Making A Comeback

So I even though in my porn post I said I wouldn’t stop posting food pictures completely, I kinda stopped taking them for my own mental health reasons, and thereby had none to post.

I’m happy to report to you that I’m slowly climbing back on the bandwagon.

Maybe it’s because I’m starting a new job and times they are a’changin?

Whatever it is, I have a post filled with yummy pics and recipes, all while still recapping my day; fun right?!

So yesterday I got to sleep in a bit. I’m training for my new job, but didn’t have to be there until noon, so I enjoyed a pre-workout pumpkin smoothie…

pumpkin smoothie: 1 cup carrot juice, 1/4 cup pumpkin puree, 1 tsp molasses, handful spinach, handful ice, 1 scoop protein powder, 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

I put in a solid two hour workout since I had the time… reminded me of the good ole college days. 1 hour resistance training (including heavy lifting), 1 hour cardio, lots of sweat.

Did my squats, some power cleans to press, bench press and other random arm stuff. Realized my rear delts are starting to over-develop in comparison to my front delts and chest, so my shoulders are constantly forced into a slouch… working on that.

Then put in 50 minutes of interval training on the elliptical. I’m a huge fan of the “cross country” circuit which will change not only the incline and resistance, but will also tell you to switch up between forward and backward.

After my workout it was time for lunch.

Gluten-free buffalo chicken pizza, mixed green salad, green apple, water in my spiffy bottle, and also some pumpkin spice coffee (not pictured)

Ate over at the Coffee Bean, where they brewed me a fresh pot of pumpkin spice even though they don’t normally serve it after 11. I’m spoiled.

The pizza was left over from the night before and is super easy to make… we just bought the Udi’s frozen gluten free pizza, but I recommend making your own from a gluten free dough mix (we have before) as it was kinda meh.

For the toppings, we doctored up some regular tomato sauce, sauteed up some chicken breast in salt and pepper, thinly sliced some Trader Joe’s mozzarella, I added a handful of chopped spinach, then we doused the top in Frank’s… and after about 10 minutes at 425, healthy buffalo chicken pizza is made!

Training went well… did some modules, studied the foot, had MY foot studied (I’ve been wearing the wrong sneakers for running) and took some inventory.

After that I biked back towards the boy’s apartment, but studied at Republic of Pie while he got his workout in.

today’s bootcamp circuit, my ACE flashcards and an almond milk latte

Love Republic of Pie because they have almond milk… but THEN saw after I ordered that they also offer coconut and hazelnut milk! If that wasn’t enough, they are also now offering Stumptown Coffee!!!! Next time for sure.

Speaking of beverages, tried this brand over the weekend…

Some car/van thing was actually handing these out in Portland while we were there. I tried the diet green tea, and the unsweetened English tea. I definitely preferred the unsweetened, though the tea flavor in both of them could be a lot stronger.

Finally, I bring you the best part of this post, and being that it’s National Burger Day, it’s all too appropriate…

Pulled Pork Burger

Those of you on the west coast might have seen the Carl’s Jr. commercial of the two hot chicks fighting for grill space and creating this monstrosity known as the “Memphis BBQ Burger.” However, I don’t eat at Carl’s Jr, and quite frankly don’t even like BBQ very much, but the boy wanted to make a healthy-ish version, so we gave it a go.

We bought grass fed beef and the Trader Joe’s pulled pork. Yes, if we’d made our own pulled pork with a low/no-sugar BBQ sauce it would have been even healthier, but we were also trying to save some time. I made my own crispy onions…

• onions, very thinly sliced
• milk/egg wash
• 2 T breadcrumbs
• 2 T gluten free flour
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

toss lightly in olive oil and bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes or until brown and crispy

I lightly toasted a gluten free hamburger bun. Put on a perfectly grilled patty with melted organic monterey jack cheese on top. Added a scoop of pork. Sprinkled on some onions. May have added a few dashes of hot sauce for good measure. And finally, devoured.

