Recipes Top Of My To-Do List!

I am aware that I have neglected you all for a few weeks now! I blame end of term, dissertation stress, revision stress, and the fact that I have eaten A LOT of Lindor chocolate. Oops. I'm looking forward to Easter being over and there are no more of those eggs in the supermarkets. My god they are so damn tasty.
Anyway, a quick update, but I thought I would share some recipes that I have had open in tabs for ages now just waiting to be made and devoured:)

1) Caramelised Figs from Stupid Easy Paleo

2) Carrot, Pistachio and Cranberry Slaw from Fast Paleo

3) A HUUUGGEEE batch of Meat Sauce from PaleOMG that I can freeze

4) Meatza Pie from The Clothes Make the Girl

I have been eating a ton of fish recently which I feel great about. I take Omega 3 supplements anyway and have been trying to educate myself on the whole Omega 6/ Omega 3 ratio. I don't think I have it down yet so I won't write about it now! If anyone has any advice or a summary of this then please drop me a comment on this post:)

How is everyone's Easter plans going? Chocolate is sooo NOT Paleo, though I have been on the look out for some good quality dark chocolate eggs. My family don't buy Easter eggs, not since I was under 10 anyway, but I am interested to see if there is anything out there. I have found this little beauty which will set you back quite a lot both money wise and inches wise.

Off to Berlin next week after a disastorous attempt last week...snow at the end of March in this country ground all planes at my local airport. Luckily I am staying with friends so the only thing I needed to sort out was the flights! There is a Paleo restaurant called 'Sauvage' in Berlin which I am hoping to try as a special treat. Never been to a full-blown Paleo restaurant before so I am a little excited.

Asking Why

I have bursts of inspiration; I can feel fit and healthy and on the right track one day and then the next day, I can feel 30lbs heavier and completely out of control! I have been getting this a lot recently. I need structure to function!
We are coming up to the end of term and I definitely need a change of scenery. Once you get out of a certain routine, a way of eating, or just let something slip, I find that it all can go to pieces, and a big change is needed to get back on track. My diet for the past couple of weeks has been very hit and miss. I have had perfect Paleo days, and then I have found myself gorging on Maoam's and chugging Diet Coke. Why do I do this? It isn't even that I like the taste of these things all that much. In fact, I have now found that fizzy drinks completely mess up my insides. This may get a bit personal but after drinking a can of diet coke, I have to run to the toilet. Anything with aspartame or stevia or any other brand of artificial sweetener is not welcomed in my body!
I have been trying to answer the question of 'Why?' these past few days. Reasons I have come up with:

• Stress- I am very close to finishing my degree so I feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Dissertation, revision, exams, money, jobs, careers, visas, moving house....
• Convenience- the crappiest excuse. I hate hate hate doing something because it is the most convenient. It becomes even worse when I hear myself justifying the chocolate because I am conveniently feeling stress. This is NOT good.
• Boredom- I love Paleo food. Love it. But there are times when I can't even look at a spinach leaf without wanting to barf. For some reason, I just get massive aversion to a certain food group! This leads me to feel annoyed with my situation, or angry that a friend can gorge on pizza and I can't. It is funny though that when I do feel this, I never act upon it when it comes to my meals. I haven't eaten any bread, pasta, or any other grain/legume/bean food concoction. No, when this happens, I snack and snack and snack on 'Paleo-ish' foods. For example, today my lunch consisted of 50g of Vegetable Crisps, a handful of blueberries, and no less than 10(!) chocolate dipped dates!! Why did I need 10? 2 would have been plenty. None of these foods, except the fruit, are really paleo. They are the more paleo options than say regular crisps, or an actual chocolate bar, yes, but it is definitely cheating.

