Chicken

Spring Clean Eats: Day 10, Piggie Piggie

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Breakfast soupUgh, I totally slept like crap the night before.  I woke up in the middle of the night and was up for four hours before falling back to sleep again.

GAH!

By the time I rolled out of bed I was feeling like I got run over.  Running was not happening as I had zero energy.

Thank goodness for breakfast soup!  A big bowl of broth hit the spot.  This had spinach and a little bit of shredded chicken in it as well.  Not the best picture I’ve taken of soup but it will have to do.

I started feeling better and 100% a couple hours later.  It took a while but I got there, the broth helped tremendously.  Back home from a meeting, I made a quick lunch for us.

taco salad

More taco salad!  This totally hit the spot.  After a late lunch, Scott went out to do errands and I plopped down on the couch with the pups.  I was feeling lazy and not motivated to do anything.  Since Scott was already out, he brought home dinner.

This became interesting and a challenge of its own.  With Spring Clean Eats, the goal is to eat high quality foods and little to no grains/empty carbs.  That eliminates a lot of places for takeout!

Scott came home with BBQ from a place just up the road.

BBQ Ribs

We had ribs, pulled pork, coleslaw, beans, and potato salad.

I was totally bummed out because the food was disappointing.  I’ve had really good BBQ before and this was just a’right.  I only had two of the ribs because they were gigantic so two was plenty. Only a few bites of coleslaw because it wasn’t very good.  The potato salad and beans were not my style.

So I was left feeling guilty that we just spent money on subpar food and I should have just made something quick myself.  Plus there’s the fact that I doubt this was a nice pastured pork, so ugh what did I just eat?

That is what I call, The Quality Food Dilemma.  Do you sacrifice quality for authenticity?  This will definitely be another topic that I bring up after the challenge so we can have a full on discussion about it.  It’s one of my on-going “food” debates  and I haven’t figured out an answer just yet.

Spring Clean Eats: Day 8, Learning

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GF asparagus quicheThis morning was not very spring like.  It started spitting snow when I ran the dogs out for their morning potty break and then picked up from there.

The kind of snow that’s very fine, wet, and all around gross.  The morning was seriously miserable.  It didn’t do anything to motivate me to want to leave the house.

I started a big pot of stock going on the stove and then heated up breakfast.  Hooray for leftovers!

Asparagus quiche with a grain free crust.

Eventually it was time to head to the gym.  I had a huge debate with myself about it too.  I did not want to go out in the miserable weather.  At the same time, I was very much aware that I hadn’t worked out in two days.

Exercise: 

I sucked it up and went to the gym for kickboxing class.  Of course I’m glad that I went, aren’t we always?  By the time I left it was sunny out and the snow was long gone.  Thank god.

I had low energy today while working out.  I feel like this is related to the fact that the previous three days I only had two big meals during the day.   I felt a little like I didn’t have enough umph and my punches and kicks were seriously lacking.  Back when I was distance running, for me, fueling for the run started the day before.  I had to make sure I ate enough to get through the runs.  Eating the day of did nothing for me.  I’m sure that nothing has changed and my body still requires proper fuel the day before.  Time to experiment and find out!

This whole challenge is to figure out what works and what doesn’t.  It’s not just about seeing if I can do it.  It’s about learning along the way and figuring out what exactly my body requires at this stage in my life.  That’s the fun part!  Maybe that’s weird?  Maybe most don’t think like that? But that’s my mentality as I go through this challenge.

What works, what doesn’t, and how I can fix that.

After the gym, I came home and quickly tossed together some lunch.  I had so many things on my mind that I completely forgot to take a picture!  Whoops!

I had a Medium-ish sized mixed green salad with carrots, cucumbers, and shredded chicken.  Tossed in some Tessamae’s Zesty Ranch dressing which is more like an Italian vinaigrette (If you were to ask me).

Experimented a little today with dinner.

Pork dumpling soup

I made a soup that combined my favorite things about won-ton soup and my favorite things about Pho.  Still working on this one but this was a good start!

Broth base with pork meatballs and  I used a spiralizer to make some “noodles” out of yellow squash.  Lots of cilantro and green onions too!

Very filling and it hit the spot today!  Still tweaking the recipe but getting there.

Despite the crappy start, Monday didn’t end too shabby!

 

Spring Clean Eats: Day 7, Vitamin D

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GF Asparagus QuicheSince it was Sunday and I wanted to do something a little more fun and special for breakfast.  I wanted to make a quiche but needed some direction on how to make a grainfree crust.

Thankfully the internet is chock full of recipes!

I made a quick crust using the recipe from Elana’s Pantry.  This quiche will be a recipe once the challenge is over!

