Falling Behind Here...

Evening!  Matt is watching one of his DVRed shows...some UFC deal so I figured I would take the time to write and entry here.  Playing a little catch-up here I have some food to post and some workouts to write about.  I need to get better at this posting more than once in a blue moon here!  I never was much of a journal writer so it makes sense that I do not keep up with this daily, I'm trying tho!

Let's see, backing up a little, I did have a killer workout this past Saturday compliments of Kaitlin :0)  It was about 33 minutes and was one of my longer workouts to date.  It was as follows...

3 rounds-to be done with speed and intensity:

• 30 push-ups
• 30 squats
• 30 lying leg lifts
• 1 minute rest
• 30 staggered arm push-ups
• 30 alternating lunges
• 30 burpees (my true love...not)

round one was done in 10:30 round two 11:30 and round three 11:30...not too bad, pretty consistent.  These are the type of workouts that make me feel like I am totally out of shape! LOL

This workout was done this past Wednesday...I had to go and get a kettlebell and heavier dumbells.  I got an adjustable kettlebell which is pretty neat so I can adjust accordingly as I get more efficient.  This was actually an enjoyable one.  I completed this just shy of 11 minutes.

21-15-9 (3 rounds with each number representing the reps in each) to be done as fast as possible with compromising form-

• dumbell burpee push-up to deadlift
• sit-ups with overhead/between leg dumbell touch
• russian swings

I try to do these workouts with a day between them.  On the other days I will either do a Jillian Michaels workout, run/power walk with Bear or take a rest day.  Sundays are usually my rest day since that is Matt's day off and many times I will take one other rest day a week.

Now for some food talk...We had one heck of a dinner last Saturday.  I got brave and tried one of KPK's recipes.  I made carnitas and cauliflower mash.  OMG...that's all I have to say.  I am not a huge pork fan and don't usually eat it often, but will since Matt loves it and these carnitas pretty much made me fall in love.  Hands down AMAZING!  Not only were the carnitas great but the cauliflower mash was unbelievable.  Even Matt who HATES cauliflower thought it was delicious (tasted just like garlic mashed taters).  He even asked that I make it again a few days later!  I obviously had no objection.  Matt's buddy ate with us and he was sold too, keeps asking Matt to get the recipes from me!  Both recipes are on the KPK blog so you can check it out there...PS if you make the carnitas really be prepared for your house to smell heavenly...no lie.

mmm, this one portion left me feeling full and the leftovers where even better!

Another meal we had one night this past week was wild caught salmon with a fried egg atop some spinach with mixed veggies which had ghee on them.  There is not really a recipe here for this its basically pan fried salmon with a pan fried egg and some steamed veggies with melted ghee...pretty simple!

it's been a long time since I had salmon and it was gooooooood

I have decided most everything tastes better with an egg on top :0)  I love being able to eat as well as I have been with not a care in the world regarding calories or portions...it's great!  

I made some coleslaw, well I took a coleslaw recipe off of FastPaleo and since I had broccoli slaw on hand and not typical coleslaw I used that instead.  Its a simple recipe using the slaw, 1 apple (made this pre no fruit in my diet), unsweetened coconut milk, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.  I'll be honest, it's not amazing but is pretty tasty...it was an experiment and next time I will use regular coleslaw but none the less, that's how we learn right?

Last but not nearly the least for tonight...Many days I either a. don't want breakfast as I am still full from the night before or b. I don't really want lunch as I'm full from breakfast.  Many days I just want something small in place of a large lunch which is what I would have if I don't eat breakfast.  This has been a pretty easy and yummy go to when I don't want lunch....It's my tuna bowl:

Dani's Tuna Bowl:

• 1 can of tuna packed in water
• Olive oil (1 or 2 tbsp)
• avocado (1/4-1/2)
• chopped green onions (I used 1 stalk)
• 1 hard boiled egg chopped
• celery salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic power and dill weed
• mix it allllllll together and enjoy...you can really do what you want with what you like, make it your own...I just mix a bunch of my favorite tastes together and bam! I have my mid-day snack full of yum!

Well folks, X-Factor is on (yes I somehow got hooked on this show...oh boy!) So...I'm off and until next time, ADIOS!

Buying It, Eating It and Using it...

Afternoon to all or the few that may actually read this...We finally have power for our humble abode, it came back on mid-day yesterday.  I was thrilled! LOL.  I can only go so long sans electric...oh well!

So anyways, yesterday I did probably my most biggest shopping trip since starting my Paleo Lifestyle (granted there has only been 2, but still...).  Where we are in the small town of Port Clinton my options for my groceries are a Kroger and a Walmart.  I know there are some small markets but I didnt remember where they were and Kroger came to me first, therefore is the closest so I went there.  Other reasons is the gas rewards (they are stellar!! esp since diesel is so high!).  There is also a cheese and meat market that I will check out and a fish market as well.  I also remember driving by a farm market but again didn't remember where it was and just wanted to get my shopping done and over with so the other reason I hit Kroger.

