Super Bowl Time
I seriously love it when our apartment is super clean. Not that we’re slobs by any means, just when it’s dusted, vacuumed, scrubbed, and organized all at the same time it looks really nice. Michael and I are hosting a small Super Bowl party today, so we spent a couple of hours yesterday getting ready. Not only is our place spotless, but we’ve also planned to serve some Paleo goodies including buffalo wings, guacamole and salsa, cookies, and a veggie tray. Our friends will be bringing along some other items as well – I’m guessing that we’ll all be uncomfortably stuffed before halftime even gets here.
Michael enjoying our clean floor
Tessie has the best seat in the house, don’t ya think? Alright enough about football and on to the agenda for the week. This meal plan definitely isn’t my best effort, but I needed to leave room for a lot of flexibility. It’s my turn to get Lasik on Tuesday (I’m so excited!!), and I’m not sure how that will effect our cooking schedule. Here’s what I have so far:
Sunday
B: Microwaveable English Muffin Egg Sandwiches
L: Kalua Pig Spaghetti Squash Stir Fry
D: Super Bowl Party!
Monday
L: Kalua Pig with Baked Sweet Potatoes and Side Salads
D: Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Pepperoni, Green Pepper, and Mushrooms
Tuesday
L: Leftover Cauliflower Pizza
D: Chipotle (Lasik Night)
Wednesday
L: Kalua Pig Stir Fry
D: Chicken Sausages with Roasted Green Beans
Thursday
L: Leftover Sausages
D: Almond Flour Crusted Pork Cutlets with Butternut Squash Puree and Side Salads
Friday
L: Whatever-is-left-in-the-fridge / Wing it
D: Cuban Spiced Marinated Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Sweet Potatoes
Saturday
B: Banana Pancakes
L: TBD
D: TBD
And lastly a recap of our dinner from last night. We made Paleo Bang Bang Shrimp with some Roasted Broccoli. YUM.
Happy Holidays!
Well Hello There! This is my last post before we meet Michael’s family in Puerto Vallarta for some all-inclusive luxuriousness. I’m excited for the sun, the beach, sleeping in for 6 days in a row, and eating whatever I want (it’s vacation people, there may be gluten involved). I’m also planning to read 2 books while we’re there, one fiction and one non-fiction. For the non-fiction I chose The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, and for my fiction I went off of a recommendation from Holly Would if She Could and picked Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. I love reading, but I feel like I never have the time, or I guess I just don’t find it important enough to make the time. I’ll be writing a 2012 recap when we get back from vacation, but I definitely think I’m going to include a reading resolution as a goal for 2013. Yay for brain food!
The past couple of days haven’t been very exciting – I think I’m starting to see a trend here. We took advantage of our plan-less weekend by getting ready for our trip. I love coming home to a clean house after a vacation so we’ve been deep cleaning the apartment. There’s nothing better than freshly vacuumed carpet… okay there’s a lot of things better than that, but it’s nice!
I do need to mention that Friday was our work Christmas party which consisted of some ugly Christmas sweaters and horribly ugly sugar cookies. Don’t worry, I didn’t eat the cookie, I merely destroyed it by applying a red and green happy face.
Unfortunately for Tessie, everyone loved her outfit, which means I may need to add to her work wardrobe. Alright, I need to start getting ready for CrossFit this morning so I’ll leave you with our very short menu for the week.
Sunday
B: Egg Scramble
L: Leftover Sausage and Sweet Potato Hash
D: Ribs with Spinach Cauliflower Mash
Monday
L: Leftover Spaghetti
D: Leftover Ribs with Sweet Potato Fries and Roasted Broccoli
Tuesday
L: Egg Scramble
D: Snacks on the plane
Wednesday – Next Monday
Vacation!!!
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday and an Amazing New Year!!
And so it begins… Stress!
