Behold the power of Bacon

    Be not afraid my fellow Texans! Today is very cold and grey so I decided that chilli needed to be made. Even though I am a staunch advocate that chilli is not made with beans or any weird things like lobster, I did throw a few pieces of bacon into the pot.The world did not end and the final product came out better than expected!

Bacon makes me happy.

The beautiful final product.

I made a spice pyramid because I got bored while the meat was cooking.

Behold the wonder of bacon, onion, and red bell pepper!

    For me, cooking is a comfort in times of stress or a case of the Don't Talk To Me! moments. Physical therapy sucked balls today! Yes, I just used the word balls and I don't care. However, I do care to have another bowl of bacon chilli. Hope everyone is having a great day!

Good food and trash tv

Are these gorgeous or what?!

 

     The above mentioned brussel sprouts are in the oven right now with some bacon, olive oil, pepper, and garlic. I love an easy meal after physical therapy and of course I have to watch "Courtney Loves Dallas". I didn't want to like her but I am grudgingly becoming a fan. Is it too much to ask Steven to buy me most of the clothes in Courtney's closet? 

     

Food Pictures

My accomplished face after a late night cooking stint.

Mmm bacon, one of the best ingredients in the meatballs.

The Maple & Bacon Meatballs out of the oven! Recipe by @PaleoOMG.com

Random pugs...because who doesn't like random pug pictures lol.

The amazing food that will be consumed tomorrow is brought to you by a great blogger PaleoOMG A.K.A. Julie Bauer.
Yummy Ingredients:

• 1lb breakfast sausage (no sugar added)
• 1 sweet potato
• 4oz button mushrooms (I used half a container of sliced button mushrooms)
• ½ yellow onion, peeled
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 5-6 slices of bacon
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste

Easy Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place your bacon slices in a pan over medium heat. Cook on both sides until crispy, place on a paper towel to soak up the excess fat and cool, then dice up into small pieces that would fit well in meatballs. Duh.
3. Place your sweet potato in a food processor with the shredding attachment. Shred your sweet potato, remove contents, then shred it once more. You want it pretty fine.
4. Then shred your onion and mushrooms in the same container with the sweet potato that was shredded twice.

Go forth and conquer y'all! 

In the Kitchen

    It is 9:42 pm and the smell of breakfast bacon and maple meatballs is wafting through the air. Usually I do not cook this late at night because I have an avid Netflix habit that occupies most of my attention at this hour. The HEB parking lot in Odessa Texas was freaking packed at 1:30 pm when I originally wanted to get my shopping done. So after cussing like a sailor I went home and decided to be domestic because the laundry needed to get done. All the laundry. Since getting hitched I think my beloved has forgotten how the washing machine and dryer work.

     Thankfully, HEB wasn't a total nightmare around 6:30 when I decided to be brave and venture out in search of food. Steven innocently suggested we do grocery shopping on Sunday and order pizza. Hell no my determination to eat paleo and feel better was not about to waver. Not even for extra cheese and pepperoni which can almost always make me weak in the knees.

      I always forget how much I genuinely like cooking until my hands are deep in the muck of a meatball concoction. It's like yoga in that I experience several small changes within myself while cooking. My breathing slows, my posture becomes perfect, and any stress simply melts away as I delve into a list of ingredients. I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I can whip up a meal, any meal. My grandmother was constantly in the kitchen before her death and those memories of cooking with her have stayed with me till this day.

     The recipe and pictures of the yummy meatballs currently in the oven will be in the next blog post.

Physical Therapy This Week

   

  I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! This week at good ol' physical therapy I was allowed to progress in my workout. Oh joy. I am so excited. At least the entire PT crew were wearing Christmas PJ's which lent the atmosphere a festive glow. Unfortunately the first few weeks of physical therapy can be a little boring and monotonous. However, anything and everything you do in recovery is important from the food and supplements you take in to the exercises you perform. Here is the breakdown:

• Heel slides done with a belt (timed for 3 min)
• Straight leg heel stretch done with belt (timed for 3 min)
• Heel stretch done with knee bent (timed for 3 min)
• Straight leg raises with 1lb. weight (30 reps) both legs
• Calf raises (30 reps)
• Standing hamstring curl (30 reps)
• Bike slowly (10 min)

      The above mentioned exercises are done 3 times a week with ice and E-stem being applied for 15 minutes after the workout. As the weeks go by I will keep an updated log with pictures of what i am doing in the gym.

Bacon is whats for breakfast.

Just a huge ice pack to go along with some E-Stem.