paleo

Paleo Meals: Chicken, Bacon, and Olive Salad

Chicken, Bacon, and Olives Salad

1 slice thick cut bacon

1/2 large onion

5 oz chicken breast (marinated in lemon, rosemary, garlic, a little olive oil)

6 large green olives

11/2 cups mushrooms

1 cup broccoli

4 cups mixed greens

Fresh cracked pepper

Pan fry the bacon and take out the meat to drain. Pour out excess grease and sauté the onion in the leftover bacon fat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5-10 mins, then add the olives and some garlic if you want. Don’t forget to taste and season if needed. Since you have bacon and olives, you probably won’t need much if any. While things are cooking, prepare your greens and chop the broccoli.

Reserve the cooked vegetables in a serving dish and return your sauté pan to the heat. Add a little coconut or olive oil and sear your chicken. Finish by pan frying the chicken on low heat, or in the oven until internal temperature reaches 165. I probably only cooked mine to about 145. 😉

Layer your salad greens and broccoli, then the onion, olive, and mushrooms. Then slice your chicken and add to the top of the salad. You don’t need cheese, croutons, or dressing. Finish this salad off with cracked pepper and lemon.

That is all. The entire salad is no more than 375-400 calories (and only half of it is shown in the picture).

May 20, 2011 | Categories: food, paleo, salad | Leave a comment

Poema Sparkling Wine & Sausage with Sauerkraut

I am having some of the most delicious meals ever without having processed grains, sugar, bread, gluten, or any of the other garbage that makes up most convenience/boxed food on grocery store shelves.

Saturday’s weigh in: 133 pounds. I am down 12.5 pounds since March 27th. I am happy with my progress, but just really want this weigh off. I am still working on trying to forgive myself for letting my weight get so out of control!! My goal is to look good in all the clothes I have in my closet from last summer, but to give you a number… I would love 115. I got down to 112 last summer and was a little too thin maybe.

BTW, I survived a dessert-themed birthday party on Friday night without having a single grain of sugar or even a sugar substitute (everyone around me munched on cookies, cakes, and lemon bars while I snuck in red and yellow bell peppers).

Then on Saturday, I attended Festa di Vino. Thank goodness for one of the vendors, Ambrosia… they had almonds and strawberries ❤ ❤ ❤ that held me over a few hours. Tried a little cheese, but just a tiny slice, and I knew there would be a “treat” food I would want to have this weekend. I also knew I would have some wine, so I allowed for that on both Friday and Saturday. I probably had a bottle over both evenings. I allowed for that calorically, and won’t drink again until next weekend. Calories per day are averaging about 1200-1300 and no more than 4 (alcoholic) drinks a week. I am working out 6 days a week, and average calorie burn per workout is about 400.

Anyway, last weekend, I shared this bottle of Poema Cava and a Sausage with Sauerkraut dinner with one of my close Cheffy friends. 🙂 It was actually cooked for me, which was really nice. Lovely to have someone from a well-known restaurant be your personal chef for the evening. 🙂

First, a little about the wine:

Cava is Spain’s traditional method sparkling wine, produced mainly in the Penedès region in northeastern Spain. Crisp, fruity and well-balanced, Cava has grown in popularity in recent years and can be found throughout the U.S. market.

Parellada, Macabeo, and Xarel-lo are the main grapes used in Cava which is crafted using the traditional method (the same process which is followed in Champagne).

Cava is classified by the sugar content and length of aging. Ranging from driest to sweetest: Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Dry, Semi-Dry, and Sweet.

Poema is available in Brut and Extra-Dry, each made from a traditional blend of Macabeo, Xarel-lo and Parellada grapes grown in the Penedès valley.

Dry sparkling wine is probably my favorite wine because it is sipped in summer and in winter at parties, and at both casual and fancy occasions. It’s a versatile wine that can also be used to make fun cocktails. And I just love those bubbles. The Poema was dry, crisp, and refreshing.

Thank you to Kobrand Wine and Spirits for the selection.

