Local produce-gasm!

I am eating the most delicious salad for lunch and felt compelled to write about it right away.  It has turkey lunch meat on it, but bear with me.  Said turkey is resting upon a mountain of gorgeous salad greens and boiled eggs from a farm in my area.  I added a dressing I picked up from Whole Foods- the ONLY paleo-friendly dressing I have ever seen in a grocery store!  It's called Tessemae's All-Natural Lemon-Garlic Dressing, and it's from Annapolis, a little over an hour from where I live.  All it has in it is olive oil, lemon, garlic, salt, and mustard.  Oh, and of course I added several strips of crumbled bacon.

Anyhoo, this salad mix (from the Funny Farm in Callaway, MD) is amazing.  It has some baby lettuce, arugula, some other leafy stuff and herbs I can't identify, and the result is super tasty.  Like, I never knew the base of a salad could be so good; it usually doesn't taste like much of anything!  I had been trying to call this farm to see about doing a tour with my Meetup group, but the phone number I found online was no good.  I sucked it up and headed over to the farm last weekend.  I went into their store and discovered they sell eggs and butter from the local Amish; score!  When I went to the fridge to get some, the lady at the counter told me about the salad greens, so I grabbed a bag of that too.  I asked her about their beef, if they just sell by the side or quarter, and she let me know there were steaks and ground beef in the freezer.  OH SNAP!  I had been ordering grassfed beef from Vermont, unaware that there was a source of smaller quantities, right on my own backyard.  All because I'm lazy and over-dependent on the internet!  So yeah, I'm so glad I popped in; now I have a new source for cheap, top-quality eggs and butter, and steaks too.

Soon I will have a new phone with a better camera.

My Whole9 Virtual Workshop Experience!

Last week I saw on Whole9 that they would be piloting a new virtual workshop format, and would be selecting a handful of readers to participate in a free trial run.  Well, I am a major Melissa & Dallas fan, and they have quite a following, so imagine my delight when I saw that I had made the cut!  I submitted questions inquiring about their thoughts on cholesterol (and cholesterol meds), how much importance they place on organ meats, and about nutritional preparation for Tough Mudder (still toying with the idea of actually doing this).  There will be a future workshop focusing on endurance training, so my last question would be a better fit for when that event happens, but I got some great info on the other two, and also got a lot of good tidbits from the other participants' questions.

First off, I am pretty interested in cholesterol.  I remember the first time one of my friends told me that saturated fat intake and cholesterol was never proven to cause heart disease; I probably looked at her like she had eight heads.  Well, eventually I decided to stop believing things on the grounds they are repeated so much, everyone takes them as gospel.  The fact of the matter is, this whole idea is borne of a scientist cherry-picking data to suit his own pre-conceived notion, not good science.  These days, you can't watch TV for than half an hour without seeing a commercial for a cholesterol medication, showing some fit, active, middle-aged individual for whom "diet and exercise isn't enough."  Crestor is their final hope against certain death! Wellll, not necessarily.  There are millions of Americans on drugs to artificially lower their cholesterol, and there is much debate as to how effective these drugs are at preventing heart disease, especially in women.  Anyhoo, Dallas & Melissa's take was that high cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, but a symptom of inflammation (which is an accepted factor for heart disease), and we are better off concentrating our efforts on reducing inflammation by living a healthy lifestyle, rather than lowering cholesterol artificially.  Right on!

In other news, I was relieved to learn that the Whole9 folks are totally cool with my not eating liver, woohoo!  Grassfed offal can be a wonderful source of nutrients, but we don't need to worry about missing out on anything by sticking to muscle meats, of course along with various veggies.  I do have a grassfed beef liver in my freezer, and I WILL defrost and eat it one day, but I'm not going to sweat it after that.

There were some great questions from the other participants about stuff like gluten and protein powders for PWO nutrition.  One person reported that they were able to re-introduce gluten with no ill effects, and was wondering if that meant they could keep eating it.  Dallas explained that gluten can increase gut permeability and the damage can build up over time, even if an individual doesn't feel bad after eating it.  They categorized it as one of those things you should only eat if it's in the form of something really special and tasty.  I myself am gluten intolerant, so it's gotten pretty easy for me to resist temptation! 

As for protein powders, of course Melissa and Dallas recommend having real food after workouts, but they do recognize that life gets in the way, and sometimes a protein shake is in order.  They do not recommend whey protein though, which is a popular choice among paleo folk who shake it up.  Egg white protein is a superior choice because it doesn't elicit the inflammatory and insulin responses that dairy products do, and because it tastes like crap.  Yes, it is a better choice because it tastes like crap- protein shakes are convenience food, and you can't have your cake and eat it too (definitely don't eat cake after your workout!)For example, I have been having several whey protein shakes a week- chocolate flavored, and blended with delicious fruits and almond milk.  But, but, I go to a Crossfit affiliate 40 minutes away, and I'm just trying to get my post workout meal in as soon as possible!  Well, I'm going to suck it up and bring some real food to eat after my workouts- it really isn't that hard to make a big batch of mashed sweet potatoes & boiled eggs to eat over the course of the week.  And if I don't make the time make that happen, well, I'm not rewarding myself with a delicious chocolatey concoction.  Tough love!

