Sunday Funday Workday!

I have been feeling so much positivity the last few days.  Maybe it's school, I'm sure it's partially that and the new things that are developing.  My schedule freeing up to be able to do the things that will help me grow my business.

 But first let's get into the recent eats and other miscellaneous things!

The BEST protein shake around is with Equip foods!  No whey, no egg.  1/2 an avocado, 4 ice cubes, some leftover latte or water and a scoop of each.  It's thick and creamy and oh so good!  It tastes like a brownie in a cup.  Who could want anything more?

Felix is exploring more and not really caring what Nostrand is doing or where she is at.  Stryker just doesn't know what to do in general and Jack just doesn't care and lays out on the couch!

Friday's dinner was a burger with bacon and avocado.  I mean really?! Bacon and avocado on all the things!  I had some roasted cauliflower left and a small side of tomato and bib lettuce under the burger.

I thought I would show some of them work at Birmingham Roast.  The bagel sandwich on the left is the creation of the coffeehouse manager.  He's calling it the Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich.  It has 3 eggs, cheddar, grilled red onion, chicken, bacon, avocado and spinach.  This one happens to be on a everything bagel, but could be on any bread and even done gluten free.  My creation on the right is a creme brulee french toast with coffee butter and pure maple syrup!  We could also do this one gluten free.  Rave reviews on both and they will be on the special menu starting this week!

Sunday I had no lunch prepared so I prepared food at work.  Grilled chicken, bacon and smoked salmon on top of arugula with a sprinkling of grilled red onion and avocado.  I haven't had this is a while and it was really good.  I also got to meet one of my group leaders from NTA, Jennifer!  I was so excited to meet her and fabulous she has a practice in Birmingham.

That bring us to tonight's dinner which was roasted dijon chicken with balsamic roasted brussels and bacon and a small side of maple glazed white sweet potato.  This really was an easy meal.  I cut the backbone out of a whole chicken and roasted it in a cast iron skillet for 40 minutes.  Once it was done  I took it out to rest and added 1 cup bone broth, 1 tbs dijon mustard and an 1/8 of an onion and simmered until reduced.  The brussels were roasted in the oven for 30 minutes and added cooked bacon and 1 tbs. balsamic vinegar and mixed.  I roasted the sweet potato in the oven at the same time for 30 minutes in coconut oil and maple syrup then seasoned it with salt and pepper.

There it is!  Easy peasy.

I'm testing out meal delivery with a friend to see if it's something I want to add to my NTP.  I already cook for a living and I love it so I figured why not?!?  Who wouldn't want to not have to worry about cooking at night when they get home?!  So more on that to come!

Recent Eats and an Oatmeal Experiment

It's been a very emotional week so far and it's only Thursday!  But I will get back to that soon enough and why the emotions are/were so high!

First I figure I can start off with what I have been eating this week, besides my morning protein shake.  Been there, done that!

From The Allergy Chef I won these TigerNut treats.  The chocolate clusters were seriously good!  I seem to respond pretty well to them.  No stomach upsets, no headaches, no breakouts!  Score!  Will have to see what happens with the banana ones!

Monday I made grass fed pot roast with garlic mashed cauliflower and steamed broccoli.  According to the recipe I should have slow cooked this in a 275 degree oven and I think it would have been far more tender.  I cooked it in the Instantpot and I was surprised that it turned out to be pretty tough.  It tasted great, but tough.  Could it have been the cut?  Doubtful!  Chef error!

Tuesday was a workday so the above was my lunch!  I bought sriracha brussels on Monday and added some ground turkey thigh and mache rosettes to the mix.  Really good and tasty!

This is what happens when I try to study! LOL  This cat! 

Tuesday night is pasta (gluten free) night for D and I make whatever I want.  I made a seared pork chop with sauteed collard greens.  This came out so good I can't even!  I just used some simple herbs, salt and pepper.

My back view as I was finishing up Wednesdays Made Strong workout.  Here's what I did after my treadmill warm up.

