Primal Pumpkin Muffins

I was craving something bready and muffiny today… And I had some pumpkin puree in the fridge.
So, I threw these together.  I only nominally measured, so this ‘recipe’ is approximate.

Primal Pumpkin Muffins
(this made 12 muffins)

4 organic/pastured eggs (room temp)
1/4 cup local honey
1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 cup pureed pumpkin
——-
1/3 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup sprouted organic pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup minced organic pecans

Mix all the top ingredients together with a mixer. Add the almond & coconut flour, mix well. Mix in the seeds & nuts.
Let sit for 5-10 minutes.
Bake in silicone muffin liners for 40-50 minutes.
Let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Nom down with pats of butter!!

Whole30 – days 20 to 25

The Gov. Stanford

Whoops. Here I am again… not posting for several days.

Well, I was busy, then I was not busy, then I just din’wanna. So.

But, I’m here right now!

Let’s see.  Saturday the hubby & I drove down to Sacramento area (about 2 1/2 hours, each way) to meet up with some friends to go through the Train Museum and an enormous corn maze (in Dixon, CA). It was a lot of fun. We called it “meeting in the middle”, since they were coming from the Monterey area…
We ended up eating out for two meals (being on the road will do that), but I was REALLY proud of myself on making smart choices. Both restaurants were very accommodating. (Even the one that I asked for the veggies from one dish to replace the rice in the fish dish I ordered!)

Sunday, I processed the last of the plums – another 7 pints of BBQ sauce and another 4 of jam. *whew*

Hubby is in LA for a training course, so I’m on full dog duty. Oof on the whole getting up in the middle of the night thing… I mostly just yell at them to get back in bed. I know they can hold it for more than 3 hours. Mostly, they just want to be fed. They will often start asking for breakfast around 3:30 am or so.  Fahgedabboudit! They can wait until 5, like the civilized beasties I want them to be. LOL

 

Anyway, my food…

Whole30 – catching up, days 11 to 19

Yup. I’m probably the worst blogger ever.  I always have good intentions… and then *poof*.

Ah well. That’s how I am, I guess.

The last week has been… good, I guess. The weather changing to fall always makes me need to sleep more, so I’ve often been eating dinner, playing a couple rounds of Candy Crush, and then wandering off to bed to read for about 15 minutes before falling asleep.  I have a ton of energy during the day and I’ve been waking up just a little bit before my alarm each morning, so I know that this Whole30 has been a great thing.

Last weekend we did a giant round of PROCESS ALL THE PLUMS. Our tree decided it was going to be ripe all at once and threw about 70 lbs of plums at us in 3 days.  So, I spent all day Saturday and Sunday canning and dehydrating.  We found some pectin that we don’t have to use sugar with, so I made a ton of jams that we’ll be able to eat ourselves. (I don’t eat a lot of jam, since I gave up bread…) It tastes good with almond butter AND it worked really well spread on a pork roast!  I also canned a big batch of spicy plum BBQ sauce. Which I can’t eat any of until after my Whole30 is over… since I used coconut sugar in the recipe.  I made a few jars of jam sweetened with Stevia, to share with my diabetic neighbor (he suggested Splenda… not gonna happen). And a bunch of jars with regular sugar (but a low amount) to give away as gifts to coworkers & such.  I managed to put up 36 pints of stuff, 6 trays of fruit leather, & about a pound of dried “plum chips”.  Pretty productive, actually. I still have about 2 gallons of plum slurry that I need to finish doing things with, though… Any suggestions?

Okay, if anyone wants to see what I’ve been eating over the past week, it’s behind the cut:

Whole30 – day 9

So, still plugging along.
No exciting news to talk about, no awesome adventures… just the daily grind at work & then coming home and trying to get dinner put together. LOL
There is one odd thing that has been happening to me for several days now, though. I’ll share it here, in case it’s happening to anyone else doing Whole30. I’ve been getting dizzy spells. Weird gray outs/spotty vision. Not very often, once a day or so, but I haven’t been able to figure out if there’s any particular cause yet.  Reading on the Whole9 forums show that maybe my carb or salt intake isn’t high enough, so I’ll work on that and report back to you.

My food for day 9:
<<- Breakfast – sliced manzano and strawberries with shredded coconut/coconut cream/almond slivers, sauteed kale salad, and eggy coffee (no sugar – totally doesn’t need it!).
Lunch –  can of tuna (365 brand has no soy) mashed up with an avocado and some chopped tomatoes, handful of raw cashew/goji berry trail mix.
Dinner – Large ground beef patty with jalapeno mustard and half of a large sweet potato slathered in clarified butter.

