That's a Wrap! And it's Yummy!

It has been far too long since i sat down and blogged.  I did eventually pass my fitness test, but I have been very lazy with working towards my goals.  THe past week or so I have been better, but I still have a ways to go.  I had a few too many days eating foods I know I shouldn't because they just don't make me feel well.

So, lately I have been back to trying to eat better and feed the kids better, etc.  Even my hubby and older son have decided that wheat is bad.  The 13 year old goes around saying, "wheat is PAIN!"

He has agreed to do the Perfect Health Diet and my eats seem to reflect that too.  Some rice and occasional potatoes and tapioca.  Which brings me to wraps!  A while ago a friend introduced me to Brazilian Cheese Bread, and we all love it.  Well, the other day SavageDave mentioned that he was watching TV and that in Brazil they use tapioca in lots of things, including pancakes and I was intrigued.  A quick google search resulted in finding one recipe, that was written with metric measurements and while, yes I can READ metric, my scale needs a new battery.  So, I decided to wing it.

That morning I made breakfast pancakes, and while they were okay, they weren't much to write about. The kids ate them and I will work on improving that recipe.  That night I made some that were more savory and those were a HIT!  They work great as replacements for tortillas, or other wraps.

Ingredients:

1 cup tapioca starch/flour
1 tbsp fat (oil or butter both work well) I personally like the buttery taste.
about 2/3 cup liquid (I used a combo of canned coconut milk and water)
1/2 tsp sea salt
approx 1 cup shredded cheese, not packed
1 room temperature egg

combine all ingredients, it should be runny like pancake batter, or even a little thinner than that.

heat skillet on medium...make sure you let it heat up, turn it on as you mix your ingredients together.  A drop of water should "dance"
Now, you can do this part anyway you like, but after trial and error and due to the nature of tapioca flour the way I ended up doing it works well.

Use a "gravy" ladle or something that holds about 1/4 cup of batter.  Pick up the pan and pour the batter into the hot pan and immediately start to tip it around in a circular motion to spread the batter into a thin crepe or pancake.  I keep tipping until almost all the runny batter is gone to make them about 4-5 inches in diameter.

Let it sit, be patient don't rush, until the batter is dry on the top side and golden brown on the bottom and flip.  Then wait until that side is golden.  That's it.

If the pan is too hot you will get big bubbles, too cold and it will take forever and quite possibly stick.  I used both my stainless skillet and cast iron, no oil on the pan.

I'm still working on a cracker.  It'll be posted soon.  Yummy!

Healing Heart

This is my new mission, to heal my husband's heart.  At just 37 years old he is now the proud owner of two stents in his left descending coronary artery.  A quick google search will tell you that artery is the 'widow maker' and his was over 90% blocked by soft squishy plaque.  It was so clogged that the top part of his heart was not beating at all and the small amount of blood flowing through his artery was just enough to prevent permanent damage to the heart muscle.  In so many ways all I can say is we are totally and truly blessed, lucky and all that jazz.  A heart attack in that area is usually fatal and people that do survive almost always have a poor quality of life if too much tissue is destroyed.  We have a second chance at life, and we need to make the most of it!

I am working on the 'heal his heart' plan of attack. Since he has an inflammatory disease we figure the first order of business is to reduce inflammation. We are looking into a cow share, but until then we will buy lean cuts of meat if it is conventional, grass fed for less expensive things like ground beef, but also GF for fattier things as a change of pace. I figure if we are already paying $10 a pound for a rib eye, what is a few more dollars to get it grass fed since we only eat them on rare occasions anyway. We are going to eliminate bacon and other fatty pork and chicken products and limit chicken in general. He'll eat mostly beef (fat trimmed if not GF) and seafood. Obviously no grains, and very limited starchy veggies, stick to the less starchy veggies for variety.