Waiter/Farmer carries 30#/40# 3 sets

Bench Press 3x8 35# db

BB Deadlift 3x5 60# (too light)

Sumo Deadlifts 3x10 50# db

KB Swings 3x20 30#

Broad Jumps 3x 4 big jumps

Mountain Climbers 3x20

Smith Machine Deadlift (just to test) 3x6 80#

I don't care for the position that the Smith Machine puts me in for a deadlift so I am looking to other things since equipment is limited.

Last night's dinner was simple seared chicken thighs (PaleOMG) with a simple salad of homemade dijon vinegrette and the remaining steamed broccoli

Today for lunch I decided I was going to experiment with oatmeal.  I've been craving it and wanted to see if I could tolerate it or see what reactions I would have from eating it.  I followed Sally Fallon's recommendation of soaking the oats, which I did for over 24 hours in 2 tbs. of cider vinegar.  I cooked the oats for approximately 5 minutes on the stove in a additional 1 cup of water and 1 tbs. flaxseed meal and some salt.  First off, I could taste too much of the vinegar.  I added some butter and some chocolate hazelnut butter.  It is breakfast day today (Thursday!).  I also cooked up 2 strips of bacon for some protein and added fat.  First, it was a lot of carbs which is why I didn't eat it for breakfast.  Let me back up a bit though.  I had my protein shake as usual and then did some studying. I noticed about 2 hours in a sugar crash, which is when I grabbed the rest of the TigerNut clusters.  I felt a bit better and went downstairs to do a BOD leg workout.  I finished and came upstairs to test a cinncmon roll recipe that didn't turn out.  They tasted great but the dough ended up being too dry.  That's when I was making the oatmeal.  Multi-tasking you know!  So getting back to the oatmeal.  It tasted better when the nut butter was mixed in.  So I'm not sure if I would use the same preparation next time.  One hour after I finished eating I was still feeling fine.  Around 2 hours I noticed that I felt slightly off, maybe a little foggy.  At 3 hours I was starting to get hungry again, really hungry.  So I grabbed some roasted cabbage.  This was easily a roughly 700 calorie meal and it should have kept me fuller longer.  I did eat about a cup of the prepared oatmeal, though the recipe said it could have fed 4, I have no idea how?!  I eat a lot!

Even as a kid I ate a lot, and I could eat 2 no problem.

Around 3:30 when I fed the animals I snacked on a little bit of roasted cauliflower before sitting back down to study.

Just before 5 I decided I should start my dinner cause D was going to be late.  Continuing the breakfast theme I made Stupid Easy Paleo's Scotch Eggs.  I believe they did make a debute on the blog.  I'm a huge fan of these.  A good amount of protein with a mix of egg and pork with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove.  I had some leftover roasted cabbage I sauteed with mushrooms and onions from yesterday.  It hit the spot!  Too many carbs earlier in the day has been a great experiment.

By experimenting with carbs I cannot solely process carbs successfully in the morning, nor in the afternoon.  I do best with a small amounts either at lunch or dinner.  I've observed I feel better with sweet potato and white potato, but certain flour substances like cassava I do not.  Cassava causes my blood sugar to spike.

I'm going to wrap up this post with why it's been an emotional week.  D and I have been trying to re-home Jack and on Wednesday it happened.  Well, today he ended up coming back, after an overnight visit!  He displayed all the bad behaviors he possibly could and even growled at their little girl when she hugged her mom!  All day I was getting texts about what he was doing and I cannot believe it!  I certainly don't blame the couple that took him and I understand where they were coming from.  So tonight he came back.  The house had zero tension while he was gone for the day and Stryker was actually so much better.  I don't know how I feel about him being back, is that bad of me?  I mean I love him so much yet he causes so much trouble!  I do have him on Rescueme.org too.  He needs to have a home with no other dogs and a single female.  I think that would be best.  Right now we have him medicated so Mr Grumpers doesn't come out.  We shall see how things go!  I've never had to re-home a beloved pet.

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What a Sunday! A look back at the week

All I can say really about today is what a sh*t storm of a day.  I mean, don't get me wrong, I was happy that I was busy but the setup I have in the kitchen is not to be desired!  I could increase my product time if I had a proper "make table", which I have zero!  Oh, this is about work, in case you didn't catch on to it.  