Whole30 – days 6 & 7

Look VERY close… you can see bicyclists!

 

Whoops! Didn’t post at all yesterday! Well, I hope you’ll forgive me, since I was just WIPED OUT from riding the Edible Pedal 50! Four and a half hours of bicycling – 54 miles with 3,000 feet of climb. Yeah, whew.  Here’s a picture at about the ‘halfway’ point for one of the canyons we climbed. This was the brutal one. It’s the longest (not the steepest). ->>
There ended up not being anything we could eat at the event (well, anything that we were willing to wait in line for, anyway). Most of the stuff was marinaded, etc. The servers couldn’t tell me what was in it, so we skipped it in favor of keeping our Whole30 clean (and not having to start over!). We chose to come home and just eat the roast I had put in the crock pot that morning. 🙂

Day 6 (Saturday) –
Breakfast – Breakfast Patties and coffee whipped with coconut oil & egg.
Snack – plums, raspberries, coconut cream. (Note to self, don’t eat raspberries before a bike ride… ACID!)
Dinner – Green curry pork & veggies

Yeah, I missed lunch… But, breakfast was late & we ate dinner early, so it sort of all worked out.

Day 7 (Sunday) –
Breakfast – Eggy coffee & a Breakfast Patty. (pre-ride)
Snack – Banana & half an apple, raw cashews, goji berries. (on ride)
Lunch – Hard boiled egg, coconut water. (on ride)
Dinner – Pot roast with cauliflower and carrots.

Then, bed early.

This morning… I’m doing okay, but my butt is sore and my muscles are a little achy. 😀

R4P3D14 – Got a lot of catching up to do…

Coconut prawns, bacon wrapped scallops, butter cooked clams, and crab stuffed mushrooms… and a nice Riesling.

Today: 178.8 / LIW: 177 / Net: +1.8

Let’s see… I haven’t posted since Wednesday… so…

Thursday night hubby took me out to a nice steakhouse dinner. We had wine & appetizers (bad girl). But, oh so yummy! We did send the bread away – but I ate the stuffed mushroom and the coconut prawn.  Of course, by the time my blackened prime rib (with whiskey butter!) & green beans arrived, I was so full I could barely eat a quarter of it! 🙂

Then, I had Friday off, to kick off my girlz weekend – and I had a GREAT time!!

Awesome Charcuterie Plate!

Bestie & I ate lunch on Friday at our friend’s restaurant, The Compass Star – YUMMO!! She is an incredible chef. I’m so proud of her for following her dream and making it a reality. She works her tukkus off, and she’s loving it!  No clue what each of the cured meats were on the charcuterie plate – but they were delicious!  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the pulled pork slider or the rosemary chicken panini… but trust me, they were drool worthy. If you’re ever in Martinez, CA – or even anywhere NEAR there – you need to eat at The Compass Star.

And, after eating WAAAAYYYY too much incredible food (yes, I ate the bread – don’t judge, she made it with a local brewery’s spent beer stuff!) Bestie & I wandered up and down Main Street, popping into all of the antique stores. I managed to score two hat boxes, a nice wig box, and a pretty glass pearled purse.  Not too shabby.

Pfeiffer Beach
(taken February 2013)

Then, off to Salinas! Got to our friends’ house & they made us dinner and we played some Cards Against Humanity (crazy-rude-fun-nutty game, that!) until we were all too tired to keep going.

Saturday, we all got up and had some errands to run. Most of us went to Acme Coffee Roasters (yum, Breve Latte!) and Corrolitos Market (SAUSAGE!!). But, Sparky got to take a couple of the pets to a vet appointment.  After that, met back up & drove down the coast to Pfeiffer Beach – which is a bit south of Big Sur. Such a pretty beach!! Well worth the drive. The turn off is a little hard to spot, and you have to go 2 miles down a very tiny road, but once you get there! Beautimous!!  We spent a couple hours wandering around the beach – in the very cold wind. But, it was very enjoyable none the less.

After we got back to Salinas, we all went over to our other friends’ house to meet up with several more friends that we don’t get to see very often. We BBQ’d the sausages we picked up at Corrilitos & had several yummy vegetable side dishes. And, played Cards Against Humanity for a couple hours. 🙂

Sunday was mostly spent driving home – but Bestie & I stopped at IKEA for me to buy a new set of dishes. I also came out with lots of other stuff, as usual… but I didn’t go too overboard. Hey – I managed to not come home with furniture! LOL

Today was back to the grind at work. Whee.

