Happy Holidays!

 

I hope you all have a badass holiday!

 

Since it's the holidays... I've pretty much fallen off the Paleo Wagon. Like a bajillion people in the world, come New Years' will be a fresh new slate. Lots of good things are happening, which I'll definitely blog about here and at acerz.com!

 

Once the holidays stop making me so crazy, I'll have up some new trial-and-error recipes and whatnot.

 

Enjoy yourselves!

Lazy (Tuna) Cakes

 

So, I finally decided to open up my NomNomPaleo app and try out her Spicy Tuna Cakes. This was a fail. Let me tell you why.

1. I don't know what cilantro looks like
2. I don't like spicy
3. Didn't have a sweet potato that was big enough
4. Used 12 oz of tuna instead of the recommended 10 oz

With that being said, I made Lazy Tuna Cakes!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 large yam/sweet potato
• 12 oz can of tuna, drained
• 2 large eggs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of ghee, melted

Prep:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Poke your yam all over and nuke it for 5 minutes
• Let cool
• Coat your muffin pan/compartment things with ghee
• Drain your tuna and place in large bowl
• Once your yam is cooled, sliced in half and scoop out all of the guts that you can
• Mash it
• Carefully mix in with your tuna, but don't overwork... try to keep some tuna chunks
• Mix in your eggs
• Scoop about a tablespoon of the mix into the muffin pan compartments
• Press it down to pack it and flatten it
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

Boom.

 

Next time, I think I'll add some veggies (hahaha) and some bacon chunks. That would be delicious.

 

Bacon makes everything better. EVERYTHING.

 

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these for my good friend, Angela's 2nd Annual Cookie Exchange Party on Saturday 12/15/12.

 

The last time I made cookies, it was a complete fail. These... perfection! It ended up being a hit with everyone at home and at the party. Click here for the recipe. I was going to print out copies of the recipe, but just my luck... my printer at home was dead. So, I decided to post online instead :) I'm ridiculously addicted to these... I'm using all my willpower to not spend so much on almond flour for baking, and to chill with the sugar. But... so... good...

 

Click here for the recipe.

 

 

Click here for the recipe.

PaleYOLO: Cauliflower Rice

First things first.

 

I HATE CAULIFLOWER.

 

It tastes gross, it makes me poop a lot. Just. UGH.

 

But... I need to incorporate more veggies into my meals. So, with the help of my brother and my handy dandy food processor... We made some "rice."

 

I've been so hyped up on my Curried Meatballs... or not that I made another batch last night. Being Filipino, you know, or Asian... we love our rice.

 

Except me, not a rice person, although rice is necessary with certain dishes. Like this one.

 

On to the recipe:

 

Ingredients:

• Head of cauliflower
• 2 tablespoons of Ghee
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Prep:

• Slice the florets and section them
• In your food processor, pulse a couple times until you get that "rice" looking bits and pieces
• Remove "rice" to avoid making it into a "meal"... Yes. True story.
• If you don't have a food processor, happy chopping!
• In a deep pan or pot, melt 1 tablespoon of ghee
• Add cauliflower rice
• Add salt and pepper
• Stir
• Cover on low/medium heat for 5 minutes
• Stir
• Add 1 tablespoon of ghee
• Stir
• Cover for another 5 minutes

By the time you're done, the "rice" should be soft and flavorful.

 

Simple.

 

IF YOU OVER-PULSED....

...and created cauliflower "meal"... don't fret! Adding about 2-3 tablespoons to 2 eggs (whisk together of course) makes the eggs super fluffy :) Good alternative if you've used milk to fluff your eggs.

 

Voila!

 

Yum.

 

Curried Meatballs... or not with Cauliflower Rice :)

PaleYOLO: Dan's Untitled Chicken

I am so <3 with Dan. (Who is Dan? That's my boyfriend of 6.5+ years. Ew, right?)

 

Anyways, I got him some chicken thighs from Whole Foods and gave it to him on Sunday. He ate some good chorizo yesterday morning, to find that it wasn't good anymore, lol. I reminded him hard that... organic/fresh/paleo cooking will not last if not frozen due to the lack of preservatives. Poor thing, he learned the hard way.

 

He made this delicious concotion up.

 

 

This is what he used:

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of skinless and boneless chicken thighs from Whole Foods
• 1 x 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 8 oz of fresh mushrooms
• Salt and pepper to taste
• appoximately 2-3 cups of organic baby spinach
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cup of chicken broth

Prep:

• He chopped and pan fried the chicken in extra virgin olive oil until fully cooked
• Sauteed the spinach and mushroom in its natural moisture
• Finely diced the garlic cloves
• Added the tomato sauce and chicken broth and brought to a boil

Serves 2-3. It was absolutely yummy! And I'm so proud of him that he took it upon himself to start cooking paleo!

