Day 21 - Sunday Morning Pancakes

I have had 3 people ask me this week about what recipe we use for pancakes. We have tried several, and these have been the best so far.

Ingredients:
1 c. Almond Flour (I use the Honeyville brand)
2 eggs
1/4 c water
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. agave nectar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients well (the batter will be thick) and pour 1/4 measuring cup full of batter on a medium/high skillet. Flip when edges are set.
One batch feeds both of my kids (3-4 small pancakes each) or just Mitch (4 large ones) I didn't have any of these this morning as I am trying to not "Paleoify" any foods during the challenge. Just eggs and an orange for me! And a special shout out to my friend Jessica who pushed me through a 4.1 mile run this morning!

We will be having dinner out with our community group tonight, so I won't be cooking anything new until tomorrow. I hope everyone has a restful Sunday!

Day 20 - Half Way!!

To commence my halfway mark, I went to ITF for a workout they were hosting in honor of the Crossfit Games that are going on in L.A. I was hesitant to go because my shoulders were tired from Friday's workout, but I couldn't resist a free opportunity to work hard. The workout was:
10 Hand Stand Push Ups
20 Wall Balls (14#)
30 Toes to Bar
40 Power Cleans
50 Burpees
60 Sumo-Dead Lift High-Pulls

It was for sure a killer workout, but I was so glad I did it when it was over. I didn't cook anything new today, just a repeat from a few weeks ago. This is what today looked like:

Breakfast (7:30) (pre-workout) - 2 whole, 2 white hard-boiled eggs, 1 spoonful coconut butter
Post-workout (10:30am) - A repeat of yesterdays lunch, pesto chicken salad over spinach, 1 banana
Lunch - 1 can tuna mixed with 1/2 avocado, sauteed squash and zucchini
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - Grass-fed beef burgers with a repeat of Cabbage Mango Slaw. I did change something in the recipe that made us like it even more. In the recipe from Everyday Paleo, it calls for 1 shallot, minced. That was a little much for us, so we took that out and substituted 1 heaping tbsp. diced red onion and 1 tsp. garlic. Delicious! In case you forgot, the slaw looks like this:

Day 19

Life is better when there is food in the fridge for sure! We made a trip to Whole Foods and Publix today and stocked up on lots of goodies for the next few days. I was dying to buy some more chicken to try a new recipe. I had pesto left over from our dinner a few nights ago and I didn't want to see it go to waste. So, I thought why not try it with chicken salad...Pesto Chicken Salad! I made this today for lunch and I loved it. You definitely need to like pesto to make this, and if you do I promise it won't disappoint.

3 chicken breasts, boiled and shredded
1 cup pesto (I think I could have used about 1/2 cup more)
1/4 c. mayo (I don't like chicken salad with a lot of mayo, so add another 1/4c. if you want it creamier)
A little squeeze of lemon juice

Just mix everything well and enjoy! I had mine over a spinach salad with some grape tomatoes - a perfect combo.












For dinner tonight we had Fajitas. I marinated the chicken in Fajita seasoning from Penzy's Spices. I served it with sauteed vegetables (red onion, green and red peppers), homemade guacamole, salsa, and whole leaf romaine lettuce leaves for the "tortilla." I also attempted to make Tomatillo Salsa and that was a total bust. The tomatillo selection at WF was quite slim, so I may try again when I can choose better, more firm tomatillos.













Tomorrow is the official halfway point! These past 20 days have flown by and I'm excited about the next 20. I can already tell that I am faster, stronger, and feeling better. Still in it to win it!

Day 18

It was a crazy busy day for us today and not a single bit of cooking went on in my kitchen. That's kind of hard when you are used to cooking 2-3 meals a day. But, it was so worth missing out on because we got to spend most of the day with these wonderful friends. Oh, how we miss them!



































This is what a busy day looks like for me and my food:
5:30am - spoonful coconut manna
7am - Mile intervals - only had time for 3 (all under 8 minutes, though!)
8am - 2 egg whites (all I had time to eat before my next client)
9am - 2 whole and 2 white eggs, banana
12:30 - Zoes Grilled Chicken Salad (no feta or potato salad) in the car, sitting in traffic on I-20
3:00 - Primal Pac (love these things for travel!!)
5:30 - small handful of nuts (was hungry!!)
6:30 - Grass-fed beef patty, spinach, a few pepper slices, 1/2 avocado, a few carrots (dinner with our friends)

It was a great day. Heading to Whoe Foods this morning because we are OUT OF FOOD!!

Day 17 - Best Dinner of the Week!

Tonight for dinner we are trying Walnut Pesto. We love pesto at our house and have always used pinenuts. I was excited to try the walnuts as several friends have said it's their favorite.

Ingredients:
1 cup walnut halves and pieces
6 garlic cloves
1 tsp. sea salt
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 1/2 cups fresh basil (the fresher it is, the better the pesto will taste!)
Juice from 1/2 lemon

Directions:
In a food processor, all the walnuts, garlic, sea salt, and extra-virgin olive oil. Process until smooth.
Add the basil and lemon juice and process again until smooth.

We had the pesto over grilled chicken, alongside grilled squash, zucchini, and onion from Rosedale Gardens. A wonderful summer meal! My friend, Lisa, said she doubles the pesto recipe and freezes half to have during the winter. I will definitely do that next time!













For the rest of my day:
Breakfast: 1 whole, 4 white eggs, coconut manna
Snack: Larabar
Snack: 1 large spoonful chicken salad
Lunch: (not til 1:30) chicken, salad, roasted veggies, cantaloupe from Pita Stop
Pre-Workout Snack - 1 egg white, 1/2 apple

Day 16 -

Today was a proud day for me. The workout today included 6 rounds of 50 double-unders. That's 300 total. And I did them ALL! I have been working on my double-unders for months and have never been able to do this many, so it was for sure the highlight of my day.

If you shop at Whole Foods, you may have noticed that they have started carrying some of the Organic Girl products. I bought 2 big bags of her organic spinach and 1 big bag of baby swiss chard (all just $3.99 each) and I added the chard into my lunch veggie saute today. I loved it. I just sauteed squash, zucchini, red onion, garlic, and 2 large handfuls of swiss chard in some coconut oil. Tossed in a pinch of salt and pepper and it was perfect. My plan was to have this with some of the homemade chicken salad I made on Sunday, but my hungry husband took it to work and I was quite disappointed. You don't mess with a Paleo girl and her food! I ended up eating 2 slices of deli meat and a hardboiled egg.

For dinner tonight we made Meatloaf. It's a favorite of everyone at our table.

2 lbs. grass-fed ground beef
1 cup almond flour
2 eggs
1 6oz. can tomato paste
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. fresh basil, diced
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper

Comine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Place meat in a large, glass baking dish and form into a loaf












Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour, or until center of the loaf is no longer pink.
I have no after pictures as we ate, cleaned up, and packed up leftovers before I realized I forgot an after picture! Take my word, though, it was great. Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner - Grilled Chicken with Walnut Pesto.

Day 15 - almost halfway there!!

I felt like all I did today was eat. I was starving! And then, after my crossfit workout tonight, I came home and scarfed down dinner. It was slightly embarrassing as I look over at Mitch with my plate clean and his only halfway eaten. In my defense, however, i did work hard and dinner was absolutely delicious!

Easy Skillet Scallops and Spinach from Everyday Paleo
3 tbsp. coconut oil
1 small shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups whole spinach leaves
1 pound wild-caught sea scallops (I think larger would be better, but small were on sale!)
sea salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges for garnish

Directions:
Heat 2 tbsp. coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the 6 cups of spinach to the saute pan and cook until all leaves have started to wilt.
Remove the spinach from the pan and put on plates.
Add the last tbsp. coconut oil to the pan, add in the scallops, salt and pepper and turn the heat to medium-high. Cook scallops for 2 minutes on each side.
Place scallops over the spinach and serve immediately. YUMMY!!













