write post about it. All opinions are my own and no one is compensating me to give them (although the Amazon link to her cookbook is an affiliate one. Thank you contributing to the coconut milk fund in our household. You are singlehandedly fueling our Paleo Ice Cream addiction. OHMAHGAWD YUM!)
The Giveaway
If you are interested in owning this cookbook (and as you can tell, I think you should be:)) Ten Speed Press is giving away one copy to one of my readers.
- This giveaway is limited to U.S. and Canadian residents 18 and older.
- Enter by leaving a comment on this post telling me what your favorite flavor of ice cream is — or anything else you feel like, frankly.
- One entry per person
- The giveaway begins today June 20, 2013 and ends on June 24, 2013 at 12:00 am pacific time.
No purchase is necessary. Odds of winning are based on the number of entries. The winners will be randomly chosen and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 24 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond, a new winner will be randomly chosen.
The Paleo Bread Recipe
I thought I would share Elana’s recipe for Paleo Bread. Don’t you just want to toast this and slather it with Kerrygold? Meeeeeee toooooooo!
Paleo Bread
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: Makes 1 Loaf (12 slices)
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup golden flax meal
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease a 7 by 3-inch loaf pan with coconut oil.
- In a food processor, pulse together the almond flour, flax meal, coconut flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the eggs, coconut oil, honey, and vinegar and pulse until thoroughly combined.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool in the pan for 1 hour, then serve.
*****
Happy cooking!
Easy Detox Mocktail
Can I confess something? I don’t really love the word detox. It sounds like this magical transition that you can achieve by drinking some special tonic and well, the human body is so much more complicated than that! But Easy Summer Drink That’s An Alternative to Plain Water That Isn’t Full of Sugar Artificial and Otherwise That Can Also Help Support Some of Your Major Organs just didn’t have the same ring to it, so…Detox, it is!
A friend mentioned the combination on facebook the other day and I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, so I mixed myself a glass and was completely sold. It’s tart, refreshing and kind of makes you want to drink it with your pinky in the air — which I can’t always say about a glass of ice water. See how easily influenced I am? Glad she wasn’t drinking a bourbon milkshake or it would have been straight to the liquor cabinet. 🙂 Juuuuust kidding. OR AM I?
Anyway, here’s the method if you would like to try one for yourself:
Easy Detox Mocktail
Ingredients
- 12-16 ounces of Ice Water
- The Juice of 1 Lemon
- 1 oz of Unsweetened Cranberry Juice
- 1 teaspoon of Organic Ginger Juice
- A Few Pinches of Cayenne Pepper
Instructions
- Fill glass with ice water
- Add Juice of 1 Lemon
- Add Cranberry and Ginger Juice
- Add Cayenne
- Stir!
See? Totally NOT rocket science. Yet equally impressive, I’m sure. 🙂
I like the Ginger People Ginger Juice (in my grocery store it’s sold by the vinegars) and make sure to buy the UNsweetened cranberry juice. It’s very easy to find but somewhat expensive as far as juice goes, but it will last A LONG TIME because you just use the tiniest bit!
Ginger is full of anti-inflammatory compounds, lemon supports digestion and liver function, cranberry helps out your kidneys and lymphatic system and cayenne promotes healthy circulation. But let’s not get too academic about all of this — it is also just beautiful, delicious and easy to make and because it is basically a giant glass of fancy water (try it with sparkling water, too — YUM!) A little Cran-Raspberry La Croix action? AHHHH-MAZYING!
It’s very simple, and it’s a bit of a play on Liz Wolfe’s Skin Care Beverage that she recommends in The Skintervention Guide (GREAT read, by the way!) and something to shake up your everyday water drinking. If you enjoy it, let me know.
Random Things I Learned From The Everyday Paleo Seminar
On Saturday I spent most of the day at the Everyday Paleo Seminar that my gym hosted listening to Sarah Fragoso and Jason Seib speak about the science behind Paleo and real life strategies for incorporating it into your life. Since I’ve embraced Paleo living for almost 3 years now I wasn’t expecting to go in and have my mind blown, but I was hoping to get a little re-energized.
For about 6 months I’ve been feeling stuck, health wise. I guess you could say I’ve been in a little bit of a rut. Mostly, to me, this means that I am making less forward progress than I would like and instead am doing more floundering than usual. But every time I start to feel upset with myself about all the floundering I’m doing, I think of this:
This is so true, right?
