Just put the finishing touches on my new 'bakery' page...this isn't a business yet, just a hobby right now, someday it will be a full fledged business. However, if you have ever had anything that I have made and want to comment on them, or have a recipe that you would like to share you can go to the following, like my page and leave a message!

Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/QuiteContraryBakery

Email Address:

MarysKitchn@gmail.com   (yes, there is no 'e'!)


Happy Baking!

Day 6 - Whole30

Since starting and completing my first Whole30 in March 2014 I have been reading and researching different Paleo website, blogs and cookbooks to try to help me understand what it was all about, how it was different from the Whole30 and why people do it.  A few of the websites that have helped me transition from the Whole30 challenge to a moderate Paleo diet are listed below:

The Urban Poser

Against All Grain

Nom Nom Paleo

Paleo Parents

The reason why I bring this up is while walking through Costco this morning I found one of the cookbooks I have been looking to get for a little while and couldn't resist but to get it.  Going through the cookbook I found many different recipes that I can't wait to try when my Whole30 is over!  Sauces, soups, salads, sea food, chicken, beef and even desserts...so EXCITED!

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Today was another day of no hard work-out...but there were some dog walks and mild conditioning through out the day.  I feel so helpless when my back is in this state, but luckily it only lasts about a week, which it has almost been.

This morning I realized that today is my last full day here and that my 'vacation' is almost over.  Kind of sad to go back to go work, but happy to see my family.  One of my goals for today is to use up all the extra food that I made or bought while up here.

Goal #1 - use up the 3 almost brown bananas...

I was going to make banana pancakes but then I realized that didn't feel like standing in front of the stove top for that long this morning...thus Banana-Almond Butter Scrambled Eggs were born!

I followed a normal banana pancake recipe, the Whole30 kind.

1 ripe banana

2 eggs

1 TBSP Almond Butter

Since I had 3 bananas to use up...

3 ripe bananas

6 eggs

2 large spoonfulls of Almond Butter

Step 1: Mash up the bananas
Step 2: add rest of the ingredients
Step 3: pour into heated pan (over med-low) and scramble like you would eggs until done

Makes enough for 3-4 people

Lunch

• Grapes
• Sweet Potato
• Steamed Zucchini
• Chicken Breast

Dinner

• 2nd serving of Banana-Almond Butter-Scrambled Eggs
• Mixed greens salad and Craisins
• Grapes

What is your favorite Paleo Cookbook/Website/Blog?

Enjoy!

Day 5 - Whole30

2 more days of house sitting and with a still sore back means more HGTV!  After watching all the House Hunters and Renovation shows, I really want to buy a house and renovate it with a possible income suite in the basement.  Pinterest is an amazing place to find ideas for renovation projects.  I love the idea of having a double sink vanity with a doorless shower and large tub.  I am not a fan of glass sliding shower doors or curtains, as they collect germs and confine a space that is already small.

I have also always wanted a library or a place in the house where there are bookshelves built into the wall and a seating area in a big picture window.  

Lastly comes the kitchen...my favorite and most important part of the house (hence the name of my blog).  I love to bake and cook and since I want to, one day, have my own bakery business, I need to have an updated kitchen with plenty of counter space.  Other musts/wants includes: an island, a lowered section of counter top for better bread/baking prep, farmhouse sink

Have you or would you ever renovated a house? What is your favorite part of the house?

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On today's Menu:

Breakfast

• Coffee
• Scrambled eggs with turkey sausage and bell peppers
• Banana and Almond Butter (more of a mid morning snack - a few hours after breakfast)
• Cashews and Crasins

Lunch

• Last of the Beef left overs
• Chicken
• Zucchini and Sweet Potatoes
• Craisins

Snacks

• Banana and Almond Butter

• Cucumber

• Turkey Wraps with lettuce and mustard

Dinner

• 1/2 chicken breast
• Zucchini
• Sweet Potato
• Pineapple Veggie mix
• Craisins (was craving something sweet and I know this is not the best thing to have eaten...needless to say they are put away and will not be eaten tomorrow...)

and LOTS of water...