The rest of my day looked like this:
Breakfast - 1 whole, 4 whites, coconut manna
Snack - 2 slices deli turkey, apple
Lunch - Homemade chicken salad over a big salad
Snack - 1/2 can tuna, 1/2 avocado
Pre-workout snack - 1 whole, 1 white hardboiled egg, applesauce
Dinner - Scallops, sauteed spinach, very small sweet potato

Day 14 - Day of REST!

Today has been a great off day for me. Everyone slept in until 7:30, so that was a great start of the day for sure. Mitch went on a 45 mile bike ride this morning, so while he was gone and the kids were engrossed in their Legos I decided to tackle making homemade mayo and homemade chicken salad. The mayo was much easier than I had anticipated and turned out good. I tried a recipe from Everyday Paleo for this batch and I think I will venture out and try another one next time. This is the recipe that I made:

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin, just pure olive oil)
1 tsp. yellow mustard
2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 tsp. cayenne pepper
Directions:
In a blender, add eggs, mustard and cider vinegar and blend together well. Leave the blender running and very vey slowly drop or drizzle (SLOW!) the oil into the blender. Be Patient. It will take a while for the mixture to thicken. When it does begin to emulsify or thicken, only then can you speed up pouring the oil in, BUt still take your time. Turn off the blender once all the oil is in and mayo has reached desired thickness. Add the salt and cayenne pepper and mix well or blend again for another few seconds.

And for the chicken salad, this was my first go at it. It's not the best i've ever had, but I was good enough to build upon next time. I love finely shredded chicken salad and the consistency was spot on. This is how I made it:

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. of mayo from recipe above
4 chicken breasts, boiled
1 tsp. salt
1 small apple, diced
pepper to taste
Directions:
I put all ingredients into the vitamix and blended on low (setting 2) for about 1 minute. The chicken was finely shredded and everything blended perfectly. Next time I will try a different mayo and add in celery, grapes, and maybe a few nuts.

For dinner tonight, we had our usual Rotisserie Chicken from WF along with a repeat of last week, the Zucchini Pasta Salad. This week, though, I have a picture! So delicious!

Day 13 -Hardest Day So Far

Today has been my hardest paleo day so far. Not quite sure why, but I have talked about food ALL DAY..."When this 40 days is over, I am going straight to _________ to get __________. I've talked about Chick-fil-a, ZaZa, Edgewood Creamery, you name it. I think I'm getting on Mitch's nerves!! Part of me wonders if i'm having a hard time because I am so tired. I worked my booty off this week in the gym, put in a few extra runs at night, and today ran pretty hard for 30 minutes and then went to Open Gym and worked on pull-ups and double-unders for an hour. No wonder i'm tired! I am looking very forward to a much needed day of rest tomorrow and I know how much my body needs it. Regardless of how I felt today, I still ate 100% paleo. I am very thankful for a husband who supports me and encourages me to stay the course!

Tonight's dinner was nothing special - Grilled Chicken Salad from Zoe's (no feta, pita, or potato salad). Tomorrow, though, I am going to take a stab at making my own chicken salad (including the mayo) as I am needing a change of protein sources. I'm hoping that it turns out well! I am also trying 3 other recipes this week, so stay tuned. Hope everyone has a restful Sunday!

Day 12

It's always great when your kids enjoy dinner so much that they thank you over and over and ask for seconds, even thirds. They leave the table with clean plates, not a crumb left. Who would have thought that I would have gotten that reaction from Salmon Patties! In Neily's words, "This dinner is SO awesome, mommy." I think we'll be having this meal again!