When I feel like I’m just spinning my wheels I try to realize that it is all a part of the process and then I just look for an opportunity to re-energize myself to move forward. This seminar really helped me do that.
It is a pretty great introduction to Paleo if you are not super familiar with it, but like I said, I already came pretty armed with the basics. I did write down a few notes and found myself evaluating a things I could do a little differently moving forward so I thought I’d share my random list of things that made me say “Oh, really?” This isn’t chronological in any way, or even good cliffs notes, but rather just a few facts I learned and bullets that got me thinking:
*I should to get back to my Vitamin D supplement
I used to be super good about this and then I got a little lazy. It’s pretty important though, so I’ll probably start supplementing again. I’m actually mostly anti-supplements (unless they are targeted and temporary), but this is an exception – and the dosage I used to take was recommended by my Naturopath so it wasn’t arbitrary. Jason recommended Liquid Vitamin D drops as the bio-availability is far superior.
*Chicken/Pork and Turkey are slightly higher in Omega 6s than Beef & Seafood
I thought this was interesting. Their recommendation for the best protein sources were good beef and wild caught cold water fish. Of course they weren’t saying ONLY eat those two things, but to just consider that when selecting your variety.
*Selenium makes the Mercury in fish inert
This was kind of a fun fact too, I thought. If you are getting enough selenium, you really don’t need to be fraught with worry about mercury in your fish.
*Focus on Fat Loss and not Weight Loss
I’ve mentioned this sentiment numerous times here but the more I hear it, the more I want to pump my fist in the air when people say it. And Jason walked through the science of why lifting weights is so good for your body and why “cardio” does a lot more harm than good when it comes to getting healthy. Of course I can’t explain it in an articulate way, but it did make me feel a little more energized to lift.
*Skinny is not the opposite of fat. Healthy is the opposite of fat. Healthy is also the opposite of skinny.
Pursue health over aesthetics and the aesthetics will come.
*You can eat super clean and work out really hard but if you are not managing stress and getting good sleep, none of it matters
This was especially powerful for me to hear. It is something I know, and something that I have worked hard on in the past (especially getting good sleep — and now I’m a pro! haha) but definitely with this new job I need to make sure I am keeping my stress in check! Jason recommended this book and I ordered it from Amazon while I was still at the seminar. I love technology!
*****
So, like I said — not great cliffs notes or anything, but just a few of the things I left thinking about. It’s nice to get re-energized about your health and this definitely gave me some new food for thought. It’s nice to be thinking about some of this stuff again.
Paleo Chocolate Chunk Brownie Bites
I’ve been wanting to post a treat for a while but with so many doing the Whole 30 it seemed like it would be kind of a jerk move. But now that it’s over…BRING ON THE TREATS! Ok, let’s not go HOG WILD, but this one is worth a share. I made these for my CrossFit buddies and they got rave reviews, so then I tried them again at Super Bowl and they are a keeper.
If you’re looking for a company that offers chocolate bar packaging services, visit yourboxsolution.com for help.
I got the inspiration from the Best Damn Brownie Recipe over at WOD Fuel, made a few tweaks and then turned it into Brownie Bites because, for me, having an entire tray of brownies sitting around is DANGEROUS. (Pass me a fork!) But having “bites” around force me to have a little more self control.
*Note: I said A LITTLE. 🙂
Anyway, super simple ingredients and method. Try them the next time you are craving a sweet treat! With only half a cup of honey for about 20 servings, it’s not too crazy.
Paleo Chocolate Chunk Brownie Bites
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
-
- 3 ounces 50% or higher Dark Chocolate, broken into squares
-
- ½ Cup Ghee
-
- ½ Cup Honey
-
- 2 Eggs, beaten
-
- 3/4 cup Almond Flour
-
- 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
-
- ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
- 3.5 ounces 70% or higher Dark Chocolate, chopped into chunks
Instructions
-
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a mini muffin pan
-
- In a microwave safe dish, melt your ghee with the first 3 oz of dark chocolate squares until just melted.
