Monstrous Burger

So, I follow this wonderful Instagram account @eattrainlove which features many paleo recipes.  Yesterday she posted a photo of portobello burgers and I absolutely HAD TO try it!

Here is my result:

YUM!  There are so many non-paleo foods that I don't miss but every now and then I crave a burger.  I am so excited to have found/created a non-bread burger!!  Here's how I put this together:

• Wash the portobello.  Take the stem and scales off the portobello, coat very lightly with olive oil & put it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.  Use your judgment on this y'all - if your mushroom is large & thick you're going to have to leave it in there longer than if you pick a mushroom that's thin and flat.  I recommend using a thinner mushroom or thinning it out yourself so you get more of the juicy burger patty flavor without it being completely overtaken by mushroom flavor.  If you haven't had a portobello mushroom, I'm letting you know now - portobellos have their own rich strong savory smell & flavor so you're going to get some of that flavor on your burger no matter what.
• Prep the bacon.  I prepped mine in the grill side of my Cuisinart Griddler (yay wedding presents!).  
• Grill up your patties - yes, right there in that little bit of goodness left over from the bacon.  My griddler functions much like a George Forman where the grease drips out of what I'm cooking but the bit of bacon goodness that remained was sufficient.  I made my patties using grass fed organic beef, salt, pepper, and onions.
• Place your bacon and your patty between two of those mushroom caps!  Feel free to add whatever you like on your burgers.  I added avocado (because I love it and it is so good for you).  The hubby added ketchup. If you're not following the paleo diet (but you're using mushrooms in place of bread?), put some slices of cheese up on there.

There were a number of things I really liked about this recipe.  First, it has meat And the "meat of the vegetarian world" i.e. portobellos.  I put carnivore meat together with vegetarian "meat".  I'm not sure if that's brilliant or blasphemy but I really like the end result.  Second, this is a recipe I can really sink my teeth into.  It has more of a hamburger feel than something like the Mooyah burger that comes wrapped in lettuce.  I'm totally not dissing on lettuce burgers, but portobello burgers are a welcome alternative.

One last thought.  Be selective with what you put in your body.  One of the main reasons the paleo diet appeals to me is because it is based on eating what nature provides. There are no magic potions, no extreme calorie limitations, or tricks or gimmicks.  I try to keep that as the focus - I'm trying to eat what nature provides me and I'm trying to eat it in a more natural manner. I try to accomplish that by going free-range, grass-fed, cage-free, etc.  Does your meat look like this?

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

Greens!!

If you were to put any of a dozen superfoods/high nutrient foods in front of me, I would need no invitation to dig in and clean my plate.  Many of the food items that are considered superfoods fall into the paleo diet & are delicious.  I would happily dig in to a plate of berries, some salmon, a sweet potato, some nuts or an avocado *drool*

However, I am not the type of person that actively seeks out greens to eat.  Greens are one of those things that I kind of have to mask with other flavors in order to eat sufficient quantities.  It's not that I dislike greens, they just don't particularly thrill me.  In order to get my greens, I usually blend kale, spinach, arugula, etc. into my green smoothies (where they are masked by the taste of berries & spices) or I mix them into my breakfast.  The hubby isn't big on green smoothies so mixing greens into our breakfast is a safer bet if I want to ensure that hubby is eating his green superfoods.

YUM:

This is essentially the same fitmencook omelette cup recipe (http://fitmencook.com/post/33087085923/meal-prep-tip-if-youre-like-me-and-often-rushing) from last week's posts but I used a loaf pan instead of the cupcake pan.  If you use the loaf pan its easier to just toss in ingredients without putting them into a dozen little slots but you will need to leave the loaf in the oven longer to ensure that it cooks through.  I made this particular batch as follows:

• Line the bottom of the pan with bacon & put in the oven at 400 for 7 minutes.  This step is optional but my diet allows for bacon...so why would I leave it out?!
• Throw in leeks, kale & spinach (or whatever greens you want) on top of the bacon and put in the oven for a few minutes.  Essentially this wilts everything and brings out the aromas and flavors.  You don't have to just toss in greens- you can use peppers, onion, or whatever you like.
• Finally, fill the pan about 2/3 of the way with a pre-mixed egg & egg white mixture.  If you overfill, it will never finish cooking and it might spill out over the top! So don't fill the pan up all the way. (I didn't make enough egg/egg white mixture and you can see where there is a lonely unblended egg white on top of the loaf lol You will have to adjust the timing depending on the size of the pan you are using.  I used smaller loaf pans and it took about 20 minutes to cook all the way through. Poking the center is a good way to find out if it's ready.

