Weekend in Kansas City

Ben and I went to his gymnastics meet in Kansas City this weekend.  Even though I took food with me, I still did not do very well with my Whole30 diet.  I definitely fell off the wagon.  Even though I had grilled shrimp and sweet potato fries for dinner, I ate the fries knowing that they were probably cooking in vegetable oil.  I even had ranch dressing with vegetables, when I knew I shouldn't have done.  I did resist the free alcohol in the hotel and I didn't go to Starbucks once.  I should dwell on the positive, but feel really guilty about the negative.  Back on track tomorrow.....

This is Crossfit!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=r6fLsQb5_gg

Crossfit 26 came 3rd overall.  Both teams were brilliant!!!!

Whole30, Day 10

So, now I am 10 days in to the Whole30 and I'm feeling pretty good about it.  It's amazing how well I can stay on track when I am doing it with others.  At this point, they recommend that you look at what you're eating and start modifying it to be better.  I know I need to eat more protein and drink more water, going to the water fountain right now......

Canoa de maduro

I am working to perfect this recipe. We first ate this at Fritanga, a great restaurant very close to work.  I think in general, this restaurant probably has very-close-to a Whole30 menu (but there's probably some hidden things that you should not eat!!).  OK-I googled recipes and immediately found that you're supposed to grill the plantains with butter and brown sugar-glad I've modified the recipe!!!!
The recipe is called Canoa de Maduro (translates into sweet plantain canoes).  I have modified it each time I make it, and it keeps getting better.  I have it now as a Whole30 recipe,  Here goes.....

The key to the plantains is to buy them when they are ripe.  There are two types of plantains in the stores (Try Jay International or Global Market).  You need the yellow ones.  If you buy green, they will not ripen over time.  Buy ones that are almost all black on the skin

I peeled and sliced them, then I fried them in coconut oil until they were crispy on each side.  Beware-at this point they are absolutely yummy.  They are sweet/savoury and a great substitute for candy!!!!!  Put the plantains in an oven-proof dish.

I topped the plantains with some pork that I made in the crock pot.  You could use chicken or beef if you like.  I added tomato sauce (Pomi in a box, I don't ever use canned tomatoes), 1 onion sliced, garlic, oregano, cumin, coriander and salt.  I added a pork tenderloin and cooked on low for 8 hours.  Then, I shredded the pork in the sauce and added to the plantains.  Then I cooked in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.  When not on the Whole30, you can top with mozarella or chihuahua cheese.  It's really yummy

Whole30, Day 7, cooking marathon

Day 7 marks the official end of the first week on Whole30.  On the whole things are going great.  I didn't have time to cook at the weekend, so I made a bunch of stuff on a Monday night, took me 4 1/2hours!!!  First of all, I made two batches of chicken chunks to keep us going all week

Then I cooked some brussels for Sam to eat with the roast beef leftovers he was having for dinner

Then I made a fruit clafouti for us to eat because  I have been craving something sweet.  It's not really sweet at all apart from the fruit, but it does the trick and lasts us for several days.

Then, I made some tomato basil soup that I can take to work during the week.  I eat it with some chicken and it's a pretty good lunch. 

 

Finally, I made a big batch of no-oat oatmeal for the week ahead, put together a crock pot meal to cook the next day and got the school/work lunches together!!!!

Pumpkin-sweet potato soup

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
4 medium carrots, peeled, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon curry powder- mild or hot, to taste
Dash of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 14.5-oz. can pumpkin

1 medium sweet potato, peeled, cubed
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 can coconut milk, to taste

1 large apple, chopped into small pieces (I left the skin on)

Lime zest for garnish

Instructions:

In a heavy soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, and sauté the onion for about 5 minutes until softened. Add in the chopped carrots and celery, and stir in the spices. Lower heat and gently cook for about 10 minutes, being careful not to brown the onions.

Add in the pumpkin, sweet potato and broth; stir together. Cover and bring to a slow simmer, cooking the soup for about 25-35 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.

Remove from heat, and puree the soup with an immersion hand blender right in the pot; or puree it batches in a blender or food processor.  Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Return the pot to low-medium heat. Add chopped apple. Stir in the coconut milk and blend till smooth.

Whole30, Day 6

Great start to the day-fresh no-oat oatmeal.  This doesn't happen too often because I usually make a huge batch at night and we heat it up every morning.  Even though it's good when heated, it's much better when it's fresh out of the pan!!!

Also made 4 batches of these taro chips.  They get eaten as soon as they come out the oven!!!

Made these chicken patties for dinner.  They are yummy, but the kids won't eat them!!!!

Whole 30, Day 4

No-oat oatmeal for breakfast, ground beef with sweet potatoes for lunch and paleo beef stroganoff for dinner.   I fried onions and mushrooms in ghee.  Added salt and plenty of black pepper.  Browned the beef tenderloin and added a little bit of coconut milk.  It turned out to be great.....

Breakfast sausage with blueberries

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground meat of choice (pork, chicken, or turkey)
• 1/2 cup frozen (no need to thaw) or fresh blueberries, whole or chopped
• 1 tsp rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper (or 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper + 1/4 tsp paprika)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Thoroughly combine all ingredients with your hands.
2. Shape the meat into a log and place it on a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll it up in the plastic wrap, tightly twisting both ends.
3. When ready to serve, slice it into patties. You should get about eight sausage patties. Cook them in a lightly oiled skillet on medium heat, turning once, until both sides are browned. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the meat is completely cooked throughout. Serve.