Ingredients:
2 cans wild caught alaskan salmon (had to dig out the bones!)
1 c almond meal
2 eggs
1/2 tsp dill weed
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well












Scoop out 2 large tablespoons of mixture and form into a patty (about the size of your palm)
Add 1 tbsp. coconut oil to pan and cook patties over medium heat, about 5-6 minutes on each side (until they are browned)

























I served the Salmon Patties with Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes and a Salad












The rest of the day went down like this:
Breakfast - 1 whole, 2 white hard-boiled eggs, 1 spoon coconut
Snack - Larabar
Pre workout - 2 slices deli meat (Applegate farms)
Workout: Barbara - 20 pull-ups, 30 push-ups, 40 sit-ups, 50 squats x 5
Lunch - 4 slices deli meat, bowl of sauteed onions, zucchini, squash
Snack - apple
Dinner - Salmon Patties, Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes, Salad

Day 11 - Hungry!

You will see below that I ate a lot of times today! I think there are two reasons for that - 1) the workout today was brutal and about killed me. It left me ravenous! and 2) It's that special time on the month when hunger looms. But i've eaten all good stuff so i'm not worried. Just listing to my body!

5:30am scoop of coconut manna before work
7:45 workout - 50-40-30-20-10 reps of wallballs, box jumps, and KB swings
8:30 Breakfast - 6 egg whites, 1 banana
10:30 snack - larabar
12:00 lunch - bowl of spinach topped with tuna and avocado, small side of steamed broccoli
3:00 snack - Primal Pac and 1/2 of one of the muffins I made for dinner
5:30 - 1/2 mango and 1 hardboiled egg (a pre-dining out snack. I never want to go to a restaurant starving...rarely does it end well)
7:00 dinner - Mitch and the kids had breakfast for dinner. Eggs, Bacon, and Paleo Pumpkin Muffins. You can see the recipe here.
http://elleinwonderland.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/youre-welcome-world-paleo-pumpkin-muffins/

I made them like she did, only I had no natural maple syrup, just 1/8 c of agave. I went ahead and put what agave I did have into the muffin mix. I can tell that they would be really good with more sweetener, but I didn't want to ruin the recipe with Aunt Jemima's Country Rich Syrup! To make everyone happy, I served them to the kids with a small bowl of syrup on the side to dip in. Everyone wins!
Oh, and as for me I went to Bottega Cafe for a Girls Night Out. I had grilled chicken, topped with arugula, zucchini, carmelized onions, and tomato chutney vinaigrette with a side of sauteed spinach. Very good!

Day 10! Only 30 More to Go...

I realized today that I should probably blog earlier in the day, or at least start my post earlier. I have all these ideas of what to say and then I sit down after the kids go down for bed and I go blank! I feel like a maw-maw as I sit at my computer at 8:00pm and i'm nodding off...no drool though!!

Today I went to a crossfit class that I typically don't go to, the 9:30 all women's class. It was smaller than i'm used to and that was really nice considering we had to do rope climbs. When the class was finished I overheard a few of the women talking about the paleo challenge and how hard it has been for them and how they have no idea what to eat. They are eating the same things over and over again and already, on day 10, starting to fade on their enthusiasm. Eating the same things all day every day isn't sustainable over time, and so then people give up and just think Paleo isn't for them. What is paralyzing to them, i wonder? Is it the time of preparing food? Do they not like many vegetables? Are the the sole member of their family wanting to eat better? Is it simply lack of education? I know that for my family eating Paleo has been a constant progression. I feel like now, after almost a year and a half of eating this way 80% of the time, I know what I am doing and can be successful at eating a well-rounded paleo diet. Meal planning is no longer dreadful to me, but exciting. I feel like I understand what my body needs more than I ever have. For instance, take nuts. I love nuts and nut butters. I have always eaten them since we took up the paleo diet. BUT, I have learned that 1) they are very easy, portable fat which makes them easy for me to overeat (a handful here and a spoonful there really adds up) and 2) I've learned that they can irritate my tummy. So I decided not to have any nuts (expect a Larabar on the mornings that I work and the few nuts in the Primal Pacs) during this 40 day challenge and I am shocked that I have not missed them at all! It has forced to me to venture out to other fat sources that used to never be a part of my regular diet - avocado and coconut. Coconut Manna...my new love. Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts as to what is the most difficult part of the Paleo way of eating for you?? I am hopeful for an opportunity to reach out to others who may be struggling and help them expand their view of the grocery store!

