Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Asian Invasion

Posted: July 15, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , ,
1

I can’t believe we are 1/4 of the ways done already! I’ve now gotten to the point where I don’t even feel hungry or thirsty anymore. Rest is normalizing as much as it can as my body gets used to being able to sleep at certain times and with a certain amount of food in my stomach. Eating clean is a huge part of how good I’m feeling. With fun dishes like this past weekend and the one tonight, the time is just flying by!

For Sahoor

Alright so there isn’t much of a recipe here. I had left overs from the weekend so I had enchiladas and meatza. I then had some watermelon to fill any remaining spaces and aid with hydration. Food still tasted great and got me through the day just fine.

For Iftaar

Today I made one of my favorite Asian dishes, Thai Red Curry. It’s a really straight forward recipe and I’ll show you how to make “fried rice” for it too. Of course rice isn’t paleo so I will be using cauliflower in its place. This recipes serves about 4 people.

For the Curry

  • 1 lb chicken thigh, sliced or diced
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp of chili powder
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1-2 Tbsp of Thai Curry paste. Look for the brand Aroy-D or Mae Ploy.
  • 1 cup of coconut milk, full fat
  • 1/4 cup of basil leaves, shredded
  • 1 bell pepper, sliced
  • 1 large carrot, diced
  • Other optional vegetables – Mushrooms, squash, broccoli, etc
  • Coconut Oil

For the “Fried Rice”

  • 1 head of cauliflower
  • 2 eggs
  • small ginger root, minced
  • 2 scallions, diced
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • small handful of chopped cilantro

For the Curry

  1. Heat up a pan and add in coconut oil
  2. Add in the chicken and let it brown, stirring occasionally. Once it browns, take it out and set it aside.
  3. Add the scallions to the pan and saute until they are soft.
  4. Bring the chicken back into the pan and add in the curry paste. FYI, the more curry paste you add, the spicier it will be. Start with less if you aren’t a fan of spices
  5. Stir-fry it for a couple of minutes until the smell of spices is pungent.
  6. Pour in the coconut milk, bell peppers, carrots, and any other vegetables
  7. Raise the heat to High and stir it up. Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat back to medium-low and let it simmer.
  8. Leave it for about 10 minutes (or until veggies are soft) stirring occasionally.
  9. Add in the basil leaves

For the Rice

  1. Place the cauliflower into a food processor and hit go.
  2. Add eggs to a pan with coconut oil and whisk. Make it an omelette and remove it from the pan
  3. Add in the scallions and salt to the pan.
  4. Saute until they are browning and then add in the ginger. Stir for about 1/2 a minute and then add cauliflower.
  5. Put a lid on it and turn the heat to low. Leave it that way for about 10-15 minutes.
  6. Slice the omelette and add it and the cilantro into the mix. Stir it all up again and leave on the stove for another couple minutes until the cauliflower is soft.
  7. Remove it from the pan and into a dish.

Serve the curry with the rice. Keep it separate until you are ready to eat other wise everything gets soggy.20130715_205619 20130715_20563620130715_205936

It turned out to be great. The cauliflower obviously has a little more pungent taste than regular rice but when mixed with the curry, you could barely tell that you were eating a paleo meal. It tasted great, wasn’t super complicated to make, and most importantly, it’s healthy.

I’m craving some right now. Luckily there were leftovers so it will probably make an appearance tomorrow morning. Can’t wait!

No WOD today. I had a busy personal day and wasn’t able to cook early enough to go work out. Tomorrow for sure though! If not, someone yell at me to keep me accountable. Thanks.

Trading the Grain for Almond

Posted: July 14, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Today I made a couple of dishes that are usually heavy in starch, carbs, sugar, and everything else that leaves you with a stomach ache. For the most part, it’s as simple as swapping out the grain for almond flour! I made pancakes for Sahoor and enchiladas for Iftar. The recipes below are examples of how you can still enjoy everyday food without feeling guilty or fat.

For Sahoor

This is a recipe for about 2 servings of Paleo Pancakes with syrup. Huh? Syrup? Just read on..