His vs. Hers

I want to start with a big shout-out to my wonderful hubby.  When I moved in with the Hubby, he weighed in at about 206 pounds.  He now weighs 187-ish and definitely carries more muscles mass than before.  He's a runner, he lift weights, and his eating habits improved so much since we got together and, I do NOT force anything on him!  He has changed his habits of his own volition.  He realized it felt good to run - he liked it when he slimmed down - he likes pushing his body in new ways.  It's his journey.

All that said, our exercise and diet patters do not always align.  There are many foods that I like to eat that the hubby is not fond of or that I do NOT eat but that he loves.  You know what I do about it?  I let it be.  I try to accommodate his needs and be gracious about it when we can't agree.  It's his job to decide the health journey that is a good fit for him and it's my job to concern myself with my own health journey.  Our needs aren't the same - our goals aren't the same - and our habits will reflect that.

I had two things to eat today that were for me and me alone.

1) Paleo pancakes!

Here is the recipe I used: http://guiltykitchen.com/2012/10/19/paleo-pancakes/

I left out the hemp hearts and put in more coconut flour but other than that I followed the recipe.  I like how these pancakes turned out!  I've had several disasters making paleo pancakes so I'm excited when the end product looks and tastes at least similar to "normal" pancakes.  I've had some recipes that end up as crumbly messes, some that taste more like an omelette than a pancake, etc.  Ryan has not enjoyed a single paleo pancake recipe and at this point has altogether given up even sampling any non-standard pancakes.  These pancakes tasted good, were fluffy, and maintained a good shape so I'm pretty pleased with them.  Following the recipe yielded these six small pancakes.  I ate three and was pretty full so I put the other three away for later use.  Coconut flour based pancakes are definitely more dense and more filling than standard pancakes.

2) Sweet potato fries!

Ryan loves potatoes but he does NOT love sweet potatoes.  Every now and then he tries sweet potato and thinks it's fine; for example, he likes the baked sweet potatoes at Texas Roadhouse - think Butter, Cinnamon, ooeygooey.  I made sweet potatoes like the ones at Texas Roadhouse once at home but it was just too much sugar and butter for me - that's not a dish we can put into the regular rotation.  Anyways, I love everything sweet potato so when I feel like having potatoes, I just make His and Hers potatoes.

So what's the takeaway? Live the fit life.  Your journey will inspire others.  Others' journey won't look exactly like yours. Encourage others to choose their own path based on their preferences, goals, and what works for them.

Day 7 Report!

Food: Ok y'all, I had planned to go grocery shopping but ended up at Nissan for four hours waiting for an oil change and to be told my car needs additional work. So, I will grocery shop tomorrow and hopefully post more interesting recipes at that time.  For now...

Meal 1: Breakfast on the go - Protein Bar!  I've tried several protein bars & shakes and many of them don't keep me full or they taste bad.  I discovered these Atkins bars a while back & really like them, even though I don't follow the Atkins diet.  I get the "snack" varieties and Ryan gets the "meal" bars which are bigger & keep him full.  One of the good things about these bars is the low glycemic index.  I won't go too much into it for now but I try to keep my blood sugar balanced throughout the day to avoid energy spurts and crashes & low glycemic foods help me accomplish that.

Meal 2: Leftovers! Chicken, spinach & green beans.

Meal 3: More leftovers! Sirloin, avocado & feta.

Meal 4: Smoothie!  I love smoothies because they are a great way to get a couple of servings of fruit and you can always toss in some protein to give the smoothie texture and to make it more filling.  This one has strawberries, raspberries, juice of a lemon, kale, some cranberry juice, lots of unsweetened coconut flakes and a couple of tablespoons worth of hemp hearts. In hindsight, I probably could have left out the lemon and added nutmeg & cinnamon for a more consistent flavor.  Experiment! Learn from your experiences! Tweak your recipes until you find something you like.

Meal 5: A little guilty pleasure...some dark chocolate.  Yes, I'm human and have needs too.  Have your little indulgence & move on.  Don't let your indulgence be so big that it undoes all of your hard work!

Exercise: NONE.  I had more sore places on my body than well places so I decided to give my body a much needed rest.  I'm really surprised at how much yesterday's jog took it out of me.  We've been treadmilling it more than running outside lately and I think those hills are what got me...but I plan to double up on my workouts tomorrow!