Kroger's ended up not being such a bad choice.  They had plenty of options for wild caught seafood, beef, local veggies, bacon, eggs etc etc.  I ended up spending what I would have spent on what used to be a usual grocery trip but much less items (all the junk we eat adds up!).  I was pretty impressed as I was expecting my grocery bill to be quite more than usual.  Some of the items I came home with were a ginormous lobster tail, jumbo scallops, salmon, yellowtail, steak, chicken, lots of bacon, more produce than I know what to do with or our frig has seen in awhile, pantry staples/spices, eggs etc etc etc. I think I have at least a week's worth of dinners alone in that trip...at least on the protein side of things.  I'm easy for my breakfasts/lunches and Matt enjoys taking leftovers for his lunch.

 just some of the veggies i got...

yellowtail tuna...mmm

 salmon, yummy

Last night's dinner however did not have any leftovers except for some veggies.  It was so good, so rich and so filling...definitely something you cannot do all the time.  We had lobster tail (we split it) and bacon wrapped jumbo scallops with my obsession of a veggie medley.  I was a bit nervous about preparing the lobster tail because if I cooked it just a tad too long well then it would be GROSS, not edible and not enjoyable.  I had gotten directions from my mom as she prepares it occasionally and it worked out perfectly!

Lobster:

• pre-heat your oven to 400degrees
• cut the tail down the center and place the meat on top
• sprinkle with paprika (I use a good amount)
• bake the lobster for about 20minutes (depending on size too so it could be less could be more if it's any bigger than ours was)
• broil it 1 more minute for added color
• melt you some butter and enjoy!

Scallops:

• wrap each scallop in a slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick
• place in over for about 10 or so minutes (I sorta took and educated guess as I've never done them before)
• enjoy! Lucky for me, they worked out perrrrrrrfect!!

Veggie Medley:

• sauteed in ghee with garlic and thats about it folks...simple, easy, delish

mmm, so yum...

Now, as for some workouts since I have been gymless...they have been as follows (totally different than anything I have ever done for the most part)  Monday I power walked with Bear...gained 2 nice blisters from that, love!  Tuesday I did one of the workouts Kaitlin gave me...

lying leg raises (10)

body weight squats (25)

burpees (10) (HATE these lol)

this was done as many rounds as possible in 15min...looks/sounds easy but it wasn't...love it

Wednesday was a day off...I was still feeling sluggish from all the traveling and non-stop I have had over the past 2 weeks...needed some downtime that wasn't spent in the truck all day long.

Today well, today I had to use some creativity...I did:

push-ups

sit-ups

squats

body weight rows (thats where the creativity came in)

these were done in 3 rounds as fast as I could with out compromising form...21-15-9

I was happy with my push-ups as I can tell I am getting stronger (not the girlie push-ups) so that was exciting...

as far as the body weight rows go, well I was lacking anything really here at the camper to do them so resorted to using the tailgate on Matt's truck...too hard to describe in writing, wish someone was home so they could have taken a pic...needless to say it was hard and will resort to going to a park next time to do these when in a workout.

I followed this workout up with some yoga...not too bad.

Well, there you have it...sure by now you are bored to tears but no one promised an entertaining blog...just one documenting some of my progress...2 weeks in! :0)

Don't Confuse Simple with Delish!

Wow! Two posts from me in one day...eek!  Don't think that will happen often...LOL.  I just figured I would share last night's dinner and today's lunch with ya before I get too backed up...

So here goes...Last night, We had Buttery Sage Chicken Thighs (recipe compliments of fastpaleo.com) which were pan fried in ghee (made a huge mess lol) and a yum veggie medley which included garlic, green beans, red bell pepper, asparagus and baby bellas.  I did those in EVOO as I love the pairing of that with garlic.

• chicken thighs (however many you'd like to make)
• sage (however much you'd like to add to each piece of chicken)
• crushed garlic (i did about 1 small clove per thigh)
• ghee (1.5tbsp and i added a lil more when I did the other thighs)
• veggie medley (really your choice on what you like)
• garlic chopped (as much as you love)
• EVOO (enough to coat the pan and a lil bit extra

Rinse the chicken and pat dry...press sage and garlic on top, add some salt and pepper if you'd like.  Melt the ghee in the pan over medium heat, when ready pan fry those thighs up! BE PREPARED...for the mess that follows...leave in til the chicken is done all the way thru...timing depends on the size thighs you use.

For the veggies, heat the olive oil in a pan with the garlic (not too hot...about med to med high heat).  When oil is heated thru, add veggies one type at a time starting w/ most firm and longest to cook down to your last veggie.

Serve up and enjoy! I can eat that veggie medley over and over again...oh wait, I did, almost all the nights I was visiting my mom...it was just that good! 

it was uber delish!! altho Matt didnt care for the sage part...darn!

So now for today's lunch...this is a very simple recipe compliments of Miss Kait's Primal Kitchen...

It is a nice yummy...no wait, there is nothing nice about it...it's an amazing delish mixture of flavors that you cannot help but just love on every bite you take.

• 1 tomato (half if it's a large one) cut into bite size pieces
• 1  small avocado (i use 1/2 if i only have large ones) chopped
• 1 thick cut slice of bacon (or 2-3 thin sliced ones) cut into bite sizes
• 2 harboiled eggs chopped up
• salt and pepper and i use a lil garlic powder
• balsalmic vinegar (i added this to take the orig recipe one step farther)

Mix it all together however you'd like and enjoy...you'd be shocked if you knew how filling it was and just how good all those ingredients pair together...mmm

again...thanks to miss kaitlin over at KPK for such an easy but yum recipe...i couldn't help but share it!! :0)

Well, there you have it.  I'd like to thank you for bearing with me while I learn the in's and out's of the blog.  Hopefully over time I'll become a blogging fool and now how to do it all....wishful thinking?  Probably...we will see...lator gators!