Wednesday, May 30, 2012

here fishy fishy

So let's get down to business!

I made fish ! Yes, Me, who hates fish unless it's raw in sushi (yup I'm weird) made some yummy tilapia. And I mean it,  it was yummy. And I just made it up on the fly!

Spicy almond crusted pan seared Tilapia

4 fresh Tilapia fillets
1 cup of almonds that I crushed in the food processor (I did mine fine you choose how coarse you want your almonds)
1 tsp of Red pepper flakes (add as much or less as you want)
the zest of one lemon
Fresh cilantro (again use how much you like i used about 2 tbsp) and save some for garnish
salt & pepper
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter

Take your Tilapia and rinse and pat dry. Break 2 eggs in a bowl and beat them. In another flat bowl or plate put the almonds, red pepper flakes, lemon zest, cilantro, salt and pepper.

Heat a skillet on medium high and let 1 tbsp of butter melt and make sure the skillet is all coated. Dip your fish in the egg then make sure it's properly coated in the almond mixture. Put in the pan. I did 2 at a time, did not want to crowd the pan. I turned the heat down to medium. cooked for 5 minutes per side. You don't want to handle it to much as they coating will come off but you don't want it to burn either so keep an eye on it and fix the heat accordingly. Repeat with the 2 other fillets and serve with a lemon wedge and garnish with fresh cilantro !

I served mine with grilled veggies (sweet potato, peppers, red onion, zucchini)  that I cooked in foil with garlic and olive oil, salt and pepper. I made tons so I could have leftovers for another meal.





Bacon wrapped egg cups
12 slices of bacon
12 eggs
onion powder 
salt and pepper  
whatever veggies you desire, I used mushrooms, roasted red peppers, roasted garlic, fresh basil and fresh rosemary
Olive oil to coat the muffin tin

These are super easy! Preheat your oven at 350 degrees. I used convection. Brush your 12 muffin cups with olive oil or coconut oil whatever fat of choice (paleo safe of course) now wrap a bacon slice around the inside of the muffin cups this will hold the egg. It's fine if it overlaps. chop up your veggies into bite size and put them in the cups do the same with your herbs. Break all your eggs in a big measuring cup and add salt pepper and onion powder, you could even add hot sauce and whatever you choose ... customize it to your liking! Beat the eggs and pour the egg mixture in every cup I filled mine to the top of the bacon slice, don't overflow as they will mess up your oven real good. I put them in for 20 minutes but this varies ... check them after 20 minutes if the eggs still looks soft put them back in. Once ready i put them on a paper towel to absorb the grease and then serve !


enjoy !


Monday, May 28, 2012

my appologies

Seems like I've given up but it's far from the truth just been really sick with allergies and went to see the doc who gave me prednisone for 5 days but after 3 I had to stop cause seriously has anyone tried this stuff it's worst side effects then the actual thing your treating. My face was starting to hurt and puff up, I have really bad stomach aches, tired but insomnia. So I gave up and decided to suck up the other allergy symptoms I was having instead, but no one told me that Prednisone makes your body all screwed up!!! I was on it for 3 days and it's been 7 and I still have jaw pain, nausea, insomnia like WTF really ???? I was never told to tapper off on it but I was never told how bad it was !

To top all that off we haven't properly trained for the Spartan race and i'm shitting bricks! I mean I know we won't win as other people train hard core to actually beat records but we signed up cause it was my stupid idea to have a goal to do it and finnish it ! Well it's 6 days away and we went running outside together my man and I a total of 1 time ! Yup that's us training for a race ! Mind you we did good and we did go through the forest to make it more spartan like but really we should have trained together ages ago. I mean we go to the gym all the time but don't know that our gym routine is very spartan like! Let's just say atleast i'm active and i'm not starting from couch to Spartan 5K sprint over night!

Not feeling great at all so i'm out ... I'll be back with more recipes when these withdrawl symptoms go away and im eating more then just water !