I don't mean to bore you guys with my daily food journal, but this blog helps me keep track since I am terrible about writing things down. Today was not my best planned day, but I stayed on track:
Breakfast - 2 whole, 3 white scrambled eggs, 1 spoonful coconut manna
Snack (Post-workout) - 4 hardboiled egg whites, 1 mango
Lunch - 1 1/2 slices deli meat and a bowl of red cabbage and zucchini lightly sauteed with 1/2 c organic marinara and topped with 1/2 avocado (I desperately needed to go to the store and just had to work with what was in the fridge. Turned out quite tasty, though!)
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - A random pull-together of Ground Turkey, Chicken Sausage, red onion, and some salsa left over from monday nights dinner. Had that in romaine leaves alongside steamed broccoli and a small sweet potato. I will spare you a picture. It wasn't that appealing!

Day 9 - Stuffed Chicken

For dinner tonight we had Bacon and Asparagus Stuffed Chicken. Although it was good, I wish I would have researched what others had done with the recipe to improve it. We all enjoyed it (even the kids) but Mitch said that he missed something oozing from the center. I guess when we have had stuffed chicken in the past it has had cheese in the middle that oozes out with every bite. After perusing the internet, I found that some people also used a paleo BBQ sauce to add a little zing to this recipe. I think that would be perfect and a great compliment to the bacon! So, we will for sure have this one again, just adding a little sauce to it.

Ingredients:
4 boneless chicken breasts, butterflied
16 asparagus stalks
4 slices of organic bacon, cooked
4 tbsp. grass-fed organic butter (or olive oil)
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350. Blanch asparagus for i minute in boiling water, remove and set aside.
Open up the butterflied chicken breast and place in each breast 1 tbsp butter or olive oil, 4 asparagus stalks, and 1 piece of bacon.
Pull the 2 sides of the chicken breast together to enclose your stuffing and secure with toothpicks
Sprinkle the outside of the chicken breast with sea salt and pepper and place in a glass baking dish lightly greased with olive oil.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through.
Enjoy!

Before:












After:

What Day is It? Oh yeah. Day 8.

It's kinda nice that I have stopped counting the days. It seems like real life now, not a "diet." Today has been a good day, although I felt a bit tired today (maybe it was the 3 hours in the sun this morning??), like I was dragging all day. I hung in there, though, and by the time my workout time came at 6pm I was pumped and ready to go. The workout today was pretty tough but I felt great once it was over. My time was 27:28
5 Rounds for time:
400m run
20 Deadlifts - 95#
20 Push-ups
10 Deadlifts - 95#
10 Push-ups

And now to the food!
Breakfast - Same ole eggs and coconut
Snack - 2 Hard-boiled egg whites (was at the pool and didn't pack very well!)
Lunch - Salad topped with chicken, carrots, and cucumber+ small banana
Snack - Primal Pac
Pre-Workout Snack - 1 hardboiled egg, 1 small applesauce (organic, just apples)
Dinner - Yummy! Talapia Tacos and Cabbage Mango Slaw

I'll start with the slaw. Its a recipe from Everyday Paleo, one of my favorite cookbooks.
Ingredients:
2 cups purple cabbage, diced
1 cup cucumber, diced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 cup mango
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. EVOO
Black pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium salad bowl, mix well, and serve!












We liked this dish. The only things we would change next time is add a little more mango and put in a little less of the shallot. We also added a little salt and it was perfect!

