Whoooosh!

Visitors + spa indulgences + eating at restaurants = fat loss whooshes! (somehow)

Sunday morning the scales announced that I had dropped 1kg overnight (although my before-bed weigh-in already showed as matching my usual morning weight, so something happened during the day...). I celebrated by making almond pancakes for everyone!


Same recipe as before, topped with nuked frozen cherries and boysenberries. A hit once again, and fabulously filling.

I was then dragged along to see Transformers 2 (oh bleurgh; so that's what a movie by a cashed-up 16 year old boy would look like), and took 50g of almonds along to snack on.

Finally, it was off to support the beau's performance in Impro Melbourne's The Impro Cave. Good fun, and what's even better - $10 Sunday Roast!! No opportunity to photograph my feast, but if you imagine a delicious (if dry) pork roast with tender cooked carrots and beans, with a side of green salad and parmesan... And the boy behind the bar didn't even flinch as I rattled off "Roast with no gravy or potatoes, and green salad with no dressing". Win!

Enjoyed a long sleep-in today, rising to be greeted by the scales with another weight drop! I am officially in the 70's! This is after starting the year at 90.5kg... I promised myself that once I hit 10kg of fat-loss, I'd cash in some credit card points for a Myers gift card and go get myself a new dress! And look - just in time for the end-of-financial-year stocktake sales! Woohoo!

Today I went into the CBD to have lunch with the beau - he was running late, so I wandered along Smith St until I found myself loitering outside of Monsieur Truffe, and decided to check out whether or not they stocked 100% chocolate.

They did.


That right there is $30 of pure cocoa mass - a 100g block of cocoa from Venezuela (mixed with cocoa butter and pressed into a block), and 500g of cocoa mass from Switzerland/France (Felchlin). I've had a bit of the Venezuelan choc - wow. Intense barely does the impact of the flavour justice. Love it, but am not tempted to gorge on it = perfection!

I was hanging out for sashimi, so we went to the best sashimi place in Melbourne, Tokushima on Smith St in Collingwood (they're so unpretentious and beloved that they don't even seem to have an online presence; happy to rely on word-of mouth it seems!). I went for the sashimi main - probably should have gone for the sashimi salad, but I ate all of the parsley and carrot, never mind the odd looks:


Some of that is salmon, and the rest is, um, fish. Tasty, tasty fish. I would have loved some salmon roe too; something to ask for next time.

Spent the rest of the afternoon browsing the shops in the city - first, heading to Pinnacle Outdoors, the last remaining stockists of Vibram FiveFingers in the state! They had every size and style I wanted to try out, but fortunately they did not have the colours I desire, so I was saved from awkward lies... You see, I can get the shoes for US$50 (~AU$60) and a small shipping cost if I import them from New York, whereas over here the shoes sell for upwards of AU$180!! So the lack of stock means I don't feel like I'm robbing local distributors of their profits.

I had planned to cook up a pork roast for dinner (despite having pork roast last night - it didn't come with crackling, so it hardly counts now does it?) but it was still frozen and time was creeping along, so instead I made brinner:


Bacon, chevups and scrambled eggs. I need to stock up on the organic meat-only snags the local bio-dynamic butcher sells (I am so grateful now that I live so close to such a butcher - I used to think it was ridiculous bored-rich-person food! Wait - what does that say about me?!)) since my chevups still include some rice flour and sugar :( Much lower in carbs than the usual supermarket schlock, but not primal.

Second course:


Red cabbage and silverbeet, sautéed in coconut oil. Not that brinner left me hungry, but I had to make room for my very first delivery of veggies from Organic Angels! A small amount of veggies - next week I'll go for the large Vital Veggies box - but delicious and fresh and, for the most part, local! They delivered it whilst we were out, so it was fun to arrive home to a 'surprise' parcel on the back porch! Being home to accept the arrival was the one factor holding us back from joining a co-op or delivery service, so the fact that this team is happy to work around that factor earned them our custom! Broccoli, pumpkin, eggplant, carrots, leeks, snow peas, mushrooms, mixed lettuce, spinach, onions.... Perfection! I don't know how I'm going to use the leeks yet, but that's what holidays are all about - experimenting!

