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Saturday, March 31, 2012

Post-challenge Day 17

Today's meals

Breakfast: Sweet potato hash with fried eggs, black coffee
Lunch: Pork chops, ampalaya with eggs
Dinner: Tilapia and pechay cooked in coconut milk
Snacks: Singkamas, bananas, non-paleo cookies (M&M's, which my niece made, and peanut butter, which I and my son and nephew made)

The sweet potato hash recipe I'd gotten from Nom Nom Paleo was sooo good, if I may say so myself! It was also my first time to fry eggs, believe it or not. I rarely fry stuff because I'm afraid the oil will jump out at me and go into my eyes. Weird, I know. Anyway, it wasn't that bad. I followed the instructions and just waited until the eggs looked done. Et voilĂ !

Halfway through the meal was when I thought about taking a photo

With my mug of coffee on the side
Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Eggs

For the hash:

2 medium sweet potatoes, grated
Salt
Ground black pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried oregano
Dried basil
Beef fat for cooking

  1. Place grated sweet potatoes in a large bowl and toss with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and basil.
  2. Heat the fat in a skillet over medium heat. When it's hot, add the seasoned sweet potatoes.
  3. Toss everything in the fat and stir-fry for a minute, then cover for a few more minutes while the sweet potatoes cook.
  4. The hash is ready when the texture is soft.


For the fried eggs:

2 eggs
Salt
Ground black pepper
Coconut oil or animal fat for cooking

  1. Heat the oil or fat in a pan over medium-low heat. Once hot, crack 2 eggs into a bowl and pour into the pan.
  2. Season the eggs with salt and pepper, and cover for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on how runny you want your eggs.
  3. Once they're done, slide the eggs onto your mound of sweet potato hash.
So, so, sooo good, I swear.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Post-challenge Day 16 + Mar 30 WOD: TGIF Bash

Today's meals

Breakfast: Leftover paleo pancakes, banana
Lunch: Chicken fingers, singkamas
Dinner: Leftover ground beef lettuce wrap, orange
Snacks: Banana, carrot and cucumber sticks, leftover paleo pancakes, raisins

One of the many things I've learned from doing paleo, having leftovers are good -- it saves you tons of time you'd otherwise spend planning and preparing your meal. Something I will do this weekend is prepare my food for the week (I always say I'll do that but I never do!).

WOD

The WODs today were on promo -- 2 for the price of 1! First, there was the "main bash," which was 3 rounds of:

- 25 double unders
- 25 hand-release push ups
- 60m sprint

Modification for those who can't do double unders was squat jumps. The 60m sprint was 6 laps of the box from end to end. My time: 7:16.

After a few minutes of rest, we did the "after-bash," which was a descending 30-20-10 ladder of:

- Kettlebell swings
- Sit ups

I used the 12 kg kettlebell. My time: 5:06 (or thereabouts, I don't remember exactly).


Was I ever so wasted after that. I didn't even have the energy to work on my double unders.

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Post-challenge Day 15

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo banana pancakes, black coffee
Lunch: Hard-boiled egg, singkamas
Dinner: Ground beef (with adobo seasoning) lettuce wrap
Snacks: Paleo pancakes

I need to try new paleo recipes soon. My lunch and dinner is a cycle of burgers, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, and fish. The lettuce wrap I'd brought to work was supposed to be paleo tacos, but I was too lazy to look for and try a salsa recipe. I did try a different seasoning, though, which was equally tasty. Next time I should try adding egg and some veggies too.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Post-challenge Day 14 + Mar 28 WOD: Tabata

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas
Dinner: Chicken fingers, fried eggplant
Snacks: Orange, carrots and cucumber sticks, boiled sweet potato

WOD

Today was Tabata Wednesday. A Tabata exercise is doing 8 sets of a certain exercise; a set is 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off. For today's WOD, we did 3 different exercises:

- Sit ups
- Barbell floor wipes
- L-sit or hold

You compute your score by adding the lowest number of reps you were able to do for each exercise. For the L-sit, you use the least number of seconds you were able to do it.

My score: 8 + 7 + 12 = 27. Yuck!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Post-challenge Day 13

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter, ponkan orange, black coffee
Lunch: Fish fillet in non-paleo batter
Dinner: Green salad with fruits and nuts, paleo brownies
Snacks: Carrot and cucumber sticks, apples, singkamas, non-paleo rainbow cupcake, a piece of chocolate

I feel bad now every time I eat non-paleo stuff. I don't just mean physically bad, but also mentally bad. I know I don't want to go back to rollercoaster sugar highs and lows, so I definitely am not going back to how I used to eat. Maybe I just have to be more forgiving of myself whenever I slip.

