Restaurant Feasts!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

We are almost through our first week of our Whole30 Paleo challenge and so far it's been really fun! Everyone participating in the challenge with us has really been getting into it, and we even picked up some new recipe ideas to tryout next week.

One complaint we hear pretty often from people who are thinking about paleo is that it's "too restrictive," and doesn't allow them to go out to eat.....

Ummm...we'd like to politely disagree!

If you know us personally, you KNOW we love food -- that's why we created this blog in the first place! SO, not only have we decided to share paleo-friendly recipes with you, but we are also on a mission to bring you paleo-friendly meals you can order while out on the town -- because, to be completely honest, as much as we love to cook -- we also like to go out for dinner...kind of a lot...

...and with that, we'd like to announce that we are starting a Rolodex of what we order at every restaurant that we go to in the Restaurant Feasts Tab!

So let's go ahead and jump right in with Restaurant #1:

 Butcher and the Burger

Butcher & the Burger is a REALLY tasty Burger shop in Lincoln Park. Their meat selection is top shelf -- grassfed, locally raised, sustainably farmed, etc. Not only that, but they give you the option of wrapping that amazing meaty goodness in a lettuce "bun."

OUR Butcher & the Burger Order:
2 medium rare Elk Burgers, with the Creek Bottom Game Mix (recommended seasoning for the Elk burger), Lettuce Bun, Tomato, Onion, Pickle, Dijon Mustard, and Avocado

Holy Moly People!!! It was so satisfying and delicious!! Butcher & Burger is DEFINITELY one of our favorite paleo-friendly go-tos for a dinner feast!

If you try it out, let us know what you ordered and what you thought!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday,

~Scott & Lina

Sweet Escape

Well, it's Monday. After a midweek holiday, and a nice weekend, we are back at work for a full week. 

We are still truckin' through our Whole30 challenges over here, so we thought we'd share a nice Whole30 "sweet" treat with you. Now yes, we know sweets aren't "allowed" on the Whole30 challenge. But, I guess you can say this isn't really a treat -- it's a fully functional, Whole30 approved, healthy snack option (that also happens to be REALLY delicious to eat!)

Yesterday, while erranding, prepping our weekly meals, and working on various projects in between, we got REALLY hungry for a snack. There was a bag of macadamias laying out on the counter...but then an idea came to Lina -- Macadamia Nut butter! Though macadamia butter is great, it often means eating a lot more than you would if they were in solid form. So how were we going to be able to enjoy ample amounts of macadamia nut butter with our celery?! 

The answer was simple -- dilute it! So we added coconut flakes and apple sauce! We created a delicious spread with lots of healthy fats and we added apple sauce for volume and a little extra sweetness. Now, even though this treat tastes very much like Buttercream frosting, it actually has very little sugar, and it's SUPER satisfying.

Coconut Macadamia Creamy Spread


Ingredients

• 2 cups Macadamia Nuts (we used dry roasted, raw are great too)
• 1 cup Unsweetened Coconut Flakes
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened Apple Sauce
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

1) Blend all ingredients in a food processor. You can either add each ingredient in one at a time, or just throw in the whole kit and caboodle

2) Process until you get a nice creamy consistency

3) Eat off a spoon, put on celery, or top onto whatever other Paleo goodies you've got!

Our Celery and Coconut Macadamia Creamy Spread Snack:

If you try this out let us know what you think! Also, if you come up with some creative ways to use this spread, feel free to share! We just discovered it and we still have A LOT sitting the fridge begging to be eaten.

Happy Monday!

~Scott & Lina

3,2,1, WHOLE30!

Hey Everyone!

Well, today marks the first day of our gym's Whole30 Nutrition Challenge. We've both been photographed, measured, and taken through a baseline workout. All of those things will be repeated on day 30. In addition to recording our starting conditions, we're all systems go with the food choices. Meat, vegetables, healthy fats, some fruit, nuts and seeds. And we've eliminated the grains, legumes, sugar, alcohol, and dairy. Basically, what you see below is what we're working with for the next 30 days.



