This guy
September 8, 2013
This guy
Author: cochrancj
I am an American expat who loves to explore the world through the plate and is always curious to learn more.
September 7, 2013
Copper shine
Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats (paleo, whole30)
Yum. This recipe took care of my burgeoning buffalo chicken craving handily, and in a healthy manner. This recipe feeds 1 for dinner but can easily be scaled up to feed your number of choice.
A little note about the zucchini: The cooking method in the recipe below yields just slightly cooked zucchini with some crunch left to it. If you want your squash softer, blind broil before stuffing and broil some more after adding the filling.
Buffalo Chicken Zucchini Boats (paleo, whole30)
1 large zucchini
2 small carrots
1 rib celery
1 tsp. coconut oil
1 tsp. granulated garlic
1 breast leftover cooked chicken
2 Tbsp. aioli
2 tsp. Louisiana (or other) hot sauce
1 scallion
Put your oven to broil on high.
Halve the zucchini and scoop out the middles with a spoon. If you want softer zucchini, blind broil now for a few minutes while everything else cooks.
Dice 2 small carrots & 1 rib celery (you’re looking for about 1/4 to 1/3 cup filling per zucchini, depending upon the size of your squash).
Sautee the diced veggies and zucchini guts if you want over medium in coconut oil until softened; adding the garlic powder, salt & pepper about half way through.
Chop the chicken finely. Add to a medium bowl with the aioli and veggies once they’re done. Add the hot sauce and stir to combine.
Pile the mixture into your two hollowed out zucchini halves and broil 5-7 minutes until browned.
Top with sliced scallions and avocado crema if you’re feeling fancy and you have some. I did not.
Serves 1 for dinner.
September 6, 2013
The tree outside my building has accumulated more totems.
September 5, 2013
This happy old face feels much better since getting some anti-inflammatories. Arthritis is a bitch.
And he would like me to know that he very much likes steak or steak-related plates.
September 4, 2013
Sometimes I don’t even know what goes on behind me while I work.
This is the same special individual who decided to get all freaked out by the trainer on TV – the same trainer doing the same warmup he’s seen for the past 7 weeks.
September 3, 2013
Hey, ma. Crepe Myrtles & riots of roses – in one yard – and all still blooming.
September 2, 2013
Go home, September. You’re drunk.
The Weekly Dozen – Week 6
Week 6 of the ‘Weekly Dozen’ challenge. The gist is to share your 12 favorite pics per week – in an effort to make one more mindful about taking and using the camera daily.
Most of these pics were taken while wandering the Lower East Side this weekend.
Whole30 – Recap
Whole 30 Recap
What I learned
Eating out while doing Whole30 isn’t as all-fired scary as I thought it was going to be. It can be done and well. It might take a little planning – menu researching and avoiding places where it would be hard (but still not impossible) to control yourself (like Mexican restaurants) – but it isn’t that much more effort than finding a restaurant to eat at in the first place. And you don’t even have to eat joyless dry salads with questionable lettuce or teeny tiny little appetizers that will never fill you up and cost 97 bigillion dollars each like I was afraid.
Whole30 itself wasn’t as much of a burden as I had anticipated, either. Sure, I occasionally missed an adult beverage with a meal out and the biological corn imperative occasionally caught me in its fevered grip, but things really weren’t that bad. Not near as much whining about the lack of booze/corn/ice cream in my life as I had thought there would be. And lots of good food. Score!
Results
I’m hesitant to post results here, since your mileage will definitely vary; but here they are.
Weight: Down a good sustainable 2 pounds, fluctuating to 3 or even 4 every few days.
BMI: Down a full point, point and a half.
This might not sound like huge losses; but they’re good for one month and solid, sustainable losses. And better than numbers on a scale, I feel stronger this month – and I *feel* like I’ve lost mass in places where I want to lose mass. It also now looks like changes happen in my arm when I flex my biceps. I’m not up to having guns yet, but I see some definite movement there. Way to go, me.
The reduced BMI and scale number results I got were not achieved in a vacuum. I work out 5-6 days a week for 10-30 minutes a day (I’m on Week 6 of the Warrior 90 program from HasFit) and I wouldn’t have achieved any good results at all without diligence. Before this crazybananas business, I had hit a few month long plateau — my food was decent except for the aforementioned adult beverages + few “splurge” non-paleo items I allowed myself per weekend and I was working out four times a week (power/active yoga twice and cardio/strength training twice – both for half an hour each). But the scale and the tape measure weren’t budging (I’m down 4-6 pounds since starting my new workout routine) and I was starting to lose enthusiasm for the rut I was in. I’m happy to report that with the new workout regime and diet clean up, that I officially broke through my plateau and am doing the happy dance on the other side.
Takeaway
I went into this experiment thinking I didn’t really have that much to gain. I broke my carb addiction months ago, and never really had a sugar monkey on my back. I’m happy to report that I *did* get a lot out of this experiment. I learned just how damn much sugar and other undesirables sneak into food at every opportunity and how to be more mindful of what is actually going into my body. It’s another tool (aside from paleo) I can use to ensure my body is getting nutritious food without a lot of junk on the side.
The Food – What I Ate
The Recipes
A collection of recipes I posted during the month that are not only Whole30-compliant, but damn tasty as well.