Paleo Chicken Nuggets with "BBQ" Sauce

I stumbled upon this recipe from Multiply Delicious while filtering google results for paleo recipes. As usual, I tweaked a few things. Except for the coconutty texture of the "breading" it tastes almost like the real thing! This is the recipe I followed:

Chicken Nuggets

1/2 kg ground chicken
1 egg
1 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup + 1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
Coconut oil for frying
Salt and pepper

  1. In a bowl, mix to combine 1/4 cup almond flour, dessicated coconut, and salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine ground chicken, 1/2 cup almond flour, onion powder, garlic powder, egg, and salt and pepper. Mix well until everything is incorporated. Form into balls and flatten a bit (so they'll look like chicken nuggets), then coat in almond flour and coconut mixture.
  3. Cook in coconut oil and serve with "BBQ" sauce.


Paleo BBQ Sauce

3/4 cup 100% natural orange juice
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
10 Tbsp tomato paste
3 to 4 Tbsp coconut sugar
1/2 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp coconut oil

  1. Heat coconut oil in medium heat. Cook onion and garlic and saute until soft.
  2. Stir in remaining ingredients except coconut sugar and simmer for 5 mins.
  3. Add coconut sugar and simmer again for 10 to 15 mins.

Post-challenge Day 12 + Mar 26 WOD Another triplet

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas, iced black coffee
Dinner: Burgers, chicken nuggets, singkamas
Snacks: Paleo brownies, apples

I guess I paid the price for my indulgences during the weekend. Apparently, my tummy didn't like what I ate and a lot of it went down the toilet this morning. Note to self: Indulge, not binge! I admit I went a little crazy on the cassava cake and desserts at Old Vine. So I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

WOD

Call me a nerd, but I got a bit excited when I saw that we'll be doing dead lifts today. We were given a 20 min time cap to do 5 rounds of:

- 6 dead lifts (Rx: 95 lbs)
- 9 toes-to-bar
- 12 weighted push ups (Rx: 25 lbs)


I was a little iffy about going Rx on the dead lifts, but I figured it's doable since the time cap was 20 mins. I did knees-to-chest instead of toes-to-bar. For the weighted push ups, we had to put the plate on our back (like a turtle) and do regular push ups. I used the 10 lb plate, and even that became a struggle by the 4th round. Push ups, I will own you one day. My time: 8:46.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Post-challenge Day 11

Today's meals

Breakfast: Cassava cake, banana with coconut butter
Lunch: Non-paleo Asian lunch (Hainanese chicken, pad thai, fresh spring rolls with peanut sauce), cassava cake (it was really good)
Dinner: Fried catfish, chicken-pork balls in veggie soup
Snacks: Mochi ice cream, paleo brownies, apples, singkamas

One of my younger sisters is a fantastic cook. She's the type of person who can whip something up on the fly. So, when I saw the food she'd prepared for lunch yesterday, I knew I'd have to have another cheat meal. One thing I've learned post-paleo challenge is, you have to learn to indulge yourself once in a while. Indulge, but don't binge!

In the evening, I helped another sister make rainbow cupcakes. People at home have been complaining that I don't make/bake goodies anymore since I went paleo. So this weekend was rainbow cupcakes, and next weekend I'll be making peanut butter cookies with the kids.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Post-challenge Day 10

Today's meals

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with tomato
Lunch: Paleo chicken fingers, burgers, veggies from sinigang
Dinner: Non-paleo dinner buffet at Old Vine Grille
Snacks: Singkamas, paleo brownies, oranges, apples, banana with coconut butter

I have this group of friends, and we've decided that we will meet once a month and try different restaurants every time we meet. I was the one who suggested Old Vine Grille, because I remembered how good the food was when I had lunch there with the CrossFit moms. The dinner buffet wasn't really at the bad end of the non-paleo spectrum. Lots of paleo-friendly food selections, and it was very good so I don't feel guilty. AT ALL. I stuck mostly to the meats and veggies (salmon carpaccio, ribs, salad, buttered veggies) but I also helped myself to dessert (mango brazo de mercedes, strawberries and chocolate, cake).

Friday, March 23, 2012

Post-challenge Day 9 + Mar 23 WOD: Open 12.5

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potatoes with coconut butter
Dinner: Paleo chicken nuggets, sauteed spinach
Snacks: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas

WOD

We really did the Open 12.5 workout today, which is the last workout of the Open event. When the event closes, the top 60 men and women go on to the Regionals. The Asia Regional will be held in Korea from May 4-6, and a lot of people at the box are excited because there's a chance that our very own Coach Pau might get in! We're cheering him on like heck!

