Chicken and Vegetable 'Lo-Mein'

I've been making a lot of Italian, Mexican and American dishes lately, definitely time to spice things up a bit! Last night the Kid and I tried out a recipe from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate and it was a smashing success. Such amazing flavors! I had never cooked with coconut aminos and ginger before - why didn't I try using these sooner?! I would include the recipe but we didn't really make any note worthy changes so without further ado - check out the recipe!  The only thing we did differently was to add extra garlic (you can never have enough) and quite a bit of chili power.  Enjoy!

I'm not a Monday person

I'm really not a Monday person but honestly, is anyone?  In the spirit of being a bit more postive here are the top 3 reasons that THIS Monday was awesome (I know really, who uses the word awesome anymore?!):

1. I am officially signed up for Warrior Dash! There are only three start times left on Sunday so if you want to sign up you should probably do it soon.
2. After having to do a quick return and re-order my new correctly fitting purple Brooks finally showed up on my doorstep. LOVE at first sight.
3. I decided to treat myself to some flank steak for breakfast this morning.  This turned out to be such a great decision that I think I will be eating steak for breakfast for the rest of the week. Try not to be jealous. I can't find the recipe I used for but the below is pretty close!

Lemon-Lime Flank Steak Marinade

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup lime juice
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon cilantro
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon dried onion
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions: Combine ingredients in a small bowl. Add the flank steak to a large ziploc bag and pure in the marinade.  Refridgerate overnight. Enjoy!

Obligatory picture of me wearing the purple Brooks!



I either really love to cook or I've gone a bit crazy....

Last night I might have gone on a cooking spree...don't think I'm going to need to make anything else for at least a week.  In no particular order I made:

• Baked sweet potatoes with lime and cilantro
• Baked asparagus with lemon and pepper
• Mashed yams and cauliflower with coconut milk (the topping from the sheperd's pie)
• Lemon spinach with onions from The Clothes Make the Girl
• Random Italian stir-fry with ground turkey, chicken sausage, zucchini, asparagus, spinach, sun dried tomatoes and marinara sauce (everything in the fridge that was about to go bad)

Everything but the kitchen sink!

Steamy yams and cauliflower

Lemony spinach with onions



Dinner on Sunday



Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-In

The Kid and I headed out to Issaquah yesterday for Nick and Laura's wedding (congrats you two!).  On the way home we decided to stop at Triple XXX Rootbeer Drive-In because apparently that's all there is in Issaquah besides Pickering Barn.  It's funny, we're both trying to eat really healthy right now but I guess you either go big or go home if you're going to cheat.

The picture doesn't really do the burgers justice...

Rootbeer float the size of my face!

Whole Slow Roasted Chicken

I actually made this last week but completely forgot until I noticed the pictures while looking for something else on my computer.   Don't be intimidated by cooking a whole chicken! The only gross part is taking out the giblets and that's over it about 3 seconds. I usually buy mine from Trader Joe's - they have Draper Valley Farms chickens for around $6. Their chicken isn't really organic but I think it's good enough!  Yup, I want to know where my chicken comes from. I'm guessing everyone and their mom has seen this clip but just in case!  The first couple of times I made this I used a recipe from Food.com but finally branched out and made my own spice blend.  Gina posted about this too, check out her pictures!

Spice blend from Food.com:

4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder


My spice blend:

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons onion power
1 teaspoons garlic power
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon basil

Obvious ingredient: 1 large whole roasting chicken

Directions: Combine all spices in a small bowl. Clean the chicken and remove any giblets or other gross bits. Rub the spice mixture onto the chicken.  Place the bird inside a resealable plastic bag and refridgerate overnight (optional but worth the extra effort).  Put the chicken into the crockpot and cook on low for 4 - 8 hours. (I've been cooking mine for 7 hours). If you're worried at all double check the bird with a thermometer - it should be around 165 degrees. Enjoy!

The 11th Crossfit Skill

I follow quite a few crossfit/paleo blogs and also read a lot of fashion blogs.  I didn't really think the two went together until I stumbled accross The 11th Crossfit Skill while reading the latest post from The Clothes Make the Girl. 

Fantastic idea for a blog!  I included a few of my favorite outfits below.  Apparently I really like purple workout gear, short shorts and knee high socks.  I would love to rock this look but don't short shorts and knee high socks scream LOOK AT ME!?   Well maybe that's the point.

Sure Doesn't Feel Like Spring

I don't think Seattle got the memo that it's suppose to be spring now.  I'm still in winter comfort food mode due to all of the rain, freezing wind and general nastiness outside.  I found this recipe via chowstalker, it's a website similar to allrecipes except paleo friendly.  Shepherd's pie is fabulous on a cold day, it's completely worth the effort!

Inspired by Family Living Simple

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 pound organic ground beef
• 2 bags frozen blend of carrots, green beans, peas and corn
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 6 or more cloves of garlic, minced
• Oregano, basil, black pepper and salt to taste

Directions:  Preheat over to 400 degrees. Boil a few cups of water in a large stock pot and add sweet potatoes and cauliflower.  It would also work to steam them but I think boiling is a lot easier. Defrost veggies and saute in a large wok with coconut oil (olive oil would work too).  In another pan saute the ground beef with a few cloves of garlic.  Once the sweet potatoes and cauliflower have softened drain out the water. Add the coconut milk and mash together with a fork. Once the ground beef is thoroughly cooked add it to the veggies and stir in the almond meal.   Add spices to taste.  In a large baking dish spread out the the veggies and meat with the sweet potato and cauliflower mixture on top. Bake for 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Enjoy!

Veggies and ground beef

  

About to add the sweet potatoes and cauliflower



Perfect for *spring* weather



Go Huskies!

The Huskies play Georgia tonight - everyone better be wearing their finest purple and gold!

 

In honor of the Huskies I ordered these amazing purple running shoes today.  Well more in honor of the fact that I need new Crossfit shoes but same difference! Check these out and try not to be jealous!

 

via Road Runner Sports

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you are all having a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!  The pictures from Dash were posted today and I was actually able to find a couple of our group. We're in a few on the pictures on the bottom of this page and the beginning of the next.  Check out Megan's post about the race!

Did you wear green today? Eat anything green? When I was going up my mom would make us all kinds of green food for St.Patrick's Day - green spaghetti, green dye in the milk, green bread, etc. So much fun!  I saw this green monster smoothie on Erika's blog and had to make it today because, obviously, it's green.  I was a little nervous about trying this but it was really tasty. I swear!  Maybe I'll add some blueberries next time?

High quality cell phone picture of my smoothie

Spaghetti Sqaush with Pesto

Spaghetti squash is in season right now and it makes a great substitute for pasta. There are tons of recipes online for both spaghetti squash and pesto but you can pretty much improvise, it's a lot more fun that way!



Raw ingredient



Basil becoming pesto



Finished!

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the spaghetti squash in half and scoop out the insides.  Place cut side down in a rimmed baking dish.  Add a about a half cup of water to the dish and bake for approximately 40 minutes. Once cooked rake out the insides of the squash with a fork to create 'spaghetti' strands.   For the pesto - I combined a package of Trader Joe's basil with 1/2 a package of Trader Joe's pine nuts in a food processor with some garlic cloves, olive oil and lemon juice.  Combine with spaghetti squash. Enjoy!

The Dash

The St Patrick's Day Dash was really fun! Actually a lot more fun then I thought it would be be.   I learned a few things:

• Races with costumes make for great conversation, we saw some amazing outfits
• Wear a hat if you're going to be out in the rain (this should have been obvious...)
• Sign up for a faster heat even if you're not planning on running very fast.  Going around all the walkers is pretty annoying!

Before we got rained on

Warrier Dash - Who's With Me?!