For the Syrup:

  1. Pour the juice into a sauce pan and and heat over high. Bring it to a slight broil.
  2. Once it starts to broil, lower the heat to medium and let it reduce. This takes about 10 minutes but in my experience, once it starts to reduce, it goes fast and becomes thick. You want it to thicken up a bit but too much is annoying.
  3. Once it’s at syrup thickness, take it off the stove and let it cool for a little bit before pouring it on your pancakes.

For the Pancakes:

  1. In a bowl, mix the almond flour, baking powder, sea salt, and cinnamon.
  2. In a seprate bowl, mix the milk and eggs. Mash in a banana if you want to.
  3. Combine into a cup that you will use to pour the mixture into the pan. I use a measuring cup that has a spout. Mix it all up.
  4. Heat up a skillet and add a little bit of coconut oil to it
  5. Pour less than 1/4 cup of the mixture into the skillet at a time.
  6. Cook on medium heat for a couple of minutes or until the sides start to brown up
  7. Flip and cook the other side for only a minute or so. Be careful while flipping, these are very fragile and take one or two rounds to get the feel of it before you can flip them without breaking them. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Once everything was done, I placed the pancakes on to a plate, put a little bit of the Kerrygold butter on top and then drizzled syrup on it. Tasted better than packaged pancake batter and kept me full in a healthy way throughout the day.

20130714_042342

For Iftar

I love Mexican food. Mexican food does not like human bodies or else it wouldn’t be so evil. It helped Mexico beat America in becoming the fattest country in the world! I’m here to tell you it doesn’t have to be that way. Today with the assistance of my sister, I made open enchiladas. This dish is a little more time consuming to make so plan ahead and have a partner. It serves 2-3 people.

For Enchiladas:

  • 1 lb of chicken, diced (you can actually use whatever meat you want)
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups of tomato puree
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2-3 tsp of chili powder
  • 1 tsp of cumin
  • 1 tsp of dried oregano
  • 1 tsp of sea salt
  • coconut oil

For Tortillas

  • 4 tablespoons of Almond Flour
  • 1/4 tsp of baking powder
  • 4 egg whites
  • 2 table spoons of almond or coconut milk
  • 1 tsp coconut oil per tortilla
  1. Preheat your oven to 370 degrees
  2. Place the meat onto a baking dish and bake it for about 15 minutes
  3. Heat up a pan and saute the onions on medium heat until they become soft.
  4. Add in the tomato puree, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and salt. Stir it up while it simmers on low heat for about 15-20 minutes
  5. Pour the mixture into a food processor and blend until it’s a smooth sauce.
  6. Place the tortillas in the baking dish and place the almost cooked chicken on top of them.
  7. Pour the enchilada sauce on top.
  8. Cover the enchiladas with aluminum foil and place back into the over for about 10 minutes.
  9. Cut up an avocado and some lime to enjoy with the dish.

Making the tortillas is pretty simple. Adjust the amount of ingredients to make how many you want. I would make these during step 4 above.

  1. In a bowl or cup that has a spout, mix in the almond flour, baking powder, eggs, and milk. Mix until all of the lumps are gone.
  2. Heat up a pan and add in coconut oil.
  3. Pour the batter into the pan. Move the pan around to thin it out. You can make the tortillas small if you want to make open enchiladas like I did or make them large if you plan on wrapping them closed.
  4. Cook for about 1 minute and flip them. Cook for another 30 seconds or so and they are done.

20130714_19175820130714_20171420130714_2019502013-07-14 (2)

So there you have it. Delicious meals that normally would have you feeling guilty for a week done in a healthy way. I hope you enjoy them!

Being Ready for the Audible

Posted: July 12, 2013 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , , ,
0

Well there was audible called in my plan for the day hence why this post is so late. I came home early from work thinking I was going to relax for a little bit, come up with an awesome Iftaar recipe, go to the gym and then of course write this post. Let’s just say I got the relaxing part done…  2 1/2 hours later I realized I had fallen asleep on the couch and had about 30 minutes before it was time to eat. Oops. So with 30 minutes to make an iftaar meal you’ll see what I did.

