Cavegirl In The Kitchen

Coconut Chocolate Pecan Cookies

2012-02-01T14:44:00.004-06:00

These cookies are more moist than the last cookie recipe I posted. Next time I'm trying them with chunky peanut butter!

4 Eggs
2 TB Coconut Oil, melted
1 box of pure creamed coconut (170g)
1/4 Cup honey - eliminate this for the low carb version
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup full fat coconut milk
1 TB vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 Squares of Lindt 85% Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 Cup Pecans, roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350F

1) Whisk the 4 eggs in a large bowl

2) In a medium bowl, melt the creamed coconut, honey, and butter together. Once liquefied, add the coconut milk and vanilla extract

3) Slowly incorporate the coconut liquid into the egg, stirring constantly

4) Sprinkle the coconut flour and baking powder over the wet mixture and mix until it forms a soft dough

5) Fold in the chopped chocolate and pecans

6) Roll into balls and pat down on a cookie sheet (aprx 24 cookies)

7) Bake at 350F for 15-17 minutes

Without the honey, these cookies have only 1.4g of net carbs per cookie!

Saskatchewan Fried Chicken

2012-02-01T14:30:00.003-06:00

8-10 Chicken Drumsticks
8-10 Chicken Thighs
2 eggs
1/2 Cup Finely Ground Almonds (almond flour)
1/3 Cup Coconut Flour
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp sea salt teaspoons salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp tarragon
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground celery seeds
Bacon grease or coconut oil

1) Whisk the two eggs in a bowl

2) On a large plate, combine all the dry ingredients

3) Dunk each piece of chicken in the egg and dredge in the dry mixture

4) Melt a 1/4" layer of coconut oil or bacon grease (or a combo of the two) in your frying pan. Fry the chicken, covered, on low heat for 10-15 minutes on each side. Don't have the heat too high or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked through.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

2011-11-18T10:52:00.001-06:00

Here's my take on this recipe from Chocolate and Carrots

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 eggs
1 banana, mashed
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup butter, softened (or coconut oil)
25g 80% dark chocolate (about 1/4 of a bar), roughly chopped*

Cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 350°.

2) In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda.

3) In another bowl, beat the eggs, coconut milk, butter and banana with a hand mixer.

4) Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and blend again with the hand mixer.

5) Fold in the chocolate chunks.

6) Pour into a greased loaf pan and sprinkle with cinnamon

7) Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*I'm thinking you could easily leave out the chocolate chunks and replace with walnuts or pecans for a lovely banana nut loaf

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-11-15T22:46:00.001-06:00

Ingredients:
2 Cups Almond Flour
1 Cup Coconut Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter
50g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (half of a bar, the less sugar the better)

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375 F

2) Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl

3) In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla and beat with a hand mixer

4) Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until dough begins to form

5) melt the butter and add to the batter

6) Fold in the chocolate chunks

7) Form dough balls into cookie shape and place on a well greased cookie sheet or use non stick foil. The cookies don't rise or spread so form them into the shape you want and line them up as close together as you like.

8) Bake for 15 minutes until slightly browned at the edges.

Honey Nut Granola Cereal

2011-11-14T16:52:00.004-06:00

mmmm.... cereal

1 Cup whole almonds

1 Cup sunflower seeds

1 Cup pumpkin seeds

1 Cup sliced almonds

1 Cup unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup raisins (or cranberries or dried blueberries)

1/4 cup ghee*

1/4 cup honey

1 egg white

1.5 tsp cinnamon

1) pulse the first three ingredients in the food processor

2) combine the food processor ingredients with the sliced almonds, coconut, and raisins. Then stir it up (little darling).

3) Melt the ghee and honey together and drizzle over the mixture

4) pour in the egg white and mix until well coated

5) sprinkle on the cinnamon

6) Pour evenly onto a large cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 min at 400 F, stopping frequently to stir

Enjoy with almond milk or coconut milk and you'll never miss regular cereal again!

*Ghee is just clarified butter, usually available with the Indian food in the international section of the grocery store. If you cant find it, just use butter.

Meat Cupcakes with Jalapeño Butternut Squash Icing

2011-05-31T11:06:00.003-06:00

I first heard rumors about Meat Cupcakes from a few of our athletes around the gym. Upon googling, I found this recipe on seasidekitchen.blogspot.com. They were a big hit at the last family dinner hosted at my house!

For the cupcakes:

1 lb ground turkey

1 lb ground pork sausage

1 tbs fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tbs fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp fresh oregano, chopped

1 tsp fresh rosemary, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup almond meal

1 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

Preheat oven to 400 and spray a muffin tin with olive oil, or grease with coconut oil. Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl (using your hands works the best) and place meat mixture in to a muffin tin. You can fill up the cups to the brim as the meat won't expand out and up. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until cooked thoroughly.

For the "icing":

1 small butternut squash

1 tbs coconut oil

2 tbs pickled jalapeños (plus extras for garnish)

Cut squash in half and remove seeds. Wrap each 1/2 in foil and bake until tender. Scoop out the roasted flesh and pulse in a food processor with the coconut oil (easier to work with if you warm it up) and jalapenos until you have a smooth paste. Frost away!

Notes:

I used 1lb of grass finished ground beef and 1 lb of ground pork. I left out the cilantro as I have some cilantro-hating family.
My easy cooking tip for the butternut squash (or any squash) is to place the whole thing in the microwave and hit the "baked potato" auto sensor cook button. It comes out perfect every time in about 10-12 minutes!
I wasn't sure how many jalapeños "2 tbs" would really be, so I used about 15 slices. It has the tangy sweetness, but wasn't too spicy. Oh and I used butter in the icing instead of coconut oil... cause, ya know.. butter makes everything delicious

Ginger Beef

2011-05-31T10:51:00.002-06:00

Loosely based off of this recipe from Everydaypaleo.com, here is a delicious ginger beef recipe to satisfy any asian flavor cravings.

1-2lbs of grass finished beef

2 TB Coconut Oil

Marinade:

1 medium piece of ginger root

Juice of 1 orange

2 TB Wheat free Tamari

2 TB Sesame Oil

Fresh ground black pepper

Sauce:

1/4 Cup of beef broth

1 TB honey (optional)

1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)

Veggies - anything you want!

2 Stalks of celery

2 Carrots

1 head of swiss chard, sliced thin into "noodles"

Slice the beef into this strips. It's easiest to do this when it's partially frozen.

Peel the ginger and squeeze through a garlic press to yield mostly juice and a few small pieces. Discard the dry, fibrous material that remains after juicing. Add the ginger juice and all the marinade ingredients to the beef. Set aside to marinate.

Heat the coconut oil on high heat in a wok or large skillet. Fry the beef until cooked through, then reduce the heat and add the veggies. Stirfry for 2-3 minutes, then add the sauce mixture. Simmer until liquid is reduced.

Notes: We had this served over spaghetti squash and it was delicious. It would also be excellent over zucchini "noodles" or shredded broccoli. The only thing I left out that I would add next time is 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic in the marinade.

Morroccan Beef Stew

2011-05-01T14:02:00.002-06:00

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 3/4 pounds beef tenderloin, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups beef broth
1/2 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon lemon peel

Directions

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle beef with salt and pepper. Working in batches, add beef to pan and brown on all sides, about 3 minutes per batch. Transfer to plate. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, onion, carrot, and garlic to pan. Cook until vegetables are soft, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add spices; stir 1 minute. Add broth, olives, raisins, and cilantro; bring to boil. Simmer until juices thicken, about 5 minutes. Add beef and any accumulated juices and lemon peel to pan. Stir to warm through and serve.

Notes

I made this receipe with elk and let it simmer in the slow cooker all day. The meat turned out tender, flavorful, and delicious

Double Chocolate Gluten Free Brownies

2011-05-01T12:10:00.003-06:00

So it would definitely be an abuse of the term to call these brownies "Paleo", but they are at the very least a gluten free little treat.

Ingredients

½ cup dark chocolate chips
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda2 eggs
½ cup agave nectar
¼ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pecans
⅓ cup dark chocolate chips

Place ½ cup chocolate chips in food processor and pulse until the consistency of coarse sand

Pulse in coconut flour, salt and baking soda until combined

Pulse in eggs, agave, coconut oil and vanilla

Pour batter into a greased 8x8 pyrex dish

Sprinkle pecans and remaining chocolate chips over batter

Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes

Cool and serve

OMG Pancakes!

2010-12-08T16:30:00.003-06:00

Ingredients

4 eggs

1 ripe banana, mashed

1/2 Cup Nut butter (almond or cashew are great)

30g Scoop of Protein Powder (I used Cookies and Cream flavor)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup blueberries (optional)

Cinnamon

Butter

Instructions

Combine the eggs, mashed banana, and nut butter until smooth. Mix in the protein powder and baking powder. Add blueberries if you like.

Grease a hot skillet or large frying pan with butter and pour pancake batter in by about 1/3 cup scoops. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pancakes are ready to flip when the bubbles rise to the top and pop.

These were delicious all on their own, but would be good topped with applesauce, cooked berries, more nut butter or honey/maple syrup if you're going for that sugary treat.

(Makes about 10 pancakes)

Fat Guacamole Devils

2010-11-29T20:26:00.003-06:00

Found this recipe on Mark's Daily Apple and anything with eggs and avocados gets an automatic A+ from me!

Ingredients:

2 hard boiled eggs
1/2 avocado
1 teaspoon hot sauce (or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

Click here for instructions

Paleo Pad Thai

2010-07-29T18:55:00.002-06:00

When looking for inspiration to keep your caveman food interesting, think international. Thai flavors are built around spicy, sweet, and savory ingredients like hot peppers, lime, nuts, and cilantro.

This recipe works very well with spaghetti squash in place of the traditional rice vermicelli noodles. It can also be served over broccoli slaw and bean sprouts when you can't get your hands on a squash.

Sauce:

3 TB lime juice

3 TB soy sauce

3 TB fish sauce

2 TB rice vinegar

1 TB Honey
1 TB sesame oil

Red Pepper flakes, to desired spiciness

Stirfry:

1/2 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

Chicken, shrimp, beef, or pork

Veggies - shredded carrots, celery, bell peppers, shredded zucchini, broccoli, bok choy... pretty much anything you can dig out of your fridge.

Saute the onions and garlic in a bit of oil for 1-2 minutes, then add your protein and stirfry until fully cooked. Toss in the veggies and cook until they start to soften. Add the sauce and simmer for a few minutes. Serve over raw or steamed broccoli slaw & bean sprouts or over spaghetti squash guts.

Banana Nut Muffins

2010-04-16T21:18:00.005-06:00

Mmmmmmmmmm Muffins!

Ingredients:

3 Cups Almond Flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1/3 Cup Honey

1/2 Cup Applesauce

1/4 Cup Butter, softened

1 Large Ripe banana (or 1 1/2 of the little ones)
1/2 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F

2. Combine the first 5 ingredients in a small bowl

3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until well mixed and a little foamy.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into a large bowl. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients and mix well

5. Grease a muffin tin or use silicon cup liners (awesome!). Fill each cup evenly with the batter. Sprinkle the tops with a little extra cinnamon.

6. Bake for 18-20 mins. When they're done the edges should be slighly brown and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean.

This makes about 3 dozen mini muffins or 18 regular size.

Waldorf Salad Wraps

2010-04-15T13:59:00.004-06:00

Per Serving:

1/4 apple, cored but not necessarily peeled

1/2 stalk celery

1 slice of onion (if you're into that sort of thing)

2 TB walnuts

1/2 cup cooked chicken (aprx 2 oz)

1-2 TB olive oil mayo

Roughly chop everything together or lightly pulse in a food processor/magic bullet. Waldorf salad also usually has grapes too, which I didn't include, but would probably be a tasty addition.

Serve wrapped up in one of the delicious Basic Crepes/Wraps.

Best lunch ever. Yum!

Tuna Wraps

2010-04-15T13:50:00.000-06:00

Another yummy lunch idea...

Tuna with mayo topped with
Cheddar cheese (David still eats cheese)
Tomatoes
Spinach
and folded up in one of the Basic Crepes/Wraps

Basic Crepes/Wraps

2010-04-15T13:43:00.004-06:00

This is a wonderfully delicious, yet neutral flavored base that works just as well with sweet toppings like jam, fruit, honey, or syrup as it does with savory flavors for lunchtime wraps.

Ingredients:

5 eggs

1/2 Cup + 2 TB almond flour

2 tsp honey (warmed)

pinch of salt

butter, for the pan to cook the crepes

1. Whisk the first 4 ingredients together.

2. Put in the fridge to chill for 10-15 mins

3. Heat an 8" pan (or crepe maker if you have one) on Med-Low.

4. Brush the pan with butter and pour in about 1/3 cup of the mixture. Tilt the pan around until it makes a thin layer

5. Watch closely as it will only take a short time for the bottom of the crepe to brown. Gently loosen the edges with a spatula and flip

6. Cool on a rack and enjoy! This recipe made 4 crepes.

Satay Chicken Skewers with Peanut Sauce

2009-11-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

Paste
1/4 Cup fresh ginger, shredded
1/4 Cup shallots
4 garlic cloves
1 serrano chili pepper, sliced, stem removed
1/3 Cup olive oil

12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into strips
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1.25 Cups coconut milk
1/2 Cup natural peanut butter

2 TB lime juice

1 TB fish sauce

1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

In a food processor (or old school with a mortar and pestle) blend together the ginger, shallots, garlic, and chili pepper, adding the oil slowly to create a paste. Set aside half the paste in a saucepan. Put the other half in a big plastic bag with the chicken strips, salt, and cayenne pepper. Seal it tight, mush it around to coat thoroughly, then refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat the saucepan with the other half of the paste to med-high on the stove. Cook for 3-4 mins, stirring often. Add the remaining ingredients, whisk until smooth, and simmer until it reaches a creamy consistency (2-3 mins).