-
- Stir honey into the chocolate/ghee mixture
-
- Stir in the beaten eggs along with the almond flour, vanilla and sea salt and mix until smooth
-
- Fold the chunked chocolate into the batter
-
- Scoop batter into the muffin pan filling each with a little over a Tablespoon of batter
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- Bake for 17-19 minutes
-
- Cool for 15 minutes and serve
- Store in the refrigerator before serving if you prefer harder brownies, leave out if you prefer softer
5 Things To Do With: SPINACH
I was going to start this post by saying that I am not a huge fan of spinach, but that’s not 100% true. If this website was called into evidence, it would obviously reveal that I do like spinach salad covered in warm bacon dressing. I mean, duh. Also, I don’t think they let you even HAVE a blog these days if you don’t have a recipe for a green smoothie that you endorse, so there is always that. I finally developed a taste for warm spinach in a breakfast casserole and then I branched out to eating it in a dinner appropriate egg dish that, while delicious, is ugly as sin.
(Oh man, Joe’s Special is just so darn ugly. But you all, it has helped me embrace TWO ingredients I don’t normally love – spinach AND mushrooms. WHAT? I’m convinced it’s a Miracle Food. A really ugly Miracle Food.)
Anyway, the fact is though, my brain always defaults to thinking about how I can “hide” the spinach. Maybe you can love a side dish of sauteed spinach, but I have to be honest, it makes me feel like I’m eating wilted grass. I just can. not. abide. So I hide! And now I’ve made a spinach poem. We may be at an all time low here, you all. If you are a hider too (no need to be a poet) here are my 5 favorite ways to get some spinach in your meal without it having to be the main act:
1. Stuff It In A Muffin
Meat and Spinach Muffins (from The Clothes Make The Girl)
This recipe is a gem (as is Mel’s cookbook Well Fed) and I love the novelty of having a muffin that isn’t overly eggy and is packed with a protein/veggie punch.
2. Add It To A Soup
Paleo Stracciatella (from Goddess Lifestyle Plan)
Recently my mom made me a batch of chicken soup and she just happened to throw in spinach because she had some…BRILLIANT! This led me down a rabbit hold of spinach-type soups and I found this recipe for Paleo Stracciatella which looks delicious!
3. Prep A New Pesto
Lemon Thyme Chive Spinach Pesto (from Caveman Connoisseur)
Such a versatile and verdant little change up, right? I can’t wait to try this. I may substitute something for the pecorino, or find some raw parmesan, but regardless this will be making its way on to my menu soon.
4. Change Up Your Chimichurri
Grilled Skirt Steak with Spinach Chimichurri (from Cooking In Red Socks)
Grilling season is right around the corner and Chimichurri is one of my favorite toppers for grilled meat and vegetables. How about getting creative and working in some greens?
5. Mix It Into A Burger
Turkey Spanikopita Burgers (from Tastebook)
This is in pretty regular rotation at our house, sometimes with raw feta, sometimes without and let me tell you it is delicious either way! Definitely worth trying, and if you serve it over a bed of raw spinach: EXTRA CREDIT! 🙂
*****
What’s your favorite way to hide spinach? Have a good recipe? Don’t forget to share!
Original Spinach Image Source
The War Wages On
Hey! It’s Monday! And the 49ers lost….womp womp. That sort of sums up my mindset right now. I was going to do a more in depth post about Whole 30 2.0 and what I learned, but you know what? I’m tired of reading about the Whole 30. (Really tired, actually. Confession Time!) Mostly though, my experience with this Whole 30 was basically the same, so why repeat myself. Again I found that The Little Things Make A Big Difference. Also, things will feel hard, but you will be happy with the results. Yep, that about sums it up.
So instead of in-depth wrap up, I’ll just give you the game highlights:
1. Operation Get Rid of Back Fat was a success!
I mean, it’s not completely gone by any means, but I definitely feel like there is LESS to contend with. Before Pictures. UGH. Still can’t believe I took those. But hey, I feel like from the side I can definitely see a difference.
The front isn’t quite as dramatic.
My clothes are fitting different in the hip areas which is nice.
(But man, why do I take these AFTER I workout when I look hella beat up? LAME! ha! Whatever.)
2. The After FEELS better than the Before
If you remember, I wrote down how I was feeling in December to make sure I kept those things in mind when evaluating my success.
*Vampire Bite Acne is gone (actually MOST of the acne is gone. This is different from the last time around. AWESOME!)