I went to bed not feeling the best after last night's dinner.  Who knows what part of it didn't agree with me.  I was kinda hungry when I woke up and practicing yoga, but didn't want to eat.  I figured I would have a protein shake later at work and took a bar with me too.  Well I made the shake about 9:30-ish and didn't finish it.  I ate my bar between 12:30 and 1 and got stomach cramps after that.  I did also have a but of almond butter and a cortado.  Maybe if I stayed on point with my foods I wouldn't have a wonky stomach!  BUT, I didn't eat bad last night.  We went to Mt. Chalet and I got my usually burger with guacamole, coleslaw and bacon.  Though this time I did add a fried egg.  Maybe I have been having too many eggs and almond butter.  The eggs just slip in there so easy.  The almond butter, well I just don't need to lick the knife!  My skin hasn't been bad besides the 2 pimples on my cheek that won't really go away ( I pick too, doesn't help), but almost gone!

So I'm trying to think back to Friday.... I really don't think anything super exciting happened.  I worked of course, so nothing new there.

But this happened!  I mean LMAO!  Love Coffee Ripples.  I don't remember what I had for lunch, wait!  Yes I do.  I didn't take a photo because it didn't look pretty!  It was roasted maple brussels, kale and ground turkey.  It was tasty and did the job, keeping me not hangry!

Dinner was a PaleOMG recipe!!  Southwest turkey sliders with avocado dressing slaw.  D wanted nothing to do with it 😔  It was really good.  A hint of spiciness to both the slaw and turkey.  The slaw was creamy from the avocado and little bit of olive oil.  Really tasty and different from what I normally make. I would make it over and over again, but a single serving since D wouldn't eat it.

Saturday lunch turned out to be some leftovers since my protein pancakes were an epic fail!  I was still kinda full from my shake, but since I just lifted and I need to add a few pounds I ate anyway.  My pancakes turned into a glob of gu!  Probably because I blended the banana and not mashed it.  I had some roasted cabbage and topped the burgers with mayo.

After I ate I took Stryker to the pet store to get a bath .  He did really well, but he did jump out of the tub in the end.  I bought him a cookie anyway!

Saturday means dinner is out!  D got back from the gym after 6 so we were limited as to where we could go and not wait.  So we walked over to Mt. Chalet and was lucky enough to get the last table!  I had the piedmontese burger (medium rare) on a bed of romaine lettuce with coleslaw, guacamole, bacon and a fried egg.  I so think I over did it!  There was 6 slices of bacon on it!  I ate everything but the tomato slices and lettuce under those.  I only dipped into the mayo a few times, so most of that was left.  When I got home I made sure to take my HCL.  I just didn't feel well the rest of the night.  Even when I woke in the middle of the night to pet a purring Felix next to me I wasn't right.

As soon as I got home I fed the animals and poured a glass of wine.  I relaxed on the couch and no sooner as I finished my wine D got home.  I was lucky enough to have the leftovers from Friday and D's leftovers from last night so all I needed to do was re-heat everything and dinner was served.  I did have some cashew butter filled chocolate after dinner.

I know what you are thinking.... you had a bad stomach yet you drank wine and had chocolate.  You didn't really eat well all day.

Yeah, I didn't make the best choices but I don't dwell or stress on them.  Tomorrow is another day and I will make fabulous choices and not have any of the "bad" stuff I shouldn't.  Mainly sugar.  Come on! even the best paleo/AIP bloggers make decisions that are not the best for them.  We make up for it and move on.

Till tomorrow!

Friday Eve - This week's recap!

Classes for NTP started on Monday.  The one really nice thing was I had started all the same work in October, so all of this and next week is recap.  It's nice to be able to "breeze" through this and get ahead start on the next module.

My mornings have been the same with my protein shake.

I had my second day of Made Strong from Stupid Easy Paleo, which went so much better this time.  I upped the weights and did a few extra movements.  Here is what I did.

