chicken

Fake IT till YOU MAKE IT

I know we all have those days where you just want to stay in bed all day but you know you can’t. You gotta hit the pavement running regardless. Today is one of those days. My plate is full, there’s a LOT of stuff going on and mentally I’m just checked out.

Yesterday I skipped out on my post because my Dad had a heart procedure being done and I was out all day hanging in the hospital. Dad is good. All is well. I thought about blogging from my phone because I had a lot of down time but it just isn’t the same as banging away at the keyboard. A whole day off and I’m back! Aren’t y’all excited? NO? That’s what I thought.

So I’m already blah for the day but I gotta get up and get going to DO WORK at the BOOM BOX and I just am not feeling it. I slept fine, my body isn’t falling apart so I just had to FAKE it till I made it. And that’s what I did. And it worked out alright. Now if I can just get through the work day!

1/19/12

As you see the Skill/Strength wasn’t too bad. Ring Rows aren’t so much my enemy as other movements are but they do wear you out. I managed to do 16 of the 30 ring rows with my legs straight out. But I did break down and have to bend my knees to maintain full extension and what not. At least I’ve made some progress 🙂

The MetCon was a tiny but killer doozy of a workout. Burpees with Ground to Over Head using a 35lb plate. I thought it would take me longer and in reality it should have taken me less. I paused a couple of times as I wanted to just quit halfway through. Once I was committed I was hoping for sub 3 in time…. BARELY over 3 minutes. I should have never paused!!! There’s a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda’s in my life lately. I gotta get that under control.

I almost forgot about holding a squat for time POST WOD and I sucked at it 😦 Although all day pain is gone my hip flexibility is still not super duper and it started burning about 30 seconds in but I managed to pull out over 2 minutes. I should be able to hold it forever but I can not. I am sorely disappointed in my lack of flexibility/tolerance, etc. I really do hope it’s just my hip that hinders me and not “my head” in general.

As far as foods go, I’ve been sticking to my standard meals. I had family in town to check in on my dad and I invited them over to my house for dinner. They all are unaware of Paleo and the whole lifestyle that we are throwing ourselves into but they are aware they need to step it up nutrition wise. I thought it’d be a perfect time to share with them how YUMMY the food can be and still be super good for you. I made them Paleo Meatloaf, Cauliflower Mash and Asparagus which I posted about the other day. They seemed and acted as if it were quite pleasant and I’m hoping they truly felt that way as well. Score 1 for spreading the good health to family members. Now I just have to get them the recipes so they can get to work 🙂

The night before I attempted to cook my first WHOLE chicken. I know I’m behind in the “cooking” game. Whole chickens… that’s nothing to most, but to me that’s WORK. I thought it would be so time consuming and complicated and I have no idea why. We always buy chicken breasts… organic, cage free, etc…. spendy! So this time we bought a whole chicken even ranked better than the chicken breasts in quality and it came out BEAUTIFUL in appearance and TASTE! I only took a before picture because I was so excited at how pretty it was when it was done that I forgot to take an AFTER pic. Plus the kids were ready to test it out as well! It was EXCELLENT and juicy and overall great 🙂

A little over 4lbs

Of course I had to google on how to cook it and Everyday Paleo was there to save me 🙂

I preheated the oven to 450°, Rinsed off chicken, patted it dry. Doused it with salt inside and out (could have scaled down on the dousing though) and then added a little white pepper. I only added pepper because I didn’t believe only salt would be sufficient. NOTHING ELSE! THAT’s IT! Throw it in a roasting pan, dish, whatever and bake it for an hour. Perfection! HOMERUN!

Chicken isn't so "pretty" but it tasted GREAT. Served up with some Sweet Potato Latkes and Steamed Brocolli

So that’s all she wrote today folks. I forgot to defrost meat AGAIN, so I don’t know what dinner will be but I’ll figure it out. Have a Happy Thursday. And I’ll be seein’ y’all tomorrow 🙂

Airrosti Amazeballs and Paleo-ish Enchiladas

Due to my head congestion I decided to flake out on bootcamp this morning. I know this is becoming a regular routine and I need to nip it in the bud NOW. I will, I PROMISE. And hopefully the congestion funk disappears soon as well.

