by Sam Tackeff | Oct 17, 2012 | Challenge, Meat, Soups
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.
* * *
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.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 16, 2012 | Challenge, Races, Running
(Via SI)
Doug Flutie is a bit of a celebrity around here.
Aside from that legendary Hail Mary pass, a Heisman trophy and a spectacular career in the NFL, one of Doug Flutie’s most important legacies has been his work through the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation, focused on raising money and awareness for autism. For my third race this season/ever, I decided to run in the 13th Annual Eastern Bank Flutie 5K to benefit the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism. Here’s my recap:
* * *
Race Day
When I woke up Sunday morning, it was raining, cold, and I felt miserable. My arm and elbow hurt from an hour of handstand practice on Saturday, I had the sniffles, and my thumb was tingling because I had jammed it. I was planning on heading to the race alone, but my lack of planning had made me an anxious wreck. I nearly had a meltdown because I was too tired to make coffee and we were out of bananas.
And this is when a very kind Devon came to my rescue and drove me to the race. I wouldn’t have made it without him.
When we got there I found a banana, and things began to turn around!
{In the background, check out the modernist architecture of the Leonard Morse Hospital. Wet concrete makes this former architecture major giddy! Designed by Marcus, Nocka, and Payette in the late ’60s, this was actually at the cutting edge of high-tech hospital planning when it was designed. It was particularly progressive in its huge windows, generous daylight, and lush wooded environment. Also, carpeting. Not so sure about that one.}
We were early enough to tour around the little expo tents. Wegmans was a lead sponsor, which I was excited about. I was less excited when their main booth was giving out Doritos and Sunchips, and the “lunch provided post race” ended up being roll-up wraps. They did have a little gluten free section set up though, and had provided me with my savior banana, so I was much appreciative!
While I ate my banana, I went over to stare at the free Dunkin Donuts. They were giving out both donuts, including my second favorite chocolate glazed (my favorite being butternut), and pumpkin mocha spice lattes. I wish that they had brought regular coffee, but I can appreciate that most folks quite enjoy their seasonal offerings. Alas, staring was all that I did.
Another vendor I was happy to see was Crescent Ridge, a dairy in Sharon, MA, serving up some cold chocolate milk, along with some literature about chocolate milk as a post workout drink. For folks who can consume dairy, and don’t mind the sugar hit, this stuff is delicious. I seriously contemplated taking a sample. And then remembered that a) I haven’t consumed dairy in over a month, and b) I was about to run a race. Plus, while their chocolate milk is delicious, it isn’t as good as the crack that is their seasonal egg nog. I backed off wistfully and wisely.
5-Hour Energy also had a booth, and people were downing these like dope at the Tour de France. (Too soon?) Now, I’m not one to judge, but… these drinks are not for me. After the race Devon had mentioned that a very small child had run up to the table and grabbed one of these cute pink bottles before being loudly reprimanded by her father: “Don’t you ever put that stuff in your body!!!” Teach ’em young.
Perhaps a better option was the Vita Coco – although I may be one of the only people in the world who doesn’t like coconut water.
Before heading over to the starting line, we watched the STRIVERS Running Club for Girls go through their warm-up. Clearly this worked, because a bunch of these speedy demons surged past me during the race. Seeing these girls thrilled to participate was one of the highlights of this race.
Finally, I headed over to the line-up. Having lined up too far back during my last race, and being nearly run over by jogging strollers, I decided to seed myself more wisely this time, and shuffled closer to the front.
There were still plenty of people in front of me at the starting line, including Joe, from the gym, who came in at a speedy 19:47!
As we waited in the cold, my friend Bets lined up next to me! It was so good to see a familiar face!
Although not so good when she mentioned that the “rolling course” I had briefly glanced at when I signed up was actually full particularly unpleasant hills… It was at that point that my goal went from “maybe I can do better than last time” to… “Oh dear lord, I hope I can do this without dying.”
After a false start which was a ploy to take a photograph, the crowd started moving and off we went!
Here’s my race on Runkeeper:
Mile 1. 10:14/pace: Almost as soon as we started, the rain started coming down. I ran near Bets for the first 3/4 of a mile past rolling green fields and farms, until we hit the first big hill coming around a corner. I had been running at a good clip – between 9:00 and 9:30, but hitting the big hill I literally had to slow down to an unplanned walk.
Mile 2. 9:55/pace: Hoping to make up time in the second mile, I skipped the water break, and ran a little faster, taking a single walk break to get myself up another little hill.
