Optimum Anabolics - Day 72/Gluten Free, Dairy Free Waffles

There are times when I do not care for the internet. Today, I love it.

Not too long before my wife determined it was in her best interest to not consume dairy or gluten, I had hooked her on homemade waffles (and pancakes). My mom could make a heck of a waffle so they were Sunday morning, post-church comfort food for me growing up. But how to make them gluten free, dairy free, AND taste good had me scratching my head.

I had been craving waffles lately and then it happened. One of the blogs I follow, Mark's Daily Apple (thanks, Heather), recently posted a link to a grain-free waffle recipe. With a substitution of coconut milk for cow's milk we made it dairy free, too. Beautiful!

Grain-free Gluten-free Waffles:

• 2 Tbsp melted coconut oil
• 3 eggs
• 3 Tbsp milk (we used coconut milk)
  
• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• Optional – 1 Tbsp maple syrup, honey, or other sweetener (we'll use more next batch)
  
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3 Tbsp coconut flour

Simply mix everything together, and let the ingredients meld for about 5 minutes (or during your workout :-) while your waffle iron gets warm. The coconut flour seems to react better if it has time to “soak” so please don’t leave out this “melding” time.

Then, thinly spread over your waffle iron – I didn’t need to use nonstick spray for these. You’ll want to just barely cover the “hole” lumps of the waffle iron, because this batter expands a lot.

Close the iron and wait several minutes, until the steam stops coming out quite as much. If you want, you can open it to peek… it won’t hurt anything. When the steam isn’t as crazy, and the waffles are starting to brown, remove them to a plate.

The verdict? Delicious!

I would not hesitate to serve these to any waffle lover.

WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS

The Week 11, Day 2 workout included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.

Superset 1: DB Concentration Curls, Cable Push Downs
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curls, Dips (tricep version)
Superset 3: Plank (1 minute hold on stability ball), Stability Ball Jackknife

Total Time => 38:29

Comments:

It seems my biceps and triceps are getting significantly stronger each week.

Stability ball plank holds were tough when combined with the jackknifes (jackknives??...haha).

Mowed the lawn (again) this afternoon for some "extra credit" cardio.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN (PLUS 1)

Breakfast was later in the morning after my workout and included waffles (see above) covered in homemade chocolate syrup (maple syrup and coco powder) and homemade bacon from my friends at Bluescreek Farm Meats. Awesome breakfast, fun pictures. :)






































Since breakfast was late today, I skipped lunch and had a mid-afternoon snack of cottage cheese and raw walnuts, almonds, brazils, and cashews.

Earlier in the day, I dusted off the crock pot (literally) and put dinner in to cook. A 3+ LB lamb shoulder roast (also from Bluescreek Farm Meats) simmered all day long in chicken broth, spices, and onions. Outstanding. I think I could have eaten the whole roast...it was that good.

Before bed, I had my 30g of whey protein isolate powder and called it a day.

Optimum Anabolics - Day 38/Labor Day

Today wound up being a rather muggy, cloudy Labor Day. It seemed our mood matched the weather...blah!

We needed to do some fine-tuning on one of our empty rentals, though, so we found some energy and headed out after breakfast. It's not exactly how we'd like to spend a holiday day off but it was much needed. It's amazing what some cleaning and sprucing can do for the energy of a space!

Once home, it was time for a workout, cooking up lunch and dinner, blogging, and watching Merlin on the DVR.

Exciting holiday, huh?

It's better than no holiday, I say. :)


WORKOUT - LEGS

All 3 supersets of the Day 38, Week 6 workout were leg related.

Superset 1: Leg Extensions, Leg Curls
Superset 2: Donkey Calf Raises, Dead Lifts
Superset 3: Seated Calf Negatives, Barbell Squats

Total Time => 38:14

Comments:

Did very well today at keeping things moving and not letting the rest periods get away from me. Today's workout was more than 2-1/2 minutes shorter than last week. I worked up quite a sweat, too.

My legs were incredibly strong today. My form during dead lifts did not break down at all...back straight, head up, shoulders and arms locked.

Stretched my calves/feet for 4 minutes today instead of 2. They needed it.

