Posts Tagged ‘Preparedness’

Expectations

Posted: August 3, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , , ,
3

Alhumdulillah almost all of the recipes I’ve done this month have turned out as expected. However, not everything always goes to plan. Today’s stuff turned out fine but it just wasn’t perfect. I had craved sweet potatoes the night before and wanted to have a full meal out of it in the morning but that didn’t happen. Then I had orange chicken planned for the evening. It ended up tasting ok but no where near how I had imagined it. It could be possible that I had craved it for a few days now so my expectations were too high from the get go. Oh well, something too work on. If you are looking through my recipes to make something, I say go back a few days because this one won’t make the highlight reel of my dishes. Am I bothered? A little bit but I can’t lose focus of what this month really means. Here I am with an abundance of food annoyed that one dish didn’t turn out the way I had expected it to. What about those who are just looking for a way to find anything to call a meal? This month is about sacrifice so I’m reminding myself not to get carried away about these details but to focus on the big picture.

For Sahoor

Since sweet potatoes are working for me, I planned to stick with them. However, turns out I only had one left. Oops. So I skinned it and boiled it on hot water. If you cut it into smaller pieces, it cooks faster. I mashed them up, added some chaat masala and lemon juice to it. Since this wasn’t going to be enough food, I made a protein shake as well.

Workout of the Day

I did some random CrossFit stuff in the morning while we filmed a demo video. It wasn’t really a full workout but it did make me break a sweat. In the evening I did day 2 of the ab challenge. If you are interested in doing it, here it is:

1077512_10201622884917864_2010029232_o

It starts off real slow but I’m looking at the higher 20s on the calendar. Should be interesting. Let me know if you decide to do it. I wish I had found this before Ramadan started!

For Iftar

I decided to make a challenging dish for Iftar. Making it does require some effort and time. Getting the ingredients right so it gets to be the right color and taste while keeping it Paleo is the hard part. I made a little extra for the next morning. Here is how I did it:

  • 1 lb of chicken
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup of almond flour
  • coconut oil

For the Sauce:

  • 3/4 cup of pure orange juice
  • Zest of 1 orange
  • 2 Tbsp of Paleo Starch
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tsp of ginger, minced
  • 1/4 tsp of crushed peppers
  • 1 tsp of organic soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp of sriracha sauce
  • 1/4 of a lime juice
  • 1 tsp of vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp of honey
  • 2 scallions, diced
  • coconut oil
  1. First make the sauce by preheating a couple of tsp of coconut oil in a pan and adding in the garlic, ginger, crushed red peppers, and half of the orange zest. Stir it around for a minute
  2. Once it’s golden, add in the honey, vinegar, lime juice, sriracha and soy sauce. Stir for a few seconds.
  3. Mix the orange juice and starch in a bowl. Whisk it until the starch dissolves and add the mixture to the pan.
  4. Keep stirring it for about a minute and then lower the heat. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes and move it to the back of the stove.
  5. Preheat another pan with about 2 Tbsps of coconut oil.
  6. Add the eggs to a bowl. Dunk each piece of chicken into it and then coat with the almond flour. Place the chicken into the pan.
  7. Cook each side until the chicken browns
  8. Add the sauce to the chicken and stir it up. Lower the heat and let it simmer with a top over the pan.
  9. Serve on a plate and garnish with the remaining zest and diced scallions

20130802_194324 20130802_204543

Definitely didn’t look as appealing as I wanted it to but it actually tasted ok. I’ll have to go back and figure out how I can improve this recipe. It could be a lot better.

Next up will be Laylatul Qadr, aka Night of Power. I’ll talk more about that in the next post.

Snoozed

Posted: July 29, 2013 in Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , ,
2

I’m off for the next two weeks from work so I plan on working on some cooler recipes. I get a lot of questions about Sahoor and I feel I’ve been a bit of a let down when it comes to recipes for the morning. Of course this means waking up on time. These days Sahoor is ending around 4:30 am on the East coast but it’s getting harder to wake up for some reason. I’m hoping with some time off I can adjust my schedule a bit so I can make better meals and as we head into the last 10 days of Ramadan, work more on Ibadah, or worship. I’m almost considering just staying up until Sahoor so if anyone else is up and wants to google chat me, hit me up haha.