On to the WOD...
From the CrossFit Games website
As you can see, it's no laughing matter. Rx for women was 65 lbs but I used a 45 lb bar, and for the pull ups I used the green band. I got up to 4 thrusters into the set of 15. My score: 61. Ugh!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Post-challenge Day 8

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas, paleo pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas
Dinner: Slider burgers, stir-fried veggies
Snacks: Boiled saba, singkamas, paleo pancakes

So it seems we'll be doing the Open 12.5 workout tomorrow. It involves thrusters, which means more squatting. And my thunder thighs are getting to know squats all too well. That's not to say that I have great squats, but I'm more conscious about breaking parallel now.

Open 12.5, bring it on!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Post-challenge Day 7 + Mar 21 WOD: Chelsea

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, boiled sweet potato
Dinner: Chicken fingers, friend eggplant
Snacks: Boiled sweet potato, boiled saba

For some reason, I'm not hungry after working out. Not sure if that's normal, but since the paleo diet believes in eating only when hungry, I don't eat a lot at lunch time.

WOD

I met a new girl today. Her name is Chelsea and she's okay, but she's very demanding! Another day, another benchmark workout at the box. This time we did one of the girls. It was these 3 exercises on the minute every minute for 30 minutes:

- 5 pull ups
- 10 push ups
- 15 squats


The rules are if you don't finish all those in 1 minute, the round doesn't count. We could sit out a minute but we can't sit out 2 minutes back to back. I think I did the first 3 or 4 rounds 5-10-15, but when I couldn't finish the round anymore, I scaled down to 4-8-12. There were a few times when I felt light-headed and dizzy but I did my best to keep going. My score: 24 rounds.

I looked at the board and saw that my paleo partner Dorothy got all 30 rounds! Yeah, she's super strong!

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Post-challenge Day 6

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, black coffee
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, banana
Dinner: Burgers, curried cauliflower, sliced papaya
Snacks: Paleo banana pancakes with coconut butter and coconut nectar, singkamas, microwaved saba with coconut butter

My butt hurts from doing yesterday's WOD. I don't think I'd be this sore if I'd used the 45 lb bar but I think one of the guys I work out with was right -- if it's become too easy, go heavier. And now I'm wondering how it must feel to do Rx (95 lbs), which the champion powerlifter/CrossFitter Betina had done yesterday. Wow!

I always get bruises on my clavicle whenever we do cleans, thrusters, push presses, and all those lifts that require racking the bar on the shoulders. I saw this on Pinterest before, and now it all makes sense:

Not that I have a husband (or a boyfriend, for that matter)

Monday, March 19, 2012

Post-challenge Day 5 + Mar 19 WOD: Scary

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo brownies (they're all gone now!), banana with coconut butter
Lunch: Singkamas, boiled sweet potatoes
Dinner: Paleo chicken nuggets, fried eggplant, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Singkamas, hard-boiled eggs

When I arrived from the grocery, I got down to making paleo chicken nuggets using this recipe from Multiply Delicious. I finished in about an hour then I stored them in the fridge for cooking this morning. I tried a piece this morning and I found it rather bland. I'll probably add more salt or add some spices next time.

WOD

It's Miggy's birthday today, and the coaches had something "fun" for us to do during the WOD. Yeah, if by "fun" you mean doing 100 front squats for time. Because that's what we had to do! We were given a 20 min time cap to do:

100 front squats (Rx was 95 lbs)

But at the start of every 2 mins, we had to do:

- 2 pull ups
- 3 squats
- 4 push ups

In the midst of all that craziness, we had to shout, "Happy birthday, Miggy!" when we reached our 33rd squat.


That means taking note of how many reps you'd done at the end of every 2 mins, doing the 3 other exercises, then resuming your count. I used a 55 lb bar, and I'm proud to say that even though I'd set up a 45 lb bar in case I felt like scaling further down, I didn't use it! I guess it was also easier that we had squat racks because we didn't need to clean the bars anymore. My time: 11:42.

My body is still sore from doing Friday's 12.4 and Saturday's paleo baseline WOD, but what the heck. I love it; it makes me feel so alive.

Post-challenge Day 4

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo brownies
Lunch: Burgers, banana with coconut butter, paleo brownies, non-paleo Death by Tablea chocolate cake
Dinner: Fried fish, kangkong, bananas
Snacks: Paleo brownies, singkamas, bananas, walnuts, non-paleo mochi ice cream

The computer says it's already 12:51 am, but I'm still awake. I made paleo chicken nuggets for myself and Miguel tomorrow. I haven't tasted them but I hope they're good. I wanted to make the paleo BBQ sauce as well, but I think I'll do it on Tuesday morning instead.

