Favorite cookbook

Do you have a favorite Paleo cookbook? I do!  It is Well Fed .  Hands down it has the most delicious recipes.  Last night I made the pad Thai recipe.  It was time consuming as I doubled the recipe and also did not prepare very well for it (should have made the sunshine sauce in advance, though I did grill the chicken the night before.). But it was all well worth it.  My kids even loved it!

Next time I plan on adding a little fish sauce to make the flavor more authentic. The lime juice and fresh cilantro added a nice touch as well.

I decided that I am going to cook my way through the book.  I have made quite a few of the dishes, but I am going to try all of them now.  You know, like that girl who did the blog about cooking all of the recipes in the Art of French Cooking.  Except these recipes are much easier and no one is going to make a movie out  of my experiences.

There is a Well Fed 2 book out as well!  Alas, I do not own it yet.  Yet.

Oh- I couldn't find any sun butter without sugar or nasty canola oil added to it, so I made my own.  It was easy, just time consuming.  I only added salt and EVOO.  It is really yummy. I will make my own from now on.  :)

On another note, have you ever tried pumpkin seed butter?  Sounds yummy right?  WRONG!  I paid $18 for a jar and it was foul.  I know we were expecting pumpkin pie, but it didn't even taste like yummy roasted pumpkin seeds.  Don't buy it!

Take a chance eggs

What do you do when there's not much in the fridge?  You take a chance and create something new!

My ingredients:

Two eggs

Ground turkey

Butternut squash

Homemade Paleo mayo

Salt

Garam masala spice

Chopped sundried tomatoes

Pre-cooked chopped onions

Bacon grease

I cooked the ground turkey in a little bacon grease and seasoned with salt and garam masala (no idea how this would turn out.). Set aside.

Cooked the frozen butternut squash on the stove.  While that was cooking I scrambled the eggs in a little bit of bacon grease and added the onions (they had been sautéed in- wait for it- bacon grease! ) When it was almost done cooking I threw in the ground turkey and sundried tomatoes.  Then I scooped it on a plate next to the butternut squash and drizzled it with the mayo.  Omg it was good!!

Tasteful Tuesday

I took the kids to the San Diego Zoo yesterday.  I LOVE that zoo.  I practically grew up there.  My daughter thought I was just partial to my zoo because I grew up in San Diego.  After all, we have been to zoos all over- including Tokyo, Singapore, Washington DC and Seattle.  After our visit yesterday she conceded with me.  It is IS the best freakin' zoo there is.

Why the zoo story?  Well it was a last minute trip which means I broke up with my Whole 30-ish. I will be back at it tomorrow.  I would say today but this evening I had pizza.  Whoops.  By the way, my stomach wasn't happy with me this morning.  It really is necessary for me to follow a Paleo lifestyle because if I don't I pay for it!

This morning I did start the day off right with my sweet potato and yam fries topped with two sunny side up eggs and homemade mayo. Very TAsty Tuesday indeed! 

Breffis and sweet potatoes or yams?

Know what I discovered upon moving (back) to California?  

Yams and sweet potatoes are not the same thing!  What I had been calling sweet potatoes and the East coast grocery stores called that as well were actually YAMS!  I really thought they were one in the same.  

But upon visiting the local grocery store I found two bins- one with sweet potatoes and the other with yams.  The yams have more color. If you look at the picture of my sweet potato fries you will see they almost look like regular ole' Idaho white potatoes (they have paprika on them hence the color.) But they are not.  And I think they are a little sweeter than yams.  Very yummy in either case.

My breffis (breakfast) (as we jokingly call it in our house), consists of leftover sweet potato fries and a chicken thigh.  I topped the chicken with two sunny side up eggs and added a good measure of homemade mayo on the side.

Here's to making it a great day. :)

Apples are yummy and yes I am back (again)

Haven't blogged in a while, blah blah, two moves, major life changes, new state (California!!). You know, life happens.

I am on day eight of my Whole 30-ish.  I hate Whole 30 because it restricts from eating out or doing anything unplanned.  But I needs it!  Seriously, I was looking and feeling like a big pile of stinky doo doo.  My eating was just too far off track. Let me tell you I feel a world better and even look better after just eight days.

So Whole 30-ish.  The "ish" means I went out to eat (twice so far), and ate as clean as possible- but I don't know if the bacon had sugar in it (probably) and the cranberries in my salad did for sure.  I did my best.  I am not considering it a cheat because then I think I need to let loose and eat crap.  

Oh- the apple.  I was still hungry after my brunch of chicken salad with an avocado so I grabbed an apple on my way to run errands.  That Apple was delicious.  

Know what I love the best about eating clean?  That eating something as simple and fresh like an apple is so rewarding and delicious.  Get all of the toxic sugar and fake sugar out of your body and your taste buds can appreciate nature's real desserts.

Seriously, it was a damn good apple.  (That's Apollo doing his "look at my soft white bellay come pet me" pose.)

Now go eat an apple.

How Nancy Got Her Groove Back...

I just realized I didn't post for all of March.  That makes a little sad seeing how I started off the year so well.  So goes life, huh?

So to recap from my last post- I announced my two year CrossFit anniversary, posted a yummy recipe and then I fell off the face of the Earth.  Seriously, I fell into a big FUNK.  I had participated in my first ever CrossFit competition in the beginning of March.  It was fun, I seriously enjoyed myself.  Plus, I got to see some old friends, so a good time was had all around.  But...