For Sahoor

Ok I failed. I guess my other vow should have been that I shall wake up with enough time to cook something other than eggs. Well, you can guess what I had this morning.. Good news is I am out of egg whites and won’t be restocking anytime soon! This will force me to wake up and cook something better, God willing…

For Iftar

I realized I had a large supply of almond flour that I needed to start using so I made Almond Crusted Chicken that was spiced, given a hint of mustard, and glazed with honey. It’s very easy to prepare but leave your self some time to bake it. I found out the hard way and spent 10 minutes after Maghrib staring at the oven. Stupid oven timer was set to 10 minutes so it shut off before fully cooking the chicken while I stepped away to go pray. Here is how it’s done:

  • 1 chicken breast, diced
  • 3/4 cup of almond flour
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp of chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp of chaat masala
  • sprinkle of black pepper
  • 1 egg white
  • 1/2 tsp of mustard powder
  • raw honey
  • 1/4 of a red bell pepper, sliced
  • 1/4 of a green bell pepper tomato, sliced
  • 1/4 onion, sliced
  • coconut oil
  1. Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.
  2. Mix the almond flour, salt, paprika, chili powder, chaat masala, and black pepper into a bowl.
  3. Add the egg whites and mustard powder to a different bowl
  4. Heat up a skillet and add in the coconut oil.
  5. Dip the chicken into the egg mixture and then roll it around in the flour mixture.
  6. Place the chicken into the skillet and cook it for around 2 minutes, each side. I did a little bit at a time so it was manageable and didn’t over cook it on the skillet.
  7. As each batch finishes, transfer it to a baking sheet.
  8. Add the bell peppers and onions to the baking sheet.
  9. Place the baking sheet into the oven and cook for about 17 minutes.
  10. Once it’s done, serve it on a plate and drizzle some raw honey over the chicken. Add some greens on the side.

2013-07-29

The mustard taste was very subtle but made it taste right. Most people add the mustard to the flour mixture but I prefer to add it to the eggs. The honey is a perfect touch for me but if you aren’t a fan, it isn’t necessary.

For those keeping count, or who have lost count, the last 10 days of Ramadan are coming up! I’ll jump more into the importance of that period in the coming days for those who may not be familiar.

Keep pure and stay Paleo!

For the Boring Salad Days

Posted: July 28, 2013 in Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , ,
1

Not a lot to say but I show a quick way to make a tasty salad for those days you just don’t have time. Salads can be great, but watch the dressing!

For Sahoor

Since I vowed never to eat eggs again, I went a different route. I ate a bunch of random things to fill me up. I had a protein shake, then moved on to left over chicken from the night before, and lastly an apple and peach. I drank 3 or 4 glasses of water and called it a morning. The chicken was no easy thing to eat that early in the morning though. They were leftovers that I warmed up. Not the easiest thing to chew and digest at 4am. Mission wake up earlier to make something better starts now. I guess Mission go to sleep earlier should begin before that.

For Iftar

A couple of days ago I talked about showing everyone quick ways to eat delicious Paleo meals without eating boring salads every day. I do however want to show a quick way to make a good tasting salad for those days that you are too busy to make something else.

  • a layer of lettuce
  • half of a cucumber, sliced
  • 1 banana pepper
  • hand full of olives, sliced
  • 1 small carrot, diced
  • 1/2 tomato, sliced
  • any left over meat. I used extra ground beef that I had left over from taco night
  • Paleo salad dressing. Keyword Paleo, don’t let me catch you dousing it with Kraft Ranch.

Lay down a layer of lettuce in a wide bowl. Then, add in all of the ingredients, leaving the meat for the end. Do your self a favor and make it look pretty. It makes eating a salad a little more enjoyable. I added Tessemae’s zesty ranch dressing all over it. It tasted great and the greens really filled me up.

20130727_204347

See, looks pretty, tasted good, and it took all of 5 minutes to make it. Where people usually go wrong with salads is the dressing. There really is no point in wasting a meal on a salad if you plan on letting it swim in high caloric, fat enriched, processed dressing.

Be wise and stay Paleo my friends.

Away from the Kitchen

Posted: July 18, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , , ,
2

So today I had one of those situations that everyone faces during Ramadan, having to eat away from your kitchen. This usually involves going to someone’s house for Iftar and being force fed fried egg rolls and samosas before the rest of the carb and sugar loaded dinner is served. When you think it’s almost over, a tray of kulfis are busted out and well, how can one say no to that.