Tomorrow, I'm going to ask the coaches to help me with my sit ups. And I'm also going to ask if they can work something out so I can do the SWOD (strength WOD) that people do on Thursdays. Because I really wanna lift heavy things.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Post-challenge Day 3 + Mar 17 WOD: Paleo Baseline

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo waffles with butter and coconut nectar, black coffee
Lunch: Meat sauce, carrot and cucumber sticks, paleo brownies (I almost couldn't eat because of nervousness about today's WOD)
Dinner: KFC chicken, chicken pie, a few servings of very non-paleo cakes
Snacks: Singkamas, orange

WOD

Just thinking about my time when I did the baseline WOD the first time makes me cringe. I know I shouldn't be comparing my time with other people's times but sometimes I can't help it. I just have to remind myself that I have a different body, fitness background, and set of genes from them. Because most of the people I workout with have been physically active since their teen years, whereas I only really started getting active 2 years ago.

Anyway... on to the WOD. As what we did last Feb 18, it was 3 rounds of:

- 400m run
- 10 pull ups
- 20 push ups
- 30 sit ups
- 40 squats

I remember during one of the runs I had difficulty pushing myself mentally. That's always the challenge for me -- pushing myself. Nevertheless, I finished in 23:35, which is better than my 26:44 the first time around. We also got our waists and hips measured, and I think my waist went from 28.5 (inches) to 25.5 while my hips went from 36 to 35. Woot!

After the WOD the challengers had a post-paleo potluck party. I brought the paleo brownies that I'd baked in the morning -- it was the ONLY paleo food on the table! Shocking. Most people had brought cakes, pizzas, and other stuff we couldn't touch while we were on paleo. And although everyone indulged today, we agreed that we were going to continue eating, living, sleeping, and breathing paleo.

My conclusion: CrossFit + Paleo = Results.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Post-challenge Day 2 + Mar 16 WOD: Open 12.4

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Sisig, orange
Dinner: Boiled sweet potatoes, hard boiled egg
Snacks: Carrot and cucumber sticks

WOD

For today's WOD we did Workout 12.4, or as I like to call it, WTH?!

From the CrossFit Games website
Rx for women was the 14 lb ball for wall balls. I used the 10 lb ball. I didn't get to do the jump ropes but if I'd been able to go that far, I would've had to do 270 single unders (90 DUs x 3). And after that, instead of muscle ups I could've done pull ups. So, my score: 150. I can't believe this is an AMRAP workout. Sheesh.

Oh, and about last Wednesday's workout, it turns out that we were given the wrong instructions for the lateral burpees. Because we were told that 1 rep was burpee, then side-jumping over the bar twice, and we found out this morning that 1 rep was burpee then side jump. So that's why the people from the earlier classes were able to finish under 12 mins.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Post-challenge Day 1

Today's meals

Breakfast: Microwaved saging saba with coconut butter
Lunch: Paleo chicken fingers, singkamas, some sweet chocolate-cheese-salt drink from Happy Lemon
Dinner: Paleo chicken fingers, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Boiled sweet potatoes, boiled saging saba, ponkan, banana with coconut butter, paleo ice cream

Now that the Paleo Challenge is over, all bets are off. I will try to be as paleo as possible and apply the "100% paleo 80% of the time" rule, but I will also give in to temptation from time to time. I wouldn't want to go back to eating the way I did pre-challenge, though. I know that eating too much sugar gives me a tummy ache, but more than that, I'm afraid to lose what strength I've gained (this will be tested on Saturday during the paleo baseline WOD) since switching lifestyles.

Anyway... not a few people have been telling me that they're worried because I've gotten skinny. But I didn't start working out because I wanted to lose weight -- it was because I wanted to gain muscle mass and get stronger. Maybe I just look skinny because the fat I'd had was replaced by muscle (I wish). What to do, what to do? I eat right, work out regularly, and I feel great! Why would I want to change anything?