Mile 3. 10:38/pace: By mile three I was sick of the rain, and ready to be done with this already. I had assumed, at this point, that I wasn’t going to make my goal. And then I saw kids passing out oranges – I grabbed one and it was like a little miracle! And then I saw more kids, hands outstretched, and decided to run over to give them all high fives. For my slowest mile of the race, this ended up being the most enjoyable.
The last .1: Like my previous 5k, this race ended on a not so gentle ascent. As I turned the corner into the last .1 mile, I decided to gun it with what I had in me. The second the clock came into view, I saw that I could make it if I ran fast. In a split second, the race went from kind of sucky, to wait, I can do this! I’m doing this! Yes, yes! I’m doing this!
I set my eyes on the clock, knowing that if I beat 32:14, I’d PR.
And boy was it close. Sprinting up the hill, I glanced at the clock and I saw 32:03.
And then I was through, they handed me a water, and I gave a high five to folks from my gym…
Before walking off to avoid puking 🙂
The Result: 31:58 – 529th place, 43/89 in my age group (F 20-29).
Yep, beat my time 16 seconds on a much harder race course!
Never have I been more excited to be middle of the pack!
After I finished, I found my friends to watch more of the race, saw Doug Flutie run to the finish line with his wife (after running a respectable 25:25 himself), and nearly lost my voice cheering for all of the kids running to the finish line.
Here I am, after the race:
Can’t wait for the next one!
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 13, 2012 | Challenge, Meat
My morning started with no coffee because I was running late, but this gorgeous Spencer apple which I grabbed on the way to the gym for an early workout. To warm up, we did several rounds of medicine ball torture – burps, squats, ball tosses and lateral tosses with a partner, more squats. By the end of the warm-up, I was dying. We then set to work on the strength: back squats. I like back squats! I’m still trying to get used to squatting deeply – my left leg isn’t as strong as my right, but I’m working on it.
Strength: Back Squat – 6 sets of 2 @ 80% of max., rest 2:00 between sets (I used 80#, and knocked these out no problem.)
Workout of the Day: “Snatch Balls” (Snicker…)
AMRAP 7 (As many rounds as possible in 7 minutes):
7 Power Snatch 95/65 (I used 45. I could go heavier by weight, but my form…is lacking.)
10 Wall Ball 20/14 (I used a 10 pound ball.)
Now, these two moves happen to be some of my least successful ones, so this workout did not go well. I ended up finishing only two rounds, the 7 lifts, and 5 wall balls. I wish it had gone better, but not every day in the gym is a personal best, so I’ll accept it as valuable practice.
After out workout, several of us hung around to watch Coach Steve perform 20 rounds of “Cindy” (5 Pullups, 10 Pushups, 15 Squats) with a 20 pound weighted vest, to raise money for Barbells for Boobs, an awesome non-profit raising money for breast cancer prevention.
* * *
For lunch, I had the leftover eggplant from my braised lamb shanks two nights ago. Because there wasn’t really much lamb, I topped it with two eggs and called it a meal.
After a busy afternoon, I didn’t manage to get to the butcher (M.F. Dulock) until well past six, and I was worried that they’d be out of everything. I shouldn’t have been worried! Here are some shots of the gorgeous cases this week.
I ended up going home with some ground beef, garlic-thyme sausages, bone in pork chops, lamb neck, baby merguez sausages, and lamb kidney. Unsure of what to do with the kidneys (no soaking in milk!), they lent me a copy of Jennifer McLagan’s Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal to play with. I adore her books – excellent monographs on meat (Fat, and Bones) – truly inspired histories and recipes on the subject.
For dinner, despite having purchased a week’s worth of meat, we ended up going out to Strip-T’s, one of our hands down favorite restaurants. Hidden away in Watertown, the place has been open for three decades, but recently went through a renaissance when the owner’s son came back from New York, working in David Chang’s empire.
I wish I could tell you that it was a welcome relief, but it was kind of a bust. The wait was longer than usual, service was spotty, and the kitchen was having a serious off day.
For an appetizer I had the roasted brussels sprouts and sardines (minus the romesco, which contained bread). This was a good combination. The sardines were fresh, but cured slightly like pickled herring.
