Who Needs Breadcrumbs?: Paleo Meatballs

Eating carb free gets really boring really quickly if you're stuck on meat and broccoli or salads. Scouring the internet for creative people who make creative Paleo/Primal meals makes things much more fun. I was craving meatballs, so I looked up a few recipes and then made my own. Very easy. Here is the basic outline and you can add whatever spices you want.  This recipe was about 24+ meatballs, and I am hoping to be eating on it for a couple of days, so you could easily half it if you're cooking for one.

1Lb spicy italian sausage
1Lb lean ground turkey
2 eggs (I'd say you need 1 egg per 1lb of meat)
1/2C to 1C almond flour/almond meal (you'll have to hit up Whole Foods for this, or you can easily make your own.. it's just ground up almonds I think) -- again I'd say 1/2c almond meal to 1lb of meat
1 large can of crushed tomatoes

To this basic outline of a recipe, I added:
1/2 red onion,
Some salt, pepper, dried oregano
4 leaves of freshly chopped basil (from my GARDEN! (a pot)).
**I would have added green onions, but I forgot I had them  - oops.

So, I squished all of those ingredients together into balls (obvi) and then browned them in olive oil until at least a couple sides of the ball were brown, then poured a huge can of crushed tomatoes over them all and lowered the heat to low and let them simmer for a good while. By a good while, I mean 10 minutes maybe? I started sampling them around the 10 minute mark, the smaller ones at least, so don't go too far.

Annnnnd here is Dre - always up for a Paleo faux-crumb or two.

Final Review - Day 3 of BluePrintCleanse

Day 3 was interesting. By that point, the cleanse was pretty anticlimactic since I was never running to the bathroom. Physically I felt GREAT, much thinner and lighter. I was still able to workout every day and had plenty of energy. Mentally, I went back and forth on Day 3 -- it's exciting that it is the last day, but it is also hard to remember by that point why I decided to do a juice cleanse. So my brain kept going back and forth between being excited I did it to annoyed I had done it. Overall, good experience. I think I would do a juice cleanse again.

They recommend you come out of the cleanse the following day eating only fruits and veggies to ease your digestive system back into practice. I definitely recommend this because the sandwich I ate did not stay in my system for too long.

Now, I just need to purchase a juicer so I can drink green juice daily.

Juice Cleanse, Day 2

Day Two went by yesterday without a hitch. I did snack on some avocado, which is one of the very few items on the list they sent me of acceptable items I can eat. That was all I had, but the food list only includes a couple slices of cucumber, half a cup of black coffee, vegetable broth.. and not much else. I did also sip on some tea, and that helped with the boredom and with my tiredness. I also did have to have a short afternoon nap. But, I have been working out every day. My new Houston gym is intense and the classes are focused on small group personal training. I actually did some handstand walk-ups yesterday. Well, I attempted them. I felt great at the gym, much lighter, and not light headed or tired, but I am glad I had that avocado.

I slept great the night before Day 2, although had a strange dream about my dog being turned into a crawfish and I made everyone look for her before she was boiled for a party we were having. Strange. I also did not go to the bathroom other than to pee, which I felt was strange, but I read the FAQs section on BluePrintCleanse website and it said that was A-okay. My tongue is white though, which I also read means my body is expelling toxins, so yay! Something is happening.

The morning is the easiest, mentally and hunger-wise, for me. The Green Juice is growing on me, but more than that, it is pretty filling. So I feel like I actually have had a real breakfast. That is followed by P.A.M. (Pineapple, Apple, Mint), which is AMAZING and makes my morning so much better. P.A.M. is  followed by more Green Juice - eh, I'll take what I can get I guess. I appreciate what is in the Green Juice, I just dislike cucumber in my juices, so that's what has me saying, "eh."

The afternoon is tricky. I am trying to space the juices out by at least two hours, so around 1-2pm, it is time for the Spicy Lemonade, which I enjoy. It contains Lemon, Water, Agave Nectar and Cayenne. It is just so light, so non-meal like, that i makes the hours after lunch go by very slowly. I guess normally, that is the time when my body is most used to an afternoon snack or at least a hot coffee. Mmmm lattes.

Spicy Lemonade is followed by C.A.B., Carrot, Apple, Beet juice with tons of ginger in it. C.A.B. is more filling. After C.A.B (or at least after half of C.A.B.), I workout. I have actually been looking forward to working out because it is a much needed break from sitting at my desk trying not to google new recipes. So glad I am not on Pinterest yet. So glad.

Cashew Milk (Cashews, Water, Cinnamon, Vanilla and Agave) is the best juice of the day. Thank goodness it is so creamy and delicious because it really is filling enough to count as a (small) true dinner. I live on non-dairy milks - coconut, almond, soy - so this one was very tasty for me. Even if I'd never had a nut milk before, it'd probably still be good.

Juice Cleanliness

Since I stare at a computer for at least 12 hours a day, sometimes my brain and my hands just linger on websites for too long and then suddenly decide that I NEED whatever I am staring at and then, suddenly I'm starting a 3-day raw juice cleanse. Oops! There are two main juice cleanses I found that can be ordered online - Pressed Juicery and BluePrint Cleanse. I'm definitely not up for The Master Cleanse (10 days of hot lemon water, cayenne pepper and maple syrup) although I have read all about it and the wondrous affects it has just don't weigh out the torture of sitting at a desk all day thinking about what I am not eating. Master Cleanse is free though.. so I guess 1 point for Master Cleanse. Another option would be to buy a juicer and juice fruits and vegetables myself but part of the financial obligation of buying the juices helps with the commitment of the cleanse - for me at least. This is also how I feel about the gym. Money well spent if you do it. Plus two of my college girl friends said it was great, so hey, why not. This morning I waited until the painfully late hour of 10:30am for FedEx to arrive with my box of three days worth of juices.

 


I'm supposed to drink 6 juices per day and I'm supposed to try to space them out by at least 1 hour and drink the last one at least 2 hours before bed. Numbers 1 and 3 are the Green Juices: I like most green juices, but I'm having problems with this one. Mainly bc I think the celery water taste is kind of eww; the hint of apple juice helps though.

Juice 2 was heavenly: Pineapple, Apple, Mint. Pass the vodka and a cocktail shaker please.

Juice 3: see above. Cucumber taste not growing on me.

Juice 4 is Spicy Lemonade, which is what you drink on the Master Cleanse, so I felt like I was paying homage to that and did my Master duty by drinking it. It was so light and airy though, I was pretty starving by this point in the afternoon.

Juice 5 is sooo good if you love ginger like I do. This baby is ginger-ific. If you do not eat all of your pickled ginger at sushi restaurants then you are definitely going to hate this one. I ask for extra ginger all the time when I'm having sushi - you know, to snack on while waiting on my rolls, so, of course, I like this red beet and ginger combo.

Lastly, for my post-workout supper, the juice of all juices, Juice 6: Cashew Milk. It is supposed to be so creamy and delicious and sweet and I cannot wait!!

Today I feel nothing more than just hungry. I'm not low-blood-sugar/grouchy hungry, I just feel empty hungry. Maybe tomorrow I'll feel terrible, and then I'll know the toxins are being flushed out of my system. I'm glad I am doing a juice cleanse. I understand that sometimes a digestive tract needs to rest and cleanse itself.  I do suffer from too many stomach aches, insomnia and restless sleep (these are all self-diagnosed, of course). I'm also always in a constant state of stress as I have somehow managed to enter into the unforgiving world of business-based immigration law, piled on with quarts of caffeine, it makes me a tad on edge most days. I am hoping that this much needed break from caffeine overdose will help my system and reset my start button to not be caffeine dependent. Although I doubt a 3-day cleanse will help with nightmares about missing deadlines?? Sigh, maybe not. The down side to a juice fast is that it is boring - I mean, you really have to take a detox from all social calendars while on it so that you aren't in the presence of food or booze. But hey, it's just three days/ 72 hours right? I've more painful things for much longer - Bar Exam anyone?

LOVE

"Weddings are a celebration of love. And there is nothing that's been written about more than love has been. From songs and poems and books. We analyze love. We have websites that practice love, trying to match people up so that they can love one another. And it's one of life's great mysteries. Love is a gift from God. One of the things about love is that if we keep it to ourselves it's useless, but we need to share our love with other people. Especially with that one special person who we choose to spend the rest of our lives with. Love is something so special that it needs to be shared..."

The quote above is from a wedding ceremony sermon, shown in a trailer of a video that "Films by Dan" did for another couple, the small clip is on his website. It's just beautiful. Happy tears kind of beautiful. Happy happy that he's going to create a movie like this for my wedding:
http://filmsbydan.com/2011/06/ashby-and-carlos-a-wedding-in-white-castle/

Reverse Bucket List

Ever since The Bucket List came out (which I should probably see, but the gist seems easy enough to get), I think about my Bucket List a lot - a lot.  Maybe daily. And then I turned 29. And then I realized I didn't want to spend anymore days dreaming about the things I wanted to do, and just accept that I probably will do at least most of what I want to do and that's that. I'm leaving my 20s behind next year, and I want to focus on things that I have done instead of dream of things that are yet to come. I don't want to wake up in another decade and realize I'm still dreaming away my life. Along that line of reflection, I was thinking about how I have spent my last 10 birthdays. Reflection, acceptance and gratefullness are the new bucket list. The last decade was a good life. A decade of July 26es:

I turned 20 in Dublin (During Literary Pub Crawl), the summer I studied abroad in London.
I turned 21 in Lake Charles, had recently returned from studying abroad in Spain where I dreamed in Spanish for the first time, and ate someone else's cake at a bar because, heck, it was my birthday!
I turned 22 about 3 days before I left to live in Madrid, Spain for a year
I turned 23 about 2 days after coming home from Spain to attend LSU Law School (bittersweet!)
I turned 24 in Palma de Majorca, off the coast of Spain, after studying abroad in France with the law school (And, hilariously enough, thought I was having a quarter life crisis and died my hair black on that day)
I turned 25 in New Orleans, while working as a law clerk that summer, officially, turning a year older at DBA in the Marigny.
I turned 26 (Golden Birthday) the day after the bar exam and had all my friends in town to celebrate (until about 10pm due to our sheer post-exam exhaustion)
I turned 27 two days after I met my now fiance John and had a pier party to celebrate and saw the sun rise
I turned 28 during my White Linen Night pier birthday party
I turned 29 and - John proposed that night.

I'm doing pretty good.

Move over Marley, I've got the World's Worst Dog

Mia pooped in her kennel yesterday (which is pretty normal when I don't get home at lunch to take her out -- don't get me started - apparently she pooped her whole life in a kennel at hunting school and now there's nothing I can do now that she's old bc she doesn't seem to care about getting punished), so the floor of it was still drying out today, and since it's been raining for 3 days straight, the "drying out" isn't going so well. So, the kennel wasn't ready for her to stay in today. And this morning, in the pouring rain, and in order to keep Mia out of one of the two dirt holes she dug for herself to lay in under my flower beds during the day to keep 'cool' when I leave her outside, my boyfriend had this plan to tie her up next to her little trampoline bed in the yard. Well, I came home today at lunch to a filthy dog, who had pooped ON the trampoline bed, then chewed threw her leash, then got free and straight into one of her mud pits to cool off. Beautiful. Just beautiful. Oh, and it was still raining.