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 29 + Mar 14 WOD: "Floater"

Today's meals

Breakfast: Bananas with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, leftover waffles, singkamas
Dinner: Boiled sweet potato, hard boiled egg, boiled saba
Snacks: Leftover waffles, boiled saba

WOD

The thing about CrossFit is, you can do an "easy" WOD one day then do a crazy difficult WOD the next day. Today fell under the latter category. It's not so much that it was difficult, but the time cap made it difficult for us to not DNF. We were given 10 mins to do:

15-12-9
- Kettlebell swings
- Lateral burpees

After that, we rested for 2 mins, then:

12-9-6
- Kettlebell swings
- Lateral burpees


I used the 12 kg kettlebell -- I was too intimidated to use even the 16 kg kettlebell! The board said that the 10 mins supposedly includes the 2 min rest, but even after the 10 mins was up we kept going anyway. Then we posted our times net of the 2 min rest. My time: 9:25.

Today is the last day we eat, drink, sleep, and WOD paleo! Woot!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Paleo Chicken Fingers

I'd bought chicken breast the last time I went to the supermarket, and instead of using Melicious' chicken spice blend which I usually use for chicken breast, I sliced them into strips to make chicken fingers. Because I miss Friday's chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce.

Again, I scoured the Internet for paleo "breading" recipes and found myself checking out The Paleo Mom's chicken fingers recipe. I made a few changes in the recipe and this is how I made it:

Paleo Chicken Fingers

1/4 kg chicken breast fillet, cut into strips
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp rock salt
3/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cumin
Coconut oil for frying

  1. Rub some salt onto the chicken strips and let sit for about 15 mins.
  2. Beat egg in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, combine almond flour, salt, paprika, curry powder, and cumin and mix to combine.
  3. Heat some coconut oil in a frying pan. Dip the chicken strips in egg, then dip in the almond flour mixture, making sure to coat all sides.
  4. Cook the chicken (about 2-3 mins per side). Place on paper towels to drain excess oil.

It came out a little bit too salty for my taste, so I probably should've omitted the salt in the almond flour mixture. I would've made some sort of dip if I'd had the ingredients and the time, but that'll have to wait until next time.

Paleo Challenge Day 28

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo coconut banana flour waffles with coconut butter and coconut nectar
Lunch: Sauteed veggies, fried fish
Dinner: Chicken fingers, sauteed spinach
Snacks: Singkamas, boiled saba, melon

My arms are sore from yesterday's WOD. Since I'd been doing CrossFit at least 3 times a week, I don't get as sore as I used to before, and call me crazy but I've missed the soreness. I'm a bit surprised that I got DOMS (you know, delayed onset muscle soreness) because yesterday's workout wasn't as difficult as some of the other ones we'd done before, but apparently the pull ups had taken a toll on my puny arms.

Last day to eat, drink, sleep, WOD, and live paleo tomorrow! Big day!

Monday, March 12, 2012

Paleo Challenge day 27 + Mar 12 WOD: Couplet

Today's meals

Breakfast: Banana with coconut butter
Lunch: Boiled sweet potatoes with coconut butter
Dinner: Leftover fried fish, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Boiled sweet potatoes, boiled saging saba

The thing I dislike most about being on paleo is the amount of thought and preparation you have to put into your meals. Only a few more days till the challenge is over, and I've gotten lazy about planning my at-work food.

WOD

Clusters, we meet again. Only Belen and I attended the 10 am class so it kinda felt like a lazy day. We had to do 5 rounds of:

- 5 clusters (squat cleans to thrusters)
- 10 chest to bar pull ups


I used a 45 lb bar for the clusters and did band-assisted CTB pull ups using the green band. My time: 7:03.

Paleo Challenge Day 26

Today's meals

Breakfast: Leftover banana bread french toast
Lunch: Grilled meats and veggies, caimito
Dinner: Fried fish, sauteed veggies, caimito
Snacks: Singkamas, banana bread french toast, mochi ice cream (I couldn't resist... -1 for me)

So this weekend wasn't such a success for me because I used up one cheat meal then I have two -1s for the sugar I'd had. It's a good thing I got 8 hours of sleep last night, which evens out my deductions.

Last 4 days!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 25

Today's meals

Breakfast: Non-paleo waffles (my first cheat meal, if you must know)
Lunch: Grilled chicken, banana with coconut butter, black coffee
Dinner: Pork chops, eggplant cooked with coconut milk, banana bread french toast, caimito
Snacks: Singkamas, chocolate-covered polvoron (again, non-paleo)

I tried my hand at baking PaleOMG's Banana Bread French Toast this afternoon. It was good, but I guess since I used coconut butter instead of cashew/walnut butter mine didn't come out as "cakey" as it looks in the original recipe's picture. I tweaked some other things, too. This is how I made it:

Banana Bread French Toast

Banana bread:

3 Cavendish bananas, mashed
3/4 cup coconut butter
2 eggs
1 tbsp coconut nectar
1 cup almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

  1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a bread pan with wax paper.
  2. In a bowl, mix mashed bananas and coconut butter very well and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together almond flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Make sure they are combined well.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs then add the banana mixture and coconut nectar. Mix well then add the almond flour mixture and mix again until you get a batter.
  4. Pour the batter in the lined bread pan and bake for 25-30 mins. Let cool, then cut into 1/2" slices.

