Challenge Day 6 and a home WOD

As I am sitting here typing this the smell of bacon is wafting from behind me...I won't be eating any. Only the fam gets some and I get to smell it. I am not bitter...RIGHT. Honestly I am settling in to this challenge thing, I am feeling better (with the exception of allergies) and have a pretty good groove going. I am working on tweaking snacks because I typically don't eat them and I am not going with the whole cheese stick fruit or protein shake option every time. I am also going to cook up some quick grab items for the week. I am seriously craving warm comfy foods and am making a list to email regarding some healthy foods not on our list. I love bison and it is lean and full of protein but not on the list. I am also craving beef and a nice roast or stew would be really nice to have right now.

Meal #1 (8:30)
More cheese eggs...2 eggs, 1/4 cup cheese, splash of milk.
1 cup spinach sauteed in olive oil with garlic
Coffee, splash of milk

This is my last cheese egg breakfast. While I a using lowfat cheese I still don't want to keep this cycle up. I LURVE cheese eggs in a bad way, but they don't make me feel great as breakfast. Not sure why adding the cheese makes a difference but if I had eaten 2 eggs just cooked with the spinach I would feel differently.

Meal #2 (11:00)
1/2 cup cottage cheese with lemon pepper
apple baked with apple pie spice & topped with walnuts
Omega 3 dose 1

I trying to space my meals out further because I feel like I am constantly eating when I am not hungry. I am also trying to strategically plan my meals to eat certain groups at certain times. i.e. eating fat servings for snacks to prolong them.  This snack was a hard one to come up with because I am freezing. It went from 78 degrees to 54 degrees in 24 hours, my body hasn't had time to adjust so I am walking around like a bag lady in layers of warm clothes craving warm hearty comfort foods. I really want some bison stew but I need to find out if it is challenge legal. So since I was wanting comfort foods and warmth I decided to grab a serving of cottage cheese with some lemon pepper for my protein and then cut up and microwave an apple, then I topped it with apple pie spice & 2 Tbsp chopped walnuts. Typically I would also add a small nug of butter but not for the challenge, I could have used some coconut oil but it was good without it and I got some fat from the nuts.

This is a comfort food for me big time, my older brother first showed me how to nuke a baked apple; core an apple, fill it with butter and brown sugar and microwave until soft. Yum. I changed it up omitting the sugar & butter, and adding the walnuts. I am a big walnut fan especially in the winter. They are dropping like mad from the trees right now so that is God's way of telling you it is time to eat walnuts. Real paleo peeps back in the day would have foraged and found these healthy fats as well as a wild apple tree to pick from. See, food from God.

Meal #3 (12:45)
Deli roast beef and cheese rolls with dijon mustard
Tomato soup with roasted red pepper 1.5 cups
Pumpkin spice rooibos tea with splash of milk

I would love to say this meal was for nourishment or to beat hunger but this puppy was pure pleasure. I had planned on leftovers but then decided to have some of the deli meat we just got because I love this stuff. It is london broil from Boar's head...really tasty and completely gluten/wheat free! We get it from a produce market that only sells Boar's Head so no worry about cross contamination. I rolled a few pieces with cheese slices and dipped in Trader Joes dijon mustard, have you had this stuff? If not run to TJs and grab it, it is that good. Gluten and sugar free it is so versatile. It tastes like a blend between Grey Poupon and Colemans mustards. I love Colemans, it is my fave mustard but it is made with wheat flour (wth I know) so this is the best substitute I have found.

I also love tomato soup. Not the red & white can stuff, I hated tomato soup until I had the real stuff. Like you know made from tomatoes. At any given moment I will grab a can of tomatoes and few choice ingredients and cook it until good and melded then blend with an immersion blender, top with some greek yogurt and yum! I didn't have any yogurt on hand so I added some milk to cream it up a bit. I topped this off with TJs pumpkin spice rooibos tea. Seriously, if you have never tried rooibos you should. It has a natural vanilla taste and aroma and I have never had to drink it with sugar. I do like it with cream but milk works too.

YUM! and the tin is just so darn cute!

Meal #4 (3:45)

Banana

2 tbsp macadamias

2 oz turkey

Quick meal, just grabbing random things. I am freezing today and tired, either the being cold is making me tired or the allergies because I slept like a rock last night. 

Meal #5(6:30)

Chili 2 cups

I tried to not make chili for dinner tonight. We just had it at the beginning of this challenge so about a week ago but it is so cold here and it was either turn on my heat or chili. Chili won. I made a big pot so we could nosh some leftovers. I always like to add a little "something" to my chili. I have used carrot puree before but I typically use a can of pumpkin in the fall when it is everywhere. Today I didn't have any pumpkin and not sure if it is legal so I added chopped carrots, I wasn't in the mood to steam puree yada yada. So small chopped pieces will do fine. I also added beans to my chili which I don't typically do. Beans don't bother me at all I just don't eat them a lot, but I thought I would mix it up a bit from last week's chili, gotta keep it interesting. 

I am having such a hard time cooking. I cook with my nose. Whenever I bake something Daddy-O will be like how do you know it is done or how long do I bake this for and I am like until you can smell it. Ha, strange I know but I have a keen sense of smell. It is how I season my dishes and such and it has yet to fail me, except when it is not working like now. My allergies started acting up and couple that with the mudding and sanding Daddy-O is doing in our bathroom and my head is a mess. My sinuses are so angry and swollen and I have all but lost my sense of smell and taste for that matter. This is another reason I think my appetite has gone caput. I always put a smidge of cinnamon in my chili, you can barely taste it most people don't know what it is but they know there is something. I add it based on smell and right now I can't smell it. 

I had a really weird drop in sugar today like the kind you get when you haven't eaten all day, it was really random. I blame the fact that I am not eating what I need to because well I feel crappy and have no appetite. Frost advisory tonight, bring it and bring these pollen levels down!

I really wanted to play with Belle today and get in a home WOD. I searched last night and most of the day for inspiration and decided on a workout of 21-15-9 push presses and dead lifts. Small, safe and doesn't need any additional equipment, but I am not feeling it today so I am calling it a rest day and saving this for Tuesday.  I am praying this season doesn't mimic last cold and flu season where I almost changed my name to Sick because I constantly said "I'm Sick". It was awful I hate it. I am staying positive (one rule of actually fighting a cold) and thinking this yuk is a result of running outside, open windows, and drywall dust.