Last night I made a Paleo dinner for me and my best friend. She has had to listen to me rattle on about Paleo this, Whole30 that for a couple of years now. I have tried to convert her; numerous articles infiltrate our facebook messages, Whole30 books end up on her desk. She appreciates where I am coming from, but she says she loves grains too much! Doing this dinner wasn't an attempt to have her cross over to the meat-and-veg lovers side; she loves all food, it was more a way for me to share what I eat with friends.
I made Juli's, from PaleOMG, pork tacos, and Michelle's, from Nom Nom Paleo, Chocolate pots de creme. YUMMY.
They went down a treat! Definitely will be making those again!
Finding new recipes does get you a bit more focused and renews your faith in the lifestyle. Hopefully when I go home for 5 weeks on Saturday, I will be more focused and more positive.
Lifting heavy weights also helps...I'll try and write a bit about my workout ways soon.
 

Grrrreat Granola

This week has been a mix of successes and failures.
Failure- Ate far too much chocolate with a friend while hiding from all the loved up couples on Valentine's Day and watching various Nathan Fillion films. I love him.
Success- Got a really good plan set up for my dissertation. I now know what I am doing!
Failure- I dropped my toothbrush in the toilet this morning. Fished it out, washed it, about to put it in my mouth when I had a change of heart! I need a new toothbrush.
Success- Made a Ratatouille from my new Paleo Slow Cooker recipe book. Delicioso.
Failure- Got lost on campus, at midnight, trying to get to the bus stop. I have been at this University since 2009.
Success- Managed to up my weights quite significantly in the gym. In particular my triceps and chest press. Woohooo!

I'm finding it hard to stay on track with the eating side of things. I keep reaching for 10p sweets or Lindor chocolate eggs. Eugh Easter candy. I have decided to come up with a list of foods that are 'Worth It' and 'Not Worth It' to help me stay on plan and not feel guilty. For example, artificial crap like haribo sweets are definitely NOT worth it. I don't even really like them! They are just an instant sweetness to pop in your mouth aimlessly. A square or two of dark chocolate with some sea salt is worth it. I'll keep working on it and give you a peek at my list once i'm done.

Tried another new recipe today...Pumpkin Paleo Granola which I found on the fabulous PaleOMG website that I religiously follow. Juli is hilarious and so down to earth! Go check out her blog. You won't regret it. I wanted something a bit different for breakfast that wasn't focused on spinach and eggs in various ways. I am a bit dubious as to whether it will keep me satisfied as there is no protein in it but I shall give it a go. I can always have a side of boiled eggs or something!
Here is my finished product:

Crunchy, pumpkiny, thanksgivingy, lovely. Great with coconut milk too!

Re-adjusting

My first week post-Whole30 has been somewhat of a success and somewhat of a failure! All of my meals have carried on being compliant (why wouldn't they? They are so tasty!) but it is the added extras that haven't. I blame the supermarkets and the massive commercialisation of Easter. Ok, and myself a bit too. I love chocolate. I never used to be a massive fan of it and, to be honest, I didn't think about it for the 30 days, but after that Lindor chocolate egg last Tuesday, my sugar demon reared it's ugly head and force fed me more. A night out with friends also re-introduced me to the delights of alcohol. Though having said that, I didn't feel the need for cheese smothered chips or kebabs. I had one sausage from the kebab shop and it tasted well, not food-like. It was a bit gray in colour too. I was going to ask if it came from organically reared pigs...

So, I am trying to pull my socks up and get back on track! I'm just going to do a Whole7 and then go through the reintroduction phase how I should have done in the first place! Instead of just introducing some dairy for the first few days I jumped in head first with chocolate, frapuccinos and alcohol, so of course I felt like crap. I hadn't missed feeling bloated or groggy that's for sure.

Culinary creations this week include the 'Italian Eggplant Strata' from this book that I don't believe I have mentioned before...'Well Fed';)  It was delicious. Surprise, surprise. Layers of eggplant (aubergine to us Brits), sausage meat, and tomato sauce. Think lasagne, but better. I made a huge batch and it lasted a few days!

