5 Things Friday - Trader Joe's Edition

I've mentioned on here before that grocery shopping isn't my favorite thing to do here. Take that with a grain of salt - it's not like I'm trudging through a muddy market and can only pay in cash - they have normal groceries stores. Most are just smaller, with less of a selection than what my spoiled millennial self is used to, so that rarely am I able to just go to one and get everything that I want in one trip.

First world problems, I know, I know.

So like I've also said in the past, I try to shop online for a good majority of stuff - anything that isn't perishable. And then there are both of our wonderful mom's who love us so much that we semi-regularly get boxes full of food from them as well.

Typically their boxes are exclusively stuffed full of food from Trader Joes. Which even the dogs now get excited for, because they love Trader Joe's dog treats. So for my Five Things Friday today, I think I'll share our top five staples that we always ask for when offered a Trader Joe's shipment. (Keep in mind, I would pretty much have everything shipped if I could but anything that needs to be kept cold just ain't gonna make it across the ocean and arrive in edible condition, as shipping time averages 8-10 days.)

Beautiful.

You may find this topic incredibly dry and if so, feel free to close the window now. However if you also get riled up just by hearing the phrase 'let's go to Trader Joe's' read on - and also - please share with me some of your all-time favorite TJ's staples, so that I can have some new ideas next time I send my mom to the store for me.

#1 - Plantain chips. This one sits far above all the rest of the list. They have both salty and sweet, both are great, salty always wins though (we actually even make nachos with them sometimes).

I'm drooling

#2 - Bars. I have a bad habit (I think it's bad?) of eating two small lunches - one before and one after our mid-day workout. So typically the first half of lunch is a bar and some fruit. I used to exclusively stick with Larabars, but I'm also now also a fan of Quest Bars when I need a change up.  I ALSO just saw that Perfect Bars are now going to be carried at Trader Joe's as well - which are my ultimate favorite.

#3 - Jerky. Andrew might list this as his number 1, not sure, but he can finish off a bag in one sitting. Both beef and turkey are great, and while it's not the cheapest of snacks, it's some great quick protein.

#4 - Trail mix. Any kind really - but if it has chocolate in it, it's extra special :)

#5 - Any kind of treat. Andrew's mom recently sent us cowboy bark and I'm pretty sure I single-handedly finished off the bag over the course of last weekend (Andrew doesn't really like sweet things - confusing - but a win for me). However those dark chocolate pretzel thins are also pretty amazing... chocolate covered almonds... honestly, if it has chocolate, ship it.

Bonus: My sister made me aware of their Everything Bagel Seasoning last month. Since my mom has shipped it to us, I've been putting it on A TON of stuff - Andrew's daily scrambled eggs... sweet potatoes... and the best yet, pictured below.

Avo Toast and Eggs

That's all I've got. Tell me your top 5 - and then go out and have an awesome weekend.

Cheers - 

Kait

Snoozin'

Happy Hump Day!

I very much hope that it was happy. This morning began a little frantically for me, as I woke up and glanced at my phone to find that it was 7 AM on the dot.

What?!

I had set my alarm for 5:40 AM as I do almost every morning... yet apparently the volume on my phone was down so low that I just kept on snoozin'.

I never do that. Ever. I honestly think it may have been the first time I slept through an alarm. 

Thankfully I had showered the night before, so I did absolutely nothing to tame my hair, threw on clothes, and was still at work by 7:45.

My wild, just-woke-up-and-did-nothing-to-tame-it hair

Impressive, eh?

I even took a quick second to snap the trees on my street before hopping in my car, which are currently an array of beautiful colors.

Let's talk food for a bit, shall we?

I failed to mention that this past weekend I threw together a hodge-podge recipe for paleo crockpot cranberry applesauce. It came out well and I've been nibbling at it all week.

In case you are a manic cranberry lover like myself, here is what I threw in the pot:

-Two large apples, chopped
-1 bag of fresh cranberries
-1-2 TB of cinnamon
-Two freshly squeezed oranges
(I just squeezed the juices and then left two slices in the pot to marinate)
-1 cup of water
-1/4 cup honey

I turned the crockpot on high for about 3-4 hours, stirring on occasion to help it all breakdown. Now, I like my cranberries a little tart, so if you like them on the sweet side, throw in a bit more honey, honey.