For Sahoor

I stuck with eggs because, same amount 2 egg yolk 4 egg whites. I did however switch from omelette style to making them sunny side up. You can say I wasn’t in the mood for onions or tomatoes in the morning. I cooked them in extra virgin olive oil. Once on the plate, I sprinkled a bit of sea salt and chili powder on them and went to town with a fork. I added half of an avocado to the plate as well.

For Iftaar

1/2 lb of chicken breast, diced
1/2 tsp of chaat masala
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 onion, diced
1/2 tomato, sliced
mixed vegetables (how ever much you want)
1 Tbsp of coconut oil

Heat up a pan and add in the coconut oil. I marinated chicken with the chaat masala and sea salt. If you are wondering what masala is, click the link in the ingredients and you can see what its made up of. Add the chicken to the pan and stir it around until it’s nearly done. While the chicken is cooking, heat up a pot with water and add in mixed vegetables. Broil them until they are done. When the chicken is nearly done, add in the onion and tomato. Stir until the tomatoes become soft and the onions are crisp.

20130712_205910

This was super simple to make and it tasted just fine. I sprinkled some lemon juice on the plate to add some tang. This isn’t orthodox, but if you are a spice nut like me, you can sprinkle some chili powder onto the vegetables for an extra kick.

One thing that I will say is that because this month is so busy, you have to be prepared ahead of time for situations like this because they will come up. The chicken I’m using was skinned and diced well ahead of time and frozen. When I get home from work, I make sure to take the meat out and let it thaw. This way, if I do get delayed at the gym or in a nap, I can still prepare something decent to eat. I do the same thing with my omelette mix. I try to cut the onions, peppers, etc ahead of time so in the morning I can just quickly prepare the meal. Do what you can ahead of time this month! You may sacrifice a little bit of freshness but I barely notice it and prefer that over having to do all of the work while racing against the clock.

WOD

Nap for time

Am I disappointed I didn’t get a workout in? A little bit but that’s ok. My body needed the rest and that’s one of the 3 points of the fitness triangle. I will have no excuse for the next day!

Know Thy Limits

Posted: July 11, 2013 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , , , ,
0

A jam packed day 3 is in the books and it was full of stupid decisions by this guy. Well really just one big stupid decision and it came when I went to the gym. More on that in a bit. Hunger wise I found my self holding up real well today so my body is starting to get used to it. I was working from home today so I was able sleep an extra hour or 3 which helped. I felt a little hungry in the morning and felt a bit dehydrated during the workout. Based on past experience, the first part will go away on its own but the second part will require some effort from me. I need to start hydrating better! It’s not easy chugging water in the morning after you’ve just eaten so I have to find a better way. Coach Dan B. once told me to start hydrating the night before. I’ll have to stop being lazy and try that advice out. We’ll see how many times I wake up in the middle of the night…

For Sahoor

I had a bit smaller omelette this morning, 2 egg yokes and 3 egg whites. This freed up room for some mashed up sweet potatoes I had left over from the other night. Sweet potatoes is another thing I found that keeps me full for longer and gives me good energy. I also had an apple, fuji of course, and drank about 64 oz of water. The water intake is going to have to increase if I want to WOD in this heat. Other than that, this meal held me up very well throughout the day so you will see this pop up again.
Again, I promise I have some fun recipes outside off just eggs coming up. These first few days of Ramadan have just been hectic with all of the adjustments.

For Iftar

I’ve made chicken dishes for the past few days so it was time to switch it up. Today I made a Greek-ish fish meal.

2 filets of tilapia
3/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed pepper flakes
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup of olives, halved
1/4 green pepper, sliced
2 shallots, diced
extra virgin olive oil
*Disclaimer* – I like my food spicy so adjust the peppers to your taste

Mix the chili powder, black pepper, crushed pepper, lemon juice, and salt into a bowl. Coat the fish with this mixture. In the mean time, warm up a pan and add olive oil to it. Once the  oil is warm, make sure the stove is on medium heat and place the marinated fish on the pan. Fish cooks fairly fast so keep an eye on it. I cooked it for about 12 minutes.