Moving wise, took a bit of a break for the past week. I did 3 workouts so not too bad but nothing overly sweaty! Went to Body Pump this morning an upped my weights a little. Ouch. My triceps hurt. Pilates was good again; I can see myself getting in on that. My aim for the year is to be able to touch my toes and I think Pilates will help with that! Flexibility is so important. Perhaps even more important than strength sometimes. Especially on the preventing injury front. I know that my tight hamstrings are not doing my knees any favours.

Happy February everyone! January is officially behind us. Thank God. Now onto Pancake day!

Have you tried out any new workouts this week?

My New Saviour....the Crock-Pot!

I am now back at University, in my student house, with my friends, stressing about this final push before graduation. Unfortunately for me:

Work + Studying + Stress = I WANT TO STUFF MY FACE WITH CHOCOLATE

You can see why I said I was only around 80% Paleo compliant!
Though I haven't caved! Day 12 of Whole30 and still going strong. I thought that the move back to university might upset the balance. Temptation everywhere, plus the stress, and random hours in lectures will have me reaching for an easier option. So far, so good.
I have found it almost easier than before. For ages now I have been eating Paleo and counting calories. This adds so much more stress to my day! Having exact rules on the Whole30 means that it isn't a question of shuffling things around so you can have an extra something and fit it into your calorie count; it is either yes or no. This is exactly what I need!

One bad thing about being in a student house is that things go wrong. For example, our oven broke for the third time in 3 months on Monday, while I was roasting vegetables. Deep breathing was called upon here. But never fear because I got a crock-pot for Christmas! Now I am a crock-pot virgin. I have never cooked a meal in one. But here was my chance.
I took inspiration from Erika over at the Everyday Paleo site. She has some great recipes over there and this one immediately jumped out at me.
Creamy? I love cream. Chicken? I love chicken. Soup? Erm hello, it's winter! Click on the link and it will take you straight to the recipe I used:)

Putting my ingredients into the crock-pot was odd. It was just a mass of raw things and for hours it looked like nothing was happening. Had I done it wrong?

 9 hours later, this is what materialised....

I know it doesn't look the most appetising of things to eat but it was hearty, and warm, and creamy! Next time I will add some more seasoning as it was a little bland, but for a first attempt, not too shabby.

Another thing I am loving on the Whole30 is toasted coconut. So delicious. I could eat my weight in these. I think I need to cut back a little on this though. I am finding myself grabbing handfuls throughout the day when you aren't supposed to be snacking. It isn't even because I am hungry, i'm not. But they are just so crunchy! This is what I like most about them. That satisfying crunch that you only really get from crisps or crackers; toasted coconut replicates this. I'm such a child...all about the texture.

I Have Definitely Been 'Well Fed'!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone had a lovely day full of family, friends, presents, and of course food. I sure did. Too much chocolate. And turkey. It was all totally worth it though!
I wanted to share with you one of my presents that I received from my sister:

It's a copy of 'Well Fed', the amazing Paleo recipe book by Mel from The Clothes Make The Girl!! I have been wanting this for months and I finally got it! My sister lives in America so can get hold of it more easily than us over here in the UK. That is one annoying thing however, some of the recipes call for ingredients that we can't get. Grrr. I am going to have to improvise when she wants me to use jicama.
You should see some of the recipes in this book though. Chocolate Chili? Erm yes please. Especially as it is completely Paleo! Other things that I am looking forward to making: Italian Sausage and Eggplant (Aubegine) Strata, Paleo Scotch Eggs, the Best Stir-Fry Sauce Ever, and Velvety Butternut Squash. In fact, I can't wait to make them all.

Well, today is Boxing Day so we are off for a nice long walk to kid ourselves that we have burnt all the calories we consumed yesterday, so that we can do the same with all the leftovers today.

Did you get any new recipe books for Christmas?

What do you and your family eat over the holidays?