I must've done some good work on my hamstrings today. They were pretty tight at days end.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

I started the day off today with a delicious Italian-style whole egg and 2 egg white scramble of peppers, onions, and turkey sausage. I topped it with some grass-fed, organic mozzarella cheese and Christina's homemade tomato sauce.

Photo says it all...















Lunch was post-workout and involved the grill. I managed to fire up some chicken and eggplant "burgers" in between rain showers. I plated that up with some left over gluten free pizza from this past weekend. Yum!















Dessert was in order, too, so I munched on the last homemade brownie from the farmer's market yesterday. Chocolaty goodness!

For dinner, we made up some grass-fed beef meatloaf for plenty of leftovers this week. On the side was green beans sauteed up with onions and garlic in EVOO.

Mmmm....raw meat and eggs. I'm excited!

Optimum Anabolics - Day 37/Wanna Beer?

"It's 7:30 in the morning!"

"Scotch?"

If you haven't seen "Mr. Mom", you're missing out! Hilarious.

Anyway, you may have noticed that a few of my posts have included alcohol in the "DIET" section for that given day (typically on a weekend).

How can this be? Aren't you all about fitness and health? Where does alcohol fit into that?

The answer, of course, is "it depends". :~)

Remember, what is your goal? Where are you headed?

If you're looking to get really lean, it's best to reach for the water with a lemon in it. Losing body fat is largely dependent on calorie intake. It's way too easy to take in a whole meals worth of calories in one drink and be left with zero nutrition to show for it. Do you really want to blow a whole days worth of calories on beers at the bar?

Secondly, the body treats alcohol just like any other highly processed grain. It burns it just like sugar which can spike your insulin. Sugary, syrupy drinks like margaritas and daiquiris are also loaded with carbs in addition to the alcohol itself. Double trouble for battling the belly bulge. During a 12 week "cut" phase last spring, I can only remember drinking one time.

If you're looking to maintain your weight, a couple of drinks can be worked into a day pretty easily. It's easier said than done, but removing carbohydrates from the remainder of your meals can help balance out the alcohol.

Regardless of your goals, moderation is key. Can you have a couple of beers while watching a football game on a Saturday night? I think so. Can you do this every night and then workout like a madman to try and stay lean, healthy, and vibrant? I do not think so.

Life is about balance. Results are about consistency. Can you stay consistently balanced and enjoy life and results? Let's try, huh?

WORKOUT - ARMS/ABS

The Day 30 workout was a repeat of Day 23 and included 2 supersets of arms followed by a superset of ab work.

Superset 1: DB Preacher Curls, Overhead Cable Extensions
Superset 2: Twisting DB Curl (arms braced against wall), Close Grip Push Ups
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers (with 5 LB ankle weights), Hanging Knee Raises

Total Time => 37:36

Comments:

Weights were just about perfect.

Mountain climbers have to be one of the best ab/core exercises ever invented.

Just like yesterday, I did a 15 minute bike ride after I finished up with the iron. Hopefully my cardio engine is appreciative.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

We had some fun for breakfast (post workout) this morning. Despite the fact it was about 9:00 in the morning, I fired up the grill and flamed some homemade Italian beef sausage patties. These went perfectly with a fresh batch of Polly's whole wheat pancakes. Christina followed her gluten free diet and made her first batch of almond flour pancakes. They were equally as good as the "regular" ones! If you're looking to eliminate or reduce the gluten in your diet, this book is a must.

Here's my plate with a sampling of each type of pancake accompanied by a coating of butter...















How did those grapes get in there? :~)

For lunch, I had some leftover chicken cacciatore from earlier in the week along with some fresh bell pepper and tomato cut up. I was sure to leave room for a "pick me up" dessert smoothie. 1 cup of freshly brewed coffee over ice, half a ton of cinnamon, a few shakes of chili powder (oh yes!), 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder, stevia powder, 1 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder, and xanthum gum all blended up until it's so thick you have to eat it with a spoon. When it reached that point, I tossed in a few each of almonds, cashews, and walnuts and pulsed a few times just to break them up and add a little crunch (and healthy fats) to the mix.

Dinner time was a team effort eggplant parmesan from our new gluten free almond flour cookbook. We also finally gave our vegetable spiral cutter a try. Half a zucchini from the farmer's market yesterday turned into today's "pasta". Take a look...

