I’ve never been much for pulled pork, but this was DAMN good. Still not the healthiest of meals, but definitely a much better option than the fast food counterpart.

Still had enough macros left for a glass of wine and some chocolate to round out my meal. It was a very good day of eating.

What are you doing for National Burger Day?

#FoodiePenPals and Primal Thoughts

My foodie penpal this month was Colleen over at The Chocolate Mile

She said I was her most challenging penpal yet, but I don’t think she had any problem finding awesome goodies!!!

I told Colleen that I was slowly making the transition to paleo, and requested no crackers, nut butters or anything with white sugar, as these things are HUGE trigger foods.

She didn’t dissapoint:

Box full of fun from Wegman’s!: Irish Breakfast Tea, Fitness Trail Mix, CocoPOP (holy yum), organic red raspberry jam (I flipping LOVE jam)

and…

Organic maple syrup that I forgot to take a picture of before bringing to the boy’s house. I usually make pancakes on the weekends and we had just run out of syrup! Talk about perfect timing. I also drizzled a little in my coffee yesterday morning and that was also quite tasty.

As instructed, I topped some cocoPOP with the jam and fell into crunchy raspberry heaven. Unlike with nut butters, I can stop myself from eating an entire tub of mixed nuts, and I’ve been happily snacking on the fitness mix. The only thing I haven’t tried yet is the tea, but I suspect that will be coming in very handy soon…

Head over to Eating As A Path to Yoga to see what I sent to my penpal, Jill!

Want to join in on the fun? Contact Lindsay Livingston at The Lean Green Bean!

-On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal & get their mailing address & any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.

-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal!

-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!

-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers.

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Time for some updates…

I’ve already told you I’ve been on a bit of a blogging hiatus because of my finger wound, but the stitches are now out and I’m happily typing away. Granted, I still can’t use my finger, so typing is a bit awkward, but I’m back b*itches!

I’m really behind on reading blogs too… trying to play catch up; so if you left me a comment and I haven’t responded: thank you for reading and I will respond ASAP!

Today was my first day back in the gym too. Sad I couldn’t start the 5×5 weight program that I wanted to, but I put in a solid 20 minutes of core (reverse crunches, roman twists, planks, supermans, etc) and then 40 minutes of intervals on the elliptical. In college I used to be lame and just go at the same incline and resistance for 60-90 minutes, and while I worked up a sweat, I definitely wasn’t using my time effectively. Now I change either the resistance or the incline every time a song changes in my playlist (roughly every 3 minutes or so), starting at incline 6, resistance 6. Let’s just say, between that and my bike ride to work, I’m still sweaty.

Yesterday I filmed an episode of Cook For Your Chemistry with the Paleoista herself; paleo lifestyle expert and author, Nell Stephenson! It was a blast 🙂

I looked kind of like a girl for the occassion:

Finally finished reading It Starts With Food and after the past week of eating not super well and not work out….

I’m finally starting the Whole30 tomorrow! That’s right, I’m going back to our primal roots and focusing on clean, lean proteins, fresh fruits and veggies and healthy fats.

No: sugar (or sweetener of any kind), dairy, grain, legumes

Minimal: nuts, seeds, wine*

*The wine is a modification on my end. Some paleos use a little in cooking; most don’t drink it. While I’ll probably cut back a little bit, I’ve done two different months now of no alcohol, so I know I can do it, and wine doesn’t irritate anything. Beer, however, does. And hard liquor turns me into a hot mess. I don’t like either of those options

My birthday is August 31st and I’m determined to make 23 my hottest and sexiest year yet. Once I can grab heavy things again my weight training is gonna start kicking major ass, I will be able to actively participate in my own bootcamp classes (they started last Thursday), and I will be eating cleaner than I ever have.

I’ve been hesitant to start because I worried the restriction would set off my ED like whoa, and I wanted to get a better handle on eating like a human being first. I haven’t completely accomplished that yet, but with what I’ve read in Dallas and Melissa’s book, I think the program will actually help combat my food demons, rather than encourage them.

