Side Dish Alert! Spicy Baked Cauliflower Sweet Potatoes

This was an easy dish to put together and totally delicious.
Spicy Baked Cauliflower Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower, stem and leaves removed, roughly chopped,
• 1 sweet potato, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 tablespoons fat of choice, melted - I used bacon grease!
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper, to taste

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Add all ingredients to a 9×13 glass baking dish. Mix well.
3. Place in oven to cook for 30-35 minutes until sweet potatoes are tender.
4. Eat up!

3.1.09

http://paleomg.com/spicy-baked-cauliflower-sweet-potatoes/

This is what happens to you when you do Crossfit...Super Women!!!

Mustard-Soy Braised Pork Chops With Celery

This was really yummy.  I don't have any photos because I made it awhile ago.  It worked out to be a good zone meal since the sauce counted as a fat.  I added another block of carbs and was good to go.  Keeping in mind I measured out 2 oz of the meat for each zone meal.

Mustard-Soy Braised Pork Chops With Celery

1 lb boneless sirloin pork chop, about 3/4 - 1 inch thick

7 -8 celery ribs, chopped into 2 inch bias cuts (I only used about 3)

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon mustard  I used stone ground Dijon                                     

1/2-1 tablespoon chili paste with garlic (available in Chinese markets and some grocery stores)     I didn't have this so I used chili pepper paste and garlic paste I had  on hand.  I thought it was similar enough and it worked.  You get it in the produce section.                                   

1 tablespoon oyster sauce   I did not have this so I left it out..                                                  

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

vegetable stock

Directions:

1. Season the pork chops with very little salt and considerably more black pepper, and sear in a medium sauté pan over medium high heat for 2 minutes per side. 
2. In a bowl or measuring cup, whisk the soy sauce, mustard, chili-garlic paste, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and salted black beans into the vegetable stock.
3. Pour the seasoned stock into the pan with the seared pork chops, bring to a low boil and lower the temperature to as low as the stove will allow. 
4. Add the celery and simmer for 1 hour.
5. Serve in a bowl with plain white or brown rice

http://www.food.com/recipe/mustard-soy-braised-pork-chops-with-celery-417532

This is me and Steph Liptak with Brigid Burzanko.  She's a member of Coca Crossfit that has successfully battled breast cancer.  They hosted an I am Stronger Partner Competition to raise money to help her with medical bills.  It was an awesome event and Steph was an awesome partner. 

Week 2 Meals on Paleo Zone

To give you and idea of how I ate all week.

Week 2 Day 1

Meal 1 - 2 blocks 9am

4 pork sausage links (from local farmer) its all I could take on the go. I know its not favorable.

1 1/4 C blueberries

1 block Coconut water 1 container has 10 carbs

6 almonds

16 oz water

 

Meal 2 - 2 blocks 12:00pm

2 oz pork chop cooked in soy, mustard, peanut oil, celery and seasoning

1 C sweet potato, cauliflower baked with onion and seasoning - about Tlb coconut oil

16 oz water

 

Meal 3 - 2 blocks 2:00pm

1/2 C turkey salad (lite mayo, onion, eggs, celery)

1 C strawberries

 

Meal 4 - 2 blocks 4:00pm

1 C cooked carrots (baked with seasoning)

2 oz grilled chicken breast

6 almonds

16 oz  water

 

Meal 5 - 2 blocks 7:30pm

4 oz Elk

1 slice cheese

1/4 C black beans mixed with onion/seasoning/garlic

1 C cooked broccoli

2 Teas Mayo

 

Week 2 Day 2

Meal 1 - 2 blocks 8:30am

2 eggs fried in coconut oil

1 tsp raw honey

3/4 C black beans, seasoned

16 oz water

 

Meal 2 - 2 blocks 11:30am

2 oz pork chop (from recipe)

1 C cauliflower sweet potato bake (from recipe)

16 oz water

  

Meal 3 - 2 blocks 2:30pm

Eatology Meal

16 oz water

At this meal I was feeling not hungry and forced myself to eat.

 

4:00pm - 1 C fresh strawberries (didn't have time for full meal but wanted something before I worked out. I'll do better next example of this)

 

 Meal 4 - 2 blocks 6:45pm

2 oz elk burger, 1/2 slice of cheese

1/4 C black beans seasoned

1 C broccoli

I left out fat since the cheese was already on the burger and figured that wasn't good.

16 oz water

 

Week 2 Day 4 & 5

Day 4

Meal 1 - 2 blocks 7:30a

2 eggs (before I read e-mail)

1/2 Tsp Honey

1 C cabbage - sautéed with onion for flavor and 1 Tlb Ghee (made 5 servings)

3 peach slices

water

 

Meal 2 and Meal 3

Lunch with friends about noon

3 oz steak

1 1/2 C steamed veggies

6 almonds

water

  

7:30pm after my appointment at which time I was starved. I ate the other half of my lunch.

3 oz steak maybe closer to 4

1/2 C veggies steamed

1 C strawberries and fresh peaches cut up

1 Tbl Peanut Butter 

 

Day 5

Meal 1 2 blocks 8:15a

Eatology Meal

1 tsp Honey

16 oz water

 

Meal 2 2 blocks 11:15a

2 oz Ground beef seasoned

1/2 C black beans w/onion and seasoning

6 almonds

16 oz water

 

Meal 3 - 2 blocks 2:15pm

Eatology Meal

16 oz water

 

Meal 4 - 2 blocks 4:00pm (dinner meeting with work)

1 C pulled pork (dry)

1 C veggies sautéed in olive oil and seasoning

2 16 oz waters

(I asked them to leave sauce off and keep the bun, got a box and put most of it in box before eating.  The veggies had lots of oil on them so I didn't add fat)

 

 

 

Paleo Zone Strength to Weight Test

Part of the nutritional training is setting goals that can be measured.  Since endurance and speed seems to be my weakness I decided to work on this.  And since my body fat percentage compared to my lean body mass is still pretty high, we decided to focus the nutritional balance of my meals to help reduce body fat.

I did a quick WOD to give me a bench mark.

• 1 round each, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Air squat, push up, sit up.  5:33 time. 

Holy old lady.

The optimal time is like 2:43seconds or something crazy like that.  The standard time for body weight movement should be 1 second per rep.  HAHAHAHAHAHA

Okay so it gives me something to measure.

Then I get this email about my meals....I knew it was coming.

• Thank you for the test results. This show that one our focuses should be gaining performance speed. By doing so we will want to lower your body fat percent. Dairy is a product I have seen consistently on your log plus multiple times a day. This item promotes weigh gaining and is only advised with special provision to clients adding weight. Until we get you to a maintenance stage I will recommend to cut out dairy as much as possible to reach your goals. 
• Have you had any performance changes?

So Week 2 I cut out my simple little pleasures of cottage cheese and American cheese.....

We'll I'm back!! On a Paleo Zone eating Plan for 4 weeks.

Well...Didn't I just take a break.  So much has happened in a short period of time.  To make a long story short, I fell off the nutritional wagon and went stale in my workouts.  Even though I participated in two events during my absence of blogging, they were not stellar performances.

Crossfit Cleveland (http://www.crossfitcleveland.com/) had invited me to a seminar event for Eatology. (http://eateatology.com/) It's a Crossfit community based company that offers pre-made meals and a white board nutrition program to help "train" you in the Paleo Zone eating.  Just what I needed.  So I went. 

WOW

So a little bit of money later I walked out with a week worth of frozen meals perfectly balanced for 2 blocks and a subscription to their White Board Nutrition that would train me over 4 weeks by providing me tools, guides and personal review of everything I'm eating.

So my journey has begun and the my success after two weeks is 8lbs roughly.  Broke the weight scale that has been stuck for half a year and feel the best I've ever felt.  Even better then when I switched to Paleo.

Is it working?  YES  I chose not to buy all pre-made meals so I've been cooking with my Paleo knowledge and clean eating habits and building my own block meals.  I found I'm pretty good at it. We'll I'm getting better.  So here is a sample of the first day of meals that I reported to my nutrition coach.

• Meal 1 - 2 blocks 8:20am
• 1/2 C cottage cheese (lowfat)
• 1 C strawberries
• 3 almonds
• 16 oz water
• Had hard time finishing in one sitting. Ended up finishing meal over about 30 minutes.
•  
• Meal 2 - 1 block 10:30am
• 1 hardboiled egg (large)
• 1/2 pita pocket
• 2 tsp Mayo with splash hot sauce
• 16 oz water
•  
• Meal 3  - 2 blocks 1:15pm
• 1 oz ground meat seasoned
• 1 oz chedder cheese
• 1 Tbl each raw onion & tomato
• 1 Corn tortilla
• 2 Tbl avocado
• Coconut water 8 oz
•  
• 2:30ish HUNGRY - Mild gas & bloating - tired, started yawning
•  
• Meal 4 - 2 blocks 4:00pm
• Eatology Meal
• 16 oz water
•  
• 5:30pm WOD - 5 rounds 1/4mile run, 24 wall balls. - very tired and lost stamina early.  Could be from recovery from competition over weekend and that time of month. Plus it was 90 degrees out.
•  
• Meal 5 - 2 blocks 7:58pm
• 2 oz poached chicken breast diced
• 1/1/3 C zucchini &  yellow squash cooked in 2 Tbl  olive oil, onion, tomato, garlic Italian seasoning
• 3/8 C applesauce
•  
• 8:38pm  Still Hungry but going to bed and drinking water
•  
• Thanks!  Anxious for how I'm doing?  Roasted Turkey baking for tomorrow

 

Not to bad I thought.  I followed pretty much a similar menu the whole week and this is what I was told.

• I see a few adjustments on your logs that will make a big difference. Since catching you on the phone could be tricky like you mentioned in your previous email, you are welcome to call me on the WBN Hotline, xxx-xxx-xxxx. 5min of clarification on a few areas is really all we need to direct your journey and set attainable goals for the weekend. Talk to you soon! 

 

After a phone call and some goal setting, I was told....

•  I believe meal construction will not be challenging for you in a proportion view but I do see some changes we could make in meal items that will contribute to quality recovery and promotion of performance gain. You will want to cut out all grain products for a start. I will explain there affects and a few other areas for concentration tomorrow when you call. Keep up the great work on logging. This detail is great! 

So began the Paleo-ish Zone and I dutifully started to cut out grains.