Tomorrow is my last full day of house sitting and I have mixed feelings about it.  I really enjoyed my time being away from work and my family but I have missed them as well.  It is almost time to get back to the real world and back to work again Thursday night.  Maybe I'll be able to do this again sometime...Anyone else need a house sitter? I have references!!

Enjoy!

Day 4 - Whole30

Today starting out on a good note.  Back was feeling slightly better after stretching and doing some light yoga last night before bed and a little more this morning after puppy and I went on a nice walk.  Now I just have to get it feeling good enough to actually do a harder workout tomorrow morning...

 On the Menu for today:

Breakfast
(sorry no picture)

• Sausage and vegetable breakfast bake (last of these left overs!!)
• Banana and almond butter (less than a TBSP)
• Coffee - YUM!

Lunch

• Cashews
• Oven Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Veggies (last of these left overs)
• 3 - turkey breast wraps with lettuce and mustard

Dinner

One more meal consisting of left overs -  it looks like a lot but the plate is a smaller size

• Chicken
• Seasoned beef
• Sweet potatoes
• Zucchini
• Pineapple veggies
• Dessert consisted of a few cashews and some craisins

All-in-all it is getting much easier to not snack though out the day.  My stomach and brain is getting used to eating 3 larger, healthy meals rather than several small meals through out the day that might not be all super healthy.  Some of the meals, even the left overs, I am excited to eat. I love the taste of fresh veggies and meat not saturated in sugary sauces and salt.

How is your Whole30 going?  Any recipes that you like, especially as left overs for 3 days in a row?


Enjoy!

Day 3 - Whole30

The sugar craving kicked in big time today...had to snack on some cashews and grapes to suppress the urge not to just grab a big spoonful of frosting and devour it :(  However, as the day went on I decided it wasn't worth failing again and being disappointed with myself again.  Every time, since the ending of my March Whole30, when I have tried to do a Whole30 again I always had some reason for eating something that wasn't approved.  There were work trips, birthdays and other reasons to want to bake.

My back is not doing so well...looks like I have a long couple more days house sitting until I can get back to my chiropractor and get it fixed.  I really wish I didn't have to deal with this because today I did a lot of laying around trying not to move so much due to my back...Days like this is when I am glad I know I didn't eat crap.  Blow is a good acronym for helping you remember what CRAP is and what actual FOOD is.

Eat less CRAP, eat more FOOD.

Eat less CRAP:

• C – Carbonated Drinks
• R – Refined Sugar
• A – Artificial Sweeteners and Artificial Colors
• P – Processed Foods

Eat more FOOD:

• F - Fruits and Vegetables
• O - Organic Lean Proteins
• O - Omega 3 Fatty Acids
• D - Drink Water

http://dailyfitnesstip.com/improve-diet-acronym

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On the menu for today:

Breakfast

• Grapes
• Banana and Almond Butter
• Sausage and veggie Breakfast Bake (aka leftovers)

Lunch

I wanted Pineapple chili for lunch but what I thought was ground turkey burger was actually chicken breasts...so I made a Pineapple-Sweet Potato-Zucchini Chicken Bake.  Not as good as Pineapple Chili but the pineapple definitely made this dish better!

1st Layer: Chicken Breasts, Sliced Sweet Potato, Bell Peppers and Onion

2nd Layer: Can of Organic Diced Tomatoes and Crushed Pineapple

Topped off with Zucchini

Baked at 350 for 1 hour for nice and tender veggies

Out of the oven...

Finished Product...The Sweet Potato and Zucchini were eaten more as a side dish

Grapes and Cashews were also eaten while my chicken masterpiece was baking.

Dinner

Yay fore more leftovers...I guess it is a good thing I love leftovers

• Chicken Breast Wraps with lettuce and mustard
• More veggies from the chicken bake from lunch

Enjoy!

