Category: Health & Fitness

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Good recipes and general fitness

heather

I tried a new recipe and rehashed an old favorite this week.

First of all, I took another go at this Quick and Easy Meatball Soup.  To make things go quicker, I made the meatballs and cut up the veggies the night before.  I also altered the meatball recipe a tad; since I was short on almond meal, I flushed out the requirement with some coconut flour.  In regards to the veggies, I had no onions, zucchini or squash, but I did have a green pepper, so I threw that in instead.  I cut up all the veggies, including the garlic, and stuffed it all in a ziploc baggie.  The next evening, I threw it all in a pot, and we had delicious soup 30 minutes later.  I don’t know if the herbs had time to soak into the meatballs or what, but the soup turned out fantastic.  The recipe also makes a ton.  We had it for supper, breakfast, lunch, breakfast, and lunch.  So good.  And yes, it’s perfectly acceptable to eat soup for breakfast.

I also tried a new recipe – Grain-Free Zucchini Pancakes.  Timmy Tee was sweet enough to  go to the Farmers Market for me on Saturday, so we were flush with zucchini, and I felt like trying something new for breakfast.  I have to say that I believe the name “pancakes” is a misnomer here.  These were more like omelettes than pancakes.  They were still tasty, but they were super runny.  I ended up scrambling a few of them because I tried to flip them before they truly set up.  Not sure I’ll make these again.  If I want paleo pancakes, I’ll make these Carrot Cake Pancakes again.  These are what I actually wanted to make, but we were all out of damned almond flour.  Greatest Grains was out in their bulk section, and HyVee’s was $11.99 per package, which I refused to pay.  I’ll have to get some one way or another before next weekend.

Overall, it was a good weekend, food-wise and life-wise.  I volunteered for a few hours at the Nahant Marsh Fall Festival, helping to gather seeds of the Partridge Pea and the False Aster. It was a COLD job, but at least I am 3 hours further into my 32 hour Master Conservationist volunteer commitment.  Plus, I was rewarded with hot cider and roasted chestnuts afterwards.  Well, I had to pay for them, but they were still tasty.  I had never had roasted chestnuts before.  They kind of taste like raw potatoes.  I really liked them, but Tim wasn’t a fan.  They do taste much better warm.

After that Tim and I ran 5 miles and then biked downtown to the Front Street Tasting Lounge, where we indulged in a a pint and watched the river.  Then we headed to  Great River where some Chatty Cathy talked our ears off while we had a Brown Pumpkin (Farmer Brown mixed with Pumpkin Ale) and a Pale Ale.  After supper at the real Front Street, we tackled the chilly ride home.  And here is where I get to the “general fitness” portion of my title.  It is so obvious to me biking home from downtown Davenport how much more fit I am this year than last.  Sure, the hills up the valley still tire me out, but I can OWN them.  I no longer feel like crying biking up them.  I love that feeling of strength.

It was a fun day, and it was great to be outside, but 3 pints is too much beer for 125 lb Hlo.  My throat hurt, and I slept horrible.  So, today I had to buy some whiskey so I wouldn’t be tempted to drink more harmful beer. 😉  I got Buffalo Trace whiskey.  It was only $1 more than Jack, and I thought it would be fun to try something new.  Plus, I liked the picture of a buffalo on the bottle.  Yes, I’m distracted by pretty pictures.  Anyway, it’s pretty good.  My boss picked me up some Templeton Rye from Fareway last week ($37 at Fareway – $47 at Target!!!), but I figured I should save the expensive stuff for something special.

Hope you had a great weekend!  Tim bought a duck at the Farmers Market, per my behest.  Now I need an awesome duck recipe!  The freaking bird was $25, so it better be damned delicious!!  Send me a recipe if you have a good one.

Take care! Hlo-out!

Health & Fitness

The 20% (aka Thursday, October 4th)

heather

Whenever anyone asks me about the primal diet, I always mention and advocate the 80/20 rule – follow the primal plan 80% of the time, and you’ll be alllll right.

