Memorial Day and #TransformationTuesday

Good Tuesday-that-feels-like-Monday afternoon, to you!

Aren't you proud that I'm actually writing a new post like I promised I would? With less than 3 weeks of the originally planned experiment time-frame remaining, I'm going to really make it a priority to convey as much content as I can.

I do hope that you all enjoyed the Memorial Day holiday weekend. I certainly did! I started off Saturday morning with a red potato and mixed vegetables hash with a side of fresh fruit. The hash was as simple as it could be, but the magic came from the limited edition jalapeño ketchup from Heinz. Like most store-bought ketchups, it could certainly be a bit healthier since it contains a fair amount of added sugar, which is a bit of a paleo no-no, but it's so delicious that when used in moderation, it won't derail any overall progress. That afternoon, after a group lunch at EarthFare, I went thrift shopping with some friends (found a Clemson hoodie for $4!). Then we enjoyed a game night at the home of Kaeli and April, complete with a big bowl of watermelon sangria that I made...and a late night trip to Waffle House where we all gorged ourselves on hashbrowns.

Hash, fruit, and ketchup of the gods

"Bottle of white, bottle of red..." throw in some brandy and you've got some dangerous fruit

On Sunday, I met two of my favorite people in the world, Jonathan and Becca, for lunch at Miso Teriyaki House in Johnson City. They live in Raleigh, NC now, so I hardly ever get to see them. I had a seaweed salad and some mixed grilled vegetables, both of which likely contained soy sauce and/or tamari. Along with their friend Bo, the 4 of us also shared a couple bottles of sake. Was my meal vegan? Yes. But was my meal paleo? No. But was I sharing an awesome afternoon with people that I love and cherish dearly and don't get to see nearly enough? Yes. Your argument is invalid.

After lunch, we walked over to Kroger and picked up a couple of six packs of cider (one Strongbow and one Angry Orchard Apple Ginger) then went back to Becca's mother's house where we played cards out in the back yard with Becca's sister, Hannah (who is a castmate in both of my shows this summer) and the dogs, Patti and Gilbert.

Me and the gang enjoying the Spring weather

I didn't win any hands, but at least the beverages and company were good!

Memorial Day Monday started out as a pretty lazy day, then I went to my parents' house for our Memorial Day dinner. The grill hadn't been cleaned and prepared for the season, so we didn't do a cookout, but we ate pretty well all the same. My family had beans and cornbread with some roasted potatoes. I made some sauteed marinated eggplant and zucchini, sweet potato fries (I'd been eating too many regular potatoes recently, so I opted for the sweet potato instead), and an awesome Asian-inspired coleslaw that I improvised.

Asian-inspired slaw along with my eggplant, fresh purple onion, zucchini, and sweet potato fries

The slaw consisted of shredded cabbage, some "broccoli slaw" (shredded broccoli and carrot), red onion, cucumber, sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries. The dressing was made from balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, sunflower butter, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, and another new ingredient, coconut aminos!

I mentioned last week that I'd made a stir fry using this product, Coconut Secret Raw Coconut Aminos, which is used as a substitute for soy sauce. There are other liquid amino products out there that serve as an awesome savory seasoning that is lower in sodium than soy sauce and gluten free. But, most of these products still contain soy. This product, however, is made from only organic raw coconut sap and sun-dried sea salt, so it is gluten free, soy free, organic, and vegan! And while it's made from coconut, it doesn't have a "coconuty" flavor. The major downside to this product is that it's quite expensive. The bottle I purchased from EarthFare was, I believe, around $9!

A bit pricey, but definitely worth it!

Every Tuesday, social media sites are filled with collections of images, usually before-and-afters, accompanied with the hashtag #TransformationTuesday. These images are shared to show a transformation of some kind, usually the progress of the poster in terms of weight loss, workout progression, etc. Over the weekend I hit a bit of a personal milestone. I stepped on the scale on Saturday morning (before my huge breakfast of course) and saw a number that I wasn't sure I'd ever see: 185. 185 has always been this sort of theoretical weight that I figured would be the lowest I could ever reasonably be, especially considering that I'd always been on the heavier side. I was expecting to see this number sometime off in the future, way beyond the conclusion of this experiment, and only after significant increases in my physical activity. Seeing this number now was such a motivator and an eye-opener. It helped me see that the only true limits to our success are the ones we place upon ourselves. It helped me to reevaluate my goals and to truly appreciate the progress I've made. The number 185 meant that I've lost 70 pounds from the time after I graduated from Clemson when I was at my heaviest!