So for those of you taking part in a Whole30 nutrition challenge now, feel free to lean-on us for some tasty Whole30 approved feasting ideas :)

~

We hope you all had wonderful 4th of Julys! We don't know about you, but for us, it was kind of an odd 4th. First of all, it was over 100 F outside, and second of all - it was in the middle of the week! That being said, we took down a monstrous WoD (Workout Of the Day) at The Foundry in the morning and hit the town for lunch. Post sweat fest and lunch we decided, since it was so hot out and we had a day off, to lay low in the AC. We spent the whole afternoon watching House Hunters International and napping (our guilty pleasure). It was pretty awesome, not going to lie ;)

After napping and chilling out, we got off our mellowed-out butts and got things going in the kitchen! And with that, we'd like to present you with our newest creation, The South African Smoke Jalapeno Burger!

The South African Smoke part of the name comes from the name of the Trader Joe's spice that really put the defining flavor into this burger. If you live by a Trader Joe's it is DEFINITELY worth buying the South African Smoke spice grinder! Here's the description according to TJ's: "South African Smoke begins with African-grown paprika that is slow-smoked for 48 hours over a sustainable African hardwood called Acacia Saligna, commonly used as barbecue coals. This process enriches the paprika with a smoky, roasted flavor that evokes the South African braai, or barbecue. The smoked paprika is blended with sea salt, garlic and basil and packaged in a grinder, giving you fresh-ground flavor in every twist."

It seriously MAKES this burger!

South African Smoke Jalapeno Burger
Servings: 4 larger burgers or 6-8 smaller ones
Ingredients:

• 1 lb Grassfed Ground Beef
• 1/2 Yellow Onion
• 4 Baby Zucchinis or 1 small/medium Zucchini
• 2 Jalapeno Peppers
• Handful of Fresh Cilantro
• 2 Eggs
• Heavy Sprinkle of South African Smoke spice from Trader Joe's
• Salt to taste -- we used a sprinkle of the Pink Himalayan Salt from Trader Joe's

Directions:

1) Dice up your onion, zucchini, jalapenos, and cilantro

2) In a bowl, combine the chopped veggies and the ground beef until fully mixed

3) While mixing, crack both eggs and work into the mixture -- the eggs help hold the burgers together

4) Season mixture with South African Smoke and salt and mix again to distribute evenly

5) After mixing all the ingredients, go ahead and shape the mixture into patties. The size is up to you, we like our burgers a little larger

6) Go ahead and cook them up! Since it was so hot outside, we opted to cook them up in a skillet with clarified butter, but OBVIOUSLY, these bad boys are born for grilling! 

7) The duration of cooking is totally up to you, it depends on how you like your meat. We like ours nice and red in the middle, so we let the burgers sit on one side for about 3-5 minutes and then only a couple of minutes on the second side

8) Plate it up and enjoy the spicy, smokey, meaty flavors!

We just ate our burgers with avocado, cucumber slices and carrots. You can also make a "bun" out of iceberg lettuce, or plop it on a bunch of mixed greens. Regardless, we think the combo of a hot burger with cold crispy vegetables is super delicious!!

Enjoy this recipe and let us know what you thought of it!!

For those of you starting your Whole30 challenges today, we are so excited for you! Stay focused on your goal to improve your health, and have fun with all the AMAZING Whole30 friendly Paleo recipes out there!

~Scott & Lina

       

Welcome to 3, 2, 1, Feast!

Wow. Writing our very first blog post is kind of intimidating! I mean, this is the first glimpse you all have of who we are and what we're all about here at 3,2,1 Feast! I guess the best place to start would be with introductions.

Meet Scott,

CrossFitting machine, adventurous Paleo eater, and an Accountant. Dangerous combo folks!

Meet Lina,

Paleo nutrition coach, coffee fiend, and avid handstand enthusiast. Lina is also a Barre Bee Fit instructor and Crossfit Coach at The Foundry Printer's Row.

To start this new blog off, we will be taking you through a Whole30 challenge! Our box, The Foundry, is running a 30 day Whole30 nutrition challenge starting on July 5th! We will be posting our Whole30 meals, recipes, and thoughts along the way!

We're really excited to start sharing all of our experiences with you -- fitness, fun, and of course...

FEASTING!

Hope you join us for our Whole30 challenge!

~Scott & Lina