Food for thought

Milk is just filtered cow's blood

-Loren Cordain

Week 4

Update.

Still no drinking - which makes Annette a sad girl, but eh, I am determined to make the 6 weeks.
What I like about this challenge is that I am learning A LOT and there is a lot that I still want to research.
This week I am going to CUT OUT the almond butter - it is WAY too easy for me to over-do. In general I am cutting back on nuts - but nuts aren't as easy for me to go crazy on like the temptress almond butter. I am also cutting back on apples. Which means that I am upping my protein - which means I need to prepare more - which means planning - which is no fun. Last night I was cooking some ground turkey - and about 3 people came into the kitchen right as the raw meat slid out of it's casing. They all stared at the pan. My friend Doug said "Um... enjoy your meat, Annette..." Awesome.

Sidenote - CUMIN is rad.

A Definitive Guide to Oils

Here is a great breakdown of all the different types of oils out there. What to use and what to avoid.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/healthy-oils/

Enjoy

Coconut is Awesome.

Another week. Check. I have been listening to the podcast by Robb Wolf - good stuff. It has put a lot of sense behind paleo eating - and for me - when sense is applied it makes it easier for me to make these choices. This weekend I purchased some lovely coconut milk and have made some delicious meals with it. I had some pre-sliced chicken breast from PCC - I cooked it with a little coconut oil and then I added the milk - I then cut in some cauliflower - and seasoned with cinnamon. It was amazing. The day before I did a very similar dish, but I started with one whole sweet onion and my meat was lean ground turkey. My favorite spices right now are cinnamon, cumin, and cayenne.

chocolate fix

Tastes like chocolate banana cake (well almost)

Grill, broil, or saute banana slices (cut in half and then lengthwise) until gooey.

Sprinkle with unsweetened cocoa powder (I like Trader Joe's). Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.

Mix together in a bowl and enjoy. Eat while warm.

ordering meat

A few folks have expressed an interest in the Thundering Hooves meat, so I thought I'd post ordering instructions. The next delivery is next Friday, 1/22, at 9:20am.

Go to www.thunderinghooves.net. Click on the "Go Shopping" button and pick your cuts of meat. Each cut you add to your basket will prompt you to pick a delivery location. Scroll down to "Friday, Jan 22 / Pioneer Square Buying Club / 9:20am." They send you an email with the exact amount before the delivery, then you bring a check made out to them or cash when you pick it up (or get a check to me for that amount sometime before Friday at 9:20am).
Fyi -- on the first page of the website, there's a coupon for first time orderers for $20 off.

Paleo Podcast

Robb Wolf does an awesome podcast that is free on iTunes all about the paleo diet.

http://robbwolf.com/

Robb answers all types of great questions about everything Paleo.

Now off to eat some more meat and fat...Yum

Apples are Awesome - Variety is Hard.

I had 3 apples yesterday.

THEY ARE SO EASY. I like easy. Especially when there is no time to be had.

I want my Paleo diet to vary - but I am finding that so very, very, hard. I do it in half-steps. Nay, strike that, quarter-steps.

I wish there was a vegetable that were as awesomely easy as an apple. Bell peppers come close. Carrots I stay away from... I hate celery... biting into an onion doesn't sound rad.

Today I have pre-chopped cauliflower... I try to fight the good fight.

It just happened....

Before i knew it, i had eaten half a jar of almond butter with a spoon.

And a cup of tea, after all, it is 4pm, I'm not completely uncivilized.

meat!

For anyone who's interested, I've set up a buying club for some really fantastic meat at my office, which is a block away from Xplore, from a farm in walla walla that produces really great meat -- local, sustainable, 100% grass fed, organic -- in short, vastly better for you (much better omega 3: omega 6 ratio than the grain fed stuff you get at the supermarket) and vastly better for the planet to boot.
Next delivery is Friday, 1/22; order deadline for that delivery is Monday, 1/18. Check out their website and/or email me for more info if you're interested.
www.thunderinghooves.net

More Recipes: Meatloaf & Slow-Cooked Chicken

Below are a few recipes I modified from the food network and tried over the weekend. They both turned out pretty tasty. Enjoy.

Italian Meatloaf:
I modified this recipe from the food network by Michael Chiarello. I put it into a loaf pan - I think if I would have used a baking dish, it would have fallen apart pretty easily.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red pepper, seeded,
small diced 1 onion, diced
2 teaspoons (about 3 cloves) chopped garlic
1 pound ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup of almond flour
2 tablespoons chopped basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat and add the peppers, onions and garlic. Saute until just soft, remove to a plate and cool.

When the peppers and onions are cool, combine all of the remaining ingredients together except for the marinara. Pack the meat mixture into an oiled loaf pan, if you do not have a loaf pan, form the meat mixture into a loaf shape on an oiled oven tray or baking dish. Top with the marinara making sure to spread evenly over the top.