Day 2 - Whole30

Woke up this morning at 5:30 with my alarm clock, but felt no real need to stay in bed any longer.  One thing I did notice the last time I did my Whole30 was that I was more energized in the morning and started to wake up before my alarm clock went off.  It took a week or two in order for that habit to start but once I reintroduced sugars and grains back into my diet, I started feeling more sluggish in the morning and didn't want to get up as easily.

Before I started house sitting I re-joined a gym so I can try to help my goal of toning up move along a little quicker than what is was when I was running and working out on my own.  One good thing about this gym is that they have several locations and one happened to be about 15 miles away from where I am house sitting.  Through out the past week I have been making the drive, almost every day to help keep me moving and active while being in a place where I don't have too much to do.

Yesterday my back was starting to act up again...I have a chronic lower back injury that I acquired many years ago during a gymnastics competition.  I went to perform a skill I was not ready to compete and landed wrong and ever since then my hips have been pulling in different directions and my muscles don't want to relax long enough for the bones to settle into the right location.  Anyway,  long story short, if I move the wrong direction, work out too much or sit wrong, I can end up pulling my back muscles and I wont't be moving very well for the next few days.

I took yesterday off to try to heal my back a little, however, this morning it wasn't feeling much better.  I wanted to travel over to the Anacortes Farmers Market and didn't feel it was worth the trip if I didn't go and work out first...so I sucked it up and make it through with a little pain.

My whole point is this...during my first Whole30, I started out with my usual back pain, the same that I am feeling now.  By the end of the 30 days of eating whole, clean foods my pain was gone.  I had a decrease in the inflammation and fat build up around the area and that allowed for more movement and less pain!!  I am hoping that I get the same results this time...I'll keep you posted.

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Onto today's menu (remember there will be lots of left overs because I'm still house sitting)

Pre-workout

• Sausage and veggie breakfast bake (small piece)

Post-workout

• Banana

Late Breakfast

• Coffee
• Red Grapes
• Sausage and veggie breakfast bake (slightly larger piece)

Lunch

• Sliced Chicken Breast lettuce wrap with mustard
• Sweet Potato
• Squash

Dinner

• Beef
• Oven Roasted vegetables
• squash
• Cucumber
• Grapes
• Cashews and a few Almonds

Feelings on today:

I need to stop snacking...it isn't allowed in this program...but if I don't I feel like I am pigging out during my meals.  Maybe my stomach will get smaller within the next 30 days...Thoughts? Do you snack during your Whole30?  Are your meals big? 

Enjoy!

Day 1 - Foods and Feelings

Woke up excited and ready to start a healthy and happy month of August!  This first week will be a little difficult and possibly bland or repetitive of what I am eating as I am House Sitting for my cousin until the 7th...then I can truly start to get creative in the kitchen...which is my FAVORITE  part of this program!  Since March (my first Whole30) I have been cooking paleo...however it is my sweet tooth that got me into trouble after the first Whole30...this time I am not going to save a cookie here and there for me to eat after I am done...I'm going to let them all get eaten for me!

The other hard part of this Whole30 is that I started Pastry School at the beninning of July...and every month we bake a couple items and are supposed to taste them...I might have to save one of these in the freezer for September...that way I know what they really taste like :D

Breakfast

To start off...I was so excited to read that Black Coffee is approved...that is a hard item for me to give up...I love the taste too much.

Here is my menu for Breakfast this morning:

• Coffee - Black (no sugar, no creamer)
• 1 banana and 1 TBSP Almond Butter

Brunch
There is never a wrong time to eat breakfast :)

• Fresh Fruit - Blueberries, grapes, Mango, Melon, Pineapple and Strawberries
• Coffee - can't have breakfast with out a cup of coffee...

