Hi honey, I'm home!

Wow, 4 and a half months since my last post...my bad! As most of you know, a lot's been going on for me over that time. Firstly, we made a baby! Super exciting, but it totally wiped me out for about 3 months there. Come August, Bear & I were off on our rather belated honeymoon to the UK & Europe for a few weeks, and then I was treated to a week in hospital upon our return.

And now here we are, past the middle of September, and I'm 5 months through the pregnancy - crazy times! But now that my energy has returned, I don't want to vomit at the smell of red meat being cooked, and I'm staying away from hospitals (touch wood), I'm planning on getting back to blogging.

When I came out of hospital a couple of weeks ago, I was essentially on a fluid diet...which meant a lot of soup & smoothies! Thankfully I'm back to solids now, but I did make a pretty darn good chicken & leek soup, which helped keep me on track with my nutrition over that time.

Chicken & Leek soup

1 whole free-range chicken
2 onions, cut into halves
4 large cloves of garlic
3 small kumara
3 leeks
Vegetable water (from boiling vegetables) (optional)
3 tbsp butter (or other form of fat if you want it strictly paleo)
2 tsp Colemans mustard powder
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Place the chicken in a large stock pot. Add onion and whole garlic cloves. Season with salt & pepper. Fill pot with water until chicken is almost covered. Boil for 60-90 minutes, until chicken is almost falling apart. Leave to cool for about half an hour.

Remove chicken from the pot, setting aside the liquid. With a knife and fork (I found this the easiest way), take all the meat off the bones and return the meat to the pot of liquid. Add in chopped kumara and leeks, then top up with vegetable water or tap water. Season, stir, then bring the mixture to boil. 

Simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Allow to cool slightly, then add 2 tbsp of butter and the mustard powder. Blend with a stick blender until smooth. Stir in the remaining butter, lemon juice, and salt & pepper if needed.

Paleo for Dummies

Wow...I knew it had been a while since I posted, but I just saw that it's actually been over a month!! Oops - sorry! You'll all be relieved to know that I haven't actually been starving myself this whole entire time - I have still been cooking tasty, nutritious meals...but because I've been super busy, I haven't been creating anything amazing (aka gourmet, or what I considered blog-worthy). Thanks to the prompts (nagging?) of a couple of friends though, I've realised that what most people want is actually ideas and inspiration for quick, nutritious...but still delicious...everyday meals. So for the next little while at least, that's what you're going to get! I've been taking photos of all the food prep I've done in the last couple of days (and I'll keep doing it), so I can post them along with explanations of what I did. As one friend called it, "Paleo for Dummies"! I hope you find it useful.

Monday
Dinner - red curry pork & vegetables

To prep vegetables, grate one eggplant and finely chop quarter of a cabbage. Combine and set aside.

In a large frypan or wok, heat a small amount of coconut oil, then add 2 cloves of crushed garlic and 3 tbsp red curry paste (use 2 if you don't like it so hot!). Cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant (usually a few minutes).

Add in 500g of free range pork mince, and stir to break up.

Cook until browned, stirring often, then add vegetables and half a tin of coconut cream. Combine thoroughly.

Continue to cook until vegetables have softened, then serve.

Tuesday
Breakfast - quick tuna frittata-ish thing!

For this, you need a small tin of tuna, two eggs, onion flakes, garlic powder, dried mixed herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil (and an optional tomato or something to serve alongside it).

Lightly spray a small frypan with olive oil and heat. Lightly fry tuna, breaking it up by stirring.

In a bowl or jug, beat together eggs and seasonings. Add to frypan, and lightly stir to combine.

As with an omelette, push edges in towards centre slightly with a spatula, allowing runny egg to flow into space created. Repeat a few times around the pan.

Leave over a medium heat until the egg has cooked firm and the frittata is browning at the edges.

I'm a bit funny about having any of the egg runny (I like runny yolks in poached and fried eggs, but runny whites or runny egg in omelettes/frittatas makes me want to gag!), so I stick my frittata under the grill for a few minutes to completely cook the top. Serve drizzled with olive oil and accompanied with something fresh! (chopped avocado is nice with this too)

Dinner - crockpot roast chicken & stir-fried vegetables

I've been a big fan of the crockpot for a while, but now that I'm not usually home from work until 7pm, it's fast becoming my best friend! Crockpot roast chicken is super easy, and it's nice to know you only have to throw together some vegetables when you get home.

For the chicken, chop an onion and cover the bottom of the crockpot with it. Rub the skin of a defrosted, free range whole chicken with salt, pepper, and olive oil. Top with some dried herbs (I used my home grown, dehydrated sage), then place in the crockpot.

Cook on low for 5-6 hours (I used a wall socket timer for this, so that it finished about the time I get home). You should come home to something that looks a bit like this...

For the vegetables, I just chopped up what I had in the fridge (more cabbage, some red capsicum, and another eggplant), heated some coconut oil in a frypan and cooked them all together. I may have added some crushed garlic in first...I can't quite remember! Once the chicken was done, I tipped the onions and some of the juice (not all of it, or the vegetables will get drowned) from the chicken into the other vegetables and cooked for another few minutes before serving.

Ok, I think that's enough for now! Wednesday's & Thursday's breakfasts, plus Thursday's dinner to come soon.

(Note: there are no photos of lunches, because in our household, lunches are almost always leftover dinner! Some people prefer to cook a whole bunch of food in the weekend to put in the freezer for the week's lunches, but I like a bit of variety, so we just make sure we cook enough dinner to cover lunch the following day.)

Paleo Carbonara Risotto

1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Cauliflower rice (put raw cauliflower in a food processor & process until it becomes rice-like, or chop finely)
1 cup vegetable stock
2 chicken breasts, sliced thinly
Button mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp paprika (or to taste)
~ 3 tbsp coconut cream
Salt & pepper
Prosciutto (bacon would also work, just cook it before you add it!)
Pine nuts, toasted

In a saute pan, fry onion & garlic with your fat of choice (I used coconut oil). When soft, add cauliflower. Continue frying until cauliflower is lightly browned.

Add vegetable stock, a little at a time, allowing the liquid to boil off a bit in between additions (the cauliflower rice won't absorb the liquid as well as rice does, so you'll end up with a bit of a 'sauce').

Once all the stock has been added, continue to boil on high until some of the stock has reduced. Add paprika and coconut cream. Stir well.

In another pan, fry chicken and mushroom in coconut oil (or other fat), until browned.

Add chicken and mushroom to risotto. Add small-ish pieces of prosciutto (I just used scissors to roughly cut pieces into it) & toasted pine nuts, season to taste, stir and serve.

Crockpots and Cauliflower

Winter is on it's way - I don't think we can deny it for much longer. I've joined the chorus of people complaining about the cold, the rain, and the darkness.

But there are a few things I love about winter. Snowboarding, open fires, and curling up under the duvet listening to the rain outside, all make the list. So do winter boots, cosy clothes, and red wine. And if I actually wrote this list down, you'd also find crockpots and cauliflower on there.

Crockpots (or slow cookers) are a fantastic way to have a warm, hearty meal waiting for you when you get home, without having to bribe you partner/flatmate into cooking. They also make cheaper cuts of meat taste amazing, so they're a great money-saver. Throw in some meat, onions, garlic, vegetables, herbs/spices, and some liquid (stock, tinned tomatoes, coconut cream...), set it going, and come back 8 hours later to dinner!

Cauliflower has been a staple in our house the last few weeks. Jojo inspired some breakfasts of fried "rice", we've had paleo "rice" risotto (recipe to come), and even cauliflower mash to accompany my latest crockpot creation. Yum!

So instead of moaning about winter (I mean seriously, it's not like it's a surprise - it happens every year!), let's raise a glass to crockpots and cauliflower, and enjoy what the season has to offer.

Crockpot chicken satay

4 chicken thighs
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tin coconut cream
3 tbsp almond butter
Paprika, curry powder, chili flakes
Salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients in the crockpot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, stirring halfway through if possible.

Cauliflower mash
Boil or steam cauliflower until cooked, but not mushy. Drain. Add salt & pepper, then blend with a stick blender. If it needs some extra liquid, you could add a bit of coconut cream, butter, or coconut oil.

Serve chicken with cauliflower mash & enjoy the fact that there are hardly any dishes to do when you finish eating!

Good enough

The last few weeks have been a real period of learning for me. Learning a new job, learning to rope climb, learning to make space for ‘down time’, learning to love myself, learning to push myself, learning when to stop pushing. The key thing here being ‘learning’. I haven’t mastered any of them yet, but I’m in the process, and I’m happy in that process.

As a psychologist, I totally subscribe to the idea that what we tell ourselves will invariably be what we experience – we create our own truth. I also do a reasonable job of identifying my own negative self-beliefs and self-talk. But I sure as hell haven’t had much success in trying to change them! Cliff Harvey, enter stage right!

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have a session with mind-body guru Cliff Harvey. We spent a lot of time exploring and challenging some of my self-beliefs. One of the key things to come out of my time with Cliff was the concept of self-worth. I found myself struggling to truly embrace statements like “I am worthy of the best that life has to offer”, “I love myself completely”, and “I do my best, and my best is good enough”.

That last one is interesting. “I do my best, and my best is good enough”. Now, I’m quite happy with the idea that I do my best. It’s the second part of the statement that I find more challenging. I so often chastise myself, and my efforts, for not being ‘good enough’, for not meeting the lofty expectations that I place on myself. But after working on it with Cliff, I came away feeling great; happy in the knowledge that I did indeed do my best, and that my best was good enough.

Little did I know the hardest part was yet to come…several times over!

My newfound satisfaction with myself was tested that very night at CrossFit. I found that day’s press workout really tough, and despite pushing myself hard, I came away feeling like I should (not necessarily could) have done better. But I talked myself around, and accepted my performance.

And then I did the first two sectionals workouts. Both times, I managed to exceed my goals, and was feeling pretty good about my efforts…until I saw what everyone else got, and then I started feeling like my score wasn’t good enough. Back to the drawing board.

And then the third sectionals workout was announced…a clean and jerk AMRAP, 10kg heavier than my personal best. Now I was really being tested. It was a pretty hard physical battle for me, but more than that, it was a huge mental battle. The pressure I put on myself to get that lift nearly broke me. I got it (well, the squat clean part of it), but at what expense? I dreaded CrossFit for the days leading up to it, and the days following it, and I still didn’t feel like my best was good enough.

And then, just to top it all off, the fourth sectionals workout was announced, and once again, the lift was heavier than I’d done before. I was well and truly on the downward slope now. Except that before I got to the bottom, I came to a realisation. The pressure I was putting on myself was ruining something that I loved. It was taking the fun out of CrossFit.

So I decided to put it back in. I would do my best, and my best would be good enough. I would enjoy the challenge, I would enjoy the process, but I would not beat myself up for not being good enough.


Things are pretty busy right now and I’m finding it hard to make the time to post. I’ve been feeling guilty about that. But I’m going to stop feeling guilty. Instead, I will do my best, and know that my best is, in fact, good enough.


Crumbed chicken strips

Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Egg (beaten lightly with a fork)
Almond meal (seasoned with salt & pepper)
Coconut oil
Assorted vegetables to roast
Pesto (I used bought pesto – Genoese brand - in this instance, because I was short on time!)

Slice chicken breasts in half horizontally, and then cut these pieces into strips.

Dip each strip into the egg, then into the almond meal, and coat well.

Fry the chicken strips in coconut oil, until golden. Serve with roast vegetables, and topped with pesto.

Instead of roast vegetables, I have also served this on grilled eggplant slices, with asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and homemade coriander, mint and cashew pesto. The chicken’s pretty good cold as well.

Following your dreams

Dreams. I'm not talking the weird stories that run through our heads when we're asleep. I'm talking the plans, the hopes, the aspirations we have for our future; and for our now.

