Quick Tomato-Meat Sauce with Cappello's Grain-Free Pasta

First of all, my apologies for my lack of blog posts over the last two months. No excuses, as blogging is something I can do from just about anywhere, as long as I have a laptop and access to wi-fi.

Second, I have been doing a Whole30 for the month of October. I am almost finished! There are only three more days left. This is the second time I have done a Whole30. The first time was back in January (2013). I lost a little bit of inches and weight, but nothing significant. I can tell you that my sweet tooth did not change much. It came back with a vengeance (over time), hence the reason for the current Whole30. I'm not completely sold on my results. I've lost about the same amount of weight as in my first. My clothes do fit a bit better. I feel fine. I have a separate health issue I am dealing with at the moment, so I haven't been working out as much as I would have hoped/liked. The reason I'm not completely sold is that there are foods I want to eat post-Whole30 that aren't Whole30-approved. For instance, I purchased a sampler pack of Nikki's Coconut Butter and I cannot wait to give each flavor a taste. I also want to do some holiday baking around Thanksgiving and Christmas (check out my Pinterest board). I realize it will all still be "Paleo" but it's definitely sweet dishes. My sweet tooth didn't magically disappear. I still think about the 31st of October and making some Paleo pancakes or a Breakfast Cake. I enjoy treats in a different way than I did in my Pre-Paleo days, but I still love them. I do have a tough time with moderation when it comes to sweets. If I bake, I will have to freeze some and/or give some away to friends, family or coworkers.

And finally, the recipe. I created this dish on a whim. I knew I had a bell pepper, ground beef and tomatoes in the fridge. I thought I could put it all together and serve it over Cappello's Fettuccine.

Quick Tomato-Meat Sauce with Cappello’s Grain-Free Pasta

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 2 T. fat of choice
• ¼ onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 pound grass-fed ground beef
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• A handful of spinach
• 2-3 T. chicken broth
• 2 t. dried basil
• 1 ½ t. garlic powder
• 1 t. dried oregano
• Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper, to taste
• 1 package of Cappello’s Grain-Free Fettuccine

Directions:

1. Heat your fat of choice in a skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and green bell pepper. Sauté for 5-7 minutes, or until veggies are tender.  
3. Add the ground beef, breaking it up as it cooks, cooking until it’s no longer pink.
4. Season the mixture with all of your spices and herbs (including salt and pepper, to taste).
5. Toss in the tomatoes, spinach and chicken broth, stirring occasionally. Allow the mixture to cook for another 5-7 minutes or until the tomatoes start to break down and the spinach is wilted.
6. While waiting for the sauce to finish up and cook down, make your pasta per the instructions on the package.
7. Put a little nest of pasta on your plate and top with some of the tomato-meat sauce. Enjoy! 

We were able to get three servings out of this, but you could probably stretch it to four, especially if you add a side salad and/or veggies. 

Foodie Penpals - August Reveal!

This was my second month participating in Foodie Penpals. The first month was a warm-up and now I'm into the swing of things the second month. I'm loving this program. I cannot say enough good things about it. I have a blast picking out items for others as well as receiving unique local products I've never seen before. It's fabulous! Strangely enough, a former high school classmate is participating as well. She happened to look at the penpal list and saw my name on it. This world keeps getting smaller everyday, doesn't it?

This month, I was paired up with Lauren of Everyday Lauren. She is a really cool girl from Wisconsin. We exchanged a few emails at the beginning of the month to discuss preferences and such. Go check out her blog and send her some love! She sent me a pretty amazing package. I received it the day of our little road trip to follow the USA Pro Cycling Challenge for a few days here in Colorado. Perfect timing. I was able to bring some of the snacks with us to enjoy on the drive.

Here was my loot:

• Crunch Dried Fruits
• Dark Chocolate Enjoy Life bar
• Reallygoods fruit and nut thing
• Larabars
• Absolutely Gluten-Free Flatbread (crackers)

I had never heard of the crackers. They were quite tasty and held us off for dinner on our drive from Vail to Fort Collins (via Boulder where we stopped for dinner). Love them. I realize they aren't 100% Paleo since they do have potato starch, but I'm not too concerned about a little bit of potato in my diet.

I also wanted to mention that I sent my food package to Bri over at Bri Cooley's Strange Truth. Go check out her page to see what I sent her! She doesn't have anything posted yet, but hopefully she will soon! 

To sign up or learn more about Foodie Penpals, go to The Lean Green Bean's page. Enjoy! 

ABC's of Paleo: "C" is for Cherries (Cherry Pie with Crumble Topping)

It's our third week in the series "ABC's of Paleo." Here's a recap of ingredients and what has been made so far.

Week 1 - A is for Artichoke - Roasted Artichokes with Creamy Lemon-Garlic-Dijon Dip
Week 2 - B is for Bison - Bacon-Bison Chili

This week, our ingredient is Cherries. We have a couple of cherry trees in our backyard, which prompted my ingredient selection for this week. About a month ago, one of our trees was teeming with bright, red cherries. Unfortunately, the birds got the best of our second tree. We do put nets over the trees, but didn't do a great job with the second tree. We actually had a bird get stuck into the net of the first tree (which was pretty secure). I spent over 30 minutes trying to get the bird out, because I didn't want him to eat all my ripe cherries! We ended up with quite the yield from just one tree. After picking my basket of cherries, I rinsed and pitted them. Once dry, I froze them in a single layer on a baking sheet and then put them all in a Ziploc bag for later use.

Cherries are a delicious fruit. I won't get too into the scientific side, but it is worth mentioning that they have a number of antioxidants and have an anti-inflammatory effect. I do enjoy eating the frozen cherries right out of the bag. They're a tasty summertime treat.

Paleo Cherry Pie with Crumble Topping

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 5 cups pitted sour cherries, fresh or frozen
• ½ cup coconut sugar
• 2 heaping T. tapioca or arrowroot
• ½ t. vanilla extract
• ¼ t. almond extract

Crust:

• 2 cups almond flour
• 2/3 cup pecans
• 1/4 t. sea salt
• 3-4 T. local honey
• 6 T. cold grass-fed butter, cut into small pieces

Crumble Topping:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/3 cup pecans
• 1/3 cup sliced almonds
• ¼ cup coconut sugar
• 4 T. melted grass-fed butter
• ¼ t. almond extract (optional)

Directions:

1. Move oven rack to lower third of the oven.
2. Preheat oven to 400°F.

To make the filling:

Mix together all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Set aside while you make the crust and crumble.

To make the crust:

1. Blend almond flour, pecans and sea salt for 10-20 seconds in a food processor.
2. Add honey and butter.
3. Process until the dough comes together into a ball.
4. Press into a pie dish.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden.

 To make the crumble:

1. While the crust is baking, add all dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Blend with a spatula or spoon.
2. Add melted butter and almond extract (if using). Stir until well-combined.

To assemble the pie:

1. Pour cherry mixture into your pre-baked pie crust.
2. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the entire pie.
3. Place pie dish on a parchment paper-lined baking pan to prevent any spillage in the oven. Trust me, burnt cherry pie filling is not something you want on the bottom of your oven.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
5. Bake pie for 30 minutes, checking at 20 minutes to ensure crust isn’t too dark. If crust is darkening too much, then wrap aluminum foil around the edges of the pie dish.
6. Let the pie cool completely until cutting into it. The pie will be runny if you cut into it too soon. I think the pie tastes even better after it has been refrigerated. It will help thicken the filling.

I also made homemade vanilla ice cream, which tastes great alongside a piece of this pie. My ice cream contains only 3 ingredients: coconut milk, vanilla bean/vanilla extract and honey. 

Bon appetit! 

We'll be taking a break next weekend due to other scheduled events, but will continue with letter "D" on Sunday, September 1st. What "D" ingredient would you like to see? Duck, dates, daikon radish and dandelion greens are all possibilities. 

Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream

The temperatures are on the rise. Summer is on Spring's heels. What's more delicious on a warm summer afternoon than homemade ice cream? My strawberry ice cream is Paleo and only involves four ingredients. As long as your ice cream maker bowl/base has already been in the freezer, you'll have delicious ice cream within 30 minutes. I store my ice cream maker bowl in the freezer all the time when I'm not using it. That way I can make ice cream at any time when the mood strikes. If you don't have an ice cream maker yet, I highly recommend the Cuisinart ICE-21. Easy to use. Reasonably-priced. Fast.

Paleo Strawberry Ice Cream

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 2 cans full-fat coconut milk
• 1 ½ pounds fresh strawberries, tops cut off
• ¼ - ½ cup raw, local honey
• 1 t. vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to a blender (I used my Vitamix). Blend until pureed.
2. Turn on ice cream maker per the manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Pour ice cream mixture into your ice cream maker. (You may have a little extra – I just pour it into a mason jar and store it in the fridge. You can always drink it as strawberry milk).
4. Let mixture churn in the ice cream maker for about 20 minutes (depends upon your ice cream maker's instructions).
5. Scoop out into an airtight container.
6. You can either serve it immediately as soft-serve or store it in the freezer for a couple hours so it’ll be more of a hard ice cream consistency. Either way, you’re in for a real treat! 

                          Beginning                                                       End Result

I am looking forward to trying out new flavors over the summer. Cookie dough, perhaps? Maple pecan. Almond butter/chocolate ribbon vanilla ice cream. Mango. Blackberry.

Question of the day: What is your favorite kind of ice cream? As a child, I loved Oreo Cookie Blizzards or Breezes from DQ or Bonnie Doon's Cookie Dough Ice Cream (made in northern Indiana where I grew up). I still have a fondness for cookie dough ice cream. I also love chocolate ice cream.

Whole30 - Day 1

Here we are on Day 1 of the Whole30 Challenge.

I weighed myself for the first time in months. Apparently, eating Paleo goodies regularly and not training for an Ironman will have an impact on weight. I just have added motivation to make the best decisions for my body this month.

Starting weight and measurements
Height: 5'9" (just as a baseline)
Weight: 159 lbs.
Biceps: 11"
Chest: 36"
Waist: 26.5"
Hips: 39.5"
Thighs: 23.5"

You won't see anything else about my weight or measurements until February 1st.

I woke up feeling a bit tired today. I'm in dire need of a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, this time of year is the most stressful time for payroll processing. Year-end and W-2s and corrections, oh my! I had no motivation to workout this morning before work. That tends to be the trend when I don't sleep well or enough. I did 100 situps, 100 air squats and 25 pushups. Feeling pretty good about that.

Below is what I ate today.

Breakfast: Leftover Paleo Lasagna (recipe is on my Facebook page) - it has zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, celery, onions, ground beef, tomatoes and cashew cheese sauce. It's a pretty hearty dish.
Lunch: Leftovers - chicken fajitas

 

Dinner: Almond butter & blackberry grass-fed beef burgers on curly-leaf lettuce. Baked sweet potato fries on the side. I pretty much followed this recipe. The only changes - I used blackberries and almond butter instead of strawberries and sunbutter. I omitted the scallions since I didn't have any on hand.



Overall, I feel pretty good today. No crazy feelings. No cravings. Tomorrow we're going the Nuggets basketball game and will be faced with temptations. I'm thinking we will stop somewhere on the way downtown to eat salads. That way we can stay Whole30-compliant. There's a Paleo coffee shop near downtown that serves soups and salads. That's a strong contender.

What was the best thing you ate today?  

As 2012 Comes to a Close... and 2013 Comes Rolling In

As another year comes to a close, it's a time for reflection. A time to look back at the accomplishments and challenges of the past 365 days.

2012 has been an exciting year. As I look back, here are the highlights.

• March - ran a personal-best half marathon time of 2:01:41. I had a goal to break 2 hours and was so incredibly close.