I’m here to say you can say NO! It may get you some weird looks and you may deeply insult the aunty who cooked but sometimes it needs to be done because at the end of the day, it’s your body. Become comfortable saying no and picking out what you want to eat rather than feeling pressured into having to try everything.

This was my first experience having to go out for Iftar this year but it wasn’t as bad as they usually are. It was an interfaith dinner at the local mosque and a commission that I serve on along with other elected officials in the county were invited to it. It’s an annual tradition and one that I really enjoy. You get to break your fast with neighbors in your community, many of which may never have known what Ramadan is. Everyone has a good time enjoying the food while sharing what Ramadan is about and also learning about cleansing, purifying, and fasting in other religions. If you don’t have one of these in your community but have some pull with the mosque leadership, I highly recommend you look into organizing one and invited local elected leaders, pastors, rabbis, etc to it. If you need help or advice on organizing this, feel free to contact me. A little (paleo) bread breaking with the community goes a long way.

For Sahoor

Before I talk about Sahoor, I do want to mention that I did start hydrating better. The night before I had some watermelon which has tons of water and then I paced myself in drinking about 32oz of water in between Iftar and when I went to sleep.

For Sahoor, I started hydrating while I made my eggs. It was the typical 2 egg/4 egg white omelette with onions, green peppers, sea salt, and tomatoes. I had everything cut up already the night before so in the morning I just threw everything together to make it in coconut oil. I added half an avocado to the plate as well and had about a handful of almonds. I finished up with probably 40-50 oz of water consumed. That’s a lot of water and not the best idea for someone who’s decided that today is the day they are going to start drinking water.

For Iftar

So while standing in the buffet line to get my food, I did my snooping to see what was being served so I could develop a game plan. First up salad, check. Second, fried rice. Yum… I mean no, pass. Next, tandoori chicken, don’t mind if do. That station will always get me looks because I will pile on for a while. Usually it’s the most Paleo thing there so I have to take advantage. Then there was a spinach dish; paleo-ness was questionable because of the type of oil I tasted in it but I had some anyways. Lastly, grilled beef kabobs, check.

Like I said, I’m not shy with the tandoori chicken. I should have gotten some more greens but other than that, it was solid. Paleo (for the most part) while being away from my kitchen so I didn’t have to worry about cooking, check, check, and check.

20130718_205441

Lastly, I’m not sure how many more of these rest days I have left before you guys write me off about this being a workout blog as well. It’s been a rough, long week but it’s almost over. Have I blamed traffic yet? If not I would like to blame that for not letting me make it to the gym in time so that I could get home in time after that to cook. For those that are wondering why I don’t workout after Iftar, here is my (attempted) schedule in the evenings:

6:30-7:30 – Workout. This means I have to make it to the gym before 6.30 from work.

7:30-8:30 – Getting home from gym, clean up, and cooking my Iftar meal.

8:30-9.30 – Break the fast, pray Maghrib prayer, and then dinner

9:30-9:45 – Do a couple of things for work

9:45-11:30 – Drive to mosque, pray taraweeh, drive back.

11:30 – sleep – Write this blog and prep for sahoor. Oh and then be up by 3:30 to make Sahoor.

So basically, if I don’t make it to the gym by 6.30, everything else will be thrown off if I do decide to stick around for a workout. Oh well, I’ve had 10 days to adjust to this schedule. I should be good after this weekend!

Guac Cameo

Posted: July 16, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0

Those of you who followed this blog last Ramadan must be wondering where the guacamole has been hiding. Honestly I’m not sure what happened to it. I still love guac but haven’t gotten around to making it the past 7 days. Well today, even though it really didn’t fit into the dish, it made its appearance. I still love the stuff and still think it’s something I could eat everyday.

For Sahoor

I had a decent amount of Thai Red Curry from last night left over so instead of making anything new, I had a healthy serving of it with the cauliflower rice. I had a peach to go with it and plenty of water. I need to start doing this more often, making enough food the night before to eat for Sahoor the next morning. It takes a lot of pressure off of you and allows you to just sit down and eat with one eye still closed (yeah you know what I mean).