Thread the chicken strips on to skewers. Grill over direct high heat until fully cooked, turning once (about 5-7 mins). Serve with the warm sauce.

Cilantro Pesto Chicken Strips

2009-11-06T12:00:00.000-06:00

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast

Marinade:

3 TB walnuts

2 garlic cloves

1.5 Cup fresh cilantro leaves

1/2 Cup Fresh parsley

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 extra virgin olive oil

1 lime, cut into wedges

Pulse the walnuts and garlic cloves together in the food processor. Add the cilantro, parsley, salt, and pepper and process until finely chopped. You'll probably need to scrape down the sides periodically.

Slice the chicken breasts into strip and dredge thoroughly in the marinade. This might be easiest in a big plastic bag. Leave it in the bag or a sealed container in the fridge for 2 hours.

Thread the chicken onto skewers and grill over direct high heat. You'll need to turn them once and they'll be done in about 6-8 mins. Serve warm with the lime wedges.

New Cookbooks!

2009-11-03T16:48:00.000-06:00

I'm always on the lookout for recipe inspirations anywhere I can find them and I love collecting cookbooks. Here are two recent additions to my collection.

Grain-free Gourmet

And...

Everyday Grain-free Gourmet

These books are designed for people with food allergies and intolerances. They are meant to accompany something called the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, which I've never heard of and I know nothing about. All the recipes are gluten free and low in refined sugar and lactose though. There's no grains (duh... that's right in the title!) of any kind. But the recipes are still heavy on dairy products like butter, cheese, cottage cheese curds, and yogurt so they aren't strict paleo. There are a lot of yummy inspirations with almost all the recipes using almond flour to replace wheat flour. I've got several tagged already to experiment with in the Cavegirl test kitchen.

Just thought I'd share where I'm currently stealing ideas from...

Laura's Spaghetti (Squash) and Meat Sauce

2009-11-02T16:32:00.004-06:00

Thanks again to Laura and her culinary inspirations. Looks delicious!

Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 large spaghetti squash
1 yellow onion (chopped)
3 cups chopped spinach
2 TB olive oil
1 jar of organic pasta sauce
3 large cloves of garlic (crushed)
2 tsp pepper

Scrub the squash well. Though you'll only be eating the flesh, you don't want any grime making its way into your dish. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Split the squash and remove the seeds and 'guts' with a spoon. Place it in a baking dish and leave it in the oven for about 30-35 minutes. Check for tenderness.

While the squash is cooking, start frying up the ground beef on the stove top in a large skillet or frying pan. Cook until all pink is gone and then add onions, garlic, olive oil, and pepper. Continue cooking for about 10 minutes. Then add spinach and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add pasta sauce and continue cooking for another 10 minutes or so. The longer it cooks, the better it will taste.

When the squash is done baking remove from the oven and scrape the flesh of the squash with a fork; you should get orange spaghetti-like strands. Then scrape strands with a spoon into a bowl. Serve the meat sauce over spaghetti squash and enjoy!

Simply Natural Organic Pasta Sauces are available at most grocery stores and in pack of 3 at Costco (you know I love my bulk bargains at Costco!). With ingredients like this, why would you make your own?? :-)
Ingredients: Organic Tomato Puree, Organic Tomatoes, Organic Basil, Salt, Organic Soybean Oil, Organic Chopped Onions, Organic Garlic Powder, Organic Oregano and organic Chopped Garlic

Almond Crusted Salmon

2009-10-26T06:00:00.002-06:00

1/2 Cup almond meal
1/4 tsp coriander
1/8 tsp cumin
4 salmon fillets
2 tsp lemon juice
Sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 500F. Combine the first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish.

Brush or spritz the salmon with the lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat each fillet generously in the almond meal mixture. Place skin side down on an oiled (or buttered) broiled pan. Sprinkle any remaining almond meal on the top of the fish and pat gently to make it stick.

Bake at 500F for 15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges and the Hazelnut Mushroom Asparagus from the previous post!

Asparagus with Mushrooms and Hazelnuts

2009-10-24T11:30:00.001-06:00

2 TB Red Wine Vinegar

1 TB Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 tsp Sea Salt

Fresh Ground Black Pepper

1 pound fresh asparagus

1 TB butter

1 LB (about 6 cups) mushrooms

1/2 Cup Green Onions, sliced

2 TB Hazelnuts, toasted and finely chopped

Combine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a small bowl. Cook the asparagus in boiling water for just a few minutes until they are edible, but crisp. Drain and plunge directly into ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain again

Heat the butter in a pan on medium high heat. Add mushrooms and saute until they are softened and the liquid evaporates. Add green onions, saute 1 minute. Add the asparagus, and cook another 3 mins. Remove from the heat then add the vinegar mixture. Sprinkle with the toasted hazelnuts.

This would also be excellent with green beans, but those are a legume and not a vegetable so it would be less "paleo".

Pork Chops with Butternut Squash and Apple Compote

2009-10-19T06:00:00.000-06:00

1.5 Cups Unsweetened Apple Juice

1 TB Honey Mustard

1 TB Pure Maple Syrup

1 TB Cider Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

4 Bone-In Pork Chops

2 TB butter

1 large leek or medium onion

1/2 small butternut squash, peeled and grated

2 unpeeled red apple, thinly sliced

Whisk together the apple juice, honey mustard, maple syrup, cider vinegar, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Sprinkle the pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat 1 TB of the butter (or coconut oil) in a skillet on medium heat. Fry the chops for 4-5 min on each side or until the juices run clear and the insides are only slightly pink. Set aside and keep warm.

In the same skillet, melt the other 1 TB of butter. Saute leek/onion and squash for 2 minutes (until softened). Add sliced apples and the apple juice mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes or until apples are softened (not mushy!). Return pork and accumulated juices to the pan and bring sauce back to a boil then remove from heat immediately. Serve pork heaped with a couple of generous spoonfuls of sauce and a sprinkle of fresh parsley.

Laura's Turkey Marinara

2009-10-14T05:53:00.002-06:00

From awesome CrossFitter/Paleo Princess Laura: "I have been making this dish lately. It is just something I kind of made up. I don't know if you will like it. But it is quick, easy and packed full of vegetables :)"

1 package of ground turkey
1 zuchinni
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
1 yellow onion
4-5 tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste (preferably organic)
2-3 tsp pepper
4-5 cloves of crushed garlic
frank's red hot (as much as you like. I usually use about 1-2 tsp)

So I cut up all of the veggies and onion (in bite size pieces). Then fry up the ground turkey in either a pan on the stove or in a wok. Once the turkey is cooked, then add the onion and the garlic. Cook and continue stiring for about 5 minutes. Then add the peppers, zuchinni, and tomatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes or so. Then add the can of tomato paste. Sometimes you have to add a small amount of water (not even a 1/4 cup) just so the mixture does not burn to the bottom of the pan. Then add the pepper and the frank's red hot. Cook for about 15-20 minutes on low (just let it simmer). Make sure it does not burn. Tomato can burn very easily!!!! I serve it with cut up veggies, or just by itself. Mmmmmm I like it.

Primal Stuffing

2009-10-11T13:23:00.004-06:00

I saw this on the CrossFit Saskatoon blog and I am shamelessly stealing and re-posting it here :-)

Sausage and Apple Stuffing
10 slices bacon (6 oz), diced
2 pounds pork sausage meat
2 large onions, chopped
8 oz. medium mushrooms, sliced (about 2 cups)
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 tsp dried sage leaves, crumbled
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 pound tart apples, cored and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 cup chopped fresh parsley

Cook bacon until it begins to brown. Crumble sausage meat in same pan and cook till done. Add onions, mushrooms and celery, cooking until onions and mushrooms are wilted. Stir in sage, thyme, salt and pepper, then the apples. Remove from heat, add parsley.

I will do my best to talk my mama into stuffing our turkey with this tomorrow. Updates to follow... Happy Turkey Day!

Paleo Made Simple From Mama L

2009-10-09T06:00:00.001-06:00

Here comes a variety of paleo food ideas with simple, delicious ingredients courtesy of David's mom, Leslie. Pictures and all! Thanks mama L for sharing your recipes!

Walnut Chicken Skewers
Slice up chicken, crush walnuts. Wet chicken with something you like (beer, oil, water). Dip in the crushed walnuts. Make a yummy sauce. Bring to potluck - instant popularity!

Roasted tomatoes
Delicious way to serve tomatoes, cooking sweetens them right up: cut tomatoes, coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, roast at 250 for 4 hours.

Roast chicken
Get a good hutterite chicken. Sprinkle with coarse salt and peppercorns. Roast. Enjoy and then make soup!

Breakie
Gotta love it when, for the entire summer, every carton of hutterite eggs have double yolks...served with fried green tomato salsa.

Canning Galore

20lbs of peaches, pears, plums, tomatoes and apples turned into... ...a winter stock of local produce! Just add a touch of sugar and lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and clove! The salsa is great!

Coconut Pancakes and Waffles

2009-10-06T08:30:00.000-06:00

I found this video on Mark's Daily Apple. It was a user submission for a recipe contest held during a month-long primal challenge in September. It looks fabulous!

Fabulous Onion Bread

2009-10-01T20:10:00.009-06:00

You may have heard me talk about this one before and anyone who's tried it raves about its awesome deliciousness. Seriously, this recipe is not a lame substitution for bread, but a gourmet variety, worlds above in terms of heartiness and flavor. BUT... and there is a but... it is really finicky and labor intensive to make, which is why I've been putting off posting the recipe. The original inspiration for this came from a raw food vegan cookbook (yes, I own one of those!) and was meant to be entirely dehydrated, taking upwards of 24 hours. I'm not opposed to cooking my food, plus my dehydrator doesn't have the nifty trays you would need to make items like this, or fruit leathers, or other paste-like treats. So I've been experimenting with different methods every time David talks me into dedicating an afternoon and sacrificing my eyeballs to make this. Here's the best I've come up with thus far, but I'm sure there will be updates to this one over time.

Ingredients
4 large sweet onions
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup flax seeds
1/2 cup organic tamari soya sauce
2/3 cup olive oil

Directions
1) Grind the sunflower seeds in a food processor. Buy pre-ground flax seeds if possible, but if not blend those babies up too!

2) Get read to weep! Peel and roughly chop the onions. Puree them in the food processor then transfer to a fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth. Squish out as much of the liquid as possible. It burns! It burns! Perhaps I need these?

3) Combine the ground seeds with the onion mush and add the tamari and the olive oil. Mix well!

4) Spread the mixture onto a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Aim for a thin layer, about 1/4" thick. Bake at 350 for 60 min or until the top is browned. This picture was for a double batch.

5) Allow the bread to cool, then slice into squares and gently transfer to a food dehydrator. Dehydrate on low to medium heat for 6-ish hours.

Now you're ready to enjoy the best sandwich you'll ever have in your life.

Pumpkin Pie

2009-09-28T06:30:00.002-06:00

This is another recipe sampled from Mark's Daily Apple in a post about primal pie fillings. It is rather high in carbs for an everyday food, but it is a delicious way to enjoy a traditional dessert for thanksgiving while staying allergen (ie grain and dairy) free.

Crust:
1 Cup Almond Meal
1 whole egg
2 TB coconut oil
1/2 tsp salt

Soften the coconut butter until it is soft or slightly melted. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Line a pie plate with with parchment paper and plop the ball of dough in the center. Brush the dough with a little extra coconut oil (so it doesn't stick) and use your fingers to spread it into the crust. Bake at 400 for 15 mins.

Filling:
1 Cup fresh or canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple sugar flakes
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger

Mix everything together and pour into the pre-baked pie crust. My pie plate was rather shallow, so this amount of filling turned out to be slightly too much and I didn't use all of it. Return to the oven and bake at 350 for 30-35 mins.

I found the organic maple flakes at sobeys. It's just dried maple syrup which makes it basically pure sugar. Whether this really qualifies as anything close to paleo, I can't decide...

Primal Magic Cookie Bars

2009-09-24T17:29:00.000-06:00

This recipe is actually MDA's Energy Bar Redux. Thank you Mark for the awesome inspiration! BUT... My mom used to make an amazing square with a graham short bread base, topped with chocolate chips, coconut, and a sweet & condensed milk glaze called Magic Cookie Bars. Before she went primal, started doing CrossFit, and lost 80 lbs, that is. She's hung up her bakers hat for good, so those recipes only exist in our memory now. However, this one reminds me of those treats so much I am re-christening it from an energy bar to a delicious dessert!

Ingredients

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup almond butter (although cashew, hazelnut, walnut and even pumpkin butters will work well too!)

1/4 cup coconut oil (check your local health food store)
1/4 cup almond meal

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp of raw honey (although, this is really kind of optional)

1/2 cup unsweetened whey protein powder (I used vanilla flavored)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup dried cranberries (or blueberries or raisins, look for unsweetened if possible)

1 TB unsweetened coconut to sprinkle on top

2 TB dark chocolate chips also to sprinkle on top

On a cookie sheet, toast nuts and shredded coconut until golden brown. In order for them to cook evenly, you need to shake up the tray at least once during cooking.

