Personal Record and Cook Day

This morning I participated in a 10k run/race. My only goal was to run it faster than my previous personal record of 59:08. There wasn't a clock posted at the finish (but it was chip-timed, so I'll get my official time soon) but I know I ran it a few minutes faster than the last time, so I was thrilled!

After getting home I was pretty hungry so I made three scrambled eggs and some uncured black forest bacon. I've never had it before, but the pieces were thick, the pork was chemical-free, and the pigs were well treated and hormone-free so I gave it a try. It hit the spot and was very filling as brunch. 

With the work week (and first day of school!) looming on the horizon I decided to pick some recipes and do some bulk cooking.

I made some "confetti" cauliflower rice. I pre-cooked some finely diced carrot with yellow pepper, garlic, and salt and pepper. I then added the cauliflower and let it warm up together.

I also did a big batch of roasted vegetables, inspired by a recipe for balsamic roasted veggies from Gather. I used an assortment of vegetables, including peppers, turnips, and mushrooms and I tossed the lot in a half cup each of oil and balsamic vinegar. They turned out delicious, though next time I'd probably reduce the amounts of oil and balsamic by around half.

This fried chicken recipe is from Paleo Comfort Foods. It's actually on the cover and I can tell why - it's quite enticing. I used two chicken breasts cut into strips rather than using legs, but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly (though I did cut it in half). The coating is quite tasty, yet not as crispy as I would have hoped. The chicken tasted great dipped in a bit of my homemade ranch and I'll certainly be making it again. Since my boyfriend is very new to paleo and eating meat, and is a bit of a picky eater, we've developed a "scale of 1 to 10" method of figuring out which meals I should make again and which ones should be skipped. The fried chicken would have been a ten if he could have had ketchup. As it was, it was about an eight. Not bad. 

Because they're so easy, cheap, and portable, I wanted to re-visit the unfortunately named "Spinach Meat Muffins" from Well Fed. To add to the flavour and make them a bit more palatable for my boyfriend (who's still a little iffy about eating meat) I added a bunch of vegetables not called for in the recipe: red and yellow pepper, kale, and celery. Hopefully these will go over a bit better, though he's still hesitant to eat them.

And after all that cooking, here's dinner. The roasted vegetables were great with the chicken and I had a simple salad of romaine and kale tossed with red onions and ranch. 

Now I'm just waiting for Breaking Bad to start.