Good stuff.

I also have a large butternut squash that has been sitting up on the counter now for at least a week, and I decided tonight that I want to do something with it by the weekend.

Let's play a game called help Kait choose which recipe to use for her butternut squash. Vote in the comments below, would ya?

1. Butternut squash chili

2. Butternut squash lasagna

3. Slow cooker chuck roast & butternut squash

All 3 recipes are paleo because that's just how I roll these days. Check out the three fairly simple recipes and let me know your thoughts.

Is 7:30 an acceptable bedtime? Because I would be lying if I said I wasn't lounging here in my giraffe pj's... again.

not sorry.

I've got a WOD planned for the morning, followed by a long day of work, followed by a little coworker happy hour. I sure wouldn't mind if Thursday flies by, Friday's are much more fun, don't you agree?

Cheers!

K

The 21 Day Wrap Up

Well, I said I was going to write this post last night, but the truth is, I was in bed by 8 PM watching The Breakfast Club for my first time ever. Sorry I’m not sorry.

My 21-Day Sugar Detox is over. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but somehow it flew by. The first week felt like a month, and the second two weeks felt like two days. No joke.

source

Let me start by prefacing with this: I learned a lot. A lot about my body, food and the way my body responds to certain foods. I learned a lot about the Paleo Diet in general and the thought process behind it.

Let me clarify a few things. The 21-Day Sugar Detox (Level 1) is not 100% Paleo, as I was ‘allowed’ to eat full-fat dairy, and not allowed to eat most fruits. However, for the final week I tried to phase out most dairy, and slowly phase in a bit more fruit towards the end.

 This could get incredibly lengthy if I let it, so I won’t. But just know I'm passionate about this. I do want to share some final takeaways from these past three weeks, and reasons why I’m glad that I tried it out.

1. The #1 reason why I enjoyed it is, I knew exactly what I was putting into my body, on a daily basis. I literally knew just about every single ingredient that I was consuming, as it’s all about eating whole, real foods. None of that chemical processed crap.

2. Because of this, I didn’t really have to worry about ‘watching what I ate’ the past 3 weeks. I mean sure I was working out and running a lot, but it wasn’t about worrying over the calories in my meals/snacks, it was more about the content of what I was fueling with. And guess what? Without even trying, or wanting to, I lost weight following the detox rules.

My plantain paleo pancakes on the deck yesterday morning.
 Chocolate sauce & coconut as toppings.
SO.GOOD.

3. I wasn’t 100% perfect, and I’m not upset about it. The first week I caved and ate a mini cheesecake with my roommate at WholeFoods. Week 2 I had ice cream, and Week 3 I had a handful of m&m’s. See the pattern here? While these 3 weeks have definitely changed the way I see my diet, chocolate will never die out of my life. Ever. HOWEVER, discovering the fact that I can mix unsweetened cocoa with coconut oil for ‘clean chocolate sauce’ may have changed my life.

4. I missed my fruits. I LOVE fruit, and am excited to have that option again. I already ate a carton of raspberries today alone. However speaking of fruit, plantains have reached the top of my list of favorites. I’m so glad I discovered them as an option during the cleanse, and see them sticking around as a staple.

5. If you are an athlete/runner/competitor looking to try out the 21 Day Sugar Detox, make sure that you check out the ‘Athlete Modifications’ section. This was a life saver – once I discovered I could be eating more of the dense carbs listed in there, my training was able to return to its normal intensity levels.

 Moral of the story? I really, really like the paleo style of eating. I don’t love referring to it as the Paleo Diet because the word diet can have such a bad connotation. It’s far from a ‘diet’ because it’s really just a simplified way of eating. These diagrams helped me to see the differences between Paleo and clean eating:

                                

 I’m not looking to become some die-hard paleo phene. Technically paleo = no alcohol, no dairy, no grains. I would say on my average day to day, I would love to stay leaning more towards the paleo side of things, as it seemed to make my body happy doing so the past three weeks. Am I going to stop eating nachos and drinking beers on game day? No. Am I going to forever avoid cheese and ice cream and pizza? Absolutely not. I’m not going to be uptight at restaurants and ask what kind of oil my meat was cooked in, as this just isn’t a life or death matter for me.