So, in honor of this achievement, and since today is the appropriate day, here is my own #TransformationTuesday photo from Instagram (follow me on Instagram @jmluttrell).

#TransformationTuesday Officially a 70 pound difference over nearly the last 5 years. Note the whale on the shirt on the left and the puma on the shirt today; quite appropriate.

Since I hit this milestone earlier than I'd anticipated, it also means that there's no better time to step up my workout routine. I didn't have any workout equipment at home, and because of my living situation (apartment with neighbors on both sides and below), it's hard to do much cardio/plyo at home without upsetting the neighbors. So, last week I purchase a pair of Bowflex SelectTech 552 dumbbells. They allow me to replace a whole rack of weights with only two that I can adjust the weight of anywhere from 5 to 52.5 pounds each! (God bless the UPS driver who delivered them) I'll still be going to the Y for my cardio workouts such as my spin class and to use their equipment like ellipticals and AMTs, but I also needed an option to be able to get in a workout at home since my schedule doesn't always allow for trips to the gym. Starting today, I'll be implementing the following 4-week exercise plan from Men's Health which is designed to send your resting metabolism way up so that you continue to burn fat even while not working out (I'll be subbing dumbbells for barbell whenever possible, and incorporate different substitutions for the exercises when that isn't possible): 

The Weight Workout

Alternate between weight workout A and weight workout B, 3 days a week, resting at least a day between sessions. Perform each pair of exercises as alternating sets. That is, do one set of the first exercise, rest for the prescribed amount of time, then do one set of the second exercise, and rest again. Repeat until you've performed all the recommended sets. Note that the sets, repetitions, and amount you rest between sets change from week to week.

Workout A
1. Split squat + barbell row
2. Romanian deadlift + standing dumbbell press
3. Dumbbell bench press + chinup
Workout B
1. Front squat + close-grip chinup
2. Dumbbell stepup + barbell bench press
3. Standing barbell shoulder press + dumbbell face pull

Week	Sets	Reps	Rest
1	2	15	75
2	2	15	60
3	3	12	75
4	3	12	60

The Interval Workout

Alternate between interval workout A and interval workout B, 2 days a week, on the days between your weight workouts. To perform the intervals, run or cycle at the fastest pace you can maintain for the duration of the sprint time. Then slow down to a pace that's about 30 percent of your full effort for the "recovery time." Repeat until you've completed all the prescribed intervals for each workout.

Workout A

Week	Intervals	Sprint Time	Recovery Time
1-2	4	30 seconds	90 seconds
3-4	6	30 seconds	90 seconds

Workout B

Week	Intervals	Sprint Time	Recovery Time
1-2	3	60 seconds	180 seconds
3-4	5	60 seconds	180 seconds

This will carry me through the run of my first show this summer, Urinetown, and give me a good start into the rest of the rehearsal process for Les Misérables. I'll be doing this Tuesdays through Saturdays, with Sunday and Mondays being my rest days, although some impromptu extra runs may happen here and there since I've got a few 5Ks and such in the coming months.

Once again, thank you all so much for the support and words of encouragement you've shared. I'm hoping to post again later this week to fill you in a bit more on all these shows I keep talking about being involved with. Until then, enjoy the spring weather, and be sure to thank a veteran or active service member for their work in preserving our freedom as we pass Memorial Day and move toward the 4th of July. See you soon!

Much love to you all,

Jon

Please Forgive Me!!

Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned. I've been a HORRIBLE blogger recently, considering I've not written anything new in over 2 weeks!! For that, I am deeply sorry, and hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me...or if not, that you'll keep reading anyway :)

My face when I realized how long it'd been since I'd blogged

I've been incredibly busy over the past couple of weeks with work, my two shows both being in rehearsals, Mother's Day, and also my birthday last week (I officially entered my upper-middle-twenties at the ripe old age of 27!). For my birthday dinner, my family and I went to EarthFare in Johnson City. They'd never been there, so I was happy to introduce them to its glory! But, even as crazy as it's been, that's no reason for me to fall off the face of the Earth. There's no way I could possibly fill you in on everything without writing the next great American novel, so I'll just share with you a couple of missteps I've had.

• Missteps-
• We took my mother to Longhorn Steakhouse in Johnson City for Mother's Day lunch. Don't worry, the vegan aspect of the experiment remained intact, even at a steakhouse. I ordered the grilled vegetable salad, which was described on the menu as "hand-cut crisp romaine & balsamic vinaigrette, topped with fresh fire-grilled vegetables, roma tomatoes and feta cheese", and asked them to leave off the feta. When the salad came, however, one of the grilled vegetables happened to be corn (far too much to try and pick off). Now, with as many friends as I have in the restaurant industry, and having worked in food service before myself, I know that Mother's Day is one of, if not THE, busiest day of the year for restaurant workers, so I wasn't about to send a salad back because it had corn on it. I ate the corn. The salad was delicious. Life goes on.

• Last Thursday, a friend and I ate lunch at K.P. Duty, a restaurant here in downtown Bristol that I'd not been to in quite some time. The menu overall was not very paleo-vegan friendly, so I had to take up a bit of strategy. I found an item, a shrimp and avocado sandwich. I saw on the menu where any of their sandwiches could also be made as a salad, so I had them leave off the shrimp and make it a salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I assumed that this would be the only dressing I would have, however the avocado itself seemed to be dressed in the mayonnaise that I thought would not have been included in the absence of the shrimp. It didn't taste bad at all, but since it was mayo, I can only assume that it contained eggs. Once again, I was in a bit of a rush, and I also didn't want to send something back that wasn't the kitchen or server's fault.

Those are the only errors that I can think of that occurred. At least neither one of them were intentional.

As for the rest of what's happened since we last visited, I'll just show you a few pictures of what I've been up to, then I PROMISE I'll pick back up with my regular posts!!

I found a new vitamin! One A Day Energy, with NO GELATIN! (some corn starch, but gotta take what I can get)

The new YMCA facility opened, and I'm in LOVE with the new spin studio/bikes!

Muffin tin breakfast I made mom as an early Mother's Day surprise. Sadly, I couldn't eat any of it :'(

Mother's Day afternoon wine tasting at Davis Valley Winery

This is what my summer is going to consist of, and I'm perfectly fine with that

Front row at The Avett Brothers concert in Knoxville the night before my birthday!!

Simple spinach salad topped with some awesomely fresh avocados I got from EarthFare

Some roasted red, gold, and purple potatoes, and a quick stir fry using a new ingredient I'll be sharing soon!

Thank you all so much for all of the support you've shown for my experiment and this blog up to this point. I'll be back in touch soon! And don't forget to follow @ThePaleoVeg on Twitter for updates from me, as well as retweets of things that I find of interest from around the paleo, vegan, and vegetarian communities!

Much love to you all,

Jon
 

Small Life Changers, Mistakes, and Stretching Dollars

Happy May 7th, everyone! On today's date in history: 1274 - The Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope; 1718 - The city of New Orleans was founded; 1824 - World premiere of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; 1992 - The space shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission. Famous birthdays include Johannes Brahms in 1833, Gary Cooper in 1901, and Eva "Evita" Perón in 1919. But don't cry for me, blog readers, because on May 7th, 2013, you have a new edition of ThePaleoVeg to read!

Ok, so that was a bit over-dramatic, and all of that information came from Wikipedia, so who knows if it's even true. But, you truly do have a new blog entry to read from me today which will include a few culinary life changers I've discovered over the past week, how I've made my grocery dollars stretch, and a disappointing ingredient mistake I made because I didn't read the label first.

