Night Off!!

It is Thursday and Joelle and I are very happy. I’m sure for most of you, just like us, Monday through Thursday is a blur! Joelle and I are on the go constantly and the worst part is that we are separate when going through the beginning of our week. We barely see each other except for when I get home at 9:30pm from the gym and by then we are both so exhausted that we just want to go to bed. With that said, we always look forward to Thursday nights. Joelle has the “day off”. I put that in quotations because honestly there is never a day off. Joelle’s days has included getting up at 7a.m., eating her usual paleo breakfast, got laundry started (Thursday’s are our laundry days), made our lunches for tomorrow, put some chicken in a marinade, pulled salmon and grassfed beef out of the freezer to thaw for dinner, she is going to the gym at 9am for class, she then has a dentist appointment, after that she will be knocking out our grocery shopping for the week (Wal-Mart, Aldi) and by that time she will make her way home. By that time I should be home as well from the gym. For me I have a quick day at the gym. Thursdays are an active recovery day. I do a lot of mobility work, a warmup and work on some skills. After that I am home free and spending time with Joelle for the rest of the night. I told Joelle for tonight that I will cook dinner. She will get to sit back and relax. The salmon and grassfed beef that she pulled out earlier will be our options for dinner tonight. We will be sticking to the basics tonight with our sides. Our usual stir fry of greens along with some mashed sweet potato for me. For our protein tonight I am thinking stuffed burgers (sun dried tomato, onion, and mushroom) on the grill topped with some bacon, avocado and homemade sriracha. I will grill the salmon as well just in case Joelle wants something else. Today will be the first decent weather day that we have had in a while, so you know I will be out there grilling.
As far as our 365 day paleo adventure is concerned, it has been a huge success. Not only are Joelle and I hugely benefiting from it, but I feel like we have helped some other people out as well. I have had a few friends contact me and let me know that our blog has inspired them to start going Paleo. At our gym we have been able to help some other Paleo goers with new recipes to try. The best part of this whole experience is mentally and physically, this is the best we have both ever felt. I have told Joelle this before, I feel like we have an 8 cylinder engine and since the new year we are running on all 8 cylinders, all the time. We are so much more productive with our daily lives, we communicate better,we are more organized and truly appreciate all things that come to us. Honestly, I feel like we are still getting the normal highs and lows of everyday life but the lows don’t seem so low because our diet has prepared us to handle the challenges of life mentally and physically. Some may say that it would be crazy to think that diet can have that big of an impact on your life but don’t trash talk it until you have actually been there and experienced it for yourself. Food is fuel, and if your brain is running on the best fuel out there everyday then you will be functioning at your highest capability. I wish everyone could experience how we have been feeling but it is unfortunate there are many people out there who will never get to feel this and they will continue to refuse to change there ways just because they simply don’t want to change. Here is my last thing to say for today, if you are still contemplating whether or not you want to try Paleo, STOP THINKING! JUST DO IT!

Sunday Funday

Hey its Zach. Man the weekend doesn’t even feel like the weekend anymore. I have a lot to do today.  Okay, got a quick and very easy recipe for you to try. Joelle and I made stuffed grass fed burgers last night for dinner. The temperature in Illinois was finally decent and I could only think of one thing to do, GRILL! This recipe is from paleomg.com. Good stuff.

What do you need:
1 lb of beef ( used grass fed)(makes two good size burgers)
Fat of choice (used bacon fat, so good!)
1\2 onion ( chopped)
1\2 package mushrooms ( chopped)
10 sun dried tomatoes ( chopped)
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt and pepper

1st step: divide your beef into four separate parts, golf ball to lacrosse ball size.

2nd step: smash those beef balls into thing patties

3rd step: you need to make the stuffing. Add your fat to a date pan and get it hot. Add your onion and saute by itself for a few minutes. Then add in the mushroom and sun dried tomato. Allow this all to saute until soft and mixed well together 5-7 minutes. When finished sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

4th step: put the stuffing onto one of your patties. Make sure to leave room around the edge of the patty. Don’t stuff it too much. You don’t want the burger to fall apart when grilling. If you have any stuffing left over add it to the top of your burger when you are finished.

5th step: take your other patty and place it on top of the one with the stuffing in it. Then crimp the edges to make one whole patty. Sprinkle both sides of the patties with garlic and onion powder.

6th step: grill em or cook them inside in a pan. I prefer grill. I went 4-5 minutes on each side. I like medium rare to medium.

7th step: once they are done treat it like a burger. Add whatever toppings you want. I went with bacon and avocado. I told joelle this last night, ” I don’t think I will want a regular burger in the future”. These were so good. I hope you enjoy.