Well, tonight I used up all my 20% in one gluttonous evening!  It started with eating the chips and salsa at Azteca (I usually abstain), progressed to 2 whiskey and sodas and at least 2 cups of popcorn at Pints, escalated to 1/2 a pint of Late Night Snack Ben & Jerry’s, and culminated in a homemade pumpkin bar.  Wow.  Sugar overload.  Why you ask?? Well, I weighed in at 126.5 today, which is about 4 lbs less than where I want to be.  I could either eat copious amounts of sweet potatoes or a whole mess of cheat foods.  I chose the latter.  The ironic thing is that I sent my “primal success story” to Mark Sisson of MarksDailyApple.com, and he actually responded!  He might publish my story some Friday!  But, by the time it gets published, I’ll be all fat and sassy from ice cream and vegetable oil & cream-cheese laden pumpkin bars.  Oh well, it was a nice ride while it lasted…

Take care, and have a wonderful evening!  Here’s hoping that tomorrow is a more moderate day! 😉

Health & Fitness

Sugar Detox Day 2

heather

I fell a little off the wagon today.  At first it was unintentional, and then it became intentional.

I got a salad from the HyVee salad bar and loaded up on veggies, chicken, and pickled herring.  I figured I hardly ever eat fish at home, so I should take advantage of fish on the salad bar.  As I started to chow down, however, I felt my mouth become all phlegmy.  That damned pickled herring was loaded with sugar!  Who knew!?

For supper I met some friends in Muscatine.  We ate at this amazing Mexican restaurant that is totally worth the 40 minute drive to Muscatine (not that meeting my friends wasn’t worth the drive in and of itself, of course).  I just HAD to taste their chips and salsa; I haven’t had it for 1.5 years!  I got chicken tacos with avocado, fully intending to just eat the innards, but the corn tortillas looked too good to resist.  I ate the tortillas on 1 taco, and the insides of the rest of the tacos.  I got my just desserts however, when I went to the bathroom after eating my meal and had to dodge a cockroach to get back out of the bathroom.  Sigh.

Pollen count: 4.10 out of 12

Allergy symptoms:  Still had the head fog and the post nasal drip.  I’ve resisted taking Allegra so far…

General feelings:  I didn’t crave sugar much today at all. When I got home from supper I cut up a bunch of veggies – zucchini, green peppers, radishes, celery, carrots, & onions, so that I’ll have a good medley to cook with eggs tomorrow, as well as some healthy snacks for work.

Tomorrow is another day, as they say, so hopefully I can do better than I did today.

Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Sugar Detox Day 1

heather

Starting weights and measures:  Weight 129.6.  Bust 34.  Waist 28.25.  Hips 38.5

Pollen count: 5 out of 12

Allergy symptoms:  Head fog today.  No good!

General feelings:  I didn’t crave sugar until after supper.  For snacks I ate 1/2 a green apple and some almonds.  I bought two huge bags of pistachios at Walgreens.  They are calling to me even though I ate a massive amount of food for supper.

I’ve been snapping cracking and popping all over today.  My joints are super loud.  I think all the sugar from the past week has settled into them and crystallized.  It will be interesting to see how this diet affects the achy joints.

Hardest part to date:  NO GUM!  I chew gum constantly.  This sucks.

Health & Fitness

The binge before the purge

heather

So…

I’ve decided to do the 21 Day Sugar Detox.  I’m doing Level 3 since I’ve been eating paleo since January.  What does this mean?  Well, I will tell you.  It means Yes to lots of meat, fish, veggies, nuts, seeds, fats, oils, and water.  It means no to fruits, grains, legumes, refined carbs, dairy, all alcohol, and limited high carb veggies (like sweet potatoes).  Why would I do this to myself, you may ask?  I will tell you.

