Paleo-ish Chicken Pot Pie

Inspired by today's nutrition meeting, I decided to attempt a paleo dinner. I've been craving chicken pot pie of all things, but I'm a terrible cook and an even worse paleo cook, so I wasn't optimistic about my chances of creating a decent gluten-free version. Isn't the buttery wheat-laden crust the best part of a pot pie?

Nevertheless, I hunted around for some paleo versions. I didn't love what I saw. Broccoli and sweet potatoes in a pot pie? Feh. My reference for pot pie is Marie Callender's with none of those "healthy" vegetables full of "nutritional value" or "vitamins." So I made some adjustments.

I started with this paleo biscuit recipe. Only I didn't have coconut flour or walnut oil, so I subbed more almond meal and extra virgin olive oil. This site actually has a complete paleo chicken pot pie recipe if you want to go pure paleo - I didn't love it, so that's where I veered off.

I found this normal chicken pot pie recipe where the filling looked more recognizable. I added diced potatoes and "paleoized" it by subbing arrowroot powder for flour. I did, however, use real whole milk. That's the only non-paleo ingredient I used. I suppose you could easily use coconut milk, but I love whole milk, and I'm not going pure paleo, so I indulged.

When they came out of the oven, I expected the worst. But the pies were actually really, really good. The crust was a little more spongy than flaky, but overall, very good. Even my paleo-skeptic husband liked it.

Here's my version of the recipe. If you're using MyFitnessPal, I uploaded the recipe, so if you make it yourself, it's easy to post the calories. (For the record: 1 serving (pie) has 511 calories, 37 g carbs, 21 g of fat, and 45 g of protein).

Paleo-ish Chicken Pot Pie

Crust:
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
6 egg whites
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

Filling:
2 chicken breasts, cubed
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup cubed potatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup onion
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup arrowroot powder
Dash of black pepper, salt, garlic powder

Make batter for the crust:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and oil until frothy.
3. Pour into the dry ingredients, mixing well, but not overmixing. The consistency will be like a batter, not a dough.

Filling:
1. Boil the chicken, celery, carrots, potatoes, and peas in water or chicken broth. Drain.
2. In a saucepan, saute the onions until soft and transluscent.
3. Add the arrowroot powder, chicken broth, milk, black pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Simmer over medium-low heat until mixture thickens.
4. Spoon the chicken and vegetables mixture into mini-pie tins and cover with gravy, leaving about a half-inch at the top.
4. Pour the batter over each pie tin, about 1/4 inch, spreading from edge to edge.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 325 degrees and continue cooking another 10 minutes or so, until the crust is golden brown and the edges are bubbling.

Are we there yet?

We're one month into the challenge, and I've hit a slump. And I won't name names, but I know I'm not the only one at the gym who's feeling it. Why did I ever think a 30-day paleo challenge would be difficult? Piece of cake compared to this marathon.

Dietwise, I thought I'd been good. Okay, maybe I'd pushed a little on my corn tortilla allowance. Maybe I treated myself twice in one week to delicious bready goodness. But I didn't think I was that off track until I got a message from Will on my food log with the subject line: "Whoa!" Yikes. You don't want to see that from your coach. Yes, it's been a slog this past week. Meal planning has fallen by the wayside. The kid ate Gordon's fish sticks for dinner on Monday. I had to stop at Starbucks for breakfast. So I need to get myself back on track with the diet, but I haven't been that bad.

In terms of workouts, it's just the opposite. I've worked out a lot this week, hard workouts four days in a row, including some two-a-days. It beat me up. Today, I was totally exhausted. I need to schedule more recovery days and remember that rest is just as important as exercise.

I'm looking forward to month two. Lots of good stuff happening including a CrossFit competition. I've avoided weighing myself or doing any interim measurements, but I'm going to post my new measurements shortly and hopefully, I'll have seen some improvement.

Figuring Out My Pre- and Post-Workout Eating

I had originally titled this post "Screwing Up My Pre- and Post-Workout Eating" because that's what it feels like I've been doing.

