Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Today was one of those day, you know, when you’re just not feeling it. As usual I went for my early morning run, but at mile 2 I was like: “Humph, it’s not happening!”
So I changed and went to the swimming pool for my typical 60 min swim training session. But by the 10th lap I felt as if my shoulders were made of concrete. I got out, dried off and changed. Now what?
I wasn’t ready to give up, so I decided to go to Bikram Yoga and get it over with.
Somehow I immediately felt that it was the right decision to make. In Bikram there’s no getting out of hot room once the class starts. You need to stay in for the full 90 minutes, no bailing out possible.
In the end, it proved to be the right choice. I sweat out all that I was holding onto (whatever that was); it was as if the toxins (and negativity) of my day fell to the ground under me. I felt reinvigorated and ready to kick-ass again. BOOM!

Baked Quinoa with Spiced Apples, Carrots and Red Onions

It’s been almost two months since I posted a recipe with quinoa. I know, C-R-A-Z-Y. How have I got away with it for so long? I honestly don’t know, I just did.
In my defence, quinoa is always on my mind. There hardly goes a week when I don’t have at least a meal involving quinoa.
Lately I’ve been cooking a lot this Spicy Mexican Quinoa Casserole, which has become one of the most popular recipes on this blog. It makes everybody happy and it reconciled some of my friends with quinoa. The few who thought that quinoa was yuk, have now joined the quinoa team. Massive.

Tomato Avocado Burgers (Low Carb and Gluten-Free)

We’re talking bunless burgers over ‘ere. Wait...what? Bunless burgers? Yep, that's it, a burger sans bun.
I feel you’re already judging me. So stop right there and allow me to make an argument for bunless burger, or better yet, for THIS particular bunless burger. If I can't convince you, feel free to leave, but not before you've heard it all.

Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Antioxidants?

I’m not sure why, but this question has been daunting me these past few days. So I figured, I must get to the bottom of it, because I’m the type of person that goes bonkers over these sort of things.
Too much green tea? Too much fruit? When too much of a good thing becomes bad? 
You see, over the last decade or so we’ve been relentlessly told that antioxidants are the key to better health. “The more, the better!” is the adage we keep hearing. 
As a result, grocery stores shelves are now chock-full of products with labels bragging that they contain large amounts of antioxidants, implying that you’re just few bites away from better health. 
However, when it comes to antioxidants, as I discovered, more doesn’t necessarily means better.  

Homemade (Paleo) Sriracha

After bragging about how much I love Sriracha for a whole post, I felt it was about time for me to try making a homemade version of the beloved Rooster hot sauce.
So I did, earlier today.
As you might remember (if not, it's ok), there are two notorious recipes online for DIY Sriracha. One very detailed, that calls for a week of fermentation. The other recipe requires instead about 20 minutes and it’s also paleo.
Obviously, I chose the easier/quicker/paleo one. I’m a notorious slacker in the kitchen; no way I would take on a project that requires 7 days of my life.

Paleo Strawberry Apricot Crisp

Crisps (or crumbles) are a great crowd-pleasing and delicious desserts that come together in a cinch. 

Anyone can make a crisp, even the most hardcore pastry-challenged person. There’s no rolling with tricky dough or multiple slow rises. Just a bit of chopping and mixing stands between you and a real fruity pleasure.
Fruit+lemonjuice+sugar topped with butter+sugar+flour = fruit crisp in it simplest form.
But it’s good to try new things, and maybe take the paleo road for once. Just for a dessert, nothing too drastic and you can give this ama-zuh-zing paleo strawberry apricot crisp a try.

Key West Spicy Chicken

I wanted to write an ode to Sriracha. A ridiculously long post listing all the reasons why I love the hot rooster sauce.
In my mind, it started with a list of foods that taste better when slathered with a generous amount of Sriracha (all foods except for a couple of desserts, duh!). It ended with a poem in which I would confess my undying devotion for the hot sauce; even in those instances in which I accidentally applied too much Sriracha and simply powered through the pain and the tears.
Because that hot stuff in a squeeze bottle is not only delicious, it’s pure magic.
Then somebody (yeah, you!) talked me out of it because “Sriracha contains stuff you don’t recognize, like potassium sorbate, sodium bisulfite, and xantham gum. You can’t possibly talk about that junk on your health blog!” A couple of chemical preservatives and the fun is over. Bummer.

Herb Polenta Sticks

In my world there are things I must eat, things I like to eat and things I love to eat. I know it sounds confusing but that that’s pretty much how I roll.
Some examples: green juice, salmon and spirulina fall into the must eat category; meaning that I do not to enjoy eating/drinking those foods but they’re good for me so I do.
In the “like” category falls almost 75% of the food I eat. Things that I appreciate a lot, but that I don’t crave. Steamed brown rice, broccoli, grilled chicken, tomato soup, etc.
Then there’s the last category: the “love” food. Aka food I could stuff my face with all the time.
Let’s see...a perfectly ripe Haas avocado, a freshly baked cinnamon roll, dark chocolate, baked sweet potatoes, a croissant from THAT bakery in Paris, and nowadays these herb polenta sticks.
Yes, these polenta sticks are that awesome.

Lemon Mint Sparkling Iced Tea

When a scorching heat wave descends upon us (such as the one we’re currently experiencing in the NE) the rule of thumb is to try to stay cool, hydrated and indoors as much as possible. And, most of all, to use your common sense. Which apparently I’m lacking. A friend just made me realize that.
Yes, because notwithstanding the heat advisory, on Tuesday I went for a long run outdoors at noon and yesterday I took a Bikram yoga class.
Not so much of a great idea for someone who suffers the heat. Both times I nearly passed out, and it took me almost 5 hours to recover properly. But then again, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I’m still here in one piece. I must have got some part right (not sure which one though).
To be honest, I don’t think that’s the end of the story. Today (which is supposed to be the hottest day of this heat wave) I’m pretty sure my common sense will trick me into try to do something even more stupid (maybe stretch on the asphalt concrete?). Because hey, third time’s the charm.

Let's Talk About Carb Cycling

Carb cycling is a fat loss strategy commonly used by elite bodybuilders which is recently getting a lot of attention. It promises to make you lose fat and build muscle by keeping your metabolism in top form through a rotation between low carb and high carb days1.
In fact, carb cycling - scientifically referred to as the Cyclic Ketogenic Diet or CKD - is nothing else but a low carb diet with intermittent periods of high or moderate carbohydrate consumption. In other words, periods of low-carb, high protein and high fat intake are cycled with periods of high carb, high protein and low fat2.
Turns out, carb cycling might be one of the most effective ways to lose fat and build muscles.