Prawn, Sausage & Zucchini Casserole

This gourmet recipe is also one that I found reading Mark's Daily Apple. I bought a bag of uncooked shrimp with the intention of making some delicious paleo meal. They sat in the freezer for one whole month.. just as bad as Aaron with his salmon. So finally they have defrosted and are ready to be part of my best paleo meal yet!

I hope you enjoy this meal. It has such strong flavours and aromas I was a little upset there was no left overs.

INGREDIENTS

• 2-3kg Zucchini (I used four zucchinis)
• 1 onion (finely chopped)
• 6 slices baon (chopped into pieces)
• 200g Italian sausage (I used grass fed beef)
• 500g uncooked prawns (peeled/deveined/tails off)
• 2 eggs
• Butter, if needed for sauteing
• Optional seasonings

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 176C/375F
• You can either peel the casing from the sausage and cook with the bacon in a large pot or cook the sausage and set aside to cool, cook bacon in same pot, chop sausage into bite sized pieces and add to pot.
• When fats render, add onion
• Add sliced zucchini and stir to coat

• Turn to high so water from zucchini is cooked away so the s\zucchini can brown and caramelize rather than boil in its own water
• I had to add some butter at this point as my bacon and sausage did not give off enough fat so everything was sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning!
• The zucchini is done once it is slightly browned and there is no liquid sitting in the pot (I was too impatient and decided it was ready after 10mins of cooking
• Season with whatever you like
• Remove from stove and let cool
• Beat eggs in a bowl and pour over zucchini mixture
• Add uncooked prawns and stir to combine ingredients
• Add to casserole dish and bake for 30mins

Enjoy!

I did a bodyweight WOD today as I dont have easy access to gym facilities so they are taking up most of my workouts. My roomie, Johanna, joined me for this workout however she sub'd the HSPU for standard push ups.

-Warm Up-
2mins Double Unders
2rds of:
10x Air Squats
10x Push Ups

-WOD1-
21-15-9
Pistol Squats (total amount on each leg i.e.21 on left, 21 on right)
HSPU
Time: 7:06

-WOD2-
Tabata Burpees - 8rds of 20secs work, 10secs rest
Lowest rep score - 6

Eat Healthy, Feel Healthy, Live Healthy!

Salmon Chowder

Aaron has had this little slab of Salmon sitting in the freezer for nearly one month now. Last night, I decided it was time to cook it!

This recipe was inspired from Mark's Daily Apple - The Primal Blueprint CookBook actually called Arctic Char Chowder but I used Salmon instead of Char. I halved the recipe as we only had 200g Salmon



Salmon Chowder.. pretty good considering I dont like Salmon

 INGREDIENTS

• 200g Wild Salmon
• 1/8 cup Butter
• 1/4 cup chopped Onion
• 1/4 cup chopped Carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped Celery
• 1 cup Vegetable Broth (I used Chicken as I didn't have Vegetable)
• 14oz can Organic Crushed Tomato
• 1/2 teaspoon Thyme
• 1 whole Bay Leaf (I didn't have this)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Heavy Cream (optional)

METHOD

• Make sure bone and skin is removed from Salmon
• Chop into bite sized cubes
• Melt Butter in heavy pot over medium heat
• Add Onion, Celery and Carrot and cook for 5mins
• Add Broth, Tomatoes, Bay Leaf and Thyme
• Cover and let simmer for 15mins
• Add Salmon and Cream (I didn't use the cream)
• Stir and cook for a further 10-15mins, stirring occasionally
• Remove Bay Leaf
• Adjust Seasoning if needed (I added a dash of Basil)

Let it cool for a bit before serving because I burnt my mouth being an eager beaver!

Enjoy!

Finally got motivated to do a workout today. My hamstrings have been crazy sore from the strength workout I did with Aaron a few days ago.

This workout took me about 45mins to prepare for as I had to set up the rings outside and it was -7C! So I kept escaping back inside to defrost for a few minutes!

-Warm Up-
2rds:
50x Double Unders
15x Air Squat
10x Push Up

-WOD-
100x Air Squat
20x HSPU sub: Right Angle Push Up
30x Pull Up
100x Air Squat
30x Pull Up
20x HSPU sub: Right Angle Push Up
100x Air Squat
Time: 15:55

Eat Healthy, Feel Healthy, Live Healthy!

Crave sugar and carbs much?

I have decided that being away from home actually makes the progression to Paleo easier.
Home = Routine = Cereal + Milk = Chocolate at work = Lemon Cheesecake and Potato bake at the folks place (I am getting so hungry talking about this!)
I am not in a routine yet which makes it easier to start a new one. I have found it easy to avoid cereal and milk and have been having bacon, egg, mushroom and tomato for breakfast or left overs from previous Paleo meals (tried them yet? How amazing are they?!) I also munch on some almonds occasionally with my breakfast.

Then I cook my amazing Paleo lunches then its tea time.... and I am usually working at Wildfire Restaurant with an amazing menu to choose from... last night I had lamb shanks. Super fatty but I had my asparagus, beetroot and capsicum which was good. There was some mash potato underneath my shank but I tried to avoid it as much as I could.. (maybe a little mouth full.. woops!) The night before I had Haddock which is a fish that tastes like snapper. This came with more damn mash potato and the same vegetables as the shank. Still getting my veggies, my protein and my good fats. Challenging, but it is amazing how you look at food now. I went out for a buffet lunch today and there was yummy mash potato and garlic pita bread and pasta salads.. The list goes on! Its crazy how much grains are out there and I would have never paid attention to it before! Evil grains....
I opted for some chicken curry, lettuce leaves (no dressing) and steamed vegetables. I watched people around me chow down on massive plates of hot chips with gravy and burgers... it made me feel a little sick actually.. weird hey?

Its only been a week but I feel great! My skin is improving and I haven't been bloated after any of my meals!!! I used to eat breakfast, get to work and be starving by 8:30am. Now I am satisfied until my next meal comes! I love it!

I am still having some mad sugar cravings but they will pass eventually.. its like going cold turkey with a drug addiction (not that I know what its like) but I am going mental! As nice as it tastes in your mouth, your body doesn't agree with you. I have to keep remembering that.

I did a WOD and a strength workout with Aaron at the resort gym this afternoon. It was pretty long and tiring and we were sharing an Olympic bar which was timely and everything is measured in pounds so we were constantly whipping out our calculator!

-Warm Up-
3rds of:
5x Strict Pull Up
7x HSPU
10x Squat
10sec L-sit on hands

-Strength-
OHS 75% x5, 80% x5, 85% x5+
Load - 20,25,29(10)
Weighted Lunge 2x12
Load - 17,17
Deadlift 75% x5, 80% x5, 85% x5+
Load - 50,55,59(8)
Romanian Deadlift 3x10
Load - 45,45,45

-WOD-
10,9,8.....2,1 reps for time of:
KB 'American' Swing @ 16 sub DB 'Russian' Swing @ 17
Burpee
Time: 6:01

Bolognese tonight! I will share my recipe with you tomorrow!

Eat Healthy, Feel Healthy, Live Healthy!