 

In my expert opinion (LOLOL jk), I would add about 12 oz (or 1 full can of that Thai Kitchen brand) of coconut milk to thicken the sauce, add more garlic and spinach. I think this would be GREAT with sweet potato hash. Dan isn't a fan of sweet potatoes but he's been open minded about it.

 

Definitely going to try this. When I (or he) perfects this recipe, I'll revise the measurements. I hope you enjoy!

 

 

CrossFit Ero: Paleo Challenge Prize #2

As per my website, acerz.com...

When Coach P mentioned she got another paleo challenge prize, it was evident that I was excited as hell. She gave it to me last night... here it is!

 

 

Oh, and guess what... it's signed! :)

 

 

I am definitely going to make use of this. I can't wait. But as Marilyn predicted, I probably will take a few weeks to actually look at it, as I did with the NomNomPaleo app.... woops.

 

Hooray for resources!

PaleYOLO: Curried Meatballs... or not.

As of late, my cheat days have been with Dan. So, when we were discussing what we were going to do for our Sunday night date night, he said, "do you want to have a paleo cooking night?"

I have a good man.

So, I decided to try PaleOMG's Curry Meatballs.

This is directly off her website:

Ingredients

 

For the balls

• 1 lb TX Bar Organics Grass Fed Ground Beef (I used ground turkey last time)
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• ⅔ cup almond flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• just a hint of cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil for cooking (or other fat you like to use)

For the saucey flare

• 1.5-2 cups canned coconut milk (the more the better)
• 1 cup organic chicken broth
• ½ onion, diced
• 5 teaspoons curry powder (based upon your curry obsession)
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ginger

Instructions

1. Add all ingredients for your meatballs to a larger bowl and thoroughly mix together.
2. Shape meatballs to the size you like. Mini meatballs or large ones are both acceptable!
3. In a large skillet or pot, add your coconut oil then add your meatballs and diced onions from your sauce ingredients and let them brown for a couple minutes. Let the meatballs cook on both sides for about 3-4 minutes.
4. Once the onions and meatballs have browned a bit, add the rest of the ingredients for your sauce and mix together until meatballs are covered in sauce.
5. Cover and let meatballs and sauce simmer until the sauce thickens and meatballs have cooked through–about 5 minutes.

 

My Variation:

• First off, I didn't know what the hell the garam masala is, so I left that ingredient out, lol
• I need to learn to read, because I forgot to add the salt and pepper to the meatballs
• Because I was lazy about the garam masala and the lack of flavor in the meatballs... Dan and I ended up improvising...
• We added about a teaspoon of sea salt and a 1.5 teaspoon of chili powder to the curry sauce
• Crush meatballs into bits and pieces
• PaleOMG's sauce was just yummy! It obviously doesn't look like hers, but I think I'm really digging my small variation :)
• I think if I put this atop some cauliflower rice, it'll be derricious.

Indian Food Fix = Curry Fix = Complete

 

Those meatballs look bomb... too bad it lacked flavor :(

Woo, in action. Check out dat gut.

 

Looks yummy, don't it? Ahem... remember to read ALL the ingredients, lol.

 

Because of my fail, this is our final variation. So SO yummy!



Snack: Apples and Almond Butter

 

It is what it is. I get the fresh almond butter from Whole Foods. If you go to the fresh dispensers, you can pack as much as you want! The machine poops it out! Enjoy!

CrossFit Ero featuring Cecilia!

As per my website post yesterday featuring Cecilia, acerz.com...


 

 

Check this out! My good friend, Cecilia, is featured on CrossFit Ero's website. Read her success story here. SO MANY GOOD THINGS HAPPENING!

CrossFit Ero: My Success Story

As per my website, acerz.com...

Yesterday morning, Coach D asked me to write my success story to be featured on the website. Here's what it looks like on CrossFit Ero and my page.

If you don't feel like going to the links, here's what was posted December 3, 2012:

 

Through junior high and high school, I’ve always had an athletic background, one being an avid softball player. Once college came, and working full time, my priorities changed. Gaining the Freshman 15 was more like the Freshman 50. Turning 21… we know how that is. Needless to say, I was not at my physical/mental best. Because of the rut I was in, my confidence and self-esteem followed.

I was diagnosed with PCOS and if things didn’t change, I would soon become diabetic. I calorie counted for months, spent hours at the gym with hardly any success. All that hard work and starvation simply made me frustrated.

One day, after an amazing cruise vacation and scrolling through pictures, enough was enough. After seeing my brother’s transformation after 6 months of CrossFit, I finally gathered the courage and decided to try a class at CrossFit Ero. My brother always told me, “The hardest part is getting there.” Honestly, I never exerted myself that hard before. And you know what? It was AWESOME.

I joined the Ero family on June 19, 2012. It has been almost 6 months, and I still get the mini anxiety attacks when I see the WODs, but not only does my brother’s words still get me there… it’s the support group I have. My family, the new friends I’ve made and the amazing coaches at Ero.

Thank you to my coaches and comrades for pushing me, especially to Coach Doug for seeing my potential and never letting me fail.

I’m proud to call Ero mine.

 I hope my story inspires you to take chances and believe in a better you.

PaleYOLO: Steak and Potatoes

I've been really slacking off with cooking and eating super clean ever since the paleo challenge ended, and through Thanksgiving. I've been pretty much paleo during the week and my grub days are on weekends. My friend, Cecilia and I tried having our own little independent paleo challenge but we're both failing... miserably. So we agreed to be as paleo as possible through the holidays and come New Year's... back to Whole 30. Gotta get rid of that holiday weight gain!

 

This is what I made last night for lunch.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of ribeye steak (Sprouts, $10)
• Minced garlic, or garlic powder (to taste)
• Rosemary (to taste)
• Sea salt (to taste)

Prep:

• Coat steak with seasonings
• Heat 1 tablespoon of ghee on a frying pan on high heat
• Fry for about 3 minutes (for medium rare, my favorite!)

BOOM.

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, chopped into matchsticks
• 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil
• Sea salt

Prep:

• Heat coconut oil over medium heat in a frying pan
• Place sweet potato matchsticks in the pan
• Flip fries and feel for tenderness, cook until desired texture (I like mine a little crunchy/soggy, so it took about a total of 15 minutes)
• Line a sieve with paper towel and place fries to drain excess coconut oil
• Add sea salt (to taste)

BOOM again.

I definitely prefer these fried fries better than the baked fries I've made. It was quick, and easy. Definitely my go-to instead of spending $40 at a restaurant.

Finally, add your veggies. Unfortunately, I forgot to get broccoli during yesterday's grocery run :(

All I'd need to top off this steak is a glass of red wine. Mmmm... Enjoy!

Crossfit Ero's Paleo Challenge Prize

As per my blog, acerz.com...

I went to Open Gym for the first time yesterday. I was practicing an array of movements, which resulted in hitting a new back squat PR (personal record)... my last PR was 215 lbs. Yesterday, I hit 230 lbs! I got to practice my cleans, snatches, overhead squats and climbed the fat ass rope. After a successful 2 hour session of socializing and working out, Coach D came and gave me my Paleo Challenge prize...
 

Adipower Olympic Weightlifting Shoes. BAWSSSEEE.

Oh no I didn't!

I've been full on Paleo for three days. I used to experience a lot of fatigue because of the lack of carbs but I think my body is getting used to it. For three days I laid off of coffee, anything non-Paleo, slept adequately, and increased the amount of food I ate. So this means at every meal I forced myself to sit down and eat... A LOT. I did what Stacy told me to do, I ate until I was full. It was even my brother's birthday and I passed up on all the food (minus the fresh fruit)

If you know my brother then you know HE THROWS DOWN WHEN HE COOKS! I seriously can't believe I passed up on the food. EVEN THE DESSERT! & I love me some dessert. (It was his take on miniature banana cream pies & cookies) I ended up eating some Butternut Squash Soup, Turkey Meatballs, Roasted Squash and a banana and honeydew for dessert.

YAY ME!

But today I failed. I drank coffee (I added almond milk and truvia to it) and I ate at.... DUN DUN DUN...... Olive Garden. Every entree had carbs. That's Breadsticks (carbs), Zuppa Tuscana Soup (potatoes = carbs), Pasta (carbs) & Zepolli (sugar coated carbs goodness).

The crazy part was that I prior to inhaling these carbs I was talking to my cousin about how much different I feel eating Paleo. For example, I usually have really bad allergies that I thought were "pollen induced" and I end up blowing my nose which sounds similar to an elephant blowing its trunk. NO LIE it really does sound like that. When I eat Paleo, I do not blow my nose like an elephant. My acne also clears up and I stop feeling bloated. I need to work on building better Paleo habits though.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day so I'll consider today my cheat day for the week and then full on Paleo next week.