So yeah, what a cool experience!  I'm really looking forward to signing up for future virtual workshops, and am so glad I had the chance to participate in the pilot.  I really like their style- they tell it like it is (but very nicely), and they make things easy to understand for us non-sciencey folk; if they hold a workshop on a topic that interests you, totally check it out!

Just fruit & coconut milk, I swear!

Food Pr0n

I have been massively delinquient in my posting lately, and I don't want to lose my five readers, so here's some food porn to tide ya over!  I apologize in advance if there are any duplicates here, and I will post full recipes for some of these soon.  Work, yada yada, school, yada yada, you get the idea...

Roasted duck with sauteed asparagus and blue skillet taters

Chicken breast wrapped in bacon with green beans

and teeny-tiny potatoes from Trader Joe's

An in-progress omelette- baby arugula and

Blarney Castle cheese

The bacon-wrapped chicken in leftover form:

over spinach salad!

I better warn my sister to avert her eyes- runny yolk alert!
(She has runny-yolk issues)

Soft-boiled egg, sauteed spinach, and oil-poached salmon

Sexy side dishes

When I was a kid, I was super picky.  I would eat peas and broccoli, but as far as vegetables go, that was about it.  No mushrooms, no spinach, probably no carrots, definitely no peppers (ok, I still hate those most of the time.)  The last couple of years though, I've started really enjoying them, and I believe if I can do it, anyone can.  Let's face it, there are cultures that are mostly living on animal products, but if you're not eating odd bits, you may have a hard time meeting nutritional needs from just animal products.  Some folks may feel a little lost when it comes to the idea of no longer having their usual rice pilaf, white potatoes, bread, etc. with their dinner.  Well, it's time to get friendly with vegetables!  If you cook them right and use a healthy helping of fat, they will be wonderful, I promise.  You may notice roasting as a theme here; roasted veggies are the shizz.  Here are some of my fave side dishes as of late:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (like most of us, I used to HATE these, now they are one of my favorite things in the world)

1 pound fresh brussels sprouts
6 oz (half a pack) bacon- get the highest quality you can
a few shakes of Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, or whatever strikes your fancy
3 TBS melted clarified butter

Slice the bottoms off the sprouts, remove the outer leaves, and slice them in half lengthwise
Chop bacon into small pieces
Toss together sprouts with butter and seasoning
Spread in a single layer in roasting pan, sprinkle the raw bacon pieces over top
Roast at 400 for about 30 minutes until sprouts are golden brown


Roasted Broccoli (or Cauliflower)

1 lb broccoli florets
3 TBS melted clarified butter
1 TBS chopped garlic

Toss ingredients together, and spread out on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper
Roast at 425 for about ten minutes, until broccoli is bright green and some florets are starting to brown.
**Roasted cauliflower is GREAT as a vehicle for curry if you are missing your rice- I sprinkle it with a little curry powder and roast the florets for about 20 minutes until the tops start to get golden.**


Skillet Taters

1 lb blue potatoes
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 cup clarified butter (if you have duck fat USE IT!)

Slice potatoes as thinly as possible (I ran them through the food processer)
Add butter to large pan, bring to medium-high heat
Add everything to the pan, and sautee for about fifteen minutes, stirring potatoes every couple of minutes until they soften and some are crisping up.  Add salt and pepper to taste.


Green Leafies

1/2 lb spinach, swiss chard, arugula, you get the idea
3 roughly chopped garlic cloves
2 TBS clarified butter

Sautee garlic in butter over low-medium heat until it starts getting a little golden-brown.  Add your greens, and sautee for a couple minutes until they wilt.  Add some salt & pepper to taste, and a squeeze of lemon if you have it.


Sweet Potato Hash Browns

2 large sweet potatoes
2 TBS coconut flour
1 large egg, scrambled
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper

Shred the sweet potatoes with a grater or food processor
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl
Cook in clarified butter or coconut oil over medium-high heat; either just dump it in (may be a 2-batch job) and stir every few minutes until golden brown (about 15 minutes) or shape into patties for sweet potato pancakes!


Make any veggie palatable
-Roast it (duh)
-Add bacon (double-duh)
-Slather it in pastured butter like Kerrygold or Organic Valley Pasture Butter
-Sprinkle on some quality cheese
-Put it inside meat (stay tuned for my stuffed chicken breasts)
-Don't overcook!  If your veggies are always coming out as mush, on your next attempt, cook them half as long as you normally would.

Didn't really have any side dish pics handy, so here's some

lovely local produce

Asian-inspired Salmon Salad *Repost*

Another throwback from the old site- it's salad season!

My name is Julia, and I'm a salad-aholic.  Salads don't have to be boring and they can be really filling, contrary to popular belief (I actually have been working on eating this one for the past hour and a half). I also like salads because they are uber-versatile; you can pretty much throw in anything you have laying around, and they're a great way to enjoy your favorite ethnic flavors without ingesting a bunch of heavy stuff like rice, cheese, or noodles.

