Mussels For Your Muscles

For supper tonight I had the most gorgeous mussels, thanks to Mark Sisson (Mark's Daily Apple) and his Reader's Inspired Cookbook.

Mussels are really healthy: full of protein, paleo friendly and filling. So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 pounds mussels
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 chilli (sliced)
- 2 large tomatoes (chopped)
- 1/2 cup of dry white wine
- pinch of sea salt
- small handful of basil (coarsely chopped)
- large bunch of parsley (chopped)

Directions:
- clean the mussels
- melt the butter and add the garlic
- sautee the garlic until golden and add the chilli
- add the tomatoes when the chilli is soft and cook until the tomatoes have expressed their juices
- add the wine and simmer until the sauce is reduced by half
- add the salt and mussels, cover the pot and cook for 3-5 minutes until all the mussels have opened
- toss with basil and parsley
- serve quickly

(recipe taken from Mark's Daily Apple)

On a side note, I have finally managed to get my mother to accept my "whole30" Paleo challenge - it's great to feel supported more with a fully stocked fridge of Paleo-friendly yumminess.

The Difficulties Of Non-Paleo Friends/Relatives

The Non-Paleo Pancake

As you may be aware, I'm 18 and still live at home.  I'm of a slender build with no desire to lose weight by taking up this Paleo lifestyle, merely to feel more healthy and treat my body the way that nature and evolution intended.

Unfortunately, my mother seems to be set against any "new diet" that I regulate for myself - a little lacking in support, one might say.  She insists on adding cream into soup (which I can't refuse to eat as I'll be accused of being "anorexic" or "starving myself") so I feel that today has been a slight failure in terms of my "whole30".  Included in this, I'm lactose sensitive so the cream will do double the damage that it would for most people!

I've tried to convince her whole-heartedly that I'm not attempting to diet, get skinny or lose weight; if anything it's the opposite, I want to get strong, healthy and toned.  I'm seeing it as more of a challenge - there has to be someone trying to push you in the wrong direction (I suppose) or it'd be too easy!  I'm going to build from my downfall of the soup incident today and use it to bolster my efforts because I want to complete this "whole30" in as efficient a way as possible!

I'm planning on having a 100% Paleo supper tonight to make sure that nothing that any parent might say to sway the matter will affect my meal!

Stay strong!

Scavenger's Lunch Delights

Smoked bacon, shrooms, cherry tomatoes, blob of mustard-y dressing 

I’m taking part in the “whole30” on Jenna’s blog (Paleo Project).  I’m not going to lie and say that so far it’s been easy - although I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t have dairy anyway, I miss the other things like CARBS! I’m also not that partial to meat so I’m trying to experiment with meat and other protein-rich veggie sources (I’m hoping to have a go at tempeh soon). Another set back is that I’m still living at home so I can’t fill the house with everything yummy and strip it of all temptation.

I managed to throw together an awesome lunch though which has left me feeling completely satisfied without having to go out and buy myself “special food”.

I can’t wait to keep up the paleo challenge, I know that there’ll be temptations and I might be lead astray - but fingers crossed I’ll be able to stay strong and pick the Paleo option!

Primal Feeding: Lunch

A plateful of colourfulness & health

Ingredients:

- 1/2 a squash

- whole red pepper

- 1 teaspoon of dried chilli

- ham (I had 2 slices)

- cherry tomatoes

- homemade mackerel pate (for non-paleo eaters)

Instructions:

Squash & Red Pepper (Mash):

1. take half the squash and peel and dice
2. dice red pepper & de-seed
3. fry in a little butter (or coconut oil if preferred) until soft (10 minutes roughly)
4. sprinkle dried chilli into frying pan
5. (if you want to make it mash) remove from pan and mash until desired consistency is achieved

Homemade Mackerel Pate:

1. skin some smoked mackerel fillets and whizz in the blender
2. add cream cheese and creme fraiche to thin the mix down a bit
3. add a little lemon zest
4. salt and pepper to taste
5. enjoy! 

Protein goodness:

1. pop the desired amount of ham onto your plate (I went for two slices) 
2. you could also go for some bacon (fry it up after snipping off the rind)

Finishing touches:

1. to adhere with my minor obsession with cherry tomatoes, I grabbed four and chopped them up to go with my meal
2. enjoy!

Today's Workout

- 1 hour of Pilates: absolutely loved it! I had such a tight back after Magaluf (and the mandatory pole dancing) so I felt so much more loosened up.

- bodyrock.tv workout (Abs Assassin): When I did the first Tabata set, I thought that the workout was going to be easy… I was wrong! Definitely had my ass kicked as I struggled through the Side Plank lifts. 

- 30 minutes hooping: awesome fun, I spoke to my boyfriend on skype for half of the time (I’m going stir crazy being home alone!) and then had a bit of a dance to some tunes.

- 30 day shred: Bit of a rookie error as I didn’t have any handweights so just held the squat without the handweights and did a “free row” (does such thing exist?!) without any weight.

Time for a banana :)