Day 6 Report

I'm so glad I decided to do these daily blog posts during this stressful time.  It really has helped me stay on track with my priorities instead of pitying myself or my situation.  I feel like I'm still accomplishing so much & still progressing in achieving my goals.  This has been good for me.

Food:

Meal 1 and 2: I made oats again - the big difference is that this time instead of chia seeds I used 1.5 tablespoons of hemp hearts and 1/2 a plain greek yogurt.  My main goal was to increase the protein content so I included hemp hearts, greek yogurt, the oats, almond milk, cinnamon, RAW protein powder and almond butter.  I made way too much while I was preparing it so I had some of it in the morning and saved about half so I could eat it later on in the afternoon.  The total protein content for both servings is: hemp hearts 5g, greek yogurt 7.5g , oats 3.5g, almond milk 1.5, protein powder 8.5 & almond butter 1.5 for a TOTAL of 27.5g of protein.  By the way, I mixed all the ingredients together before I eat the protein.  I leave it separated out in pictures so you can see what I put in there!

Meal 3: Chicken, spinach & green beans. I was pretty hungry after church so I stopped by Boston Market & bought a family pack.  I always remove the skin to lower the fat content & it still tastes delicious to me! 

Meal 4: This is what happens when I have a few things in the fridge that I want to use up just before I go buy more groceries - this mix of stuff turned out well: lean ground sirloin with salt, pepper, garlic & cayenne, mixed with feta cheese and avocado.  Yum!

Meal 5: Tiny meal.  I just ate one of my home-made protein bars that I got from www.facebook.com/bettyrockershow Although it looks like chocolate - it just has little sprinkles of unsweetened baking chocolate on top so most of the flavor actually comes from the almond butter, slivered almonds and protein powder.

Exercise:  Hubby didn't feel like going to the gym after a day of ups and downs and tummy ache so we just went for a 3 mile run in the glorious weather followed by a 1 mile cool down.  Isn't he precious?!

Sermon:  I'll keep it short because I learned so much today that it has inspired a post to my non-fitness blog :-)  The short version is:
Broadly speaking, the work of the Lord is anything we put our hands to as Christians.  Do all things to the glory of the Lord Jesus.  With all that you do, work as if working for the Lord and not men. If you want to be useful in the Kingdom, forget yourself.  If you want to be effective in ministry, die to yourself.

Day 5 Report! (shh - let's pretend I didn't skip a day)

Food:
Meal 1: I was expecting to have to rush around because of a busy day ahead so I picked a 1 minute breakfast...but then a few of my plans for the day fell through lol oh well I had already eaten my 1 minute meal consisting of a banana and almond milk.

Meal 2: I follow about 100 fit people on Instagram and frequently see new recipes that I want to try!  I tried one from @fitfreakgeek out of Austin today and it was a total winner!  I believe she is writing a recipe e-book right now so as soon as that drops, I will provide a link to that.  The oats are Bob's Red Mill Steel Cut Oats: http://www.bobsredmill.com/steel-cut-oats.html - I went ahead and prepared according to the package instructions which provides enough oatmeal to last several servings.  Once the oats were prepared, I added almond milk, cinnamon, chai seeds, Garden of Life RAW Protein http://www.gardenoflife.com/Products-for-Life/Foundational-Nutrition/RAW-Protein.aspx & a nice spoonful of almond butter *drool* I don't eat most oats because I generally follow the paleo diet but my body handles these steel cut oats pretty well.  I will work on finding an alternative to the oats...quinoa? greek yogurt?

Meal 3:  BIG MEAL! I went out to a Mexican restaurant for a birthday dinner for my in-laws & had a huge serving of tilapia that was covered in spinach, mushrooms & other veggies.  It came with a side of borracho beans, avocado & tomatoes that I ate and with rice...which I never eat anymore.   Since this meal was super-large, I kept my meal count to 4 today instead of 5.

 NO RICE!

Meal 4:  My late night snack hit the spot for both my salty & sweet cravings.  I love coconut water - I am careful to always get the unsweetened, all natural, no additives, no preservatives, with pulp variety.  Coconut water always reminds me of beach trips to El Salvador so it is a special treat for me.  The sausage was a nice way to get some last minute protein to balance out all the (good) carbs in coconut water.

Exercise:  I targeted my core tonight with most of the emphasis on abs:
Seated V Knee Ups
Scissor Kicks
Bicycles
Crunches
Reverse Crunches
Russian Twists
Supermans

I'm going to be feeling this tomorrow every time I laugh...

Sermon: No sermon today - I spent lots of my free time with my in-laws and my parents <3

Day 4 Report!