Pull ups 4x6 30# assisted

DB Should Presses 3x8 25# each

Waiter/Farmer 3 sets 30#/35#

Wood Chopper (cable) 3x8 25#

Knee Raises 3x10

Thrusters 4x10 17.5#

I also incorporated some abdominals - lying crunches and leg raises

After I stopped for a coffee.  I stopped at Trader Joe's for mint for my dinner recipe and then to Better Health for some vitamins.  When I got home I was ready for lunch.

I was inspired by my besties love of burger bowls lately so I made my own.  Butter lettuce under a turkey burger with caramelized onions, mushrooms and peppers and a drizzle of tesserae's creamy ranch dressing.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day so I just had to go to Yummy Cupcakes in Bloomfield Hills.  They have several locations, so there may be one near you to check out.  You can never have too much frosting in my opinion so I bought an extra frosting shot!

Chocolate gluten less cake with chocolate frosting.  I asked for extra frosting when I got their since they had yet to frost them.  When I took the wrappers off they fell to the side! Haha!  It's the best!  So over the top and indulgent and worth every bite!  I do plan on treating myself to one cupcake a month.  I just need to keep clear of the sweets in the meantime and today, or I should say tonight I did have some chocolate.  It was low carb, so is that any better?  Ok, so I'm beating myself here!  Why?  I have no idea!  Maybe just ignore that rant!

I also decided it was a good thing to have some decaf in the Chemex.  I haven't used it in over a year, maybe longer.  I need to do it more!

Greek Meatballs with Avgolemono Sauce from my Real Plans subscription.

I paired mine with steamed green beans and a Rose from Cupcake Wine.  D had his with white rice and green beans.  We both really loved it and gave it 5 stars!  I would like to try this with a different ground meat.  I used turkey this time, maybe lamb the next.

Thursday morning is my day off from the gym but I do some sort of Beachbody (BOD) workout in the basement (today was AAA in 80 day Obsession), but before that happened I had this cutie in my face!  Love this guy, I mean how can you not?!

I had started to get a little hungry while I was working out so up to the kitchen as soon as I was done to make lunch.  Turkey bacon roll ups with avocado and maple brussel sprouts with some greens on the side.  It was such a good lunch!  I use organic lunchmeat from Applegate.  I find it's the only one I really trust besides Boars Head.

After lunch I sat down to study!  I have to say that it is pretty hard to study with this cure thing in your lap wanting your attention!

Reading can be tough with this kitty!

And to wrap up the evening was dinner with a simple 3 ingredient protein pancake from PaleOMG.  It didn't photograph pretty either.  Sorry!  Not really.  I don't like to stack my pancakes.  I topped them with Wild Friends Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter (not paleo or AIP).  Today is my day for pb and eggs so I went all out!  Tomorrow is back to low carb.  I really need to change up my subscription plan to reflect low carb and more AIP.  I do better that way.  I'm glad these pancakes used a banana so it wasn't as high as it could have been.

Things have been on the crazy side here.  So much so I haven't meditated in 3 days!  The self care I need the most is the one I end up skipping.  I will get back into it tomorrow though.  I started a new strength program and it's throwing me all off!  Prior to that it's been the dogs and now classes are starting which I am total stoked about!  LOL - Does anyone say that still?!  Dating myself here.  So I thought I would play catch up since snowmagendon last week!  YIKES!  I think we got somewhere between 10 and 14 inches but after so many who keeps counting?!

Friday I figured I would show what I put in my protein shake every morning.  I do alternate between Equip Prime Protein and BioChem Whey Isolate.  I haven't noticed any difference with how I feel consuming either.  I am currently standing behind the research that since it's an isolate and eliminates 99% of the lactase I am good.  Of course I just thought of, what that 1% is doing.  What will I do when I am at the bottom?  I will probably stick to the Equip.  The flavor is fabulous and the thickness is perfect!  It tastes like a brownie shake,  Super good here!  It will be even better when it gets warm again.

Super thick and creamy with the added avocado!

At work I made my own Cortado, cause sometimes you just want to or the barista is busy.