And for the Talapia Tacos, this is also a recipe from Everyday Paleo. We didn't change a thing except add a little cilantro. They were great! The recipe calls for shrimp, but we chose talapia (after hearing a story on NPR about shrimp, it may be a while before I can eat any!)
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs Talapia
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
cilantro
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1/2 jarred salsa (I use the organic mild from Whole Foods)
10-12 large romaine leaves
1-2 cups cabbage or spinach leaves, diced
Lime Wedges

Directions:
In a skillet, heat the coconut oil over medium heat and saute the onions, garlic, and bell peppers until tender - about 4 minutes.
Add the talapia and saute for about 5 minutes
Add the chili powder, cilantro and salsa, mix well, and cook just until simmering, until fish is flaky
Serve in romaine leaves with shredded cabbage or spinach leaves and lime wedges. Enjoy!!

Day 7 - Already Looking Forward to Dinner Tomorrow!

Sunday's are usually my favorite days. Lazy mornings (which this morning included yoga), afternoon naps, church, a low-maintenance dinner so there is little to clean. Today certainly didn't disappoint! It was a nice day that ended with dinner with friends and a quick evening run.
My meals today were:
Breakfast - 1 whole, 4 white scrambled eggs + 1 spoonful coconut
Post-Yoga Snack - Larabar + egg whites
Lunch - Grass-fed beef patty, 1 slice bacon over romaine and spinach (with a little ketchup) + peach
Snack - 2 slices Boars Head deli meat, sauteed squash
Dinner - Rotisserie Chicken from Whole Foods ($5.99 on sundays! A weekly thing for us), Zucchini "Pasta" Salad

We ended up taking our dinner over to a friends house to eat, so I didn't get a picture of the zucchini salad. I didn't even occur to me to take my camera for a picture, but take my word for it that it was fabulous to look at and eat! I came across the recipe yesterday in a magazine at Joe Muggs. It looked wonderful, was 100% Paleo, so I had to try it.
Here are the ingredients:
10 grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 clove garlic, minced
6-8 fresh basil leaves, cut into small pieces
1/2 c raw walnut pieces or halves
3 tbsp. Olive Oil
Sea Salt to Taste
3-4 Zucchini, cut into thin slices (i used a carrot peeler)
Directions:
Take the cut tomatoes, garlic, basil, walnuts, olive oil and salt and mix together well. Let stand for 20 minutes.
While the tomato mixture is sitting, slice the zucchini
Place a generous amount of the zucchini "pasta" in a bowl and top with the tomato mixture. Garnish with basil, if desired.
Fabulous!!
And my anticipation for dinner tomorrow??? Talapia Tacos with Mango Cabbage Slaw. I've never had either, but they both sound wonderful. Can. Not. Wait. I'll most certainly post pictures of this meal!!

Day 6 - Down 2 Pounds

Today has been a great day, although I have still been quite tired. I didn't sleep great last night and probably should have taken today off in regards to exercise. Hindsight is always 20/20...
I decided at the beginning of the challenge that I would weigh myself once a week to track my progress, to make sure that I was heading in the right direction. When I weighed myself this afternoon I was very pleased to be down by just over 2 pounds. I don't have a weight goal in mind, but I am excited that I am feeding my body well and it's changing!

I started out my morning with 4x800meter (1/2 mile) intervals. I did pretty good on my times for the first 3 and the last one I started fading fast. My times were: 3:40, 3:36, 3:24, 4:15. Thankfully it wasn't super hot, but I still struggled towards the end to even want to finish. But I did. I pushed myself. That's the only way I will ever get better!
Here is what I had to eat today.
Breakfast - 2 whole and 3 white hard-boiled eggs, 1 spoonful coconut manna
No Morning Snack because I didn't eat breakfast until 9am
Lunch - Tuna and 1/2 avocado over a bowl of spinach, small bowl of squash, 1 apple
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - Zoe's Greek Salad with Chicken (no potato salad, no feta, and extra grilled onions)
I did have someone say that they would starve if they ate what I did. Eating a good breakfast and eating quality fats throughout the day really does make a huge difference. I feel completely satisfied at the end of the day and in no way feel like i'm starving myself. When i'm hungry, I eat:)

I am most certainly looking forward to bed tonight and pulling out Brian Kest's Power Yoga DVD tomorrow morning for a good, much needed stretch. And, I'm trying 3 new recipes this week so stay tuned!!