• Breakfast Egg Bake
• Eggs
• Coconut Milk
• Adelle's Apple Chicken Sausage (Nitrate, sugar and grain free...Whole30 Approved!)
• Bacon (Nitrate and Sugar Free)
• Sweet Potato/Yams
• Bell Peppers (yellow & Orange)
• Spinach
• Pepper to taste

Snacks

• Almonds and Cashews

• Frozen Cherries and Blueberries
• Grapes

Dinner

• Oven Roasted Vegetables
• Yams
• Onion
• Bell Peppers
• Zucchini
• Pepper and Italian seasoning to taste
• Chicken Breast Wraps
• 1 slices of Chicken Breast (Costco - Dietz & Watson - Nitrate Free, sugar free, gluten free, dairy free)
• Mustard
• Salad Mix (Costco Mix)

Thoughts on today

Today was a definite day 1...I feel as though I ate a bunch...I had too much fruit, plus 3 servings of the breakfast bake (even though it was my breakfast and lunch).  I also didn't do much other than go a 2 short dog walks and sit on the couch all day working on my schooling and trying to update my blog.  *I am still trying to figure out how to manage my blog account and input the badges and buttons that I want on it...so if you have any advice or good websites that are Blogging for Dummies, it would be greatly appreciated!

However, I am proud I stayed healthy all day...tried to have more protein when I was having a sugar craving, snacking on some nuts helped a little.  I definitely need to eat more veggies, having some already cut up for snacking throughout the day will help with the munchies.  

On to tomorrow...Day 2!

Whole30 August 2014

Back in March my mother and I successfully completed our first Whole30.  I learned to appreciate food and what they do to the body, a person's emotions and life in general.  This program made me start thinking about what I was putting into my body on a normal day: What do I eat? When do I eat it? and Why was I eating it?  When I was feeling 'hungry' I had to think - am I really hungry or am I just hungry because I'm bored/sad/etc.

One of the challenges during the first Whole30 was learning how to track everything that I ate, and not cheat on what I was writing down, as well as trying to stay off the scale...I didn't do so well on that step :(

Throughout my first Whole30 I learned to cook new foods, and conquered my fear of stove top cooking.  Lost 6 lbs and got down to my lowest, healthiest weight since High School...I wasn't sluggish, woke up with the sun and was able to run longer distances.  It was an amazing experience and I have been trying to eat as clean as possible since then...however there have been many struggles.  I have tried to re-start the Whole30 and couple times but, like it said on the website...I made it to about Day 10-15 and then gave up because something else was going on and I didn't stick to my goal...but this time is different because I will be blogging it and having more external support to ask how my Whole30 is going and keep me honest and accountable for following through in becoming healthy and making it a habit.

Whole30 Program Rules

Click above to see the Approved and Not Approved foods for Clean Eating, however the general list includes:

• Approved Foods - Food with the fewest amount of ingredients (and ones that a 5 year old can pronounce) are the best...READ THE LABELS!!!
• Meat
• Seafood
• Eggs
• Vegetables
• Fruit (limited as it has natural sugars in it)
• Good Fats
• Fruit (avacado, coconut), Oils, nuts and seeds
• Not Approved
• Sugar
• Alcohol
• Grains
• Legumes (Beans, Peas, chickpeas, lentils, soy and peanuts)
• Dairy
• Processed Foods and Beverages

August 2014 Whole30 Goals:

• Conquer new recipes
• Lose 5-10 lbs of fat (starting 156.2 - trying to remember that muscle weighs more than fat - refers to next goal and Step Seven)
• STAY OFF THE SCALE!!!
• Tone up
• Be able to run 8 miles (can do 6 now)
• Be happy about life in general

Please follow and help support me to stay strong and positive during this amazing food adventure.  I will be trying to post different recipes that I enjoyed.

Viennese (Butter) Cookies

Viennese (Butter) Cookies

Our fourth baking assignment was Viennese or Butter Cookies.  These are cookies that you pipe onto a cookie sheet in order to get their shape.  Over all they were quite fun to make...however I still need to work on my piping skills :)

Mise en Place

Knife Skills - cutting the butter into 1 inch pieces to allow for better creaming

Mixing Technique - Creaming the butter and sugar together

Viennese Cookie Batter Preparation

Dough Preparation - Piping cookie dough onto cookie sheet

All Ready for baking

Heating Application - A nice Golden Brown color

Plating - Dipped in dark chocolate and sprinkled with powdered sugar