One of my work lunches.  So glad I got this metal bento box.  It's super deep so I can really pack it full of all the tasty yum I can.  I love mixing food, doesn't matter what it is!  This was the last of my chicken sausage, some avocado, roasted cauliflower and bacon.

Friday night we have dinner at home and Saturday is our night out.  From my Real Plans list was Citrus Ginger Marinated Salmon with simple braised root veggies.  I believe the salmon was Autoimmune Wellness and the root veggies were from Steph at Stupid Easy Paleo, here is the recipe.  I have to say that D has been loving all her recipes!  Me too!

Saturday morning I know I was up early and did the use, which was feed everyone and go get coffee for us and a donut for the dogs and Nostrand.  Felix has no clue and I hope he doesn't catch on.  Currently I am trying to get him off Fancy Feast Broths and on RadCat raw food.  Not going too bad either.

After the gym I came home to have lunch.  D says I am too skinny still so I said I would come home and eat pancakes and pb.  I did too!  I had 3 leftover coconut protein pancakes and added this fab nut butter Performance Nut Butter.  I may have had some blueberry preserves on that too.

Saturday night we headed to the mall for a white button down shirt for D for work and went to J Alexanders for dinner.  I ended up with the NY strip since it was soaked in soy! I paired it with their broccoli and D got an extra side of coleslaw which is so tasty!  I think the strip was 20 ounces.  I ate most of it there and then finished it at home before going to bed.  We did eat at 4:30.  Funny thing is that Jason Seib said not too long ago.  "No one got fat eating steak and broccoli!"  Hilarious and I tried!  Confession, I've been eating too much sugar again!  Nothing crazy but we stopped at Rocky Mountain Chocolate and I got a cashew bear claw.  It was worth it!

Sunday night dinner.  Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Baked Jerk Chicken from Juli with cinnamon plantains.  You can find it here with coconut cinnamon rice.  I paired mine with left over spaghetti squash and added more jerk sauce on it.  Tasted just like being back in Jamaica!

Monday morning's random cuteness.  He likes the sink and he also loves my new blanket from my bestie!  Hop over to Instagram to see what he was up to with it!  Monday was my usual.  Had a shake for breakfast and headed to the gym for my new routine from Stupid Easy Paleo - Steph Gadreau.  The program is called Made Strong.  In and out of the gym in under an hour!  Only 3 main lifting moves with a few optional functional movements.  I still felt like I was missing something.  There is! It's decided I need to up my weights to make it feel like I'm getting the worth out of it.  The shorter time frame is perfect right now since class started today.  It's 3 days of lifting too, which is what I am currently doing.  After the gym I got a huge latte macchiato from Starbuck's and headed to the pet store and Whole Foods for groceries.  I got home and had lunch which didn't look photogenic.  I had the rest of my leftover cabbage with a mix of jerk chicken and mayo.  Super tasty but ugly! LOL.

Hours later of doing things around the house D got home as I was starting dinner.  Earlier I made Nom Nom Paleo's All-Purpose Stir-Fry Sauce.  So instead of the exact recipe for beef and broccoli I added her sauce and it didn't disappoint.  Plus I have enough for other things later on in the week if I choose.  I added cauliflower rice to mine and D had white rice and green beans that I steamed.  Very filling and really good.  The cut of beef could have been better but I used what I had.  The broccoli had the perfect crispness to it and absorbed the delicious sauce.  There was a little extra to drizzle over the rices so made it perfect!

I'm hoping with class will come some epic meal creations and some treats that are AIP spot on!  What to create first is the question!

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The day before the snow storm! Better known as Thursday.

It's Thursday and I didn't post anything because things have been a bit crazy around here.  Certainly nothing wrong with crazy but somethings take a back seat when that happens!  Yesterday I was everywhere!  I had to pick up things for work and go in a make up a bakery tray for an order and make sure that was all pretty.  Well as pretty as I could make it with what I have available.  It certainly isn't like when I worked at Plum and had multiple departments in which to pull from.  

I still think it looks pretty good.  I so wish I had flowers to use.