Dreams can be exciting and inspiring. But they can also be downright scary. Sometimes following our dreams means getting out of our comfort zone and taking a risk. Sometimes following our dreams means making decisions that others don't understand, and will possibly never understand.

I have dreams for my future; and right now, continuing with my PhD is standing in the way of those dreams. So I'm taking a break from it. It might be a permanent one. A lot of people don't understand this, and they're not shy in telling me so. But I know, in my heart of hearts, that this is what I need to do. It's scary, no doubt about it. But it's also really exciting. I can't wait to discover my future.

Dreams aren't much use if they forever remain dreams. What would have happened if Martin Luther King, Jr. had said "I have a dream...but I'm too scared to make it a reality"? Probably not much.

So live the life you were meant for. Make your dreams reality.


Speaking of dreams, I was dreaming of nachos the other week; so much so, that I just couldn't get the idea out of my head. But I had a dilemma: nachos, with their pile of crispy corn chip goodness, aren't exactly primal. So I followed my dreams and made them primal!

Primal chicken nachos

For the chicken

1 whole chicken (or you could use chicken breasts/thighs)
1 onion, chopped

400g chopped tinned tomatoes
1/4C tabasco sauce
4tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1 red capsicum
Salt

Roast the chicken, then take all the meat off the carcass (which you can later boil up for chicken stock) and place in a saucepan with the remaining ingredients.

Bring to the boil and then simmer for ages (until the chicken is all stringy-like!).

Alternatively, you could probably just cut up uncooked chicken pieces, put all ingredients into the crock-pot/slow-cooker, and separate the chicken with fork once cooked.

For the chips

Kumara

Coconut oil

Salt

Slice kumara thinly using a mandolin.

Heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil in a wok or deep frying pan.

Drop a handful of kumara slices into the oil, making sure they are separated, and fry until golden.

Remove chips from the pan, place on a cooling rack covered with paper towel, and sprinkle with salt.

Guacamole

1 ripe avocado

Approx. 1/2 red onion, finely diced

1 or 2 tomatoes (depending on size), diced

Juice of 1 lemon

Fresh coriander, chopped

Salt

Pepper

Mash avocado well. Add all other ingredients and combine well.

Putting it all together

Place the kumara chips around the edge of a plate, then spoon some chicken mixture into the middle (try to avoid the chips as much as possible, or they'll go soggy). Top the chicken mixture with grated cheese.

Place each plate under the grill until cheese is melted.

Served topped with guacamole, sour cream, and a bit of fresh coriander.

A taste of summer

Icecreams by the beach, sipping a glass of chilled white wine on the deck, fresh bread dipped in olive oil…I have to admit to a twinge of jealousy when I see people enjoying these aspects of the alfresco Kiwi summer; a twinge of jealousy that their lifestyle choices allow them to enjoy these tastes of summer more frequently than my choices do.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not looking for sympathy – I know that it’s my choice. And I wouldn’t change my choices – I feel better than I have in years, and that’s definitely worth a few ‘sacrifices’. But just occasionally, I feel a bit like I’m missing out.

So today, I came up with another way of experiencing summer. It may not be alcoholic, or full of refined sugars, but in my book, this salad definitely qualifies as a ‘taste of summer’…

Summer Stonefruit Chicken Salad

Ingredients

4 white peaches

2 white nectarines

1 red onion, chopped

¼ cup fresh mint, chopped finely

¼ cup olive oil

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Rocket (or other lettuce-type leaves)

Cucumber (‘ribboned’ using a peeler)

2/3 of an orange kumara

330g chicken breasts, halved horizontally and cut into small pieces

Extra mint (torn up) for garnish

(12 blocks protein, 12 blocks carbs, 36 blocks fat – this did each of us 1 lunch and 1 dinner)

Slice stonefruit and place in a bowl with red onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mint, salt and pepper. Combine and leave to marinate for at least half an hour…preferably longer.

Using a peeler, make ‘ribbons’ out of the kumara. Mix with a bit of olive oil and salt. Spread out on a baking tray and bake at 200 degrees for approximately 5 minutes (or until starting to get crispy).