He had already given up sugar other than berries on occasion. And will continue with no sugar/low carb to help reduce his triglycerides (they were over 500!- yes this is extremely high, but they had been over 2000 at one point) We are resigned to the fact that he may need to take Tricor or Triglide forever. Since his overall cholesterol was high, but not insanely high at 244 I am not sure he needs the statin, but he wants to take it for a while until he is healthier. I would prefer he didn't but that is something that he has to research on his own. The hospital is was in did not do a measured LDL, so because his triglycerides were so high we don't know what his LDL is. His HDL is low at 31.

Before and After stent placement

Looking at the images you can even see how his other arteries were taking up the slack for the blockage.  It is very dark above the blockage, and that vessel is very thick.  After the repair it is thinner and not as dark.  On the full image you can see that the LAD is non-existent lower on the heart in the before picture and very visible after.  When the doctor inserted the first stent, the plaque was so soft it oozed through the mesh and the artery was still blocked too much, so he placed a second stent inside the first.  This seems to have worked to restore the blood flow.  It has also completely eliminated his chest pain.  His pain was NOT typical of a heart attack or even angina, so everyone thought it was not his heart.  They thought maybe an ulcer or something from the medications he takes for his psioratic arthritis.  One doctor decided to send him for additional testing as a baseline since he has such a strong family history of heart disease.  The nuclear stress test revealed what the regular stress test and EKG did not, he had a large area, 40% under stress, that was not receiving enough blood.  The NST is scored, just like anything else, and the cardiologist said anything over an 8 is concerning, my husband's was 33!

So, we are working to do everything we can to prevent another trip to the cath lab.  Can we be 100% certain it won't happen again?  No of course not, but we sure as heck can make sure we do everything we can to keep him healthy.  He will always have some amount of inflammation, which is the root cause of heart disease and plaque accumulation.  This means our primary focus is to reduce the inflammation.  The good part is that the way he needs to eat for that will also help restore his lipid levels to a safer range.  

In his own words, 

Once again I want to thank everyone for the well wishes and prayers. The cardiologist called it the widow maker. The top half of my heart was only getting enough blood to prevent tissue damage. It was not beating. Only the bottom half was beating. I'm lucky that the one doctor at Bassett scheduled me the nuclear stress test at FMH. Two trips to the ER and one to primary care and told my heart was fine. I could have bought the farm from this at anytime.

Yesterday was the first day of the rest of his life.  I hope that it is a long and healthy one!

Oh Yeah, It's MEATZA!

At times like this I am glad to be more primal than paleo.  I like cheese, and while I don't eat nearly as much as I used to, I like my 'pizza' too much to ever give it up completely.

So, we had some ground beef that needed to be cooked since we had defrosted it more than 24 hours ago.  I wasn't so sure what to make and then Savage had a great idea.  MEATZA.  Cheesy yummy meat with veggies that tastes a lot like pizza.  Sigh :)

Meatza is super easy to make, even easier than 'real' pizza because the dough isn't as finicky.  I used to make 'healthy' whole wheat pizza dough that never seemed to come out right.  Now, I make meatza and ruining the crust is next to impossible!

Recipe (or more of 'directions')

If you have a primal meatloaf or meatball recipe you really like it would work well for this.

1 lb ground beef (can add up to half sausage if you would like- not more than that though because it shrinks too much!)
 spices to taste: I used basil, salt, pepper, garlic (dried) and onion powder.
- I usually use good fresh garlic and onion but was way too lazy for that today ;)
2 eggs

mix all together in a large bowl.

using a pan with an edge (very much needed or else the fat will run all over the oven!) press the meat out towards the edge of the pan.  You want it thin, but not too thin or else the meat will split apart when you cook it. Probably about 1/4 of an inch at the thinnest.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes


Pull it out and top it just like you would any other pizza.

Today I used; anchovies (I know <ewww gross>), artichokes hearts, black olives, pepperoni and garlic. Yum!  The kids are getting just pepperoni.

Last time I made the crust too thick, it was still yummy but really heavy.

This was my first attempt at meatza- too thick on the crust!

Of course, looking at this meatza from last time, I totally forgot the mushrooms tonight!  Oh well, more for next time :D

Wow, it has been forever!

