Lifting heavy things + Mel’s Chocolate Chili

A few weeks ago I went into the gym with a cold, a red face, and a killer sinus headache and nearly had a panic attack when I saw Evan in the gym with his camera. For those of us who live behind a camera, being in front of one is not something we are accustomed to. In fact, I may have rudely let Evan know that in no uncertain terms was he to take a photo of me. I was a total jerk about it – I blame the headache!

Well, he managed to sneak one. And I think it’s awesome.

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10.15.12

Coffee this morning was a little fancy. Although I grew up in a house where my mother drank her coffee black, I much prefer mine with a heavy dose of cream. Having kicked the cream for this challenge, I’ve been doing quite well with black, but I decided to doctor my mug with a little bit of coconut oil to add back a little bit of that creamy texture. I won’t do this everyday, but it certainly was a treat!

There was no breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, and had to go out and about on a few errands. I’ve been really struggling to get in a good breakfast. Part of my problem is that I much prefer to eat a big lunch, a good size snack, and a big dinner. I’m on the fence about whether or not to actively change this habit as long as I’m getting in proper amounts of nutrient dense foods…

For lunch, I had a very specific craving for Tortilla Espanola– a Spanish frittata with eggs, onion, and potato and lots of olive oil. Seeking similar textural consistency, I made myself a big frittata with leftover roasted cauliflower, over a spinach salad with a bright mustard vinaigrette. I let the eggs cool down to room temperature before eating, which is really the best way to eat frittata.

In the late afternoon I went for a walk and grabbed a gala apple and some Justin’s Maple Almond Butter as I walked out the door. Portable snacks!

When I got home, I set to work making dinner: Mel’s Chocolate Chili from Well Fed. I can’t recommend this book enough. I don’t often actually cook with cookbooks (I usually just read them for inspiration), but I’ve actually gone about and cooked several of the recipes in here to the letter, and they’ve been marvelous.

I have a few tried and true chili recipes, and make a similar version, but I thought I’d stick to as close to the book as possible for the sake of an honest opinion.

I made just a few small adjustments to the recipe: halving it because I didn’t have enough beef, using the ultimate cheater move onions, shallots and garlic pre-chopped from Trader Joes, and omitting beef broth because I had a limited supply of tasty bone broth and needed to re-stock. (I just used the whole can of tomatoes instead of halving it, and added a little bit more water.)

The chili takes literally 10 minutes to put together, and then you just let it simmer away on the stove top for a couple of hours. Your house will smell fantastic.

I served it with a dollop of guacamole, and ate two bowls full.

My biggest mistake? Not *doubling* the recipe. This one is definitely a winner.

Whole30 Complete!

Part 1 of the challenge complete! This was the last day of my strict challenge (Whole30), and tomorrow I’ll be following along with the rest of the folks at the gym for a slightly more relaxed challenge for the next few months. I’ll still be focused on whole, unprocessed (or minimally processed!) foods, but there likely will be a few more healthy desserts around here, because I miss my chocolate.

How’d this month go?

First off, I attempted to eat at meal times and cut out snacking. This worked out quite well. I learned that by adding a little bit of extra protein and fat to each meal, I really did find myself satiated enough to tide me over to the next meal without finding myself hungry.

This was largely helped by the blood sugar regulation from cutting out refined sugars and sweeteners of any kind. Even honey and maple syrup. Near the end of the month I had a couple of LÄRABARs which I learned are technically verboten, but I didn’t over do it. You’ll also notice that I largely cut out desserts. This was helpful retraining myself to get out of the habit of needing something sweet after every meal. I’m guessing that I’ll be much more mindful of this in the future. While I missed out over the holidays on one of my favorite desserts ever (pumpkin chocolate chip cake!), I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to let the daily dessert habit go.

Although the first few weeks I felt fine (with no noticeable change positive or negative), the last few weeks I’ve been feeling great! I’ve been doing awesome things in the gym, eating lots of delicious meals, and feeling bouncy and peppy in general.

Most of all, I had a lot of fun cooking. So many great meals at home! My tummy and my wallet are thanking me.

And, I finally made it through an entire jar of almond butter. It lasted me the whole month, and I ate the last scoops on a ripe banana.

For lunch, I had what can only be described as a “clean out the fridge meal”, but one which tasted much better than it looks. In the bowl is leftover shredded beef shanks, a cup of frozen artichoke hearts from Trader Joe’s, and an egg.

In the late afternoon, I headed out to do some grocery shopping. A few things at Formaggio, Whole Foods, and a trip out to M.F. Dulock to pick up my weekly meat allotment. (Three stores again, Sam? Yes, I’m in love with grocery shopping.)

Here are the cases this week. Gorgeous:

I picked up some lamb shanks, a small portion of lamb liver, some all-beef Romanian sausage, a little Eye-of-Round roast,  some ground beef (ground to order!), and a gorgeous pork tenderloin. I’ve been trying to get a little of each animal in the case each week, and going for variety.

For dinner, I put together a fall dinner of roasted pork tenderloin, acorn squash, and a fennel and apple slaw.

I chopped an acorn squash, tossed it with some coconut oil, salt, cumin and chile, and roasted it at 450 for 20 minutes, and then 20 more minutes at 400 – while the pork was also in the oven. The pork tenderloin I seasoned with Nom Nom Paleo’s Magic Mushroom Powder from her iPad app, and some rosemary (yep, exactly how I seasoned the lamb yesterday). I seared the tenderloin on all sides the stove top (about 3 minutes), and popped it in the hot 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. I then took it out and let it rest for 10 minutes, lightly covered with the lid.

Right as I put the pork in the oven, I added a little lamb liver to the pan to roast along side it. (Chef’s treat!)

While the pork was cooking, I made a quick fennel apple slaw. I toasted a tiny handful of walnuts, and I thinly sliced a bulb of fennel, and a gala apple, and tossed them all together with the juice of half a lemon of lemon to keep the apples from browning. I then made a quick dressing: juice from the other half of the, a tablespoon of cider vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard, and 3 tablespoons of olive oil. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, and tossed it all together, letting it sit out on the counter about 20 minutes to mellow before serving.

My dinner: