Cooking Up a Storm

Once upon a time, I really didn't understand why anybody would actually purchase a cookbook.  Why would I spend money when I could google whatever I was craving at the time and a number of recipes would magically appear in front of me for free?  Then in October 2012, my friend Heather gave me a copy of Practical Paleo as a bridesmaid gift.  At the time I had been cutting some things out of my diet and I was regularly reading a number of Paleo blogs, but I hadn't really taken the dive.

When I decided to do my first Whole30 (well Whole21) in January 2013, Practical Paleo was the perfect resource.  As the title suggests, the recipes are practical!  I tend to shy away from recipes with a long list of ingredients, it's intimidating and I don't want to purchase a ton of random ingredients that I won't use for anything else.  Although I did drop some cash gradually stocking my kitchen with some new to me ingredients (coconut oil, new spices, almond flour, etc.), they are all things that I use over and over now.  Practical Paleo keeps it simple with short ingredient lists and shows you that recipes don't have to be complicated to be delicious.  The book also contains a great section on the "whys" of Paleo that uses language the average Joe can understand, beautiful photography, and a number of meal plans.  It's a great cookbook for Paleo beginners!

With the big day getting closer and closer, I've been striving to clean up my eating but I have been in a bit of a food rut.  Want to know how to get excited about cooking?  Buy a new cookbook!  Since I like Practical Paleo so much, I knew I would enjoy Diane Sanfilippo's other cookbook, The 21 Day Sugar Detox Cookbook.  The 21 Day Sugar Detox is a program similar to the Whole30, but with most of the focus being on breaking your sugar addiction.  I'm on the fence whether I'm going to do one in the near future, but in the meantime I'm loving the recipes!  Just like her first book, Sarah explores simple yet delicious food.  A few of the recipes look a bit familiar, but for the most part, the book is a whole new set of tasty dishes to try!

Here in Pennsylvania it looks like we're going to be hit hard with a snow storm tonight through tomorrow night, so I did what most people do: I rushed to the grocery story and picked up some bread and milk... haha nope.  I stocked my fridge with chicken, bacon, sausage, and tons of produce.  I'm planning on being snowed in tomorrow and blowing up my kitchen!

On the menu:

• Thursday Brunch - Butternut Squash Pancakes (from 21DSD) & breakfast sausage
• Thursday Dinner - Weeknight Chicken Soup (from 21DSD)

• Friday Vday Dinner - Chicken Parm w/Homemade Sauce (not from a cookbook, it's a mash up of my and my mom's recipes) & Vegetable Lasagne - (from 21DSD with my sauce)

So far I've cooked up an Asian style lemon ginger chicken with some greens and salmon topped with a delicious tzatziki sauce from the 21DSD Cookbook.

Tonight I'm switching it up with another Paleo cookbook called Well Fed.  This book is a little more advanced with a few more random ingredients that I'm still gradually acquiring.  I've only made a few things out of Well Fed, but the unique dishes have all been crowd pleasers.  On tonight's menu is a dish called Bora Bora Fireballs, which is a mouthwatering mixture of ground pork, toasted coconut, pineapple, and jalapeno!  What can I say, we are eating well!

What's your favorite cookbook?  How do you get out of a food rut?

My April Whole30: Day 19

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Snack:

Dinner:

Sleep (Last Night):  8 hours

Workout:  CrossFit!  To start the class we spent some time working on our front squat.  I maxed out at 85 lbs for 2 reps.  Then we conquered got owned by "Jackie" which was 1000m row, 50 thrusters, and 30 pull ups!  It was one of the hardest workouts of my entire life!  The row wasn't terrible and I finished in 4.5ish minutes.  And then came the thrusters.  Holy shit.  Everyone did 45 lbs... here's a news flash, the 45 lbs probably felt a little bit lighter to the super strong guys in my class!  And 50 is a lot!  I ended up doing them in groups of 5 and I was winded between each set. I felt so strong during these and there may have been some grunting.  And just when you think omg I'm going to die then here comes 30 pull ups.  I did mine with 2 resistance bands but I was still struggling.  These ended being done in groups of 2.  I finished in 16:44.  My arms were so spent that it hurt to hold up my water bottle.  Tomorrow is going to be rough ;)

Thoughts:  I finally ordered some coconut aminos (aka a soy free replacement for soy sauce) on Amazon.  I'd been wanting to purchase some for a while now, but I couldn't find it my local stores.  Since the Well Fed cookbook has a ton of Asian style recipes that all require coconut aminos, I decided it was time to stock up and bought 3 bottles.

Our big Friday night plans were heading over to Heather's house to cook a nice compliant meal!  She gave me Practical Paleo as a bridesmaid gift and I cannot thank her enough.  We made one of my faves from the book, the Lemon Artichoke Chicken because I wanted something simple and quick after CrossFit.  We paired it with some roasted broccoli and had guacamole with veggies for an appetizer.  Everything came out delicious.  I love cooking with friends!

I have no financial ties with any of the products I've linked to, I just want to let you know which products I've been utilizing in the kitchen during my Whole30!

What's the toughest workout you've ever done?