This crust was similiar to like a graham cracker crust, where you have to mold it around the pie plate. The crust worked out great though!  I’m going to tweak it just a tad to fit our tastes and I would like to make it so that I could roll it out. The coconut flavor from the oil was a little overpowering and I would like something more subtle.

 

GF Asparagus Quiche, Candian Bacon

 

This experiment worked out though and we had a delicious breakfast!  Asparagus quiche with some uncured Canadian Bacon on the side.

I split a gigantic apple with Scott later as a snack.  I dipped it in some almond butter for extra umph.  That breakfast was a hefty one and all the protein lasted me well until late afternoon.

My exercise for the day was getting some Vitamin D!  It was so nice out and the skies were clear, so the dogs and I headed to the backyard to catch some rays.

It was glorious!  Considering Saturday was a hot mess where it was cold and snowed all day, this was a nice change.

Dinner was quick and easy!

Roast chicken breast and sauteed cabbage

Chicken breast from a roasted chicken and some sautéed cabbage and onions.  Sometimes I think cabbage gets overlooked as a veggie.  Most people either use it in cole slaw or for making cabbage rolls.

But cabbage sautéed in some ghee with onions and a little bit of salt and pepper is a really great side dish.  It’s easy and it tastes amazing.  The cabbage gets a sweetness as it cooks that is surprising.

The evening was spent on the couch watching a really bad hockey game.  Scott and I snacked on dark chocolate chips paired with fruit juice sweetened dried cranberries.

Steve's Paleo Cranberries

I’m not a fan of chocolate and fruit (ew) but this combo is my favorite!  I picked up some of Steve’s Paleo Dried Cranberries.  These were the only dried cranberries in the store that didn’t have sugar added to them.

The. Only. Ones.

They are fantastic though!  Both Scott and I love them, and I hope they come in a bigger bag!  They are sweetened with apple juice so the sweetness isn’t overpowering at all.  The cranberries are huge whole dried cranberries so they pack a punch.  If you see them out, give them a try!

Disclaimer: I found these at the store and bought them myself. Opinions are my own.  Steve’s Paleo has no idea who I am.

Sorry that this post was delayed! We were rearranging our office yesterday and it wasn’t set up yet so that I could post!

Spring Clean Eats: Day 6, New Things

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Jackson's Honest ChipsLast night Scott and I tried out a new snack, Jackson’s Honest Chips, in Salt and Vinegar.  Now while I said that I was reducing our processed food intake, I wasn’t looking to eliminate it entirely.

If folks want to go 100% processed foods free, more power to them!  For us, that’s just not going to happen.

Life is short and sometimes you need a damn potato chip.

These chips are cooked in coconut oil and the ingredient list is short.  Plus they are made here in Colorado!

Jackson’s Honest Chips come in a few flavors but I picked the ones that didn’t have added sugar in them (keeping this challenge in mind).  The chips were very thin, super crispy, and not greasy at all.  There is a slight coconut flavor but it isn’t overpowering.  Since the chips aren’t greasy, they don’t sit very heavy in the tummy.

Basically they are awesome and we’ll be getting these from now on when the chip mood strikes.  I found them at my local Whole Foods.

Disclaimer: I bought these chips on my own and my opinions are my own. This company doesn’t even know I exist.

I didn’t sleep very well last night either and woke up very early this morning sort of feeling run down.  Bah!  When I walked in the kitchen and saw that we were getting some snow (!!#$@), I felt even more down.

Then I realized that this would be the perfect morning for some breakfast soup!  YES!

Breakfast soup, coffee

This will be a full recipe that I’ll post at the end of the challenge!

I also tried something new this morning, Bullet Coffee.  You can find the info here but the basic idea is that for each 8oz cup of coffee you add in 1TBSP of butter (grass-fed, that’s important and unsalted) and 1TBSP of coconut oil.  Blend in a blender until it’s all incorporated and you end up with a frothy cup of coffee.

I need to fiddle around more with measurements since our mugs are bigger than 8oz and also with the coffee beans to water ratio but it is very good.  I can see us going this route and cutting our dairy intake down dramatically.  We currently have some whole milk left that we need to go through first and then we’ll make the switch.

Never thought I would say that!

Not sure if it was the coffee or the soup, or both, but I woke up feeling crappy and after breakfast I felt amazing!

Scott and I have made Saturday’s “Odell Day”.  We head to Odell for a growler fill and for some food from Common Link.

Pulled pork salad, fries

Today we had cajun fries (only available from the truck and so so good!) and their pulled pork sandwiches.  I ate the pork on a quick salad with romaine and shredded carrots.  Scott ate his pork portion using romaine leaves as little scoops.