I am so sorry I have neglected this blog!  It really is a terrible thing to do.  If I don't take care of it, well then no one will read it!

So a quick update is in order.

Life has been interesting.  The sun shines...all....day....long!  Now, I know technically the sun shines all day almost every where at least most of the time.  Of course when there is rain, it isn't shining.  But, that is NOT what I am meaning.  When the sun is 'up' for 23 hours, you have no night!  I miss the stars, seriously I miss them.  While we don't have a full 24 hours of daylight, it is pretty darn close and even though the sun 'sets' the light is always there.  22 hours of full sun and 2 hours of twilight.  Interesting indeed.  Although, I have to say sleeping is not as difficult as I thought it would be.

The kids are out of school.  Which means my nerves are SHOT!  Dealing with the shenanigans of my 12 and 8 year old sons.  FUn and crazy at the same time.  The 8 year old has been banned from the microwave after setting some chicken on fire.

Food.  Yeah, how has that been going? Well, honestly not great.  I had a few 'treats' during Easter and it was bad for a while afterwards.  The last week or so I have put on my big girl pants and put my foot down with myself.  Time to get real.  I am lucky I didn't gain a lot of weight.  Actually I am 153 pounds as of this morning, so my lowest weight yet.  I'll take it.

I had been eating some grains again, and that has been nixed.  Sunday was my last indulgence, no more!

I need to get on here and report back, it will help me keep it real.

I was a member of SparkPeople for many years, technically I still am, but recently I have not felt the SP love.  They are over bearing and quite frankly WRONG.  I was tired of subjecting myself to their tyranny.  I will occasionally go back and read my SparkMail, but other than that I have stayed away.  They banned one of my friends, and I think that was the last straw.  That and the really pushy, and often flat out rude/disrespectful staff was enough to make me say, 'no more.'

I have NOT been posting on most of my other support forums either.  I am trying to ease back in because I feel like it is a vicious cycle.  Eat bad, don't post.  No support (reading posts by others, etc.)/feel justified to eat bad.  Not good logic, but seems to be true for me.

I really want to get back to food blogging.  Of course that means I have to get back to cooking, hopefully I will feel up to it soon.


Sort of off topic, but my daughters have an unnatural love of mayonnaise, it is really kind of gross!

Cheesesteak- Primalized!

-

Yeah, I know it doesn't take much to primalize a cheesesteak.  Just ditch the roll and sauté the veggies in bacon fat, yum!

So, here is the amazingly difficult recipe.

-heat about 1 tablespoon bacon fat in skillet on medium heat
-add peppers, stir around a bit
-add onions, stir around a bit  (do I need to say that the onions and peppers were sliced? Or can we handle that step?)
-remove peppers and onions when the onions just start to get wilted
-add mushrooms to skillet, stir around a bit (add some butter for flavor- if your 'into' that kind of thing)
-unwrap steaks (I used Fast Fixins this time, I know not quite paleo, but give a girl a break- I do have four entire children and a husband here ;o) )
-cook steaks according to directions on package, get frustrated when they take longer than 3 minutes- stamp foot a little, roll eyes
-remove meat from heat
-plce meat on plate
-removed pre-sliced provolone from package
-place on top of meat- nuke for 20 seconds to help meat cheese
-remove plate from nuker
-add veggies and mushrooms to plate

the rest is optional:

-brag about meal on the internet
-take pictures and share you enjoyment

Awesome, "I don't feel like cooking" Meal!!

So, I got home a little late from work since i had to pick the kids up from after school care.  The motivation to cook was just not there.  My wonderful hubby had purchased a pre-cooked chicken, you know the kind from the grocery store?  Not perfectly primal, but pretty darn good anyway.  My inner Grokelle wanted bacon, yum!

So, I popped some bacon in the oven and pulled some chicken off the bones.

Rummaging through the fridge I found a slightly limp remnant of napa cabbage and there was a red onion on the counter.  I can work with this.  Another quick look in the fridhe...oh, yogurt and a bit of mayo.  This might just turn out okay.

