The Race to Dog Mountain

That's right fellow Oregonians I'm blogging about the W word... Washington! OK not exactly about Washington but about a trail on that side of the Colombia.
On a day I was feeling particularly motivated I took on this monster of a trail. Dog Mountain, about an hour east of Portland in the beautiful Colombia River Gorge which is a mecca of amazing hiking.

Side note you have to cross this banging bridge "The Bridge of the Gods"

Yea, the view was so gorgeous I nearly drove off it...

Back to the hike!
It was a pretty grueling hike straight uphill I was huffing and puffing from the start. But I just kept thinking of the reward at the end.

After about 2 hours:

Hey there's Oregon in the other side!

At this point I thought about how cool it would be to zip-line down to the water... or just roll down.

Another hour later I reached my final view point!

Ahhhhhh so worth the 3 hours of pain, sweat, dirt, and most importantly fresh air!!!

Oh yea I saw this along the way too

Wooo I did it. It took around 4 hours to complete the 7 miles but man I felt good afterwards!

That was my latest adventure, here's an update on the hunt for the perfect Paleo taco meat:

So I came home from work a few nights ago and my mom had done it, she had created some pretty delicious taco meat Mmmmmmmm. So good I ate until it hurt, I mean I couldn't walk it hurt so good. So you're thinking all's good then right?! Problem solved, mission accomplished. Nope. She couldn't remember what she put in it, a little of this, a little of that. So the mission is still on, the mystery unsolved! Game on taco meat, game on.

To be continued...

Recipes! Paleo Chicken Strips

After an exhausting day I looked at the chicken I had laid out to thaw and was faced with the decision of what to do with it... Chicken Strips!!! (I'm really excited about these I do all my best cooking late at night)

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breast

2-3eggs

1 Cup Almond meal flour

1Tbls Flaxseed meal

1Tsp Paprika

1Tsp Onion flakes

1/2Tsp Garlic powder

1/2Tsp Parsley

1/2Tsp Salt

1/2Tsp White pepper

Olive or coconut oil 

Directions

1. Set oven to 425 degrees

2. Cut chicken breast into strips

3. Whisk eggs in a bowl

4. Mix Almond flour, flax, paprika, onion flakes, garlic powder, parsley, salt, and white pepper together with a fork. And lay out in parchment paper.

5. Generously grease 2 pans with oil.

6. Blot chicken with a paper towel and dip in the egg. Then lay it in the breading mixture and flip it over so its covered all over.

7. Bake chicken for 9 minutes then flip over and bake for 8 more minutes.

Tuh duh! Way easy, WAY YUMMY!

Warning: it may be hard to stop eating these delicious chicken strips.

Side note:

I love Penzey Spices and recommend you see if there's a shop near you. They have everything you've never heard of as well as yummy must haves. They're real quality. Also I've lately been obsessed with White Pepper. I have never really been a black pepper person so since discovering white pepper I use it all the time. I used it on stake, omelets, in soup... Endless possibilities. 

The Weakness In Me... CRAVINGS!

Just so those of you reading this that are trying to be Paleo don't think that I'm perfect and get annoyed with me I feel I need to share that I do have non-Paleo moments. I love focusing on the positives about living this way but right now I'm talking about the negatives, CRAVINGS! Let me just say, lately I've been craving pizza. Now, I have been gluten-free for over a year so cravings like that are easier to manage. (I have had pizza once in the last year!) Anyway, being Paleo is a whole other story. For example if I'm being totally honest, I just grabbed a handful of my moms potato chips and inhaled them... Not proud of that but it happened. So maybe if I write out all the foods I miss it will be therapeutic? Anyway I feel ya'lls pain so here it goes:

Foods Anna Misses the Most:
Cheese
Cheesy Pizza
Cheese Quesadilla's
Macaroni and Cheese
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (yes there is a pattern here)
Sour Cream
BBQ Potato Chips
Strawberry Milk
Donuts
Peanut Butter Cookies
French Fries
Sour Patch Kids
Mint Truffles
Oreos
Costco Chocolate Muffins
Corn on the Cob
Chicken Nuggets
RANCH DRESSING!!!
Soft Served Ice Cream
Movie Theater Extra Buttery Popcorn
Baja Mt. Dew
Taco Soft Tacos
Apple Pie
Olive Garden Breadsticks
Great Harvest Rolls
Cinnamon Rolls

I think everyone's cravings are so unique, what are your cravings? These are what I think about when I have a weak moment, I try very hard not to indulge and am successful for the most part but every once in a while... I think it's best to just avoid your weaknesses, like alcoholics shouldn't hang out at a bar and all that... Remember these foods damage your body! Stay strong! It's worth it!
 


The Benefits I've noticed the most in my life:
Balanced Energy
Anti-Inflammation
Improved Sleep

What has Paleo changed for you?

Outdoors

So if I haven't made it clear I'm on a journey to improve my health and heal my body and as I make more positive changes I'm able to do more and more things so this weekend I went on a 2 hour bike ride around the city and yesterday I went on an easy but amazing hike near Mt. Hood.

The hike started off a little rocky, my roommate and I originally planned on going on a different hike but I realized I missed the turn about 20 miles after I missed it... so we regrouped and found a different hike closer to where we were. Mirror Lake! It's a little workout going uphill for 30 minutes and then you reach an amazing view!

That's me!

We leisurely walked around the lake enjoying our time up there with the crisp, clean, mountain air! 

It doesn't take a huge long hike to feel great and enjoy nature. Baby steps people. Get out there even if it only lasts an hour!

