I got some unexpected work on work of the regular work I was already working work, plus Mik has a swim meet this weekend, plus HASSLES! STRESSES! LIFE! AAAAUUGH!
(In fact, the only reason I'm on the computer now is that we forgot to bring a few things to the meet when we left the house at 6:30 this morning. So I got to come home and retrieve them—and bask in the bliss that is not needing to watch any swimming for at least an hour.)
I just want to say that it's pretty challenging to eat primal foods when you're this busy, and relying partly on a concession stand for sustenance. I'm hanging in there so far, but my mom has already informed me that for my dad's birthday party this weekend, we are just going to order pizza, and to heck with healthy. (It seems HASSLES! STRESSES! LIFE! AAAAUUGH! has visited their house as well.)
If I have any time after the swim meet today, I'm going to spend some of it shopping and cooking so that I don't starve next week. Not sure how I'm going to squeeze in exercise.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Bean Frencher!
We got it home and realized it wouldn't clamp to any of our counters, but we jerry-rigged something, poured out a pile of peas, and started frenching like mad. It was a two-person job, though fun, and before long we had a gorgeous pile of thinly sliced pea pods. I got the brainstorm of cranking the onions through it, and they turned out beautifully, too. Honestly, I don't think any time was saved, but thinner-sliced veggies always taste better, so it was totally worth the trouble. Plus I like the name. Need anything frenched?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Shilling
Just wanted to let you know my husband has started a darn fine blog (chronicling his career as a so-far unpublished novelist) over at http://mhvankeuren.blogspot.com/. It will not contain any triathlon-obsessed stuff, ever, but some of you may be still interested. It's even possible he'll one day decide to write about his "semi-primal" eating adventure. One never knows.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Fall fun
I guess I'm transitioning early into a fall-off-the-primal-wagon-when-eating-out system, because that's what I did yesterday when my family decided to go to Sonic after an afternoon of hiking around outside. (Two of us played Frisbee golf, one of us climbed boulders, and one of us foraged for interesting evergreen boughs and other plant stuff to turn into a fall wreath. Guess who did what!*)
Anyway, my threshold for sugar has certainly changed a lot. I got a small lemon slush, and it tasted sickeningly sweet. My popcorn chicken, though—while I'm sure it was full of nasty oils and chemicals and breading—was crazy good.
This month's primal eating experiment is really not getting a fair shake, but that's okay. I'm not going to lose as much weight as I did in September, but it does seem like it's still coming off. By the way, my sister is still eating Paleo and has now lost 20 pounds. Woo-hoo!
* You don't really have to guess. If you don't know us in real life, you don't care, and if you do, it's blatantly obvious.
Anyway, my threshold for sugar has certainly changed a lot. I got a small lemon slush, and it tasted sickeningly sweet. My popcorn chicken, though—while I'm sure it was full of nasty oils and chemicals and breading—was crazy good.
This month's primal eating experiment is really not getting a fair shake, but that's okay. I'm not going to lose as much weight as I did in September, but it does seem like it's still coming off. By the way, my sister is still eating Paleo and has now lost 20 pounds. Woo-hoo!
* You don't really have to guess. If you don't know us in real life, you don't care, and if you do, it's blatantly obvious.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
If I had a hammer…
You know how they say when you have a hammer, every problem starts to look like a nail? Well, I've got this hammer called primal eating now, and the more I learn about it, the harder it is to keep from smashing everyone I know over the head with a lot of very useful information they didn't ask for. Outside this blog and my immediate family, I think I've been pretty restrained, but I told my husband a few weeks ago that my goal was to start looking so skinny that people started asking me what I did to lose weight.
Well, much to my delight, that happened. A yoga instructor and a couple of acquaintances from class complimented me on how good I looked and asked the magic question. (Stop! Hammer time!) I started in with a bit of an explanation, and they all seemed pretty interested. Then one told us all about this nutrition book she'd been reading about how important it is to control the pH levels in the body. And one told us about how vital it was to monitor portion sizes. And the other one told us all about how Americans don't exercise, and we need at least an hour of vigorous cardio every day.