Like so many Americans out there, if I had to break down the amount of time I spent eating each day into actual specific meals and snacking in between, I'd say it would be something like 20-25% real meals and 75-80% snacking. It's not really the ideal situation, but all too often, it's what is dictated by a busy schedule. However, a recent trip to the Johnson City EarthFare injected a couple of small changes into my snacking life that I plan on keeping around. I knew that I needed some more almond butter as I'd run out of my previous jar, and I also wanted to try EarthFare's sunflower butter as well. I walked to the aisle where they were located, and my friend Sarah happened to point out a jar of...brace yourselves...vanilla espresso almond butter. I know, right?!? The brand is Wild Squirrel (I think sometimes also labeled as Wild Friends? Not sure what the deal is there), but the jar looks something like this:

Photo from Wild Friends

I had seen the product in single serving packets before, but had no idea that it came in whole jars! This only proves my occasionally oblivious nature as it was located only one shelf down from the packets...anyway, moving on. Now I know what you're thinking: "This product and flavor combination sounds amazing, but there's no way it could ever taste as good as it sounds". Well I'm here to tell you that you're wrong, and shame on you for doubting the cute woodland creature on the label! ....just kidding. But it seriously is an amazing accompaniment for sliced apples, celery, or even just by the spoonful. And I love the simple ingredients list even more: Almonds, agave nectar, vanilla, coffee, espresso powder, salt. That's it! This, along with the sunflower butter, are some great snacking options that are super satisfying and great protein sources.

My next life changer happened in the same store, but over in the nuts and dried fruits section. We had been browsing various items when I decided to take home a container of pitted dates, which are delicious! At this point your thought process may be something like "Congratulations, Jon. You 'discovered' a food that's been eaten by people around the world for thousands of years. How very Christopher Columbus of you". Well, friends, the discovery actually happened later when I was at home. I'd enjoyed a few of them in their natural state, but then I had a crazy idea (and no, it doesn't involve wrapping them in bacon). The pitted dates have a hole in one end where the pit has been removed, which seemed to be begging for some kind of filling. Then it hit me. I'll let the next sequence of photos explain what ensued:

Click to enlarge/enjoy

I KNOW, RIGHT?!?! Remember the old Gushers fruit snacks? It's like that only with sriracha goodness bursting out of a subtly sweet, chewy date. It's the perfect balance of sweet and spicy, and just a couple of these are all you need to satisfy your snack craving. I encourage you to go ahead and try it. You can shower your adoration upon me later. I already have an idea for yet another layer of flavor to incorporate into this creation, so I'll keep you posted when I've given that a try.

My few purchases at EarthFare (also picked up some avocados there) have been my only real "grocery" purchases in about two weeks now. My grocery visits have been totaling around $100 each, which isn't too bad, but I didn't want to go through that expense plus the hassle of going to the grocery store every week, so I decided to cook some things that I could really stretch my grocery dollar with.

First up was something that I'd had in my head for a bit: cabbage rolls. Many of you have probably had some variation of the traditional cabbage roll which involves a filling of rice and ground meat (usually beef) rolled in a cabbage leaf then cooked in some type of tomato sauce. I searched online for the simplest cabbage roll recipe that I could find, then began adapting it to my needs. Instead of using rice, I just processed up some cauliflower to a rice-like consistency and wrung the excess moisture out of it, and instead of ground beef, I used a sauteed vegetable and chopped pistachio filling. The recipe I found (I don't even remember where now) called for using a can of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup...

Ah yes, the familiar Campbell's label, immortalized in our pantries and by Andy Warhol, a trusted staple of the American kitchen. I placed 1/4 of the can in my filling mixture, then added water to the remaining soup and used it to pour over my rolls and as a base for them to cook in. It was after the rolls were already in the oven (yes, I cooked them in the oven instead of a stovetop preparation) that I looked at the storied label and read the ingredients. I only had to get through the first three to know I'd messed up: tomato puree (that one's well enough), high fructose corn syrup (uh oh...), and...WHEAT FLOUR! Since this is a condensed soup, I can only imagine that it's in there as a thickener, but I was nonetheless very disappointed that I hadn't checked the ingredients first, especially since I'm usually so careful about reading labels. However, I hearkened back to my original introduction when I acknowledged that mistakes and accidents would happen, and I moved past this small, disappointing betrayal.