Fresh out of the oven
French toast:

2 eggs
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/4 tsp cinnamon

  1. Whisk together the ingredients in a shallow bowl and heat a tablespoon or so of coconut oil in a pan.
  2. Dip the banana bread slices in the egg mixture on both sides then cook in the pan.

Voila!
Notes:

  • I used the loaf pan that my mother uses to make fruit cake and I don't know the dimensions but the batter filled it perfectly.
  • The cake came out a bit mushy, so I had to take care that the slices wouldn't break while I was dipping them in the egg mixture.
  • There was leftover egg mixture after all the bread slices had been dipped, so I think the coconut milk quantity could be reduced next time.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 24 + Mar 9 WOD: Open 12.3

Today's meals

Breakfast: Banana with coconut butter (OMG. Sooo good!)
Lunch: Boiled sweet potatoes with coconut butter
Dinner: Leftover pan-fried cream dory, carrot and cucumber sticks
Snacks: Leftover pancakes, singkamas, boiled sweet potatoes

When I got my 1 kg pack of coconut butter from Peter Paul last Monday, I honestly didn't know what to do with it. I'd just read that some people like using it as a substitute for nut butter, but aside from that I didn't know how else I could use it. I could've chosen to get almond butter from someone at the box, but a small bottle goes for around P150. So, again, coconut butter at P180/kg vs. almond butter at P150/small bottle? No brainer. But I'm so glad I got it. I put it on my pancakes yesterday, and this morning I ate it with my banana. And right now I'm eating it again with my sweet potatoes. Someone said in a forum that you could mix it with dirt and it would still taste good. It's just that good.

Sweet potatoes topped with coconut butter
Now that I'm using all these coconut products, I've realized how blessed I am to live in a tropical country where there's an abundance of everything coconut -- if you know where to look. So far I've got coconut aminos, coconut nectar, coconut sugar, coconut butter, coconut cream, coconut flour, and of course fresh coconut water with coconut meat.

WOD

I had a feeling the coaches would make us do the Open 12.3 workout when it was announced yesterday. It's not as technical as the 12.2 but it was still hard. It was 18 mins AMRAP of:

- 15 box jumps (Rx: 20")
- 12 push presses (Rx: 75 lbs)
- 9 toes to bar


For the box jumps I used a 12" box stacked with 3 35-lb plates (so that's 18"); for the push presses I alternated between a 45 lb bar and a 35 lb bar; and for the toes to bar I did knees to abs. My score: 6 + 6 box jumps.

Post-WOD, I worked on my double unders for a bit, and I also tried doing the knees to elbow. Turns out I need to develop my shoulder strength first. Progress is slow, but I'll get there soon enough!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 23

Today's meals

Breakfast: Almond flour banana pancakes with coconut nectar and coconut butter, black coffee
Lunch: Boiled sweet potato, singkamas
Dinner: Pan-fried cream dory, sauteed spinach
Snacks: Pancakes, apple

I tried a new recipe banana pancake recipe that uses almond flour, just to see how different it is from the coconut flour pancakes I make. While the almond flour pancakes were good, they weren't that good. Just okay. And since I still have 1.5 kg of coconut flour left and it's way cheaper than almond flour (P80/kg vs. P495/kg), I'll stick with coconut flour for a while.

Meanwhile, I am SO glad that singkamas (jicama) is in season again. It's my most favorite go-to snack and I could live on it day in and day out.

Almond Flour Banana Pancakes

I got my almond flour from Belen yesterday and I was so excited to use it for a new pancake recipe. I scoured the Internet and landed on Jan's Sushi Bar's recipe for Butternut Squash Pancakes. I thought it would be a great base for my favorite banana pancakes (Jack Johnson had it right about them banana pancakes). This is the recipe I followed:

Almond Flour Banana Pancakes

2 eggs
2 bananas, mashed
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2/3 cup almond flour
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda

  1. In a small bowl, combine almond flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and baking soda. Whisk everything together and set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs until they are frothy, then add the mashed bananas. Mix until well combined. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing well enough to make sure that the almond flour is well integrated into the batter.
  3. Pour the batter onto the pan by the scant 1/4 cup and cook until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip and cook the other side.
  4. Serve warm with fruit, syrup, almond butter, coconut butter, or whatever you like to put when you eat pancakes.
Notes:

  • Make small pancakes so you won't have difficulty flipping them.
  • The pancakes will appear to be browner than regular pancakes (sort of like coconut flour pancakes).
  • This made exactly 8 small pancakes.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 22 + Mar 7 WOD: Rahoi

Today's meals

Breakfast: Caimito
Lunch: Scrambled eggs with spinach, boiled sweet potato
Dinner: Burgers, ampalaya cooked with eggs
Snacks: Singkamas, longan, apples, boiled sweet potatoes

WOD

It was time to hero up again today. We did "Rahoi," which is 12 mins AMRAP of:

- 12 box jumps (Rx: 20")
- 6 thrusters (Rx: 65 lbs)
- 6 bar-facing burpees

I used an 18" box for the BJs and a 45 lb bar for the thrusters. I eventually switched to a 35 lb bar after the second or third round. But hey, I've moved up from the 12" boxes, so that's gotta count for something! My score: 4 rounds + 6 thrusters.

Post-WOD, I worked on my double unders again. I think I'm starting to get the timing right.

I treated myself to cupcake a la mode again (paleo, of course) last night. And because it might be a while before I'm able to do it again, I took pictures.

Step 1: Warm the cupcake in the microwave
Step 2: Pile on scoops of ice cream
Step 3: Devour

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 21: Almost there!

Today's meals

Breakfast: Banana, caimito, black coffee
Lunch: Fried catfish, sigarilyas (winged beans) cooked in coconut milk
Dinner: Pork sinigang with veggies
Snacks: Singkamas, longan, paleo tablea chocolate cupcakes, oranges, melon, coconut vanilla ice cream

I can't believe there are only 7 more days to go before the Paleo Challenge wraps up! I've been very good so far -- I still haven't used up any of my 5 cheat meals -- although I probably should lay off a bit on the fruits. I'm not trying to lose weight but I eat too much of those.

Last night, I was in paleo treat heaven. I got out one of my tablea cupcakes, heated it in a mug, then topped it with Fog City Creamery's paleo coconut vanilla ice cream. O M G.

Healthy indulgence!
The dark chocolate flavor of the cupcake went very well with the ice cream. Now that it's summer, I think I shall keep a pint or two of this yummy ice cream brand in the freezer. It's more expensive than the usual Nestlé/Magnolia/Selecta stuff, but it IS artisan ice cream after all.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 20 + Mar 5 WOD: Sprint

Today's meals

Breakfast: Paleo tablea cupcakes (2 pcs - ha!)
Lunch: Scrambled eggs, salad with olive oil, pepper, and salt dressing
Dinner: Burgers, roasted curried cauliflower
Snacks: Paleo tablea cupcakes, longan fruit, singkamas, caimito, durian chips, coconut vanilla ice cream

WOD

Pre-WOD, we were made to do 4 rounds, 6 reps per round of this in sequence:

- Dead lift
- Hang power clean
- Push press

For the first 2 rounds, we used a 35 lb bar, then for the other 2 rounds, we used a 45 lb bar.

After that came the WOD, which was 9-7-5 of:

- Power cleans
- Ring push ups
- Shoulder-to-overhead (you could choose to do shoulder presses, push presses, or push and jerks)
- Pull ups


I used 55 lbs for the cleans and 45 lbs for the shoulder-to-overheads (not even sure if this is the correct pluralization). I attempted to do ring push ups but I couldn't stabilize my arms so I did hand-release push ups instead. For the pull ups, I used my best friend, the green band. My time: 6:53.

I worked on my double unders again after the workout, and I was able to do several alternates of singles and a double under.

Post-WOD, the other CrossFit moms and I snacked on the tablea cupcakes I'd brought (which, incidentally, they said was good and didn't taste like paleo cupcakes at all -- success!) and the oranges that Lady had brought. Doc Tere then had coffee delivered from McDo, and it became an impromptu paleo picnic!

Paleo Challenge Day 19

Today's meals

Breakfast: banana, coconut milk yogurt (from brother-in-law Mario's sweet mama), black coffee
Lunch: burgers, roasted curried cauliflower, oven-baked sweet potato fries, longan, ponkan
Dinner: grilled chicken, sinigang veggies, longan, ponkan
Snacks: singkamas (jicama in English), coconut water with coconut meat, longan

My mother has revived the obligation for us sisters to take turns taking care of Sunday lunches. They were scared that I'll make them eat something paleo, and I did, but they reluctantly admitted that they loved what I prepared. All they had to do was cook rice and make gravy!