It was late when we ate so today was another linner day.  Both of us are fine and satisfied with that!

No exercise today, boo on me.  The weather was crappy enough that it left me with no motivation to leave the house.  That’s on me, instead of feeling guilty about it, I’m just going to look towards tomorrow as another chance to do my best.

Spring Clean Eats: Day 4, Management

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Mugs of chicken brothIn yesterday’s post we left off with my need for a snack. I looked around my kitchen but nothing was Spring Clean Eats friendly. It was also later evening and my desire to cook something or even heat something up was non-existent.

Then I remembered that I just made a fresh batch of chicken broth! So Scott and I sipped big mugs of hot broth while we watched Helix. That show is batshit crazy but I have a very strong need to find out how it ends.

After a bit I headed off to bed to read for a little while.  Give me a moment while I shout that, I slept great last night!  I’ve been sleeping like crapola for a couple of years at this point (thanks shit diet and too much beer!) that a great night sleep is totally worth celebrating!  I would have run first thing but we had an early morning appointment so I needed to get to breakfast quickly and get some work done first.

Plus I was hungry!

Scrambled eggs, fresh from a friend’s backyard.  Hooray, backyard chickens!Scrambled Eggs, Mandarin Oranges

With a side of the norm, mandarin oranges.

We were running low on veggies, most especially greens, so after our appointment today, I headed to the store to get supplies our fridge.  I found some paleo “snacks” that I’m pretty excited to try.  They should be making an appearance this weekend!

I was starving and it was way past lunch time, so I picked up some sushi for us to have when I got back home.  Scott had spicy tuna and I just had a veggie roll.

Sushi

It had carrots, avocado, and cucumber with white rice.  I also had two chicken wings (from home) on the side for the protein portion.  Unpictured, is a half apple that I also decided to eat after I realized I was still hungry.

I picked up two portions of sushi but only ate one.  I wasn’t feeling the sushi really.  I also noticed that, for me personally,  it didn’t make for a very great lunch.  It didn’t fill me up or leave me satisfied at all.  I also had the mid-afternoon crash afterwards.  I haven’t experienced that in some time so that surprised me.  Was it the rice? Do I need a much better veg to protein ratio?  Not sure but I’ll keep experimenting and see what works.

I think that I would prefer salads with protein added (like chicken, eggs, or fish) than the combo I had today.

I didn’t get very much water in before lunch either so I feel like that could have played a large part as well.

Mental note, get more water in before lunch! And make sure you eat a proper lunch!

All I kept thinking about after lunch was dinner!

Burger and fries

Burgers and fries, oh yeah!

The burgers were seasoned with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I cooked them in my cast iron skillet in some ghee.  I prefer to cook burgers and steaks in lard, but I currently need to make some more.  Ghee works just as well!

Topped with tomato, onion, and wrapped up in lettuce.  Oh I also put mayo on mine!

The fries were seasoned with:

  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Garlic Powder
  • Chili Powder

And roasted in the oven at 425 for about 20-25 minutes.

I made some Fry Sauce for dipping.  I found some Paleo ketchup at the store today, made by The Paleo Chef. I used this instead of traditional ketchup (which has sugar) to make the fry sauce.

I ended up not getting a chance to work out today.  I was going to go to kickboxing but time ran away from me today and I didn’t make it.

Lessons learned from today:

I need to work on meal and time management.  I should have had lunch planned out a little better and I need to make sure that I manage my errands better so I can hit the gym.

Well tomorrow is another day! This whole challenge is supposed to also be a learning experience and I am definitely learning the new needs and wants of my body.

 

Spring Clean Eats: Day 3, Rinse, Repeat

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Coffee, mandarin oranges, chickenToday’s eats were pretty much the same as yesterday.  Wednesday mornings are when I head over to a local dog shelter to do volunteer work.  I was very tried from a crap night of sleep so I reached for the chicken.

Chicken and broth are two very comforting and restoring foods for me, especially in the mornings.  Since I loved the chicken and sauteed spinach that I had yesterday, I went with that again.

I was low on spinach and out of frozen chopped greens!  Ack!  Breakfast was mostly chicken with a side of two mandarin oranges.

Exercise:

Once back home from the shelter I was able to sneak out for a quick run.  Considering I haven’t run in weeks this run went amazingly well.  I noticed a huge change today during my run.  While I did have to take one walk break, the run was very smooth.  I had energy which I almost never do during noon runs.  My best runs always happen in the mornings because I have the most energy then.

