January 6

Pre-breakfast:

Before I went to the gym this morning I had a few bites of leftover salmon. Protein before working out releases glucagon (it's a fun word to say), a hormone that allows fat to be burned ...or something like that. I'm not a scientist, I just repeat what I have heard from semi-reputable people. Anyway, so salmon before my workout.

Breakfast/post workout meal:

about 1/3 a baked yam
2 scrambled eggs
1/3 avocado
salsa
tea

The yam was my post workout carbs. I had it a little later than is optimal (20 minutes after workout is best time to get carbohydrates in you, and then a real meal within 2 hours of the workout) but it was still worthwhile and delicious.
My youngest kept eating my avocado, so I think I ended up with about 1/3 of an avocado by the end of the meal.

Lunch:

It stated with 15 green olives with pits. Olives with pits really slow you down! These are the Verdi Castelvertano Olives from Costco, something I picked up on my last trip. I don't know if they always carry these, but the massive tub will last a very long time, even eating 15 at a time.


The olives were followed by the leftover salmon and some avocado. I figured since my kid ate most of my avocado at breakfast I was due a little more. Avocado and salmon go so well together, it made me think of sushi...yum.

Snack:

about 10 pecans
half dozen baby carrots
few bites of sweet potato after a little run in the afternoon

Dinner:

Spiced Roast Beef and Vegetables
Collard Greens

A while ago a friend had an uncle who had a cow that went to slaughter. Our friend's refrigerator was very full so he offered up some grass fed beef at a very reasonable price. We got a bunch of ground beef and a Eye of Round Roast. I had no idea what an eye of round was so I had to search for recipes and this is what I found. This recipe from Epicurious looked good and easy to Paleoify.

Recipe:

• about 1/2 a tea spoon ground cumin (use 1 t cumin seeds if you have them)
  
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• few handfuls of baby carrots (go crazy with veggies-sweet potatoes, parsnips, beets, onions, rutabagas.)
  
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 3- to 3 1/4-pound beef eye of round roast
• 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

Heat your over to 350 degrees. Place the carrots in a baking dish big enough for both the carrots and the roast. Toss the carrots with some olive oil and roast for 30 minutes. While the carrots are roasting get the eye of round ready.

I used our coffee/spice grinder to grind the peppercorns and coriander seeds, I added the remaining spices and gave it a few pulses to blend together. Using the tip of a knife, make several slits in the roast and put the thinly sliced garlic in the slits. Cover the roast with the spice mixture. Put back into the baking dish with the carrots and bake until a meat thermometer 125 degrees, about 1 hour. Ours read a well-done 140 degrees but was still a little pink in the middle.

Collard Greens:

I bought these a few days ago and haven't had time to cook them until tonight. I have never cooled collard greens and am kind of afraid of them. I thought it would be good to face my fear and hopefully discover another delicious green.

Recipe:
1 bunch collard greens
1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1/2 t chili flakes
2-3 C. chicken broth
olive oil
coconut oil

Clean and chop collard greens. I removed the stem because that tends to be the bitterest part of greens and I don't know any better. Heat the oil in a large skillet. (I used my cast iron because I wanted to get some of the bacon flavor out of it. It has been seasoned with bacon greased and smelled like bacony goodness as the greens were cooking.) Saute the onions until soft, add garlic and chili flakes. Add collard greens, tossing with the onions and garlic. Pour in broth and bring to a boil. Let it simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes until the greens are done and the broth is pretty much gone. I somehow ended up with a thick sauce that was delicious.

Overall tonight's dinner was fabulous. After last night's creative failures this was a welcome success. I felt like a 1950s housewife with the platter of roast beef. There should be plenty of leftovers for roast beef sandwiches...oh, wait, that doesn't happen in Paleo land. I might have to make some coconut bread just so I can have a sandwich.

Dessert:

What? Yes, a carb bomb of natural sugar. Fig bread, which is basically figs, dates, walnuts and almonds all mashed up and smashed together. It would have been much better with a stinky blue cheese and class of port, but it was ok on its own.

Oh, and I had three macadamia nuts. And some other nuts throughout the evening.