For dinner that evening, we had Sausage and Sauerkraut. What a great one-pot meal–very little clean up in the kitchen:

1 1/2 Onions (sliced)

2 slices bacon

1 1/2 cups sauerkraut

1 package Aidell’s Cajun Style Andouille Sausage

Fry the bacon and render the fat. Then you will sauté the onions in the bacon fat until nicely cooked through. Slice the sausages on a bias. Add the sauerkraut and the sausage and cook 10-15 minutes to let the flavors come together and the sausages to heat through.

Remember kids, sugar is the enemy and fat is your friend!!

May 16, 2011 | Categories: paleo, Reviews, sparkling wine, wine | Leave a comment

Cake Wreck…

It’s hard to walk away from something when I am passionate about it, talented, and not to mention award winning at it, but it has to be done. See, I’m kind of what you might call a “cake wreck”.

I baked my last batch of cupcakes last Monday night, May 2nd. By “last”, I mean that I am no longer going to bake. I am no longer taking orders. Even from friends. Sorry.

Why do I want to throw in the oven mitts?
I no longer want sugar, dairy, or processed foods in my house.
I believe sugar to be toxic and highly addictive… (and now that I have come to that realization, I do not wish to poison other people.)
I never made any real profit from baking because of high overhead costs, baking in small batches here and there, and the waste of leftover ingredients I had to either eat or throw away.
(And the biggest reason): I am battling a form of bulimia. My triggers are sugar and processed foods. The bulimia I speak of is mainly “exercise bulimia”… I do not binge/purge, as throwing up is just not my style, but I did practice a great amount of “tasting” as a wine taster would.
I am sorry if my decision is an inconvenience to you. Trust me, it’s very hard to tell you “no” when I am a people pleaser, I know I make the best cake in Sacramento, and one of the reasons I bake is to justify eating “forbidden” foods. But I can’t play this game anymore. I am tired of being on a ridiculous cardio/sugar cycle.

Every time I think I am OK and I can handle the baking thing or having butter, sugar, flour, etc, in the house, I blow it. I’m like a two-year-old junkie. I go ballistic. I don’t stop until it’s GONE. All I can figure is that I am truly addicted to sugar in almost any form.

To justify my behavior, I would run miles and miles (burning 800-1,000 calories at a time). The exercise would in turn only make me hungrier and crave more food/sugar. More sugar…more running… more sugar…more running. Have to burn it off, but so exhausted.

So, that is why I have to stop literally running myself into the ground.

I should not be dressing to hide my body. I should not be staying home away from social events because I am ashamed of the way I look, but this has been happening for about 6 months now. I avoid cameras like the plague and untag photos of me that pop up on Facebook when people have managed to sneak and take them. I am only 33 and THIS SO SHOULD NOT BE the story of a semi-attractive, funny, personable woman with several friends. I want to be as fit and beautiful as possible, unashamed of going out. I want to be in lots of photos, smiling, and just enjoying life. So, being as honest as I can with all of you, and changing the way things have been is absolutely essential for me.

I have been following a new plan for the last month and it is working pretty well (albeit achingly SLOW). I am heartbroken I can’t fit into many of my clothes right now from even six months ago. I am down 10 pounds but still have 20 to go. I don’t blame my body for the slow weight loss, being completely confused on what to do with food I actually do eat… as my body is used to being starved and then crammed with sugar and then exercised to death. The weirdest part is that I have understood food and nutrition for years, and yet I have had such an odd, tortuous relationship with food and exercise.

In addition to the weight loss, I hope to also understand the reasons behind my self-destructive behavior, and to somehow reroute my energy when I am anxious, or energize myself without the use of food when I am feeling blue.

The cakegrrl website/twitter handle will go on as it always has. I am grateful to have this website, to be tied to the name, and to be semi-known here in the Sacramento food world. I will still attend events, do restaurant reviews, promote/attend fundraisers, provide food news and occasional recipes. And soon, I hope to post before and after pictures. I will also be starting another food website that is dedicated to the type of diet I now follow, called Paleo.

I hope you all understand.