Meanwhile, I'm catching up on my reading, and am currently having my ideology yanked around by arguments showing that humans don't need any nutrition other than what can be provided by meat (albeit organic, wild, pastured, etc). Hmmm... But if this is true, it has already been shown that the current population cannot be sustained on meat alone as there is not enough space to raise and farm animals in this way... I'm happy to do what's best for my body, but I also need to know that the optimal human diet is actually feasible in this age of over-population and hyper-industrialisation. In the meantime, I'm still eating meat at least once per day, and am feeling so very wonderful! And very Australian! :D

Huzzah For The Holidays!

I fully intend on cranking out the tasty primal recipes for the next fortnight, as I have two weeks of rest and relaxation ahead of me!

However, today was against the norm - I had time to scoff down bacon and eggs for late breakfast before heading out for a day of pampering at a day spa! While the treatments were lovely, I found myself spending an awful long time lying around with nothing to do - in a vischy bath capsule, on a massage table while the girl took forever to "get the facial products", and then again while the facial mask dried. Boooring, and uncomfortable! I went in mainly to relax my lower back and feet, but sadly these areas received minimal attention; not even a foot massage! Boo. Thankfully, the boy compensated with doting affection and talented hands while we sat and watched a movie with visiting relatives. If only I could get my $400 back and give it to him (and yes, a huge extravagance, after a hellish term of teaching/directing shows/writing reports, so it's not like I do this every day).

After the movie, we headed off to Charcoal Grill On The Hill in Kew, where we drooled over the hearty steaks on display, and were promptly served our own. I went for a Porterhouse, medium-rare, with no dressing on my cos lettuce and cabbage. We also ordered a platter of grilled veggies. Utterly sublime, and oh-so-primal!

(Photo taken with beau's new iPhone - am not impressed. Sony Ericsson C905 FTW)

Tomorrow morning I'm making almond pancakes for my visiting mother; I'm already getting hungry just thinking about it!

Today's Tucker - 26/06/09

A quick post as I'm heading out to celebrate the end of the semester - the first half of the year has truly flown, despite the huge events I've tackled thus far.

Breakfast: mini frittatas made yesterday.


Lunch: more mini frittatas, whilest deftly avoiding all of the chocolate, candy, chips and soft drink that the kids were scoffing (gotta love class parties). My frittatas went down very well though; they disappeared quickly!

Dinner: I was meant to go out for dinner at 7pm, but at 5pm I was ravenous, so fixed myself a snack -



After logging it all in Spark, I realised that my 'snack' had pushed me to the top of my daily limit, so had to opt out of dinner, oops! Hopefully the silverbeet, red cabbage and bacon will keep me sated so that I won't be tempted by any vaguely primal snacks that appear between the jugs of beer...

Today's Tucker - 25/06/09

Breakfast - a couple of primal choco-nutty treats - surprisingly good for breakfast, light but filling.

Lunch - leftovers from last night.

Dinner - pizza burgers with ham, feta and capsicum mini frittatas, red cabbage, brussel sprouts, and silverbeet.


Now, since both the pizza burgers and the frittatas involve dairy, they don't get a proper recipe post like primal recipes, but here's a quick breakdown:

Pizza burgers - 500g beef mince, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup cheese (a mix of mozzarella, parmesan and cheddar, ideally), 1/2 cup diced capsicum (peppers), 1/2 diced onion, 50g diced bacon. Mix together, squash into 4 - 6 balls, press onto lined tray and cook in 180°C oven for 20 minutes, browned and cooked through.

Frittata - 250g diced bacon, 1 cup diced capsicum, 1 diced onion, 180g diced fetta cheese. Saute together until onion is done, then spoon into mini muffin tray. Combine 12 eggs and 1/4 cup cream, and pour over filling. Bake in 180°C oven until set completely and browned a little. Makes a good 36 mini muffins. These are for my students during our end-of-term party. What, you thought I'd feed them chips and chocolate? Pffft...

What I'm Reading

Never mind that I'm supposed to be teaching right now... The kids have free time in the computer lab, and are all playing Disney games, so this is my way of staying sane (I nearly reactivated my very old addiction to Neopets after they played on that site yesterday - I will NOT be corrupted by Disney!!)

Today's discovery:

PāNu - just read this site 'cover to cover'. Kurt is an MD who really knows his stuff; check out ALL of his blog posts to garner a thorough understanding of how knowledge of the medical sciences is enhanced when placed in the context of history. Particularly good post - The argument against cereal grains.

Recipe: Fruit & Nut Crumble

Even the sugar-junkie last night found my primal dessert sweet and decadent!


