It's the final countdown

Has anyone else seen the latest marketing scheme from Burger King? They're called "satisfries." Crinkle cut fries that are lower in calories. Really? First of all they should know that nobody will buy them because they're crinkle cut. Everyone remembers those horrid things from the middle school cafeteria. Lord. 

Ok, enough about that. Down to the final stretch. This week was insanely busy. I was in Carlisle every day this week and literally took a nap in my office yesterday while watching a Modern Family on Hulu. True story. It was Homecoming and Families Weekend at Dickinson. This entailed: practice, Alumnae Game, tailgate, Hall of Fame Dinner and a 5k. To the paleo goer, that last sentence surely sent you into a food planning panic attack. The logistics of the food were pretty hairy. Throw in a late practice Friday night to really make you squirm. I had more fruit than normal over the past 2 days, because that's literally the only on-the-go food you know you can have. I had to avoid all of the muffins, bagels and munchkins at the tailgate and stuck to fruit and coffee. Luckily, and not so luckily, I was like the bride at her wedding reception at our tailgate. So many new parents all lining up to chat. Lots of good convos and smiles. I'm still a fan favorite because there haven't been any games which means there are no playing time issues. :)

HOF dinner I was that girl. Emailed the coordinators ahead of time to submit my dietary restrictions. Luckily I have a couple other coaches in my boat with the whole30, so we sat together. Despite the overly awkward server, all was a paleo success (as far as I know). We even got a huge fruit bowl for dessert. Minus the Sam Adams pumpkin beer giving me the hairy eyeball the entire course of dinner, all was good. I didn't take a pic of that dinner because that would've just been weird. I'm still new, so I'm doing everything in my power to be cool. 

 

10 days remaining!

I may as well have been filming Rachel Ray's Week in a Day today. I went to town in the kitchen. You know you're getting old (or homely) when after crushing it in the kitchen, you feel way too satisfied with a full fridge and clean counters. 

Started with eggs over easy and sweet potato home fries. I seasoned the sweet potato fries with salt, cinnamon and chili powder. I know it sounds weird but it's really good, try it. 

Next I moved right on to making meatballs and spaghetti sauce for later. It's amazing how difficult it is to find canned tomatoes of any kid without citric acid. Made the meatballs with beef, minced garlic, parsley, oregano, egg, S and P, red pepper flakes. Would've been a little moister with some milk soaked bread in there, but not too shabby. I've been pretty good about using up what I have...sauce consisted of tomato sauce, tomato paste, tomato, green pepper, onion, mushroom, garlic, and above spices. Shoved it all in the crockpot and let that baby work her magic. Served it with spaghetti squash, yummo. 

While the meatballs were going I started up on making some broth. Ok that's a lie. I started to begin the labor intensive culinary masterpiece and I had forgotten onions. Good thing the Landlord had a hankering for a snowball....he was such a gem and said he'd get a couple for me while he was out. He came back with a bucket filled with a root beer snowball and a couple onions. Thank G I think snowballs are dis-gus-ting. And if you were wondering the Landlord has had very limited involvement in the Whole30. Aka no participation. I won't tell you what he had for breakfast. 

Ok, so back to the soup. I made homemade chicken broth by poaching a chicken. Win-win, you get soup and great shredded chicken. So I made a chicken tortilla without the tortilla soup. Varied up a recipe I'd already had. Kind of a Mexican chicken veggie soup...pretty tasty. Will use the extra chicken for salads, maybe some chicken salad later in the week. 

Here are a few other pics from the week. 

Tuna (packed in olive oil), steak and eggs, Chipotle (first time this whole30), and steak, spinach and sweet potato dinner. 

I slacked on the workouts last week...had a little head cold, so I was lame. Finished my Foundations classes for Crossfit though and I'm going to get after it again tomorrow. I wonder when I will stop being sore from those wods. Man. It's good though, like preseason soccer sore. Like crawling up the stale beer soaked steps in Blanche to the 4th floor. Shout out to WMC. 

Until next time! 

Brief hiatus

Hey y'all, apologies for the brief sabbatical....began dynasty building last week and that takes priority over blogging. I was actually thinking today if Siri could blog for me. I'll have to ask her later. 