This morning I had an AIRROSTI appointment for my hip. Over the past few months my hip flexor has gone from achey to just painful. It has affected my whole hip, glute and hammies. It’s obviously not stop you in your tracks pain but it’s affecting my lifts and some of my range in depth. I will say I wasn’t “sure” how this would go or how helpful it would really be but in just a short time A LOT of pain has been alleviated. It’s truly AMAZEBALLS. It’s as if the pain melted away. It still hurts where my hip pain originated from but the extra aches and pains are pretty much gone…. it should last but we’ll see. I have to go back 2 more times and hopefully I’ll be pain free by then. I will keep you posted! They gave me some stretches to do twice a day and a cool little wristband reminder. I also got a nice aqua blue kinesio tape up job on my leg to help support my muscles. I’m not saying it’s a miracle fix yet but I am saying the initial pain relief was good. Like I said I’ll keep you updated on what I feel like next week!

Airrosti Reminder Bracelet

Kinesio Tape Up

As for fun yummo goodness, I made chicken enchiladas this morning… CHICKEN ENCHILADAS you say? YES I did say. I had made chicken last night and had intentions of making this last night but without kids and with impatient Ernie we bailed on the chicken and went to Rockfish. It was alright, nothing great but it was quick and warm.

So to the chicken enchiladas. Like I said I had made chicken last night. I seasoned it up with my fave stuff… cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder. I let it cook on one side for a few minutes then flip it, let it cook for another couple of minutes then pour chicken broth over it (about half way filling pan). I let the broth boil, bring it to a simmer and cover it for 15 minute or so. Sometimes longer. Once it’s done, it’s perfect for shredding. I however put it in the fridge.

Chicken Partially Cooked

Adding the Chicken Broth

This morning I pulled out a couple of pieces and minced them up with my handy dandy chomper smasher thing from Pampered Chef (I’ve had this for years and love it). I don’t really have a recipe for my sauce but if you really are interested I will email it to you or write down a proper recipe. Pretty much I used:

Chicken Broth
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
(whatever spices you like best)
Coconut Flour

Minced/Shredded Chicken

I don’t have measurements because I dump until I find a suitable flavor to my liking. I mix it all together and let it heat up on stove. I tried thickening with coconut flour but in my time frame I couldn’t get it to thicken and this is where “paleo-ish” comes into play. I went to my default cornstarch for thickening purposes. So I had to cheat but I was in a rush this morning and trying my best to make something for lunch!

All the while I have begun prepping my “TORTILLA” made with coconut flour and egg whites! This was taken from Paleo Comfort Foods. And this is my first recipe I’ve used out of their book. I wrote the recipe and directions from memory so they aren’t verbatim as to what they printed. But I think I got pretty close!

1/4 coconut flour
8 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp baking soda
coconut oil for greasing pan

Preheat pan. Mix all ingredients except coconut oil. Whisk well and make sure it’s smooth mixture. Add 1tsp of coconut oil in pan and swirl around to coat all of pan. Pour 3 TBS of mixture into pan and swirl around making your tortilla (crepe-like). I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Let the tortilla cook for a couple of minutes. Like a pancake you don’t want to try and flip it too soon or it will fall apart. Once it’s golden on one side flip it and let it cook up. Voila your first tortilla is done! Re-grease before each tortilla with coconut oil.

Tortilla In The Making

Finished Tortilla

I didn’t have time to make a fancy morning presentation, but I packed everything up and brought it to work. Now I know it’s not the same but my goal was to make these enchiladas! So if I have to break it up over the day then I will and I did. Next time, with better preparation I’m sure I could make my tasty enchiladas into some really outta this world gourmet goodness but for now they are plain. Co-worker approved as well as I let Yie (the friend/co-worker I blab to about everything) taste it and she was intrigued and ready to buy coconut flour! I added some avocado slices and grape tomatoes and it was pure YUMMINESS that I feasted on!

Preparing My Feast at Work

All Done! Chiken Enchiladas!

And there you have it for Thursday. Tick Tock the year is almost up! It’s hard to believe! Thanks for sticking with me so far and pray that 2012 will be FANTABULOUS!

Paleo Cake Ball FAIL and other fun stuff

Before I get to CAKE BALL FAIL… I’ll discuss my workout this morning… then I’ll move on to last nights cookin’!