Sound like fun? I think so.

Dazed and Confused

What have I done?

Well, I registered for a half marathon.

You read that right.

After a year of proclaiming that I was going to do it, I finally sucked it up and bit down hard.

Thank you sexual innuendo. How I love thee.

I will be running in the Simi Valley Arroyo Creek Half Marathon. (They’re also having a 5k the same day that the director of the doc is going to be running.) It’s part of the California Half Marathon Series and is a USA Track and Field 2012 sanctioned event. Those things sounded important so I felt better about it.

I’m not out to set any records here; mostly I want to prove to myself that I can actually do it. The farthest run I’ve done so far is 10k and that wasn’t a structured race. I’m a little nervous, but mostly excited. I keep thinking back to that rush of adrenaline I got at the Rock’n Run and how that positive energy sustained me through an ordeal that would have normally had me feeding myself negative thoughts the entire time.

So for that reason, I got myself out of bed this morning and back into the gym to resume my solo-cardio training. No running this morning, just elliptical to ease my way in, but I’ll start putting in some miles.

Feeling pretty tired today, little groggy, and still partly in shock that I finally committed to running a half.

What’s the best remedy I know? Food, of course! Here are some recipes to keep you going 😉

Protein Muffin Tops (makes 10)

• 1/4 c. coconut flour
• 1/4 c. almond flour
• 1/4 c. flax (my nutritionist says I have to ditch this ingredient; back to the drawing board)
• 1/4 c. protein powder
• 1/2 avocado
• 3 T coconut oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 t baking soda
• heaping T cinnamon

Blend the ingredients together. Mix in things like dried fruit, nuts or chopped 100% cocoa baking chocolate like I did. Spoon balls onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 until golden brown (about 15 minutes)

There are still some kinks to work out, especially since I was trying to make cookies and not muffins. However, these have been great to have already made in the morning. I just pop them in the toaster oven for a minute or so and then I’m ready!

 

This was impromptu dinner last night:

 

Grass Fed Beef Fried Rice (serves 1)

• 1/4 head cauliflower
• 6 oz. grass fed ground beef (I used 90/10)
• 1 c. broccoli slaw
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t chili oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• ginger
• salt/pepper
• crushed peanuts

Grate the cauliflower so you have a big pile of white “rice.” Over medium heat, brown garlic in the olive and chili oils. Add the cauliflower and broccoli slaw and cook until cauliflower is crispy and turns slightly brown. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, cook ground beef with spices and ground peanuts until cooked through. Combine meat with rice mixture and spoon a couple tablespoons of asian peanut sauce on top.

Asian Peanut Sauce (serves 4)

• 1 T peanut butter
• 2 T soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 T olive oil
• splash of soyaki
• splash of rice wine vinegar
• juice of 1/4 a lime

Whisk ingredients together and serve over salads, stir frys or my fried rice 🙂

 

Post-gym this morning:

Trying out aloe vera juice. I’m interested to see how my skin responds.

Revised Green Smoothie

• 6oz aloe juice
• 4oz almond milk
• 1 c spinach
• 1 serving protein powder

Blend up good!

 

Lunch the other day (and today):

New Favorite Easy Lunch

• tomatoes, cut
• cucumber, cubed
• handful pecans (or other nuts)
• T hemp seeds
• 1 serving icelandic yogurt

new favorite yogurt!

At 22g of protein, this is definitely my favorite yogurt out there. It’s creamy and slightly less tart that regular Greek yogurt, which I think makes it more versatile. I’ve tried the Siggi’s brand and I liked that one too, especially as a sour cream substitute. This one, however, just tasted amazing with these veggies and those pecans! I can’t get over it. You’ll have to try it for yourself.

My apologies for the brevity of this post. Energy has been zapped lately; but the week is almost over! Cinco de Mayo, get in my mouth!