Leftover omelet: spaghetti

Every morning one of the first things I do when I wake is make myself an omelet. I use one whole egg and 3-4 egg whites. Mmmmm protein! Because it's morning and I don't want to put a lot of work into it I normally just stuff the thing with leftovers so here's this mornings creation:

Spaghetti Meat Omelet

Spaghetti

Here's an easy recipe for paleo "spaghetti"!

3 zucchini (or 1 giant zucchini like in my last post)

1 jar of tomato sauce -make sure no corn or sugar is in it! (they like to sneak that in there)-

2 pounds ground meat

2tbls olive oil

1 garlic clove

A couple leaves of fresh basil

Step 1:

Chop or slice if you have the patience your zucchini.

Step 2: 

fry up that meat and add the sauce. Let simmer for a bit then keep on warm while your cooking the zucchini.

Step 3: 

In a large pot add zucchini, olive oil, chopped garlic cloves, and chopped basil. Turn stove up about halve way and keep stirring the zucchini so it cooks evenly. I like my zucchini a little crunch so I don't cook it all the way. Feel free to experiment!

It will look something like this yummyness!

A Saturday In The Life Of...

OK so Friday was a rough day. I found out I have arthritis... at 19! AND I've had the wrong inhaler for the last 4 YEARS so when I was hiking and wheezing and thinking my inhaler didn't work because I had let myself go and was fat as hell it was all because my inhaler prescription was switched for whatever reason and I never had this explained. So with all this my emotions were on high and I ended up crying in the backseat of my dads truck while my parents were bike shopping...

SO after giving myself a day to process and move on I was determined to start Saturday morning a new. I woke up promptly at 5:50am which was way annoying because my alarm was set for 7:50am it is Saturday after all. But I guess it's a good thing because it's just another sign of how much energy living Paleo has given me! Woot! Goodbye to the days of sleeping 10-12hours when I was a sick mess with no idea what was wrong with me. So I woke made myself a spicy tomato omelet and hit up a local farmers market.

I got me some of these:

Then planted these!:

TOMATOES!

I was way excited to grow my own tomatoes and save money! Then I realized the plants were $15 each and they will yield 5-6 tomatoes... That's $3 a tomato, not to mention the soil and the pots and the cages... So this turned into a somewhat expensive hobby but it will be fun to watch them grow and whatnot a guess.. JK I'm still excited about them and proud of myself for planting and growing something.

Think my Saturday was done after this? naw that just catches us up to noon.

I planted some flowers for my mom cuz I was on a roll planting things, and then I looked at my car and decided to tackle the deep cleaning I've been wanting to do to it for a while now.

OK I kinda HAD to clean my car because a tomato plant tipped over in the back but boy did it need it and I would have gotten around to it eventually I'm sure.

When I say I deep cleaned my car, I mean I took a toothpick and cleaned the gunk out of every crack and I vacuumed in every crevice. I washed the outside scrubbing the front twice because there are bug guts from my road trips which after round two of scrubbing I determined some bugs just do not come off the front of your car (it adds character?) and was finally done. As you can imagine this took a couple hours so I brought out the stereo and pumped some music while I was working (get over it neighbors).

Finally I watched Eat Pray Love while chopping giant zucchini (spelled that right without spell check!) and made zucchini spaghetti.

And that has been my Saturday in a nut shell. Man it was a long day, did you make it through my rambles? I guess the point of the story is to show how eating this way has given me energy to do things I could never do all in one day before... endless possibilities and all that. But if you got that the moral of the story is I had a break down and cried in the back of a truck yesterday I guess that works to!

Any-who I hope to upload some of the recipes I like soon so stay tuned!

Soda Pop!

Soda is full of chemicals and sugar and nasty-ness! If you leave it in one of those fast food cups in your car for a couple days it will literally eat the cup... not that I'm speaking from experience... oh wait I am. It doesn't take a genius to put together that that is NOT good for your delicate insides!
Fear not. You don't have to give up soda if you want a healthier sugar free lifestyle. Zevia is my dirty little secret. It's an all natural soda with many flavors, no sugar, and no calories (whaaaaaa) yup no calories. I like Dr. Zevia, Lime Coke, and Lemon Twist. But others I've tried are delicious to: Cream Soda, Ginger Ale, Cola, Cherry Cola, Orange. There is something about the Root Beer that I don't like however but maybe it's just me! Another thing about this soda is when you first drink it, it seems more carbonated than other soda's or something, but I let mine sit in the fridge and sip on it for the next couple of days. It doesn't go flat as fast as other soda! Another plus!
So now that I've converted you to all natural soda you may be like great but where do I get it? Well when I'm in Utah I find it at Sprouts and it's almost always on sale! Here in Oregon it's at New Seasons and Fred Meyers(the best place ever). I can almost guarantee you can find it at Whole Foods and I wouldn't be surprised if before long it's at more common places like Smiths or Safeway if it isn't already. Look in the health food sections!

My Most Recent "Awakening"

Every once in a while I go start something and it becomes an obsession. I research it and experiment with it to the point beyond obsession but I find that the knowledge I acquire during this initial enthusiasm is like awakening a new part of yourself!
In the past few years these "awakenings" have included: knitting, painting, pinterest (an obsession about my obsessions), fashion, cat videos and more. My most rewarding obsession has been my obsession with what I put in my body. About 15 months ago I went gluten and dairy free and last month I took it one step further diving into the Paleo lifestyle. Changing the way you eat and think about food really is a lifestyle change, it changes the way you socialize, takes over your free time, and is 100% worth it.

I am going to share my journey with you; what led me to do this, how I searched out answers, and some recipes! I'll probably also go off on little tangents about my latest awakenings which today included researching bikes for about 5 hours... So if any of you out there have any tips for beginning bikers please share! I'm looking to get a road bike... on a budget. (To bad managing my expenses hasn't been my most recent obsession)

I want this to be me!