Feeling Good

I am 28 years old, and never before in my life have I ever wanted to wear a pair of short tight shorts to the gym. Sure, I've tried them on in store dressing rooms over the years, but after seeing my reflection in the mirror, I never thought of venturing outside that door.

Finally, my thoughts have changed.

Please excuse my dirty bathroom mirror.
Hello Windex, that is gross!

I just ordered these from Reebok the other day. 

I wasn't sure if I'd keep them or not, but since Reebok offers free shipping and free returns, I figured Why not? So I got some. And these kind of validated for me how much my body has changed. It showed me how I am finally doing it right. I am pretty proud of how far I've come since August. I'm not trying to brag or anything; I am trying to show that it's freaking nuts how much can change occur in less than 6 months. It's been hard work, but it's also been fun!

It is never too late (nor too early) to change your eating and exercising habits. I thought I was healthy before. Now I feel it and see it every day, and it makes me smile that I am helping my body become the best machine it can be.

Also, check out the tag that was attached to the shorts. I know Reebok makes CrossFit apparel, but seeing that this "Fitness in 100 words" goes out to everyone who orders these shorts is pretty cool. Plus, read it: It's true!

Quick meal: Egg muffins

I have to admit that I love oatmeal. And I also must admit that oatmeal isn't the best choice according to the paleo gods. A couple of weekends ago, I decided to make some egg muffins so that I could enjoy them immediately and also save them for a quick microwaveable breakfast (or lunch).

One egg muffin, read for eating

I used this recipe from River North Paleo Girl as a starting point, and it provided a pretty good framework.

My adapted recipe (and keep in mind, you can put anything you want in there):

Ingredients

- Half a package of bacon
- 1 small onion, diced

- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

- 1 - 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes, strained

- 8 eggs

- 1/4 package frozen spinach 

- 2 pre-cooked chicken sausage (I used Italian ones from Trader Joe's)

- Salt

- Oregano

- Basil

- Cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

- Cook bacon, remove, and drain some of the fat. Add the onions and sauté. Add tomato paste, cook and stir into the onions. 

- Add tomatoes, spinach, and chicken sausage. Cook down for 5 minutes or so.

- Cut up bacon into bite-size pieces.

- In a separate bowl, crack and beat eggs until fluffy.

- Add oregano, basil, salt and pepper to the eggs.

- Grease muffin tin cups.

- Add bacon pieces to the tomato mixture and stir.

- Spoon the tomato mixture equally into the twelve muffin cups.

Tomato mixture and egg waiting to be poured

- Pour egg mixture into muffin cups. Mine filled almost to the brim, so be careful not to pour too fast.

- Bake for 25-30 minutes.

10 minute meal: Tuna and broccoli

Want to know my new favorite dinner on the cheap?

EVOO roasted Ahi tuna steak and garlic broccoli. It's healthy and paleo and also super inexpensive.

Ingredients:
Ahi tuna steaks (frozen 2-pack from Trader Joe's = roughly $5.00 depending on weight)
Organic broccoli florets (frozen package from Trader Joe's = $2.49)
EVOO
Salt
Pepper
Garlic powder
Optional: Red pepper flakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place defrosted tuna steaks in a glass baking pan. Fill baking pan with EVOO until it goes halfway up the tuna steak. Scatter half a package of frozen broccoli over everything.  Shake some salt and grind some pepper, and then shake garlic powder (I use a lot) over everything.

Cook in oven about 5 minutes, then turn over steaks and cook for about another 5 minutes. (Alter cooking time depending on how rare you want your tuna.)

Makes (at least) 2 servings. Sometimes those tuna steaks are huge.

My favorite paleo meal (so far)

I want to share the best two paleo recipes I have for dinner and dessert:

Zucchini Pasta with Turkey Marinara

Sweet Potato Brownies

Back in September or so, my brother's gf K and I had a date night together. We made these items for dinner and dessert, and they were oh so delicious. We prepped everything at once, so while we ate, the brownies baked.

I highly recommend trying this "pasta" dish, especially! It works well with ground beef, too.