Week One has come and gone and all is well. As predicted, I felt a few signs of “recalibration.” A couple night’s sleep went south, and more than once I found myself suffering from “hanger” (pronounced h-anger)–a state of heightened emotion brought on by too many carrots and not enough bonbons.
Anywho, here comes Week Two. Time for some little goals. Some daily check-in sorts of goals. The ones you write on your mirror to remind you to do smart things like floss, go to bed before midnight, or schedule your workout for the following day.
For this week, my goals are to:
1. Slowly increase meal quantity/re-jigger ratios to find the tipping point (not too full at mealtime but not hungry 30 minutes later, either…)
2. Pack/prepare 3 new snack options to have on hand in work and home fridge
3. Sleep 8 hours per night
Things are off to a good start. I got my eight hours last night and woke up feeling as refreshed as I can remember in a long time. I also threw together some tasty little snack cakes (and by cakes, I mean meaty patties) that should be a good preventative for the 3pm nosedive into the bag of almonds…
As for the big goals, I took a good chunk of time to sit down and dream big. Since the holidays, I’ve felt a need to get back in touch with my trajectory and suss out what I believe is really going to matter 10 years from now. As someone who thrives on being focused, I find myself more easily frustrated, overwhelmed, or simply apathetic when the big picture is out of focus.
So I put the “picture” back in “big picture.” …
That was fun.
And, finally, the turkey snack cake recipe:
Turkey Snacky Patties
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground meat (I used turkey. Use buffalo and make them “buffaluffins.” Use beef, pork, or lamb and the clever name is up to you…)
1 bag of frozen chopped spinach, prepared according to package directions and drained in a sieve
3-4 carrots
1/2 an onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons salt
Generous pepper
Hot sauce, mustard, other flavor agents of your choice
2 eggs
1/3-1/2 cups coconut or almond flour (the former produces a sweeter result, the latter a nuttier one)
Make them:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°. Put the carrots, onion, and garlic in the food processor until they are chopped into little bitty bits. Or chop them by hand and practice your knife skills. I prefer a a very small dice for this use.
2. Make sure there isn’t too much excess water in your spinach–it’ll cause sogginess. Letting it sit in the sieve for a few minutes and periodically pressing with a spoon helps.
3. Add ground meat, veggies, and spinach to a large bowl. Mix together until roughly blended, adding seasonings as you go.
4. Add the eggs and some of the flour, stirring until the mixture is fairly homogenous. You may want to add a bit more of the flour if it’s extra wet, but it’s not imperative.
5. Using a 1/3 cup measure, portion the mixture into muffin tins (no need to grease unless you are using ultra lean ground meat). Today the mixture made 18 cakes, but that will depend on how much you fill the cups and how much mixture you have.
6. Bake for about 25 minutes, until the patties are cooked through. If using a thermometer, you should get an internal temp of 165°.
An easy add-on to a salad.
Looks cute in tupperware…
real.pretty.food 