Once toasted, pour mixture into a food processor and pulse until nuts are chopped and the mixture becomes coarsely ground.

In a mixing bowl, melt coconut oil and almond butter. Remove from microwave and stir until smooth. Add vanilla extract, honey and sea salt. Mix thoroughly.

Fold in nut mixture, almond meal and protein powder until mixed thoroughly.

Add whole egg and mix thoroughly.

Fold in blueberries/cranberries.

Press mixture into an 8 by 8 loaf pan. Sprinkle with the coconut and chocolate chips. Bake at 325 for 10-15 mins. The top will look sort of foamy, but once you remove it from the oven and allow it to cool it will look normal. Spread the chocolate chips with a spatula while still warm and melty.

Shredded Pork Tenderloin With Spaghetti Squash

2009-09-20T09:11:00.001-06:00

Ingredients
2 Pork Tenderloins
1/4 Cup Hoisin Sauce
1 TB Tomato Sauce
1 TB Soya Sauce
1 tsp honey/sugar/brown sugar
1 tsp fresh ginger, peeled & grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/4 Cup Soya Sauce
1/4 Cup Rice Vinegar
1 TB Sesame Oil
1 whole spaghetti squash
2 large carrots, peeled & grated
1 small bunch green onions, sliced
1/4 Cup fresh cilantro

Directions:

1) Place the pork tenderloins and the next 6 ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce heat to low for another 5 hours.

2) Remove the pork from the slow cooker and let stand for 10 minutes while you do the following steps.

3) Liberally stab your spaghetti squash all over to prevent it from exploding. Microwave on high for 12 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, to the liquid remaining in the slow cooker, stir in soya sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Cover and cook on high for 10 mins

5) Shred the tenderloins with two forks.

6) Return the shredded pork to the sauce in the slow cooker along with the shredded carrot and sliced green onion.

7) Cut the cooked spaghetti squash open lengthwise. Be careful! It will be hot hot hot. Scoop out the middle stringy gunk with the seeds and discard. Pull the "noodles" away from the sides with a fork and scoop out with a spoon.

8) Serve the shredded pork over the spaghetti squash noodles, garnish with fresh cilantro, and enjoy like the happy guy at the top!

Pizza Update

2009-09-17T08:53:00.004-06:00

I've experimented numerous times with the almond meal crust for the Paleo Pizza to find the perfect technique for a cripsy crust that holds together and doesn't stick to the pan. The secret seems to be to spread the crust out on non-stick parchment paper! Just thought I'd share a handy tip...

Hoisin Sauce Recipe

2009-09-14T17:18:00.003-06:00

I was in the "Oriental" aisle at Sobeys comparing ingredient lists on bottles of Hoisin Sauce (for an upcoming pork tenderloin recipe) only to find myself horrified by all of them. For example, The Golden Dragon Hoisin Sauce ingredients are: Water, Sugar, Soy Beans, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Vinegar, Spices, Caramel Color, Wheat, Maltodextrin, Sodium Benzoate (a preservative). I thought, that can't possibly be the original, authentic recipe for this stuff. So I set off to find a recipe and make my own.

4 TB Organic Tamari soy sauce

2 TB black bean paste*

1 TB honey or molasses or brown sugar

2 tsp white vinegar

1/8 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp sesame oil

20 drops habanero hot sauce

1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper

*you can use peanut butter as a substitute if you can't find black bean paste

Mix well until everything is fully incorporated.

Gigi Barbina Salad

2009-09-13T10:04:00.005-06:00

(Photo stolen from Oprah.com)

This recipe was sent to me by my mother-in-law, who saw it in the Oprah Magazine. I took the original and replaced canola oil with olive and eliminated the cheese to give it an easy primal makeover:

4 beets, 2- to 3-inches
1/2 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 1" pieces
6 TB extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 pound mixed mushrooms (tough stems removed), halved or quartered
2 TB mayonnaise (The real stuff!)
2 TB sherry vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 small shallot , coarsely chopped
1/2 pound mixed baby greens
1/3 cup chopped walnuts , toasted

Note: If using a mix of beets, you can prevent colors from bleeding by roasting them in separate foil pouches; then peel and reserve separately.

Preheat oven to 400°.

Wrap beets tightly in foil, and roast until tender, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven; let rest 10 minutes. Unwrap foil. Peel and cut beets into bite-size pieces; set aside.

Toss squash with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and pepper to taste; spread in a single layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast, tossing halfway through, until tender and golden, about 30 minutes. Repeat process with mushrooms, roasting about 15 minutes. Set both aside to cool.

Meanwhile, make the vinaigrette: Put mayonnaise, vinegar, mustard, and shallot in a food processor. Pulse to combine. With the motor running, drizzle in rest of olive oil to make a puree; season to taste with salt and pepper.

Divide vegetables among four plates. Toss greens with vinaigrette, then arrange on top; sprinkle with nuts.

Recipe variations:
Replace squash with…
Spring: Roasted sugar snap peas, snow peas, or asparagus.
Summer: Blanched or roasted green beans.
Fall/winter: Sweet potatoes; also can scatter pomegranate seeds on top.

Inside Laura's Fridge

2009-09-09T19:42:00.000-06:00

Kaiser the dog approves.

Laura (one of CrossFit BRIO's cavegirl athletes) prepares for the week of paleo food that lies ahead with a fridge full of ready-to-eat options. The elk jerky is marinating, the veggies are sliced, the eggs are waiting, and the fresh roasted chicken is ready! The non-primal food, she says, all belongs to her fiance!

Garlic Mayo Veggie Dip

2009-09-06T08:31:00.002-06:00

The veggie and dip tray is a staple of summer BBQs everywhere, but usually the delicious creamy delight in the center is either sour cream or cream cheese based. Here's a tasty recipe for a paleo approved version:

Ingredients:
1 cup real Mayonnaise
3 Cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Lemon juice
2 tsp White Vinegar
1 tsp Mustard seed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp fresh Dill
1 tsp Chili powder
Sprinkles of Louisiana hot sauce (to taste)
Fresh group black pepper

Instructions
Mix. Chill. Eat. Mmmmmm....

Soy Sauce

2009-09-04T17:58:00.001-06:00

Okay, so you may have noticed several of my recipes involve soy sauce in the marinades and sauces. Technically, made from soy beans (a legume) and usually containing wheat (eek!) soy sauce is a no-no on a paleo plan.

1. Small amounts - first off, the amount of soy sauce that I use is generally 1 or maybe 2 TB, spread into a recipe yielding several servings. I try not to get to worked up about the teeny tiny amounts of the substances that make their way into my food. I would spend time stressing about whether every pieces of meat I ate was pastured/grass finished before I would hyperventilate about whether that 1 TB of soy sauce had trace amount of wheat in it.

2. Fermentation - Soy sauce is made from fermented soy beans and it is this process that neutralizes many of the bad stuff in soy beans. A couple thousand years ago in asia people figured out that if they fermented their beans and grains first, everybody seemed to get less sick from eating them.

3. Wheat Free Options - If you are seriously gluten intolerant, there are wheat free options such as this one from VH sauces.

4. Get the good stuff - Cheaper options are usually made from hydrolyzed soy protein instead of brewing and fermenting naturally. The resultant product is not the same dark color as real soy sauce and so this liquid is then colored with caramel coloring. Check the ingredient label and look for simple, pronounceable, non-chemical ingredients.

Cavegirl at Costco: What's in the Cart

2009-09-03T17:34:00.003-06:00

Costco is mostly known for 12lb bags of doritos and giant boxes of more microwaveable burritos than any person should consume in a life time. But hidden between the tubs of jumbo M&M cookies and the frozen pizza aisle is this little oasis of paleo heaven: the meat section and the fresh produce section. From a foraging expedition this afternoon, here's a peek in my cart:

2 bags of spinach
3-pack of cucumbers
1 bag of broccoli
tub of blueberries
head of cauliflower
6-pac bag of red and yellow peppers
3-pac bag of celery hearts
5lb bag of sweet onions
1kg of pecans
1kg of almonds
Alder smoked bacon
Pack of fresh figs (not sure what I'm going to do with those yet...)
2 eye round beef roasts
4 pork tenderloins
1 large tray boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large tray bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
1 large tray chicken drumsticks
2 racks pork back ribs

Prosciutto Turkey Roulades with Beurre Blanc and Caulitatoes

2009-08-26T06:00:00.002-06:00

Turkey Roulades
2 whole boneless, skinless turkey breasts
prosciutto
sage
salt
pepper
2 TB coconut oil

You can use the turkey breast as one big piece or cut it into thirds so each is about the size of a chicken breast. Costco carries fresh turkey breast that is prepared in smaller pieces like that. Place the meat between two pieces of saran wrap and beat the daylights out of it until is it thin and spread out (but not absolute mush!).

Hammer time

Sprinkle each piece of turkey with salt, fresh ground black pepper, and sage then cover with a layer of thinly sliced prosciutto. Roll it up, starting at the thicker end.

Spice and roll

Heat the 2 TB of coconut oil in a large skillet on med heat and cook each of the roulades until golden brown on all sides.

Beurre Blanc Sauce
1 Cup White Wine or Chicken stock
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp table sugar (gasp!)
1/4 tsp black pepper
pinch of salt
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
1/3 cup butter, cubed

In a saucepan, bring wine/stock, lemon juice, onion, garlic, sugar, pepper, and salt to a boil. Simmer to reduce by half. Pour into a heat-safe bowl and let cool.

Heat, but do not boil, a shallow amount of water in a medium sized pot. Place the heat-safe bowl overtop as a "double boiler". Gently whisk in the egg yolks and stir over the heat until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and add the butter cubes. Serve over the turkey roulades.

Whisking in the egg yolks with the caulitatoes on the back burner

Caulitatoes
1/2 head of cauliflower
1 parsnip
2 cloves of garlic

Steam all three together until soft and then blend in the food processor. You should not need to add any other liquid.

Spiced Pork Chops

2009-08-24T06:00:00.001-06:00

Ingredients:

4 bone-in pork chops

2 TB honey

2 TB dijon mustard

1 TB olive oil

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 cinnamon

1/2 tsp whole allspice kernels

Brown the pork chops in a skillet for a few minutes on each side. Transfer to a slow cooker and drizzle with the sauce. Be sure to layer the glaze if you have to layer the chops (depends on the size of your crock pot). Simmer on low for 5-6 hours. This will make your house smell like pumpkin pie!

Grilled Pineapple Tenderloin Skewers

2009-08-20T12:45:00.002-06:00

Ingredients:
1 LB Beef tenderloin chunks (you could use a lesser cut...)
1/2 a pineapple, cut into chunks

Marinate the meat in a mixture of the following:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 TB soya sauce
1 TB sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1" chunk fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Be sure to soak the skewers first. Alternate chunks of pineapple and steak. Grill over direct medium heat and enjoy!

Sesame Ginger Chicken Thighs

2009-08-17T06:01:00.001-06:00

(Szechuan Vegetable recipe in the post below)

Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 TB Dijon mustard
1 TB Sesame oil
1 tsp grated fresh ginger root
1 TB water

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)

Sesame seeds

Take a large tray of approximately 24 boneless skinless chicken thighs and trim of any obvious connective tissue or remaining bits of bone. Dip each piece of meat into the sauce and roll it up. Line up the rolls tightly in a deep pan, smooth side up. Drizzle any remaining sauce on top and then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 400F for aprx 30 mins.

Szechuan Vegetables

2009-08-17T06:00:00.001-06:00

Ingredients

2 TB olive oil

1 TB grated fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

Any assortment of fresh vegetables

3 TB oyster sauce

1 TB water
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Saute the ginger and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat for just a couple of minutes in a large pan or wok. Add all the veggies and stirfry until softened. Mix the oyster sauce, water, and red pepper flakes and pour this sauce into the pan with the veggies. Stir to coat and serve!

Dad's Brandy Mushroom Sauce

2009-08-16T12:08:00.005-06:00

1 TB olive oil

2 slices alder smoked bacon

1/2 onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup brandy

1 cup beef broth

1 cup red wine

3 sprigs fresh tarragon

salt and pepper

Slice the bacon into small strips and fry in the olive oil until cripsy. Add the onion and garlic to sautee in the bacon drippings. Throw in the mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes until softened. Pour in the liquids, add the tarragon, and salt & pepper to taste. Allow to reduce by half.

We had this over cajun spiced grilled pork tenderloin, but it would also be fabulous with beef or bison. Shout out to my dad and his mad culinary caveman skills!

Lessons from the Road

2009-08-15T12:45:00.005-06:00

First off, my apologies for the lack of posts this week. David and I were off in Calgary hacking our way through the CrossFit Level II cert. Luckily we both came out victorious in the end, newly minted certificates in hand!

Being on the road, however, did not leave much time for creativity in the kitchen! We did manage find a few interesting paleo options and learned an important lesson or two along the way.

1. CrossFitters everywhere are awesome people! Thanks to everyone at CrossFit Calgary and our fellow testees (hee hee) for all the feedback, support, and positive vibes. Heart you all.