Have I even finished my first ever 5K? No.  Am I already thinking about the next race I want to do? Yes.  Running 3-4 miles seems kinda...boring...so who wants to run AND jump over fire, crawl through the mud and do some obstacles? While wearing a viking hat?! Could it possibly get any better?! Will someone please commit to doing Warrior Dash with me?! If you need any kind of convincing do a Google image search for Warrier Dash.  If you register by June 19th its only $50! Who's with me?!


via Crossfit West



Hard Core

Today at Crossfit the WOD was deadlifts, wall ball and ring dips.  Deadlifts are probably my favorite lift because a) you don't have to lift the bar over your head, b) you don't have to do a squat and c) you can load on the weight.   Even though I didn't go RX (just warning you - I will be extremely excited the day I can lift something heaver then my body weight more then once) I felt pretty hard core with my 20kg plates.  They're massive! You can only carry one at a time! Check out these chicks at the 2008 Crossfit Games, serious inspiration.

 Proper technique via Crossfit Legacy LLC



LA LA Land

I just got back from an amazing trip down to LA with the girls. Thanks to Kim for being such a wonderful host!  We lounged in the sun, ate a lot of delicious food and discovered Magnolia Bakery.  Unfortunately West Hollywood wanted a little souvenir and decided to keep my camera battery.  Sneaky! I'll have to settle for cell phone pictures for a few days until Amazon ships me a replacement.

We went to LA staple Toast for breakfast and I had to order the Shakshuka after reading the description - Exotic breakfast treat of a slow roasted tomato, peppers and garlic stew, topped with over medium eggs - delicious! Sold. Google tells me that this is a traditional Israeli dish, my guess would have been Italian except for the name. One of my favorite food websites, Smitten Kitchen was actually the first search result so I decided to follow their recipe.


Waiting for the eggs to cook

  

I wish my camera was working...

With  garlic-blasted broccoli

Shakshuka  [Eggs Poached in Spicy Tomato Sauce]

Inspired by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 4 tablespoons mild green chilies
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, diced (or more!)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 6 eggs
• Fresh, chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions:  Heat olive oil in a skillet (or a wok) over medium. Add chilies and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is soft, about 3 more minutes. Add diced tomatoes and their liquid to skillet, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Crack eggs over sauce so that eggs are evenly distributed across the surface of the sauce. Cover skillet and cook until yolks are just set, about 5 minutes (I skipped covering the skillet). Using a spoon, baste the whites of the eggs with tomato mixture, being careful not to disturb the yolk. Sprinkle the Shakshuka with parsley and serve.  Enjoy!

Is it summer yet?!

The weather in Seattle has really been getting to me - is it summer yet?!  Last year I did A LOT of barbecuing (and took pictures).  I found a great grilling cookbook, Weber's Charcoal Grilling and tried out a quite a few of the recipes. I'm considering doing my own Julie and Julia project and barbecuing my way through the grill book this summer. Who wants to come over for drinks on the deck with some BBQ? 

Beer Can Chicken!

Finished Product

Chicken Wings

Veggies and Steak

Go Seasonal!

Another one of my new year's resolutions was to start eating organic and so it's going okay...definitely harder then I thought it would be!  A big part of going organic is eating what's in season - the produce tends to be fresher AND cheaper.  Double win.

I'm a big fan of Whole9 - check out their post on 5 Reasons To Go Seasonal and their Seasonal Produce Guide.  I actually have this saved as a bookmark on my phone, it makes grocery shopping a lot easier.


What's in season right now:

Belgium Endive
Brussel Sprouts
Cauliflower
Collard Greens
Jicama
Kale
Squash - Acorn, Buttercup, Winter
Sweet Potatoes

Clementines
Dates
Grapefruit
Kiwi
Oranges
Passion Fruit
Pears
Pineapple
Pomegranate
Red Currants
Tangerines

Recipes to follow!  I've been making a lot of squash, cauliflower and sweet potatoes lately. Delish.

St Patrick's Days Dash

I think I'm one of the only people in Seattle that hasn't run in some kind of race.  What is everyone's obsession with running?! Why would you run outside in the cold disgusting rain when you could be nice and dry in the gym? Blah. Due to a stupid new year's resolution to try new things I'm crossing over to the running dark side.  I've signed up for this year's St Patricks Day Dash in the UNTIMED heat.  Maybe this will make me love running. Probably not but the costumes are sure fun!  I highly recommended Display and Costume,  they have tons of cheap race appropriate gear.