I've been working out a lot more since starting the Challenge. And I've been eating better, no gluten, few grains if any, lots of homecooked meals. That's the good news. The bad news is that I'm now struggling with how to get in enough good calories (not quick and easy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches) before and after my workouts.

For example: On Monday nights, I do the Olympic Lifting class at 7 pm, which is an awkward time for me. Last week, I ate a smallish dinner before going, around 5 pm. Then after class, I had a protein shake. That's it. I didn't feel like eating anything more substantial so close to bed time.

Last night, I did the crazy nearly 40-minute cardiofest with very little in my stomach. And afterwards, I had a protein shake and about a cup of tuna salad. I felt a little hungry when I went to bed but figured I'd sleep through. Instead, I developed a massive headache, which lingers into today. I probably won't be able to workout because I feel like crap. The same thing happened to me last week.

So I need to figure out my pre- and post-workout nutrition before it further affects my training. Ideas?

Gearing up for week 3

This week's going to be tough, because I'm at a conference Tuesday and Wednesday, and then the rest of my week is packed with meetings, which means limited opportunities to sneak off to the gym on my lunch break. I'm most worried about my diet. At the conference, I won't be in charge on my own schedule and won't have access to normal snacks. Plus, I'll be tempted by the carb-heavy pastry and continental breakfast spread. So I'm packing a ginormous purse tomorrow:

You can see a bag of trail mix, sliced apples (eating sliced apples is way quieter than chomping through a whole apple during someone's presentation), dry roasted almonds, and a big container of water. And my real purse. Yes, a purse within a purse. I'm becoming my grandmother.

The coolest kitchen appliance I've had all along!

Historically, I've not been much of a cook. That hasn't stopped me from collecting a kitchen full of small appliances. There's the coffee grinder that I swore I'd use to grind fresh coffee beans every morning (yeah, right), the fondue pot I had to have so I could make fabulous fondue experiences every weekend for our friends, the George Foreman Grill that was so easy to use but not, however, easy to clean, and the chocolate melter, which believe it or not is different from the fondue pot.

Then there's the biggest, bulkiest one of them all - the food processor. Now I'm not one for "instruction manuals" or "proper use" of a machine, so every time I've used the thing, I just throw in a bunch of random ingredients and set it to blend, sort of like a sadistic Mixmaster. But as I discovered yesterday, the food processor actually has some finer points, and it's coming in very handy as I try to find new and exciting ways to eat the same healthy foods. You can grate! You can slice! You can shred!

In less than an hour, I made three side dishes, starting with cauliflower rice, which is ridiculously easy, just throw the whole head in there and process, microwave until tender. Then, I got crazy with sweet potato, wanting to experiment with all the cool food processor blades. First, I shredded it. Then, I sliced.

To the shredded potatoes, I added two eggs and fried them in extra virgin olive oil to make sweet potato pancakes. I wasn't sure what to do with sliced potatoes, so I just tossed them in some EVOO and roasted them at the 425 degrees until soft. Not bad.

I had the sweet potato pancakes this morning for breakfast paired with paleoish quiche and fruit. (Before you think I'm a big fatty, I used an 8-inch diameter plate, not a full dinner plate).

Even the kid is digging his new and improved paleo-inspired breakfasts. Here he is chomping down on bacon (he can't get enough of it). He did, however, gag on the quiche. The kid knows an impostor crust when he tastes it.

Day 14. Getting my diet in check - after I eat this quesadilla.

Yesterday was kind of a bust. After doing the Olympic Lifting class at 9 a.m., I came home, ate a banana, and then started running around, so I didn't eat a decent meal until more than two hours later. By that time, I was feeling achy and sick, and I'd lost my appetite. The only thing I could get down all day was kettle corn. I swear. Anyway, I chalk it up to being the 13th day of the challenge.

Today, I woke up feeling better and went to train with Will. I'm starting to see how it will help me. But I'm also understanding that it's going to be a slow, gradual and probably painful road to improvement. I was talking with Mark Levy the other night about making gains, and he has a really good perspective on it. Slow, steady progress is the way to go, he says. I've got to believe in it because I'm in a long haul, and I may not even be where I want to be at the end of this Challenge, six months from now. But I have to start somewhere.

Will and I also talked nutrition today. He says I should be eating 25% carbs, 25% protein and 50% fat. The fat percentage sounds really high. When I look at my food logs, I'm more in the range of 45% carbs, 35% protein and 15% fat (it doesn't add up to 100%, I know, leave me alone). And most of my carbs are coming from fruit. I eat a lot of fruit. It's no wonder - fruit is easy, ready to eat and requires no preparation. I can grab a banana or an apple and go. If I have an offsite work meeting, I can stuff a bag of dried apricots in my purse. At this point, I'm not going to freak out about eating fruit but at some point, maybe month 2 or 3, I'll take a look at cutting down.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to boost my fat intake for the day, I ate Mexican for dinner. It was a well-deserved cheat meal.

Day 12. Back to basics.

So now that Will's been helping me improve my squat form, I've completely forgotten how to squat.

Today I went to the gym on my lunch break to squeeze in Wednesday's workout, back squats at a 30x0 tempo. Even before I walked into the cage, my brain was racing - should I do a low-bar back squat? Or a high bar? Usually, I'm closer to a low-bar squat, relying heavily on my posterior chain, but Will's trying to force me to better engage my quads with a high-bar position. But I wasn't sure if I was always supposed to use high-bar or just in my training sessions with Will. Unsure, I opted for something in the middle with the bar lodged uncomfortably below my neckline.

As I lowered into my squat, I assessed every awkward movement. Was I pressing back with my hips too much? Were my knees too far out in front? I hefted the weight upward with the same uncertainties. Should I be pressing up with my quads or pushing back into my hamstrings? Was I coddling those lazy quads with too much glute action?

By my last set at 145#, my hips were shooting up well before my chest, my upper back curled inward. My knees were buckling. And my last reps were of dubious depth and even more questionable tempo. It was a humbling experience. The only bright spot was that I was still squatting more weight at a far lower depth than most of the men at 24 Hour Fitness.

Lesson learned. For the next six months, as I turn myself over to the amazing Karma CF trainers, I have to recognize that this is, in many ways, a re-learning process. Which means I can - and should - scale back, not worry about how much weight I'm lifting, and focus on technique. I've been trying to break through barriers on my own for months now, and it hasn't worked. I may as well try something new even if it means lifting less.

So that's what I learned today. Also, I had a dream that I was eating a cupcake with peanut butter icing. That must mean something.

Day 11: What I've learned about my diet.

Over these past two weeks, I've learned a lot about my diet. By cutting out grains (mostly), avoiding processed sugar, and eating more protein, my less desirable nutrition habits have become startlingly clear. Some of the things I've noticed about my diet:

1. I'm addicted to popcorn. Apparently, I eat it almost every night. For the Challenge, I've switched from the chemical-laden, faux-butter microwave popcorn to air popped popcorn - that's an improvement, right?

2. Wheat bothers me. Case in point: Today I ate a sandwich and felt gross afterward. But I don't think I have a problem with gluten. I actually think the problem is soy. I've known I was soy intolerant for about a year now, discovering it after almost a decade of being a vegetarian and not understanding why I always felt so bloated, gassy, and run-down. After I cut out tofu and soy protein bars, I felt much better. But I've still been eating bread, and bread - it turns out - is loaded with soy. In fact, it's almost impossible to find breads and cereals that don't have soy in it. So moving forward, I'll need to remember that bread makes me feel as crappy as soy.

3. I have weird food fantasies, now more than ever. A few of them: Eating a cheeseburger, french fries and a strawberry milkshake. Scarfing down a dozen doughnuts in one sitting by myself. Consuming an entire heart-shaped box of See's chocolates by myself in one sitting (for the record, I tried this once: I got four pieces in and developed a migraine).

It'll be interesting to see what else I discover as the Challenge continues.

Also, I've switched to an online food log that logs my calories, protein intake and other stats so check it out.

Day 10: Ain't no undereating here.