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Spartan

Spartan race is 2 weeks away and i'm so not ready. I signed us up to have a goal but really i'm not a race kinda girl, i mean i'll give it my all but we haven't actually trained together my man and I so who knows how that will play out ! I've done 5k easily but not with obstacles and not with insane heat and humidity like we've been getting so I hope it stays coolish and breezy for our race.

On another note I entered a contest on a radio station here in ottawa and at first i thought it was just a mother's day contest so i entered but now it's like a slut fest! I'm not kidding, I am the only one that owns clothing or is not covering my boobs with my hand ! I would never even show some of the pics that were entered to my best friend let alone the whole city ! So please go vote for me... I could use the prize it would be a nice boost to the self esteem! I'm Max on the site btw.

So I think I secured my relationship for life by making these cookies over the weekend, I found the recipe on an awesome paleo site http://civilizedcavemancooking.com/grain-free-goodies/apple-cinnamon-cookies/. 

My man fell in love at first bite ! Apple cinnamon cookies




Thursday, May 17, 2012

Closer

So i'm getting closer to my goal. I researched pull ups on youtube hoping to find this ah hah moment where it would click and I would go to the gym and do 10 pull ups in a row and feel awesome. Yeah not so much but I got 2 sets of 2 unassisted pull ups and that's a huge improvement from none! So i'll keep at it and will one day get 10 then maybe more ... we'll see :P

So last night i made the most amazing yummy treat for us. I had left over coconut milk so i made this:


Dark chocolate coconut pudding

1 can of full fat coconut milk
2-4 tbsp of unsweetned Dark 100% cocoa powder
Honey to taste

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and beat well with a wisk. Put in the freezer for 20 minutes beating with teh whisk every 10 minutes so it does not become a big block of ice. seperate in bowls and top with bananas, raspberries and chopped up almonds and serve YUM ! and Paleo !



So I started with desert but I also made some yummy diner




Buffalo style meatballs

2 lbs of ground veal, pork, beef  mix (or you can just use whatever ground meat you choose)
1 large onion finely diced
Garlic powder to taste
salt and pepper
Frank's red hot sauce to your liking

Preheat oven at 400 degrees, I used convection. Mix all ingredients together, and form meatballs to the desired size the smaller the quicker it will cook. Place on 2 foil lined cookie sheets. put in oven for 20 minutes or until done. I checked with a meat termometer to make sure they were done at 170 degrees. (very important for ground meat) I served with more frank red hot sauce.

 

Cauliflower coconut curry  "rice"

a small head of cauliflower, chopped coarsely
1-2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tbsp green curry paste
1/2 can of coconut milk
Fresh cilantro
1/4 red and 1/4 of yellow peppers
salt and pepper

After chopping up the cauliflower…
 
Throw the pieces of cauliflower into the food processor.

Pulse the contents until they were reduced to the size of couscous or rice grains.

Then sautee t cauliflower in the melted coconut oil over medium heat

I seasoned it with salt and pepper added the peppers, curry paste, and peppers.  Then, I covered the skillet and cooked the cauliflower for 5-10 minutes until softened. In the last 5 minutes I put the cilantro.

 







Monday, May 14, 2012

slacking

Sorry about that folks kinda been slacking this past week. I am still alive and kicking but wasn't feeling up for posting much but then came the wonderful world of paleo safe crepes/tortillas woah this changes everything.

Was spoiled by all the men in my life on the weekend and the girls ! Had a nice breakfast for mother's day followed by a nice relaxing visit at my parents swimming and trying to tan as my skin is so white im see through ! and thent the men ( my dad, brother and my man) made us mothers a fantastic steak diner. SPOILED :) 
Take a look at
these, they were amazing and I have so many ways to use them but they do have carbs so everything in moderation folks ... remember that.

Breakfast burito !