Time management is seriously brutal when you’re trying to be as healthy as you can while working full-time at a brand new job. I’ve been spending a lot of time at work trying to learn and become a productive member of the team. Unfortunately, that means there’s less time for exercise, cooking, blogging, and my poor little Tessie dog. I feel so guilty leaving her at home all day by herself. I really just can’t wait until I know what’s what at work so I can bring her in with me. She’ll probably end up sleeping under my desk all day, but at least she won’t be stuck at home.
Whenever I get stressed out I tend to act like a small child. (Sorry Michael!) If left alone, I usually snap out of my funk within a few hours, but tonight I knew that wouldn’t fly. I wanted to be able to relax and enjoy the evening, so I turned to the sure fire bad mood killer that I like to call… drum-roll .. Pop Chops! Yes, that’s right, my Dad! He knows how to call me out on my BS in just the right way as to not upset me more, but instead nip my mood right in the bud. Seriously… Parents are right about everything, too bad I didn’t realize that in high school!
My Dad after winning teacher of the year in 2011!
Moving onto our eats for the week thus far. I ended up shifting our weekly menu slightly to save some time last night. We had Hamburger Pie for dinner on both Sunday and Monday, YAY for no cooking! Tonight we made the Skillet Sweet Potato, Sausage, and Spinach Hash which was fantastic! You should definitely try it out.
Alright… I’m off to enjoy what little cuddle time I have left tonight with Tessie… Oh, and I guess Michael too! 
Weekly Menu
Monday is here again signaling the end of yet another awesome weekend. Saturday was busy with errands and cleaning but Sunday was full of food and amazing weather. We’ve been having a bit of a heat wave here in the Bay and it’s been glorious. Upper 70′s was the perfect setting for a BBQ with some of Michael’s new co-workers followed up with an afternoon at Dish 2012. Dish is an annual food and wine event put on by a local newsgroup in San Francisco. They had over 40 restaurant and vendor booths giving out some amazingly delicious samples. I was a horrible blogger and didn’t take any pictures of the food, please forgive me. 
On our way to Dish!
Moving on to the menu for the week. Friday is still a bit up in the air. I’m waiting for my copy of Paleo Slow Cooking to get here, so I’m not sure what recipe I’ll want to try first.
Sunday
B: Egg & Veggie Scramble
L & D: Out
Monday
L: Leftovers / Wing it
D: Smoky Seasoned Pork Ribs with Side Salads and Sweet Potato Fries
Tuesday
L: Leftover Ribs
D: Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs with Braised Cabbage
Wednesday
L: Leftover Chicken
D: Spaghetti Squash with Meat Sauce and Caesar Salads
Thursday
L: Leftover Spaghetti
D: Pecan Chicken with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Mashed Butternut Squash
Friday
L: Leftover Pecan Chicken
D: Something from Paleo Slow Cooking
Saturday
B: 2 Ingredient Pancakes with Sausage
L: Leftovers
D: Out
Hunger Pains
Day 18 of our Whole 30 challenge is here and going quite well, other than a couple of interesting side effects. My dreams over the past 2 weeks have been crazy! I’m meaning some serious out there vivid stuff. There’s been several times over the past 2 weeks that I’ve woken up in a panic from whatever it was that was about to happen in my dream. Sort of ready for that to stop, any day now please. The other thing I’ve been noticing is some crazy changes in my appetite. When I get hungry, it’s no joke, like the bottomless pit of hell just made home in my belly. It’s not a sugar crash, it’s just ravenous hunger. Then when I go to eat something, I’m stuffed just a few bites in. What’s up with that? According to the Paleo blogosphere, I’m not the only one to experience such shenanigans. Hopefully by then end of this things will level out.
In other news, Michael started his new job on Monday! I’m so excited for him!
