The Best, Almost Paleo Chili

Last week I was perusing pinterest and saw a pin for a yummy looking chili that claimed to be the best as well as paleo. I found it from this blog.
Her exact recipe is paleo, but when I was thinking about the traditional chili I've always had included some beans, which her recipe did not. So, I included a can of kidney beans. I'm not really familiar with the paleo diet, but I think it doesn't include beans, or only some beans? If you can clarify, let me know, cause I don't care enough to look it up but if one of my friends wants to enlighten me, please do so.

Best Paleo (almost) Chili

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of grass fed ground beef

1 large zucchini, chopped *I had a hard time finding large ones, so I actually bought 3 smallish ones

1 medium sized sweet onion (yellow), chopped

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

1 large can of crushed tomatoes

1 small can of tomato paste

1 small can of water (I just reused my tomato paste can)

3-4 tablespoons of chili powder

1 tablespoon of granulated garlic

1-2 tablespoons of paprika

3 teaspoons of salt

*can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained

Directions: On medium heat cook down your coconut oil, then add your chopped onion and cook for several minutes until they become fragrant and softened, I think I cooked mine for 4 minutes? I didn't really time it. Then stir in a dash of salt and a pinch of your chili powder. Incorporate the ground beef and cook it with the onions, add a tablespoon of chili powder and paprika and a teaspoon of salt. Once the ground beef is completely cooked include the zucchini and let sit on medium heat for a few minutes, I stirred mine in and then let it sit without touching for three minutes. Next, add in the tomato paste, the can of tomatoes and the water and the rest of the seasoning. Stir all together and let simmer on the stove for 1-2 hours. I turned the heat down to the middle of low and medium. About every twenty minutes I would check on it and give it a good stir (but only because I have never left anything on the stove for 2 hours and so I wasn't sure how it would go). I let mine cook for just about the full two hours, most of the liquid was cooked down by then and supposedly the flavor is best by the two hours. 

This chili was so delicious. Seriously, I will definitely be eating and making this probably for the rest of my life. The prep was so easy with only two veggies to chop, but there is the wait time. 

Anyone have any chili recipes they want to swap? It's my new found love. Also, I have never been one to include much spice, and I mean, three T of chili powder and two of paprika? That is UNHEARD of for me, but I decided to trust the recipe (plus her kids eat it, so I figured it couldn't be that spicy, right?) and I'm so glad I did. It is not spicy at all, probably because the spices are all cooked down, but I've never had any chili that flavorful. I loved it, if you can't tell. 

Goals for the Year

Here, finally, are my goals for the new year:

-Read 3 books each month (minimum) -one adult, one young adult, and one children's (chapter) book (with a blog review/update each month of the books)
-Cook 2 to 3 dinner meals each week (with enough for leftovers the next days lunch or dinner)
- Find physical activity that I love and pursue it frequently (every other day). Attend barre classes every other day with the additional workout (strength training or run) on the weekend, for at least the next few months
-Have a full time job with benefits by my birthday
-Complete at least one cross stitch this year, have it framed
-Complete at least one painting this year
-Complete at least one drawing this year

Addendum: Right now I love barre classes, and feel they are doing great things for me. However, I really am just on the search for physical activity I thoroughly enjoy and after 6 months I may be all barred out, you know? Right now though, I am really enjoying them.

Before, when I've come up with new year's resolutions they tend to be big projects, but I always come away disappointed that I wasn't able to live up to all my expectations. I feel like these are truly attainable but also good achievements for myself. Before my last semester's art class it had been years since I had drawn or painted, so I think one of each this year will be a good, attainable and achievable goal. I am really excited about the reading goal, now that I'm out of school I can finally finish books I have started and dig into my long list of books I want to read, like, finally tackling Anna Karenina.

So far I have read all but my young adult book for the month and read two children's chapter books; made a delicious beef stroganoff last week and yesterday I made some amazingly simple and delicious almost paleo chili last night (recipe coming up).

The End of an Era, or a Year, or Something

It's been many moons since my last post. But let's not dwell on the past, right? It's a new year! New beginnings, new resolutions, new promises to break, new adventures, new experiences and all of those things that come with a new year.

In looking back at the year a lot has happened. Probably the biggest things that happened in my life included mine and boyfs. graduation. He finished his bachelors last May and I only just finished this past December. Of course, I haven't gotten my diploma or anything but I did pass all my classes so I am assuming there are no issues. I also participated in my first study all-nighter. That was…exciting.

I also took one of my most favorite drawing classes ever. I have been posting my projects on instagram so if you follow me there you've probably already seen them. But, here they are, a little round up of most of them (I think there about two or three not pictured, but I finally put them away so there they will stay for the time being).

 Here they are in order. Of course, we didn't start shading until part way through the semester (that middle one is sideways and of eggs),  but I still think there are some major improvements and I really enjoyed the class. I definitely want to take more art classes in the future, specifically, I have painting in mind next.

This is a closeup of my final project. It was supposed to be a sort of "self-portrait" so I decided to draw one of my bunny stuffed animals (I have an embarrassingly large amount of bunny stuffed animals for an adult) and he's looking in a mirror. Clearly that's supposed to be my face in the reflection but as I was drawing it became sort of weird and creepy looking so I went with it. I do like the bunny, the mirror thing is…okay. I like the idea of it.