While that cooks, heat up another pan and add about a Tbsp of olive oil to it. Once the oil is warm, add the olives, green peppers, and shallots to the pan. Saute this for a few minutes constantly mixing it. Once they appear done, turn the stove to the lowest setting and finish cooking the fish.
Once the fish is done, place it on a plate, add the olive mixture on top and you have yourself a great finding nemo meal. If you like a tangier taste, squeeze some lemon juice on the fish.

20130711_205801

WOD

Ladder with a Partner – Reps are done between two people.
10 Burpees
20 Toes to Bar (on a pull up bar)
30 lunges
40 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls with a Kettle Bell
50 Squats
40 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls with a Kettle Bell
30 lunges
20 Toes to Bar (on a pull up bar)
10 Burpees
-Then-
Partner Core Work – switch off with partner as often as you want. Not for time.
Partner hold plank – other partner does 20 Toes to Bar
Partner hangs from a bar – other partner does 30 Pull Ups
Partner holds handstand – other partner does 15 hand stand pushups
Partner holds squat – other partner does 50 hollow rocks

This is where I got a little senseless. I had wanted to start out slow and just do strength training today. However when I got to the gym, I saw it was a fun little partner metcon. Next thing you know I’m warming up to do it. I survived the WOD pretty well but then there were extra core workouts we were to do. Half way into the core work, the dizziness from dehydration hit me hard. I had to stop for a little while before I got back into it. Of course that was the big mistake. I should have quit when I had the chance. I finished the hollow rocks but life was not fun for the next 15 minutes or so. Luckily I didn’t get sick or pass out but I don’t think I was far off. I guess it’s part of the adjustment so this shouldn’t scare anyone off from working out. Just know your limits and know at what point you have to stop. This isn’t your everyday working out. It takes a whole different level of thought and today, I left all that at home. Oh well lesson learned. 

On to tomorrow!

First WOD, sort of

Posted: July 10, 2013 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , , ,
2

Day 2 in the books and it’s getting easier already! I was actually able to catch up on some sleep last night which made for a better day. I had planned on going to the gym today to work on Olympic lifts but I left work later than I anticipated. I did however do a mini home WOD before opening my fast.

For Sahoor

I had a similar sahoor meal as yesterday, 2 egg yolk/4 egg omelette with onions and tomatoes chopped up into it. I had half an avocado with it as well. I also had an apple today (Fuji apple, my favorite). This was a great addition but contains a lot of sugar so I had a spoon of peanut butter with it. The protein in it helps break down some of the sugar from the apple and also gives me some extra calories to get through the day with. I wasn’t able to drink as much water as I wanted but my tolerance for drinking a lot of water at that hour is increasing. It did the job; I barely felt hungry throughout the day…well, until I started staring at the clock with 10 minutes to go.

For Iftar

Here is another simple recipe that I cooked up that takes very little time and effort  and tastes great.  Here is what I had today:

12oz of Chicken breast, diced
1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp of crushed pepper flakes
Handful of chopped spinach
1/2 tomato
1/4 onion
1/4 tsp sea salt
Baby carrots sliced in half

Heat up coconut oil in a pan and then add the chicken to it. Add in the sea salt and chili pepper. Mix the chicken up and let it saute. When the chicken is nearly done, add in the crushed pepper, spinach, tomatoes, onion, and carrots. Continue to mix it up until the carrots start to get soft. Then, put a top on the pan and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes.

20130710_192437

It turned out well. I think if I had added broccoli it would have tasted even better. Be careful with the chili powder, it gets spicy fast. If you like chutney, you can add that to your plate and it will compliment it well. Later in the evening I had some watermelon for dessert.

WOD

Like I had mentioned, I wasn’t able to make it to the gym today but I did do a short home WOD. The home WODs I’ll post will be workouts you can do on the go and won’t require any equipment. I utilize these when I travel or when I’m short on time.