Make-ahead directions: You can freeze the individual raw patties on a baking sheet, then transfer to a freezer bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then cook as specified. Or, you can fully cook the patties, freeze them the same way, and just microwave the frozen sausage for 2-4 minutes on high when you're ready to eat.

Body Composition Analysis

When I did my pictures and measurements for the start of the challenge, I decided to do a body fat test.  You have to completely submerge yourself in water while breathing out all your breath, which is a little disconcerting.  My body fat percentage came out quite good, I'm in the healthy range and I got an A- (Ben was impressed by my grade!)  She recommended that I didn't lose any more weight, but tried to convert some fat to lean muscle.  The recommendation was that I eat 63 g of protein and drink 60 oz water every day, plus not work out until I've eaten 1800 calories.  Not sure that will happen, but I can try

Whole 30, Day 3

Pretty good day.  I had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast, broccoli soup for lunch, omelet with uncured bacon, mushrooms and onions for dinner.  Anne and I worked out at Crossfit tonight.  It was a pretty good day.  I have done quite well, still chewing gum though which is technically off limits, but really helps me work through the day.....

Whole30, Day 2

Day 2 went well.  Had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast and broccoli soup for lunch.  Still did not eat enough protein and did not drink enough water.Anne and I did a Sam-designed work out in the basement, so I didn't eat much for dinner.  Just snacked on root vegetable chips, some chicken and grapes.

Whole30, Day 1

This is Day 1 of my 3rd round of Whole30.  Every time I do the program, it seems like I'm starting all over.  I had no-oat oatmeal for breakfast, broccoli soup and chicken for lunch and this beef pot roast for dinner.  I'm trying to drink more water this time.  I also want to try to cut down on fruit and eat more vegetables.  We'll see how it goes.....



Ben has caught the fever and decided that he wants to eat healthy foods.  He wanted me to make a salad for him last night.  I used spinach, celery, carrots, tomatoes, eggs, avocado and bacon.  It looked really yummy when I was done with it.  I gave him some olive oil and Balsamic vinegar to use as the salad dressing and he really liked it

Fish curry with bananas

This might be the best paleo recipe I have ever made......

Ingredients

• 5 medium-sized tilapia fillets;
• 1 cup full-fat coconut milk;
• 1 tbsp red curry paste;
• 1 lemon;
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced (separate the green and the white parts);
• 2 medium sized bananas (under ripe or barely ripe is best) cut in chunks;
• 2 tbsp almonds, slivered;
• ½ cup fresh cilantro chopped;
• 1 lemon, sliced, for serving;
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;

Preparation

1. Start by scraping the zest off of one lemon. Then, cut that lemon in half.
2. Cut the fish into big slices and sprinkle the lemon zest on top.
3. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the fish. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
4. In a skillet placed over a medium-high heat, combine the coconut milk and the red curry paste and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the fish and the white parts of the greens onions. Cover up the skillet and let it simmer for 3 to 5 min.
6. Add the bananas, 1 tbsp of the almonds and sprinkle half of the cilantro on top.
7. Cover up and cook until the fish is just cooked through and easily forms flakes. Check every 3 to 5 minutes.
8. When the fish looks ready, squeeze the other half of the lemon over the fish, then top it off with the remaining green onions, 1 tbsp of the almonds and the remaining cilantro.
9. Serve on a plate with slices of lemon.

Pumpkin, sweet potato and apple soup

1 chopped onion;

1 minced garlic clove;

1 can pumpkin

2 medium peeled and roughly chopped sweet potatoes

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup full-fat coconut milk Technique

1 apple

1. Heat a large pot, melt the ghee and cook the onion until soft. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, until fragrant.
2. Add the pumpkin and sweet potatoes and cook for several minutes.
3. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil and let simmer for about 25 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender.
4. Stir the coconut milk in and use your blender to blend, in batch, to the consistency of a purée.  Add cut up apple
5. If necessary, put the soup back in the pot to reheat before serving.
6. A dash of nutmeg and cinnamon are nice spices to use in this soup of you have them on hand.
7. Serve with an extra dash of coconut milk or cream swirled on top of each bowl.

Whole30, Round 3 starts today....

It's finally here, Day 1 of my 3rd round of Whole30.  I may not do as well as Round 1, but I'm definitely going to do better than Round 2!!!!  I have Anne doing it with me this time, I think we'll be really good support for each other.  We are determined we are going to stay on track and participate with the group support as much as possible.  We missed Leeny's seminar on Sunday morning, but she said she had about 60 people there.  Over 30 of us are doing the challenge, so we will see how we do.....

Getting ready for Whole30

I've been thinking about this for quite a few weeks now.  Even though the whole family doesn't do Whole30, everyone pretty much gets dragged along because I'm the house cook.  Sam eats well all the time and he always does the program with me for support.  The kids get to eat forbidden fruit every now and again, especially if they have school lunches or I make them a sandwich or grilled cheese every now and again.  It's much easier to do Whole30 when there aren't temptations in the house.  Unfortunately, there's still a lot of candy/sweet stuff left over from Christmas and my answer seems to be to eat it rather than throw away!!!!  I've got to go through the pantry and get rid of temptation this week.....

Here comes 2013.......

Anne and I are determined we are going to make 2013 a success year with respect to eating well and exercising regularly.  We are going back on the paleo diet and hopefully doing the Whole30 with Leeny in January.  I've been trying really hard to stay away from the bad stuff today, but I feel like I am surrounded by chocolate!!!!  I resisted the chocolate and made a yummy 3-egg omelet.  It must be a successful day, I avoided going to Starbucks and got the kids Cicis pizza without having any myself....