2. Jerky and trail mix are the universal snack staples of caveman eaters everywhere

3. The safeway deli makes an interseting chicken and mango salad with loads of veggies and no pasta or grains

4. Always check your oven before preheating...

This is what remains of all 4 trays and the lid of my food dehydrator, along with my latest batch of bison jerky. We put the trays in the oven overnight to keep them out of the cat's reach at David's mom's place on Tuesday night and unfortunately forgot to check if the oven was empty before preheating to make dinner the next night. Big OOPS!

Matt's Almond Milk

2009-08-08T08:26:00.012-06:00

Our good friend Matt is in town visiting from Hawaii. He's a nutritional ninja in his own right, employing the same whole food, caveman style of eating that we love. He brought with him some great ideas, including how to make your own almond milk! It's a delicious addition to coffee or tea and we're pretty sure it would make a tasty egg nog-like drink. We'll keep that in mind to experiment in the winter...

Ingredients
3 Cups of almonds
Water
1/2 tsp salt

Step One: Soak the almonds in water for at least one hour or overnight if you've got time.

Step Two: Drain off the water

Step 3: The 3 cups of almonds will now have swelled to 4 cups. Take half the almonds (about 2 cups) with 3 cups of water and blend thoroughly, for about 3-4 minutes.

Step 4: Pour the milky mixture into a tight mesh strainer. We used a paint strainer bag, available at a hardware or paint store for less than $1.

Step 5: Squish the living bejeezes out of that bag to get every last drop of liquid out. Repeat the blend, strain, and squish steps one more time with the other half of the almonds.

Step 6: Add the salt to the final liquid (about 2L) and shake-shake-shake. Once you place it in the fridge to cool, it will separate into 3 layers. You'll only have to mix it to reincorporate once, Matt says, and it won't separate again.

You can save the remaining almond meal and use it as filler in burgers or meat balls, as a thickener for a sauce, or in place of flour for a crust or dough! Any other ideas what to do with the remains?? Post suggestions to comments

Sobeys vs The Drive Thru

2009-08-03T19:01:00.000-06:00

Some days I haven`t planned ahead very well and I know this because lunch times rolls around, I`m starving, and there`s no lunch anywhere to be seen. When this happens I like to play a little game I call Sobeys vs the Drive Thru. The grocery store closest to the gym shares a parking lot with a Burger King restaurant. During the busy lunch rush I like to take note of the car at the end of the drive thru line up as I dash into Sobeys to forage myself something to eat. If I can get in and out of the store before that car makes it through the drive thru line up, I win!

On one of the more recent showdowns, here`s what I managed to come up with: sliced in-store roasted turkey in a lettuce `boat` with olive oil mayo (which we had in the fridge here), cherries, a kiwi, an apple, and some almond butter. Yum!

Grilled Halibut with Tropical Salsa

2009-07-28T18:19:00.000-06:00

Halibut Marinade

2 TB lime juice

1/4 C soya sauce

1 tsp dried maple flakes

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and allow the fish to marinade for at least 30 mins. BBQ with the skin on over direct-high heat for 10-12 mins. If the skin has been removed, be sure to oil the grill very well and turn the fish only once. The more you mess around with it, the more it will fall apart!

Tropical Salsa

1/2 Medium Pineapple, finely diced

1 mango, finely diced

1/2 cucumber, finely diced

1 mini red pepper, finely diced

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 tsp sea salt

jalapenos, to taste

This one's pretty simple: just mix everything together!

Grilled Lamb Mini Meatloaves

2009-07-24T06:30:00.002-06:00

Step One: I bought a whole lamb leg, and ground it using the meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid mixer. Because this was not a grass finished lamb, I trimmed off all the major chunks of fat and of course, removed the tough connective tissue. It's a little bit of extra work to grind your own meats, but well worth it, I think.

Lamb Meatloaf Recipe
2lb ground lamb
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 TB Marjoram
1 TB Ground Rosemary
2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Puree the onion in a food processor until it has the texture of apple sauce. Pour it out into the center of cheese cloth or a kitchen towel and wring out all the liquid. Pulse the ground lamb in the food processor to further soften its texture. Add the onion back in along with the rest of the spices. Process until thoroughly incorporated.

At this point you could shape this into a meatloaf and bake in the oven at 325F for about 1 hour. Once it's done, eat it warm or chill and slice for lunch meat.

I shaped the mixture into mini meatloaves and skewered into kabob form. Chill for at least an hour before placing on a well-oiled grill over medium heat.

Paleo Tzatziki

1/2 Cup Mayonnaise

1/2 cucumber

2 cloves of garlic

fresh dill

Shred the cumber with a fine rasp. You can mince the garlic and add it raw or roast it before hand for a sweeter flavor. Mush all the ingredients together and enjoy!

Coconut Curry Chicken with Cauliflower Rice

2009-07-20T12:45:00.007-06:00

5-6 Chicken Breasts
Olive Oil
1 large sweet onion
2 cloves garlic
1 TB chili powder
1 TB curry powder
1 TB turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin
2 tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 Cup chopped cilantro
1 can coconut milk (350-400ml)
Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the chicken into strips or small chunks. Heat the oil in a large pan to med-high. Saute the onions and garlic until they soften. Add the chicken and stirfry until cooked through. Add the spices and toss to coat the chicken is evenly. Add the tomatoes, cilantro, and coconut milk. Let it simmer for at least 5 min. If you have time, let it go for an hour or more to really intensify the flavors.
Normally a curry would be served over rice. An easy sub for the carb-o-rific, nutritionally void little grainy wonders is finely chopped cauliflower. I pulse it in the food processor until it's ground to about the texture of rice. Cauliflower is firm enough it won't turn into total mush. Warm it lightly in the microwave if you like or simply put your hot curry right over top which will cook it just enough.

Make Your Own Jerky

2009-07-20T06:00:00.002-06:00

Drying was the original technique used to preserve meat for storage and transport in pre-agricultural times. In our modern world it still makes one of the best cavegirl snacks. Commercial jerky might help you survive an emergency hunger situation that lands you in a 7-11 hunting for something to eat, but it usually contains nitrites and other preservatives that make it not the best choice for everyday food. Made in your own kitchen with beautiful grass fed meat though, jerky is a delicious delight.

There are two tricks to making good jerky:

1) Choose lean cuts. The texture of fat is weird when dehydrated and it goes rancid quickly, defeating the "shelf stable" purpose of dried meat.

2) The marinade must contain both salt and some form of acid. This cures the meat before dehydrating and kills any bacteria.

The meat slicer in action!

My favorite for jerky is a bison eye round roast. There is a great bison farmer at the Farmer's Market that raises their animals on pasture. Their meat is also available at the Clarence Ave Market on Clarence and 12th Street. I use my meat slicer to get a uniform thickness, although this works best if the roast is still slightly frozen.

Original Jerky Recipe
1/4 Cup Water
1/4 Cup White Wine Vinegar
1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
2 TB raw honey
1 TB liquid smoke
1 TB onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
1 tsp black pepper

Make sure each piece is coated in the marinade and then let it sit for 12-24 hours.

If you have a dehydrator, spread the meat on the racks and dry for 4-8 hours. Bison seems to dry much faster than beef so be sure to check on it every couple of hours. The meat should turn quite dark when finished but remain somewhat pliable. You don't want to dry it totally into dust!

Although I have never tried it, I've read you can use your oven to dehydrate jerky as well. Spread the meat out directly on the oven racks, set it to the lowest possible temperature (usually 160F), and leave the door slightly cracked.

Questions? Post them to comments!

Spicy Mango BBQ Sauce

2009-07-18T06:00:00.004-06:00

Oh my god delicious, is all I have to say about this sauce. We brushed it on our Baby Back Rubbed ribs (the previous recipe) and it was amazing. I suspect it would also go well with grilled chicken or salmon.

Ingredients

1 TB extra-virgin olive oil

1 red onion, minced

1 red pepper, minced

0-3 fresh Habanero peppers*, minced

2 mangoes, peeled & cubed

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup tamari soya sauce
2 TB Worcestershire sauce
1" piece ginger root, peeled
1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 TB honey
1 cup organic chicken stock

Directions
Heat the oil in a pan on med-high. Add the onion, red pepper, and habaneros and saute to soften (3 to 4 mins). Next add the mango and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the soy sauce, Worcestershire, the chunk of ginger, a little of the citrus zest, the honey, and the chicken stock. Cook the sauce for 10 minutes, then add the orange and lime juice, and simmer for 2 minutes more, to thicken. Remove the ginger chunk.

Allow the sauce to cool slightly before transferring to the blender or food processor to puree.

*I used 2 fresh habaneros which made a rather spicy, but tolerable sauce. Add more if you dare. If fresh hot peppers are unavailable, substitute 1-2 TBs of habanero hot sauce.

Baby Back Rub

2009-07-17T06:00:00.006-06:00

Not that kind of back rub...

What could be more primal than tearing meat off a bone with your teeth? Ribs are a delicious part of the summer BBQ season, but are too often slathered with super sugary sauces. Here's my recipe for a gorgeous, flavorful dry rub.

2 TB Dark Brown Sugar

1 TB Paprika

2 tsp kosher or sea salt

2 tsp rosemary, crushed

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp cayenne pepper*

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp ground ginger

*adjust up or down based on your tolerance for spiciness

A little sugar goes a long way in this recipe, yielding enough to cover at least 2 and up to 4 racks of ribs. It works out to only a few grams of sugar per serving. The dry rub creates a flavorful crust and keeps you from messing up your shirt with sloppy sauces!

Coming up next: Spicy Mango BBQ Sauce

Paleo Pizza

2009-07-16T06:00:00.002-06:00

Pizza... a cacophony of wheat flour and cheese. It could never be paleo and you must therefore live without it forever, right? No way! Cavegirl in the kitchen to the rescue. This pizza recipe is decidedly grain free, and should be dairy free as well although caveman wasn't quite sold on that idea...

The Crust:

Per person..
1 Cup Almond Meal*
1 Whole Egg
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

Beat the egg first then mush it all together to form a dough. Press it into a pan and bake first at 400 deg for 15-ish minutes or until it starts to brown. This was for two so I doubled the dough recipe.

UPDATE: Click here for the updated crust technique.

The Sauce:
1 small can tomato paste (preferably organic)
An equivalent amount of water
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
drops of hot sauce if you like a bit of kick

Toppings:
Anything you can imagine from the world of meats and veggies, nuts and seeds. Think chicken, bacon, avocados, artichokes, spinach, garlic, pesto, pineapple, peppers, jalapenos, tomatoes, and on and on.

* Almond meal is available in bags at Dad's Organic Market, but you could also make it yourself by pulsing almonds in a food processor or coffee grinder. Be careful not to grind too much or you will end up with almond butter. Although that would be a delicious mistake....

The Case For Real Mayonnaise

2009-07-15T07:55:00.000-06:00

Lets do a little ingredient comparo here:

Real Mayonnaise: olive oil, egg yolks, white wine vinegar, salt, dry mustard powder, water

Miracle Whip Light: water, vinegar, soybean oil, modified food starch, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, salt, contains less than 2% of egg yolks, cellulose gel, mustard flour, artificial color, potassium sorbate as a preservative, xantham gum, cellulose gum, spice, paprika, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium (sweeteners), natural flavor, dried garlic

So we have one option consisting of a small selection of perfectly recognizable cavegirl ingredients. In the other corner, we have a frankenfood emulsification of industrial oil and modified food starch (whatever that is, I'm pretty sure it's not food). Oh and lets not forget the HFCS, the sugar, and not one, but two types of artificial sweeteners. Then there's the pile of preservatives and "natural" (???) flavor... oh my...

I will give you one guess which one is the better choice... [insert Jeopardy Music Here}

Julia Child's Mayonnaise Recipe

Ingredients
Round-bottomed, 2½ to 3-quart glazed pottery, glass or stainless steel mixing bowl. Set it in a heavy casserole or saucepan to keep it from slipping.
3 egg yolks
Large wire whisk
1 tablespoon wine vinegar or lemon juice (more drops as needed)
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon dry or prepared mustard
1½ to 2¼ cups of olive oil. If the oil is cold, heat it to tepid; and if you are a novice, use the minimum amount
2 tablespoons boiling water

Directions
1) Warm the bowl in hot water; dry it. Add the egg yolks and beat for 1 to 2 minutes until they are thick and sticky.

2) Add the vinegar or lemon juice, salt and mustard. Beat for 30 seconds more.

3) The egg yolks are now ready to receive the oil. While it goes in, drop by drop, you must not stop beating until the sauce has thickened. A speed of 2 strokes per second is fast enough. You can switch hands or switch directions, as long as you beat constantly.

4) Add the drops of oil with a teaspoon, or rest the lip of the bottle on the edge of the bowl. Keep your eye on the oil rather than on the sauce. Stop pouring and continue beating every 10 seconds or so, to be sure the egg yolks are absorbing the oil.

5) After 1/3 to 1/2 cup of oil has been incorporated, the sauce will thicken into a very heavy cream and the crisis of potential curdling is over. The beating arm may rest a moment. Then, beat in the remaining oil by 1 to 2 tablespoon dollops, blending it thoroughly after each addition.

6) When the sauce becomes too thick and stiff, beat in drops of vinegar or lemon juice to thin it out. Then continue with the oil.

7) Beat the boiling water into the sauce. This is an anti-curdling insurance. Season to taste.

