It's been a little quite around these parts for a few days - don't worry, I'll get my steam back.... Unfortunately we angered the Paleo Gods on Friday night, and I haven't been able to even think about food since.
In the spirit of full disclosure, here's what went down. Mr. Buck and I decided to go out for a bit of a cheat meal on Friday night. We dropped in to one of our favorite mexican restaurants and endulged in tortilla chips & salsa followed by a burrito for Mr. Buck & Tortilla Chicken Soup for me. It was delicious, but as soon as we got back to the house I knew I was feeling "off". I thought it was just my stomach giving me a gentle reminder that I'd been bad, and that I could sleep it off and be better the next day.
I'll spare you the details, but both Mr. Buck and I came down with a pretty wicked case of food poisoning. Saturday & Sunday were spent on the couch (when not in the bathroom) and the only foods either of us were able to stomach has been salines, plain white toast, ginger ale, gatorade & finally on Sunday night some Mac & Cheese (yep, the stuff from the box). The thought of anything resembling meat, or consisting of a taste or texture other than carby & absorbant made me clutch my stomach & shed a silent tear. So, we resorted to the most forbidden of Paleo foods to get us through this hell.
But, I'm happy to report that we're finally getting back on track. We had our first WOD this evening & felt the pain of poor eating (not enough, and not the right stuff). Mr. Buck is currently grilling up a pork tenderloin & some veggies, so we'll see if I'll be able to choke that down. If so, we'll be back up and running and I promise to come back with some fun Paleo recipes soon.
P.S. While I was out - has anyone seen the amazing Carrot Cake that the Food Lovers posted?
It's on my must make ASAP list - and probably should be on yours too! (Note: this is not fully paleo/primal as Mr. Buck & I try to follow the plan, but it's fairly close and a good recipe to have on hand for a special occasion - and no, Tuesday night does not generally qualify as a special occasion).
I found this delicacy at the grocery store yesterday and bought it on an impulse (again a reminder - never go to the grocery store hungry)! Luckily it is loosely paleo compliant - and super delicious!
We won't be adding it to our weekly grocery list - but it's something I'll keep in the back of my mind when ice cream becomes a necessity (as it sometimes does)!
This dish is on regular rotation in our household these days. It satisfies our craving for something warm and comforting, and is something I wouldn't be ashamed to serve to guests. It's a great recipe to have in the back of your mind as well as it's pretty adaptable to whatever you may have around the house (i.e. use a can of diced tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes & pizza sauce, or spinach or other vegetables instead of the broccoli). Mix, match & enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 Medium Spaghetti squash
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large onion, diced
1lb ground beef
1 bag of frozen broccoli (or 1 head of fresh broccoli, chopped)
1 cup diced tomato (I used cherry tomatoes because that's what we had on hand)
1 cup Muir Glenn Organic Pizza Sauce (keep the remainder of the can for paleo pizza later in the week :-) )
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1-2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (or as much/little as you like depending on how spicy you like your food)
Enough Coconut Oil to grease a 7x11 Pyrex baking dish
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit
Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds & innards
Place one half of squash cut side down in pyrex dish and add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom of the dish, Microwave for 10-12 minutes. When one half is cooked, pull the squash out and set aside, repeat with second half.
While the squash is cooking, add garlic, onions & ground beef to a pan on the stove over medium/high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until meet is browned.
Add tomatoes & broccoli, stir
Add pizza sauce, 1/2 cup water and spices (basil, oregano & crushed red pepper flakes)
While the meat mixture simmers, use a fork to scrape the spaghetti squash into strands. I find that doing this over a big bowl is easiest & helps to contain the mess. Then I just dump all of the scraped squash into the pan with the meat mixture. Stir to combine
Now that the squash is done cooking in your pyrex dish, you can use that same dish to bake the casserole. Dump out the water & grease the dish with coconut oil
Transfer meat/squash mixture to baking dish, bake in oven for 20-30 minutes until bubbly.
One of my favorite post workout snacks has become a green smoothie. Now, I know the final product doesn't look green - but I swear there are greens in there. It may sound strange, but after the first time I added some greens to my smoothie I was a believer. This is a great way to add nutrients and bulk to a fruit smoothie, it's so filling. I usually use spinach for this, but today we only had kale in the house and it worked just as well. This also makes a great breakfast, but I'm really trying to incorporate more protein into my mornings,
So, while it might sound strange, I highly recommend giving it a try - you can't taste the greens at all!
Ingredients:
1 cup chopped Italian Kale
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 heaping cup frozen berries
Yep, that's it! Though I can say that adding a half banana here really seals the deal, but unfortunately we were out of those too.
Directions:
Blend the kale and coconut milk in the blender until smooth. It is important to do this part first, it helps the greens get chopped up really finely to avoid big bits of leaves getting stuck in your straw.
Add the berries (and banana if you have it) and blend until combined.
I've made this recipe for Paleo peeps, and non-paleo peeps alike, to rave reviews from both sides. Most recently I brought it to the Paleo Potluck at Northwest Crossfit.
I'll preface this by saying that the prep for this salad is a bit of a pain in the rear end because of all the work that goes into the brussels sprouts up front (trim the bottoms, peel off the bad outer leaves & shred) but well worth it, especially if you're trying to convert non-brussels-sprout-believers.
