New Finds at the Green City Market

Chicken Livers and Pork Rinds!

pork rinds!

(First, I realize it has been FOREVER since we've posted - since our last post we have gotten engaged and married, and finally life is settling back down a bit)

Now, back to chicken livers and pork rinds, which are my new favorite items to pick up at the farmers market.  I think the chicken livers have always been around, I just didn't know to ask for them.  But, I'm pretty sure the pork rinds are new - and they are so tasty!

Meadow Haven Farm, which I have mentioned before, is where I got the chicken livers - from happy pastured chickens.  I can't help but hear all the hype about organ meats and wanted to find some way to incorporate them more into our meals.  Well, I tried Balanced Bites chicken liver pate recipe, and it is dee-lish!  Seriously way better than I thought chicken livers could be - I brought a big batch of pate on a camping trip and everyone devoured it.  Ok, maybe it was mostly me that devoured it, but a lot of other people helped.  I just bought two more pounds of chicken livers, so I may have created an addiction for myself. 

Now, pork rinds - seriously such a crackly, yummy little treat.  The company serving these up is Cookies and Carnitas and they use Becker Lane organic farm pork to do it.  They also serve porchetta sandwiches, which I have not tried and seem to be the more popular item, but the pork rinds are an awesome Saturday treat.  I actually bought two little bags, planning to serve them when we had friends over for a cook out.  I completely forgot to take them out of their hiding place in the cupboard and after everyone left realized we have 2 bags of pork rinds to ourselves!  Although disappointed that I couldn't share my little pork treasures, I was also secretly happy to have them all to myself!

Thoughts on Paleo Magazine

Initially I wasn't sold on the idea.  As a matter of fact, I felt fairly confident that a magazine dedicated solely to paleo wouldn't last.  The amount of paleo info out there is abundant.  There's blogs galore, and even a handful of books out there now, and there's more on the way.  Why would I want to pay $6 a pop for info I already have in a book, or can find easily on the interwebs?  And what is a magazine anyway, but a couple decent articles, a few nice pictures, and a ton of ads.  Nope - Paleo Magazine is not for me...

That is until Stacey pointed it out to me on the checkout stand at Whole Foods!  Can you imagine?  The word "Paleo" big and bold among all the other typical periodicals.  It took a whole 2 seconds before I exclaimed "Let's get one!"  Part of me was curious to check it out, and part of me really just wanted to support the cause.

Overall, I'm most excited to see the magazine at Whole Foods.  I looked around and have to assume that over a thousand  people are in and out of our particular Whole Foods everyday.  Sure, probably half won't even see the magazine on the stand, and even less of those that do see it will pick it up to check it out, but the name is up there, big and bold.  Eventually, people are going to want to see what this whole paleo thing is all about.

But what about the magazine?  Does it hold up against all the blogs I already follow?  Sure.  I like it well enough.  It's kinda nice to not have to sift through dozens (to hundreds when I've been lazy and need to catch up) of blogs on my reader for ones I want to read.  The convenience of the magazine is that ideally, all of the best articles are located in the same place.  It's questionable that most of the articles in the magazine are written by bloggers that I already follow and read on a consistent basis, so I can't imagine the content is going to blow me away very often.  Although, I'm happy to pay my $6 at Whole Foods to support the magazine.  I like seeing it at Whole Foods, and want to see it succeed.

Everybody's Doing It...

A lot of people are doing it.  I feel like I often read about people who are just beginning it.  On occasion, I have heard people cursing it.  And now, we are doing it too – a Whole30!

We are not new to challenges, back in February we completed our own 45 day paleo challenge.  The primary differences between our challenge and the Whole30 are that we included gluten-free alcohol and paleo substitutes (like ‘paleo pancakes’) on our list of acceptable foods.  These are foods that are not acceptable for the Whole30, which we are sticking to 100%!

Today is Day 14 of our Whole30 and so far so good! 

A few things about the Whole30 that make me smile:

• I’m creating complete menu plans again, meaning I plan and try new recipes and everything tastes wonderful – and there are delicious leftovers for lunch!
• I feel good, real good.  I am going to sleep early and waking up with lots of energy.
• I feel leaner, that makes me happy.
• Everyone around me at work is sick, I am not.

A few things that are challenging me:

• I miss my occasional glass of wine.
• I am realizing how most of our social gatherings focus on food and drink, and when I can’t have the food, I would normally at least have a drink – now I can’t have either and don’t know what to do.
• We have eliminated our occasional cup of decaf coffee, I miss it.

Overall though, it feels great and I'm happy to be getting back to the basics!  Now I just hope that we don't get in trouble when we go to the bar to meet friends to watch football and only order waters.

Our Guide to the Green City Market

This summer we have finally taken advantage of our close proximity and become regulars at our farmer’s market, The Green City Market.  It took a few visits, but we now have our favorite stands that we frequent every week, which provides us with consistently high quality foods at fair prices.

Meat

We sampled meats from ground beef to lamb to bacon, as well as eggs, from all the farmers providing grass-fed/pastured animals.  Our favorite turned out to be Meadowhaven Farms.  They have a great selection, good prices and are pretty nice too.  They also offer the crossfit meat box, which we have been loving!

Veggies

I am easily overwhelmed, especially at the farmer’s market.  It is always busy and there are so many different things to look at and consider – and there is the smell of baked goods driving me to distraction.  Anyway, when I don’t know what veggies to buy, or haven’t properly menu planned – I dive into the Green Acres stand and load up on greens.  They have a huge variety of leafy greens; all types of kale, chard, collards, lambs quarters, bok choy…everything!



Majestic Farm pick your pint tomatoes



Green Acres leafy greens



I’ve also been loving the make your own pint cherry tomatoes from Majestic Nursery – the dark orange ones are my favorite.

Fruit

The Flamin’ Fury Peaches people get me every time.  They sit there in their bright shiny stand right at the entrance to the market, forcing there samples on me – their super ripe and sweet samples – and I inevitably end up buying something.  I’ve tried their peaches and various berries, all pretty good. 

Dairy

We generally do not eat dairy.  It was actually finding this grass-fed butter from Nordic Creamery that led us to introduce it back into our diet in the first place, and all has been well.  Have not noticed any adverse side effects from either their butter or on a very rare occasion, goat cheese.  I mainly like to use the butter for frying eggs – and the occasional goat cheese crumbled in a salad, hmmm – now I’m hungry.

And of course, I always find it near impossible to leave the market without buying some fresh cut flowers...so many to choose from!



Tuberose, my favorite - smells like heaven



Best BBQ Rub Ever

This rub is so good, Stacey caught me licking it off the spatula while grilling.  It's perfect.  It's spicy and tangy and works with just about anything.  I've put it on burgers, fish, and so far it's my favorite on pork chops.  It's no wonder that it's called Magic Dust.  We found the recipe here, and we're glad we did.  Their note at the bottom of the page is right, it keeps well, but it won't last long.  You'll want to put it on everything!

Magic Dust

• 4 tbsp paprika
• 2 tbsp kosher salt, finely ground
• 1 tbsp mustard powder
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp granulated garlic
• 1 tbsp cayenne
• (2 tbsp sugar) we omit the sugar, but it's in the original recipe

Here it is on Swordfish, with a side of Japanese Yams (topped with coconut oil) and grilled okra:

The Meadowhaven Crossfit Box

MEAT!

Sometime mid-Summer while we were ordering an absurd amount of grass fed beef, and pork from the guys at Meadowhaven Farm at the Green City Market, they looked at the amount of food we were buying and asked us if we'd heard of their Crossfit Box.  We had, but we weren't quite ready to spend $200 at one time.  A few weeks ago we gave it a try, and found it to be a pretty decent deal.  We had enough meat to last us about 2 and a half weeks.  High quality, grass-fed, delicious meat.  This weekend we bought the Crossfit Box #2, which has more pork than the Crossfit Box #1.

It seems so much easier to meal plan when we know we have a steady stream of quality meat coming out of our fridge.  Plus, our trips to Whole Foods seem that much less expensive!

Crossfit Box #1

• 10lbs. Ground Beef
• 2 Beef Roasts
• 4 Whole Chickens
• 1 Package of Leg Quarters
• 1 Package of Wings
• 2 Packages of Bacon
• 4 Various Ground Pork Products
• 2 Packages of Pork Chops or Steaks

Crossfit Box #2

• 10lbs. of Ground Beef
• 1 Beef Roast
• 2lbs. of Stew Meat
• 1 Package of Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 1 Package of Leg Quarters
• 1 Package of Wings
• 3 Packages of Bacon
• 2 Packages of Pork Chops or Steaks
• 1 Pork Roast
• 4 Various Ground Pork Products

Make Your Own Coconut Butter!

Coconut Butter - It's SO Good

Coconut butter, also called coconut creme concentrate, is one of those amazing foods I only discovered after beginning to eat a paleo style diet...and I LOVE it!!!  I mean, really - it is so good, SO good. 

I've tried a couple different brands, both are good and neither is cheap:

• Artisana Coconut Butter - It's organic, it's delicious and it has been my preferred brand, at about $10 per 16 oz jar at Whole Foods
• Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate - also organic and delicous, but only available by mail (not good for instant cravings) and a bit pricier at $18 per 16 oz jar. Although Tropical Traditions is the master of the two for one sale and discounts in general, they always seem to be having some type of 'get it now!' sale.
• Let's Do Organic Creamed Coconut - available at Whole Foods, this coconut cream comes in smaller plastic packages.  It is tasty, but I don't like the texture as much as the Artisana version.  It would be convenient for travel though and it is less expensive.

How to Make Your Own

This is ridiculously easy, why I didn't try this sooner - I have no idea.  Simply throw some organic coconut flakes, I used Tropical Traditions coconut flakes, into your food processesor and let it go.  I let the processesor run for 3 minutes at a time, stopped, scrapped down (and let it cool down) and ran it for about 4 of those intervals.  You will definitely notice the point it goes from really fine shreds to a more buttery liquid type of consistency.  The result was amazingly similar to the commerically produced items and will definitely work for my favorite guilt free blueberry and coconut dessert!

Paleo Restaurant Review: Adobo Grill

Adobo Grill, I never knew...

We discovered another paleo friendly restaurant in our neighborhood!  The funny thing is, we had been here several times before but just recently learned they have a gluten-free menu option.  It makes me sad to think of all the guacamole I missed out on thinking the only vehicle option was tortilla chips.  But on the GF menu they offer jicama chips with their guac - so good!

As with any gluten-free menu, you still need to be aware that there are many dishes paired with beans and corn.  A side of beans are an easy one to request be omitted from a dish, but sometimes corn is too much of the dish - no duck tamales for me.

We did enjoy the guacamole with jicama chips, a trio of ceviches (served with plantain chips), flank steak and the achiote roast pork - all delicious.  I caved and also enjoyed an Adobo Margarita, the most un-paleo part of the meal - but also the least sugar infused of any of their margaritas!

Overall this was really an excellent and nearly guilt-free paleo meal out.  Definitely recommended!

Paleo Camping

I don't camp often, but every time I do I can't seem to shut up about how much I love camping, and how I'm going to do it so much more often.  Well, our camping trip up to Mirror Lake Wisconsin last weekend was no different.  A few highlights:

• We lucked out and found a window of perfect weather in between a lot of Summer rain.
• We officially went for our first hike in our Vibram FiveFingers.
• We wore our Vibram FiveFingers too much over a 2 day span and had to tie them up in a trash bag coming home because they reeked! (I even wore socks in them all weekend, but the repeated dry to damp to dry to damp without taking them off was enough to stink 'em up)
• We can grill meats to perfection even without a spotless new grill (our fire pit grill grate was pretty run down).
• Last but most certainly not least, mosquitoes love paleo blood and we were feasted on!

The two of us left Mirror Lake with no less than 100 little mosquito bites, mostly around our ankles.  Despite the annoying bugs, I loved camping, I had so much fun, I will go camping more often.  For real this time.

Still lake during early morning hike

mosquito bite massacre

Menu for Pleasing Your Non-Paleo Dinner Guests

Ryan and I had my parents over for dinner recently.  My parents do not follow a paleo diet.  They tend to think we have a very 'restrictive' way of eating.  Sadly, I think this is my fault due to how I first described this wonderful new way of eating I was exploring.  Starting out by telling someone what you don't eat is not the way to go, now I usually tell people I eat whole foods, basically plants and animals, without getting into the nitty gritty of why I don't eat grains, corn, beans, etc.  If someone is that interested and asks, I'm happy to explain - but describing what we don't eat is not a good way to casually describe paleo to someone.