When I first started eating primally, I noticed almost immediately that my allergies were way better.  I used to wake up in the middle of night sneezing, with tons of disgusting snot just running out of my nose.  Within two weeks, this green fountain abated, only to return when I cheated by drinking wine at our company holiday party.  A light bulb went off – alcohol seemed to trigger/exacerbate my allergies.

Well, my allergies are back in full force.  I can only feel normal by taking Allegra every day.  I hate having to do that.  So, Reason #1 – I want to see if this detox will get my allergies under control.

Reason #2 – I’ve gotten into the habit of drinking regularly over the summer – not copious amounts, mind you – maybe 1-2 an evening or so.  But, it’s still not healthy behavior.  When I drink even 1 or 2 drinks, I am much less likely to make food at home (I feel like going out to eat), and I’m less likely to work out or to do anything productive (like write a blog post or paint).  So, I’m trying to reset my habit of casually drinking regularly.  I also read this great post on The Whole 9, and it just helped solidify my decision.

Reason #3 – I’ve become addicted to an evening snack/dessert of dark chocolate chips mixed with nuts and raisins.  I’ll eat supper and immediately want a bowl of this delectable mixture.  I know to people who are not paleo, this seems like a mild “cheat,” but it’s become a nightly habit, when it should become an occasional treat.  Again, I want to reset this to a healthier habit.  I’m never really HUNGRY after supper, my mind just thinks I want sugar.  I can beat this.  I know I can.

So, those are my 3 main reasons.  I do have some concerns, however.  I don’t want to lose any more weight.  I need to stay at my current weight, lest I have to buy MORE PANTS (FYI  – I still have a size 8-12 wardrobe for sale, if you’re interested!).  Since I’m a fairly heavy exerciser (I run 3-5 times per week and do pushups, pullups, squats, lunges on the off days), I will be following the modification for athletes and supplementing with some sweet potatoes – at least 1/2 cup per day.  I also purchased a Crossfit Daily Deal from our local paper, and I plan on starting that within the next couple of weeks.  I hope that I’ll have all the energy and calories I need to perform well there.

AND, I have a confession.  I’m only doing this for 17 days.  I have a work party on 10-11, and I plan to partake of a few alcoholic beverages that evening.  I know!  I know!  I’m cheating, of course.  But this is the best time of the worst time to do this.  The next few months are full of trips and visits, so I’m just going to go ahead and do it.

If you are interested in doing this as well, DON’T do what I did, which is binge on sugar and bad foods for a week before the Detox.  Yes, this week I ate Snickers, frozen yogurt, ice cream, pizza, heavy cream, etc. etc.  I felt like crap after every bad thing, but I still ate it.  I REALLY need a reset.  😉

I will post updates to let you know how I’m feeling and performing.  Wish me luck!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

The Week in Recipes

heather

We had some more great meals this week.    I rehashed some old favorites – Asian Pork Meatballs with Dipping Sauce, Sweet Potato Salad, Grilled Eggs with Mexican Chorizo.  They were all absolutely delicious.  I also tried two new recipes:

Moist Chocolate Zucchini Bread – This bread was super tasty.  I used 3/4 cup of almond butter, with a little smidge of macademia nut butter, since I didn’t have any sunbutter.  The title says it all – it was super moist and nice and chocolately.  I think you could even use less honey, and it would still taste great.

Cowboy Steak with Chimichurri Sauce – I used New York Strip steaks for this recipe (the recipe calls for “cowboy steaks.”  I have no idea what that is!!).  I used a fresh parsley and oregano from my garden, and the chimichurri sauce turned out delicious.  We don’t have high -quality olive oil in the house right now (just using the HyVee brand), but the sauce still turned out great.  Make this recipe!  You won’t be sorry!

And that was our week in food.  Now I need to jet to go by groceries for this week.  I think I’m going to try my hand at beet chips.  Wish me luck!