6 Rounds For Time

10 Pushups 10 Air Squats 10 Sit Ups

Also, I know these posts have been real late both nights. I promise these posts and recipes will get more exciting in a few days once I figure out my schedule. I’m trying to figure out a way to balance my schedule so I can cook for Iftar, workout, eat, go to Taraweeh prayer at the mosque and then sleep at a reasonable time. As the days get shorter the schedule should ease up a bit since I won’t be rushing off to Taraweeh right after Iftar.

See you guys tomorrow!

Going Out Strong

Posted: August 17, 2012 in Food, Ramadan
1

If you’re wondering, those Haribo gummy bears are still in a staring contest with me. What are you supposed to do with a 5 lb bag of those?? Anyhow, I can’t believe this was the second to last day of Ramadan 2012. While I was cooking dinner tonight, I realized how normal it felt to be eating a Paleo meal instead of it feeling like it was something I had to go out of my way to do. As strong as this month began, I want to make sure I end it just as strong, if not stronger so I can carry this beyond this month. I’m hoping we all set our short-term Ramadan goals for this month but how many of those have you decided to carry on for longer? I’m sure we all bettered our selves in one way or another this month. Did we find a way to maintain that or will we let it slide? The khutba (sermon) at today’s Friday prayer talked about this and it really stuck in my head. What’s the point of all the improvements we made this month if we plan to let them go next week and not worry about them for another 11 months. This progress is hard-earned, let’s hold on to it and build on it!

Sahoor

Sick of omelette and scrambled eggs? Let’s try some Paleo French Toast. This recipe is to make a whole loaf of French Toast:

    • 1 loaf of grain free bread, slices
    • 3 eggs
    • 1/2 cup of coconut milk
    • 2 tsp of cinnamon
    • 1 tsp of nutmeg
    • coconut oil
    • banana, sliced

Whisk the milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and eggs in a wide bowl. Heat up a pan with coconut oil. Dip a bread slice into the mixture and then lay it on the pan. Pan fry each side until starts browning. Repeat for each slice. Once you are done, put the banana slices on the pan and cook for a minute or so on each side. Add them to your french toast. I would say they taste just as good, if not better, as regular toast!

Iftar

For Iftar I decided to make an Italian dish. I was craving something saucy so I made Chicken Cacciatore. Cacciatore is Italian for “hunter”. It usually refers to a meal prepared “hunter-style” with tomatoes, onions, herbs, and bell pepper. Cacciatore is usually made with chicken or rabbit. I made it with chicken (surprise, surprise). This is enough to make 2 servings (or 1.5 if you eat like me):

    • 1 lb of chicken thigh, diced
    • 1 tsp of chili powder
    • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
    • 1 medium-sized yellow onion, sliced
    • 1/2 of olives, diced
    • 1 clove of garlic, minced
    • 1 large tomato, chopped
    • 4 oz of pure tomatoe puree
    • 1/2 tsp of dried oregano
    • 1/2 bell pepper cut into 1″ pieces
    • 2 Tbs coconut oil

Heat up a large skillet with coconut oil. Season the chicken with sea salt and chili powder and add it to the skillet. Cook it for about 10-15 minutes until the chicken browns. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside. Add the onions and olives to the skillet and saute until the onions start to turn brown. Add in the tomato, tomato puree, peppers, garlic, oregano, and chicken to skillet. Mix it all up and stir for a minute or so. Cover the skillet up and let it simmer on low heat until the chicken is tender.

This was as good as I had thought it would be. It satisfied the Italian, saucy, chicken craving that I had. If you want, you can add mushrooms to it as well for some added texture, just don’t add any bread!

The 24 hour countdown has begun! One more day, one more day! See you all tomorrow!

Oops..

Posted: August 16, 2012 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , ,
0

I’m an avid Amazon shopper and have subscriptions set up to many things like coconut water, home supplies, etc. I forgot that I also had a subscription to this treat until it showed up at my door:

Yeah oops! Haribo Gummy Bears are halal gummy bears and they are addicting. I apparently have a subscription set to send me a 5 POUND bag every 6 months. Yeah, 5 pounds! I didn’t realize you could buy sugar in that kind of quantity. The sad thing is, the last time I ordered these was when I had my surgery and in the week I was in bed recovering, I finished almost the whole bag! I need to get these out of sight ASAP.