8) If the sauce is not used immediately, scrape it into a small bowl and cover it tightly so a skin will not form on its surface.

Easy Guacamole

2009-07-14T06:00:00.001-06:00

Don't be afraid of its green lumpy appearance, guacamole is a creamy delicious addition to your nutrition plan and avocados are cavegirl approved!

1 avocado
1 TB real mayonnaise
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 tsp garlic power
chopped jalapenos (to taste)

Instructions: mush and eat.

Avocados were first redeemed from the "all fats are bad" trash bin when a study in 1996 demonstrated that a diet high in these creamy delights lowered total cholesterol by 17%, lowered the bad cholesterol (LDL) by 22%, lowered triglycerides (the more important indicator) by 22%, and increase the good cholesterol (HDL) by 11% - and all in just SEVEN DAYS! One easy week! That's it!

Yet another point in the mountain of evidence that real food is far more effective than any pill in creating long term health.

Banana Mac Sorbet

2009-07-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Smooth, sweet, and creamy this dessert is perfect for summer! The closer the fruits are to peak ripeness, the more flavorful it will be.

1 large banana
1 pear
1 avocado
1 TB raw honey
1 TB pineapple juice
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Blend all the ingredients, except the nuts, in a blender or food processor until smooth. Fold in the mac nuts and freeze the mixture. Scoop and enjoy like sorbet! It turns out quite green, but don't be afraid. Just think of it like pistachio ice cream.

This recipe is higher in carbs, so save it for special occasions. It makes a great way to enjoy a dessert while keeping yourself both grain and dairy free though!

Turkey and Shitaake Burgers

2009-07-12T06:00:00.002-06:00

A flavorful, delicious burger that doesn't contain any grain-based "filler".

Ingredients:
4lb ground turkey

1lb shitaake mushrooms (or any assortment of wild mushrooms)
1 medium onion
1 TB olive oil
2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme

2 whole eggs

Roughly chop the mushrooms and onions, then saute in olive oil in a large pan. Sprinkle with the herbs and cook until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are translucent.

Transfer the mushroom and onion concoction to a blender or food processor and pulse until you have a paste. Put the 4lb of turkey in a large bowl and roll up your sleeves. Add the eggs and mushroom paste, and squish it all together with your bare hands until thoroughly incorporated.

Take a handful of meat, shape it into a ball, then squish into a patty and lay on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. You can be precise and weigh each burger into exact portions if you like (6 oz makes a large burger).

Patties can be pan cooked, george forman-ed, or BBQ directly on the grill. They hold together best on the grill if they are slightly frozen though and be sure to oil the racks before cooking.

The Cavegirl Philosophy on Food

2009-07-10T17:06:00.006-06:00

Human beings have roamed this planet for somewhere between 2 and 3 million years. Through an infinite series of adaptations, we evolved to thrive under certain conditions during the paleolithic era. At the dawn of the agricultural revolution, everything changed. The human diet changed from meats, leaves, nuts, and berries to seeds, grains, and dairy. Daily life changed from nomadic hunting and gathering to domesticated farming and agriculture. It started 10,000 years ago at the earliest and really took off about 5000 years ago. In terms of human existence, this is a mere blink of an eye and not enough time for us to adapt to our new environment. Human generations are long and we reproduce slowly. Genetically we are all still cavemen and cavewomen.

Worse yet, less than 100 years ago, pesticides, hormones, industrial vegetable oils, preservatives, artificial flavors, trans fats, and a host of other frankenfood ingredients were introduced to the human diet. It's death by 1000 nutritional cuts.

What we try to accomplish with the cavegirl philosophy is a "genetically congruent" lifestyle based on eating the foods available to our paleo ancestors and leaving out the modern additions. This means we eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, and little starch/sugar. Noticeably absent from the cavegirl diet are all grains, dairy, and legumes. The cavegirl menu is loaded with highly nutritious, quality food that is as close to its natural state as possible. We choose pastured or grass fed meats, buy (or catch!) wild fish, and opt for organic, local, and/or in-season produce. This diet is naturally much lower in carbs than the horrifying North American diet and high in quality proteins and fats. Health promoting, brain supporting, pro-heart fats.

Eating this way leads to positive gene expression, tilting your body towards health, longevity, and vitality. Caveguys and cavegirls were naturally lean and strong, without Jenny Craig, Special K, or a globo gym membership. A primal diet is the solution to most of the diseases of civilization like obesity, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, depression, crohn's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, gout, acne, and on and on. It's not that this diets protects against disease, as if we are somehow destined to be fat and sick. But rather, this diet doesn't cause those diseases in the first place. You are genetically programed to thrive, not suffer a slow, agonizing, humiliating decline to an eventual early grave.

My intention with this blog is to show that primal eating is not boring, bland, or impossible to achieve. Cavegirl food is delicious and flavorful, and easy to cook. It also leaves you feeling satiated and energized. No need to suffer through an agonizing, depriving low-cal, low-fat silly "diet". Not here. No thank you.

Pay Now, Live Later put together an excellent 5 minute video to explain precisely this philosophy on food.

Carnivore? Keep Being Awesome!

2009-07-09T18:18:00.005-06:00

Photo Source (http://www.crossfitbalboa.com/)

So now that we're done peering into the mundane details of my life, this blog will be devoted to the awesomeness that is the cavegirl lifestyle. I'll be posting updates from my kitchen experiments and hopefully keeping you inspired that primal food is flavorful, delicious, and satisfying. If you have any recipes, ideas, questions, or items you're really missing please send me an email (jocelyn.rylee@crossfitbrio.com) and I'll be happy to see what I can whip up for you!

The End of Rehab

2009-07-07T18:35:00.004-06:00

Okay, so the 30 days are up and that means it's time for a review. Lets compare the goals to the results. In the end I am 5lbs lighter than day one, but you've seen how much that fluctuates from day to day. The four areas to work on in this 30 day intensive were:

Caveman Food
Intermittent Fasting
CrossFit
Being My Own Car

Caveman Food

The original intention was to do all 30 days without cheating. That lasted, I believe, 13 days, so I have to give myself an F in the "no cheats" department. All in all though the intention was to reign in the cheat days and confine them to one or two meals per week, which we have successfully done. We had also been eating out a lot, relying on take out and processed foods way too much. I like cooking, so it doesn't take a huge effort for me to snuggle up with my cookbooks, reunite with my meat slicer, and get back to my post in the kitchen. I am lucky to have a great caveman as the other half of this team who cleans up after me in exchange for being well fed all the time. Thank you David!

On a side note, I like training barefoot and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Does that make me barefoot in the kitchen? Good thing I'm not pregnant or this would be really cliche...

Intermittent Fasting

In total I think we had 3 or possibly 4 days of intermittent fasting. I'll continue working it into my life, probably on every other rest day. I find it works especially well when I am feeling beat up, sore, and on the verge of getting sick. When your body needs to direct energy to repair and immune function, it's ok to give it a short break from the hard work of digesting food. Going without eating until dinner time really isn't the end of the world.

CrossFit

For the fitness side of things, this was a successful 30 days. Of the 21 WODs completed, all but one were new PRs. Among other things I got my first ring dip, something I thought I would never be functionally capable of doing. I PR'd my continuous pullups at 15, kick ass considering I had set a goal to get 12 in a row by the end of 2009. And I added 7lbs to my CrossFit total. My gymnastics, weight lifting, and cardio capacity all improved noticeably because I didn't just get stronger or just get faster, I got fitter. That's what CrossFit does to you! Several of the 21 WODs I had never done before and many of the other I was able to attack as Rx'd or at least closer to it than previous attempts. I even managed to beat my husband at a few! Even with my cheat days, eating cavegirl 80-90% of the time has resulted in some very satisfying gains on the performance side.

Being My Own Car

I'm still riding my bike to work as often as possible. I really enjoy the morning ride and I don't find this to be a chore at all. I'll be sad when winter creeps in and keeps my indoors, so I'll be appreciating the weather while it lasts.

Rehab Day 29

2009-07-06T18:23:00.000-06:00

Weight 124.8

Food

Breakfast was my standard fare - eggs and nuts, although I've added Salsa (oooooh!). Through the day I munched on several of the delicious creations that came out of the kitchen yesterday. I made bison jerky from a roast picked up at the farmer's market.

....and what's this?? Is that a paleo sandwich?! Indeed it is! David misses bread a lot because his favorite food is samiches. I've been experimenting with a recipe I found in a raw vegan cookbook involving sunflower seeds, flax, and onions. Although in my version I'd like to bake it since I have nothing against cooking my food. Cavegirl Onion Bread 1.0 was delicious, but way too labor intensive. I'll post the recipe when I've perfect the process!

CrossFit

Rest Day!

Rehab Day 28

2009-07-05T21:30:00.008-06:00

Weight 125.6

Food

Not much in the way of appetite today, as is usually case after a cheat day. Funny how it all evens out, isn't it? Mid-morning I ate one egg and the final italian sausage scrambled together with salsa and some avocado. Mid day I ate some trail mix and some left over meat.

For dinner I made grilled bacon wrapped pork tenderloin medallions and sweet potato and apple mash. David thrives on a little more carb than I do, on a day to day basis. So while he tucked into a big pile of starchy vitamin A, I filled my plate with spinach salad.

Pork wrapped in another kind of pork. Could there be anything better?

On the right, little pork yummies. On their sides on the grill to get the bacon extra crispy!

On the left, 1 Sweet potato with 1 apple, dusted with cinnamon. Baked at 350 F for 30 mins before being pureed in the food processor.

Cavegirl In The Kitchen

This blog is called just that because I eat and move as much like a cavegirl as I can but I love being in the modern oasis that is my kitchen. The paleo or primal lifestyle does not mean forsaking all neolithic amenities, donning a loin cloth, and spear hunting your dinner. With the seemingly endless options we have in terms of what to eat and do from minute to minute, being a cavegirl gives me a framework to navigate this world and helps to shape the choices I make. I keep my food "genetically congruent" with what my physiology is most supremely adapted to eat, while at the same time enjoying the fact that I don't have to risk life and limb to get it. A trip to Sobeys is all it takes. I exercise using functional movements at high intensity because those too are the physical remnants of a long-ago life built around sprinting, jumping, climbing, throwing, walking, lifting, and carrying. No need to sleep in a cave to actually get the benefit though. I'll keep my running water, comfy bed, and Nintendo Wii, thank you very much.

Some interesting things are coming out of my test kitchen these days and I'm looking forward to sharing the successful results in the coming weeks. I'll keep the disasters to myself though! Bison jerky, cavegirl bread, banana mac sorbet, and many other recipes will appear here in the future.

CrossFit

Today's WOD

Shoulder Press 1-1-1-1-1

Push Press 3-3-3-3-3

Push Jerk 5-5-5-5-5

This is the first time I have ever hacked out this entire WOD as Rx'd. I usually end up forgoing the sets of 3s and 5s, hitting only singles and then getting tired and quitting before I'm really done. So today...

Press: 86 Fail, 76, 81 Fail, 76, 76

Push Press: 86, 91(1PJ), 96, 101 Fail

Push Jerk: 101, 106f, 96, 96, 101x3

I love a good shoulder day...

Rehab Day 27

2009-07-04T22:31:00.003-06:00

Weight 123.8

Food
For breakfast I had two eggs scrambled with 1 sausage, topped with 1/4 avocado and salsa. Yum! I hit up the farmer's market this morning for the first time in a while. I picked up a bison eye round roast, which will be turned into bison jerky later this week as well as some fresh BC cherries. I only just discovered the delicious wonder that is cherries last week and now I'm obsessed. I'm not sure how I managed to go my whole life without ever eating cherries before, but I have been missing out!

Before working out I had 1/2 apple with almond butter and some leftover pot roast. Usually I find as soon as I start warming up I get painfully hungry and that I can eat immediately before starting the stop watch. On this day though, eating right before this WOD seemed like a very, very awful idea since I started to feel nauseous almost immediately. After this serious ass kicking workout (see below) we hit Booster Juice for a little PWO refueling. Again I ordered a Mango Hurricane, no yogurt and added my own egg white powder to it. I get stuck in a rut with these things.

It's Saturday so that means it's time for a cheat. I made chicken fingers in the oven and David had pizza. We both had some cookies from Safeway for dessert. If you know me at all, you'll know I'm not much of a drinker and it's a rare occasion that I actually enjoying an adult beverage. It happens maybe once every few months. Tonight would be one of those nights. I enjoyed a few glasses of Kim Crawford Sauv Blanc while sitting out on the deck lounging in the summer loveliness. Perfect!

CrossFit
"Badger"
3 rounds for time
30 Squat Cleans, 65lbs (men's Rx'd 95lbs)
30 Pullups
800m Run
--> 40:25
I really wanted to finish this one is under 40 mins! Dammit. It annoys me to no end when this happens in a longer workout. Surely I could have shaved off 26 seconds somewhere in this whole endeavour! A few seconds here or there really doesn't matter, other than I just like the idea of a 3 at the beginning of my time rather than a 4. It's silly. I know. My rounds were 12 min, 15 min, and 13 min so I probably could have knocked off the time I needed by slacking less in round 2. I stopped though to cut off two callouses on my left hand that were starting to lift rather than suffer the pain of ripped hands again.
My winning streak continued as I beat David by about 7 mins. Once again my muscular stamina prevailed.

