Day 29 and 30

I never wrote about the last 2 days of my strict paleo 30 days! I made this paleo chili that lasted me a few days, it was delicious.

CHILI
Ingredients 
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 lb stew meat
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes & chilies
1 small can tomatillo salsa (I couldn't find tomatillo salsa but I used a different type of salsa, still turned out good)
1 large onion, diced
1/8 cup of almond flour
2 cups beef broth
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs cumin
3-4 tbs chili powder (but I only put 2, roommates don't like too spicey)
olive oil

Instructions: 
1. Sear stew meat in 2 tbs olive oil and remove from pot. I recommend cutting the pieces smaller, to about bite size
2. Brown onions in same pot and add the beef broth. Let it cook until the broth is reduced by half.
3. Add ground beef and almond flour. Stir it until it browns a bit.
4. Add garlic, spices, tomatoes, and stew meat
5. Simmer on low heat for a couple of hours.

It turned out really good! I'm sure if you wanted to add beans, even though its not paleo, it'd be really good as well. It was a lot so it was great for lunch and dinners.
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I also made Paleo Pumpkin Cookies from Everyday Paleo. Although I substituted the maple syrup for a banana. They turned out alright, I think they would be much better with honey or maple syrup. I also added some vanilla.

So I literally ate chocolate at midnight of the 31st day. It was ridiculously good but it did make my stomach feel a little woozy! At the end of the first week of not being on paleo, and eating chick-fil-a, sweet potato fries, fried-green tomato BLT, a little bit of cheese, milkshake, ice cream (I kinda went overboard), I do feel more bloated and just sluggish. I don't know if it's from specific foods or just my stomach not used to junk after 30 days.

I need to come up with a plan of how I'm going to eat. This plan I will implement after the 4th of July :) What's Independence Day without a hotdog?!

Days 24-28

Day 28. I keep thinking about that chocolate I'm going to consume on Monday. This week was kind of torture because for my Habitat summer camp we had food donations all week, including three days of Chick-Fil-A. I couldn't eat any of it...and it was FREE.

I've been eating pretty much the same things lately but I did try baking some Paleo Pumpkin Almond Muffins. Instead of sugar I put a little bit more vanilla. They were so delicious but I was stupid and put them in tupperware before they were completely cooled and they got all moist and nasty and smelt disgusting so I had to throw half of them away :( Hard to believe they had NO sugar in them. 

Anyways not much to say today. I'm exhausted from my Habitat summer camp! Very proud of myself for resisting that chick fil a though ;)

Days 20-23

It's too far back to remember everything I ate the past few days but I want to tell you about some yummy new things I've tried.

I didn't have any spaghetti squash so I used some fresh zucchini, sauteed it in coconut oil and made meat sauce from the paleo spaghetti recipe. I enjoyed it with some flax seed/coconut bread. I have tons of leftover meat sauce so I've been putting that over some steamed broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. I buy this huge thing of frozen veggies mix from walmart (gasp!) and it lasts forever. I put a bowl full of veggies with some water and heat it in the microwave for almost 3 minutes, then drain it, and it's perfect. I usually have frozen veggies and fresh veggies on hand.

After my workout today (by the way it was an intense workout- 50 lengths in the pool, weights, abs, stretching. And I didn't plan on going to the gym today!) I went to Food Lion to get some supplies and decided to make this DELICIOUS omelet! 

Alsie's Sun Dried Tomato N' Spinach Omelet

Ingredients

-2 fresh eggs

-spinach (frozen or fresh)

-green or red bell pepper

-turkey sausage (cooked. I buy mine pre-cooked so I just had to microwave it)

-sun dried tomatoes soaked in olive oil drained and cut up

-coconut oil
*I usually eye my ingredients and don't measure them too much. Sometimes it's way more veggies than eggs or vis versa but always good! Just use what you like.

Instructions

-Saute the bell peppers in coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat with coconut oil. If your spinach is frozen also saute that. If your spinach isn't frozen, wait until the bell peppers are done. If you like crispier bell peppers don't saute them for too long.

-Add the sun dried tomatoes and turkey sausage. 

-Turn your heat down to low-medium for the eggs.

-Make sure your veggies and sausage are even on the pan.

-In a separate bowl, whisk the 2 eggs. Pour the eggs over your veggie mixture in the frying pan. Try to get the eggs to cover all the veggies.

-Don't touch the omelet for a few minutes. Remember slow cooking eggs is the way to go unless you want hard, rubbery eggs! 

-If you can flip it, by all means do. I can never do that so I check to make sure it's cooked enough to fold in half then wait again for another couple minutes. 

I enjoyed mine with a strawberry, blueberry, almond butter smoothie. It was too good and very filling! 

I've been enjoying this diet and trying new things even though it's still a challenge. It's working and I feel really good. I don't feel bloated, I have more energy and I can see a difference. 

Day 19

More than halfway done with the 30 day challenge.

Today was quite delicious. This morning I had 2 paleo pancakes and iced coffee, which wasn't enough. I ate leftovers for lunch (roasted red peppers chicken bake and roasted carrots). I swear every time I make food and bring it to work people ask me what it is.

For a snack I ate some apple and raw almonds which got me through my evening workout. I might be starting to like Whole Foods but I wish it wasn't so expensive. I went there after my workout and was very out of it and wondering down the aisles but strategically avoided the chocolate bars. They have a ridiculous selection of wonderful chocolate. I was embarrassed because I asked this guy where something was, and then after I bought everything I realized I bought almond meal instead of flax seed meal...so I had to go return the almond meal and had to ask the same guy again where the flax seed meal was. Oh well, he was charming.

For dinner I made a salad inspired by my Subway lunch yesterday. It was DELICIOUS.

Spinach Chicken Bacon Avocado Salad  (too long of a name?) 

Ingredients: 
-fresh baby spinach
-2 slices of cooked bacon diced
-cucumber slices
-tomatoes
-1/2 an avocado
-1/2 green piper diced
-1/2 of a large chicken breast
-seasonings for the chicken (I used pepper, thyme, dill, basil...)
-oil & vinegar, or balsamic vinegar

Season and grill the chicken. I used a george foreman. I also used a whole chicken breast so that I would have leftovers for tomorrows lunch. Next place the spinach on a plate, add the veggies, avocado, bacon, etc. while the chicken is grilling. When the chicken is done cut it up and place it on top of the salad. I sprinkled it with some balsamic vinegar.

Then I decided to try out the flax seed bread again but after reading the comments I tried it with coconut flour. Here's the link to Original Flax Seed Bread Recipe. 

Here's the link to the ingredients I used this time:                                

-1 1/2 C flax seed meal                                                                          

-1/2 C coconut flour                                                                              

-1 tsp salt 

-1-2 TBSP sugar equivalent 

-7 beaten eggs 

-3/4 C water (check the consistency, you might need more. It should be quite thick but pourable)

-1/4 C oil (a little less oil than the original recipe)

                                                                        

 
Before and after baking the bread

 

 Delicious! I spread some almond butter and bananas on it for a lil dessert.

Day 17 & 18

I haven't really eaten anything out of the ordinary these days except for a new recipe I tried that turned out delicious.

Day 17:

-strawberry/banana smoothie

-paleo pancakes

-paleo BLAT

-small piece of flax seed bread and almond butter

-sausage and mustard (Although I'm not buying this kind of sausage again- it had too much sodium and I could tell even just by the way I felt afterwards)

-steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

Day 18:

-strawberry/banana smoothie 

-paleo pancakes

-DELICIOUS salad from subway: spinach, grilled chicken, avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, green bell peppers, onions, pepper, oil & vinegar. 

-raw almonds

And for dinner I made a new chicken bake recipe that was pretty easy to make and absolutely delicious. I got it from everydaypaleo.com. http://everydaypaleo.com/2011/03/09/sun-dried-tomato-chicken-bake/

I didn't have sun dried tomatoes so instead I used some left overs roasted red bell peppers soaked in olive oil (found in a jar). It's going to be even better with a full jar. Extremely juicy and tasty. For a side I used all the carrots that were sitting our fridge for a while. I washed them, skinned them, cut them in half length ways then cut those in half. I put them in a baking dish, tossed with olive oil, and seasoned with pepper, rosemary, thyme, nutmeg, oregano, garlic salt. Next time I'll probably leave out the garlic salt and oregano.