For Iftaar

This was just a bunch of randomness tonight but in the end, it filled me up and tasted great. First I had even more leftovers of the Thai Red Curry (still not complaining since I love that stuff) along with cauliflower rice. I scraped what was left of it onto my plate. Second, I made a little bit of tilapia. I followed the same recipe I did last week, minus the olives, green peppers, and shallots. Last but not least, I had some guac. The recipe was the same as last years but over time I’ve reduced the amount of garlic I put in it. I guess garlic and I have grown apart recently. Here is the recipe again:

    • 2 ripe avocados, peeled
    • 1 lemon
    • 1/2 lime
    • 1/4 tsp of cumin
    • 1/2 tsp of chili powder
    • 1/2 clove of garlic (or less, or none), minced
    • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
    • 1  tomato, diced
    • 1/2 red onion, diced
    • handful of cilantro to garnish, finely chopped (how-to)

Instructions: Put everything in a bowl and mash it up with a fork until the avocado chunks can’t be seen anymore.Simple enough and it only takes a few minutes. It tastes best served right away. If you want to save some as leftovers, make sure you put it in tupperware and refrigerate it asap.

This is what all of this randomness looked on my plate:

2013-07-16

Workout of the Day

I was actually able to refrain from doing the metcon today and stuck with strength training. Ok fine it wasn’t that hard to stay away. The metcon was for one of my coach’s birthday and was 35 minutes long in this heat wave. No thank you (sorry Sara, I’ll make it after Ramadan!). This workout involves olympic lifting and then a sprint metcon.

7 rounds: 1 Snatch then 3 snatch grip push presses
*heaviest weight possible
-then-
50 Burpees for time

This is what a snatch + snatch grip push press looks like:

Today overall was a good day. I didn’t have to worry about preparing much food since a lot of it was already done ahead of time. It allowed me to relax a little in the morning and get my workout on in the evening.  8 days done folks!

Counting More Sheeps

Posted: July 13, 2013 in Challenge
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

It’s the weekend! That means one thing. SLEEP IN! Well that’s usually the plan but my insomniac self who is now used to just basically napping in between Iftar and Sahoor only managed to sleep for an extra hour or two. Still worth it. My plan is to take advantage of that tomorrow as well before the work grind starts again. Not a lot to talk about today but I do have a real treat for Iftar. I hope you enjoy the recipe!

For Sahoor

Speaking of sleep, I slept too much and barely woke up with enough time to make something quick and eat it this morning. Luckily, like I had said in my last post, I had omelette stuff cut up already so I just had my standard 2 egg yoke/4egg white dish. I really didn’t drink a lot of water but I had been hydrating the night before. Oh and yeah that caused me an extra bathroom trip. Anyways, that’s all I had plus an apple.

For Iftar

This dish is called Meatza…pizza but just meat. It’s a combo of ground beef and chicken with various spices. My apologies go out to the vegan community for this recipe. The directions below make about 1.5-2 servings.

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 lb ground chicken
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1 small tomato
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 3 -4 stems of parsley
  • 1/2 tsp ground cilantro
  • 1 sweet potato, skinned and diced
  • 3/4 tsp oregano
  • 2 tbsp of hot sauce (If you aren’t great with spices I would lower this mount)
  • 2 Tbsp coconut oil
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a food processor, drop in the onion, tomato, salt, chili powder, green pepper, cumin, parsley, and cilantro. Put aside 1/4 of the mixture for the chicken. The rest will be used for the beef.
  3. Place the beef into a bowl and mix in the processed items. Then move it to a baking dish and place into the oven. Let it cook for about 10 minutes.
  4. While that bakes, heat up a pan and add in the coconut oil. Add in the sweet potato and then place a cover over it to steam. Cook it for about 5 minutes or until it is soft.
  5. When the sweet potato begins to soften, add in the chicken and remaining mixture and stir. Add in the hot sauce as well. Cover it until it’s cooked.
  6. Once the beef is done, add the chicken/sweet potato mixture to the baking dish.
  7. Bake it for a few more minutes and you are done. I dressed it with a banana pepper but that’s optional.

2013-07-13

WOD

AMRAP 12 minutes
50 Double Unders
10 Burpess
20 Squats

Stay tuned… Next Sahoor will be Paleo Pancakes with syrup! Iftar will be something fun as well. Also, I’m going to attempt some Paleo desserts. I’m excited, you should be too.

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!

