Take a breath......relax....enjoy.

I got the feeling that you all enjoyed the picture of the "Beach Portal" last week, so thought I'd share yesterday's picture. I took my visitors on a nice morning boat ride. This small island is just South of Naples, FL. It's called Keewaydin Island. It's narrow and there are just a few homes sprinkled a long the beach. It's only accessible by boat, so building there is an expensive undertaking. It's a public island, so if you have a boat, you can beach your boat and spend the night camping. It's very peaceful there and local dolphin population is constant entertainment with their aerial flips,splashes and jumps. In the distance you can see some buildings, that is Marco Island.

Here you can see how narrow the island is at certain parts. The water you see is the bay side of the island. Do you like shelling??? You'll find some real treasures on Keewaydin.

Easy breakfast. 3 strips of bacon, 3 eggs, some fresh salsa and a few slices of cantaloupe.

ENJOY your DAY!!!

How do you use IF?

On Rusty's blog there is a give away for Brad Pilon's new book. His first book "Eat Stop Eat" is one I highly recommend. It's straightforward and easy to apply if you are still not sure about IF.
Dr. Eades is still not a 100% sure, but I believe he has turned the corner recently.
My advice; read up on it, follow a sensible protocol (NO....fasting 20 hours and then having a big mac, large fries, shake and a sundae does not qualify as sensible) and see how it feels for your self.
I know there is lots of quality,detailed and well researched information out there on the subject so check it out. I thought I'd share with you how I incorporate IF into my busy life.

Monday I ate both lunch and dinner at a restaurant (I will post later this week on how to stay on track when dining out). I had a delicious breakfast , greek lunch and mexican dinner. After eating restaurant food, I like to give my body a rest from the ingredients (even though paleo/EF/primal) that I have no control over. I finished eating around 7:30 pm.
Early morning I made my niece and nephews breakfast. Went for a playful run outside, some push ups, balancing, jumping and sprinting. Then I hit the pool (it was somewhat cold) and swam for about 10 minutes and jumped around a bit in the pool. A nice natural work out.

Went to work. Feeling very sharp, I flew through my morning office chaos. For lunch, I left the office and played about 50 minutes of tennis. I was not hungry in the least bit.
Late in the afternoon around 4:30 pm was the first time of the day that my thoughts turned to food. I drank some water and planned dinner in my head.
Home at 6:15 pm I made dinner for my kids and their cousins (7 kids in total). Once they were done I got to cooking for me. As my sister had to eat too, I made a lot of food ;-)
I had 2 large grilled rib eye steaks left over. I cut them into bite size pieces. In compound butter (garlic and herbs) I sauteed some garlic, spring onion, red pepper and a few slices of serrano pepper. Then add the steaks pieces. When they were getting close to done, I added a half a pound a fresh cut up shrimp and another pat of butter. A nice large salad with evoo and balsamic vinegar. To not freak my sister out completely with my protein feast, I made a large dish of yellow tomatoes and mozzarella, fresh basil, evoo and balsamic.

I believe FAT intake is a huge component of making all this work for you.
I consume large amounts of evoo and organic butter.

How do you apply IF in your life?

Low heat, yet easy and quick.

Here's a relatively quick meal that I like to make in the morning, before I'm getting ready for work. I cook this on low heat so that I can get ready and do a few other things while the dish is cooking.

In a skillet lay down three or four pieces of bacon. Next cut up some red onion and sprinkle over the bacon. Then add lots of sliced asparagus. When it is ready, take a kitchen scissor and cut up the bacon into bite size pieces. Mix everything well. The flavors are delicious together.

I have my family from Holland visiting me, so have not been posting much.

The good news.......they brought me an ample supply of cod fish liver. Much to the dismay of my children. ;-) They hate the smell of it.

Cilantro, basil and garlic chimichura?

I'm not sure what to call this concoction I make, but try it. It's easy to do and your grilled steak dinner will blow you away.

In the magic bullet (it's a really useful tool to have in your kitchen arsenal) I combined a small bunch of fresh cilantro, about 6 large fresh basil leaves, 2 large cloves of garlic and about a 1/4 cup of evoo. Pulse until it forms a nice paste. Refrigerate at least a day. The flavor gets more intense this way.

I had a steak cut called Bavette. It's a flank steak, but I don't think it's the same cut as regular flank steak.
Let the meat come to room temp. and then cut a grid into both sides of the steak. Now paint the steak with Marc's chimichura sauce. Grill and enjoy. Let this cut sit for AT LEAST 10 minutes. That way the juices can really come back into it. Slice thin against the grain.
Here's one of the leftover steaks which will be eaten later today. Big dinner so I won't eat until about 2-3 pm or so.
















Also made a nice salad to go along with the steaks. Organic red oak leaf lettuce with lots of cucumber and a sauteed garlic, onion, beef bacon and dijon mustard dressing.