Primal Fruit & Nut Crumble

Ingredients:

500g fruit (I used raspberries, boysenberries, black cherries, and rhubarb)

200g nuts (I used pecans and walnuts)

100g coconut oil or butter

1T cinnamon

1T nutmeg


Method:

Melt 40g coconut oil/butter in saucepan, add fruit, and saute until warmed through and softened.

Heat oven to 180 degrees C. Spread nuts on a lined tray, and toast in oven until browned - around 8 minutes, but watch carefully to catch any burning.


Remove toasted nuts from oven, and chop or process until crumbed.

Melt remaining 60g coconut oil/butter, allow to cool slightly, then combine butter, nuts and spices. Stir well to coat nuts evenly.

Pour prepared fruit into serving dish or bowls, and top with nut mixture. Serve with whipped cream dusted with cinnamon. Serves 4-6 people


The photos certainly do not do the dessert justice! But everyone was so keen to dig in, I didn't have the heart to make them wait while I snapped the perfect pics! I might make a mini version soon, in a ramekin, and take better shots - too dangerous to make another big batch, as it is incredibly more-ish!

Dinner for Four

My brother and his girlfriend came over for a farewell dinner before he nicks off to Hawaii - poor thing, huh?

The table was set -


The Primal Beef Curry prepared -


My latest experimental primal dessert put together (recipe coming soon) -





Soon enough our guests arrived, and the feasting began!


That's my beef curry, with cauliflower rice, and a spinach, tomato and brie salad.




A delicious, hearty, primal ending to a long day - glad I skipped breakfast though!!

Recipe: Corned Beef (Silverside) & Veg Gravy

I know what you're thinking - bleh, corned beef, how boring, everyone knows how to prepare it... Well, I've cooked up corned silverside a few times now, and tonight's effort produced the tastiest, most tender silverside I have every experienced, so it would be wrong of me not to share it. Just plain wrong.

Corned Beef & Veg Gravy

Ingredients:

1kg corned beef (silverside)

1 onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 large carrot, diced

50g bacon, chopped or diced

500ml beef stock (home prepared is best, or store-bought without added thickener (flour) or sugars)

2T of spices (rosemary, thyme, and parsley are my preference)

Small amount of coconut oil or butter


Method:

In a large saucepan over medium heat, sauté onion, bacon, carrot and celery in oil. Add meat and brown on all sides.

Add stock, bring to boil, add spices, and lower heat. Cover and allow to simmer gently for an hour. If the stock does not cover the meat completely, turn halfway during simmering time.

Remove saucepan from heat, remove meat and slice. Place meat back into pan, in juices, and allow to rest for 15 minutes, covered.

Serve topped with juices and vegetables.


What a divine way to end an intermittent fast! A beautiful recovery after last night's gluttony (prompted by power outage, fueling a sensation of 'not eating dinner' which suggested I would need to eat nuts and cheese to get my calories for the day... So I did, and then some...).

And now I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow -



- what are my chances of convincing my colleagues that I'm not, in fact, eating dog food? :)

Recipe: Primal Choco-Nutty Treats

A bitter-sweet chocolate treat which is both Primal and satisfying!


Choco-Nutty Treats

Ingredients:

60g coconut oil

20g unsweetened cocoa (ground cacao beans are ideal)

40g shredded coconut

40g almond flakes

35g almond butter

1t cinnamon


Method:

Melt coconut oil completely. Combine cocoa with oil and mix. Add all other ingredients and stir vigorously until all nuts and coconut are coated in 'chocolate'.

Roll into balls of whatever size you prefer. If oil is too runny, refrigerate mixture for ten minutes, then stir well. Spread balls out on a plate lined with baking paper.

Refrigerate until firm.

Recipe: Almond & Coconut Biscuits

Second batch of Primal Biscuits, so the recipe's ready to share!


Almond & Coconut Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup of shredded coconut
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 egg
1t cinnamon
1t nutmeg
1t vanilla (ground vanilla beans preferably)

(Optional - for those not worried about sugars, I suggest adding 1T honey and/or chopped dried fruit - apricot would be my pick!)


Method:

Preheat oven to 175ºC.

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Mixture should form a neat ball.

Divide into 12, roll into balls, and press onto tray lined with baking paper.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and beginning to brown around the edges. Oil will leak out of the biscuits and foam as they cook - this is a good thing!


Place biscuits on cooling rack lined with paper towel to absorb any remaining liquid, leaving you with light, crisp biscuits.

Perfect as a nutty treat alone, or served with whipped cream and berries, like a scone!