DRINKS:

No I didn't drink alcohol, don't get too excited. I looked back on the last three days and realized I hadn't posted anything about my fluid intake. I do, in fact, drink fluids despite not posting information about such fluids. I drink lots of fluids throughout the day consisting of a) my morning coffee made in my Keurig - sweetened with Truvia & using almond milk as my creamer b) water, water, water c) tea - usually I brew a little fruity or minty tea in the afternoon & sweeten with Truvia if necessary. I have some indulgent drinks too but they are usually limited to once or twice a week. I typically have one drinky night at some point during the week so I can enjoy some red wine and every now and then if a craving hits I will drink a nutritious un-processed indulgent drink such as fruit juices or coconut water. Yum! Now I'm craving some coconut water!

Food:
Meal 1: Leftover omelette cups! I topped with salsa again - so yummy - so yummy!

Meal 2: Leftover stuffed bison bell peppers from Fit Men Cook with beans www.facebook.com/fitmencook

Meal 3: Leftover smoothie with a side of carrots, celery & broccoli dipped in hummus.

Meal 4: I wasn't feeling great when I got home from work but I knew my body needed nutrients so I blended up a quick protein smoothie using a banana, almond milk & my Garden of Life Raw Protein.  I have always loved how banana milk smoothies taste and the Protein only adds to the flavor!

Meal 5: Ok, so it's obvious I didn't cook tonight lol  I just ate what I could find for my evening snack: sardines and bread.  That's right! Sometimes, I eat BREAD but it's very special Wheat and Gluten Free bread so that my tummy stays happy & settled :-)

Exercise: It was a beautiful day out so Ryan & I went out for a nice long walk that was anything but vigorous lol - we walked a total of 4.14 miles in 1.5 hours.

Sermon: Alistair Begg gave me much-needed instruction today.  With being laid off I'm facing many important and stressful decisions right now and Alistair's sermon about letting Jesus take the wheel really spoke to me.  I know it's cliche but Alistair is gifted and presents information in the way I really can hear and internalize it.  Do you remember being a kid & your parents would sometimes let you take the key and turn the car on...and you might even sneak into the driver seat to turn the car on before jumping in the passenger seat.  Eventually your parent would walk out and be like "what are you doing in my seat?"  By your nature you are sitting in the driver seat that is reserved for Jesus.  What do you do if you're a Christian and Jesus comes to you and says "what are you doing in my seat?"  If you believe, you vacate that seat and let Jesus take his rightful place!  Do not sit in the seat of your own proud rebellion.  Think about who you really want in control of your life.

Day 3 Report!

Food:
Meal 1: Omelette cups again! This time with delicious feta cheese sprinkled on top!

Meal 2: Sweet potato with cinnamon and almond milk with a side of leftover chicken spring rolls from Fit Men Cook. www.facebook.com/fitmencook

Meal 3: Banana with some almond butter.  I prefer Maranatha organic almond butter but this was on sale so...

Meal 4: Stuffed Bison Bell Peppers from Fit Men Cook (i.e. buffalo chile rellenos!) with a side of black beans sprinkled with feta cheese.  Ryan really enjoyed these - which means I will absolutely make them again.  Pepper, buffalo, onion, pasta sauce & spices.  Easy peasy.  I used 1 lb of buffalo for 4 peppers and it was not enough.  I'll have to remember to get more meat next time.

Meal 5: Smoothie!!  Spinach, kale, kiwi, lemon, strawberry, raspberry - plus hemp hearts and flax seed for a little protein - with some grapeseed oil for a little fat.

Writing this made me realize I ate meals prepped from THREE Fit Men Cook recipes today! Wow!

Exercise:  First solid leg day ever!!  We spent a good amount of time checking out youtube, bodybuilding.com, talking to friends, etc. in order to prepare for this workout because we know FORM is so important!  We threw in a little bit of shoulder work too.
Calf raises
Barbell squat
Leg press
Leg extension
Leg curl
Shrug
Lateral raise
Front raise

Sermon: None today. Work was surprisingly busy with last minute things to take care of before my last day on Friday.

Day 2 Report!

Food:

Meal 1: More omelette cups! Leftovers! This time with avocado instead of salsa.

Meal 2: More roasted salmon with leeks & bacon!  Are you seeing the value of leftovers yet?  Leftovers are so convenient when trying to stay on track during lunch at the office.  I also had carrots, celery & broccoli dipped in hummus.

Meal 3: An enormous mango with salt. Mmm.