Health & Fitness

Cleaning the Closet

heather

If you are one of the about 5 people who actually read my blog, you will know that I’ve been following the primal/paleo diet/lifestyle since January of this year.  As a result, I’ve lost about 20 pounds and a few dress sizes.  I finally had time to clean out my closet today and found that I have about 30 pieces of clothing I need to get rid of.  I’m ready to commit to being my current size for the foreseeable future.  If I get rid of this stuff, I’ll have to!  I can’t afford to buy another whole new wardrobe!!

Here is a link to the list of clothes I’m getting rid of.  If you are interested in anything or everything, let me know.  I can send pics if needed.  If you want to buy the whole kit and caboodle, I’ll sell it to you for $75.  I think you’ll get a good deal, and I won’t have to deal with the people at the consignment store.

If you or anyone you know is interested, feel free to forward them the link.

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Another week of Paleo meals

heather

We didn’t do quite as well on our week of meal planning this week.  On Sunday we neglected to go to the store, which got us off kilter for the whole week.  We learned our lesson this week, however, and went to both HyVee AND Target on Sunday, despite shopping the whole day in Iowa City and Tanger.  We really didn’t feel like going out again once we got home, but I knew if we didn’t we would regret it!

I also hit the Farmer’s Market on Saturday and got lots of tasty stuff – chicken wings and thighs, ground pork, beef brats, a big, fat watermelon, peppers, and zucchini.  All of it is or will be delicious.

Despite our poor planning, we did make a few good meals this week.

Sweet Potato Chili Fries – I tweaked this recipe a little because the amount of spicy seasonings for the amount of meat seemed a little crazy to me.  I used a full pound of meat, and the chili was still as spicy as hell!  It still tasted good over the sweet potato fries, but it was intense.  We had the leftovers tonight.  Tim added a 28 ounce can of tomatoes to thin it out, and it was still spicy!  I didn’t feel like going to the work of making fries, so we just baked the sweet potatoes in the roaster oven, mashed them, poured the chili over them, and then garnished it with avocado.  I ate a HUGE bowl – my excuse being all I had for lunch was a wimpy lettuce wrap from Jimmy Johns.  Plus I’m in training for this week’s 5K!  Oh, by the way, I got a PR in the mile on Sunday – 8 minutes, 29 seconds!  My legs hurt like a mother today, but it was totally worth it.

Spicy Bison and Sausage Meat Muffins – This recipe made little, tiny meat loaves in the shape of muffins.  Tim really liked them.  I thought they tasted good, but they hurt my stomach for some reason.  I’m not a fan of garlic powder; I prefer to use fresh garlic.  Also, a meal that makes 2.5 pounds of meat for us is a little much.  If I were to make this recipe again, I think I would cut it in half and use fresh garlic.

And….that’s pretty much it for the week!  I told you – we slacked off this week.  BUT!  BUT!  We have tons of tasty recipes on tap for this week – lots of chicken, actually.  I’ll circle back with you all next week and let you know how they turned out.  I bought a new mandoline from Amazon, and I’m going to make beet chips.  I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Four Days In

heather

The “no eating out” thing is going well so far, no thanks to me.  I tried to convince the Timsy Tee to go out for supper on Friday night.  It just seemed wrong to stay at home on a Friday night!  He held firm, however, good man that he is, and we had a great supper at home.

I tried a few new recipes this week.  Here is a rundown:

Roasted Eggplant Stacks – This recipe actually turned out pretty tasty!  It was the first time I have cooked with eggplant.  Next time I think I will remove the skin before cooking the slices, as they were really tough.  I ended up cutting the skins off after the slices were cooked, and that was a hot, messy job.  I also found that fresh eggplant is very spongelike.  I poured olive oil (Tim is not a big fan of coconut oil, so I used olive oil instead) over all the slices and went back to rub it in, but it was all soaked in already!  You have to pour and spread each one individually.   I also put a fried egg (fried in copious amounts of ghee) on top instead of a poached egg, and that was delicious.  I did have a lot of eggplant leftover, however.  I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  It did not look very appetizing the next day.  I’m not sure I would make this recipe again, for that reason.