Top left is a little snack, aka dinner from Friday. Wasn't super hungry after a long day, so lunchmeat with mustard and homemade mayo on a lettuce wrap did the trick. Top right is the Panera hidden menu, Mediterranean Turkey (ask for it w/out oil blend) and I topped it with fresh salsa. (Because people like to say salsa) name that TV show.  

Random assortment from the weekend- egg and prosciutto, then football gameday essentials- guacamole, wings (used hot sauce and Tessemaes) and chili. Food was yum, Skins were scum. 

Another breakfast shot....I know, a lot of eggs. Also made chicken salad with homemade mayo, walnuts, celery and grapes. Delish on a lettuce wrap. 

Top pic is the other dominating force in my life :) it's been a blast finally getting to coach my team. I'm excited for the year ahead! 

Still alive

Hi folks... Still going strong. Haven't posted because I am sore on top of sore from Crossfit and getting ready for fallball to begin (6am tomorrow!) so this will be a shorty...getting up at 3:30 tomorrow. No rest for the weary, time to get after it!

Come on skins

Long day folks. On the right we have bfast- egg, heirloom tomato, avocado, and bacon. Lunch, chili leftovers with half an avocado. Dinner, which I didn't eat until 8:30...spaghetti with zucchini noodles. 

Hanging on and hoping the redskins can pull this one out. Ugh. 

Oh pic on the left was my view on the way to work. Particularly fond of the raccoon tail Slick has hanging from his 'windshield' on the right. 

I can guarantee I will not be able to type tomorrow after that Crossfit WOD. I don't even think ill be able to put my keys in the ignition. Shouldies be burnin. 

Who visits the Chocolate Capital of the US on whole 30?

Yes, I went to Hershey Park. And yes, I spotted S'mores that consisted of chocolate chip cookies as the 'graham crackers', slathered with marshmallow, with a Reese's peanut butter cup sandwiched between. TORTURE. Oh yeah, and prior to my trip to chocolate paradise, I went to Troeg's brewery. Really tested myself this weekend. It was tough, but I stayed the course. 

Saturday, before Hershey/Troeg's I went to crossfit and then to campus to meet a recruit. Mini cooler in tow. 

Note to self: peel hard boiled eggs before you put them in the cooler. Talk about distracted driving. 

From Dickinson, I drove to meet my sister, bro in law and awesome nephew. Gnawed on a steak on that drive to Hershey. Literally felt like a caveman until I remember I was in an air-conditioned automobile listening to XM radio. Hershey Park was a blast, little crowded, but good. Lots of whack jobs walking around that place that really boosted my confidence. 

Was struggling for nourishment afterwards and settled on Panera. If you don't know about their hidden menu, check it out! One of my friends let me know about it last year and when I finally got up the nerve to order from it I was pleasantly surprised! I got the Mediterranean turkey bowl, without the oil blend. I apparently knew more about the ingredients than the workers did.  They try to slip in canola oil...after a brief altercation with the Shift Manager Rick, I got my meal paleo certified, without oil. I added a little avocado/salsa mix I had in my purse (not a typo) and it was awesome!

Today was another great day. Hung out with Gravy and EZ, so I didn't have to deal with anyone asking me questions about whole30. Made chicken wings, which were literally fingerlicking good. (Visit tessemaes.com- great paleo friendly sauces/dressings). Also made chili and failed horribly at a triple batch of mayo. Our temperatures were off today. It was either the non room temp lemon we used, or the blender that doubles as an infrared heat lamp that caused our creation to look like a disgusting mayonnaise milkshake. 2 outta 3 ain't bad. 

Day 4...pics only

Quad Yolks!

2 concepts I want to touch on in this entry...1. Quad yolks! Unreal 2. My pectoral muscles 

No I don't normally eat 4 eggs for breakfast (as someone tried to say....you will remain nameless Hagan). It didn't stop me from eating them all though. Threw in some lump crabmeat and tomato and topped with basil. Sold. 

2.  My pecs are screamin. Put it this way, I couldn't uphold the standard 10 and 2 while driving, it was more like 5 and 7. Those 50 push-ups yesterday is resulting in a mini post...sorry peeps it's all I got. 