For my entree, I opted for my usual flank steak, but had to modify it for my challenge. Unfortunately, this meant that most of the delicious accoutrements were missing, so I got a medium rare flank steak over a big bed of braised greens. This would have been fine, save for the fact that someone may have dumped three tablespoons of salt accidentally into my greens. At this point, almost two hours since we had arrived, I was starving, so I asked for some lemon to see if the acid would cut it enough. It did not.
They were kind enough to make me a fresh batch of greens, but the experience left me feeling like I had done something wrong.
After dinner, because I can’t have my favorite mocha sheet cake of theirs, I had a double espresso. (Which was delicious.)
To say that we were disappointed would be an understatement, but the dozens of stellar meals we’ve had there make up for this fluke.
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 10, 2012 | Challenge, Races, Running
I’m not sure I can explain how I got here. A month ago, I was up at midnight and signed up for a 5k race on a deranged whim. My first 5k race. Having not actually run more than 200-800 meters at a time over the previous several months, my training consisted of five 3.1 mile “runs”.
And then, two weeks ago I ran that very first race, the Charles River Center 5k. It was terrifying, exciting and a whole lot of fun. It would end there, I had assumed. I’d run the race, and that was it. Maybe I’d run another 5k at the end of my gym challenge to see if I could improve. But then I did better than I thought I would. And then I got that nagging feeling that racing could be a thing that I do. What if I could do more? Before even racing my first 5k, my aunt had suggested the Tufts 10k, and I thought that she was nuts. But in my head I could hear invisible people cheering “10k, 10k, 10k”, and it started getting annoying. And then a week after the race, I began to think seriously, what about a 10k? Could I do a 10k? So I tested out my theory. And I missed my goal time by five minutes. And then I signed up for the race anyway.
My training for this race consisted of the test run, a 4 miler, a 5k, and a “run-heavy” day at CrossFit. By run-heavy, I mean, about a mile total, sandwiched in between intervals of 500m of rowing. And then this weekend was here.
On Sunday afternoon I headed to City Sports to pick up my race packet. The line was quick, and all around me women were talking excitedly about how many decades they had been running this race. Things were starting to get real. I picked up my long sleeved tech-t, my swag bag, and my bib number (4848). Devon got himself some gym gear with my discount and we headed home so I could start getting anxious. Things were going my way though, and I slept well.
In the morning, I had to figure out breakfast. Having only attempted at 10k distance once, I was unsure of what to do. On that run, I had eaten my banana and nut butter, and suffered a stitch the first mile or so. But having not tried to run on heavier protein which is my usual breakfast (eggs), I decided to stick with what I know. Banana and almond butter, and a cup of coffee, three hours before the race start.
We left the house a little after 9:30, and got downtown hours before the race started to a very empty Boston Common. It was also really cold, and I was feeling a little bit under the weather. So I walked around in my hat and jacket, praying that it would heat up before the race started. We popped into Starbucks to pick up Devon a drink and so that I could go to the bathroom. Yes, Starbucks. I didn’t want to brave the port-o-potties multiple times in a row, and considering how often I patronize their establishment, I did not feel bad utilizing their bathroom without a personal purchase.
We then went around checking out the vendor booths. There weren’t too many sponsors that I was interested in – Luna Bars, Dole, and Powerade aren’t really my thing, but they were all giving out samples. I probably should have headed over to the Bliss Spa (at the W) table to put my name in to win something, but it looked like they were mobbed. I entered my name into a raffle at Reebok, looked wistfully at the coffee from Equal Exchange, and tried to determine whether or not Ford was raffling away free cars. D’Angelo was providing an entertaining sandwich intervention (free sandwich coupons) and giving away t-shirts – my favorite being the “Microwaves Kill Sandwiches“, although “High on Flavor” was a close second.
We then ran into Morgan and Solomon from my gym, and it was stretch time! We grabbed yoga mats and did some warming up with Tara Stiles. (I definitely need to do yoga more often. Ouch!)
By 11:30 they started calling out for people to line up. I rushed over to the line of port-o-potties for a last quick trip. The lines were long, and the port-o-potties disgusting. But I got through it. My next concern:
Where do I seed myself? I figured I could run the first several miles between a 9-10 minute pace, so I set myself at the back of the 9-minute milers. Given how long it took the crowd to get through, I could have likely moved up quite a bit.
Lining up with 8000 women was exciting!
It was here that I became a little nervous. No turning back. So I decided to take a picture of my Mizunos.
And then a picture of the folks in front of me. I was behind these tutu ladies at several different points of the race. Put a permanent smile on my face!