When it was all said and done I placed like 15 out of 18 in the scaled devision.  And while I was glad not to be last and proud of myself for competing- it wore at me a little by little.  Eventually I just felt flat out depressed about that and everything.  See- I was comparing myself to others.  I was comparing myself- someone who had never ever ever been athletic whatsoever, someone who is quite uncoordinated, to those who are younger, and are natural athletes.  I was feeling bad because these people who have been doing CrossFit for at least half the time that I have- and they were passing me up.  I felt and do still at times, feel, frustrated at how hard I have had to work to get to where I am.  And I am not where I wanted to be at this point!  So you go ahead and put two and two together.... Yep
It was a PITY PARTY.

This is the first place I have even talked about this.  This is a confession, folks.  This is very hard for me to write, very.

So my question is- am I expecting too much from myself- someone who is pushing 40, who HAS made great progress compared to where she was before, and someone who was never athletic to begin with?  Or have I given up too easily?  Do I just need to put on my big girl panties and toughen the EFF up??  Do I just need to work harder and be more consistent?

Probably a little of both sides.

Anyhoo, I am back at it again.  I picked myself up off the floor, wiped my tears, and hit the gym.

But do you want to know what is really inspiring me to go at it, and go harder?  My husband.  He finally started CrossFitting with me.  I have been bugging him forever to go.  And he finally did it.  He drank the Kool-Aid (Paleo of course.)

I can't tell you how excited I was for him to join me.  Maybe with his permission he will let me post before and after pics.  He is going to do his first Whole 30 with me next month.  This is going to be epic.

So now, I have to set that example.  Yeah maybe I suck sometimes, but as long as I am giving it my all then who cares?

I don't know if I have posted this before- but I found this on Facebook and thought it hit the mark:

I think I need more bacon....

2 year CrossFit Anniversary! (AKA yummy egg celebration)

I realized this morning as I was brushing my teeth that today is my two year CrossFit Anniversary.  Two years ago I walked into the gym for my very first CrossFit work out.  I was so very nervous, in fact I was ready to cry I was that anxious about it all.  The night before I dreamt that I showed up for my work out and everyone sneered at me and were even angry about me being there- I was the "FNG".

So how did it go?  First off I could not even do a decent push up on my knees and lets not get started on my squats (which I had never attempted before that day.)  My first WOD was Cindy- which is traditionally 20 minute AMRAP of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups and 15 squats.  Since it was my first work-out my coach had me do ten minutes.  Which, I have to say probably saved my life.  10 minutes was hard- I did jumping pull-ups, very shallow push-ups on my knees and very shallow squats.  My coach, who is now one of my dearest friends- looked me dead in the eye in the middle of my work out when I thought I was about to puke- "you are not going to throw up."  I didn't.  I went home after that- showered and took a two hour nap.  The next several days were painful- I could barely walk down the stairs and sitting down to pee was a feat in itself (I had to hold on the walls around me).  It sounds awful but I was in love.  After only two weeks I knew I was stronger already.  It works that fast.

Fast forward two years later-
Initially I lost twenty pounds and two dress sizes within the first 6 months (I started eating paleo about a month after I started CrossFit).  I have gained eight of those pounds back, but still fit into the same clothes- which means I have gained a ton of muscle.  My one rep max for deadlift is now 205- I worked hard for that!  I cannot RX all WODs- which to be honest a lot of people can't or choose not to- but that is a discussion for another day.  Two years ago I couldn't even run one lap around the track without stopping- the other day I went for a nice 2 mile run with no problems.  I am a little disappointed I still can't do a kipping pull-up- but to be honest I haven't worked hard enough for it.  I have never had any upper body strength.  I played volleyball in high school and couldn't even serve the ball overhanded- I had to hit it from the side.  But now I have real muscles in my arms!  Let me tell you I am proud of them too.
To sum it up- I am stronger, leaner, faster and more confident.  I am part of a community of like minded individuals who share this passion with me- to be stronger, faster, healthier.  I hope to pass it on to my children.  I shudder to think of all the time I threw away sitting on the couch because I had no energy to do anything.  The times when my children wanted to me to go out and play with them but all I could do was sit and watch because I felt too tired.  I really wish CrossFit had come into my life a lot sooner!

To celebrate this milestone I made the most delicious eggs.  I saw a recipe somewhere on FaceBook- can't remember where- but I just know it had eggs, avocado and bacon in it.  That is what inspired me to make this dish.

Green Eggs and Bacon (a tribute to Dr. Seuss's birthday which is March 2nd.)

1/2 green pepper- diced

1 ripe avocado- peeled and diced

1 tablespoon coconut oil

3 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

3 strips of bacon- cooked and crumbled

1/4 cup diced tomatoes

cilantro (half handful or however much you like)

hot sauce (I like Tapatios)

Heat pan on medium high heat- add coconut oil.  Stir fry green pepper until it starts to brown slightly, add avocado.  Cook veggies until the avocado starts to brown slightly.  Whisk the eggs in a bowl- season with salt and pepper.  Add to veggies and scramble the eggs with the veggies.  Once the eggs are cooked, immediately scoop out on a plate.  Top with tomatoes, cilantro (I just break up the leaves with my hands), and crumbled bacon.  Add a dash or two or three of hot sauce.  Enjoy!