Pray DOMS doesn't get worse tomorrow, or it will be an all pic post. 

WODs and whatnot

Day 2 of whole30, day 1 of crossfit. I can barely hold my arms up so this is going to be a shorty boborty. 

For those that follow me on Twitter/Instagram you probably could've guessed a double yolk was coming. It's literally happened 5x in the past month and it literally blows my mind every time. I need to figure out what the universe is trying to tell me. Or, I need to go down to the local farm and punch the farmer who is injecting steroids into the mothers of my eggs. Now that I think about it, I have seen some lady chickens strolling the streets of Hanover with facial hair, shrunken ta-tas and backne. Hmmm. Coincidence?

Top right is my lunch- chicken salad and a salad with mushrooms, tomato and basil. Fresh basil is on point BTW. Wasn't planning on chicken salad but I over grilled the chicken last night. Whoopsies. 

Bottom left is a pit stain from Crossfit. I really liked it, but lets see how I feel when I wake up and can't lift my arms above my head and have to go to work with greasy hair because I can't shampoo. And then I get fired because I don't look professional. And then I have to live on the streets because I can't afford a cardboard box. Haha- anyone get what commercial I'm referencing? Sorry I'm losing it. 

Last but certainly not least pic- dinner. Julia Childs has reentered my life and I am pumped. Crab cakes were delish- picked the crab meat myself, a little Old Bay, salt and pep, and homemade mayo. Nailed it. 

If my arms are functioning tomorrow I'll catch ya then.  

Day 1 in the books

Greetings to the blogosphere! Day 1 down...not too shabby. I suppose it's a lot easier when you know what you're getting yourself into.
Finally got to the store this evening- $80 and a few laps around the store and this is what I came up with:

If you can't see everything, highlights include: sirloin steak, chicken breast, seltzer water, coffee, walnuts, basil, tuna packed in EVOO, etc. It's an empowering feeling slapping all of your groceries on the counter and admiring your handy work. (Hint: stick to the outside of the grocery store, the aisles are what usually get you in trouble)

Backtracking a bit- breakfast was eggs and half an avocado and black coffee. Lunch was tuna and the remaining half of previously mentioned avocado. Had an apple for a snack. Dinner consisted of half of the sirloin steak and asparagus with garlic. See below: 

I am currently satisfied and content....minus the fan that sounds like an epileptic hyena that is in the bedroom. The spelling of hyena doesn't look right does it? Took me a few minutes to come to terms with that spelling. Anyways, the point is this fan looks like its about to spin off its axis and slice my head off in the middle of the night. Better unplug it. That would be a short lived blog and a really crappy way to go. Although, helluva scary movie death. 

Sweet dreams!

I'm baaaack

Well good evening y'all! I know it's been a while since I've signed into the ole blog..but figured it was only fitting since I'm starting a round 2 Whole 30. For those of you that could care less...why did you click the link? For those on board thank you for your support. Please feel free to join me. I have a few pals joining me in this go round. To protect the names of the innocent I will refer to them in nickname only: Gravy, EZ and Landlord. Landlord is half hopping on the bus because he will be traveling a lot for work the next 30 days. I must say I appreciate the effort. Gravy and EZ I'm pumped to have friends on this journey!
So Whole30 part deux commences tomorrow. I wanted to go through again because my body needs it. I've definitely made better food choices since my last stint...but I think I need a reminder of how I feel eating real food. I was rereading some posts from last year and got pretty excited. It was like finding an old diary and reliving all of your middle school crushes.
Some things that I have maintained: black coffee, no soda (unless I'm ridiculously hungover), limited gum, eggs for breakfast, homemade mayo, almond butter, no pasta, that's all I got for now. Because I've kept up with the paleo mindset, it is easy for me to start tomorrow despite getting a chance to go to the grocery store tonight.
Things will be a bit harder since I'm in a new locale. My commute to work is about an hour, so I need to be super prepared with meals on the go. Throw in a few 6am practices and the challenge gets a little harder. No worries though...I couldn't be more excited about getting after another whole30 in a new state, with a new gig. Stay tuned.....