cleaning up with paleo eats

Posted on
12

After overdosing on christmas cookies and other sweets straight through new year’s eve, I am trying to get myself back on track to healthy eats and regular workouts.  Since I absolutely hate ‘January joiners’ (sorry you people), not to mention the term itself, I got up ass early to get a workout in before I went to work this morning.  I did this last January and loved having the weights all to my lonesome and my pick of treadmills.  Definitely going to try to keep this up a few times a week.  The best part is when I’m home from work, I exercise the pup and I’m D-O-N-E for the day.  Glorious.  Coming from a 100% NOT MORNING PERSON.  If I can do it, so can you!  End rant.  I believe I had this same rant last year…new content whaaaaatt?

When sweet stuff is around me, I have THE hardest time avoiding it…I want to sample one of everything.  Bad!!  Holidays are one thing, but normal life, no way.  Sooo in an effort to get out of sweets mode, last week I did a wegman’s/trader joe’s overhaul and stocked up on plenty of fresh veggies and organic, grass-fed meats that should last me at least a couple of weeks with a fruit/veggie run in-between. 

The first dish I whipped up was paleo beef stew, tweaking this recipe slightly.

kerrygold beef paleostew

  • I browned 1lb of wegman’s organic, grass-fed stew beef in pastured butter and threw it into my rice cooker, making sure not to cook it through.
  • In the same pan, added more butter and quickly cooked a big handful of trader joe’s tiny potatoes (they are literally super MINI), carrots, celery, onion, plus a few cloves of minced garlic in the same pan with salt, pepper, and herbs.  Instead of fresh as called for, I used dried rosemary and thyme…about 1/2 – 1 tsp each, I never measure anything exactly. 
  • This cooked for about 5 minutes then I added the veggie mix to the beef along with stock and a can of diced tomatoes. 
  • Cooked with rice cooker on simmer, closed for 2 hours, open for about 30 minutes.

The stew turned out great and best of all, made a hefty 4-5 servings, the last of which I ate for lunch today.  RIP yummy stew…I am totally making it again soon.  Highly recommend!

The past few mornings, I’ve had eggs fried in pastured butter or bacon fat with bacon, veggies and/or fruit.  Plus a cup of coffee with either half & half or heavy cream.  This and various types of cheese are the only dairy products I’ve had for quite a few weeks other than a full-fat plain latte yesterday afternoon.  Coffee dates with my girlfriends are exceptions! 

For lunches, I’ve been eating leftovers, and dinners have been a mash up of meat/veggies/salads.  Tonight, I had leftover pot roast from my parents’ classic new years day feast (LOVE), along with sauerkraut, unsweetened applesauce, massaged kale salad with lemon juice, olive oil, sea salt, yellow bell pepper, mango, pomegranate arils, and sunflower seeds, plus a small side of sweet potato fries.

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Dark chocolate chips and popcorn for dessert…I still have a case of the snackies!!

Well happy new year and keep my ass accountable…my face will be clearer for it Smile

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2012 weeeeeeeeeee.  Let’s do this.

4.

Posted on
4

…number of miles I ran today, almost the number of months post knee surgery (15 weeks to be exact) and lastly, days til I return to work (ew).

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I am enjoying this ^^^ way too much. 

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Sorry to wake you, Stella. 

It’s been pretty relaxing around here and I like it to the umpteenth power.  I was in hilton head, SC visiting family for a few days over christmas and got back late tuesday night.  It was nice to spend some time in warmer weather and now I  have a couple of days to unwind and just be.  And stop my marathon of christmas cookie eating.

Yesterday, Heather drove into the city and we attempted to brunch at my favorite spot.  Apparently everyone else in Philly decided that was their plan, too and the wait at Honey’s was 40 minutes.  We ended up at Sabrina’s (callowhill location) instead.  Unfortunately, we were not impressed…strike 2, Sabrina’s, I won’t be back.  But conversation was lovely and who cares about the food when you have your best friend in town?  Certainly not me!  BTW, her professional wedding photos came back and they turned out gorgeous, don’t ya think?!  I can’t wait to see the rest!

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After I bid Heather farewell, I hit the gym for a semi-hardcore, total body workout.  I’ve done a ton of upper body work but minimal weights involving my lower body.  I don’t really count physical therapy as working out anymore, and I haven’t gone in a few weeks.  I won’t be going to PT again until I am actually cleared to start doing jumping and cutting exercises where I will need supervision.  Especially not when they’re charging me $60 for…ice. 