This turned out to be a remarkable substitute for traditional pasta. I'm hooked!

Here is dinner all plated up. Check out that fork twirling action on the "pasta"!
















Christina also found a dairy free substitute for grated parm. I love, love the real stuff so this had a lot to live up to. The result? Fantastic!

It's easy to make, too. Here's the recipe...

2 cups of walnuts
1 cup of nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon of salt

Throw all those in the food processor and whirl away until it looks "parm-like".

Try this! Seriously. You will NOT be disappointed!

Optimum Anabolics - Day 36/To Market, To Market

With this being a 3-day holiday weekend, our intentions were to get some rest. Most weekend mornings, the pooch comes up and nudges me some time between 4:30 and 5:30 A.M. to let me know it's time to eat. It seems pets know no holidays and do not discriminate between a weekend day or a week day. Anyone else have a pet that's as reliable if not more that their alarm clock? If your power went out overnight, would you still be on time for work because your furry friend needed to eat breakfast or go tinkle? (-:

Over the 14 years that we've had the pooch, I've grown to accept this and pick myself out of bed to drop some food in her dish. Many Saturdays and/or Sundays, I just wind up starting my day from that point. Today, though, it was back to bed! Yes!

After breakfast we made our weekly journey over to the farmer's market to grab some fresh, homegrown and/or homemade goodies. Here's what we wound up with today:
















Today's grand total? $16.25. We stopped at one of the chain grocery stores after the market and I happened to notice that the organic broccoli was ON SALE for $2.99 per head. Price paid at the market...$1.50.

My advice: go meet a farmer. Shake their dirty hand. Ask them questions. When you find a good one, buy as much as you can from them.

The rest of the day was spent watching college football (GO BUCKS!) and prepping meals. Christina took many of the tomatoes you see in the photo and made up her family pasta sauce recipe. That will be coming in to play for tomorrow's dinner. I personally can't wait! :)

WORKOUT - SHOULDERS

Superset 1: Lying Cable Pullover, Twisting DB Military
Superset 2: Dip Bar Shrugs, Side DB Lateral Raises
Superset 3: DB Shrugs, Barbell Military

Total Time => 38:57

Comments:

Week 6 continues a 3 week break of sorts from the beating the first three weeks puts on you. It's a welcome break, believe me!

Much better on the weight choices this week.

For my "extra credit" cardio today I did a 15 minute bike ride. Since riding is essentially zero impact, it was great for getting the heart rate up there without messing with my left heal. Thankfully, it is coming along nicely in the healing process.

DIET - HIGH PROTEIN

Breakfast was a little strange this morning. We were out of eggs, so I cut up some left over chicken and a tomato. I know, not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of breakfast. After that, I got out the blender and made up a coffee smoothie with one cup of chilled coffee, 2 heaping tablespoons of cocoa, lots of cinnamon, a few shakes of chili powder, a tsp or so of chocolate extract and coconut milk. As this was blending up, I sprinkled in some stevia to sweeten and xanthan gum to thicken and I was all set. But wait! I needed a little crunch so I tossed in my raw nut cocktail that didn't get eaten yesterday. Good start to the day!

For lunch, I chopped up some cukes, tomatoes, celery, and scallions and put that over some broccoli slaw mix. As a dressing, I made up a spicy cilantro-lime from our favorite cookbook. Absolutely fantastic! I also had a bell pepper stuffed with some tuna salad that was left over from earlier in the week. It was a very refreshing lunch on a warm September day!

I paused to take a pic with a mouthful of tuna and pepper :~)
















After the Ohio State football game was over, I changed into the workout gear and headed downstairs to the home gym. You better believe I stretched those calves and feet post-workout today!

A shower was a necessity and then we headed out to pick up some dinner so we could chill, take in a few episodes of Merlin that's been on the DVR since June, and watch the late college game.

Christina went with a burrito bowl, chips, and guacamole from Chipotle. I chose to get a gyro salad from one of our local Greek restaurants. Both were outstanding. There also may have been a beer and some other "tasty" drinks involved. :)

For dessert, Christina made some gluten free almond flour cookies from this book. Wow were they good! I also had a brownie from the farmer's market and some ice cream. I guess I was a little hungry....

Hopefully it'll be a relatively lazy day with more sleeping in tomorrow. Love it!