I’ve been doing so much lately, particularly on the weekends, it’s hard to keep up posting about it. Hurray for feeling good! So I thought I’d do a little check-in on Mondays to recount the last week of adventures in real food and healthy living. Kelly the Kitchen Kop does a wonderful Monday Morning Mix-Up post each week with some fun real food talk, in case you’re looking for more reading to distract you from the Monday Morning Blues.
Running
My mom and I work at the same company and she goes running each lunch hour. My lunch hours for the past 2 years there have consisted of going to the store to do groceries (efficient use of lunch hour!), walking outside, doing yoga, or going to one of my many naturopath/doctor/dentist/other appointments. Lately I’ve been feeling like I have extra energy, haven’t had as many appointments and have my fridge/freezer stocked quite full of groceries so I decided to try running with my mom and coworker at lunch. They do a 4 1/2 km trail through the woods. I couldn’t run the entire thing without stopping, but I ran most of it and walked when I needed to. I have to say I loved running in my Vibram Five Fingers, it feels so natural and smooth. My lower calves hurt the next day, so I went out again to work out the pain. I convinced my mom to do sprints with me through a shorter trail. It was fun!
Girl Gone Primal
I had the chance to meet Girl Gone Primal this weekend. She’s here all the way from Australia visiting relatives. She was in Ottawa for a day so we met up briefly at the farmer’s market where we found her some delicious looking bacon and lamb.
Painting
We painted our family room (office, tv room) this weekend. I got to try out some Eco paint that claims to be low in toxins (VOCs) and odorless. I didn’t go for the cheap one, opting instead for the Benjamin Moore Aura paint and it was really nice to work with. Unfortunately I forgot about the white trim in the room, for which I used some old (probably high VOC) paint that had a lot more odor.
Raw Milk
I’ve been getting raw milk lately direct from local farmers. I had to stock up this weekend on both the sheep and cow raw milk since next weekend we’re going camping! I haven’t been drinking the raw milk, but using it for (cooked) yogurt and ice cream. Hong has been enjoying some raw kefir lately too. It’s so nice to have fresh, local, pastured milk.
Salad
I ate a salad. It was my second time eating a salad in the past couple weeks after not having one in probably over 4 years because of my digestive problems. It tasted great and was a nice excuse to have more Parmesan cheese.
Peppers
I have a few kinds of peppers growing in my garden, hope the tomatoes catch up soon!
Halibut Cheeks
The best part of a fish is the cheek. It’s boneless and a bit more muscle-like than the flesh. The Whalesbone Oyster house sometimes has halibut cheeks in stock and this time I was lucky enough to get some. They’re quite large!
Hong pan fried them with bacon and we ate them with fresh asparagus. Yum
Burgers
We made some delicious elk burgers which I ate without a bun. I usually eat hamburger without a bun and don’t mind at all. Hong still prefers to have a bun, and though we usually don’t have any bread in the house we did find some old ones in the freezer. Turns out one of them was moldy, so Hong didn’t have a bun for his second burger. We had grilled some green pepper halves so he ended up using those, worked pretty well!
I should not have looked at this 45 minutes before lunch; now I am so hungry! haha! I am still with you that salad and cheese go hand in hand. Cheese is one food I would really struggle with giving up!
Good job on the running! I know it feels so good afterwards…even if not right away!
The elk burgers are awesome. We have them every couple of weeks here. Try topping with fried onions and mushrooms. Amazing.
Ha, we did elk burgers last night too. With bacon, avocado, and pepper jack cheese for my husband. Although we wrapped them up in romaine lettuce. Really loving those this summer, fast, easy, and husband approved.
Yum!! I will have to try your pepper halves idea for “buns” – that’s great and really cute too!
Glad you checked in. I try to drop by every day. I really enjoyed seeing what you are up to. I need to go find me some fish cheeks now 😀
Everything looks luscious. This is my first visit to your blog. I spent some time reading your earlier posts in order to bring myself up to speed. I’m so glad I did. I love your recipes and the over all tone of your blog. You make strangers feel welcome. I’ll be back often. I hope you are having a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
@Kelly @ Quest for Real Food Running has been feeling good. I prefer doing fast sprinting for short bits. It really gets the adrenaline rushing and seems to get rid of any feelings of built up stress.
@B-L Such a nice changed from beef burgers, similar but a hint of different flavor.
@Erin I love avocado on my burgers! And cheese, next time we’ll do some more loaded ones.
@Chickiepea If you can find a whole small fish, they’re easy to steam and then you can eat the little cheeks for a first taste. Thanks for checking in 🙂
@Mary Hello, I just checked out your blog, it looks delicious. Thanks for the nice comments. 🙂
Hi Kat..responding to your weekly menu planning post. I pretty much do what you do. I go once a month to our local organic butcher and buy the meat we need for the month. Then I go to our weekly market on Saturdays to buy fresh produces…anything I do not grow myself, or anything that is not ready in my own garden. Planning ahead for busy nights, meatballs – your idea, chillies, stews, all with fresh garden grown veggies. good luck, Ina
hy. you are doing great work thanku for sharing with us