Rehab Day 26

2009-07-03T22:55:00.001-06:00

Weight 125.4

For once I actually did not eat eggs for breakfast! I just didn't have time and ended up picking at some leftover Pad Thai before working out in the mid morning. I had another lovely berry, spinach, and egg white smoothie PWO. For a late lunch I had two egg scrambled with two italian sausages, half an avocado and salsa.

For dinner I put a sirloin tip roast in the slow cooker. The recipe was very simple: 1 Cup beef broth, 1 medium can of tomato paste, an onion, a bay leaf, and a sprinkle of thyme. I browned the roast on all sides in a pan on the stove before letter it simmer on high in the crock pot for about 5 hours. Tender and delicious! ...oh, and EASY!

CrossFit

"Randy"

75 Power Snatches, 56lbs (men Rx'd weight 75lbs)

-->9:26

Any workout where I can beat David is a good one as far as I'm concerned! He's owned me in several WODs over the last week, but I finally made a comeback, beating him by over 2 1/2 minutes. In the 10 types of fitness, muscular stamina would be a strong area for me, so I tend to do better in high rep workouts like this.

Rehab Day 25

2009-07-02T21:30:00.001-06:00

Weight 126.2

Food

I'm sure you're very tired of reading that I eat the same thing for breakfast everyday by now. But let me offer that as one piece of advice: automate at least one meal per day. Make it easy, make it quick, and make it the same every day. It takes some of the stress out of opening the fridge, staring at a bunch of ingredients, and contemplating what you're going to eat. Not every meal has to be the most mind blowing experience for your taste buds. Sometimes food is just fuel.

Most of the day I ate leftover to try to make use of all the cooking I've been doing lately. The rest of the Shepherd's pie made a great lunch. Mid afternoon I used a couple of the remaining italian sausages from the failed kabob experiment the other night to make my own Denny's style scrambler. Eggs, sausage, peppers, and avocado topped with salsa. Awesome. This actually left me feeling quite full for the rest of the night and I didn't eat much of anything for dinner, opting instead for an early bed time.

CrossFit

Rest Day. Since we didn't do yesterday's 10k, this make 2 rest days in a row. Sometimes that's necessary. Rest and recovery is an oft neglected element for hardcore crazy fitness freaks.

Rehab Day 24

2009-07-01T21:30:00.003-06:00

Weight 124.0

Food
Nuts and eggs again, with a little ham in there for good measure. Through the day I ate some more ham, nuts, blueberries, cherries and some delicious left over pad thai. For dinner I turned some of the roast beef in the fridge into a cavegirl Shepherd's Pie. I actually found a ready to eat beef gravy at Sobeys which wasn't terrible. The ingredients were quite similar to anything I would have made at home: beef dripping, mushrooms, red wine, and some corn starch. I added loads of veggies and simmered on the stove. For the topping, I steamed cauliflower and a parsnip with a clove of garlic. Once softened, I pureed them in the food processor. It turned out to have a texture exactly like mashed potatoes and a mild, yet hearty flavor. Overall, yummy!

The picture doesn't quite do it justice...

Cheats
David and I have been discussing how to incorporate cheat days into our lives a little more, shall we say, responsibly. The all-out, anything goes entire cheat day seems like too much. I end up feeling like crap for a day or two after, like a food hangover. As you've seen, I gain a lot of weight in a short period of time. Water weight or fat, it doesn't matter. 5lbs is 5lbs when you're trying to do a pullup! We go way beyond "refueling" to the point of performance sabotage. Plus I generally resent the idea that I willingly pump myself full of such processed, garbage food-like substances.

So we're experimenting with this: Two cheat items per week, one on Wednesday, one on Saturday, preferably home made. We eat pretty low carb the rest of the time, so this approach is essentially a cyclic low carb/high carb diet a la Mauro DiPasquale's Anabolic Diet. I have not read any of his books, but from what I've gleaned from articles and interviews this is essentially his approach. Far be it for me to put words in his mouth though, so check out his website if you're curious about what he does.

Anyway, last night David chose sandwiches as his cheat - one roast beef, one peanut butter and jam. For me, I made a tiny batch of brownies. Mmmm.... Better than anything I could have found in a store!

CrossFit
Today's WOD
Run 10k

As my gimpy foot is not up to running I did not attack this one today. I'm not one to skip workouts or cherry pick the ones I like, so I will complete this one as soon as I can, hopefully on the weekend. I had intentions of subbing in something else, but ended up just feeling too wiped out from Eva yesterday. My own programming ended up being "One Nap, for Time" - Total time: about 3 hours! Precious precious sleep....

Rehab Day 23

2009-06-30T17:56:00.004-06:00

Weight 125.2

Food

Nuts and eggs again for breakfast, this time with a little sliced ham for variety. Oooooh! I had a delicious strawberry, blueberry, spinach, egg white smoothie after working out around noon. Mid afternoon I ate a caveman's delight variety leftover platter - 3 ribs, pastrami, a chicken and sausage skewer, and 1/2 an avocado.

I found a spaghetti squash at the co-op this week so I made my Paleo Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp for dinner and used the squash in place of noodles. It makes an excellent substitution and you really would hardly even notice the difference!

CrossFit

Today's WOD

"Eva"

5 rounds

800m run

30 KB swings, 1 pood (Rx'd weight was 2 pood)

30 pullups

--> 57:09

Yeah... that's right. 57:09. This is officially the longest CrossFit workout I have ever done. I ran the first two 800s, but my foot, still sore from a bad landing off the bar on Saturday, started screaming at me and I knew I was running gimpy. I rowed 800m for the last three rounds which made an awful substitue given the other two exercises are grip and pulling intensive. Even though it was long and tough, I felt good afterwards. I'm one of those sick individuals that likes these kinds of challenges.

Rehab Day 22

2009-06-29T19:18:00.000-06:00

Weight 126.4

Food
Good old eggs and nuts again for breakie. I munched on cherries, more nuts, blueberries, and some roast beef throughout the morning. Last night I cooked two roasts, chilled them over night and used my meat slicer to create an abundance of homemade deli meats. And yes, I have my own meat slicer.

Two Spicy Looking Eye Round Roasts Ready For The Heat

David and I have arranged a deal that if I supply him with enough quality homemade paleo food that he never has to cook anything, he will clean my bathroom. Take my word for it that this arrangement works in my favor... that is one messy bathroom...

For dinner I tried a recipe from the Weber Grilling cookbook that looked tastier than it actually turned out to be. It was spicy italian sausage and scallop skewers with big chunks of onion. I couldn't find good scallops at the grocery store today, so I ended up using chicken. I did find fresh in-store made italian sausages though that actually did not contain wheat, dairy, nitrites, or MSG. The filler was rice flour, which is a lesser evil as far as I'm concerned but still not great. Anyway, the kabobs turned out to be just kinda boring...

CrossFit
Today's WOD
CrossFit Total
3 attempts each for max weight in
Back Squat
Standing Shoulder Press
Deadlift
--> Total 462, an increase of 7lbs over last time
Squat - 190 (the same)
Press - 76 (a disappointment since I max pressed 81 a few weeks ago)
Deadlift - 196 (6lbs bigger than last time)

At one point in Oct last year I 3-rep deadlifted 205, but have not been able to recreate that magic since getting full-on into CrossFit and following only the mainsite programming. 195 is inching in the right direction though!

Rehab Day 21

2009-06-28T21:32:00.004-06:00

Weight: 128.4 (yeah... I gained 4.2lbs in 24 hrs)

Food
I wasn't hungry too much today - more about that below. Around noon I ate 2 eggs scrambled with sliced ham. At 4 I had a Larabar. Then we had dinner at my parents' place which was BBQ'd ribs and veggies. A paleo delight! Dessert was some dark chocolate and fresh strawberries, which are just starting to be deliciously in season. Overall, not a lot eaten today.

A Properly Functioning Metabolism
Your body is designed to withstand huge fluctuations in energy intake. You can imagine quite easily that your caveman ancestors did not have a steady supply of food to enjoy 3 square meals and 2 snacks each and every day. Instead they likely enjoyed a huge feast after a successful kill, and then less food until they were hungry enough to bother going out to hunt again.

I find for myself that the day after a big cheat I have almost no appetite. The interesting thing is this is how a properly functioning metabolism is supposed to work. I didn't have to purposely deprive myself of food today, I just had no desire to eat. I ate as much as I wanted, and that wasn't very much. Your body does not work on a tight 24 hour schedule with regards to calories in and calories out. The process is smoothed out over days, weeks, or even months.

Hormonally, I'm pumped full of leptin, the hormone that makes you feel satiated, and devoid of ghrelin, the hormone responsible for hunger. This is how your body evens out energy intake with energy output and maintains homeostasis - a fancy way of saying "balance". It would be evolutionarily disadvantageous to be obese, after all. Try chasing down a woolly mammoth with 50 or 100 extra pounds dragging your ass down. Not very successful. A small amount of body fat is enough to see you through those brief periods without food, but too much would not be helpful at all.

It all goes wrong when you inundate your body with unnatural foods for too long. The steady flow of refined and starchy carbs overwhelms what your body is designed to handle. Your hormones get totally out of whack and crazy things start happening like you feel hungry even though you just ate an hour ago. Or you feel tired even though you at plenty all day and you've got easily 100,000 calories stored on your butt. Essentially your metabolism can no longer maintain homeostasis at a "healthy" bodyweight and weight gain ensues.

CrossFit
Today is main site rest day. Yay!

One of the recommendations in CrossFit's Elite Fitness In 100 words is to try new sports often. Today we tried Frisbee Golf and it was really fun. We will definitely be doing that again quite a bit this summer!

Rehab Day 20

2009-06-27T22:30:00.001-06:00

Weight - 124.2

The blogger world

Melissa Byers is a girl I like, even though I've never even met her. She's witty, real, and an awesome CrossFitter - my 3 favorite qualities in a lady. She writes a great blog called Byers Gets Diesel that I check in with often. This week she had a wonderful two part series on cheat days (how timely, see below...). You're never going to go your whole life without eating a cookie again and no one expects you to, so she addresses a few points on how you might work cheat days into an other wise health and performance oriented lifestyle. I accidentally got up on my soapbox with regard to Part 1, however, and ranted a little about how we think about supposedly "clean" carbs like sweet potatoes vs obvious junk food like ice cream. Read it here.

Food

I ate my regular breakfast, although somewhat later in the morning than usual. After the workout I made a strawberry, mango, blueberry, banana, and spinach smoothie. Seriously, you can't even taste the spinach. It's a good way to hide some extra greens in your diet.

We planned for a cheat day today, and cheat we did. It didn't start until about 3 in the afternoon. So in total the crap food intake only lasts about 6-7 hours. It is remarkable what can be demolished in that amount of time. I've threatened to post what I am actually capable of consuming on a cheat day before, so here it goes in all its disgusting, carb'o'rific glory:

1 regular size Quizno's turkey sub with guacamole and a cookie
Several chocolate cake donuts
2 pieces of Delicio oven pizza
Blue Cheese/Hot Wing Doritos
1/2 pistrami sandwich (one piece of bread, lotsa meat)
A few winegums
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Sometime I will actually FitDay a cheat day just to see what it all adds up to. I suspect it is easily 5000-7000 calories. The worst part is this is nowhere near the most I've eaten on a cheat day. While wandering through sobeys looking for inspiration, I found myself mostly wanting meaty things. I bought some deli meats, and chicken fingers, which I never even ate. They're still in the freezer for next time.

CrossFit

Today was an odd workout that has not come up since 2003...

2 rounds for time:

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps right arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps left arm

run 800m

1 arm barbell push press, 12 reps left arm

1 arm barbell deadlift, 12 reps right arm

run 800m

This WOD has no Rx'd weight, only saying "go heavy, run fast". I used 46lbs for the push press and 96lbs for the deadlift. As expected, the left arm, and especially the grip in the left hand were the weak parts. My foot is still not happy from yesterday and so the runs were slow and kinda gimpy. Total time 40:53. David severely owned me in this one, finishing in 27-something. Ouch. This was a fun one though!

Rehab Day 19

2009-06-26T21:30:00.001-06:00

Weight - 126.2

Food

Again with the same breakfast. Food throughout the day was left over pork stirfy and butter chicken. I had a banana, blueberry, and spinach smoothie after the workout. I ate some chicken and guacamole at my parents' house while visiting in the late afternoon. Today was one of those days where I had very little appetite and almost no interest in eating.

CrossFit

"Nicole"

AMRAP 20 mins

400m run

max reps pullups

Basically you sprint, then do as many pullups as you can. When you drop off the bar you go for a run again. If you can't do very many pullups, or if your grip is weak you'll be running a lot.

-->15, 12, 10, 10, 7, 6

the 15 pullups in round one is a new PR for me. I did 13 continuous kips, then 2 more before dropping off. Previously my record was 7 continuous, and 12 without dropping. Unfortunately I dropped off the bar and landed wrong on my left foot in round 3. It wasn't too happy about running after that. I did not do the run between the last two sets of pullups because I was already hobbling around at that point.

Rehab Day 18

2009-06-25T21:30:00.004-06:00

Weight - 126.2

Food
Eggs and nuts again for breakfast. I mostly ate leftover stirfry from last night throughout the day. David picked up some fresh cherries from one of those roadside stands yesterday and it was on this day in history that I first discovered that cherries are in fact delicious. I'm not sure why, but I always thought I didn't like cherries. I had no idea what I've been missing my whole love. Those little gems are scrumptious!