Day 5 - Meow

Today has been a busy day! From swim team, to work, to the grocery, to home for a quick change of clothes, to Irontribe, then rushed home to say goodbye to these sweet kittens who have been in our backyard for the past 3 weeks. They were abandoned by their mama early on and I "rescued" them from under my neighbors house. After getting them used to being around people, we put an ad on craigslist and found them a new home.























Once the kittens were gone, we got into cleaning mode to get ready for a visit from our friends the Merwins (visiting from China!) I did manage to eat in the midst of the business, but today was nothing exciting...until dinner. One of my favorite meals ever!
Breakfast - Scrambled Eggs (1 whole, 4 white), coconut
Snack - Larabar
Snack #2 (pre-workout) - 2 slices deli turkey (Applegate Farms honey maple turkey)
Lunch - Banana Deli Turkey
Snack - 2 hard-boiled eggs, big bowl of sauteed squash and red onion
Dinner - We had our sweet friends, the Merwins, over for dinner. We had burgers on the grill and a summer salad. I enjoyed my burger in between 2 big romaine leaves, along with some tomato, guacamole, and a slice of bacon. I looked forward to this meal all day long! I also ate a few carrots and zucchini slices dipped in guacamole.

No extra running today. I am pooped! I'm off to bed to get some much needed rest. Good Night!

Day 4

A special shout out to Suz and Lauren for commenting. Feeling the love from the Mother Tribe!! Today has been another good day and I really feel like I am in a good groove. I did the Tribe workout at work this morning and did the best I could working out alone. I did 50 burpees, 50 pull-ups, and 50 squat cleans (with just the 45lb. bar). It took me a while to do the squat cleans, so I threw in and extra 50 sit-ups at the end since I gave myself too much rest in between cleans. As for my food:
Breakfast was the usual eggs and coconut.
Snack was a Larabar (Gingersnap - my fav)
Lunch was this yummyness: (grass-fed beef patty on a bed of spinach and romaine with some carrots and apple slices)












Snack - Albacore tuna mixed with some avocado (delish! who knew???)
Dinner - Breakfast - Eggs, Bacon, and Zucchini Muffins from Elana's Pantry. I cant get my linky thing to work so go to www.elanaspantry.com and search for zucchini muffins. I ate 1 muffin to see what I thought about it (new recipe for us) and I thought they were pretty good. They were made with coconut flour instead of almond flour and I put in raisins instead of chocolate chips. Definitely worth making again.
This is very large zucchini that made it all happen (and you can tell by my little guys face the kind of afternoon we had...)























I ended the day with a 1.5 mile run and a little time of walking to clear my head. Day 4 is done and I feel good!

Day 3 - Still A Loser Blog

Today was a good day, although I felt VERY full from all the veggies I ate. I guess that's better than feeling VERY full from eating too many pretzel M&M's. I really need to go to the store, so today my meals and snacks were whatever I could scrounge from the fridge.
Breakfast - 1 whole, 4 white scrambled eggs, 1 spoonful coconut manna
Snack - 1 hard-boiled egg, 1 slice deli meat, 1/2 apple
Lunch - 3 slices deli meat, big bowl of brussels sprouts
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - Urban Cookhouse Grilled Chicken and 2 sides of vegetables (instead of salad and rice)

I was hoping to cook something fabulous, but since Mitch was out of town it just didn't seem worth it. I have some great recipes I will be trying over the weekend and next week. Tomorrow we will have breakfast for dinner and I will make some Zucchini Muffins from a ginormous zucchini we got from my in-laws. It's a recipe from Elana's Pantry so i'm sure it will be yummy.