And then we were off!
Moving to the starting line took about 3 minutes, and then I set my Garmin and my Runkeeper. (I also had my beloved Fitbit on, you know, just to make sure that I was tracking enough data.)
Here’s my race via Runkeeper!
My goal was to take semi-regular walk breaks, and my secret goal to finish in 65 – 70 minutes.
Mile 1 – (10:34): We started out slowly because there were 8000 women running this race. I had to dodge lots of people to even get close to a quick clip. Near the end of Beacon, I started getting a bad stitch in my side, and did my best to try to stretch and breath it out. This happened on my previous week’s attempt of the same run, so I just prayed my body would figure itself out and I could keep going.
Mile 2 – (11:30): The second mile over the bridge was also rough. I managed to take the water break, and set about finding well-paced people to run behind. (I settled behind a woman wearing a shirt that said “Try to Keep Up” on the back.)
Mile 3 – (11:16): Finally, I started to hit my stride. It was at this point that I looked down at my Garmin and realized that I wasn’t running much slower than my 5k race. I got to the 5k in just over 34 minutes, about 4 minutes faster than when I ran the course on my practice run. This was good news! I was hoping to run a little faster in the second half of the race (negative splits), which meant that I might be able to actually meet my secret goal! I then ran into the tutu women again, and followed them for some time. (I was also passed by a woman with her two very fit 9 year-olds running all together like machines. Teach them young!)
Mile 4 – (11:17): Approaching the Mass Ave. bridge, I snapped this photo from across the Charles. It was at this point that I was getting really excited – 4 miles meant… I’m almost done!
On my trip back over the bridge, I got snapped by the paparazzi. (Photo via Jim Rhoades.)
At this point I nearly ran over a dead crow, which was an unexpected emotional tipping point. (I hate, hate, hate, dead birds.) There were very few people around me, so I managed to quickly call Devon and let him know where I was, and see if he could meet me. I had assumed that the race would make it impossible to pick people out of crowds, but I realized that it would be fairly easy to actually run by him and say hi. (He had just finished having a burger and ice cream sample from Ben & Jerry’s. Lucky!) Fortunately, he was walking up and down Newbury, and so had no trouble heading over to the race course.
Mile 5 – (11:30): Devon met me at Exeter and Comm. Ave. I was so thrilled to see him, flagged him down, gave him a high five, and kept running. Except apparently I was a little too emotional, because at that point I almost burst into tears and had to take 20 seconds of meditative breathing to avoid an asthma attack.
Mile 6 – (10:39) : Around mile 6, I noticed a very tall gentleman handing out water. (And then I realized I had met him through a mutual friend half a decade ago, and screamed something intelligible in his direction as I grabbed the water and ran by.) It felt like a happy coincidence, so I pushed a little harder.
Afraid I’d overtax my legs, I took a final walk break as I reached the public gardens in order to finish the race fresh. With point two-five left to go, I decided that I was going to sprint it. Smiling!!
Both my Garmin and Runkeeper had me at 6.3 miles for the total race course (and a 10k of 1:08:46, but alas, I’ll go by official time for my PR.)
Official Time: 1:09:55/ 11:16 pace. MADE MY GOAL! *At the time the race results first came out, I was #4000. Apparently in the past day I’ve been demoted to 4003. I’ll survive. AND DO IT AGAIN!
This is me after the race:
Sweaty, a little confused, pretty excited.
After crossing the finish line, I actually missed the banana table, but grabbed a water. On my way to the Ford tent to find Devon, I came across some kids powering through burpees and air-squats at the Reebok mini-WOD, and decided to spin the wheel. Who am I?! I was assigned an AMRAP-1 of pushups. The record was something like 57, but I won a pair of socks for my chest-touching-the-ground good form of 30.
In the car, I finally was able to eat something – my LÄRABAR Coconut Cream Pie. This might be my favorite flavor.
We got home and I took a long hot shower.
For the next couple of hours the idea of more food was just not doing it for me, but we ended up eating an early dinner of Chipotle to make up for it, which apparently is my traditional post-race celebratory meal. Carnitas, barbacoa, lettuce, a double scoop of pico de gallo, a scoop of red tomatillo salsa, and a generous portion of guacamole. Delicious!
After dinner, we relaxed watching one of my favorite movies of all time, Ratatouille! If you haven’t watched this in a while, please, please just watch it again.
(via)
So that’s it, the story of my very first 10k. I’m looking so forward to racing again!