*Body image is good. Plus I just feeeeeeeeeeeeeel better at the gym. We did a bunch of pullups the other night and they just felt so much easier (and I was doing them on a lighter band, so WIN!)
*No more splitting nails. Man, the fingernail thing is SO DRAMATIC for me when I’m eating better. It’s kind of nuts.
*Also, I ended up losing 14lbs, which was a nice little touch of icing to add on the cake.
*******
So how did I celebrate all the Whole 30 madness being over? By having a Cobb Salad (mmm bacon!) and a glass or two (or twenty) of wine on Friday night! It seemed like a great idea at the time (HA!) but it felt less ideal on Saturday morning when I woke up. Garrett and I were set to run with some pals from our Relay Team (Team Name: Longest Wod Ever) and I wanted to flake so hard it was palpable. But G dragged my butt out of the house and I’m so glad he did.
It was great to see the ladies, and after an hour of sprints, bleachers and hill runs I felt like I had my Tiger Blood back. So just for giggles we headed out to open gym to do some lifting.
After an hour of cleaning and snatching, Garrett and I spent some time getting to know the GHD Machine. I wanted to get over my fear of GHD situps (seriously, you guys, THEY ARE SCARY!) and Garrett wanted to do some back extensions. It ended up being rad. I like learning new things! Also I decided that I want to add the GHD situps into my regular rotation. I’m going to show my lower abs who’s boss!
After our workout though we showed the Whole 30 who was boss by eating Mexican food. I’m sorry, I want to be a better example, but I also really enjoy corn chips and salsa. So that’s what we did. 🙂 And then I took an epic nap with the dog. I mean, can you blame me? (Buster was exhausted by proxy.)
Sunday we celebrated the Super Bowl with some champagne (YUM!)
But this morning I am ready to get February back to (mostly) Whole 30 eats. The War Against Back Fat wages on, you know. 🙂
*****
How was your weekend? Any fun Post Whole 30 Eats? How are you feeling now that it’s over? Are you happy about the Super Bowl results? *sniffle*
Chorizo Stuffed Mushrooms
I recently wrote about Healthy Super Bowl Food for a local magazine and shared my favorite strategy for keeping things in check on game day: Incorporate as many vegetables as possible! I thought it might be on your mind too, and since many of us will be getting together with friends and enjoying a fun afternoon, I wanted to pop in real quick and share a simple recipe to help your healthy eating cause. This bite-sized appetizer is not only super delicious, but Whole 30 compliant!
If you are feeling really creative, you could even customize the filling to include MORE vegetables if you wanted. I have to admit, I’m not really a mushrooom fan, but something about the salty, spicy bite of a chorizo stuffing just compliments the earthy flavor of a mushroom. It’s an awesome match-up, and hopefully the Super Bowl will be too!
Chorizo Stuffed Mushrooms
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 16 White Mushrooms, half the stems reserved and finely diced
- 12 oz Pork Chorizo
- 1 Tablespoons Ghee or Butter, divided
- ½ Red Onion, finely minced
- ½ teaspoon dried parsley, divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 oz of pork rinds, crumbled (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Wipe mushrooms clean with a paper towel or a damp dish towel. Hold stems firmly and pull out. This will leave the hollow portion in the middle for stuffing.
- Reserve half the stems and chop them finely into small bits and set aside with the filling ingredients.
- In a large pan over medium high heat melt 1 Tablespoon of ghee
- Brown mushrooms in batches, careful not to overcrowd the pan, about 6 minutes each side
- When Mushrooms are browned, set aside in a greased 13×9 pan
- In a separate pan while you are browning your mushrooms, crumble 12 oz of pork chorizo into a pan over medium high heat and cook until most of the surface is brown and crispy (about 10-12 minutes)
- Remove crispy chorizo from pan and set aside, while leaving about aTablespoon of pan drippings behind
- In the chorizo drippings, sauté ½ red onion and mushroom stems over medium high heat until browned (about 5 minutes) then add salt and ¼ teaspoon of dried parsley
- Mix the chorizo back in to pan with other ingredients and then scoop filling into each mushroom
- Top with remaining ¼ teaspoon of parsley and (optional) crumbled pork rinds and bake at 350 for 20 minutes