Remove tray from oven and unstick ribbons from tray by scraping with a spatula (they will stick to each other – this is ok…it looks cool!).

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, and fry in a non-stick pan until browned.

On each plate, place some rocket and some cucumber ribbons, then the appropriate quantity of cooked chicken. Spoon over the allocated amount of the fruit mix, top with a handful of kumara ribbons, and garnish with fresh mint.

The salad got rave reviews from Bear…and just quietly, I’m kinda proud of this one too!

Pride - vice or virtue?

I felt proud of myself yesterday. Really proud. And I'm not going to feel bad about admitting it.

So often, we're told not to boast, not to 'talk ourselves up', that we should downplay our achievements. But why should we? What's wrong with having a little pride in ourselves? I'm not talking arrogance or out-of-control egos here, I'm just talking about being able to congratulate ourselves on our successes and share our excitement with those around us. The ability to do this enhances your confidence and motivates you to strive harder towards your goals. At least, it does for me.

Why was I feeling proud? Well it was nothing earth-shattering, nothing Nobel prize-worthy...just three small successes, but I feel good about them nonetheless.

Achievement #1
Yesterday's workout at CrossFit New Zealand involved unbroken reps, which provide an interesting mental and physical challenge.

5 sets:
15 unbroken pull ups
20 unbroken wall balls
25 unbroken Double unders
- restart the exercise from zero if you stop to rest or miss a rep.

This was a tough workout, and I had to modify. Modification #1 was reps - 10, 15, 20 instead of 15, 20, 25. I was hoping to be able to achieve this on the pull ups and wall balls, but I wasn't holding high hopes for the double unders, given that my previous PB had been 17. Modification #2 was to do broken sets.

Now, I didn't manage to do all the pull ups unbroken - after set 1, I was too broken for that! But I did get all the wall balls unbroken, which was pretty cool. Even better though, and what I'm really proud of...I got one unbroken set of double unders! That's right...I managed 20 unbroken double unders...and it was on the fourth set too, so I was doing them fatigued. Given that prior to Boxing Day, I couldn't even get two unbroken double unders, I am feeling pretty damn stoked.

Achievement #2
I got my first pull-up blister! I've had peeling skin & callouses on my hands from pull-ups before, but this was my first real, live blister. While I know that might not be much of a source of pride for many people, for me, it was an indication that I'd pushed myself...hard. High five (just be careful of popping that puppy!)

[Ok, so I know it's small and you can't really see it, but there really is a blister right below my index finger!]

Achievement #3
I actually remembered to measure the ingredients that went into last night's dinner! I almost forgot...I'd even picked up a regular old spoon to start throwing stuff into the pan...but then I remembered you guys and the measuring spoon. So here it is, the accurate (mostly) recipe for Almond Satay Chicken Stirfry.

Almond Satay Chicken Stirfry

Ingredients
2 onions
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tsp red chilli
300g chicken
4 cups bean sprouts (I know these aren't technically paleo, but they were delivered in the vege box for the week, so we used them)
~ 2 cups broccoli
1 red capsicum
1 cup carrots
2 tbsp almond butter
110ml coconut cream

Fresh coriander to taste (I used lots because I like it!)

[note: these quantities gave us approximately 11 blocks carbs, 11 blocks protein, and 23 blocks fat - 3 x 2-block meals + 1 x 5-block meal. If you're not doing Zone, just chuck in whatever quantities of meat & veges you want]

1. Fry (I used a wok) onions, garlic, and chilli in a bit of olive oil. I didn't have fresh chillis or garlic, so I had to use pre-prepared stuff, but fresh would be better.
2. Add chicken and cook until white
3. Add all of the vegetables except the bean sprouts and cook until soft (or as cooked as you like them). I added a bit of water into the pan here too, to help soften them a bit.
4. Add the bean sprouts and stir through.
5. Add in the almond butter & coconut cream. Mix well and heat until simmering.
6. Stir in the coriander, serve & enjoy. If you're as lucky as me, that will be with good company, before a lovely evening at the tennis - thanks Tanya!