I'm contemplating making the switch to a more robust food log system so I can figure out how many calories and how much protein I'm eating. But here's a sample of my portion size:


Yesterday's breakfast (one egg with turkey bacon and fruit)


Last night's dinner (meatloaf, sweet potato, mixed vegetables - couldn't eat all this)

Is there ever a good time to change?

(Warning: This post contains topics of a womanly nature. Men and prudish women should apply earmuffs as warranted.)

So this challenge came at a pretty bad time. For the first week, [APPLY EARMUFFS] I had my period. Having all that extra water weight and bloat was great for beefing up my measurements and the "before" photo. But it came with headaches, exhaustion, and a general bitchiness that was hard to shake, even on my fantastic new diet.

Once that was over, I got slammed with some sort of bug, which knocked me out for two days with fever and aches and will probably impact my workouts for the rest of the week. I had a hard time eating. My meals got screwed up. I'm still trying to get back on track.

I've spent a good amount of time bemoaning my sorry state, wishing I could have started this challenge some other time. But then I ask myself: When is the right time to change your lifestyle? Is there ever a good time?

Almost 10 years ago, I was bitching about my crummy journalism job, telling my friends how I wanted to get my Master's Degree and make a career change. This went on for awhile, and I always had one excuse or another why I couldn't leave my day job to try something new, exciting, and totally terrifying. Finally, one of my friends said, "What are you waiting for?" And then it hit me: there was no reason to wait. Time would march on, and I would be left there, in my crummy journalism job, still bitching, while life went on without me. So I said, "What the heck?" A year later I was in graduate school, and two years later, I had landed myself a crummy government job far worse than my ordeals in the newsroom. (Okay, bad example).

The point is, I can't wait. There will never be a good time to clean up my diet and get serious about improving myself. Now's as good a time as any.

And to be fair, I'm proud of the way I handled these last two weeks. I didn't crawl into the warm fluffy comforts of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (though I really, really wanted to). I didn't drown my migraines in a bag of goldfish crackers. I stuck to it. I ate protein. I rejected grains. And if nothing else, I can say...I'm ready for next week.

End of Week 1: Slight Setback

I ended the first week with a setback. Woke up feeling great, took the kid to swim lessons and out for breakfast - treated myself to pancakes. Went to Karma to get my before pictures taken, remembering to really exhale, letting all that flab show, then I got home and hit the wall.

I started to feel achy and hot; an hour later I was running a low-grade fever of 99.9. I ended up in bed the rest of the day, barely eating, barely functioning. I don't know what it was - is it possible I worked out too hard on Saturday? Did I pick up a bug at work? I don't know. I really tried sticking to the meal plan but I didn't have an appetite, so I just tried to force down whatever food I could.

Fortunately, my husband was super mom, picked up all the slack, made sure the kid's nose was clean. I slept most of the day. I woke up today feeling better, a touch of a headache but no fever. Either way, I think I'll take the day off work. I don't want to run myself ragged.

On to week 2...

Day 6. Holy crap.

Nutrition wise, the weekends are the hardest. I don't have the discipline of a set schedule at work, and I have my freakishly high metabolism husband wanting to eat pizza and Mexican. Plus, I really, really, really don't want to cook.

So I'm going to make some allowances on the weekend. We can eat out, but it'll still be high-protein, low-carb. And I'm not counting it as a "cheat meal." (Cheat meals involve copious amounts of sugar, fat, and other processed goodness, preferably of the starchy McDonald's or Original House of Pancakes variety). Tonight, I'll grab some Indian food and skip the basmati rice.

Plus, I earned it today. I beat myself up going to a 9 am olympic lifting class followed by a personal training session with Will that lasted ninety minutes. So basically I worked out for two and a half hours, and I feel it everywhere, hence the post's title. I need to remember I'm not in my 20s anymore. When Will had me do sprints at the end of our training session, I wanted to die.

Back-to-back workouts won't work for me. And I need consistency. So I'm going to establish a regular schedule with olympic lifting on Monday nights, CrossFit twice a week, training with Will on Saturday, filling out the week with lunchtime workouts. Maybe I'll even get to a Saturday yoga class once in awhile.