For this particular salad, I had some salmon in the fridge and an avocado on the brink of over-ripeness. I love the dressing they have at one of my local Japanese places, so I decided to model it after that; it tastes kind of like a peanut sauce, and I pretty much have almond butter coming out of my ears at the moment, which is the perfect base for a cleaned up version.

So, I just grilled some salmon, made my dressing, and put it all together with some stuff from the salad bar at my work. Sorry, the cell phone pic doesn't really do it justice; it was quite the beautiful salad!



1 portion of wild salmon, 4-6 oz

1 TBS sesame seed

1TBS coconut oil
1 small avocado, sliced (half would probably be plenty, I just love me some avocado!)

A few cups romaine or your favorite salad greens

Some shredded carrot, onion, and cucumber



Dressing:

This makes about six servings, I think it should keep for a week or so in the fridge

2 TBS creamy almond butter

1 TBS honey

1 TBS +1 tsp cider vinegar
2 drops chili oil (not essential if you don't have it; it just adds another layer of flavor)

2 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 TBS finely chopped fresh ginger

Some water, maybe 2 TBS



Make the dressing:

-You may want to melt the almond butter slightly (especially if it's the bottom of the jar) so it's easier to combine with the other ingredients; it only takes a couple minutes to do this on the stove
-Whisk all ingredients together; add the water if you'd like to thin it out a little



Grill the salmon:

-I did mine on the good ol' Foreman  I'd recommend laying down some non-stick foil if using a real grill (no offense George, I love your grill too)
-Smear the coconut oil on both sides of the salmon, and sprinkle on the sesame seeds.  Pat them down a little to make sure they adhere to the fish
-Grill the salmon; I just did a minute on each side because mine was pretty thin, and I like it a little on the rare side.  I always find the top plate on the Foreman grill to be hotter than the bottom, so I do flip whatever I am preparing on it.

I'm sure you can figure out the rest; I prepared the dressing and fish the night before, and had everything chilled (I am not a fan of microwaves, so I try to avoid bringing stuff to work that needs reheating; more on that later!)  Like I said before, this salad really can keep you satisfied all afternoon; it's full of fiber, good fats, and protein, don't underestimate the mighty salad! :)

Birthday Funtimes and Forging Elite-ish Fitness

Last friday was my birthday.  In the spirit of taking good care of myself in my old age, the boyfriend and I checked out Southern Maryland Crossfit, which is located in the bustling metropolis of Waldorf.  I got interested in Crossfit last year and have been dabbling & teaching myself some less-dangerous movements, but I know I haven't been working out at intensity, so it was time for some motivation.

They offer two free sessions to newbies; the first is an assessment, and the second is a group class.  Friday was our assessment, and we both had a great time!  The coach started off by going over some basic health history to make sure he was aware of any injuries or other limiting conditions, gave us some info about Paleo nutrition (check!), and went over how they run their classes.  He had us both show him how we are with pullups (I'm getting there- he showed us how to use assistance bands, which I'm now implementing in my usual routine), pushups (yeaaahhh, I need to do these more often), and bodyweight squats (this was ok, but I was not sitting back enough- good to know).  The coach was really cool and helpful, and put things in terms that made sense (e.g. "imagine you're drunk and there's no bathroom around; what are you gonna do?  Sit back!") Then we did a 500m row to warm up, and a WOD.  It was 5 ball slams (I hadn't done these before, really liked!), 10 pushups, and 15 wallball shots, as many rounds as possible in 5 minutes.  Only 5 minutes, you say?  Well, I don't know if I even squeezed out two full rounds, it was TOUGH.  Definitely a humbling experience, and reinforced the fact that while I've been making some good strength gains, and having fun teaching myself new lifts, I've been bo-jangling!  We're really looking forward to going back to try out a class; hopefully we'll be able to make it up there at least a couple times a month. 

Chocolate Salty Nuts, and other snacktime favorites!

Since getting off the blood-sugar roller coaster ride, I don't need to snack much, but it's nice to have something healthy-ish on hand when you're busy at work or on the go.  I also see that a lot of times, beginners like to have that safety net of having snack options that are "allowed."  Here are some ideas:

-Chocolate salty nuts: Melt some dark chocolate slowly over low heat; once all the little chunks are melted, mix in a bowl with macadamias, spread out on parchment, and refrigerate until the chocolate is solid again.  These can be portable in a little plastic container.

-Deviled eggs: not very portable, but great if you can keep them in a fridge at work.

-A spoonful of coconut butter

-Larabars: these are full of dates, which are full of sugar, but they are not heavily processed, and are made of real foods, so I think they are great in a pinch.  The coconut cream pie one is really tasty; just don't have these too often!

-Jerky: I'm not big into jerky, but I really like Trader Joe's Teriyaki Turkey Jerky once in awhile.

-YouBars: This is pretty neat; you go on the site, and choose ingredients to make a custom bar.  I got my first order last week, and my recipe needs some tweaking- from now on, I'll choose "more nuts," and I asked them to halve the dates to cut down on the sugar, but the bar was a bit dry.  Pricey, but a very cool concept!