Meal 4: Baked chicken spring rolls! Unfortunately, I made these with spring roll wrappers (due to the NAME OF THE RECIPE) when really they should be made with egg roll wrappers.  Chicken, spinach, leeks (instead of cabbage), lots of spices and spring rolls (but use egg rolls!) with a little olive oil on top. http://www.facebook.com/fitmencook

Meal 5: I had a sweet craving so I had these delicious almond butter-based home-made protein bars with almond milk.  I got the recipe for the protein bars from Betty Rocker who can be found on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bettyrockershow

Workout: 50 minutes of walking on the treadmill.  I didn't quite feel up for jogging but walking is much better than nothing! 20 minutes on incline and 30 minutes of level walking.

Sermon: I listened to another Alistair Begg podcast with a great takeaway message-

Three tenses of salvation:

*Past: We have been saved from the penalty of sin.

*Present: We are being saved from the power of sin.

*Future: We will be saved from sin's very presence.

Bam! Day 2 success! 5 more days to go!

Day 1 Report!

Food:  I refer to each time I eat as a "meal" though some might argue that a few of these only count as a snack.  I'm not big on sticking to a set terminology.  The point is that I don't graze & I don't go long periods without eating.  I eat separate distinct small meals several times throughout the day.

Meal 1: Omelette cups!  Egg, egg whites, uncured (turkey) bacon, spinach & onion.  I got the basic idea from http://www.facebook.com/FitMenCook and just change up the veggies I throw in each time.  I made enough so that I have leftovers for two more days!  I put some salsa on top today but I plan to change up the topping each morning!

Meal 2: Tuna & light mayo in a bowl of corn.  Not the most exciting lunch - this is what happens when I don't have leftovers from dinner to eat :-P

Meal 3: Greek yogurt with strawberries, raspberries & blueberries - I also mix in some Truvia for a little added sweetness.

Meal 4: Roasted salmon with leeks & bacon!  The problem with making this dish is that Ryan & I tend to overeat.  I really have to package the "leftovers" for the next day's lunch before we dig in.  Otherwise, we'll stuff ourselves. Salmon! Bacon! Yum! Recipe from thepaleoprize.com http://thepaleoprize.com/?p=924

Meal 5: Carrots, broccoli & celery with hummus! Yum.  I usually eat more protein when I get back from the gym but I wasn't feeling very hungry after that generous helping of salmon so...

Workout: Back & biceps!
Pull-ups
Lat pulldowns
Seated cable row
Incline dumbbell curl
Hammer dumbbell curl
Preacher curl
Weighted hyperextensions

Sermon: I listened to one of my sermon podcasts & got this take away message-
"The Spirit works to call people to Christ...Have you been called to Christ?  Is this your story? Convicted? Convinced? Enabled? Child-like? Filled? That's Christianity.  That's what we're about.  That's the proclaiming of the Kingdom.  So either we are those to whom the message needs to come or we are those from whom the message needs to proceed."

Bam!  Day 1 success!  6 more days to go!

Short term challenges.

Alright y'all.  I'm struggling here.

I'm pretty sure I will be UNEMPLOYED as of this Friday & it's made me a mess of emotion & anxiety.  Although it hasn't been a total departure from my usual lifestyle, I have done a pretty poor job of maintaining my healthy diet & exercise levels.  I hear stress (cortisol in particular) causes weight gain and, together with missed workouts & failing to prep meals, I've already put on a few pounds in the last couple of weeks.

Well, enough with the pity party, I'm determined to get back on track better than ever.

My challenge for this week is to make DAILY blog posts regarding my meals & exercises.  I need to eat clean & train mean no matter what is going on with my job situation.  As soon as I got off track with my meals I felt changes in my energy levels & started to spiral into lethargy, poor planning, missed workouts, etc.  I find absolutely nothing wrong with cheat meals, but when I go beyond a cheat meal to a full day of giving my body junk instead of the nutrients it deserves, my body just doesn't feel right & my mental & physical performance suffer.

*I'm going to plan & prepare all but one of my meals this week (the "cheat" is for my in-laws' birthdays - yes Both of my in-laws have a birthday within the same week!).
*I'm going to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.  This can mean anything from a walk in the sunshine to lifting heavy or HIIT.  The point is to get active, get social, and not undo all the progress I've made towards my goals.
*I'm going to listen to my podcast sermons every day and blog at least twice this week on my non-fitness blog.
*I'm going to blog here Every Day to report on my progress.

Mind, body & soul - I need to get balanced out again.  Let's do this!