Eggs. Ugh.

Is it too soon to be sick of eggs?

Even though I'm not going strict paleo (or any reasonable variation of paleo - more on that for another post), I am trying to significantly reduce my grain intake and eat more protein in the morning.

True confession, I'm a breakfast girl. I could eat breakfast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and no one can put away a stack of pancakes or a platter of stuffed French toast like I can. Have doubts? My wedding was a brunch. That's right. Crepes drenched in orange marmalade, syrup-laden pancakes, sugar-encrusted pastries... aah...nothing like a sweet, grain-filled breakfast followed by a carb-induced fog and long nap. During the work week, when an elaborate breakfast is out of the question, I usually start the day with a piece of toast and butter. Not exactly power food.

What to do?

Ask a paleo devotee what to eat for breakfast, you get the same answer over and over again: eggs.

I like eggs as much as the next person (especially wrapped in a burrito and smothered with cheese, guacamole and sour cream), but you can only eat so many eggs, day in and day out, without reaching your breaking point. So I've been searching for other breakfast ideas, partly to get out of the egg rut and partly to satiate my sweet tooth.

My new favorite is sweet potato hash, which is super easy to make and - bonus! - it satisfies my morning sweet tooth. You can eat it as a side to eggs (ugh) or on its own. I made a big batch of it at the start of the week and had breakfast for days.



Quiche is also a nice alternative because it comes in a pie tin so it's practically cake. I use a basic almond flour crust and then fill it with whatever I have on hand. When making the quiche this week, I doubled the crust recipe. I'll just stick the spare in the freezer so I only have to worry about the filling next time I'm craving some faux-carbs. My go-to filling involves milk and cheese, but it's probably just as easy to go pure paleo.


(spinach, onion, and cheese quiche with an extra ready-to-go almond crust)

I'm still searching for new recipes for my repertoire. I may attempt some sort of paleo muffin or other baked good, but my experience with paleo baking has not been positive.

Send me breakfast ideas or post recipes!

Basic Almond Flour Crust

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 tbsp water

Mix the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil and water, then add to the flour mixture. When the flour has soaked up all the liquid, it will be moist and crumbly. Press the "dough" into a pie tin working it all around the edges. This takes a bit of work to smooth it out. Pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Fill with whatever you like - eggs, spinach, onions, ham.... then bake again for another 30 minutes or so.

Sweet Potato Hash

1 sweet potato
1 sausage (I used a nice, spicy andouille)
1/2 onion

Dice everything. Throw it in a pan over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of water and cover until the potatoes are nice and soft.

Day 5: What are my goals?

Tomorrow I have my first private training session. Will asked me what my goals were. I wasn't quite sure.

Any reasonable person would look at me and think, "Why is that skinny girl even bothering with this challenge? She doesn't need to lose weight/work out/eat better/get stronger/[insert other goal here]." Sometimes I wonder myself what I hope to accomplish because the answers seem so odd.

What do I want to do? Squat 185 pounds. Deadlift 225. Complete a sub 10:00 Helen and get 15 rounds of Cindy.

Why does a suburban housewife and mother need to accomplish all these things? There's no rational explanation for it. Maybe it's because my body is one of the last remaining things I can control, and working out is one of the last purely selfish activities I can take part in. Everything else is subject to others - my husband, my child, my boss.

Why do I want to be able to squat 185 pounds? Because I can. That's reason enough.

Day 4

The good news is that I slept last night. The bad news is that I woke up around 2 am with a migraine, not unusual for this time of the month but a bummer nonetheless. I took 800 mg of Advil (sorry, Will) but still had the headache when I got up around 5:45 am.

Typically, when the migraines come, I go into survival mode. I alternate Advil and Excedrin Migraine every few hours, load myself up with carbs (wonder why I turn to carbs when I'm not feeling right - emotional eating?), and avoid exercise. But in Day 4 of the Challenge, it's way too early to go astray. So I stuck to my plan and had a healthy breakfast - eggs and sweet potato-sausage hash - along with my multivitamin and fish oil. I reduced my caffeine intake and drank lots of water.