Paleo Tortillas/Crepes

1/3 cup tapioca Flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup egg whites (approx. 12 egg whites)
2 TBSP Coconut oil melted
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 TBSP Honey
1/2 cup water

1. Add all dry ingredients a bowl
2. Dump dry ingredients into large mixing bowl; add in all other ingredients except for the coconut oil, that will be used for coating the frying pan. Mix all ingredients together until thin batter forms and all dry ingredients are incorporated.
3. Preheat frying pan on low heat. Add a little of the coconut oil and let melt and swivel the frying pan around to make sure it’s well coated
4. Using a ladle, pour about 1/4 cup of the batter frying pan and swirl it around to spread it out in the pan until it’s the size you want. Try not to stretch it too thin or it might tear
5. Cook until lightly browned and firm on one side, gently flip over and cook other side until also lightly browned and firm.
6. After each crepe, remove it from the pan onto a plate and brush with cooking fat before each ladle goes in.
7. Repeat until all batter is used.
Store in the fridge

Sweet potatoe hash browns 

2 medium sized sweet potatoes
1 medium onion
1/2 a red bell pepper
garlic powder
sea salt
pepper
olive oil 

Preheat the oven on Broil 500 degrees
Wash and cube both sweet potatoes, put in a bowl and coat with a bit of olive oil. Add garlic powder and a bit of sea salt and pepper. Spread in a glass pyrex dish.  Microwave the potatoes for a bit to speed up the cooking. Once softened add the chopped up onion and chopped up red pepper and put in the oven. Keep an eye on them as they crisp up use a spatula and turn them and broil some more the whole process can take up to 30 minutes but they are delicious and worth it !



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Dehydration



I really have a problem where I don't drink water. I only drink water at the gym. I can feel my body needing the water it's hard to explain but I feel like I'm get tingly and all around don't feel good except that's not even enough to get me drinking water. And it's not cause i don't like water i just don't drink anything at all, I have my morning coffee and then I can almost go all day (except for the gym) without drinking anything. It's become a problem in the past few days I really don't feel well, my hands feel swollen, I have headaches, my mouth is dry, I'm a bit light headed, my stomach isn't right. Wow all the signs are there. I bet you if they hooked me to an IV they could get like 20 bags in me and I would still be dehydrated. I don't know what's up with me .. if that wasn't enough, all those signs can easily be resolved by just drinking water all day. I still can't do it. I have a huge blender bottle filled with ice and water and lemons and then i brought 3 water bottles and I will force myself to drink them and that lasts maybe 2 days then I go back to my old ways. It's like I have a bad habit and that bad habit is I'm boycotting drinking liquids except for coffee. What the hell is my problem. I almost want to go to the doctor and ask if there is a condition called anti liquid syndrome ... what the hell ??? !!!! :( I know all the benefits of water. I just need to inject myself with it !

Monday, May 7, 2012

Goals

Now that I have your attention ladies and gentlemen yes men i know you also drool over Dwayne :P

Let's talk about goals. I've set myself a few goals one being to do and finish the Spartan race and it's coming up really soon ... like scary soon. Not sure I am prepared! Trying to do as many intense cardio sessions I can. I also have this ultimate goal to be able to do 10 non assisted pull ups, man it sounds like an impossible goal I can't begin to tell you how my upper body strenght is just not good. I'm struggling with assisted pull ups! I seem to be setting myself up for failure but I'm confident that I will get to it some time. I haven't given myself a timeline for the pull ups.... yet ...

Here is the recipe of the day:

Portobello Burger and Fatoush salad

Bbq beef pattie on a Portobello mushroom that I lightly grilled on the bbq topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, salt and pepper and a fatoush salad. Easy and delicious!

Went to the tulip festival with the kiddies on the weekend and it was a lot of fun .. really great weather and lots of people walking around. Will definitely go to the market more often this summer I forget how much i love the market! 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

The Biggest Loser

Soooo wanted and thought Kim would win the biggest loser, man she's smoking! I want arms like hers! She didn't get jack shit well except her life back ... love that show but really lots of contradictory ways of eating or thinking but whatever it's cool to see the people melt away. just really a bad concept as most go home and are faced with the same challenges they had before they left home. If you can't change your surroundings then you have slim chances of being able to succeed ... I mean unless you have tremendous will power and stuff if people around you don't GET IT then you will probably give in sooner then you think.