I feel like I barely have time to try out new recipes all the time and cook every day and then I look at blogs with "paleo mamas" etc. and wonder how the heck they find the time to cook paleo for their families all the time. I wonder if they pack their kids paleo lunches for school? Can you imagine as a kid coming to school with a salad or chicken breast instead of a pb & j, chips, and an apple?

Day 15 & 16

We are over the halfway point! I was thinking that I might die of happiness when on day 31 I eat a piece of glorious chocolate. This blog might be getting a little redundant but it's helpful to me to continue to keep track of what I'm eating. I think I need to calm down on the bacon and sausage and start heating more lean meats. I've been doing pretty good on fruits and veggies though.

Yesterday, day 15:
-paleo pancakes, bacon, earl grey tea
-tuna & avocado with some flax seed bread
-strawberry/banana almond butter smoothie
-salad, and some kind of fish I'm not sure about....Aindrea and I went to a Dash baseball game (Winston's minor league team) and we had Founder's Club tickets with free food and drinks. I thought I picked up chicken but it was fish, and delicious!

Today I had a delicious brunch with some friends of mine at a restaurant called Breakfast of Course where you can customize your own omelets. I got one with smoked sausage, bell peppers and spinach with a side of asparagus and gluten free bread. Although afterwards I was thinking I wasn't sure what else was in that gluten free bread and probably shouldn't risk it next time (it may have a ton of sugar? I'm not sure).

Here's what else I ate:
-paleo pancake with 1/2 a banana and unsweetened apple sauce
-chicken sandwich without the bread
-sunflower seeds
-sausage and yellow mustard
-steamed veggies

Definitely need to make some chicken tomorrow. Otherwise everything is still going great and I am seeing and feeling results. I've been lacking on the exercise but I guess I've just been going to too many free Dash games ;)

Day 13 & 14

I never thought I'd love flaxseed bread so much. The word flaxseed even sounds too grainy and dirty and hippy for me to like. Haha but I love this bread recipe and anyone who is on a low carb diet should try it because it's good and extremely easy to make. Of course I only say that after my 2nd try...but watch the video on this link and you're golden: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/breads/r/flaxbasicfoc.htm

Yesterday, Day 13, I ate over easy eggs, bacon, paleo pancakes. Then I had an interesting 24 hour something or other so I ate paleo pancakes, bacon, unsweetened apple sauce, and herbal tea. In the evening I was starving so I tried out that flax seed bread and made up some tuna and made myself a delicious tuna sandwich! 

Today, Day 14, I made an egg scramble with peppers, green onion and spinach. I ate some paleo pancakes with it and instead of coffee I had Earl Grey Lavender tea (delicious!). 

My mind is moving towards all the possibilities of what I'm going to do with this flax seed bread and on the way home I thought of a BLT and got way too excited. I mean it's just food, right?! 

So here's what I did (I was so excited I took pictures of my beautiful sandwich):

Alsie's Paleo BLAT 

Ingredients: 

-1 small tomato, or 1/2 of a large one

-2 pieces of flax seed bread (recipe above)

-4-6 pieces of bacon, depending on how large your sandwich is

-yellow mustard

-lettuce

-about half an avocado 

First cook the bacon. Let it cool off on a paper towel. While the bacon is cooking, prepare the rest of the sandwich. I like to put the yellow mustard on both sides of the bread. On one side I placed the lettuce and tomato slices.  Next, cut the avocado in half. Cut the half into slices, scoop desired amount and spread it directly onto the bread. Place the nice crispy bacon on top of that and you've got your delicious flax seed BLAT! 

MMMMM! 

I enjoyed mine with a glass of iced tea. I had 2 of these they were so good. 

I'm thinking of adding sprouts next time to make it a "BLAST." haha.

Then for dinner I heated up some sausage, dipped that in mustard, and had some steamed broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Tomorrow is the half way point!