It's so cute how we all have hammers.
Well, much to my delight, that happened. A yoga instructor and a couple of acquaintances from class complimented me on how good I looked and asked the magic question. (Stop! Hammer time!) I started in with a bit of an explanation, and they all seemed pretty interested. Then one told us all about this nutrition book she'd been reading about how important it is to control the pH levels in the body. And one told us about how vital it was to monitor portion sizes. And the other one told us all about how Americans don't exercise, and we need at least an hour of vigorous cardio every day.
It's so cute how we all have hammers.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Cooking lesson
Not all of my cooking has been a success in this Paleo/primal adventure, but I usually eat it anyway. In fact, the only food experiment I've thrown away so far was a tomato soup that, very unfortunately, looked like a vomited spaghetti dinner. Yes, and not only was it a chunky mess, but for some reason I had put a squeeze of lemon in it, so even the taste was…never mind.
Oh, and there was my first, sad attempt at quinoa flour pizza crust.
But my point is, I really hate to waste food. And so I'm always checking the fridge for leftover ingredients I can toss into whatever I'm making. Here's what I learned today:
Oh, and there was my first, sad attempt at quinoa flour pizza crust.
But my point is, I really hate to waste food. And so I'm always checking the fridge for leftover ingredients I can toss into whatever I'm making. Here's what I learned today:
- Quinoa flour is a terrific addition to meatballs. I guess it does what breadcrumbs would have done, which is to make them more tender.
- Cauliflower, though white, cannot be blenderized into mushroom soup to turn it into "cream" of mushroom soup. Mushroom grits is more like it. (Don't worry, I'll eat it anyway.)
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Hitting a wall
That workout yesterday felt like nothing (and in truth, it was around 40 seconds of hard running), but, oh, I am hurting today. My heels are killing me, my quads and hamstrings are sore, and there's a tiny sharp pain below one kneecap. I've done lots of exercise in my life, but I'm learning that all-out sprinting is a whole different animal.
On the eating front, I hit a wall today. Around lunchtime I was tired, hungry, busy, and there was no one to cook for me. Normally that situation would call for a bowl of cereal, but that stuff will kill you, apparently. So I opened the fridge, hoping for some leftovers to microwave. Long gone. Eggs? Had them for breakfast. Fruit? Gone. Nuts? Not exactly lunch-worthy.
So I opened the fridge again, reminding myself that if I want to eat this way, I have to cook. Well, there was that head of cauliflower (and not much else). I remembered the pizza crust recipe and figured I had nothing to lose.
And what do you know? It was good. Mine wasn't the most cohesive crust—in fact, it had to be scraped off the cookie sheet in sections and ended a pile of pizza substance on a plate—but it was tasty. It was also really filling (which is not surprising, since it contained a full cup of shredded mozzarella, just for me). But I haven't been hungry for the past seven hours, which, frankly, is exactly what you want when you're really busy, out of food, and sick of cooking.
On the eating front, I hit a wall today. Around lunchtime I was tired, hungry, busy, and there was no one to cook for me. Normally that situation would call for a bowl of cereal, but that stuff will kill you, apparently. So I opened the fridge, hoping for some leftovers to microwave. Long gone. Eggs? Had them for breakfast. Fruit? Gone. Nuts? Not exactly lunch-worthy.
So I opened the fridge again, reminding myself that if I want to eat this way, I have to cook. Well, there was that head of cauliflower (and not much else). I remembered the pizza crust recipe and figured I had nothing to lose.
And what do you know? It was good. Mine wasn't the most cohesive crust—in fact, it had to be scraped off the cookie sheet in sections and ended a pile of pizza substance on a plate—but it was tasty. It was also really filling (which is not surprising, since it contained a full cup of shredded mozzarella, just for me). But I haven't been hungry for the past seven hours, which, frankly, is exactly what you want when you're really busy, out of food, and sick of cooking.
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