I used sweet potatoes that had white skin and were orange inside. They were a tad more expensive than the violet ones I used to get (at P50/kilo) but they were sweeter and definitely yummier.

I bought paleo ice cream from Fog City Creamery - coconut vanilla and coco vanilla with dark chocolate bits. I haven't had the proper chance to try them because there are still so many fruits here at home, but I definitely will!

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 18

Today's meals

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and cauliflower "rice"
Lunch: burgers and cauliflower "rice"
Dinner: fried tilapia, ampalaya with eggs and tomato, banana
Snacks: paleo banana pancakes, melon, apples, oranges, coconut water with coconut meat, longgan, durian chips

Today my son's school held its annual sportsfest. I thought I'd have difficulty eating at the whole-day affair, but it turns out, all I needed was a little preparation... et voila! I didn't go hungry the whole day.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Paleo Challenge Day 17 + Mar 2 WOD: TGIF!

Today's meals

Breakfast: scrambled eggs
Lunch: tilapia cooked in coconut milk, banana
Dinner: sisig
Snacks: banana, oranges, walnuts

In my rush to leave the house on time with the kids this morning, I forgot my food. Argh! Of all the things I could forget it had to be the food. Now I'll be forced to fast. Ah well.

WOD

I've since learned to be afraid whenever 21-15-9 is written on the board. The numbers don't look like much, but you can be sure it's going to be a hard workout. Today, we had to do 21-15-9 of:

- Kettlebell swings
- Burpees over bar (you can choose between bar facing burpees or burpee bar hops)
- Push presses


I used the 12 kg kettlebell for the swings and the 35 lb bar for the push presses. I'd initially set up a 45 lb bar but after the first rep I knew it was too much for me because I couldn't steady it. My time: 11:48.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

I have to confess that I am very much a pancake person, which must be evident when I post my meals. One of the things that was very hard to give up when I went paleo was pancake and waffles. See, I wake up to the heavenly smell of pancakes every Saturday morning. It had become a weekend thing for the family to spend lazy Saturday mornings eating pancakes or waffles, and I was truly, truly sad that I had to give that up. So when I got my hands on coconut flour, I scoured the Internet for the best paleo pancake recipe using coconut flour.

Among all the recipes I found, the one from Paleo Spirit seemed to have gotten the most amount of positive feedback. The first time I tried it, it came out a little too "eggy" for my taste. I made it again using a banana, and it tasted better. The last time I made it, I used 2 bananas. Here's the recipe I followed:

Paleo Coconut Flour Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup coconut cream
2 medium overripe bananas, mashed (I used the kind we call "lakatan")
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp rock salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

  1. Sift together coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the rock salt to the sifted ingredients and whisk together, making sure it is well combined. Set aside.
  2. Crack the eggs in a medium-sized bowl and beat with a hand mixer until frothy. Mix in the coconut cream and mashed bananas.
  3. Combine the dry mixture with the wet and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat the mixture again until the coconut flour is complete mixed into the batter.
  4. Grease pan with coconut oil and heat over medium to low heat. When the pan is hot enough, pour batter to create pancakes that are about 3 inches in diameter (to be safe, make sure it's not bigger than the spatula you will use to flip it).
  5. Cook each side about 1-2 minutes and serve.
Some notes:

  • The pancakes will turn out brownish, and will look almost like they were burnt.
  • They are very filling, and 3-4 pancakes is usually enough for me.
  • Recipe yields roughly 20 small pancakes

Paleo Challenge Day 16

Today's meals

Breakfast: banana, paleo banana pancakes, black coffee
Lunch: pork knuckles, green salad with olive oil, salt and pepper
Dinner: spiced chicken breast, string beans
Snacks: nuts, apple

Apparently, I'm a sucker for these banana pancakes. They taste so much better now that I've tried making them 3 times. There were 3 lonely, spotted bananas on the counter so I decided to use 2 for the pancake batter and eat the last one -- overripe bananas really are good. The pancakes are still difficult to flip, maybe even more so because of the added bananas, so I might add a little more coconut flour next time. But the result was fantastic! Very light and moist, but very filling at the same time.

In other news, we won the head-to-head yesterday!!! I am sooo happy! Only one more to go! I tried scheduling it for tomorrow, but one half of the other team was sick so we said we'll do it next week, maybe Friday. We are halfway through the challenge but I think this way of eating is something I'd like to continue doing. I'd probably relax a little bit and follow the "80% paleo 20% of the time" rule, which says that you will get 99% of the benefits of the paleo diet if you stick to it 80% of the time. Pretty doable, if you ask me.