Return on Investment

Posted: August 12, 2012 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , ,
0

Before I get into today’s topic, I want to share something that I’ve been laughing to myself about all day. In my last post I talked about not giving in to peer pressure or those food temptations you would regret later. I think I could have used this yesterday at the froyo place:

Lol anyhow, return on investment, ROI. I could go on for pages about the ROI you can get from this month so I will just target what this blog is intended for. I’ve talked to a few people about their eating habits during Ramadan and I hear one answer pretty often. “Oh it’s Ramadan, so it’s my month off from watching my diet.” Sigh. I think we need to alter our thinking when it comes to this. If Ramadan was only one day like Eid or Thanksgiving, then sure, by all means do what you want. However, we are talking about 30 days of when we should be striving for perfection in all aspects of life. By cultural habit, these 30 days consist of some of the worst food your body will ever consume throughout the year and since our brains tell us we are starving, we indulge in gluttony. Why do everything else good this month but neglect our body? Ramadan is usually a month for change in a lot of our daily habits. We strive to be nicer, more charitable, more pious. Why not add “Healthy Lifestyle” to the list of habits you want to make a positive change on during this month. By binding yourself to those intentions for these 30 days, you could come out a changed person with a whole new lifestyle. Investing in yourself for these 30 days could return a lifetime of benefits like decreased medical bills and disease prevention.

I noticed my ROI decrease in recent days when I stopped putting in much effort for Sahoor. I was stuck in a cycle of waking up late and just throwing together an omelette. I got bored with this and started eating less, resulting in decreased energy throughout the day. I’ve decided that for the rest of Ramadan, I will be waking up much earlier to ensure I make something enticing for Sahoor. This will involve doing some preparations the night before too so I’m excited to wake up and get ready for Sahoor.

Sahoor – This morning I made a mexican breakfast dish, Huevos Rancheros. It’s essentially an egg omelette with salsa.

    • 1 tomato, chopped
    • 1 jalepeno pepper, chopped
    • 1 garlic clove, minced
    • 1/4 small onion, chopped
    • sea salt
    • 2 eggs and 3 egg whites
    • 2 Tbs of olive oil

Puree the tomato, jalepeno, garlic, and onions in a blender. Put 1 Tbs of oil on a hot pan and then add the salsa to it. Cook it until it starts getting thick. Move it to the side but keep it warm. Make the omelette to your desire. Add the salsa to the omelette and you have your self Huevos Rancheros.

Look, it’s a happy meal. Hahha…ha…ha. Anyways, it was a good breakfast. I had a couple of spoon fulls of almond butter as well. I drank 1.5 liters of water.

So I’ve told you what changes I will be making. Are there some that you are looking to make too?

Go Upside Down

Posted: August 6, 2012 in Challenge, Food
Tags: , , , , , , ,
0

Gymnastics isn’t something that the average gym goer incorporates into their training but it definitely should be. Gymnastic movements will help you build balance, coordination, and crazy core strength. When I first started CrossFit, I was afraid of Olympic lifting and didn’t have much respect for gymnastics. It didn’t take long after I scored my first oly lift and then was able to do a handstand to fall in love with these sports. Now these two elements are what I look forward to in a workout. My lack of respect for gymnastics was just ignorance. I had seen it on TV and the professionals made it look SO easy. I mean these guys pull themselves up on rings with such ease and do an Iron Cross as if it was as easy as standing up. My first time trying to pull myself up on rings was enough to give me a lifetime worth of respect for that sport. Some of the strongest and fittest people I have met have a background in gymnastics. Leaves me wishing I had taken on gymnastics when I was little instead of thinking I had a career as a Pro Wrestler. Oh well.

The Workout – Today’s workout was a couplet consisting of Olympic lifting and gymnastics.

5 Rounds
10 Handstand Push Ups
10 Power Cleans 155#
 

This was my first workout being upside down during Ramadan. It didn’t help with the dizziness I feel during workouts these days but I’m not sure how much of  it was from not eating vs a surgery I had a few months back. Every since then, I seem to get a head rush a lot faster. I spoke with a fellow CrossFitter who recently had a surgery in the same area and he is experiencing something similar. I’ll have to consult with Dr. Google on this.

I was able to do the handstand push ups unbroken first couple of rounds and then broke them into 5s after that. The weight on the Power Cleans didn’t feel too bad. I was able to string them together as I normally do with that amount of weight.

Food

Sahoor –  I had a scrambled eggs made in olive oil (2 eggs 3 whites).  I added some green peppers, chili sauce, onions and tomatoes to it. I had one Paleo muffin left over from last week so I had that as well. I drank 1.5 liters of water. Looking back I should have had some meat in the morning to have some more energy for the workout.