Sahoor

For Sahoor, I kept it simple and made 2 sunny side up eggs with another 2 egg whites in olive oil. I mashed up some sweet potatoes and had that as well. I always knew egg yolks aren’t the best for you, but I recently read an article on just how bad they can be for you. I have to do some more research on that and see if I need to cut down on those a bit.

Iftar

I was busy volunteering tonight so I didn’t have much time to prepare Iftar. I was able to pull out the chicken chapli kabobs I had frozen and turn them into a bun-less burger. I added lots of lettuce and tomatoes and called it a meal. I also had some cantaloupe.

Workout

I borrowed this workout from a reader’s blog. There are some great workouts on that blog that you can do anywhere with minimal equipment. You can do this one anywhere as long as you have a pull up bar:

10 Handstand push-ups
20 Dead hang pull-ups
30 Burpees
40 Sit-ups
50 Squats
60 Push-ups
 
 

I don’t have a lot to say in this post because I’ve been spending a little more time concentrating on Ramadan. I hope everyone is going strong these last couple of days and is able to finish strong. It’s almost over!

Pardon the Egg Roll and Snacking

Posted: August 15, 2012 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , , , , , ,
3

So last night was another situation where I had Iftar at a friend’s house. I talked about this a few posts ago about creating a game plan when you are on foreign turf. I stuck with the same principles last night and I was able to get a great Paleo meal in. Much thanks to my friend and his family for great food!

Workout

This workout was 2 short workouts put together. There was a little bit of a break in between them to recover but there is only so much recovery when you haven’t eaten or drank all day. I got through it though and even ran!

3 Rounds
15 Hang Power Cleans 135lbs
15 Burpees
–10 Minute rest–
5 Rounds
35 Double Unders
Run 200 M

My stamina is building up and my body is adjusting to this so I will be curious to see how my body performs when it’s fully hydrated next week. If I’m starting to perform decent now, I should be a killer next week right??

Iftar

There you see some meat, some greens, a broiled tomato, and a unique lemon with spinach dish that I have to find the recipe for. I made sure to empty a jug of water.

Last night was also Laylatul Qadr, or night of power. It’s the 27th night of Ramadan and is a very special occasion. During the nights of Ramadan, there is a special prayer called Taraweeh every night. During these prayers, the Quran is recited in it’s entirety over the span of 27 days. Last night was when the last bit was read. The turn out was phenomenal. There had to have been over 2,000 people in the mosque. This was the case at mosques around the world. After that is done, people spend most of the night praying, reading the Quran, and worshiping in other ways. It’s said that worshiping in this night contains more reward than 1000 months. I’m all about good deals and that sounds like a good one to me. So I spent the night back and forth from the mosque. Now, dinner was around 8 pm, I didn’t sleep till 6 am. I had to have gotten hungry, so how did I snack?

I tried to stay healthy while snacking most of the night. I did indulge on a few Doritos (booo yeah I know), but I contained it. I had some mashed sweet potatoes left over from the other night so I ate that. I ate some watermelon to satisfy the sweet tooth, the almond butter came in handy as well. What was missing was guac… I need to fix that. Anyhow, I also snacked on gluten free hummus and drank lot’s of water.

Sahoor

This took me right into Sahoor and I made Chicken Stir Fry with eggs:

    • 3 eggs
    • 1 Tbs of water
    • 1/8 tsp of sea salt
    • 1/4 tsp of chili powder
    • 1/4 onion, chopped
    • 1 small tomato, chopped
    • 2 Tbs of coconut oil
    • 2 Scallions, cut in to 1 inch pieces
    • 1 bell pepper, chopped
    • 1 clove of garlic, minced
    • 2 chapli kabobs, diced or 1/2 lb of cooked chicken breast, diced

Beat the eggs in a bowl with the water, salt, chili powder, tomato, and onion. Heat up a pan and add the coconut oil. Add in the scallion, bell pepper, and garlic and saute for a few minutes until they are tender. Add in the egg mixture along with the chicken and start mixing it around. Keep mixing and scrambling until it’s done.