By lunch, I was feeling 100% better. Well enough, in fact, to go to CrossFit for Benchmark Thursday. I did Wood in 31:13 - the best time of the night, even beating the men. More importantly, I felt really good through the workout. It was tough, and I was tired, but I really pushed myself. When I dropped the bar, I picked it up. As soon as I stepped down from the box, I was ready for another burpee box jump.

Despite today's crappy start, I now feel fantastic. Looking forward to Day 5.

Day 3. Tired.

I had insomnia last night. Can't remember the last time I had honest-to-God insomnia. I just kept laying there, sweating, staring at the clock, getting increasingly anxious. I think I finally conked out around 1:30 am, then woke up at 5:30 am. Maybe it was the workout and my late-night energy burst. I've also decided to cut out caffeine after noon, maybe that will help.

In any case, I'm exhausted today. And I'm discovering a link between rest and nutrition. I am tired, therefore, I want to eat a burrito. Or some other sufficiently fattening, greasy, carb-laden food. I don't know if there's some actual biological mechanism at work or if I'm just craving comfort food because I feel so out of sorts. But it's been a struggle today.

I'm going to escape from the office during lunch, get some fresh air, practice my double-unders, do a quick Tabata workout and get rejuvenated.

Hoping I can sleep tonight...

Day 2

I'm sticking to the meal plan, I've gone to CrossFit twice this week, and so far so good. We did "Kelly" tonight. Ordinarily, I would've skipped this workout. Runs? Wall balls? Box jumps? My least favorite movements. And for five rounds, no less, a real test of my lasting power. But I really want to build my endurance and speed, and I won't get better if I avoid these workouts.

So I went.

It was terrible.

Finished in 31:23. Not a proud showing, and I walked on a lot of the runs, which always makes me feel bad about myself. I'm guessing the extra 10 pounds I've put on didn't help my time. But at least I didn't get a DNF?

In any event, I came home and had an incredible burst of energy. Cleaned the house and cooked two meals. Needless to say, I didn't eat until almost 9 pm (not good) and now I'm ready to crash. Must remember to get sleep or else I'll never last.

Month 1: Starting Measurements

Weight: 129.5

Skinfold
chin - 6
cheek - 8
tricep - 10
subscapular - 10
ax - 5.5
ic - 7
bb - 12
thigh - 22
calf - 11.5

Measurements
shoulder - 39 1/4
chest - 32
abdominal (bb) - 27 3/4
hip - 38
bicep - 10 3/4
thigh - 22/15.5
calf - 14

Day 1: And So It Begins

First day of the Challenge, starting off with my usual cup of coffee and milk. After this past weekend of indulgent, careless eating, I'm ready for a change.

Preparation is going to be the key to this Challenge, which is unfortunate, because pre-planning is not my strong suit. Nevertheless, I am striving to come up with weekly meal plans that inform my grocery shopping, ensuring that I always have healthy foods on hand. I'm also planning to pre-cook a lot of meals in advance and pop them in the freezer so they're ready when I need them. I hope I can stick with it. All of this will be good, not just for my chances at winning the Challenge, but for keeping my life and family organized.

So here's the meal plan for this week:

- Fish tacos
- Moroccan fish
- Pork tenderloin w/roasted butternut squash
- Chicken stir fry

This cooking should generate lots of extras for leftover nights. I'm also going to cut up lots of salad so I can just grab it and go.

Next task for the day... first CrossFit workout in the new year and getting my starting measurements!

Dead Man Walking

It's my last day before starting the Challenge, and I'm actually looking forward to it. I've hit rock bottom over the last two days with a steady diet of sugar, carbs, and fat. If I had started my food journal yesterday, it would have looked like this:

Breakfast: Cinnamon bun
Breakfast II: Nonfat latte and one pancake, courtesy of McDonald's
Snack: Goldfish crackers
Lunch: Salad with broiled salmon
Dinner: Mushroom pizza
Late-night snack: More pizza

It's been pretty disgusting. If I can be as committed to the Challenge as I am to eating like crap leading up to the Challenge, I should have no problem winning that trip to Mexico.