I didn’t feel over tired or even struggling for energy.  I fully believe this has to do with my eats over the past couple of days, providing me with more sustained energy.  I am curious to see how this will transition over the next 30 days.  Will I notice myself getting stronger?  Having more endurance? Will I finally be able run a full mile with no breaks?

After a much needed shower I made us some lunch.

Salad

Salad, the same as yesterday minus the chicken.  I had 1.5 hard boiled eggs sprinkled with salt and pepper along with a small slice of cheese.  I really wanted a bite of good cheese today so I went for it.  Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar is what we usually have on hand and it’s fantastic tasting if you dig sharp cheddar.

Along with a Kombucha on the side.

Lunch was alright but I noticed that it didn’t quite fill me up and leave me satisfied.  I kept thinking about dinner and when I could eat it!

Thankfully we had leftovers from last night so I was able to heat that up quickly and chow down.

Curry Pork Bowl

Curry Pork bowls full of veggies!

I also got a chance to make stock today so hopefully I’ll be able to make some breakfast soup soon!  Breakfast soup and sauteed chicken for breakfast are tied as my second favorite thing to have.

My very favorite thing to eat for breakfast is pork tamales!  No judging now!

Sadly dinner didn’t seem to fill me up either so I’ll probably end up having some sort of snack tonight.  Tune in tomorrow to see what it was!

Spring Clean Eats: Day 2, I’m Hungry

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Coffee, mandarin oranges, spinach and chicken The dogs and I headed to the kitchen this morning as per our usual routine. I had every intention of going out for a run after the dogs ate and had their morning constitutional but that changed the minute I saw and heard the wind.

Damn it.

I hate running in wind especially when it’s 40mph gusts.  No thanks.

I put on a pot of coffee and headed off to the office instead.

About half an hour later my stomach was grumbling and ready for breakfast.  This has been one of the many noticeable changes that I have observed since Spring Clean Eats started.  I didn’t used to be hungry in the mornings and the thought of breakfast left me feeling eh. There wasn’t anything that I really wanted and I wasn’t very hungry.  Sometimes I would skip it all together.

The past me never skipped breakfast and I had always looked forward to that big bowl of oatmeal.  When I say things changed since our move here, I mean in a lot of ways.  I’ve changed.  My wants and needs, nutritionally, are drastically different than they were a few years ago.  Funny how that happens.  Just when you think you have something down, your body wants variety.

This morning I loved the fact that I was hungry.  Putting eggs to the side for the day I had some sauteed spinach and 1/2 a chicken breast.  Sauteed up in ghee with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

A side of 2 mandarin oranges and 2 cups of coffee.

I had time for decent lunch today too since my workout was in the late afternoon.

Salad and smoothieI had a small mixed green salad with a few pieces of leftover chicken from this morning, carrots, cucumber, and some sliced almonds.  The dressing was very simple combo of:

  • Olive Oil
  • Whole Grain Mustard
  • Maple Syrup
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic powder

Washed all that down with a smoothie.  This is a pretty basic smoothie and one of our main go-tos.

  • 2C Water
  • 1 Large Handful of Baby Spinach
  • 1.5 Frozen Bananas
  • 1C Frozen Blueberries

Blend until smooth and creamy.  It makes 2 full smoothies.

Exercise:

Boxing class today!  Normally I would have also ran, but I’ll refer you to the beginning of this post.  Stupid wind.  While boxing class was tough today and I got tired, it wasn’t like yesterday’s lack of energy at all.  This was a tired from getting my ass kicked in class (in a good way, of course!).  Yesterday I was tired because I didn’t fuel myself properly.  Big difference! And I would much rather have classes like today!

Curry Pork BowlDinner this evening is one of my favorite dishes to make that uses ground pork!  It’s a curry spiced pork bowl full of veggies.

  • Cabbage
  • Broccoli
  • Red Pepper
  • Green Onions

All make an appearance!  This is a recipe that I’ll be sharing once the 30 day challenge is over.

Today ended up being an awesome day! I forgot to keep track of my water intake but I know that I drank enough because I’m not feeling dehydrated or sluggish.

Now I’m off to relax and watch the Pens game!

Spring Clean Eats: Day 1, Starting Small

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Scrambled eggs and mandarin oranges The first day of any challenge is always an amazing day. Full of motivation and eagerness. Let’s see how I feel on Day 15 or Day 20!

Breakfast this morning was 2 scrambled eggs and 2 mandarin oranges.  I admit that I have cheated and have been trying to have a protein centric breakfast for the past week now.  I throw in fresh fruit as much as possible and I have discovered that I love having fresh fruit in the mornings.