Serve it on a plate with some slivered almonds. A sliced avocado would go great with it too. I had some sweet potato remaining so I ate that with it. I drank 1.5 liters of water and was full.

This is it, less thanb 3 days left! Stay focused and let’s get through it.

Going Egg-less

Posted: August 14, 2012 in Food
Tags: , ,
0

I realized I forgot to post last night about what I had for Iftar so I will roll it up into this post. I made some chicken scallions and rosemary with a side of mashed sweet potatoes. I made enough for 1.5 servings so I could have some in the morning too.

    • 1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into pieces
    • 1 lb chicken thigh, diced
    • sea salt and chili powder, to taste
    • 2 Tbs of coconut oil
    • 2 scallions, sliced in to thick rings
    • 2 Tbs of rosemary, chopped

Wash the sweet potatoes and place them in a large pot full of water. Bring the pot to a boil and add 1 tsp of sea salt. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Reserve 1/4 cup of water from the pot and drain the rest. Pour the water you saved back into the pot and mash up the sweet potato.

Season the chicken with the salt and chili powder. Heat up a skillet with 2 Tbs of coconut oil. Once the skillet is hot, add in the scallions and rosemary. Saute it for a minute or so and then add in the chicken. Mix and flip until the chicken is brown. Cover it and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

I served the chicken with the mashed sweet potato. It was an exceptional combo. I wasnt as hungry as I thought I was so I ended up saving a decent amount for later and Sahoor.

For Sahoor, as promised, I really changed things up. I decided to go egg-less. I have had eggs almost every single day this past month but it was time to break the habit. I had some of the leftover chicken from the night before that I heated up. I also made a little treat with a banana and almond butter.

    • 1 banana
    • 2 Tbs of almond butter
    • 2 Tbs of coconut milk

Cut the banana into small slices. Add in the almond butter and coconut milk. Simple as that.I love fruit with almond butter so this was great for me. The almond butter helps process sugar a lot better from fruits so it won’t keep you up and your body won’t store it. Also, the protein and fats you get from it are great. The coconut milk just made it easier to eat by softening things up. The small taste of coconut gave it the perfect carribean taste I needed in the morning.

Very simple Sahoor. I’ll try to do something different tomorrow too!

Paleo Potatoes

Posted: August 13, 2012 in Food
Tags: ,
0

Sweet potatoes are known as the “Safe Starch” in the Paleo community and are great for providing energy throughout the day. They add that unique sweetness to a meal and can help curb a lot of junk food cravings you might be having. They also contain tons of vitamins such as B6, vitamin D, Iron, and potassium. You can make tons of snacks with sweet potatoes and they don’t take long to prep. Just don’t confuse them for yams. This morning I made some scrambled eggs with sweet potatoes shredding:

    • 1/2 a sweet potato, shredded
    • 1 tsp of cinnamon
    • 2 eggs
    • 2 egg whites
    • 1/4 onion
    • 1/4 tsp sea salt
    • coconut oil

Skin the sweet potato and then shred it into strips. You can also use a food processor to do this. Add coconut oil to a medium-heat skillet. Once it’s hot, add in the sweet potato and sprinkle the cinnamon after about a minute. Saute them until they are tender to your liking. Put them to the side. Add the onions to your skillet and saute until they become soft. Add in the eggs and egg white. Mix around until egg is scrambled. Add in the salt. Continue to mix around until the egg is done.

I put the eggs over the sweet potatoes and then added a bit of hot sauce to it for flavor. I love sweet potatoes and I loved them even more with eggs. This was very quick to make. The longest part of all of this is to skin and shred the sweet potato. If you like eating it with the skin, you can just drop the potato into a blender and then it’s even faster.

Additionally I had 1.5 liters of water and a protein shake. This should get me through the day and workout!

Older Entries
Newer Entries