Last, but not least, I had a great workout earlier today at crossfit and just got back from a quick 1 mile run. I'm in it to win it!

Day 2

So, i'm debating on changing the name to Loser Paleo Blog because i'm not sure if anyone is even reading this...(hee hee)

Tonight I made Stuffed Eggplant for dinner. This is a recipe I got from Everyday Paleo. It was good, but we all definitely liked the "stuffing" more than the eggplant shell. Not sure if my shells were too thick or maybe not fresh enough, but they weren't very tasty. I will definitely make this again, but may try the stuffing (including the diced up eggplant) in red peppers. The only modification I made to the recipe was leave out the sun-dried tomatoes. We are not huge fans of those, so I put in some zucchini and squash instead. I served the eggplant with sauteed chicken and it was a very filling meal.
Find the recipe here: www.everydaypaleo.com (can't get the link working)
And here is how ours looked:























Getting up at 4:40am made today seem like the eternal day, but ate well!
Today I had:
5:30am - too early for me to eat a full breakfast, so just had 1 spoonful coconut
Breakfast - 4 eggs (2 whole, 2 white), 1 banana
Snack - Larabar (keylime flavor)
Lunch - Taziki's Grilled Chicken Salad with no feta and extra lettuce
Snack - Deli meat and Red Cabbage sliced thin with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper
Dinner - Chicken and Stuffed Eggplant

Another goal I have for myself during these 40 days is to spend 30 minutes each day in prayer and scripture. And I will have to say that I have totally failed on that goal and its only day 2! Again, Loser blog. I am enjoying read One Thousand Gifts, though. It has really got me thinking.

Tomorrow is another day and I feel like I have been up for two. Off to bed!

Day 1 - Success!!

I made it through day 1 and it has been a great day!

Here is the lowdown on what I had to eat today:
Breakfast - 4 hard-boiled eggs (2 whole 2 white), 1 spoonful coconut manna (totally yummy stuff if you haven't tried it!), 20 ounces water
Snack - 1 banana, 2 slices Boars Head Turkey, 20 oz water
Lunch - 1 can albacore tuna on a large bed of spinach and romaine, topped with baby carrots and 1/2 an avocado
Snack - Primal Pac
Dinner - Cobb Salad (hard-boiled egg whites, bacon, chicken, tomato, avocado, romaine lettuce), small sweet potato

This is the workout - our benchmark workout. Yikes!
1000m Row
40 Kettlebell Swings (26#)
40 Box Jumos (20")
40 Sit-ups
40 Push Press (35#)
40 Back squat (35#)
40 Burpees

Going into the workout I was hoping to finish in under 20 minutes. My official time was: 18:44! I was thrilled.

Also, one thing we have been encouraged to do is set real goals for ourself, write them down, and share them with someone.
These are 4 of my goals that I want to accomplish by the end of the 40 days:
1) To get 40 unbroken pushups
2) To run 800 meters (1/2 mile) in under 3 minutes, 15 secs.
3) Learn how to do a kip pull-up (seems impossible to me!!)
4) To decrease my waistline by 3 inches
I also have a few other goals, not related to food and exercise that I will share as I go.

I'm off for a brief date with my hubby and hopefully get a good nights rest before my 4:40am alarm!

Day 1 - It All Begins Here

Welcome to my 40 Day Paleo Challenge Journey! I was on the fence about signing up to do this for several reasons, but ultimately decided to go for it because 1) there are great prizes in the end if I win and 2) I KNOW I can be better. So, I am putting myself out there for all to see and starting this blog with hopes of finding accountability, encouragement, and a great place to journal my food and workouts. If you have never heard of the Paleo way of eating, google it. Try it. I promise it will change your life!

So, here I go. Day 1. The benchmark workout tonight (which we will do again on Day 40) looks like I doozie. I kinda, sorta can't wait!!