Bake for approximately 50 to 60 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 degrees F in the middle of the meatloaf. Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice and serve.

____________________________________________

Slow Cooked Whole Chicken
I also modified this recipe from the food network by Emeril. I added thyme, rosemary and sage under the skin to add flavor to the meat. It turned out pretty tasty too.

Ingredients
1 whole chicken,
3 1/2 to 4 pounds
Cracked white pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced carrot
1/4 cup diced celery
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 lemon, juiced

Directions
Rinse the chicken both inside and out under cool running water. Pat dry. Season the chicken liberally both inside and out with pepper. Place in a slow cooker. Scatter the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, and lemon juice over top of the chicken. Cover the slow cooker and set the temperature to high. Cook for 6 hours, undisturbed.

a recipe or two

what a week. i was fairly close to paleo before i started this party so i thought this would be pretty easy. think again...
thought i'd share a few recipes/food ideas that i have found delicious. others, please do the same, i need more ideas!

1. baked pork and apples
ingredients: 1 pork tenderloin (usually a little over 1 lb), one large yellow onion, 3 large granny smith apples, olive oil, black pepper.
preheat oven to 375
season pork with a little black pepper (fennel seeds supposedly are good too, but i didn't have these and it was still delicious)
heat a little oil in pan, sear pork on all sides over high heat until browned, ~ 5 min, set aside
heat a little more oil in pan, add chopped onion, a minute or two later add sliced apple (sliced about 1/4 inch thick), cook until they just start to change color, ~5 min max
put pork on top of apples in a baking dish, transfer to the oven until the pork is done but not dry, about 15-20 min
serve and enjoy :) this should be enough for plenty of leftovers, or a meal for multiple people

2. swiss chard
hardly a recipe it's so simple, but somehow i needed a recipe to convince me to try cooking chard, and go figure, it's delicious..
ingredients: garlic, olive oil, red chard
slice several cloves of garlic, saute in olive oil over med-high heat for several minutes
slice chard (aprox. 1" thick), add to pan with a little water, cover and cook for 5 minutes, flip all of chard (so bottom is on top and vice versa) and cook, covered, for another 5 minutes

another super-simple veggie suggestion: red and yellow bell peppers and red onion sauted in olive oil and fresh lime juice -- the lime goes really well with the peppers.

rex, re breakfast, i've been stuck on that too -- jordan suggested making your own turkey sausage with ground turkey and finely chopped veggies. i'm going to give it a try this weekend, i'll let you know how it goes.

i chew gum like it is my job

okay. here has been my day so far... please someone what is something else besides an apple or a red pepper to eat in the morning - don't get me wrong, I love them - but variety is HARD... so ideas?
bfast 7am - 8am
red pepper
gold del apple
4 oz chicken breast - tarragon style from pcc
1 cocoa nib cookie (yum)
930
1 cocoa nib cookie
1030
2 eggs (whole) w/ nutrional yeast
11am
goji berries
1:00
gold del apple
1:30
chix from bfast - 4oz

i want chocolate every night

is this what we're doing? All posting like this? ok, Im going then....

I feel that my schedule is the busiest that i have had since I have moved to seattle, so my meals are all fairly monotonous and leftover-ey. I am eating paleo and zoning my proportions of protein (I aim for 18 blocks of meat/egg= 126 grams of protein) and eating about 36 blocks of fat (olive oil, avocados, pecans, walnuts, macadamia nuts, almonds).

No, zoning your meals is not part of the challenge, this is just how i am rolling, so i am sharing.

Since the volume of veggies required for me to meet my block requirements would also require me to spend 1/3 of my day in the commode (due to fiber, not because veggies are bad for you) I usually eat at least 1 piece fruit per meal (usually 2). In the end, i don't really count anything that has to do with weight with fruits and vegetables, i just making certain that some member of the species is represented on my plate (or tupperware) and i go by two rules:

1. lettuce never counts for anything (not even the spring mix) and

2. there needs to be at least as much or more of it than whatever protein I'm consuming.

Breakfast 8am:

4 hardboiled eggs (from the night before, let to sit in cold water on the stove)

1 apple (honey crisp)

5 table spoons of almond butter (for every piece of apple)

8 oz green juice from trader joes (the sweet stuff, not the stuff that tastes like compost pile)

Lunch 11am:

4 oz chicken (cooked in coconut milk) over raw kale (leftovers from dinner)

1 pear

1 handful of trailmix (hazelnuts, raisins, almonds)

10 oz coffee

Snack at 4pm:

4 oz chicken (same as above..)

handful of pecans

spoonful of almond butter

2 tangerines

Dinner 930pm:

7 oz lean ground turkey, sauteed with onions in olive oil

~ cup sauteed spinach (from frozen bag)

4 small zuccini squash, roasted in oven drizzled with olive oil

handful of mini-heirloom tomatoes

1/4 cup marinara sauce (organic tomato, basil, no salt)

Desert: 1 blood orange, quartered, roasted under broiler for 7 minutes, covered with cinnamon

and some chamomile tea.