I did get fitted for a custom brace at the advice of my mom’s friend who is a physical therapist.  I ran on it twice, low mileage, and ended up being in way more pain WITH the brace than running without it.  I had to take a full week off from the gym after using it, I was in that much pain.  My knee doc doesn’t normally fit his patients for braces unless requested, and now I see exactly why.  So I am rolling without the brace for everything.  I ran 3 miles with Stella for 3 consecutive days while in Hilton Head and did a TON of stretching afterwards.  I felt (and feel) great and I am finally noticing less stiffness at the back joint of my knee…psyched for that!  I feel like I turned yet another corner in recovery. 

My 4 miles today was the farthest I have run since late July and even though I max out at about 8 mph when I’m ‘sprinting’, I have no complaints.  Though I am far off from low 8 minute miles, I’m slowly but surely getting back to my old self and there’s definitely a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  To ring in the new year, I’ll be working on the booty…it’s been neglected for far too long. 

That sounds bad but youknowwhatImean.

venison stuffed peppers

Posted on
3

This is an ultra easy and fairly normal version of the classic stuffed pepper.  I subbed wild rice, cooked in my rice cooker, for regular old white and venison for ground beef.  Don’t skimp on the sauciness because it totally makes the dish.  It’s pretty hard to f*ck up stuffed peppers unless they’re dry…NOOOObody likes dry stuffed peppers!  I am a huge fan of prepping the peppers, as opposed to baking them from raw, too…huge time saver.

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Venison Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground venison (or ground beef/poultry)
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • butter
  • olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon basil
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • salt & pepper
  • 3-4 bell peppers, halved
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice
  • 1, 16-24 oz jar marinara sauce (I used wegman’s brand)
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Put a pot or deep sauté pan with about 1” of water on boil.  Rinse peppers, trim tops and innards, then slice them in half lengthwise.  Blanch for about 3 minutes in boiling water, just to take the bite out of them but be careful because you don’t want soggy peppers!  You could also do this step in the microwave.  Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce into a baking dish and top with the drained peppers, cavity side up.
  3. In a separate pan, heat about a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil on medium high.  Add onions and garlic, cook for about 1 minute, then add venison, spices, salt and pepper and brown until fully cooked.
  4. Mix rice, about a cup of marinara, and meat mixture until combined.  Make sure you have enough sauce so that your mixture is moist, but not drippy.  Stuff peppers, top with a healthy spoonful of sauce and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.  Bake for about 25 minutes, uncovered.  Serve and top with excess sauce scrounged from the bottom of the baking dish!

Lunches this week just got way more exciting.

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Have a great week…4 days until freedom for me!  I am 100% in the christmas spirit already…as shown by our stolen santa hats at the bar on saturday night and the copious amounts of christmas cookies I’ve made.  And no, I do not know these boys hahaha. 

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vegan blondies…plus or minus m&m’s

Posted on
8

Who knew you could put tofu in blondies?  Certainly not me…until yesterday! I have been on a mad Christmas baked goods spree the last couple of days and this is one of the sugary confections I made.  My recipe basically comes straight out of Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, with a few minor adjustments.  I have tried a number of recipes out of this book, but this is by far my favorite.  I ended up doubling the recipe, but the quantities below are for one 8×8 inch baking pan.

mmblondies

Vegan (plus or minus the m&m’s) Blondies

Ingredients:

  • 3 oz. firm (or extra firm – what I used) tofu (1/4 package)
  • 1/4 cup soy or other nondairy milk
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate m&m’s (or other add-ins)

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Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8×8 inch baking pan with parchment paper – make sure you don’t skip this step because they are sticky suckers.
  2. In a blender, puree tofu, soy milk and oil until smooth, or about a minute. 
  3. Transfer tofu mixture to a large mixing bowl.  Mix in sugars and vanilla.
  4. Sift in dry ingredients until just combined.  Fold in m&m’s and/or other add-ins and pour into baking pan.  Smooth out the batter from the center – if it doesn’t hit the sides completely, that’s ok because it will spread a tiny bit.
  5. Bake for about 30-32 minutes, or until edges are ever so slightly browned.  Let cool about an hour before slicing and serving (or freezing).
  6. To freeze these, cook, cool, slice and store in a large ziplock baggie with parchment and all…seems to be the best method I’ve found for my other cookies as well!

Are you cooking delicious Christmas confections this week??  Time to drop me some tasty recipes…

what the what

Posted on
3

Thanks for all of your kind words about my friend!  They mean a lot and made me feel better.  I have yet another memorial to attend this weekend…not a good week wtf!  Glad I have a dog to hug.  One that steals her Christmas presents straight out of the bag, I might add.  If you need a laugh, you’ve got to read this one…it had me laughing to tears.

Dog shenanigans!