Too Easy Chicken Adobo – This recipe turned out OK.  I think I overcooked the chicken a bit.  It seemed dry.  I also used chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs (because that’s what I had in stock), so I’m sure that contributed to the dryness.  At $7/lb for chicken breasts, I was a little disappointed.  That’s crazy expensive for chicken.  I went to the Farmers Market yesterday and got a whole chicken instead of the breast, and that was only $2.50/lb!  Another thing – you cook this recipe with onions, and for some reason I do not like the smell of onions cooking in a sauce.  Overall, the chicken turned out good, and we ate it all, but I don’t think I would make this again.

Sweet Potato Salad – Again, I had to modify this recipe.  I have never seen purple Okinawan potatoes here in Davenport, IA, so I used regular old sweet potatoes.  I added in all the fixings he mentioned (jalapenos, pickles and green onions instead of chives), and it turned out delicious!  I struggled with the homemade mayo though.  I swear I’ve read you can make mayo in the food processor, so I tried it.  I added everything to the processor, less the oil, and then used the oil drizzler topper to pour in the oil.  I didn’t let the egg yolk come completely to room temperature, so that may have affected it too, but the mayo just wouldn’t thicken up!  I poured the whole, ultra-liquidy mess into a container and whisked the heck out of it, but I think it was too late.  It tasted OK, however, so I added it to the potato salad, and once it was in there, you couldn’t tell there was anything wrong with it.  I used 1/2 a cup of olive oil and 1/4 cup of avocado oil.  I didn’t have any dijon mustard, so I used a little Boetjes.  I have a lot of oil left over though, which is the issue with making homemade mayo – it only lasts about 3 days.  Maybe I’ll make egg salad for lunch with it today.  Anyway, this salad was delicious, and I’ll definitely make it again.

Grilled Eggs with Mexican Chorizo – To use an overused meme, NOM NOM!!  I had no idea that it is so easy to make your own chorizo!  This recipe turned out fantastic.  I have a huge bag of ancho chiles from my foray into carnitas territory, so I was all set on that front.  The chorizo turned out super tasty.  We are actually going to have the leftovers with eggs and avocado for breakfast this morning.  It was stormy, so we didn’t want to grill.  Instead, we turned on the Nesco roaster at 400 degrees, let it heat up, and then cooked the peppers/eggs/chorizo for about 13 minutes.  The peppers were perfectly cooked.  I would definitely make this again.  However, I cut the entire stem out of the peppers this time; whereas, next time I will leave it in, just cutting out the white parts of the ribs.  My eggs kept wanting to slide out the ends!

Overall, it was a good week for new recipes.  It am proud that we ate delicious food at home instead of mysterious food out.  This morning I need to make my list for next week, so we can keep up the momentum.  I hit up the Farmers Market yesterday and got a whole chicken, pork chops, 3 dozen eggs, kale, nectarines, and cherries, and we still have ground pork and beef in the freezer, so we are pretty well stocked.

Hope you had a great week too!

Cooking/Recipes, Health & Fitness

Gluten – You are my enemy, I think

heather

We spent 5 days in NYC, eating and drinking our way through the city.  I did what I knew I shouldn’t do and ate whatever I wanted to – the justification being that “I’m on vacation!!  It’s NYC!  I should take advantage!”

As a result, I went from 128 to 131.6.  I’m ok with being 131.6, but I’m not OK with feeling bad from eating all the not-good-for-me food. So, to get back on the wagon again, in August I have 2 goals:

1.  Eat breakfast and supper at home every day.

2.  Absolutely no gluten.  No beer, no mysterious dressings, no ice cream.  Nothing.  No gluten.  I’m going to try to cut it out completely and see how my allergies are affected.

Wish us luck!