Before I headed out to work I had a protein shake and tried Ancient Nutrition bone broth protein in Vanilla.  I'm a chocolate girl but the vanilla was a good change of pace.  My shake was still thick and creamy.  I chose not to take a picture since it was green from the avocado!  I also grabbed this Paleo Ranch cinnamon raisin bar because after my running around I was going to the gym and figured I would probably end up being a little hungry and it's better to have something with you than nothing at all!  I ate half and it tasted just like an oatmeal cookie.  I was so happy with that since I have been missing the taste of oatmeal.  I would love if I could eat gluten free oats but it ends up throwing me off.  I haven't had them in over a year, so who knows maybe I will grab a pack of D's and try it one day.

Have you seen something this cool?!  At work we have a machine that does Coffee Ripples and you download the app on your phone and we can print it on a latte!  This happens to be my Cortado with a nice surprise on it.  Not all pictures will come out perfect but for a dollar, why not?!

This was yesterday's lunch.  Yes I went to Whole Foods after I was finished at the gym and Target.  Speaking of the gym I just wrote out my new 3 day a week lifting plan.  I will start it Saturday.  My gym days are Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.  On Tuesday, Friday and Sunday I do 30 minutes of yoga and Thursday I do some light cardio.  Being I go to the gym alone it's hard to show some of the things I'm doing but I will try my best the next few times I go!

Yesterday I was finishing putting my office together and working at my computer and this little one had to take possession of my arm, after he was getting into all the things on my desk!

Last night's dinner!  Another PaleOMG recipe from Real Plans.  This was Buffalo Chicken Mini Meatloaf and you can get that recipe here with turnip fries and sautéed brussels (the last of my brussels I cooked, still some left though).  Slightly spicy and I wish I would have chopped my onions just a bit smaller.  It had fabulous taste and I put it in the broiler for a couple minutes to get the top all toasty.

Random cat action last night or lack there of!  I think Nostrand is becoming more acceptable of him.

Ah this morning I had a coffee with collagen and a little cream (coconut).  It's cold here and I really wanted a warm cup of coffee so I heated up the cold brew I made a few days ago.  I had a protein shake and did a few things around the house before getting cleaned up and heading out on an errand.  I cleaned up my dresser and a bit in my closet.  I took the donations into Royal Oak to the Salvation Army.  There were 2 bags full and it was nice to free up some space.  After I stopped at Starbuck's for a macchiato and then over to Premier Pet Supply to buy Stryker's food.  We have him and Jack on Farmina which is an Italian brand.  It's a fabulous food.  You can check out the ingredients here.

Once I got home I started on lunch.  You guessed it!  Another one from PaleOMG.  This is her Bacon, Chicken and braised cabbage.  I used purple cabbage since I already had the bag opened.  This had such good flavor!  The cabbage was soft and there was a slight amount of juice left at the bottom of the bowl.  It was a good amount of cabbage and I was a little bloated but nothing like I have been.  A few hours later I was instantly hungry!  I had the other half of my cinnamon raisin bar left from yesterday so I ate that since dinner wouldn't be for a couple hours.

I also had some cold brew.  I had my meditation session and was really tired after it.  I know I'm relaxed when I'm practically falling over during trying to keep awake, which I do, but still!

Tonight is breakfast for dinner and so excited to try coconut flour pancakes.  I'm curious if I will have the insulin spike I had with cassava flour.  If I do, well that just leaves Tiger Nut Flour to try.  I may not be able to have any for a while and if that's the case I am ok with it.  Nothing is forever!  I am trying Perfect Paleo Protein Pancakes with Coconut Flour and Cinnamon from Kat Gavlick over on Organic Authority and you can get that recipe here if you would like to try it!  Not AIP since it has egg, but I can have them a few times a week and I know you remember that!  I try to keep all my offending foods in one day so I don't have any gut issues.  That said I do have 2 break outs, so I know I need to scale some things back.  Like brussels, broccoli, nuts and sugar.  I am jumping back into the Whole30/Sugar Detox again with my bestie!

I find coconut flour a little on the dry side and I don't use syrup but I do love my peanut butter on them!  I could have add banana and blueberry preserves to them!  Oh well, I did save the other half for later this week (Saturday maybe?!) and could easily do it then.

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