Iftar – Today was a fish night and I made Peppered Lemon Tilapia. Fish has all of the nutrients an athlete needs plus more. It’s a great source of protein, it has the all of the healthy fats you need, vitamin D, calcium, etc. Who needs pasteurized milk when you have good fish?? This does require a little more time than the other dishes so plan ahead. It’s completely worth it. Also, tonight I made enough for two meals so I could have this for Sahoor as well. This recipe is for 2 servings:

      • 4 Tbs of coconut oil
      • 1 lemon
      • 4 fillets of tilapia (or catfish, salmon, etc)
      • 1 tsp of chaat masala
      • 1 tsp of crushed pepper
      • 1/2 tsp of garlic powder
      • sea salt and ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F while you prepare the fish. In an OVEN PROOF skillet (not repeating yesterday’s fiasco), heat up the coconut oil and lemon juice. Season the fish with sea salt and pepper and place into the skillet. Coat both sides and lay them side by side. Mix the chaat masala, crushed peppers, and garlic powder up and sprinkle on to the top side of the fillets. Place the fish into oven and bake it for about 30 minutes. You’ll see the pan starting to blacken but that’s ok. The liquid from the oil and lemon will keep the fish nice and moist.

I pulled out two of the fillets for dinner and added some salad to the plate. Maybe I just got lucky but the fish melted in my mouth every time I took a bite and the lemon juice that was sponged up inside would gush out. It was purely amazing and it will be making a repeat appearance. Oh since I made extra, I guess it will be making an appearance in the morning, YES! For dessert, I had a bowl of watermelon after taraweeh prayer. Perfect end to a good day for me.

Pardon the Samosa

Posted: August 5, 2012 in Food
Tags: , , , ,
0

So here is an issue we all face at some point during Ramadan and there is just no way of avoiding it. The Iftar invitation to someone’s house. I’ve been asked by a few people on how to do deal with that so I will share my experience with this.

First though, for Sahoor, I had my typical 2 egg 3 egg white omelette and a liter of water. I threw some hot sauce on it and had a Paleo muffin. I’ll try to switch up my Sahoor meal a little bit this week so I can share some more recipes. I have had some people send me some dishes that I will try to convert to be Paleo friendly as well.

Ok so Iftar: During Ramadan when you go to someone’s house for Iftar, you will see a sea of food. There will be everything from samosas to egg rolls, to rice and bread, and just about any other carb/sugar loaded fried food you can think of. Your success will depend on how you scope out the food, run a quick investigation of the setup, and come up with an attack plan on what will make it to your plate. Traditionally the fast is opened with a date, simple enough. Now comes the hard part. Some people will have appetizers before the evening prayer and main meal. Simply put, (if done wrong) eating these appetizers are usually the worst thing you can do to your body. Since you are probably really hungry at this point, there is a chance of overlooking the fact that 90 percent of the items laid out have been deep-fried and/or contain tons of carbs. Your stomach starts making the decisions at this point instead of your brain and before you know it, your plate is full of samosas and egg rolls. This is similar to grocery shopping on an empty stomach, I come home with nothing but frozen pizza and ice cream. This is where scoping out of the food comes into play. Learn what’s on the table, where it is, and evaluate what you really should be getting. Stick to that plan! Ignore your stomach and go for what seems to have the least amount of oil and bread in it. I scoped out a veggie dish and loaded my plate with carrots, celery, and broccoli. Yeah some of the other stuff looked good but I also knew what sort of pain my stomach would have been in if I took in the grease and bread. Appetizer, success!

So now on to the main meal. Same strategy should apply. Scope things out and come up with a plan. Stick with the basic rules, avoid the rice/naan(bread) and find the meat! I ended up finding a tray of tandoori chicken and beef kabobs. Jackpot! Yeah I got some looks as I bypassed all of the oil based dishes and rice, and especially some looks when I loaded my plate with tons of tandoori chicken, but oh well.  Here was my plate:

I added some salad and mint yogurt to the mix. Main meal, success! Having Iftar at your relatives’ for friends’ house can be done but it requires a lot of self-control and obedience. Have a game plan and stick to it. Others around you will load their plates up with unhealthy items and it becomes that much harder to avoid those things. However, stay focused and keep your eye on the big picture!

Older Entries