I’m contemplating going full-on Primal once I’m out of P3.  I do a lot of it anyway, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to transition. I don’t want to do full Paleo, since I don’t want to give up all my dairy. I can live without the grains – but I have to have my cheeses!  I’m still reading Mark Sisson’s Primal Blueprint, so we’ll see if I’m willing to go all the way with it once I’m finished. I’m also starting to listen to some podcasts about paleo stuff.

I’m going to not post my daily foods on here anymore – if you really want to see what I’m eating day-to-day, I’m logging over on SparkPeople (snapshotstacy).  I’ll still post recipes and such, though, when I’ve got them.  I’m transitioning into maintenance and I figure that double-logging my food is a bit silly.

R4P3D7 – he can love you more, because he’s got two hearts…

Master & Doctor Toys!

Today: 178.4 / LIW: 177 / Net: +1.4

Today was a brutal, nasty, queasy headache/migraine day. It finally toned its self down around 4ish… Which was a good thing, since it let me actually do some exercise this evening. I did the Ramp it Up video from my Slim in 6 videos. There was some burn – but it was WAAYYY easier than it used to be. LOL!

Oooh! Hubby & I figured out what we’re going to do for the party!! We’re gonna go as the 5th Doctor (me) and the Master (him)! *giddy* I’m gonna cross-play the Doctor, though. Can’t you just picture those stripey pants as a cute flirty skirt?? *double giddy*  The hardest part is going to be figuring out that dang sonic screwdriver…

Oh! And I get to wear a celery stalk on my lapel!! How cool is that?? LOL

Well, I’m pretty wiped out – so I’m going to wrap this up and toddle off to bed.

Oh, and YAY, WHO!!

Breakfast was NY Strip steak, mushrooms, and peppers, also coffee/cream.
Lunch was a crab/shrimp pan roast.
Snack was some beef bites.
Dinner was a pancake (Happy Pancake Day!) made from egg, cream cheese, & protein powder.

Water count: 120 oz

R4P3D6 – Racing on the thunder and rising with the heat…

Today: 177.6 / LIW: 177 / Net: +0.6

It was a day. I went to work. I went and got my hair trimmed. I’m sleepy. The headache seems to be coming back.
*sigh*

My hairdresser invited Hubby & I to her 50th birthday party in two weeks. It’s a costume (aka fancy dress) party. The theme is “heroes, villains, & fictional characters”. I pointed out that it was quite a HUGE theme… Of course, now I have to figure out what to wear!! Ack!  I love playing dress up… but what to do?? Princess Leia in her white dress? She-ra Princess of Power? Batgirl? Catwoman? A cross-play someone? Eeek! So many options!!  I’m going to have to think on this – and get started on making it soon!

Alcatraz
(taken March 2012)

Breakfast was bacon & eggs, also coffee/cream.
Lunch was some left over pork rind fried chicken.
Snack was macadamia nuts and beef bites.
Dinner was a couple of deviled eggs.

Water count: 110 oz

R4P3D4 – The sky above won’t fall down…

Shot Tower in Melbourne Central
(taken November 2012)

Today: 176.6 / LIW: 177 / Net: -0.4

Still feeling a bit puny this evening… but I did manage to get out for a run with Hubby today. It was cold – and I haven’t managed to warm up yet, several hours later – but I did it. 🙂

We also did some shopping *bleh*. That was exhausting.

I spent most of the day curled up on the couch with the pups… they love that and they really don’t care why you’re there — just that you’re extra warmth under the blanket.

I really hope that this headache is totally gone by tomorrow. I’m doing the dang hike, and I’d prefer it to not be fogged by pain killers. lol

Breakfast was a turkey & jalapeno omelette, also coffee/cream.
Lunch was thighs and legs from El Pollo Loco.
Dinner was bratwurst and sauerkraut.
I also had a packet of Immunity Emergen-C after my run.

Water count: 110 oz

R4P3D3 – Metal health’ll drive you mad…

(taken 31 January 2013)

Today: 177.4 / LIW: 177 / Net: +0.4

I’ve been fighting a migraine all day… so this is going to be super short. I’m taking my pounding head to a dark room & closing my eyes…

Here’s one of the pictures I took yesterday at that little park area. I’m hoping to load up on some more pictures when we go on a hike on Sunday. Aaahhh, it’ll be nice to get outside!

Breakfast was ball tip steak and cottage cheese, also coffee/cream.
Snack was macadamia nuts and beef bites.
Lunch was deviled eggs.
Dinner was pork chops with blue cheese sauce.

Water count: 120 oz