Recipe: Paleo Spaghetti

I've never cooked spaghetti squash before. But I now know that this is a great substitute for spaghetti. I cooked the spaghetti squash with cherry tomatoes and basil pesto. I did all the cooking on Tuesday night and saved the pasta in a glass container. The sea scallops were already marinated (I ate them with strawberry argula salad on Tuesday). So yesterday night, after we were done with Crossfit class, we just heat up the pasta in the microwave oven and pan-seared the scallops, and we had a delicious dinner. I was worried Matt wouldn't like it but he thought it was very yummy. And the best part is, it's good for us.

My Paleo dinner :)

I didn't take any photos of the process of making it, but found some good pictures on Steamy Kitchen that I'm going to share here. It's so easy! The recipe calls for it to be baked for an hour, I was too lazy to do that so I stuck it in the microwave oven for 6 minutes. 

Cut the squash into half. Remove the seeds and scrape away the stringy stuff in the squash. 

Put each half in the microwave oven for 6 minutes. When it's ready, use a fork to scrape the stringy bits.

See? Looks just like spaghetti but it's actually good for you!

Next time, I'll try to bake it instead of microwaving it to see if it tastes better. And I'll just cook it with garlic, olive oil and top it with cut chilli or serrano pepper. 

Scallops with strawberry arugula salad

Eating Paleo is not cheap! Wild caught fish, organic herbs, vegetables and fruits, grass fed beef, cage free poultry. But as I get older, I'm starting to agree that we should take care of our body and (try to) only put the best stuff to care for our body. I went grocery shopping at Whole Foods today and stock up on some essentials. I now understand why Whole Foods is popularly known as Whole Paycheck. 

Having said that, even when you do shop at Whole Foods, do pay attention to the labeling. I've bought salmon filets that aren't cheap, only to find out, upon close examination of the fine prints on the price tag, that they are farm raised and not wild caught. Don't assume everything at Whole Foods is organic. It's only organic if they say so. And usually it's slightly more expensive. I remember almost paying $1 a lemon, an organic one. Thankfully, Mitch now supplies me with meyer lemons, for free! 

Ok, back to what I had intended to blog about. My second attempt at eating Paleo was great, I made myself a delicious dinner. 

Homemade pan-seared scallops served with
strawberry argula salad

Pan-seared scallops 

(Serves 2-4 depending on whether you serve this as an appetizer or entree)

Adapted from The Food Lovers Make it Paleo and Paleo Adventure

Ingredients:

• 12 scallops
• 1 tbsp olive oil (I still haven't transitioned to using coconut oil) 
• 2 shallots, minced 
• 2 garlic, minced
• 4 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped 
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• Juice of 1 lemon (I use meyer lemon)
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste 

Preparation:

• Rinse scallops with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel, set aside.
• In a bowl or ziploc bag, place the minced shallots, minced garlic, finely chopped parsley, paprika, juice of 1 lemon and a dash of sea salt and pepper. Mix well. 
• Add the scallops to the marinade. Make sure scallops are well marinated. 
• Heat olive oil in a frying pan. 
• Add scallops to frying pan.
• Sear scallops for approximately 2 minutes per side. 
• Tip: Consider using a splatter cover. 

Strawberry argula salad 

(Serves 2)

Adapted from Laaloush's Pear, Quinoa and Spinach Salad (also very delicious, but I don't know if quinoa is Paleo)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups argula
• 6-8 strawberries, thinly sliced 
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped 
• 1 tbsp walnut oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp pomegranate vinegar (you can also use strawberry/raspberry balsamic vinegar)
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt to taste (I cheated and used 1 tbsp fat free vegetable broth, probably not Paleo but I had it in the fridge)
• Optional: 1/4 tsp fresh chives, chopped  

Preparation:

• Whisk oil, vinegar, broth/sea salt, chives and black pepper in a large salad bowl. Make sure all ingredients are evenly combined. 
• Add strawberries and argula. Toss lightly to coat. 

Have you heard of the Paleo diet?

Matt and I met with a Crossfit trainer last week. We were hoping to do private training but his schedule is too packed, he's unable to train us. Instead, we will join the 4-week On Ramp introductory class, starting this Saturday. I'm excited but also scared! I've been looking at pictures of Crossfit women. In those pictures, they're lifting huge barbells, pulling a car (omg, really!?), crazy gymnastic moves and other moves that I can hardly see myself doing. Yes, that's what we are signing up for!

Jorge also introduce us to the Paleo diet. I've never heard of it and in the last week, I've been doing some research. I found many blogs touting about the benefits of Paleo and the changes they feel and see in their bodies. Paleo is a modern nutritional plan that mimics that of our hunter-gatherer ancestors - lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruits and nuts. 

I found this description of Paleo on Whole Nine via Fitbomb, 

I eat "real" food - fresh, natural food like meat, vegetables and fruit. I choose foods that are nutrient dense, with lots of naturally-occurring vitamins and minerals, over foods that have more calories but less nutrition. And food quality is important - I'm careful about where my meat comes from, and buy produce locally and organically as often as possible. 

It's not a low calorie "diet" - I eat as much as I need to maintain strength, energy and a healthy weight. In fact, my diet is probably much higher in fat than you'd imagine. Fat isn't the energy - it's a great energy source when it comes from high quality foods like avocado, coconut and nuts. And I'm not trying to do a "low carb" thing, but since I'm eating vegetables and fruits instead of bread, cereal and pasta, it just happens to work out that way.  

Eating like this is good for maintaining a healthy metabolism, and reducing inflammation within the body.  It’s been doing great things for my energy levels, body composition and performance in the gym.  It also helps to minimize my risk for a whole host of lifestyle diseases and conditions, like diabetes, heart attack and stroke.

Fitbomb's wife, Nom Nom Paleo shares some amazing Paleo recipes on her blog. The pictures of the food looks amazing, and I'm thinking following a Paleo diet wouldn't be too hard for me. I've always thought of myself as one of those who live to eat rather than eat to live. But I'm starting to pay the price of my gluttony, my clothes are getting tighter and my family who haven't seen me in months weren't afraid to tell me that I need to lose weight.

Check out this Paleo food blog, I likey!

I've also ordered 3 Paleo cookbooks and I can't wait for them to arrive!

So begins our Crossfit/Paleo adventure! I'm going to work out at least four times a week (3 Crossfit classes) and cook more.

Cooking with kale

Doesn't this look delicious? It's healthy too, wholewheat pasta with kale. The recipe can be found here.

Source: Martha Stewart

I didn't buy kale when I was Whole Foods yesterday. Instead, I bought Romaine Lettuce to make a green smoothie. But I do have baby spinach and leftover turkey meatloaf (I'll blog about that later) in the fridge, going to make pasta for dinner. Next week, I'll try to make kale chips and pasta with kale.