Cider Braised Pork Chops

Cider Braised Pork Chops

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. thinly sliced pork chops

Apple cider (with no sugar or other additives)

1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms

½ cup organic raisins

¼ cup organic cranberries

4 plump dried dates

¼ stick butter

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp Kroger zesty seasoning blend

Pinch of kosher salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, and nutmeg

Heat oven to 350’.  Pour apple cider into glass baking dish to about a ¼ inch depth.  Place pork chops in cider so they are just covered.  Sprinkle raisins and cranberries over pork chops.  Pull dates into chunks and sprinkle over pork chops.  Add garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne, thyme, and Kroger blend.  Add mushrooms over top.  Slice butter into small cubes and spread evenly spaced over top.

Cook for 30-35 minutes depending on oven.

Suggested sides: Cauliflower Mash, Spinach, Baked Apples

Jamie's Food Revolution

So, season 2 of Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution begins tonight.  This show should really make one stand up and take notice of what is going on in our schools and with our food.  Season 1 followed Jamie as he attempts to make school breakfast and lunch healthier in Huntington, West VA.  He is met with resistance from the school and community time and time again as he tries to get rid of a really deplorable menu of processed and canned foods. 

Honestly, it looks like these kids are living on pizza, chocolate milk, and chicken nuggets.  Not at all what a growing body and mind needs to strive and excel. 

As you watch the show, you can see where elements of sensationalism are used to up the "drama" of the show, but honestly, the show pretty much speaks for itself.  We, as a society, are eating ourselves to death.   I know these people care for their kids, but I think they need to be open to change and realize that pizza for breakfast ain't gonna cut it.

Jamie's Food Revolution on ABC

 

Here is episode one part one.

Standing Workstation

So, I have been studying up on standing workstations and have come to the conclusion that they would benefit me.  Why?  Here are a few reasons:

1.  Better caloric burn throughout the day since I am on my feet and moving.
2.  Improved posture and less back pain.
3.  Improved work flow due to ease of movement.  Before, my chair was driving me nuts due to the space confinements of my desk, especially when having to reach over to the printer or for a catalog.
4.  I feel more confident on my feet.  Sounds crazy, but it is true.  I stand tall and look people in they eye.  This even has the same effect while talking on the telephone.  Try it!

Here is an interesting set of op pieces regarding standing at work and a quick guide to calories burned sitting vs. standing.

Photos of my work station deep in the dungeon of Fleet.

Notice the roll around stand for the netbook we use for inventory.  Very handy!

My desk is already fairly tall, so I simply flipped some plastic storage bins over to act as monitor stands.

The rubber mat does help with absorbing shock from the concrete floor.

Before and After Photos

Here are a couple of photos showing where I was and where I am today.

 This photo was taken last year after my first 5k run.  My weight would have been around 220 at this time.

This photo was taken today, 4-4-11.  My current weight is 196.5.

My clothes definitely fit better now!  Actually, I need to get some new pants as the old ones are way to loose.

Crispy Bacon Chicken

For dinner tonight, we had a whole chicken from Springer Mountain Farms topped with some deliciously crispy bacon .  These birds really do taste great and once again, they are fairly local, coming from Mt. Airy, Georgia.

 I placed the whole bird on a vertical poultry roaster (placed on sheet pan to catch fat drippings) and liberally applied some Kroger Zesty Blend seasoning (salt free) and a pinch of kosher salt, I opted to apply several large slabs of Hormel Natural Choice Bacon.  This stuff seems to be the least processed bacon I can find for now, and it is absolutely delicious.

Oven preheated to 350' F.   Allow to roast for about 1.5 hours till the bird reaches 165' F at the deepest part of the breast.

You can see in this shot how the fat and grease simply fell away from the bird as it roasted.  This makes for a much leaner, cleaner bird.

And yes, that bacon was as good as it looks.  It also had a wonderful effect on the very crispy skin of the chicken.  Bacon, is there anything you can't do?

And for a side dish, I also prepared a nice saute of fresh squash, zucchini, butter, olive oil, and mushrooms.  Really light but very filling.

Grass Fed Beef

We purchased two brands of grass fed beef from our local Publix today.  Excited to try both.

I have been primarily purchasing the Laura's Lean beef from our local Krogers, but we really wanted to try to find a source of grass-fed beef.  

 The Maverick Ranch brand is not local.  It comes from Colorado and cost us $8.49 for a lb.

 The White Oak Pastures brand is from a local farm located in Bluffton, Georgia.  I really do prefer buying local as it supports the local farm community and requires less energy for transportation to market.  Plus, an unexpected bonus in that is costs $6.99 for a lb.  This is only .50 cents more than the Laura's Lean we have been getting.

This shows to me that there is a trend slowly growing amongst supermarkets to provide quality, grass-fed beef to it's customers.  Good on Publix for offering this. 

Burgers and other experimentation will be soon to follow, with a review, of course.

Beginnings...

So, this is a project to document my paleo journey or Trek.  Currently, I have been following a primal/paleo eating lifestyle for about 3 months and I have lost 25 lbs. to date. 

Some days have been a struggle, but most have been pretty good.  I really felt compelled to document what I am doing, cooking, and learning.  I know some of my friends are so tired of receiving emails from me regarding my latest find or newest recipe, so I figured I would gather it all here.

Let's go learn about getting back to our primal/paleo roots.