First day of work! (I made him take this picture, hehe)
And now for some pictures of our Whole 30 approved meals from the past few days:
Pumpkin Pancakes and Paleo Phad Thai
Chicken Wings with Sweet Potato Puree and Broccoli Slaw
Sugar Woes
We’ve made it to day 4 of our Whole 30 and holy cow, my head! I’ve been suffering from a non-stop headache for the past 2 days and I’m quite ready for it to be gone. Wah! My headache problems have got to be from one of two things: caffeine withdrawal or sugar withdrawal. Can going from 1 cup of coffee a day to zero really wreak that much havoc on my body? I don’t really know…. Which leads us to the other option, sugar. I really had no idea just how much sugar Michael and I have been eating. I guess the little things really do add up. <cough>Wine.<cough> From what I gather on the interwebs, I’m expecting my headache to be gone around the end of the first week. Please Mr. End_Of_First_Week, get here ASAP!
I’ve been snapping some quick pictures of the food Michael and I have been eating the past few days. It’s okay to drool, I won’t judge you.
Not my greatest photography, but you get the point. This is Everyday Paleo’s Pecan Chicken (minus the honey), Brussels Sprout Slaw, and Roasted Sweet Potato Fries.
Sauteed Cod with Mushrooms and Onions, Broiled Asparagus, and a Dijon Mayo Sauce.
Breakfast this morning: Leftover Spaghetti Squash with 2 Eggs. If you’ve never tried eggs poached in marinara (sugar-free of course), you’re really missing out. Delish!
Weekend Plans
Another Thursday down and we’re that much closer to the weekend! Michael and I are planning on taking a day to trip to Napa this Saturday for some shopping, dining, and wine-ing. Of course, Napa has a draw on its own, but the real reason we’re heading north is to shop! They have a big outlet mall there and I’m a sucker for anything with the words ‘J.Crew’ and ‘outlet’ together. We’re also planning on our first nice dinner out since we started our Back to Basics Paleo ‘cleanse’. I chose ZuZu, a tapas place that seems to have some nice options on the menu. As long as we can avoid gluten, legumes, and most of the dairy I’ll be a happy woman. Hopefully I avoid a repeat of my Chipotle experience…!
Back to Basics: Day 8 Input
This morning started out with some iced coffee with coconut milk plus the usual breakfast of eggs scrambled with veggies and sausage. Unfortunately I didn’t get to finish my coffee because some lady’s nasty hands got all over my straw on the train. The BART was crazy awful busy due to some issues on one of the lines and we were packed in like sardines. Not a pleasant experience.
When I got to work, I couldn’t resist the spread of fresh fruit, so I indulged with some grapes and blueberries.
Lunch was leftovers from last night: pork, broccoli, and latkes. The pork was kind of dry after being microwaved, but it didn’t make me want to gag like that Chicken Adobo. Win.
Around 3:00 today I had my afternoon snack, a Pineapple Upside Down Cake Larabar. Not as good as the new orange flavor, but decent.
For dinner we had some super awesome grilled hotdogs from U.S. Wellness Meats. These babies are grass-fed, have zero nitrates, and contain no added sugar! The side dishes consisted of a cucumber salad and sweet potato fries baked in the oven. Super Yum! For dessert we’re going to have banana ice cream again, my favorite!
This has to be Paleo Kryptonite…
Cream cheese and marshmallow flush is my super hero weakness. I mixed these two evil ingredients as a fruit dip for a work potluck, and wow, that stuff gets me. I could eat an entire bowl. The only thing that stops me is the feeling of shame I know would follow that delicious fluffy serving of happiness. No one needs that much sugar, ever, and I should know by now I have to avoid treats like that all together. If I don’t, I end up craving sugary snacks for the next few days. Total relapse.
This is my nemesis, Dr. Evil Fruit Dip.
Last night we made stuffed pork tenderloin, mashed sweet potatoes and kale chips for dinner. I saw the recipe for the tenderloin on EverydayPaleo.com and had to try it. You butterfly a tenderloin, stuff it with basil, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic, sear it, and then bake it in the oven. For some reason, whenever I make pork tenderloin, I always get the cooking time wrong. Last night was no exception, I took it out after 20 minutes and it had to go back in for 10 more. Oh well. This was also our second attempt at kale chips. They’re definitely not my favorite, but they have a nice crunch.
Tenderloin right before it went on our cast iron skillet.
The whole meal put together.