This leaves me with the question of the day; What exactly is "Beef Bacon"?
I bought it at Whole Foods. Obviously many people had he same question I did, and I don't think WF sold a lot of it. So it was on sale for $1.99 and buy one get one free.
It's very tasty and I used it up in many different ways over the past week.

I got a really nice comment from Rusty yesterday. I've been a long time reader of his blog. He delivers top notch info. His link has been on the right for a long time, but don't know if I ever pointed you all to it. Check it out!

Have a great day!!

Portal?

It could be right? A portal to FEEL GOOD RELAXATION ;-)

This is the kind of spot that you don't get to if you are a visiting tourist.

A tiny, hidden, public walkway nestled in between 20 million dollar beach front homes.

I did not eat much this weekend. So thought I share a few local pictures with you.

The famous Naples pier.......from a distance ;-)

Seafood salads

It's a very busy time of year for me, so I get up early and make food for the day to bring to my office. "Seafood salads" are easy and quick to make. They are filling and work well for eating at your desk.

Remember earlier this week I bought wild caught fresh coho salmon? I saved a piece of it and yesterday I simply boiled it quickly.

Removed the skin and chopped up the cooked salmon. In a bowl, I added some smoked salmon loin and spring onion then mayonnaise (not too much). It had the most beautiful pink color.

For a side "salad", I did the following.

I took the salmon skin (lot of good, healthy stuff in that skin) put it on a oven tray and sprinkled it with some Braggs liquid aminos. Under the broiler until crisp. Sliced some cucumber and celery and added the salmon skin. A few more drops of the Braggs Biquid aminos.

Another easy seafood salad is this one;

Instead of the old standby TUNA SALAD, make yourself a smoked fish salad. I bought a piece of smoked Amber jack at the farmers market. Some spring onion and some mayonnaise make for a very delicious meal and it's very different tasting then the above mentioned stand by.

Any smoked fish will work for this. Refreshing melon is a nice accompaniment for a dish like this with a lot of taste.

If you are trying to loose weight eating the primal/paleo/EF way, please read Richard's latest post on Free the Animal. There are some amazing nuggets of wisdom in his last post. Common sense at it's best!!!.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone and.......
"Remember.....it's ok to get what you want from life"

Bone in Pork Butt Roast

I lifted this recipe from the magazine Coastal Living

3.5 pound bone in pork butt roast.

I marinated it for 2 days in Mojo dressing with some additional garlic cloves.

The pictures show how easy this is. Bed of onions in the crockpot. Next discard the marinade, pat dry and give it a spice rub. Thyme, cumin, paprika, oregano, sea salt, chili powder and garlic.

In a large pan, brown the roast on all sides. (this really seals in the flavor) Place in the crockpot, put lid on top and let it do it's thing on low for 6-8 hours. It's ready when the meat falls apart.

Please try this some time, you will be AMAZED how good it is.

There is a wonderful post on Dr. Eades blog about low-carb batlles in your brain.

I posted a comment/ quote that I wanted to share.

“Your ability to work miracles (stop smoking, drinking, sticking to your resolutions, sticking to low carb, be happy etc etc) is predicated entirely on how easily and quickly you can give the collective unconscious the slip. It is your attachment to the unconscious, or world belief patterns that holds you back.” SW

Make it a great day!

Frittata

This has to be one of the easiest breakfasts to make. And a good change of pace if you are fed up with your regular egg breakfast options.

In an oven proof skillet, quickly saute some veggies and meat (salami is especially tasty) in butter or bacon grease.

Whip 3 eggs (you can add a splash of heavy cream, even a splash of water works).

Pour eggs in the skillet with the veggies and meat.

Put it in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes. You can also add a few thin shavings of your favorite cheese on top before putting it in the oven.

This is a great "veggie left over remover" dish.

It also transports really well. Cut it up in slices for on the go convenience.

Have a great day!!!!!

Dinner

I had marinated some skinless chicken thighs in thai spices and coconut milk.
Tossed it in my hot electric skillet with sliced onions. I need propane for the grill, otherwise would have used the grill. I cook on my lanai with the electric skillet. There's something about cooking outside.....
Chicken was served over a nappa cabbage slaw. Shredded napa cabbage with some toasted sesame oil, chopped garlic, spring onion, a splash of tamari and a tbsp of vegenaise.

Lunch

One avocado, one small cucumber, 2 grape tomatoes, one small spring onion, 8-10 pieces of beef bacon, 4 slices salami, 3 large (broken into bite size pieces) red leaf lettuce leaves.
Dressing; 1/3 cup evoo, one raw egg yolk, teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.
Mix everything well.
Very tasty......

Eat with me.....

As I'm working on the new site, I going to be posting some simple posts here.
I thought I'd have everyone "eat with me" over the course of the next few days.
From the previous post you got to see dinner. I had plenty of salmon and onion left over.
So this morning cut up the onion and salmon and added a few dollops of vegenaise and a little bit of fresh scallion. Delicious salmon salad for breakfast. 3 strawberries and a handul of blueberies completed the meal. Ate about an hour and a half after my morning work out.