So without further ado, my yummy "lazy Mamma Chicken Salad Wrap"

 the funky red thing is a radish, the plate needed color besides green...lol

Chicken salad:

a pile of chicken ripped from the carcass, I like to have lots of dark meat
1 large dollop of plain full fat yogurt (about 1.5 tablespoon..maybe)
1 large dollop of mayo (not totally primal since it was Hellman's--oops)
1.5 teaspoon onion powder
1.5 teaspoon garlic powder
a clump of garam masala
a sprinkle of sea salt

Mix it all together, taste it and see if it is 'right', adjust seasoning as needed

So, how was it so delicious?  Well, take the napa cabbage and blob some chicken salad in teh middle, squirt a bit of sriracha on there.  Add some of the red onion and top with a bit of the bacon.  Bite, then wait while you overcome the urge to slap your momma.  Well, in my case it was my hubby because he was sitting next to me.  I wish I had some more it was that good.  Luckily it is all gone because I am full and don't NEED to eat anymore right now.

Day 2

Today started with Squadron PT, which means EXERCISE! We did 'circuit' training, some running and strength mixed in. Sure wish they didn'tmake us do mountain climbers, those hurt my wrist. But, overall a good workout...my booty will be sore tomorrow for SURE!

Food for the day (I will add to this throughout the day):

breakfast: half avocado, scrmabled eggs with cheese, bacon, 4 oz of whole milk, dahs of hot sauce...Death Sauce baby!!!!!
coffee: whole milk and 1 tsp sugar
snack: beef jerky, 1 square dark chocolate
snack small apple, 10 almonds
snack: beef jerky
dinner: baked chicken marinated in yogurt and spices- Indian inspired with curried zucchini and cauliflower

water: 64 ounces minimum


I am going to add some gadgets to track my goals, weight and measurements so you don't have to scroll through all my posts to see the stats :)


So, I did not achieve on of my goals last night. I didn't get in bed before 11 p.m. I was in bed before 11:30, I think it was about 11:15, which is a HUGE improvement for me. I will keep working on it. Since I normally go to bed at about 12:30 - 1a.m. I feel like I made progress.





Weight: 163.8

Food and Thoughts

Okay, so Day 1 wasn't too horrible :-)

Breakfast: coffee, milk and sugar (not primal, but a little bit is allowed), beef jerky, egg yolk
snack: 10 almonds, 1 square dark chocolate (serving is 6 squares)
snack: more beef jerky
lunch: rotisserie chicken, salad with Asian dressing, mayo (found some made with canola oil :-) )
snack: Slim Jim, beef jerky
dinner: mozzarella sticks, clams, curry chicken salad
dessert: blackberries with cream


Okay, I did that from memory. I will do a better job of really keeping it honest tomorrow. I have to write it down as I eat it for it to be accurate. Also, we had some foods that are not really primal left in the kitchen so we did eat those today- mozzarella sticks and fried clams. After that stuff is gone I won't be buying anymore.

My Goals:

-Lose 5-10 pounds
- journal, food diary
-Blog 3-4 times a week
- exercise 3-5 times a week, 3 times for work and two days with family
-be in bed by 11 p.m.
-tuck the kids into bed

Okay, so some of my goals are family oriented, like the exercise with the family and tuck the kids into bed. I think that if I want to get my body right I need to get my mind right and my heart right if I want these changes to stick. I know I can do this, I just need to quit being lazy.

Measurements:
thigh fullest par: 22.75 inches
thigh: 17
calf: 14
ankle: 8
right wrist: 6.25
right forearm: 10
right biceps: 11
waist: 36 (NW), 39 (AF)
hips: 40
chest: 36.25
neck: 14

So I plan on doing full measurements at the end of the 30 days. That way I am not disappointed if there are only small changes daily. I am 'bad' and weigh daily, it just seems to work for me. I don't think I will post my weight every time, probably just once a week.

So, is there anything my 'followers' would like to see? Question? I will try to answer them the best I can :)