brussel sprouts

Despite it being a rather busy week, I’ve been doing some (if I do say so myself) delicious home cooking lately. I’ve been fantasizing about opening my own paleo treat business – perhaps solely as a way to justify making unreasonable amounts of paleo desserts. On the advice of a friend, I made Chocolate Avocado Muffins. At first bite, I was not a fan. They seemed too oily and not sweet enough. Tim said they were too coconutty. However, I stored the muffins in the fridge overnight, and the next day they were delicious cold! Tim and I both ended up really liking them. This recipe is a keeper.

Next on the dessert tip was Paleo Fudgy Brownies. I don’t think I’ve ever disliked a recipe from Health-Bent, and this was no exception. I struggled with knowing if/when the brownies were fully cooked, on account of the fudginess. I think I ended up cooking them 10 minutes longer than the recipe said – until a toothpick inserted came out pretty clean. Straight out of the oven they were super soft. However, I put them in the fridge, and =now I can’t keep my dirty mitts out of them. They are super soft, chocolatey, creamy, and delicious. So delicious, in point of fact, you have to eat them with a spoon. And you want to eat the whole pan instead of just one. I was reading the comments on the website, and someone had the gall to comment, “These were disgusting.” That’s such a d-bag thing to say. No, “I appreciate the time and energy these people put into perfecting and posting this recipe, but I was not a fan.” Just a blanket, “These were disgusting.” I think that poster is disgusting. So there.

No on to real food. I made yet another Health-Bent recipe, Thai Basil Beef Balls. We had these with a nice organic salad last night, and they are by far one of our favorite meat ball recipes now, second only the the Ginger and Lemongrass Meatballs. I made 1/2 a batch in case we didn’t like the recipe (fish sauce can be kinda sketchy), but I wish I would have made a full batch. I modified the recipe by using a sauteed pepper instead of a roasted pepper (I didn’t have the time or inclination to roast a pepper), but I followed the rest of the recipe to a T.

Now on to tonight. I made Omelet Muffins and Brussels Sprouts with Bacon. It was a bonkers good supper. Tim will heartily agree. For the muffins, I added kefir, avocado oil instead of mayo, mild Italian sausage from our delicious pig haul, and chopped up into fine pieces the following: zucchini, pickled jalapenos & carrots, broccoli, garlic, green onions, red pepper, spinach, and fresh basil and oregano. I doubled the recipe, so I used 12 eggs. It ended up making 20 muffins! I had to bake them about 5 minutes longer than the recipe called for, on account of the extra liquid (kefir and then avocado oil instead of mayo), but Tim said they turned out perfect – nice and fluffy. They were paired nicely by the brussel sprouts cooked in bacon grease with bacon bits and onions. I didn’t want to stop eating. But that may be more of a hormonal thing than a tasty food thing. It’s probably both 🙂

So that’s an update on all my new recipes so far. Now I’m going to go sit on the couch and shop online at Banana Republic because they hooked me with a $30 coupon off a $100 purchase. BR knows my buttons.

Have a good night y’all!

Today overall was good. Had another omelette for breakfast and a big-ass salad for lunch. I got snacky this afternoon and discovered a delicious treat – celery with macademia nuts. Take a bite of celery, a piece of macademia, and chew together. Delicious. I also had wwwwaaayyyy too many pumpkin seeds. They were so salty and delicious. I ate too many.

For supper I tried a recipe from the Primal Blueprint Quick and Easy Meals – sautéed brussel sprouts with pork chops. I’ve never made brussel sprouts before, but I was willing to try it. In this recipe, you shred the brussel sprouts in a food processor. All shredded they look like this:

It makes a mess, but it’s done in a jiffy. You warm up 1/4 cup of olive oil in a pan, and sautee the sprouts until they start to turn brown.

While those were cooking, I rubbed some pork chops with Spike and then cooked them in some olive oil in a cast iron skillet. Tim made brown rice to carb it up, but I didn’t partake. By the time the meal was cooked, the kitchen was disaster. Tim is cleaning it up right now, sweetie pie that he is.

The meal was absolutely delicious. The brussel sprouts were kind of sweet – tasted like delicate cabbage. I’ll definitely make that again. They paired well with the pork chops too. The pork chops were not grass-fed. I haven’t found any grass-fed pork locally yet. Might have to order some on the internet.

Tomorrow I am making a grass-fed arm roast. I’m already looking forward to it.

The challenge today dictated a “Full length PEM workout.” That means that I should do 2 sets of the following: 25 pushups, 5 pullups, 2 minutes plank, and 50 squats. Fortunately Mark recommends “progressions” of these exercises for those who, like me, cannot even do one real push up (yet). So I did 30 wall push ups, 0 pulls ups (we ordered a Power Tower from Amazon, but it’s not here yet), 1 minute planks and 50 wall squats. For the 2nd set, I did about 1/2 of everything. It was exhausting, especially with my legs being super sore from running yesterday.

But I have good news – it’s not all pain – I weighed in at 145.9 today! Three pounds lighter than Monday. The large variance is probably due to water weight, but I’ll take it!

So we’re supposed to finally get a few inches of snow over the next couple of days. I think it’s about time, but I will definitely miss the 50 degree weather. I’ll have to go back to working out in a stuffy old gym. Bah.

My energy level today was not as good as yesterday. I didn’t sleep well last night, so that could be it. Maybe my body is adjusting to the lack of carbs. We’ll see how the rest of the week pans out.

So, take care, and go out in play in the snow tomorrow, if we really get some!

Tag: brussel sprouts

Recipe Catch-up

Primal Day 3