It was a windchill of 21° this morning as I drove to bootcamp. Thank goodness we have an indoor option! Although we did have a run that included being in the FREEZING COLD – not fun. Come on now, we’re in TEXAS! I’m not made for the cold! As always boxing is my favorite part of the Tuesday workout. We’re always mixing it up and I feel like I’m getting quicker every week. AJ makes sure to keep me on my toes! In addition to boxing we did a 20 minute AMRAP if you will. There were 8 movments where we had to do 25-50 reps of something and then run with a 20 minute time limit. (pushups, bicep curls, alligator plank, burpees, jack knife dead lifts, star jumps, up/down plank, run) I got through 1 round and 4 movements into the second round! Woohoo. I felt good today. I suppose I got some good sleep 🙂

Now for last night…..So my Paleo Cake Balls were an epic FAIL, my kids including myself were sure we would never erase the taste from our mouths. When you get too much unsweetened chocolate in one large ball it’s pretty disgusting! Although they came out just as pretty looking as any NON PALEO cake balls I have ever made. There will be a round 2, I promise, I just have to find a “good” PALEO frosting to mix with my cake crumbles.

Cake Balls lookin pretty .... TASTE HORRIBLE!

So now that’s off my chest and I admitted my failure, lets move on to the goodness that did pan out last night. PALEO PUMPKIN CREAM CHEESE which I took from PaleoOMG blog http://paleohmygoodness.blogspot.com/2011/10/paleo-pumpkin-cream-chicken-casserole.html

It turned out quite tasty and the family seemed to agree. I feel that I liked it best since I scarfed it down or maybe I was just that hungry.

Paleo Pumpkin Cream Chicken Casserole

Paleo Pumpkin Cream Chicken Casserole Served!

What you need:
1-1.5 lbs chicken breasts, chopped into 1 inch cubes
1 medium sized spaghetti squash cooked and shredded
1 head cauliflower, chopped
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 can canned coconut milk
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
salt and pepper, to taste

What you do:
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Time to roast our veggggggies! Chop your cauliflower and put it in a baking dish topped with a little bit of olive oil and salt and pepper. Then cut your spaghetti squash in half, use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and extra threads, place face down on a baking pan. Add the cauliflower and spaghetti squash to the oven, side by side if possible, to roast for around 25 minutes. (Depending how big your spaghetti squash is, the cauliflower made roast a little quicker, but mine cooked at the same time) You will know your spaghetti squash is cooked when you can poke the outside skin and it gives a bit.

While the squash and cauliflower are cooking, it’s time to cook up your chicken. Pull out either a LARGE saucepan or a large pot and put under medium-high heat.

Add olive oil to it along with your minced garlic. Once the garlic begins to smell, add your chopped onions and cook until translucent.

Add your chopped chicken to the cooking onions, cover and let steam for around 5 minutes.
Once the chicken is about 2/3 cooked through, add your can of pumpkin, half can of coconut milk, and spices directly to the pan. Mix thoroughly. Taste to see if you need any more spices or salt.

Once your squash and cauliflower is done cooking, and chicken saucey mixture is heated up, de-thread spaghetti squash with a fork, running the fork the opposite way of the threads.

Add your spaghetti squash threads, roasted cauliflower, and chicken saucey mixture to a 9×11 glass baking dish and add dish to the oven under the broiler. Cook for about 5 minutes, getting a little dark on the top.

Remove from oven and let sit for around 10 minutes to help the sauce thicken up. Then EAT! It’s good stuff and rather easy to make.

AFTER I had cleaned up dishes and had my cake ball disaster I decided I would get a jump start on tonight’s prepping and got zucchini all sliced up to cook as my “spaghetti”. It’s just prepped and in the fridge for now

But post prep I had some zucchini ideas, ran it past the kiddos and they were on board so we made tiny zucchini sandwiches! This was quickly packed away into containers for their lunches. They were very excited about them and tried out a couple. There’s one for the WIN column. I hope they enjoy them today at lunch. MY 8 year old says the kids at school think what he eats at lunch is GROSS! Then he procedes to tell me “they have no idea what GOOD food is… raspberries are awesome and my sandwiches are going to be good today! They all eat chips and crackers, and sugar stuff. That’s stuff isn’t good for you” He’s a good kid that Jakob. 🙂

So I’ll leave you with a pic of our little zucchini sandwiches. They have all natural, minimally processed, nitrate free ham, carrot slice and of course zucchini. Have a great Tuesday!

Zucchini Sandwiches for Kids Lunch