Wordpress amd dinner

I decided to switch over to Wordpress.
I'm working on the site and I expect to have it ready later this week.

I was so busy eating last night, I almost forgot to take some pictures.

Fresh wild caught coho salmon was on sale.
This is how I went about making it.
Melted 3 teaspoons of butter and added a splash of bourbon to it.
In a large skillet, I cooked the salmon skin side down on high heat.
I also sliced some onion. The onion accompanied the salmon in the skillet and got the same butter bourbon treatment. When the salmon was done, I topped it with some more melted bourbon butter.

















Broccoli rabe with garlic, pine nuts and dried cranberries and a splash of chicken broth.

Have a great day.

Change is inevitable....except from vending machines

I'm done! Over it. Ready to write letters!
My last post was the drop that overflowed the bucket.
I'm leaving Google/Blogger. I couldn't upload pictures, spell check didn't work, and when finally everything was done. The lay out was completely screwed up (as you can see from the last post)

This weekend I will be spending time setting up a new site. Stay tuned.

Suggestions welcomed.

Ok, I feel better now ;-)

Satisfaction

You know that feeling when sometimes a good meal just really hits the spot??
This was such a meal;
















Cauliflower and broccoli mash.
Steam, toss in the food processor add a glob of good quality butter, splash of heavy cream
and a clove or two of chopped garlic.

















In a large pan, butter and onion. Saute until somewhat soft but not browned. Low heat will help with this. Add 2 cloves of garlic. next grass fed ground beef. When meat is close to done, add 5-7 big leaves of basil and some ground cumin. One small red pepper (don't worry I'll get the name for all of you this weekend at the farmers market). 1/4 cup of coconut milk. turn hit to low and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Here's a tip on how to cut the basil. Take the leaves, stack them and roll them together, then cut.


Locally grown organic pineapple. I should have put something next to it for size scale.
These are miniature pineapples and are sweet and sour all at the same time. They are delicious.
















It will be warm/normal again here this weekend. The grill will in full use.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Apple Cider Vinegar

I like to find things out through personal experience. I was a classic example as a kid, of having to burn my hand on the hot stove before I would believe it was hot. I don't have any regrets, it's how I've become who I am. Trial and error, screw ups, they have shaped me just fine.
So, one good thing that has come out of that is, I don't believe everything I hear or read, I do my own research and than will come to my own conclusions. Stubborn? Maybe so ;-)

Thanks to Mike OD and his top notch blog, I read this.
I did some more reading and looking around then decided to put ACV to the test.


















































This is the brand I bought. I think if you buy some for yourself, get one that has "With the Mother" on the label. This gives it a cloudy look and you will see some sediment at the bottom.


For the past two weeks I have been taking 2 teaspoons in hot water in the morning.
This is what I've found.

1. Very noticeable energy boost. Let me say that I'm not one that lacks energy, so I found this surprising to say the least.


2. Increased mental clarity. I'm known to have quick comments and make my co-workers laugh a good amount. Lately this ability seems to be in overdrive. I'm on fire ;-)


3. My complexion has a certain new "glow". I have a tan, but my tan looks different now.


4. Improved digestion. Not going to get to graphic here, but I can tell it's different.


5. Just a general sense of improved well being. It's difficult to describe.

You can do some research on the web and there are countless websites touting hundreds of benefits. Who knows what's truly fact. But from my little trial here, there is definitely something going on with this stuff. Do any of you have any ACV stories to share?

To some of you more studied out there, is there any real research or science you know about? Dr. Dan do you know of any? SOG your thoughts? Richard have you ever tried it? I look forward to every one's thoughts and feedback.

I wanted a little snack before a big lunch yesterday. I was just plain hungry after my workout.
This held me over for about 3 hours

Smoked salon loin, an avocado, evoo, small tomato a slivers of goat cheese and a little spring onion.

"Every man must die, few truly live"

W.W

Cheese

Is eating cheese part of your paleo/EF/Primal ways?

I do eat some cheese from time to time. I especially enjoy goat cheeses and they seem to agree with me better then cow cheese. I think I already let you know about Spanish Drunken Goat Cheese. It's very tasty, but a small portion of it in the gourmet stores will set you back $15.
The other day I saw this ;

(this is why you have not seen posts in a few days. Blogger is acting stupid again and won't let me post pics)
Its a raw goat milk mild cheddar cheese, from a company called Mt. Sterling. 8 oz cost about $5.
It's very good. My guess is they sell it in most health food stores.

Breakfast to go;

Avocado, kielbasa, blueberries and boiled eggs.

And;

Avocado Egg salad with some cheese;
My food Kitty.......get out of there

Coming up next post;
Apple Cider Vinegar, this is going to be good!!