Back when I was having oatmeal all the time or yogurt and granola, I rarely put fresh fruit in those dishes.  A few exceptions like when blueberries and peaches are in season.  Fresh fruit starts my day off with a brightness that I don’t think I want to give up.

I cannot wait until peach season!

I also had two cups of coffee with about 1/2C of whole milk in each mug.

After breakfast and coffee, it’s been water for the rest of the day.

Exercise:

Today was a kickboxing day and I was feeling slow and winded during class.  I know this is completely related to yesterday’s (Sunday) eats. It was the last day before the challenge and also the last day of Birthday Week (for me).  We had some very yummy but not very nourishing eats.  During class, my body let me know it did not appreciate that.

Hard boiled egg and a sliced appleMondays tend to be a little weird when it comes to an eating schedule.  My kickboxing class is at noon and I don’t get back home until 1:30.  Then we run the dogs to the park and out for a walk.  By the time we are back home again and I’ve showered, it’s just about time to start making dinner.  We usually have a smallish snack and then eat a larger dinner.

I think I need to change that up a bit though and I’m curious how this challenge will influence that.

Today’s mini-lunch pre-dinner snack was a sliced apple and a hard boiled egg sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Chicken wings and cole slawI was totally ready to eat dinner this evening!  Chicken wings that marinated for about 20 minutes before roasting.  The marinade was:

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Soy Sauce
  • Olive Oil
  • Honey
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Garlic Powder
  • Onion Powder
  • Chili Powder

Roasted at 400 for about 20 minutes.  I could have done longer to get the skin a little more crisp but I was hungry!

The quick cole slaw on the side had the same ingredients as the marinade at much less amount.

I don’t have any issues with small amounts of soy sauce or soy products and I consider it a clean eat.

Over all the day has gone smoothly and I have been feeling satisfied with each meal.  Now it’s couch time with the new season of Dancing With The Stars!  Totally guilty pleasure.  Shut it.

Here’s looking forward to tomorrow!

 

 

Changing Breakfast Tastes

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Chicken and BiscuitsThe thing that I love most about moving to different regions of the US, is learning about the little differences each region has when it comes to food.

I’ve noticed that the west definitely likes meat with breakfast.  Oh sure you’ll see bacon or breakfast sausage on the menu but that isn’t really what I’m talking about.  What you’ll also see is a variety of other pork options as well.

Pork seems to be top choice, everything from pork chops to tamales.  Pork green chili is always an option at breakfast and every place that serves breakfast has it on the menu.

I have fallen in love with this style of breakfast.  Pork tamale with scrambled eggs smothered in pork green chili is freaking heaven on a plate.

It didn’t take me long to adopt this breakfast style and start incorporating it into our breakfasts here at home.

When I want a hearty breakfast, I really like the idea of adding in some sort of protein that isn’t always sausage or bacon.

Shredded pork tacos make a great breakfast.  At first you might think it a little odd to pair that with coffee and OJ, but trust me when I say that it works.

Last week we had chicken and gravy over biscuits for breakfast and that was a damn good breakfast.

Of course this isn’t something I eat everyday for breakfast. Just on the weekends when we have a little bit more time and freedom to enjoy the morning.

A couple weekends ago I made pork green chili for the first time.  I’m still fiddling with the recipe but am on the right track.  I portioned it out for leftovers.  One big container to have as a meal and one small container to use with weekend breakfasts.

Pork green chili on top of roasted potatoes? I’m pretty sure I know what we’re having for breakfast this weekend. Now if I could just find some tamales.

Superbowl 2013 Snackies

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Braised Pork Ribs Someone said that there was a big athletic event this weekend. All I know is that hockey is back and the Pens play the Capitals (I can’t stand the Capitals and their website looks horrible. Ahem.)  on Sunday, so I’ll be focused on that.

If you’re having a big event on Sunday for the game of your choice, I’ve got some great ideas for you that will power you through the afternoon.

Braised Ribs are easy to make and the perfect “messy” game day food.  They can be served hot or room temperature and will keep you and your guests satisfied during the big day.

Pair it with some bourbon or green chili barbecue sauce for some extra kick!

If you’re looking for something a little less messy, then this honey mustard chicken salad is where you should turn.

Honey Mustard Chicken SaladThere’s no mayo so it can sit out without a problem.  Everyone can make their own sandwiches or wraps, or even put it on top of a mixed salad.

Chips and dips are always a must on game day.  Make your own horseradish onion dip the day before and it will be ready for when your guests arrive! Can be served with chips or veggies!

Horseradish Onion Dip If you’re looking for a different cocktail to serve, my friend Lori has a great one using sriracha! Head over to check it out!

Have fun this weekend and get your snacking on!