Today's Tucker - 21/06/09

Today provided the excuse for a much-needed sleep in, and day of relaxation. So I woke up after noon, and gave the Shiatsu chair a good work out while I caught up with blog reading and such. Also took time between lunch and dinner (slept through breakfast) to give my Primal Treats recipes another run-through, so I'll be publishing those finalised recipes in just a moment...

Lunch: grilled organic lamb forequarter chops.

Dinner: entree of cheeky pumpkin soup.


Followed by a few little organic chicken drumsticks, roasted in a coconut/parmesan coating.


Then I, of course, had to sample the Almond Coconut Biscuits and the Primal Choco-Nutty Treats.


All washed down with copious amounts of organic white tea.

(Really, I think I'm now at the point where writing 'organic' before each meal/ingredient is obsolete. Even with Macro selling out...)

Recipe: Pumpkin Soup

What to do when everything from the local farmers' market and Organic Direct fits so neatly into the fridge, except for one 2kg pumpkin?

Make soup!

Ingredients:

2kg pumpkin (whatever is grown locally)
1 large onion, chopped
2L vegetable or chicken stock
2T coconut oil
2t cumin
2t nutmeg


Method:

1. Roast whole pumpkin in 200ºC oven for 45 minutes or until skin peels off easily. Remove seeds and discard seeds and skin.


2. Heat oil in large saucepan, and add onion, cumin, nutmeg, and salt & pepper to taste. Heat until onion is transparent and spices are fragrant.


3. Add stock and spoonfuls of pumpkin flesh. Simmer for 30 minutes or until stock reduces to preferred thickness.


4. Allow soup to cool for 30 minutes, and then puree in blender.


Serve hot with a dash of cream and nutmeg. Makes 5 400ml (2 cup) servings.


Yum! A delicious end to a great day of food:

Accidental intermittent fast from 7pm last night til breakfast at 2pm. Broken with a small salad of leftover chicken, salami, cos (romaine) lettuce, and shredded cheese.

Lunch of chevup sausages and mushrooms.


And a dinner of a beautiful porterhouse steak from Organic Direct, fresh rocket, and the delicious pumpkin soup with a dash of cream and nutmeg:

TGIF. Big time.

Well, this was a huge week, the penultimate of a huge term. Report writing week is always a strain, and even with my newly-adopted ambivalence in the face of due dates, I still clocked up scary computer hours, leading to some crippling shoulder pain as of this afternoon. In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure my discomfort is a mere blip, but I'm so drained that the sensation is amplified. Probably doesn't help that I'm here, you know, using the computer...

Anyway, here's my "oh Gawd, as is I can put in any effort, just eat what's in front of me" day:

Breakfast: three almond/coconut cookies, packed and eaten at work.

Lunch: Yeah, no.

Pre-dinner snack: two cookies and an experimental taste of the Atkins Vanilla Protein Shake crap that I bought back when I was merely low-carbing - yikes. It smells great though. But I won't be putting any in my mouth any time soon. Chucking it out seems wasteful - maybe I'll give it away...

Dinner: Roasted organic chicken, scrambled eggs, lettuce, capsicum and tomato.


Tasty, satisfying, and effortless!

Now - let's find me a good day spa!

Recipe: Baked Trout with Warm Beet Medley Salad

I never thought that something thrown together based on the contents of my fridge could look and taste so amazing! I'm starting to get the hang of this whole primal cooking business... These recipes make for two generous servings - you could do this with less trout, but I had 800g in the freezer, so used it all.


Baked Trout

Ingredients:

800g trout, skin on
1 eggplant, in 1cm-thick slices
2T fresh basil, chopped
2T fresh dill, chopped
1t curry powder
2T lemon juice
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Mix basil, dill, curry powder, lemon juice and oil, and pour into base of baking dish.


3. Cover sauce with slices of eggplant.


4. Cover eggplant with trout fillets, skin facing up.


5. Place in oven for approximately 20 minutes - it's ready when the skin can be easily peeled off.

6. Serve by scooping under the eggplant and flipping onto a plate, then spooning sauce over top. Or, if you don't want curry splattered everywhere (but why wouldn't you??), pick out pieces of trout, then pieces of eggplant, and arrange on plate. Either way, garnish with salt & pepper, and lemon zest.




(The white stuff on the eggplant is healthful fat that ran from the trout and made a pool of deliciousness on the eggplant. That's the serving I ate, mmmm!)


