Optimum Anabolics - Day 51/Sunday Cheffing

It seems that lately Sunday's have been all about food prep. Today was no exception. Thankfully, eating is involved as well. :)

After breakfast, I headed out and picked up some fill-in items at the grocery store that could not be purchased at the farmer's market.

Once I got home and put the goodies away, it was time to hit the home gym. I followed that up with lunch, a shower, and some computer work.

As dinner time rolled around, it was non-stop kitchen fun. We roasted our spaghetti squash, fried up 2 eggplants, baked one eggplant parm, ate dinner, cleaned up, and then I made a batch of hummus for my daily snacks during the upcoming week.

Phew!

Anyone else feel like they spend more time in the kitchen than anywhere else in their house??

The meals we nourish ourselves with is more than worth it, though, so I should not complain. We eat pretty well around here...healthy (most of the time) and delicious (nearly all the time).

WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS

The Week 8, Day 2 workout included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.

Superset 1: Incline DB Curls, Overhead Rope Extensions
Superset 2: Close Grip Chin Up (assisted), Dips (tricep version)
Superset 3: Bent Leg Crunch (with towel roll under back), Ab Slide (with 5 LB on my back)

Total Time => 39:46

Comments:

Shoulders sore but not killing me today.

My arms were exercised well today...particularly on the incline curls.

My abs are getting stronger at doing crunches with the towel and correct form.

Core muscles are getting strong as well. Tomorrow will be a good test with squats and dead lifts on the schedule.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

This morning was nice and cool which put me in the mood for a nice bowl of oatmeal.

Pre-cooking...















This was an excellent oatmeal that cooked up real nice with about a cup of boiling water. I loaded my bowl up with a chopped apple, a ton of cinnamon (seriously need to get a photo of that...hehe), and 2 TBS of almond butter.

My metabolism must've been in high gear this morning, because I burnt through that oatmeal breakfast fairly quickly. A snack of an apple and raw nuts was necessary before heading off to the grocery store. Hungry grocery shopping = bad news for the wallet. :)

Lunch (post workout) was a stroganoff-type concoction of leftover grass-fed meatloaf along side the following sauteed in coconut oil:

• red onion
• garlic
• mini-bella mushrooms
• salt

Gluten-free rice noodles were mixed into the saute. The whole plate turned out like this...















I'm not gonna lie and tell you these noodles are just like their gluten-laden counterparts, but they were darn good!

For dessert, Christina made up a most excellent gluten-free almond flour cinnamon coffee cake from THE Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook. Another winner!















How sweet is that?

As mentioned earlier, dinner was eggplant parm from that same cookbook (yeah, okay, the book is awesome) along with some roasted, organic spaghetti squash from the farmer's market yesterday. The best squash I've ever had!

Din-din...
















Spaghetti squash before the oven roasting....















Told you it was a day of cheffing 'round here!