And i drank about 4 liters of water throughout it all.

I cooked on sunday, so leftovers carry me through my lunches till wednesday, and ill cook again wednesday night.

Cheating but not cheating

So only one Sunday has transpired since the start of the challenge but it would appear that it is a cheat day for me. There is cheating and then there is cheating. With very little effort one can find a myriad of "paleo" dessert recipes that can help with the carb cravings that make you want to steal candy from children. Here is a link to my favorite so far. Just a little note that may or may not be from personal experience: eating 9 or more of these cookies in one sitting does not fuel optimal performance.

Also... this looks good

Yum Num Tok--Thai beef salad

Sirloin steak, grilled and sliced into very thin slices
Chopped red onions equal to the amount of steak
Cilantro, chopped
Spearmint
Scallions, chopped
Olive oil
2 or so dried hot peppers, crushed
Lime

Grill the steak. Let cool; slice. Chop onions and sauté if desired. Let cool. Add to steak. Chop cilantro, scallions, and mint. Crush hot peppers; add to olive oil. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Squeeze 3/4 of lime, to taste. Sprinkle with slivered almonds.

Not drinking on the weekends

Is tough. But I succeeded. Go sober me.

Portable Protein.

I struggle with this one. Eggs and Meat. Is there anything else...?

what annette ate today

i know. i know. you are waiting. grasping at the edge of your seat. to know to glimpse what i have ingested today. fear no more, the time has come. see below. ask questions if you have them. and yes i realize i could be more detailed. but that is so boring.

7am
Apple
Ground Turkey
7 Cashews.
6oz 2 shot Americano
930
2 Eggs (whole)
craving sugar (10am) --- sweet sugar...
12:39
2.5 oz chicken breast (from whole foods - so sadly - salted)
2.5 cups veggies raw green bell peppers - zucchini * yellow squash (from whole foods - so sadly - salted)
3pm
dried raspberries
1/2 oz goji berries
8 cashews - finally got raw ones
1oz chicken breast
8pm
3 cups brocolli cooked w/ olive oil - flavored with a touch of salt and truffle oil
3 oz ground turkey cooked w/ 1 onion and garlic -

see look! dinner - note the lovely xmas plate - festive eating...

Prep and Cook

As I'm on day 4 of this 'party', I realize that I need to be thinking at least 24 hours ahead for every meal. I need to prep the meat (taken out of the freezer) and make sure I've got my ingredients. It REALLY sucks to be hungry and not have the right food available (with my roommates food laying around).

Over the weekend, I went to the farmer's market and bought a whole Coho Salmon for $30 - averaged about $6/pound. I got home and filletted it, froze it and now I'm set with one good protein source. I also have locally produced beef and lamb available. If anyone wants to talk local meats, I've got lots of resources.

One easy recipe I made this week - was an easy egg dish - tasted real good.

Ingredients:
3 Brown Organic Eggs
3 Cloves of Garlic
1 Shallot
Braising Greens (Kale, Chard, Beet Greens etc)
Can of Tuna (high grade, locally 'produced - bought at the farmer's market - St Jude Fishing Vessel, for example).
Olive Oil

I started by sauteing the Shallots and Garlic in Olive Oil. After they turned a bit translucent, I added in the canned Tuna (if you haven't had this tuna, it ain't your mamma's - it's a whole chunk of high grade tuna). After heating up the tuna I added a big generous handful of the Braising Greens. Cooked those down a bit and added the eggs, scrambled.

This was tasty and had enough left over for the next day's breakfast.

here it is

okay - so it is unfancy and uncapitlized and unspelled - but here is my attempt to establish a sense of community for this challenge. a place to share - well whatever you feel like sharing. for example ... let me tell you about what i ate today (you can see that i am not as precise as perfect - but i try):

7am
2shot americano (didn't finish it) trying to cut caffeine too, sigh...
1 gold del apple
3 oz ground turkey
7 cashews
9:30am
1 yellow pepper
1.5 oz natural turkey deli slices
11:45
salad
mixed greens, broccoli, scoop cubed chix, bell peppers, olives, mushrooms, vinegar dash olive oil
3 almonds
3:15
red pepper
4 cashews
3:40pm
goji berries
pumpkin seeds
730pm dinner
4 egg whites (cooked) w/ 1/4 avocado
3.5 cups - broccoli, mixed bell peppers, mushrooms - cooked w/ olive oil - added a splash of truffle oil for flavor