Craveable Brussels Sprout Salad
serves 4-6
2 pounds brussels sprouts
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
Coarse sea salt, to taste
Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Trim root ends from brussels sprouts. Using sharp knife or processor fitted with coarse shredding disk, thinly slice brussels sprouts into shreds. (This can be done one day ahead, cover and chill)
Based on some of the comments I've heard around the gym lately, it seems like many who adopt the Paleo diet share this experience:
You're out in a social situation, someone notices that you're not_________ (drinking alcohol, devouring dessert, noshing on the bread basket, sucking down pasta noodles, etc). They ask what's up and you find yourself going on and on and on about the Paleo diet, what it means, why they shouldn't be eating any of the things they may have just devoured, or hold dear to their hearts and should instead eat just meat, veggies, fruit & nuts. As you can imagine several things happen, people's eyes glaze over and they mentally check out of the convo as soon as you start calling into question all the nutritional "truths" they've been told for all these years, or they start grilling you, digging for more info (or maybe for holes in your arguments) or perhaps you just start alienating your friends and they stop inviting you out any more...
In an effort not to have that last bit happen to me, I've done what others have found effective - drafted a long email full of info and links that I can quickly shoot off to the curious and non-believers alike.
So, for efficiency's sake, I'll post it here too:
Paleo in a nutshell is the philosophy of eating as our paleolithic ancestors did - meat, vegetables, some nuts & seeds and little fruit. We exclude processed foods, grains, legumes, rice, dairy (some debate here), sugar, etc.
It might sound extreme, but once you give it a shot, the rewards really pay off! Here's a short clip of a story Nighline did on Paleo recently.
We were introduced to this diet by our Crossfit gym, and you really can't argue with a whole bunch of people who eat this way and are some of the fittest people I've ever met - and not just fit like ripped - but toned, svelte and sleek looking. So we gave it a shot for the recommended 30 day intro period with strict adherence (meat, veg, nuts, fruit only). Giving up bread & pasta were hard, but harder still I found was giving up milk in my coffee, cheese and wine! But, we stuck with it and saw some results. We both lost weight (Mr. Buck more than me) but I can see in both of us that our body composition is starting to change.
After the 30 day strict introduction we've relaxed a little bit into what I like to call "Paleo Plus". Many Paleo followers who've adopted this lifestyle long-term talk about the 80/20 (or 90/10) principle as the best way to maintain health for the long run (cause let's be real, home-made bread, greek yogurt, cheese, alcohol - sometimes you've just gotta live a little!). 80/20 is basically: 80% strict adherence, 20% allowing foods you enjoy or which are nutritious but still not technically Paleo, I'll be monitoring how my body responds to adding these types of things back in and make changes as necessary.
Despite all of our friends thinking we're crazy & joining some kind of cult, Mr. Buck and I are both liking this journey & seeing what we can really do with our bodies if we give it our all. We've both tried calorie restriction & plans like Weight Watchers in the past, with some success. But right now this seems to be working for us, so we'll keep going!
If any of you have any questions or want to know more, please feel free to leave a comment or email me: mrs.blissblog (at) gmail.com.
Also, here are an amazing array of resources I've found which provide more information on the scientific arguments for this way of eating, as well as tons of recipes, etc.
This is one of the best posts I've found which succinctly & clearly lays out why some people want to eat this way - and how to do it - a great starting point especially if you don't want to get overwhelmed at first with all of the scientific data in the books:http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html
Here are some blogs that I follow for information & recipes:
Inspired by my acceptance of the Crossfit cult and recent foray into the Paleo lifestyle, this blog is about my culinary adventures in learning to eat and cook like a cavewoman. We're a family of 3 - Myself, Mr. Buck and our G-puppy. We cook a lot and love to eat - food is never far from our minds, and now we're ready to share our Paleo favorites with you!
How did we get here?
Almost exactly one year ago we set foot in our first Crossfit gym, Northwest Crossfit in Seattle. One of the coaches took us through an introductory class. There was some talking, some demonstrating of certain movements, some warm up, but what I really remember was the 12 minute workout she put us through which left both Mr. Buck and I huffing and puffing and trying not to pass out. Our throats burned from breathing so hard and I think I was shaking from the exertion. This was after spending years trying to stay in shape in the typical ways, a gym membership, hours on the elliptical, miles running around the lake, and even a year of working out with a personal trainer pre-wedding. NOTHING had ever kicked our butts before like this. We went home and emailed the manager of the facility this note:
After visiting your gym and working out with one of your trainers this evening, we have decided that Crossfit really sucks. My throat hurts from sucking so much wind and within minutes of leaving the gym my muscles began to get sore. I think you'd have to be crazy to pay hundreds of dollars to be subjected to such torture.
Please sign us upfor the beginner class starting tomorrow. Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Buck
The rest, as they say, is history. We've been avid Crossfitters for a year now, and have seen huge changes in ourselves both physically and mentally. Most recently we've adopted the Paleo lifestyle. Inspired by the hot bods we see around us at the gym everyday, we knew we had to get in on this secret diet that made everyone so beautiful. We played with Paleo for several months before committing ourselves to going 100% Paleo for the month of February this year. We now do what I like to call "Paleo Plus" meaning that we live a lifestyle that is about 80% Paleo, 20% not so much. But it works for us while also allowing us to live our lives and have a social life.
So, thanks for reading along. I promise the good stuff you're here for (recipes) is soon to come!