We went to costco in the afternoon for another load of meat, veggies, and nuts. In addition to Cherries, it is also getting to be blueberry season. My favorite time of year! For dinner I made a cheater butter chicken with sauce from a jar. Besides some cream, the ingredients are not only pronounceable but also reasonably paleo.

CrossFit
The Workout of the Week in our gym this week is:

3 rounds, for time:
500m row
21 burpees
400m run

After watching everyone else sweat it out through this cardio monster, I couldn't resist taking a shot at it even though it wasn't on my schedule. In April, I did it in 19:21, this time 18:00 flat. I was really hoping to go sub-18, but I just didn't get there in time! Call me a masochist, but I love this one.

But since that wasn't actually my workout for today, I had a smoothie then hit the main site WOD which was:
AMRAP 20 mins of
Thruster, 5 reps
Hang Power Clean, 7 Reps
Sumo Deadlift High Pull, 10 reps
66lb barbell for all.
--> 5 rounds + 3 thrusters.

Hang Power Clean

Since I had just worked all the metcon I needed for today, I used a weight that, for me, is really heavy and treated this as more of a strength workout. 5 rounds is really not many for one like this, but it felt great to throw some weights around!

Rehab Day 17

2009-06-24T09:30:00.000-06:00

Weight- 126.4

Food

Another Paleo day completed. You must be bored by now of reading that I eat eggs and nuts for breakfast everyday. Somehow I'm not bored of eating them though! I ate some sliced deli turkey, cucumbers, red peppers, pistachios, and half an apple with nut butter throughout the day. For dinner I made a pork tenderloin, broccoli and cauliflower stirfry. It's really pretty simple simple.

Slice and marinate the meat in oyster sauce and sesame oil. Stirfry, then add the veggies.

The sauce: 1 Cup beef broth, 1 TBSP soya sauce, 2 tsp honey. Simmer until the sauce reduces.

CrossFit

Rest day! Glorious rest day!

Rehab Day 16

2009-06-23T21:30:00.000-06:00

Weight: 124.6

Food

Another reasonably good day, although by the time I write this I almost forget what was eaten today. Breakfast was the same as always - eggs and nuts. I munched on some nuts and beef jerky through the morning. After my workout, I had a Booster Juice, again with no yogurt and added my own dried egg whites. That's a lot of carbs and it set me up to feel quite munchy through the rest of the day. At some point I ate a Larabar. Thank goodness the box of those things is almost gone because they are addicting! Dinner was some chicken eaten later at night and too close to bed time.

Water Weight

So lets talk about water weight. Between yesterday and today I dropped nearly 4lbs. Clearly this is not "bodyfat". You can't gain or lose 4lbs of fat in a day. What it is, is mostly water. 1 litre of water weights 1kg or 2.2 lbs. My drop in weight from yesterday to today represents aprx 1.5L of water.

Salt, hormones, and different foods can all influence water retention. Large fluctuations in salt (and water) intake can cause big changes in water retention or loss. Female hormones definitely have that lovely monthly effect of making girls bloated and cranky. Other hormones, like insulin, stimulate the kidneys to retain fluid rather than excrete it. A by-product of the chemical equation for metabolizing glucose is water. Some foods, like cucumbers and grapefruits, can have a diuretic effect making you shed water weight. Remember the grapefruit diet? Well that's basically a dehydration plan and it works to dump a lot of weight in a short period of time. It's not fat though. Just weight. Caffeine and alcohol are also both strong diuretics.

Low carb diets are well known to cause a huge weight loss in the first few weeks. "But it's mostly just water weight!" the critics will always whine. Excuse me, but when was the last time anybody wanted to retain fluid? In fact fluid retention is one of the major elements of hypertension. Why are we supposed to be disappointed when we 'just lose water weight'? I don't wanted to be bloated any more than I want to be fat, so if a diet is causing me to shed excess fluid along with the fat that's just peachy as far as I'm concerned.

CrossFit

3-3-3-3-3 Front Squat

121 lbs x 3

126 lbs x 3

136 lbs x 2

Previous 3 rep max was 125lbs with 0 reps on an attempt at 135lbs. The two reps I eeked out at 136 completely finished me off and back was was having no more of making any further attempts!

Later in the day I did the CrossFit Endurance workout on the rower which was 6x3min sprints with alternating rest periods. It goes like this:

3 min on, 1 min off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, 3 off

3 on, 1 off

3 on, DONE!

Distances (in meters) were: 655, 666. 666, 647, 640, 662

Rehab Day 15

2009-06-22T21:30:00.005-06:00

Weight: 128.2 (ouch)

Food

Today was entirely back on track. Eggs and nuts for breakfast. Chicken, pistachios for a mid-morning snack, and veggies. A larabar in the afternoon. 2 grilled sirloin patties with all the fixins for an early dinner. We didn't get home until around 8:30 and by that time there didn't seem to be any point to eating right before bed.

Supplements
I haven't been listing much in the way of supplements because I don't take much in the way of supplements. I usually have 2 fish oil capsules with breakfast and with dinner. I take caffeine first thing in the morning and occasionally part way through the day as well. Post workout, you'll see I list my smoothies in which I use dried egg whites. I don't even consider the egg whites a "supplement" - they're just powdered eggs! The only ingredient is "egg whites", unlike most designer protein supplements which contain a whole selection of weird, unpronouncable chemical concoctions.

Probably the weirdest thing I take is baking soda. I'm quite conscious of the acid/alkaline balance of my high protein diet. This topic deserves a post all to itself on the BRIO page. Basically a net metabolic acidosis is a bad thing, and a slightly alkaline internal environment is a good thing. The remnants of what you eat present themselves to the kidneys as either an acid, a base, or a netural. You can't pee out acid, so your kidneys neutralize the acid with one of only two alkaline substances stored in the body: calcium from the bones or glutamine from the muscles. Either you're breaking down bone mass or muscle mass - bad news either way. Grains and dairy (espeically hard cheeses) are highly acidic. This could possibly explain why north americans have such high rates of osteoporosis despite consuming huge amounts of dairy. Animal protein though is also acidic, but in a caveman style diet, this is balanced out by the alkalinity of the dark green leafy things and berries. There are several books written on this topic such as the Acid Alkaline Diet, the pH Miracle, and The pH Balance Diet. Of those, I've only read the first one.

There are plenty of supplements promising to bring down metabolic acidosis and even some kooky water ionizer things for sale on the internet, but the easiest, simplest, and cheapest is good old baking soda. It's even the main ingredient in Alka Seltzer so it can help with acid reflux too. I often begin and end the day by chugging 1 tsp of baking soda dissolved in water. Whether it's a purely psychological effect or not, I do seem to feel better when I take it and it helps to settle the acidy stomach on intermittement fasting days.

CrossFit

"Handstand Helen"

3 rounds:

400m run

21 Kettlebell swings, 1 pood (16kgs)

12 Handstand pushups

---> 12:36

Felt great with this one today. Out of breath, but in a good way...

Rehab Day 13/14

2009-06-21T21:30:00.002-06:00

Weight: 124.6 (I deserve that...)

Food:

The theme of this weekend could be "minimize the damage". Much to my chagrin, Friday night's cheat set off a cascade of less-than-dedicated paleo eating for the whole weekend.

Usually I follow a cheat day with a day of intermittent fasting. On Saturday, this lasted until the early afternoon when we went for a little subway. I won't pretend like I was a good little cavegirl here. I ordered a 6" sub with double turkey. More meat, less bun. I get the "sandwich artist" to pick out the squishy bread once the bun has been sliced open to further eliminate at least some of the grain-factor.

Saturday evening we were at a wedding with a great buffet. Half my plate was greek salad and the other half was chicken and roast beef. I skipped the buns, pasta salad, and potatoes because I knew the wedding cake was coming later. Yes I had some. Isn't it bad luck if you don't?? :-)

Sunday I had my regular breakfast late in the morning followed by a postworkout smoothie of blueberries, bananas, spinach, and dried egg whites. In the afternoon, David suggested Arby's. I ordered a large roast beef sandwich and ditched half the bun. Again, more meat, less bread.

Sunday night we had a great paleo dinner at my parents' house of bunless burgers, bacon, guacamole, cauliflower salad, grilled asparagus, and strawberries with dark chocolate for dessert.

So that's it. There you have it. I (we) cracked and the cheats happened. But WHY?! Why on earth do I do this to myself when I know all the negative consequences? Sorry Kelly Brownell, but this certainly is not an issue of lack of nutrition education or information.

Instead I think the biggest problem is the long lag time between indulgence and negative consequences. If I ate a pizza and was struck with asthma, weight gain, sickness, and diabetes at the speed with which I would burn my hand on a hot stove, I'd probably learn to knock it off with the pizza pretty fast. Instead, I woke up on Saturday feeling refreshed and energized. Sunday I was heavier, which made the pullups more difficult, but otherwise I felt fine. It would take a few weeks of crappy eating to start feeling terrible, and that's a long time when it comes to human behavior. It would take close to 30 years before I'd get diabetes or heart disease, which is an inconveivably far-away time when that pizza is in the oven.

CrossFit
Saturday was a rest day and I went for a nice jog with a neighbor early in the morning. It felt good and the weather was perfect.

Sunday was the following:
10 rounds for time of:
3 weighted pullups, 45lbs
5 deadhang pullups
7 kipping pullups

I turned this into my own version...
8 rounds for time of:
1 weighted pullup, 10lbs
2 deadhang pullups
3 kipping pullups
200m sprint
--> 23:37

Rehab Day 12

2009-06-19T21:30:00.004-06:00

Weight: 123.2 (finally...)

Food
Breakfast - 1/2 larabar (before I biked to the gym), 2 eggs, nuts
Snack - Lemon chicken, more nuts, beef jerky
Post Workout - A large Tropical Tornado Booster Juice smoothie, minus the yogurt. Added my own fried egg white protein rather than the soy protein powder they use because soy isn't food.
Late Lunch - 2 sirloin beef patties, with all the bunless-fixins and a plate of veggies
Dinner - here's where it all goes wrong...

So we went to a party at a friend's house and managed to successsfully avoid all the non-paleo items like lasagna, bean salad, crackers, cheese, and even all the booze. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to pick up eggs for tomorrow's breakfast. And here's where the fatal mistake was made: we went to the grocery store hungry! Our quick stop for eggs turned into a cheat night involving Delisio pizza, a sausage roll, and some cookies. SH*T!!!

Damn you pizza and your grainy cheesy deliciousness!

CrossFit
Today's WOD

AMRAP in 20 mins of:
5 Handstand Pushups
10 Bench Press, 56lbs
15 Push Press, 56lbs
20 Dips

Finished 4 rounds + 10 bench press + 6 push press. This was a killer since all 4 exercises use the same "pushing" muscles, but it felt great. I love a good shoulder day!

Rehab Day 11

2009-06-18T21:30:00.001-06:00

Weight: 124.2 (finally going in the right direction again)

Food
Breakfast - 2 eggs, almonds, walnuts
Post Workout - Smoothie: 2 TB dried egg whites, spinach, strawberries, blueberries
Lunch-ish- Left over lemon chicken, about 4 oz. Almonds, walnuts. Peppered Beef Jerky
Later Afternoon - Larabar, pepperoni stick, cucumbers, pistachios
Dinner - 4oz roasted chicken, 1/2 avocado, whole red pepper, cucumbers

Beef Jerky Underwear? Edible undies indeed!

In a pinch for something to tide me over during an afternoon hair appointment/training session out in Martensville, I grabbed a bag of beef jerky from Pharmasave. The Peppered Beef flavor was the best option with only 1g sugar per piece. Holy hell that stuff is salty though. It almost burned my lips! You know I'm a fan of sodium for athletes but this was excessive. My homemade jerky is way better... more on that the next time I make some :-)

CrossFit
Today's WOD:
50 Wall Balls
50 Pullups
35 Wall Balls
35 Pullups
20 Wall Balls
20 Pullups

Time- 36:04

That's reeeeeeeeally slow. I know. David was done the first round before I was done round 1. Shameful. But here's the thing - I HATE wallballs. I hate them. IhatethemIhatethemIhatethem. And continuing in the spirit of trying to get better at things I hate/suck at, I used full girl weight (14lb ball) and was brutal on myself about not counting reps that did not contact the 10' wall target. I'm guessing I did close to 150 WBs to get the 105 that counted. Normally I would scale the weight in order to get through the WOD faster. I'm finding now that unless I physically cannot move the weight, I have more to gain from taking some hits on my times but attacking things unscaled than I do from continuing to languish at the same weights/reps/versions of things.

The pullups are coming along just fine. They're slow - only 5 or 6 at a time, but I can do them. For the second time in less than a week though, I ripped my hand - on rep 96!

Rehab Day 10

2009-06-17T19:11:00.005-06:00

Weight: 125.0 (Still... hmmm...)

Food

Breakfast: 2 eggs, almonds/walnuts

Post WorkOut: 2TB Dried Egg Whites, Big Ol' Handful of Spinach, strawberries, blueberries

Lunch: OPA! Greek Salad (no cheese), gyros, and chicken

Snack: Larabar, pepperoni stick, pistachios, leftover lemon chicken

Dinner: Butter Chicken with ground cauliflower

For the butter chicken we used a sauce from a jar. The main ingredients

were fine (water, tomatoes, garlic, onions...) but it did have some sugar and cream. Both very very not cavegirl approved. Instead of serving it over rice though, I pulsed some cauliflower in the food processor and cooked it lightly. Rice is bland and so is cauliflower. I pick the one with an enormous amount of vitamin C and almost no starch.