I find people don't get why I eat the way I do now and they won't even ask. Someone had cupcakes the other day and someone else said Max your not going to have one and the cupcake person said Max doesn't eat ... like really? I don't eat? I eat tons! I probably eat more then others that are much bigger then me. I eat differently and I choose this because it makes me feel good inside and out. It's not a diet it's not a fad. It's a way of life .. like brushing your teeth every day some choose to do it some choose not to... sorry but if you choose not to .. it's gross! BUT it's your choice who am I to judge you.



Here I just used a Paleo safe pork Italian sausage sauteed it in a bit of coconut oil and added mushrooms, zuchinni, and cherry tomatoes and i like it spicy so added some frank's red hot sauce. Quick and yummy !


Tuesday, May 1, 2012

vegetables and meat

Paleo is all about natural, they really emphasize the importance of grass fed beef and organic veggies. So a little while ago I researched if my area had that program where you get a basket of random organic local veggies a week. Found a place right near by and signed up and it was fairly cheap 275$ for 16 weeks. Also I have been having a hard time finding grass fed beef in Ottawa/Gatineau I found a place but they have a waiting list and I added my name to the list but if anyone knows a place that has grass fed beef or natural pork or chicken that would be great! Help a girl out will ya!
In the meantime I have no choice but to eat regular meat. You can't say I haven't tried... It's one of my tweaks but I won't give up researching.

This weekend I did a few other meals

Friday was date night! so we ate in a hurry ... but still not bad for a quick diner .. made steak on the BBQ and on another night had leftover turmeric and curry meatballs and last night has bbq chicken with Zataar spices with some sweet potato chips and tomato avocado salad.



Self explanatory Grilled steak that I rubbed with olive oil and lots of pepper and a bit of salt. Sauteed peppers, onions and mushrooms in coconut oil with salt and pepper.

For the meatballs
  • 1 lb ground beef 
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 2/3 cup almond flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons curry powder
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil for cooking

Sauce
  • 1 can coconut milk
  • 1 big can of whole tomatoes ( make sure no added sugar)
  • 5 teaspoons curry powder
  • 2 teaspoons garam masala
  • fresh cilantro

Instructions
  1. Add all ingredients for your meatballs to a larger bowl and thoroughly mix together.
  2. Shape meatballs to the size you like.Set your pressure cooker to the meat function and once heated, add your coconut oil then add your meatballs and diced onions from your sauce ingredients and let them brown for a couple minutes.
  3. Once the onions and meatballs have browned a bit, add the rest of the ingredients for your sauce and mix together until meatballs are covered in sauce.
  4. Add the pressure cooker lid and let meatballs and sauce cook for 10 minutes until the pressure cooker de-pressurises and meatballs have cooked through.
* remember all pressure cooker recipes can be done without a pressure cooker just have to cook longer

Zataar is the name for a condiment made from the dried herb(s), mixed with sesame seeds, dried sumac, and often salt, as well as other spices. Used in Arab cuisine, both the herb and spice mixture are popular throughout the Middle East.

I put 4 chicken breast in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, add generous amounts of zataar (to your liking), add fresh lemon juice and then make sure the chicken is well coated with the herb mixture. Then I grill on the bbq. Pretty easy and a new favorite.

Tomato and Avocado cilantro salad

  • 2 cups of cherry tomatoes cut in half
  • 1 avocado diced 
  • 3 tbsp of chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tbsp of fresh lime juice
  • 1-2 tsp of ground cumin

Mix everything together in a bowl and serve !


 

I bought this super cool kitchen gadget from epicure (let me know if your interested I have connections to order more) It's a silicone tray that makes chips in the microwave in 4 minutes or less with no oil ! and they are delicious !