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 8, 2012 | Challenge
Happy Columbus Day everyone! It was very busy around here this weekend, and I just came back from racing in my very first 10k! I’ll be writing a race-recap tonight, but in the meantime, I thought I’d present my weekend in pictures.
Now that my Whole30 is complete, I’m still in the midst of the gym challenge, but a lot more relaxed about eating snacks, eating out, etc. On Saturday morning, I ate a quick breakfast before we headed out on errands: a Chocolate Coconut Chew LÄRABAR, and a banana.
Our first errand was a trip to the Apple Store to pick up my brand new iPhone 5!
I’ve made it over a decade with only three phones:
1. A very trendy Samsung A300 (flip phone! text messages! the front screen lit up green! composer ring tone!), several years later when my poor little Samsung became possessed (it would turn on and off, flashing I kid you not – 666), I moved on up.
2. The Motorola KRAZR. Now I could take pictures with a 2 megapixel camera! Record my own ringtones! The “Itchy and Scratchy” theme song was my wake-up alarm for almost 5 years. Now every time I hear it watching old episodes of the Simpsons, I flinch. I’m not sure what I was thinking. Life was good.
3. And then a few years ago, my (now 20) year old brother insisted that we become data subscribers. He was so insistent in fact, that he purchased me a phone. So for the past three years I’ve been happy with my HTC EVO4G. It’s been particularly good to me, with the exception of killing power charging cords – I’ve gone through half a dozen in the past year alone.
I was due for an upgrade. I got the black one. (Photo via Engadget)
Our second errand was to get the birthday boy his brand new Banjo! He ended up with this Fender Rustler. It’s pretty, and it sounds wonderful. (Photo via themusiczoo)
When we came home, I had breakfast round 2 – a few Romanian sausages from M.F. Dulock, and some eggs.
In the afternoon, I went on a slow run around the neighborhood with a podcast – 3.27 miles in 44 minutes. My last go before race day!
For dinner, we met up with Amanda,
And my mom,
To celebrate this one’s birthday at Sweet Basil!
Sweet Basil is one of my favorite restaurants – a gem of a place in Needham.
The table started by eating inordinate amounts of bright pesto and bread. I, alas, abstained. I did consume a huge amount of roasted beet and goat cheese salad with dried apricots. (Minus the goat cheese which my mom ate, and minus the parmigiano which you see here, which was put on by accident after requesting the dairy on the side. We actually got a new one.)
For our entree, we shared the lamb shank with roasted vegetables over polenta (which I gave to my mom, regretfully, as it’s the most heavenly polenta you’ll taste). When I got home I realized that the shank might have been dredged in flour, and there might have been butter to finish the sauce – even though I had asked about dairy, I clearly wasn’t specific enough. A huge part of this challenge has been becoming more aware of just how difficult it is for folks with allergies and health concerns to eat safely, even when they think they are being careful. And it makes me extra thankful for my health. On the plus side, this was outrageously delicious.
On Sunday morning, I sat down to brunch – an avocado, and two eggs, with some pumpkin spice coffee from Trader Joe’s and some reading – Anne Lamott’s bird by bird. I’ve been taking much too long to read it, but love picking it up in small doses to avoid finishing it.
In the afternoon, we headed for an IKEA date.
I picked up my free IKEA coffee with my IKEA family card. And then, in further proof that something may be terribly wrong with me, I purchased and consumed this entire bag of almonds and raisins. Raisins, for the record, have tasted awful to me for the past two decades. I don’t know. I don’t understand it at all.
It was in IKEA that I discovered the full excitement of the new panorama feature on my iPhone.
We ended up with a new bookshelf, dresser, and bedside table – all part of our efforts to make our house more into a home. When we got back, I went for a short walk.
Fall!
Stately houses!
And came back to put together some furniture. Don’t let them tell you that IKEA sucks. We’ve been really happy with the furniture we’ve purchased from there in the past five years. Especially my beloved Tylosand couch which I had to give away before moving across the country, and mourn daily.
For dinner, I “carbo-loaded” for the race. And by that I mean, spaghetti squash and meat sauce. Not quite the same, I know. But I love my squash, and it twirls on the fork just like real pasta.
Before bed we sat around watching Devon’s Lakers pre-season game, and then got to sleep so that I could get a full 8 hours before my 10k attempt. More on that tomorrow!
by Sam Tackeff | Oct 6, 2012 | Challenge
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:
