Happy New Year!!!!

I want to wish everyone a HEALTHY, HAPPY and LOVE Filled 2009.

May your days be filled with peace, joy and sunshine ;-)

Bread and Jim Carey in Liar Liar

What you say??? Bread?
Yes, every now and then I crave a piece of slightly burnt toast. Made in the form of some type of sandwich. Lately I've been kicking my ass in the gym and it gets me real hungry. The moment I just typed that I smiled and thought of Jim Carey in Liar Liar. I really really enjoyed that movie (especially when he's kicking his own ass. Here are a few takes for your enjoyment). So this morning I had a little sandwich as my breakfast. Toast with some avocado, scallion and thinly sliced left over flank steak (from my camping trip)
This is the bread I use when the urge hits me. It's a millet flour and flax bread;

















Maybe you can make out the ingredients

How easy it is to throw together a quick lunch;

Red leaf lettuce, avocado, evoo, turkey, a slice of salami, a few olives and black berries.I know that this does not look like a lot of food, but with all the fat it is nice and calorie dense. And leaves you very satisfied.

Some pistachios for work when I get a snack attack around 4

Have a great day!

Grilling Parilla style

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday week filled with love, joy,laughter family and friends.

Grilling parilla style. This is a classic way of grilling used in Argentina and also Brazil. It involves having your meat NOT directly over the fire and your grill slate/rack slanted at an angle.

I went camping for a night so had a chance to make a nice outside fire. Part of the fire pit/ring was for my wood charcoal....smoldering embers and grilling. Some music, a few cold beers, what could be better right?

As you can see I even had some Xmas lights going.

Now I would have loved to share the mouthwatering pictures of my slow cooked marinated flank steak, chicken and beef short ribs (it took about 90 minutes of indirect heat outdoor grilling and smoking) but unfortunately the pictures came out to dark. One little trick that my Argentinian friend at work shared with me was to put some liquid smoke on the wood charcoal. His advice was SPOT ON. Everything tasted outrages.

Enjoy the day.....and I will do this again and some how snap a few shots.

Holiday choices and Friends

You will be seeing a lot of this;

And this;

Try and not give in to these treat tables. But if you do.......

Take your time choosing a sample. This will slow down your impulses. Examine every treat and then consciously say; I'll try this one. Savor it, enjoy it and leave the table.

Eggs with some shredded salami and a tiny bit of pepper. You just need a little bit to flavor a small dish like this. All I used was the very tip of the pepper. A little bit of fresh squeezed red grapefruit juice. Very delicious and primal in the sense that I just squeeze it with my hands ;-)

I'm a slacker but I finally added new links on the right. Most of you probably are all ready familiar with them, but they deserve the mention and exposure. Not only do Miz, SOG and Andrew, have the most wonderful blogs, they have become my virtual friends.

Also added the blog of Junk Food Science. I have not read a lot yet, but what I've read is so thorough and well written that I really wanted to share it with all of you that might not know it.

Have a great day!!!

IF and a large meal

Feels good to be back ;-)
Like I said in the previous post, it's been busy.
When you're really busy, it's great to have IF in your bag of tricks. (I hope you've checked it out by now but if not, here's you're best starting point )
I will re-iterate the following; do not break your fast with whatever you feel like eating. It's easy to slip and fall into a large bowl of pasta or similar when you're hungry and you're in the mood to really chow down. After about a 26 hour fast, I had a good hunt and this is what I ate ;-)
(ate over a 2 hour period)

Grilled Marinated shrimp;
white wine, garlic, basil, cherry bomb pepper, onion, evoo.

Grilled chicken, feta and spinach sausage. Grilled zucchini (and some onions and peppers)

Smoked and then bbq'd, ribs.

Fresh green beans ( I know not paleo, but they looked so good at the farmers market) a nice salad and avocado.

I did not finish everything, so that made for some good leftovers for breakfast.

Have a great week everyone!!!!

BUSY

It's been a real busy week for me. Lots of corporate reporting getting in the way of good posts.
Also my battery in my camera is dead, and have not managed to get a new one. TGIF. I will get cranking this weekend.

Please visit www.mizfitonline.com !!!!!
Miz is doing something really neat for the holidays. CHECK IT OUT!!

Next post, will showcase a post IF meal.

Happy Friday everyone!

Flavors

I never really plan what I'm going to make.

It just kind of comes to me when I'm standing in front of the fridge.

Last night's dinner is an example of it.

I had a small sweet potato from the farmers market. I cut some thin slices.

Heated up some coconut oil, and added 4 little slices of a chili pepper. This gives the coconut oil terrific flavor. Next I added the thin sliced sweet potato.

When they are done (crispy) take them out of the oil and drain on a paper towel.

Then I tossed in some sliced asparagus in the hot oil. This just takes a minute. Wait for the color to turn bright green and again remove from the oil.

Next I added some spring onion in the oil. After taking that out of the pan, I added half of a large chicken and green onion sausage (no casing).

On a bed of arugula in a salad bowl, I put everything together. I took a picture before mixing it all together. The oil on the ingredients serves as the dressing. The flavors are wonderful together and provide complimenting textures. Simple healthy ingredients. Lots of flavor. You know....Feel Good Eating ;-)

Do you have staple ingredients in your house? Do you have favorite foods that you make all the time? Let me know what they are, and I will try and give you a different spin on preparing it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!!!!

Vitamin Water and Junk Food Science blog

Vitamin water.....what a clever name. It's good for you right?

I mean, it's got extra vitamins and triple antioxidants no less.

One bottle has 32.5 grams of sugar. 32.5 grams!!!!!

So the extra vitamin c (150 mg) will be a nice extra benefit right?

Not when it has to compete with all that sugar. Remember vitamin c and sugar compete for entry into your cells. Guess who's going to win this one?

Stay away from the stuff!

If you have time check out Junk Food Science

It's an amazingly well written blog and has top notch information.

For all of you not sure about nitrates (and might be avoiding cold cuts and bacon) check out this post. (came across it on Dr. Eades great blog)

Enjoy the Day

WinnerS

Thank you SOG, Sarena and MIZ for leaving me a comment on Friday.
Since it was just you three leaving a comment, you are all winners.
Please send me an email to myvd@yahoo.com and provide me with a mailing address. You're star fruit will be on the way when I receive it.

This was delicious;





































In some coconut oil, saute a few pieces of spicy pepper. I used pepperonata. Then add ground turkey. When close to done, I added 3 shrimps a couple leaves of fresh basil and a few little pieces of tomato. Then a dash of white wine to cook it all down.

This paired with a nice cucumber salad with spring onions, both fresh from the farmers market. Splashed with evoo and fresh ground pepper.
















It made for a very tasty breakfast on a Saturday morning around 10:00

Thank you, Happy Friday and Star Fruit give away.

Can we all just get along??? They can ;-)

I just want to say thank you to everyone for reading the blog. I enjoy receiving the comments and exchanging thought and ideas. This Saturday morning Eddie and I will go to the Farmers Market and I will pick up some Star Fruit and other goodies. If you leave me a comment today you will be entered into a drawing for some fresh Star Fruit. I will send it out Monday and the winner will receive it on Tuesday. Sorry to leave out my virtual friends not stateside. Have a great weekend everybody!

Color

I really owe a lot to Art Devany. It's been 3 and a half years ago now that I first came to his site and started reading and studying about the EF/Paleo lifestyle. Which of course led me to Mark Sisson and his fantastic supplements and his blog. There is so much "REAL" information out there. Go find it, investigate it, and apply it.

One thing that struck me from the beginning was Art Devany's emphasis on "color with in your meals". So when I started changing the way I ate and exercised I tried to incorporate this simple concept. It really doesn't get mentioned a whole lot on all the EF/Paleo blogs, but if you focus on color, you'll be guaranteed to eat a variety of real foods.

So here's a colorful breakfast;
















Blueberries, watermelon, meatballs, tomato, celery, slice of red pepper and 3 slices of german "gelb wurst".


I have not said it in a while...so here we go again; SMILE A LOT TODAY!

Salad

Big salads. How much salad do you eat? Is it necessary? Does it make you feel good? Did our favorite hunter gatherers eat this much roughage? I personally don't eat big salads anymore. I used to eat BIG salads.

Many of us that are trying to eat better get caught up with "what to eat"? So salad is a quick answer and a normally perceived healthy alternative. But I urge some caution. Especially if you are INTERMITTENT FASTING. A big salad doesn't have as many calories and nutrients as you might think. Take a look at Art Devany's site and his salad/meal pictures. He has salad as an accompaniment not as a meal. Usually only 2 or 3 romaine leaves. What are your experiences?

Simple to go breakfast;

3 eggs with a dab of mayo on top, 2 slices of salami and half a small orange cut up.

"Want live and extra-ordinary life?......don't live in an ordinary way" Manaka Sensei

Perceptions,labels and judgements

Have you ever caught yourself doing the following?

You see a good looking guy or gal, well dressed, visibly monetarily well off, muscular, good figure, confident stride, etc etc.

Those are your initial perceptions. Next comes your labeling process. He/she is successful, that coat must cost $1,000, he/she has all the things I want, why doesn't my body look like that, I work out. why can't my life be like that etc etc. Next come the judgements; he/she...what a bitch, well I just don't have those genetics, her parents probably have money etc etc.

It happens to a lot of people I know and I always tell them that they end up missing a lot of what is really going on and shutting themselves out of experiences and potential opportunities.

So next time your mind takes this route, try this.

Recognize and catch yourself doing it and then change the process.

First let your perception change to just plain observation. Now as you are just observing, there is no need to label. And when there is no label, you won't form a judgement and you can just be present and open to whatever comes your way. (I will be talking some more about this over the coming week.)

So take a look at my breakfast;

what's your initial perception? That doesn't look too appetizing? (perception) What is the orange blobbish stuff, it looks gross (label) I could never eat that! (judgement). My co-worker and FRIEND actually gagged when she saw this on my desk. Turkey salad, turkey, cucumber, tomato, scallion and mayo. Left over mashed sweet potato and turkey. I can promise you had my friend not immediately perceived, labelled and judged, I would have been able to give her a taste, and she would have thoroughly enjoyed it.....or not and then decide not have it again. Instead she shut herself out of the experience.

What do you think? Do you ever catch yourself in that process?

Mayonaise

No not Richard Gere's nickname in Officer and a Gentlemen.

But home made, good for you fat, delicious tasting old fashioned MAYONAISE!

My mayo is made with EVOO, so the flavor is more of a classic french mayo with the accompanying yellow color.(It's a stronger flavor then if it would be made with vegetable oil.)

So here we go:

2 egg yolks, 1/4 teaspoon of salt (you can leave it out) 1/2 tbsp. of dijon mustard, 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 1 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.

Combine all the ingredients with the exception of the oil in a mixing bowl. You can use a whisk, but I use a simple hand blender. (side tip, appliances like these can be picked up at Goodwill stores very cheaply) Once mixed together, gently.....very gently drizzle the olive oil while mixing.

Take breaks from adding the evoo every so often so that everything can really emulsify.

When all the oil is added keep mixing for an extra minute or so to get it to your desired consistency.

Of course you could add a little bit of pressed garlic in the beginning and make a nice aioli.

Try it sometime. It is so delicious!

Have a great week!!!