CrossFit

I missed Nasty Girls on the weekend, so I decided to combo that with today's 10x1 Power Snatches.

3 rounds, for time:

50 squats

14 scaled muscle ups

10 Hang Power Snatch, 56lbs

---> 13:47

(still riding my bike to work!)

I feel as though my recovery from these workouts is going really well. WODs that, last month, would have left me feeling beat up are now leaving no residual soreness at all. I attribute that to better nutrition (duh) and more sleep. My food isn't quite as ninja as I would like, but I'm getting there and the cravings are basically non-existent now. Interesting though that my weight hasn't budged in several days...

Rehab Day 9

2009-06-16T21:30:00.002-06:00

Weight: 125.0

Food

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1/2 apple, almonds butter

Late Lunch: Drake Sausage, cucumber, mini red and yellow peppers

Snack: 1 Pepperoni stick, pistachios, Larabar

Dinner: Lemon Chicken, steamed broccoli

CrossFit

Today is the CF main site rest day. On Monday, "Run 5k" came up and I said pishposh at that time. But today I decided to give it a whack with my new and improved running form. Usually on the rest days, CrossFit Endurance will prescribe a "Time Trial" (balls to the walls, all-out) or "Tempo Run" (85%-90% Rate of Perceived Exertion) so it seemed fitting. Mincing no words, this was the worst run ever. Ever. I must have hit the button on my silly iPod timer, because it stopped around 14 min, but I estimate this 5k jaunt took over 30 mins. ugh! Problem #1: I was trying to focus on maintaining my POSE form, and so speed was of little priority. My form fell apart in the 4th km. Problem #2 was I procrastinated until 11:30am which left me baking under the mid-day sun! Sweat much? Yikes.

After the terrible run, I went through the CFE Strength Recovery circuit:

3x15 of GHD extensions, GHD sit ups

3x10 of pullups, pushups, kettlebell swings

Sometimes (all the time) CrossFit challenges our ego and our patience by making us attack the things we struggle with the most. I hate running, for no other reason than I suck at it. But I believe it in as one of the many important functional skills I should possess in order to consider myself "fit". This is also the area where I have the greatest opportunity to improve, and isn't that the point of training. I could continue focusing on the things I am already good at (single leg squats anyone?), but where would that get me? So I suck it up, and I run.

Rehab Day 8

2009-06-15T21:30:00.001-06:00

Weight 124.8 (that's UP, from Friday, please note...)

So we're now a week in to this thing and so far no major cheats have happened, as in, I haven't eaten anything that is severely not paleo. BUT there have been a few too many carbs consumed in the last few days and the scale reflects that.

Food Log
Breakfast: 2 eggs, Almonds/walnuts
Lunch: Shaved turkey, 1/2 avocado, lettuce, olive oil mayo, cucumber, pistachios, 1/3 apple with almond butter
Snack: pistachios, celery w/ almond butter
Dinner: drake sausage, raw bell peppers, and cucumber

CrossFit
I rode my bike to work again this morning! The mainsite WOD today was run 5k and after all the running that happened in the last few days, my calves thought that idea was flat out hilarious. So I caught up on one I missed on Saturday, which was:
Walking lunge 100 ft.
21 Pull-ups
21 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
18 Pull-ups
18 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
15 Pull-ups
15 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
12 Pull-ups
12 Sit-ups
Walking lunge 100 ft.
9 Pull-ups
9 Sit-ups
Walking Lunge 100 ft.
6 Pull-ups
6 Sit-ups

I did this one with real pullups (chin OVER the bar) and GHD sit ups, a rather gnarly scale-up. My time was 23:37. Not bad, not bad, but room for improvement.

In Feb I did this one with jumping pullups in 10:42. In April, I did it with the first 21 real pullups, then used a band for the remaining and got a time of 18:something. So, improvements are made in my ability, although my times don't necessarily reflect the increased work capacity. But that's to be expected as I jump to new levels in these workouts.

Rehab Day 7

2009-06-14T21:30:00.002-06:00

Still in Edmonton and still running drills and watching ourselves frame by frame on the screen all day long. Vast improvements have been made over yesterday!

Omelet, Bacon, and a little fruit. Now that's a breakfast!

Food Log
Breakfast - 3 egg omelet with ham and green peppers, a side of bacon, a few pieces of melon and grapes
Snack - Larabar
Lunch - Shaved turkey, pistachios, cucumbers, blueberries
Snack - Trail mix, dark chocolate
Dinner - at Original Joe's in Lloydminster: Burger (no bun) with bacon and guacamole, side Caesar (no cheese), and raw veggies

CrossFit
No official WOD today, just a lot of drills and running around outside.

Rehab Day 6

2009-06-13T21:30:00.002-06:00

David and Coach Carl heading outside for some running drills

Today we're in Edmonton and will be running around at Spark Sport Conditioning / CrossFit Alberta getting berated and corrected on our awful running form all day long!

Food Log
Breakfast Buffet - scrambled eggs, bacon, 1 sausage, a few grapes

Mmmmm... Breakfast!

Snack - Larabar
Lunch - walked to a grocery store for broccoli slaw, shaved turkey, pistachios, and blueberries

Blueberries, broccoli, and turkey

Snack - turkey, blueberries, trailmix
Dinner - in a pub, I ordered a turkey burger (no bun) with a side ceasar with no cheese. Not bad!

Dad and David show off their paleo lunch choices as well. Dad, on the left has a big salad with 1/2 a roasted chicken. David, on the right, chokes down some salad and turkey. He's not too keen on meat or veggies today after regurgitating chicken and broccolli just yesterday! ewwww...

CrossFit
The morning started off with an easy jog, then 4 x 400m while they filmed us for later review and critique. Later we ran loads of different drils to correct said awful form. Finally, the day concluded with a WOD that looked like this:

100m repeats, every 30 seconds on the mark for:
6 min
3 min rest
3 min
2 min rest
2 min
A total of 22 x 100m sprints. It was hot and we were all complaining loudly!

Rehab Day 5

2009-06-12T21:30:00.003-06:00

Weight: 123.0 (that's a 5.2lb drop in 4 days)

I woke up today to the pleasant sound of David tossing his cookies. Oh dear... Food poisoning? The Flu? A rebellious gallbladder purging the toxins accumulated in the last few months of crappy eating? Who knows... Poor guy.

This afternoon we are driving to Edmonton for the CrossFit Endurance Running Cert this weekend. Road trips always present special challenges and temptations. I will take pics and post how we navigate gas stations, buffets, lunch breaks, and restaurants.

Food Log
2 eggs
4oz Chicken
4oz chicken with olive oil mayo, mustard, and celery
Almonds/Walnuts
Pecan Lara Bar
Pepperoni Stick
Almonds and raisins
Too many sips of David's booster juice
Trail mix (nuts, seeds, and cranberries)
Beef Jerky

2 squares dark chocolate

Today was a lot higher in carbs that I would like. Between the larabar, the dried fruit, and the booster juice I would guess today came in well over 100g. I am aiming for carbs during this rehab phase. I could also still use a LOT more veggies.

CrossFit
Rest day!

Rehab Day 4

2009-06-11T21:30:00.001-06:00

Weight - 124.0

To be honest, I'm catching up on a few of these blogs in arrears, so I don't remember what exactly was eaten on this day. Oops! I do know no cheat have taken place yet, so my diet was the usual fare of chicken, veggies, and nuts.

CrossFit
AMRAP in 20 min of:
81lb Hang Squat Clean
12 Ring dips
21 Sit ups

I did 4 rounds + 1 clean. The screw came out of the bar in round 4, so I lost a couple of minutes to repair duties. Doh! This is a new workout, as far as I know, and it was tough!

Rehab Day 3

2009-06-10T22:00:00.001-06:00

Weight: 124.8

Day 3 had me feeling a little sleepy and low energy - to be expected during the first few days of sugar withdrawal. It's important not to get discouraged during this phase. With physical addictions to all things, it gets worse before it gets better but we tough it out to kick a bad habit and know we'll be better off for it on the other side.

Food Log
Morning - 5oz roasted chicken, almonds, walnuts
Midday - 1/2 Apple, almond butter
3pm ish - 4oz grilled salmon, olive oil mayo, celery, cucumber, pistachios
7:30pm - Baked chicken thighs with Frank's Red Hot, a giant pile of raw broccoli

CrossFit
Today's WOD was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 back squats. Which means 7 attempts for the single rep maximum weight you can squat. This is a "strength day" and there's a lot of sitting around with 3-4 min rests between attempts. I got to a max of 185, which is about 20lbs off my all time personal record. I biked to the gym again today this morning.

Rehab Day 2

2009-06-09T23:59:00.001-06:00

Weight: 127.2

Day two on the wagon and all is well! Today I used some mid-day free time to hit up Costco for loads of meats, vegetables, and nuts. I spent about an hour when I got home BBQing a side of salmon, about 14 chicken breasts, and stripped the meat off 2 whole roasted chickens. Those little pre-cooked chickens are probably the best deal in town. $6.99 at Costco, one bird yields a tremendous amount of meat and it tastes yummy. Yes, its cooked with the skin on and no, I don't care about the extra fat.

Food Log
8:00AM - two whole eggs, almonds/walnuts, 2 fish oil capsules
1:00PM - Roasted chicken (I picked at it while prepping), pistachios
6:00PM - More chicken, 1/2 apple with loads of almond butter
9:00PM - A pepperoni stick (oops), more nuts, broccoli and cauliflower

Overall, not bad. The lack of carbs definitely kills my appetite, so I have to be careful to actually get enough calories some days. I'm not eating enough vegetables yet, so that's next on the list of improvements.

I avoided a temptation involving lasagna and brownies at a family gathering, since luckily I had to work late.

CrossFit

"Mary"
AMRAP in 20 mins of:

5 Handstand Pushups
10 single leg squats, alternating
15 pullups

Attacked this one as Rx'd, other than the depth on my HSPUs which is about 2" off the floor. I used a stack of 4 DVD as the target for my bean. Things were going really well until round 7 when I ripped a little spot on each hand open and spent a few minutes administering first aid. Overall I got 8 rounds done.

Oh, and I pedaled my way to work again today in the afternoon.

Gross!

Rehab Day 1

2009-06-08T10:53:00.002-06:00

Weight: 128.2 (ouch)

Day one of rehab starts with intermittent fasting. I've consumed enough calories in the last few days to fuel a small army, so going until dinner without any food should be no big deal. Long story short intermittent fasting help increase insulin sensitivity, encourages calories to be released from the fat tissue, and directs energy toward cellular repair. Read more about it here, here, or here.

Food Log
4pm - Dijon chicken breast, mixed nuts
8:30pm - left over ribs (dry rub, no sugary BBQ sauce), broccoli, pistachios

CrossFit
David and I follow the CrossFit main site WODs (Workout Of the Day) and today is rest day. I did ride my bike to the studio today, as promised!

Enough is Enough

2009-06-07T10:43:00.000-06:00

As I confessed on my regular blog, my nutrition has gotten highly out of control. It's true, I'm human. I've fallen out of the paleo tree and hit every branch on the way down. Cheat days have become plentiful and my poor system is full of trans fats, MSG, preservatives, artifical flavors, and toxic industrial vegetable oils. And sugar. Lets not forget the sugar.

Gross.

I won't go into detail about what all has been consumed lately, but if you want to know, visit David's blog.

So, starting tomorrow (diet starts Monday, don't you know...) I'm putting myself in a self-enforced Cavegirl Rehab program. 30 days of strict "detox" to kick my bad habits. I'm like a junkie taking another turn at kicking my heroin habit. Okay, well maybe now I'm being dramatic... When the 30 days is done, not much will change, but I will grant myself ONE cheat per week, as per usual. Don't misunderstand me here and think that this is just a short term, quick fix dealie. Cavegirl is a permanent lifestyle.

30 Day Caveman Rehab

mmmmm... meat and vegetables!

Caveman food - This one is a given. This means plenty of meat, fish, and eggs, preferably wild, organic, or grass fed. Lots of veggies, anyway, anyhow. Nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, and coconut oil for fats. Noticeably absent are all grains (yes rice and oats are grains), dairy, legumes, sugar, and industrial vegetable oils. To break my carb addiction, I'll be doing the first few weeks of this plan as a very low carb diet, but will add back fruit later on once I've broken the glucose dependence.
Intermittent Fasting - The human body is supremely adapted to dealing with short term periods of stress. Small bouts of fasting (no food until dinner, for example) leads to increased insulin sensitivity, better fat utilization, and directs energy towards cellular repair. I set aside 1-2 days per week for fasting, usually on the CrossFit rest days. Read more about this here, here, or here.
CrossFit - I love working out, so sticking to exercise is no problem. I follow the 3 days on, 1 day off plan on the crossfit.com main page. The constant variation of functional movements has me getting fit just like a caveman. In the spirit of attacking what your weaknesses, I'm working on all my "pushing" movements: Pushups, handstand pushups, and ring dips.
Be my own car - The snow is gone and my bike has been retrieved from it's hanging place on the garage ceiling. My aim this month is to ride my bike whenever and where ever possible.