So, now that my parents have an invitation to dinner at our place, I can tell they are worried about what we will feed them.  Silly parents.  Here is the pretty fool-proof menu, with some minor indulgences, that will keep you paleo and please the masses...

Apps
Guacamole
Veggies
Root vegetable chips

Dinner
Grilled grass-fed rib-eye steaks sprinkled with sea salt and pepper
Grilled asparagus
Baked sweet potatoes (not a staple for us, but this type of dinner is the perfect time to indulge) with pastured butter

Dessert
Brownie Sundaes

Yes, brownie sundaes.  How is that paleo you ask?  By combining this great paleo brownie recipe I found on dessertstalker, with some vanilla Coconut Bliss ice cream (not the best, home made would be better, but suitable for us in a pinch) and fresh raspberries, blackberries and blueberries...It was a hit, even for the non-paleo parents!

At the end of this meal, I mentioned to my parents that everything they had eaten was paleo, they were very surprised, possibly disbelieving.  Maybe if I keep feeding them awesome meals, I can bring them over to the paleo side!

Remember Pizza?

Blasphemy!

Chicago style deep dish, just doesn't
have the same appeal anymore

We live in Chicago and haven’t had pizza in over 6 months.  With no less than 10 restaurants we can get pizza from within walking distance of our apartment, we must be crazy, right?  For delivery you can make that close to 20 - easy.  All the access to the best pizza in the world and we abstain.  Crazy, right?

 

Possibly, but oddly enough, we don’t miss it and we don’t crave it.  Oh, it smells damn good if we catch a whiff of pepperoni/cheese/baked bread, but at this point we know it’s not worth it and our palates have evolved to better enjoy the real foods that make up a paleo diet.

This is why I’m convinced we broke our pizza-free streak more out of sheer curiosity and nostalgia than actual craving.  No, we didn’t go crazy and crush a deep dish from Lou Malnati’s, we tried out the gluten free pizza from Marcello’s.  Located steps from our front door, we are subjected to a banner advertising their gluten free pizza, and we finally decided to try it.  What would it be like?  Could this be a new cheat option?  Well here’s how it went:

We arrived to pick up our pizza and the very friendly guy behind the counter asked if we were the “medium pizza with olives, pepperoni, and mushrooms.”  I then had a freak out moment when I realized he didn’t say gluten free.  I told him we were there for a gluten free pizza of the same make.  He said, “yes, of course this is it.”  I then freaked out the entire walk home when the receipt didn’t specify gluten free either.  We got home, and I immediately took a small nibble and decided that you could tell the crust was gluten free, it was not 'normal'.  We then proceeded to finish the entire thing.  Presumably made with some sort of rice flour blend, it was good.  Not great, not mind blowing, but good.  And that’s it.  Good.  In our humble assessment, definitely not good enough to consume on a regular basis.  Stacey mentioned that she never has to try it again.  I agreed.  Pizza is officially out of our systems.  There are better options…

Ultimately the best option is to stay paleo.  We’ve tried the faux pizza recipe in the Everyday Paleo Cookbook and loved it.  It provided just enough of the pizza flavor to give you a little nostalgia, with none of the bad stuff.  It’s a nice treat you can have if you’re a pizza fiend and have a nasty craving.  If you’re hankering for a big old slice of pizza, just put in the time and make the Everyday Paleo pizza, stay sane, stay healthy and stay happy!

It's Peach Season - Time for Peach Paleo Ice Cream!

The Peaches are Here!

Bruised and imperfect
peaches

I always enjoy watching the offerings at the farmers market change throughout the season.  I get sad when the asparagus stops showing up on the market tables.  But I get extremely happy when the peaches start showing up!  And that is what happened today - peaches are here!

I am always looking for a bargain, and when I saw quarts of discounted bruised peaches, I knew they would be mine.  Perfect for making peach ice cream!

Peach Paleo Ice Cream

Peach Ice Cream
Here is my super simple paleo peach ice cream recipe

6 ripe peaches, peeled and chopped
1 can of coconut milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 pour of Grand Marnier (optional)

• Puree peaches in your blender, add coconut milk and blend again
• Add cinnamon, vanilla and optional Grand Marnier*
• Blend it all up and pour into your ice cream maker

* The Grand Marnier should help keep your ice cream from freezing rock solid

You could make this sweeter by adding in a bit of honey, but with really ripe peaches I think it is sweet enough without any added sugar.  Enjoy!

Mark Sisson, get out of my head!

Why is it that every time something new comes up for Ryan and I – tracking our paleo costs, waking up groggy, trying intermittent fasting, our first paleo camping trip, Mark Sisson immediately writes a blog about it?  I appreciate the focused and personal attention from Mr. Sisson – it is like he is answering my questions before they are even asked.  Although, I am a little freaked out about how he knows what I am thinking all the time. 

Is this a paleo side effect I have yet to experience?  Can I somehow achieve this talent and refocus it to win the lottery? 

I guess it is normal that a group of people with similar interests will be thinking about similar things and sharing that information.  But the timing is just amazing!  Understand, I am not complaining about this – just marveling at it, and will now rely on Mark Sisson to provide timely updates to all my unanswered primal/paleo questions.  Thank you Mark!

Our "Go To" Paleo Dinner Recipe

Why You Need a "Go To" Dinner Recipe

No matter how much planning I do; creating menu plans for the week, shopping lists by the day and lunch prep plans for the night before - sometimes the plan just doesn't work out.  Sometimes, what I have planned just doesn't sound appealing at the moment.  And sometimes, the day has just gotten away from me and I must eat immediately or bad things are going to happen.  So those are the times when I turn to our "go to" dinner recipe. 

Essentials of a "Go To" Dinner Recipe

Tasty - something that you are actually excited to eat
Fast- simple to prepare and ready to eat soon
Flexible - something basic that you can add ingredients to depending on what you have on hand
Scalable - sometimes I just want to make enough to feed myself right now, and sometimes I want to make enough that lunch is all ready to go for the next day

I would add that it shouldn't even be considered a 'recipe' because it is just that easy:

Curried Beef in Coconut Milk
Grass fed ground beef (typically make 2 lbs if planning on any leftovers)
Coconut milk - 1 cup per pound of beef
Curry powder - 1 Tbsp per pound of beef

Curry Beef w/ wild spinach
turned into breakfast
by adding eggs

Brown meat, stir in curry powder and then add coconut milk, bring to a simmer.  Serve in bowls - better for slurping it all up, Enjoy!

Variations:  I've added sauteed onions with kale/collard greens/spinach, etc.  I'm sure there are other veggies that would work just as well.  

What's your go to dinner recipe?

Paleo Restaurant Review: Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House

It took a few years, but I finally took Stacey out to Hugo's Frog Bar & Fish House.

A few years ago, I don't even remember why, I agreed to take Stacey out to Hugo's Frog Bar for dinner.  She must have spotted me for dinner or something, but I promised dinner at Hugo's once I found a job...okay, once I got my first paycheck from a job.  I've been in and out of part-time jobs the past few years, but am now finally gainfully employed and Hugo's was the first treat on the list.

Not only a great restaurant to celebrate something, Hugo's is a great restaurant for a couple paleo dieters to celebrate something.  Not only do they offer a host of deliciously fresh seafood, but because it shares a kitchen with Gibson's Steakhouse, you can also order anything off the Gibson's menu as well.  Translation:  surf & turf headquarters.  Before I get into what we ordered, I have to point out that this is most likely a spot to head to for special occasions because it is very pricey.  The service and food are top notch, so it's a safe bet for a celebration if you're willing to burn a little cash.

Appetizers:  We were told that the escargot here are amazing, but I was a little more curious about the Frog's Legs, so we ordered those.  The frog's legs were seasoned and sauteed, and came in little pairs.  Both legs still attached to each other.  As expected they tasted a bit like chicken, but Stacey pointed out they are sort of in between chicken and fish.  I agree with that assessment, but would lean much closer to the chicken side than the fish side.  It felt as if they might possibly be a little breaded, but I didn't feel congested after the meal, so if there was it was minimal.

Soup or Salad (included with purchase of entree):  We both ordered the Lobster Bisque.  Delicious, creamy and served with a giant spoon, it was difficult not to eat the bowl of soup too fast.  We both had to force ourselves to set the spoon down in between bites so we could enjoy it longer.

Entrees:  Stacey ordered the Baked Cod which comes topped with king crab meat.  I'm inclined to think that anything topped with crab is going to be good, but this was great.  I know because the portions are so large, Stacey asked me to finish it.  Bonus!  I ordered the Grilled Copper River Salmon, which our server told us was fresh caught and only available one week out of the year.  Now I like salmon as much as the next guy, but this was the best salmon I've ever had.  It was seared perfectly and put to rest on a bed of grilled asparagus.

Dessert:  Now that we're paleo, we don't eat as many desserts when dining out, but since we were celebrating we figured what the heck.  Dessert included a little debate.  The first time I'd come here I had the key lime pie because I'm a fiend for a good key lime pie.  The key lime pie at Hugo's is not like any other you'll ever see because it's hidden under an obscene 7-8 inch high meringue.  So much meringue that you'll  have to knock most of it off.  Like I said, I'm a huge fan of key lime pies, so I loved it, while the others simply just enjoyed it.  Our debate was whether to order the key lime pie or the creme brulee, which was also recommended to us by a friend.  The deciding factor was gluten.  Creme brulee is gluten free, and key lime pie isn't (unless you make your own).  Our portion of creme brulee was also obscene.  I'm sure it could satisfy a table of 4-5 easily, so it was no surprise that our stomachs were rumbling and bloated the entire walk home after we finished the entire thing.  Another example of what we consider the perfect cheat dessert.  Gluten free to remove some of the guilt, and tasty enough to where you won't regret it.

Drink:  Splurging we ordered one of their cheaper bottles of pinot noir, which was smooth and paired well with everything we ordered.  Concannon '09.

Price:  Using a $25 off coupon from restaurant.com, the total bill came out to just over $100.  Way too much for a regular night out, but for a special occasion it could definitely be a lot worse.

Assessment:  we stayed mostly paleo, left stuffed, and supremely satisfied.  We highly recommend Hugo's Frog Bar to anyone who's willing to spend the money.  It's definitely a treat.

Beach Sprints

We did it, we sprinted on the beach and it was glorious.

…glorious until I pulled my hamstring that is.  Another incredibly frustrating and stifling injury.

But back to the good stuff.  The few sprints that we did get in were so much fun.  Liberating even.  I haven’t set out to just do sprints since basketball conditioning back in college.  I have to admit I was somewhat reticent about returning to them.  Sprinting for conditioning was never fun, as a matter of fact, quite the opposite.  I love to run, but somehow my coaches/trainers were able to suck the fun out of it and transform running into a form of torture.  None-the-less, Stacey and I jogged down to North Ave Beach and set up to do a set of sprints.  10 to be precise.

The boardwalk was packed with walkers, joggers, rollerbladers and bikers, but the sand was empty.  Too early for crowds to start amassing, we were able to share the entire beach with a couple walking their dog, and a man meditating.  The solitary nature of meditation and the transitory nature of walking a dog, I can safely say that we had the beach to ourselves.  Not that we needed all that beach, but it was nice to know that it was there.  With the masses flowing up and down the boardwalk, I got a slight feeling of pride.  Proud to not be on the crowded boardwalk, trotting along with the others.  I was going to get a real workout;  faster and better.  And with nobody else on the beach, I kind of felt like we were on display.  In my mind, I was putting on a show for the joggers, showing them the way.

So there we were, on the beach ready to sprint.  We settled on a short distance of about 50 yards – and were going to do 10 sprints in total.  Nothing too crazy.  The distance felt a little short, and when my hammy recovers, I want to try to do longer sprints.  Not having sprinted in a long time, the first sprint felt a bit odd.  Re-learning how my body works.  The rest of the sprints until my injury felt amazing.  Cutting through the wind, I felt like I was flying.  Stacey, who doesn’t consider herself to be fast, said that she felt fast.  Definitely a lot more fun than the traditional few mile jog.

We both started sprinting with our Vibram Fivefingers on, but agreed that it felt way better to just go it truly barefoot.  Feeling the sand in between my toes was great and also liberating.  Then I pulled my hamstring and my elation ended.  The whole walk home, I ranted and raved.  I raved about how much fun it was to do beach sprints, and I ranted about how frustrating injuries are.  I effectively caught the “I want to do beach sprints every week” bug, and put myself in a place where I won’t be able to do beach sprints for 4-8 weeks, safely. 

So learn from my mistakes:

1. Don’t be afraid to [insert tough workout here] because it was too grueling in the past.  It can be fun when you do it on your own terms.  Hard work can be fun sometimes too.
2. Make sure you’re warm before you fully exert yourself.  Stacey and I both jogged about a mile and completed a series of stretches before sprinting, and this wasn’t enough.  Because I hadn’t sprinted in so long, my body wasn’t ready for it.  Before you go full bore, do a few runs at 70-80%, then perhaps a few at 90%.  Ease into it.
3. Don't do beach sprints too close to the gentleman meditating.  If he feels disturbed at all, he can shoot your hamstring down with his mind-bullets!

We Got a Grill - Finally!

Oh, joyful day!  We can grill!

Being able to grill may not seem like a luxury if you live in a house with a yard and the standard backyard patio/BBQ set up.  But having lived in an apartment with no outdoor space for the past 15 months, being able to grill is like a whole new world of cooking has become available.  We just moved into a new apartment with a small balcony, the perfect size for a grill and two chairs.  The first thing we did (not literally, but very close to it) was count up 15 months of accumulated change and head down to Home Depot to purchase a grill. 

Fun facts about our new grill:
1.  I love it
2.  It only took Ryan an hour to put it together (not including the brief break for lunch, since hunger was impairing ability to assemble)
3.  There is only one leftover part after finishing assembly, Ryan has convinced me it's just an 'extra' bolt

So many grilling benefits!

Ryan rocking the grill on the 4th



Grilling seems to necessitate gathering people together to eat meats (perfect!) - or maybe it was because this past weekend is all about the cookout - we bought a lot of meat, grilled a lot of meat and got to spend time with friends we haven't seen in awhile.

I'm also liking the grill option for a quick, easy, clean and non-hot kitchen meal option.  Throw asparagus and pork chops on grill, eat 10 minutes later, clean 2 plates - perfect!



And now I can try all those grilling recipes/ideas I've been ignoring.  Here are a few I am interested in checking out...

• Grilled Peaches
• BBQ Lamb Ribs w/ Whole9 Coffee Rub
• Pinchos Morunos



I want this - treadmill desk!

Treadmill desk from CNN article

I wonder how long it will take for more companies to try out alternative desk options?
Once I get a treadmill desk, will it be too much to ask to go barefoot too?

Oh, employment - you allow me to feed myself with delicious, nutritious foods while slowly shortening my hamstrings while sitting at this desk.

I think a standing or treadmill desk would improve my work satisfaction at least 50%, if not more.  What would improve yours?

Fish Oils - we may have tried them all!

While cleaning out our desk in preparation for moving, Ryan ran across our fish oil bottle stash.  There was a time when we were planning to review the different brands by cost and content.  But I am not convinced there is much of a difference among these, at least none that I have personally noticed.  I did find this picture amusing though.  And no, the bottles are not moving with us.

We Did It! 100 Days Without Caffeine

Actually, we’re now a few days past 100, and still no caffeine.

It’s funny.  A few weeks into our challenge, I would’ve stabbed someone for a cup of coffee.  I immediately planned to drink a cup of decaf on day 101, but as time passed, so have my cravings.  Halfway through our challenge, neither of us really had any cravings.  Sure the occasional smell of coffee would elicit some desire for a cup of Joe, but I've gotten to a point where a whiff of coffee doesn't even evoke a response (not all the time, but it’s happened).  We’ve agreed that drinking caffeinated coffee is unnecessary to our lives and the benefits do not outweigh the consequences.  However, we do plan to add decaffeinated coffee back into the mix.  Sure it still has caffeine in it, but fairly small amounts and if consumed in moderation we’ll be okay.  The only question will be once we begin to drink decaf, will the coffee cravings come back?  Will I freak out and go into a crazed, coffee-seeking conniption when I catch a whiff of some deliciously strong coffee?  Will I begin to drink more and more decaf until I’m consuming several cups a day equaling the caffeine of normal coffee?

No.  Unlikely.  Since going paleo and then taking it even further by completing our 45-day challenge, I’ve noticed a change.  My willpower is much stronger than it used to be.  I can now hang out in a room full of people gorging on cake and cookies and not even take a bite.  Even more impressive, is that I’ve proven that I can have a bite (if the situation warrants it), and not take a second, or third, or hey what the heck, why not just finish the damn thing.  Yeah, that was Ryan circa 2 years ago.  Stacey’s seen it, and it aint pretty.  Today, I’m a little better.  So going forward, a little decaffeinated coffee will be a nice treat.  No need to freak out.