Yammering and Yummies

First two news items:

1. I have played around the past couple of weeks with ways to share more recipes. I cleaned up my pinterest and was sharing them there, but that was not so helpful. Then I found Recipefy, which allows me to upload my recipes there, then I can share them on pinterest. SO, if you want less yammering and more food you can follow me on Recipefy or Pinterest for the links to Recipefy. You will find the recipe for these amazing Breakfast Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms there. 
2. I have been following Jennifer Robin's since I became engrossed in her Paleo Down South cookbook. Then she became one of my favorite people when she agreed to sign a copy of that cookbook for my Nana for Christmas. Now I have been anxiously waiting for her new cookbook to come out, not for my benefit, but because I think it is a brilliant concept and fills a void in a very cookbook-saturated world. She has written a Paleo Kids Cookbook that is now available for pre-order on Amazon - you can click here to pre-order it now!

Now, eating clean and eating paleo is expensive when compared to the Standard American Diet (SAD). It doesn't bother me too much, because I eat what I cook and I choose to spend my money on my health and wellness (and student loans). However, it makes me very bitter about waste. So much so that if I make something that doesn't come out well or I burn something or some other kitchen disaster happens, I force myself to eat it anyway. After all, I spent good money on that food and perhaps i'll do better not to screw up in the future.

Recently, this mindset has come to bite me in the butt:

First, someone at work stole my organic avocado. Yes the entire avocado and just the avocado. I was furious (still am) and hungry, since shockingly I brought the avocado to eat. It isn't like a yogurt that you can pretend you just forgot that you had it in the fridge - someone intentionally took my entire avocado, cut it up, and probably wasted it as it browned. Aside from the injustice of it all, we work at the second highest grossing law firm in the world - I bought my avocado, you go buy yours.

Second, I am really embarrassed to put this in writing, but I have found the line where my "forced eating" has to be drawn. I have felt really bad this week, my abdomen and stomach have not been okay, when I should be feeling great on my last week of my 21dsd. Well, although it took me all week to admit to myself, I can tell you when it started. I made the 21DSD ketchup recipe last weekend and a lot of it because it will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator. Well, I didn't feel like grinding up the whole cloves I bought, so I wrapped them in some cheesecloth and threw them in the slow cooker with the other ingredients. After the mix cooks down, you puree it in the food processor to get your smooth ketchup. Well, I did just that BEFORE I remembered that I had put cheesecloth in the mix. I don't know if it dissolved in the heat or just got pureed by the food processor, but I could not find that cheesecloth. 24 ounces of ketchup ruined? No way. I googled whether eating cotton would hurt you (really hard to find answers) and didn't see that it would necessarily harm me so I put those containers of ketchup in the refrigerator and have been eating it all week. I have also been complaining ever since I smothered my first dinner in that ketchup I have been feeling really miserable - to the point that I almost broke down and went to the doctor (I hate going to the doctor). I decided I must have an ulcer or a cyst or some life-threatening disease, not wanting to admit to myself that I have to throw out all that ketchup I made. Well, yesterday morning I had some ketchup with my breakfast sandwiches and within an hour had a headache, stomachache, started coughing up gunk and generally felt horrible. I think I have to admit that I have contaminated (most likely glutaminated) myself with my cheesecloth ketchup. So, in my most wasteful paleo failure to date, I have thrown out two full jars of 21 day sugar detox ketchup.

Speaking of...my 21DSD is now on its final day and I have just a few things to say about it. First, I did not properly adjust for the "energy modification" with how much and how intensely I workout. Consequently, I felt just as bad and down as the materials tell you that you will feel if you do not properly adjust. Second, in all, it was worth it and I am in no rush to introduce sugars back in bulk to my diet. I was perfectly happy with green tipped bananas, granny smith apples, almond butter and cocoa powder. Yes, sometimes I ate almond butter and cocoa powder in excess, but at least I was doing less damage to my body with that than I could have been. Third and finally, the main improvements were in my skin and sleep. My face had been breaking out over the past few months and I blamed my new makeup instead of my diet - oops. I also found that for me, having my fruit or 21dsd treat early on in the day was better than at night for me getting good sleep. I also found that eating sweeter foods (tomatoes and sweet potatoes/pumpkin/squash) at night made me want a treat even when I was full. This sugar detox was FAR more successful than my Sugar Free Failure almost a year ago. 

The one thing I craved during my 21DSD (but could have and should have had more often for energy modification) were sweet potatoes. Taking a sweet potato from a strict paleo eater is basically cruel and unusual punishment. SO, on this my last day of my 21DSD I made a recipe I have had at the top of my list, Danielle Walker's Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (without the goat cheese). I made sure to get in a booty-kicking, but really fun workout first at the new ConBody studio in the LES. Then, with my energy modification sweet potato fully earned, I tucked into this glory. I would be perfectly happy eating this every day of my life breakfast, lunch and dinner. I cannot wait to enjoy my leftovers.

Chicken is underneath the sauce1

As easy as this recipe is, I couldn't help myself from making it even easier with - you guessed it, my slow-cooker. My slow-cooker is the perfect size to hold 3 sweet potatoes and the buffalo chicken ingredients. Conveniently, both chicken and sweet potatoes take about the same time in the slow-cooker, so per usual, I just dumped in the ingredients and turned it on high for 4 hours - easy, peasy, deliciousness. This is a great recipe to make for eating in advance - cook up a sweet potato for each serving and reheat during the week. Note: I really love Melinda's hot sauces. They are gluten-free, sugar-free, inexpensive and often on sale. I used the Extra Hot for making this recipe. 

The worst thing about my 21DSD being over means that just one day separates me from my entire lenten experience of giving up nut and seed butters. I'm truly devastated by it. Never in my life have I successfully given up something that was difficult for lent (giving up soda when I didn't drink it doesn't count). I'm consoling myself with the knowledge that I can go back to my chocolate bars now when I'm feeling down. 

I do realize that by now you think I am a horrible self-absorbed person to have not mentioned the Super Bowl. Yes I know tomorrow is the Super Bowl, no I don't really care, but yes I am going to a Super Bowl party. There are a BAZILLION "Paleo Super Bowl" posts flying around right now (like this one and this one and this one), so instead i'm just going to share how I plan on enjoying myself at the party while staying paleo:

• My dish contribution is going to be Deviled Eggs, with homemade mayonnaise (so easy, click here) and this relish I found that I am really pumped about finding! I will share the full recipe on Recipefy and Pinterest tomorrow so be sure to keep a look out for it!
• I'm betting on salsa and guacamole being available in plenty, so I am going to take some chopped veggies and plantain chips with me as well for dipping.
• I picked up a snack pack of pumpkin seeds (from Starbucks actually) to keep in my purse with some jerky just in case there is absolutely NOTHING to eat. 
• Finally, I've got a paleo friendly treat waiting for me at home so I don't get sad about all the cookies and brownies that will abound.

Paleo-snack from Starbucks!

Relish for the Deviled Eggs!

Hope everyone has a great time watching the Super Bowl and be sure to check out the links to my Recipefy and Pinterest pages!