But if it’s up to me, on a normal week day when I’m cooking for myself, I’ll stick to the paleo plan.

The paleo jalapeno poppers I made on Saturday...

I realize I’m a little out of the ordinary, and thinking that food experiments like this are ‘fun’ isn’t necessarily the norm… but if you’re looking to clean up your diet, trying to change the way you see food, and even make some positive changes to your body, I would honestly considering giving the 21 Day Sugar Detox a try. It definitely positively impacted me.

Would love to answer any questions or address any comments out there, feel free to ask away!

This girl's off to celebratory sushi with friends.

Cheers to good health!

Kait

Pushing 20

Well, if I’m not mistaken I owe you all a little bit of literature.

This was a very solid weekend, for really no reason at all. Perhaps due to excessive productivity? I found myself in a rare crafty state yesterday, and made this:

Two months after moving into our Baltimore house, I’m finally putting some finishing touches on my room. My jewelry (and race medals) have literally been sitting in a tangled mess all summer, and so yesterday I decided to do something about it. It’s amazing what $12 at Michael's will do for you.

I’m also happy to announce that I came out of this weekend with both legs intact. I wasn’t sure how my body would respond to an (almost) 20 mile weekend. Saturday morning was a beautiful cool morning in Baltimore, and I did 8 out and back along the harbor, followed by 5.1 around a nearby park…

Can you tell that the park was hilly? Time to start hitting those hill workouts a little harder.

On Sunday I was worried I would be too tight to do 6 miles at race pace, but I felt good by mid-afternoon, and flew through them (a little too fast) at a 7:33 pace.

Successful running weekend, not only because my body parts held it together, but I was also feeling good energy-wise. My race pace run last week was the definition of horrific; I had almost no energy, was over-heated, etc. I felt 500 times better the second week of the sugar cleanse, and I’m going to take a gander and say this is largely due to me finally finding my stride on the cooking front. 

Eats the past week have included:

Buffalo Chicken Egg Muffins

Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

(I didn't include bacon, and it was still SO good)

Paleo Apple Banana Bites

I have continued to see positive body changes, and in general feel really good. I hate sounding like an advertisement on here, but my energy levels are up, my mood has improved and in general this style of eating (very Paleo-like) seems to agree with my body.

This is the final week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox, and my plan is to allow even less dairy, and no cheats. (The first two weeks I allowed one ‘cheat’ per week, for my own psychological well-being.)

I don't feel bad about that.

Does anyone know if the period goes inside or outside of the parenthesis? This is driving me insane, I can’t figure it out.

Last but certainly not least, congrats to my friend and coworker, Amy, who completed her first Irongirl Triathlon this past weekend. I had the chance to swing by and see her finish – it was an awesome event to spectate, and I’m super proud of her!

Cheers to a marvelous Monday!

chef kait

I don't get to say this very often, but holy crap was I productive this weekend!

What do you all think of some of the blog changes? Did you notice I have my own domain now? Woot Woot, high roller.

Still tweaking a few things, so expect a few more changes in the next week or so. If you're one of those people who hates change, and the recent reformatting has severely stressed you out, I offer my deepest apologies. But I won't change it back.

I want to talk about food.

And you're probably like, what else is new Kait?

I will admit, the 11 miles from this morning has left be a little hungrier than normal this evening, but that's not the main reason I want to talk about food. First off, have I ever told you that I love my kitchen in our new house?

It's marvelous, the island is extremely ideal, and I always feel very homey during my time up there slaving away over the stove.

Saturday night, I created this:

Cheesy Garlicky Shrimp Tacos.

Remember when I told you I want to be a taco connoisseur? I wasn't messing around kids.