Anyway, thankfully I woke up Tuesday with a way better attitude.  I also got back into a good cooking/lunch prepping routine this week, too.  The week after chili cookoff 2011 went down, I attempted to make a batch of soup in my trusty slowcooker.  But apparently all trust was gone because I went to stir it an hour later, I realized the electric face was working fine but the soup was not even luke warm, d’oh.  That’s what I get for buying the cheapest [crockpot brand cough] slow cooker out there.  My guess is chili fest killed the heating element but who knows.

Since I use the thing at least once a week, I decided to invest in another, slightly better option.  I went with a rice cooker that has simmer, etc. functions.  For its first test run, I added 2 cups of dry jasmine rice + appropriate water and into the water/rice went two raw chicken breasts seasoned with sea salt and heavily with trader joe’s 21 seasoning salute.  Literally pressed a button for ‘white rice cook’ and let it do its thang.

About 45 minutes later, I had delicious chicken + fluffy rice.  All I had to do was add some veggies!  So good.  I highly suggest you try cooking chicken or another protein if you have a rice cooker.  It’s not the BEST MEAL EVER but it absolutely gets the job done.  I am the laziest person on the planet and this is quite the lazygal’s dream dinner.  I made chicken and veggie fried rice with my leftovers last night and it was equally yummy, as always.  Toasted sesame oil never fails me.

Ran my first 5k straight through last night!  BOOM.  11 weeks out of surgery biatttttch.  I don’t gloat, do I?

I have learned to celebrate even the smallest of successes.  For me, that was a sub 10 minute 5k pace.  I went all the way up to 7.0 mph by the end but decided not to push it TOO much yet…this is only my 3rd 5k since beginning to jog again.  Sore today but nothing a little ice and stretching can’t fix.  I’m planning to hit up spin later tonight and that definitely helps the knee mobility.  I went at 6am on monday morning and have a new favorite instructor.  He sooo doesn’t look like a house/techno/upbeat spin music kinda dude but to my surprise, he is!  Word. up.  A welcome change from the saturday fill-in who was playing angry goth screaming punko music (and I almost walked out).

I actually canceled my physical therapy appointment this week because I got bombed with an insurance bill last week listing a bunch of excess charges from october/november sessions.  I am pretty pissed about it because this is in addition to paying my high copay for each session already.  There are worse things in life though, and the good news is that I am doing pretty spiffy rehabbing all by myself.

I haven’t decided how I’m going to proceed, but since I’m not allowed to progress with plyometric type exercises for another couple of months, I’m gonna hang tight and keep working out on my own.  Come January, I will have slightly different insurance that is more geared toward high up-front cost and low/no copay for therapy.  Obviously I had no clue I would ever need PT this past year…but yeesh, I am thankful for having health insurance in the first place, despite the BS.

One day til the weekend!  We are definitely chest-deep in christmas party season and I love this time of year :)  If anyone has a costume idea (holiday themed) for me for saturday night, shoot it out there!

Posted on
9

I haven’t really been myself the past few days and obviously had no energy to blog.  I feel better today, but MAN life certainly has a way of going wonky in multiple areas at once.  I know we wouldn’t appreciate the great times without getting through the not so good ones though.

Last week, I found out a friend passed away of a brain tumor and leukemia after a decade-long fight.  She was so young…too young.  She fought to the fullest and lived her life passionately.  She was one of the kindest, most amazing people I’ve had the honor of knowing.  A mom, wife, physician.  A woman who urged me to hit goals head on and listen to my gut when in doubt.  I know she shaped parts of every person she touched, as she did a small part of me.

Yesterday, I joined a mammoth outpouring of family and friends to say goodbye to her.  I was a seriously hot mess when I left her memorial and I can’t even imagine how her family must be feeling.  My heart goes out to them.

I used to be unaffected by death when I was younger.  I literally didn’t have a physical or emotional reaction other than feeling sad and, honestly quite awkward that the people around me were mourning.  Then my uncle passed away of cancer.  That’s the first time I was able to really begin to process death.  Over the last few years after that, something in me really changed and I have quite a difficult time with it now, especially when someone is taken way before they should leave this earth.  Needless to say, being on the verge of tears for almost a week has been draining.  But yesterday was uplifting and I learned quite a few things about life and living it.

By nature (hello fellow virgos), I am someone who needs DETAILS, plans, perfection.  However, life’s not at all perfect and you can’t expect everything to be set in stone all the time.  You have to mix it up.  A lot.  This was part of my goal in 2010, my year of being 25, and I definitely achieved it.  Ironically some pretty flipping awesome future plans were a direct result of mixing it up and living carefree.  Funny how that works.

Love your life, love your family, love your friends.  Don’t dwell.  Forgive.  Have fun.  Make every day count and don’t take them for granted…I am definitely guilty of this sometimes.  I think we can all use a reminder every so often.

Giving blood this afternoon in remembrance of A.  She will be greatly missed.

And a biggggg happy birthday to my POPTASTES! :)