Warm Beet Medley Salad

Ingredients:

2 beets (beetroot)
2 cups beet greens, chopped
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated
75g raspberries (mine were frozen)


Method:

1. Cook beetroot by steaming for 45 minutes until tender (when you can stick a fork in easily). Place under cold running water to remove skins easily. Dice or quarter.

2. Place greens and cabbage in a saucepan and heat gently until greens wilt slightly.

3. Using a microwave-safe container, heat raspberries until they lose their shape and become mushy (1 to 2 minutes). This works very well with frozen berries.

4. Toss beetroot, greens, cabbage and carrot together in a large bowl, then serve into individual bowls or onto plates. Top with raspberry sauce.




So delicious, rather gourmet, and completely primal!


Another happy customer, "choking down another primal meal!" ☺

MEAT!

Oh Gawd, is it totally sad that I'm thrilled, THRILLED that a mighty delivery of organic meats is coming my way this Saturday?? Oh sure, I have a play to go and see this weekend, and I'll be getting some much-needed rest after so many long days writing reports, and I plan to take in a massage treatment or a facial or something equally pampering and relaxing. These are all nice things. But no; what really has me jumping up and down like a frisky little bunny is the promise of MEAT in my fridge! No, literally!!

A delicious custom order from Organic Direct will ensure my fridge/freezer is packed with organic beef, lamb and chicken for the next month! My saviour now that Macro is selling out to Woolworths... Can't wait to meet Peter this weekend - maybe if I tell him that he's getting promoted on the Internet by yours truly, he'll hurry up and start supplying organic pork! Oooh, if I could get organic, free range pork roasts, I'd just live off meat forever...

In the meantime, here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: yeah no. That was never going to happen. I had planned to get up and shower this morning also. Yeah no. Even the fringe was pinned back today, lest I looked like some teenage bogan. Not hot for an English teacher. I made up for the crap hair with an awesome outfit, which will be even more awesome when the hair is flowing and clean...

Lunch: Leftover Primal Beef Curry - garnered quite a lot of interest in the staffroom, I tell you.

Afternoon snack: Primal Almond Cookies - still so crunchy and nom.

Dinner: Had to be meat. Oh yes. I was craving meat like crazy. So since the boy was tacking care of his own dinner (never a good idea - here's proof), I felt it was safe to have my old favourite hit of protein:


Lamb forequarter chops, scrambled eggs, and lettuce. Oh yes.

Recipe: Primal Beef Curry, Part II

Equally delicious the second time around!



A little less specific with the measurements this time, which means it's entering my repertoire properly...

Saute together for 5 minutes:
2T coconut oil
2 cloves garlic
1 big red onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped

Add and stir for 3 minutes:
450g organic beef, diced
1T fijian curry powder
1T thyme
1t cumin

Add, stir and then simmer for an hour:
400g can diced tomatoes
1 gigantic organic tomato, chopped
1 small green capsicum (pepper), chopped
5 olives, chopped

Served over cauliflower rice with a side of spinach. No flaked almonds on top this time around; getting enough nuts from my Primal Coconut & Almond Bites!

Recipe: Tasty Treats! (beta version)

Started my day with a sleep-in, although unfortunately not as decadent as yesterday's. Packed up my remaining primal muffins and ate them at brunch.

No time for lunch (and no desire for lunch, either), so waited until dinner at 6:30pm:


Organic chicken drumsticks on a bed of lettuce. Washed it down with a plate of sautéed cabbage.

Then I killed some time whipping up some tasty treats in the kitchen. Still perfecting my Primal Almond & Coconut Rough bites - added almond butter today, which allowed more of a ball formation rather than pressing the mix into bars. The recipe currently stands as: 60g melted coconut oil, 15g cocoa powder, 40g finely dessicated coconut, 25g flaked almonds, and 25g almond butter. Mix together, form into balls, and refrigerate until firm. I don't add sweetener, but you could add a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup if you need the sweet kick. These measures are to make 10 balls of ~100kcal each, which makes my life easier! If I made any more at once, bad things might happen... :)

Then I had my first go at Primal Cookies - almond meal, shredded coconut, coconut oil, egg and some spices... Mixed together into a big ball, separated into 12 smaller balls, and flattened gently on a tray lined with baking paper. 15 minutes in a 180degC oven...

The results -


(WARNING: The following images may induce uncontrollable saliva production)










Still there? Or have you been swept away by a tidal wave of drooooolllll?