The end result of the cooking efforts were anything but disappointing, however. I used most of a head of cabbage (the same head I'd used when making my Asian style wraps from my last post), most of the leaves used for rolling, but some sitting in the bottom of the baking dish for the rolls to sit on. I just boiled all the leaves for a minute or two to soften them, added my filling, rolled them up, and placed them on the bed of loose cabbage leaves with the tomato soup. Once they were all in, I poured the last of the soup over the top and placed them in the oven for about 25-30 minutes or so, just until they were heated through and the cabbage leaves were cooked and soft. I got 9 rolls out of it, so I had enough for dinner that night plus a few extra lunches and dinners (had I portioned better, I could have probably gotten 10 rolls as I had a small amount of filling leftover, but not quite enough for another roll). They were incredibly tasty and filling.

Filling of cauliflower "rice" and a bunch of veggies

Cabbage rolls ready for the oven

The first night, I ate them alongside a simple mashed sweet potato, cooked in coconut and olive oil with a little bit of cinnamon. When I was eating leftovers, I decided to use up the leftover half of the eggplant I'd used to make my sliders the week before. I did sort of a take on an eggplant and tomato tian (fancy shmancy). I took some sliced eggplant and placed them in a baking dish with some sliced roma tomatoes, some mushrooms, and sliced red onion. I put this down in two layers. In a shaker cup that I formerly used for my post-gym protein, I combined olive oil, balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, garlic, red chili flakes, some herbs and spices, sriracha, and a little salt and pepper, then shook it well to combine. I then poured this over my layers of vegetables, and sprinkled some nutritional yeast over the top. I baked it in the oven until the vegetables were done, and it made a perfect hearty side dish to go with my leftover cabbage rolls. I had enough of it to get me through all of my cabbage roll leftovers, and had some of this leftover that I made a meal of by itself one night.

Eggplant tomato tian fresh out of the oven

This past Sunday on el cinco de mayo, I made the obvious plans to go with my parents to get Mexican food (vegetarian fajitas, no sour cream, didn't eat the tortillas, mom ate my rice and beans, and I abstained from the chips and salsa). I knew that I needed a lunch gameplan for this week though. I had all kinds of vegetables here and there that I needed to use. Since it was a rainy, dreary day, I was inspired to turn them into soup. I'm not going to attempt to list everything that went into it, so I'll just show you a picture from my prep activities:

Obviously some asparagus (leftover from my green meal), the rest of the head of cabbage (think how far I make that sucker stretch!), the leftover kale from my kale chips, and a mirepoix/holy trinity ([carrots + {celery and onion] + bell pepper}) and some jalapeño. For liquid, I used water, some white wine, and a mushroom stock that I made myself from some dried porcini mushrooms. Some fresh mushrooms also went into the mix along with garlic and a bunch of herbs and spices... I realize now that I said I wasn't going to list what went in it, but I pretty much just did. Anyway, this made a huge pot of soup that I ate for lunch and dinner yesterday, and still have plenty of for a few more meals!

Soup simmering on the stove

And now for my dessert creation for the week. I'm not sure that anything can top the banana almond butter ice cream from last week, but this could definitely be a contender, and is just as simple! I took a red apple (either Gala or Braeburn, I can't remember which) and sliced it thinly using a mandolin (PLEASE BE CAREFUL WITH THESE! I speak from past experience.) I sprayed a foil lined baking sheet with canola oil spray, then laid out all of the apple slices which I'd given a light dusting of cinnamon and a tiny drizzle of agave. I then put them in a low oven (250-275) for about an hour. I flipped them, then left them for another 45 minutes to an hour. When they come out, they may still feel soft at first, but just let them cool for a few minutes and they firm up into the most incredible, guilt free apple chips you could ever hope or wish for!

No need to even remove the core, though I did take out the seeds

As you can see, I've managed to stretch out one shopping trip's worth of groceries into TONS of tasty meals that have lasted me over two weeks now, and I still have some more food to use up. I'll probably go back to the grocery store again this week, but I'm excited about what new things I'll be able to think up to stretch my next $100. Can't wait to share!

Much love to you all,

Jon