Crossing the Finish Line

• April - Found out the company where I worked was being sold. I worked in their HR department for 5 years. It was all I ever knew here since moving to Colorado. It was a huge shock. I started looking for jobs that day.
• May - I went back to Indiana to visit my family. I combined the trip with running the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon. I broke my goal of two hours and finished it in 1:54:31. What an incredible accomplishment for me!

• June - Went to Lawrence, KS to race KS 70.3. A half-Ironman consists of a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run. That was a hellish race. Strong winds on the bike. Huge hills (into the 30-40 mph wind gusts). Hot temperatures. I was so thrilled to finish. It was my second 70.3 distance race, so I didn't know what to expect. I finished in 6:32:00.



On the run portion. Focused.

After finishing KS 70.3.

• After we returned from Kansas, we started following the Paleo lifestyle for Athletes. My husband and I both lost weight prior to our Ironman in August. I lost 10 pounds and my husband lost 30 pounds. Paleo rocks!

My first Paleo shopping trip - yum!

• July - At the beginning of the month, I started my new job in payroll. Middle of the month, we had a family reunion in Estes Park, CO. It was lovely to have family from all over the country visit us in Colorado. We spent a few days at the YMCA of the Rockies. What a lovely area!

Top: My immediate family with spouses/kids. Bottom: My beautiful mom and me.

My cousin and me (with her son at my feet). Love her!

• August - My husband and I traveled to Penticton, British Columbia to compete in Ironman Canada. It ended up being a historic event, as it was the last Ironman Canada in Penticton (their 35th anniversary). We love the area. It's our second summer visiting the Okanagan region. We had a blast during the race too. I had a flat tire on the bike course, but that only put me back 10 minutes. The last 10K of the run is what got the best of me. Running along Lakeshore was so much fun though. I recorded the experience, because I had to capture the final moments of my second Ironman. If you ever go to Penticton, be sure to eat at La Casa Ouzeria. They are the greatest family in town and will treat you well. Tell Lia the Wilsons sent you.

 

Transition

Standing next to the swim buoys

Paul standing in a sea of transition bags

Finisher's chute the day before

Dinner the night before

 

Ironman morning

Heading to T1

Body marking



Bike course

Why yes, I did take a self-portrait on the marathon

Run Course

Finisher Photo

Post-race dinner at La Casa Ouzeria

The day after - Penticton is known for peaches!

Cheering on the final finishers

Beautiful scenery

• September - I traveled back to Indiana for my 10-year High School Reunion. What a fabulous weekend. It was great to catch up with some old friends who I haven't seen for years. I appreciate growing up in a small town. Everyone knows everyone (almost). Parts of me miss the small town, but I certainly love cities and all they have to offer.

At the airport

My nephew and me

My childhood best friend and me with her new baby

Another great friend from my childhood

Best friends in elementary school

Another good friend from my childhood

• October - We traveled back to Columbus, OH (where we lived before moving to Colorado). We went to the Ohio State vs. Purdue football game. I'm a Boilermaker alum. That was probably the best college football game I've watched in a long time. It was a tough loss for the Boilers, but still very entertaining. We ate at many of our favorite restaurants while in town. It was definitely a "cheat" weekend of eating.

Purdue vs. Ohio State - Boiler Up!

First Watch - one of our favorite breakfast spots in Columbus

At the 'Shoe

The Boilermaker Special

Inside the 'Shoe - Script Ohio

Fresh-squeezed juices from North Star Cafe

• End of October - The Paleo Network was born.
• November - My parents drove out to Colorado with their black German Shepherd for Thanksgiving. It was awesome to have guests and to spend the holiday with my parents. I'm so thankful I have parents who are willing and able to drive across the country to see me. Love them!

My mom and me on Thanksgiving

Our Paleo Thanksgiving

Paleo desserts

Me and Odie (my parents dog)

Me, Odie and my mom

• December - Rehearsals for The Paleo Network's first cooking show. I'm getting more comfortable in front of the camera.

It has been an exciting 2012. What are some 2012 highlights for you?