The tacos were pretty easy to whip up, so I shall share the recipe:

- 1/2 bag of shaved brussel sprouts (get my from trader joes)
-1-2 tsp of garlic
-1 tbsp of olive oil
-2 wedges of Laughing Cow's light creamy swiss
-6-8 unthawed, pre-cooked shrimp
-3 corn tortillas
-hot sauce to taste.

The method to the madness:
Saute the brussel sprouts with the olive oil and garlic on the stove until they start to really stink of the entire house soften, it usually takes about 10 minutes. Mix in the cheese wedges, let melt a bit, and stir that bad boy up.

Microwave the corn tortillas if you like them soft, then add the spouts as the 'lettuce' portion of the tacos. Top with however many shrimp you prefer, and squirt some of that wonderful hot sauce on top.

It sounds a little weird, maybe it is, but I thoroughly enjoyed them up on my deck, while overlooking a brilliant sunset.

That was Saturday's creation. Tonight between the hours of 5-7 pm I slaved once again over the oven/stove/crockpot to create several paleo-like, sugar free creations, as I kick off the 21-day sugar cleanse/detox whatever you want to call it. Woot Woot!

I even enjoyed one final beer before kissing alcohol goodbye for the next 3 weekends. My friends think I'm crazy, maybe I am. I like crazy. And I definitely like challenges.

I spy a Blue Moon...

After the 11 miles today, some hot yoga is once again on tap for tomorrow. Dare I say, I'm looking forward to it?

Let me know your thoughts on brussel sprouts, paleo eating... heck tell me your most recent favorite meal creation. Hope your weekend treated you well, and Monday is kind.

Cheers!

Sunday Funday

Well, I suppose this weekend could have been worse. Much worse.

Above all else, I was extremely productive. I ran many errands, and cleaned both my room and my car. I also did a lot of cooking, and a lot of running, two of my favorite things, as you all know.

Let's start with Friday. It was jeans day at work, and I took the liberty of wearing my snazzy new feather earrings, pictured below. I also ate a pop tart, because after all, it was Friday.

That face where I'm doing something I know is stupid but doing it anyway.

How great do my nails look?

Saturday morning I got creative with my leftover spicy cauliflower that I told you about in my last post. I mixed it in with some scrambled eggs and hot sauce, and it literally made my day. I think I'm finally coming off of that pancake kick that I was on for, ehhhh, the past 8 years. But seriously, ever since I got the flu post-Boston and threw up some chocolate-chip pancakes I made, I'm more apt to go with the eggs for breakfast. TMI? Get over it.

Saturday night got a little less healthy, as I caved and had a poncho-clad Cinco De Mayo drink with my roomies.  See below.

Considering taking that to my work and dressing my water bottles in it. 

And now, here we are; Sunday. As mentioned, I hiked down on the Maryland/Virginia border with a friend from work. Most of the trail was rocky and followed along the Potomac River, so the views were pretty gorgeous, I can't deny that. It wasn't hiking in the mountains... but what can you do.

Overall, I can't complain about the weekend. I logged a solid 15 miles, did some killer P90x abs, and got A LOT done. Furthermore, I came to an important conclusion: the past few weeks, I haven't necessarily been fair to Maryland.

I've recently taken up the hobby of making snippy comments about the East Coast; mostly generalities about the population and its priorities, traffic, the weather, etc. It's a LARGE population of government workers, many who are very money and status driven, many who couldn't give two shits about you and your livelihood, many who will stare you down if you choose to run errands in your sweats.

I always have, and I always will run my errands in sweats on the weekends. Sue me.

It's been an adjustment to getting the stares, seeing that many stores/restaurants in Foco didn't even enforce a shirt & shoes policy. Kidding... kind of?

Where am I going with this rant? I miss Colorado like crazy. But I don't think I've given Maryland a fair chance yet to make a solid judgement. My first few months in Colorado were rocky as well, and sometimes I forget that it hasn't even been 3 months out there yet. So, in attempt to be fair,  I'm going to try to refrain from making a judgement on living in this part of the country until I hit the the 6 month mark.

I'll revisit this topic then.

Have a fantastic week, and a very happy Monday.

Cheers!