Anyway, I have been thinking about the coming year and what challenges I want to embark on, but I haven't decided on them yet. So that may be an upcoming post, or not. Who knows. haha. One of my goals is to actually blog more! (surprise surprise).

Also, I have been drinking Apple Cider Vinegar in the morning. Coinciding with one of my goals (can you guess what it is?) Honestly, it's awful. But, if I get my breakfast all ready before drinking it I can usually get through it. I mix 2 T with a cup of water. I have read and tried a few things to make it more…palatable, but nothing has quite taken the bitterness and vinegar-iness away from it so I just try to choke it down as fast as possible. Here's a picture of me doing so this morning. Enjoy. And Happy New Year!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I tried this out for the first time on Tuesday, the first day of October, it seemed pretty fitting and it has definitely been full on fall weather this past week.

I can't stress the ratio of easy to delicious this recipe is. For how yummy it is, it should take more than 5 minutes to put together. Here we go!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 cup water
1 chopped apple (keep the skin on)
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
and of course as much or as little brown sugar as your heart desires

Bring the cup of water to a boil and add all the ingredients (not the brown sugar) and reduce heat to low-med (I put mine right in between low and medium) and stir for 2-3 minutes. Then it's done! I found the recipe from this site and they also add a bit of milk, which I didn't do but would probably make it creamier and just add to it's yum factor. Plus, it also clocks in around 287 calories (without milk, but including 2.5 teaspoons of sugar) and keeps me full for a few hours and I think it yields about 10 grams of fiber which is pretty awesome for your first meal of the day.

Basically it's apple pie for breakfast. You're welcome. The blog I found it from also has a banana coconut oatmeal that I'm planning on trying sometime (prob not till I get sick of this).

Also, just an aside I found some amazing nail polish today. It's crazy expensive. At least, for me it is. I mean yeah I have paid $14 for nail polish, but $20???? Geez, I feel like I should have bought some jimmy choo sandals to show case my nails to go along with it. In any case I had a terrible morning, so what did I do? I bought whatever the hell I wanted. Not really, cause then I probably would have bought some jimmy choo's. But I decided crazy expensive nail polish would make me feel better. No worries, it totes does. I'm definitely a sucker for retail therapy, I'm not as bad I used to be but it's a thing. Anyway, here's a picture of the nail polish. I have heard great things about nars polish so hopefully it holds up. The real test is tomorrow when I have to open and unpack boxes at work.

It's actually a lot lighter than the picture shows. I really like gray polishes, I own probably three different shades.

Also, can I just say that my new phone's camera is freakin' amazeballs. The detail it picks up is such an improvement from my iphone 4s. I really love it.

PR-ing as a Total Surprise

For the past month I have adopted a new running route. I used to go from my parents house along 1500 east to sugarhouse park and back. This was my route (unless I needed to go for a long run during training) for a long time. And, I'm done with it. Even now when I think I want to go for a shorter run I would still rather go on my new, longer, route. I'm just bored of it. I think that route was, like, 1.5 miles? I don't think I ever actually recorded it.

Anyway, above is a screenshot from my new route via run keeper (which is a handy running app. Although I had to severely alter the settings because the woman's voice reminding me every 5 minutes that I've been running for 5 more minutes was killing me). The picture doesn't show a full loop because I started it and stopped it when I was running. The missing part of the loop includes my warm up and cool down.

Today was the first day I remembered to use my run keeper to see how far I have actually been running. When I changed my route this just seemed like a good one, as far as length and difficulty, but was not a route I had chosen because I had checked it's distance or elevation changes.

The first few blocks of my run are flat, then there is a very steep uphill block, followed by a little over half a mile of a very mild incline. Today I ran the first half as hard as I could, it just exploded out of me, and after I had finished the uphill (the last half of the run is flat or slightly downhill) portion I decided to check the app and see how I had done so far. I really wish I had taken a screen shot of that moment because I had run 1.2 miles in 8 minutes and 43 seconds. UPHILL. I have never run a mile (or just over a mile) that fast in my life. Like, for real. However, right after I had finished the uphill portion I had to walk for almost a block because I was drowning in my own sweat.

The walking for a bit and my slow restart after the walk really killed my average pace (as you can see, a 13 minute mile does not suggest I actually ran at all). But, I am really surprised. Part of me wonders if it's a fluke. About two years ago when I was running at least 3 times a week I think my fastest mile was about a 10 minute mile, which I was proud of.

I think I can attribute today's victory to my weightlifting days, specifically my leg days. This is the first year (starting this summer) where I've done any major sort of lifting and it's making a difference. However, the past month or so I have felt more accomplished after my runs, when I come home literally dripping in sweat, barely able to jog another step, than my lifting days. But, it's important to remember that it is because of the lifting I am accomplishing more on my runs.

That reminds me, I've been adding some more to my workout routines, or I guess just slightly changing it up. Now, with the exception of leg day, my warm ups consist of the stair master (instead of the bike) and after my runs I've been doing some lunging around the back yard. It's not a major change, but I hope to see some results because of it.