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Got a "new to me" pressure cooker the other day ($7, thank goodwill). So far I've done a pork shoulder (carnitas style), beef necks bones (kinda like roast) , and chicken quarters ("curry"). I'm wonder if anyone else has any good pressure cooker recipes? I'm loving this thing just want to find more recipes/thoughts. Our house is gluten free (as much as possible) and wife is allergic to dairy.

Hey, been on here before but this is my first time really going head first into fitness and better health. So I'm starting to get into paleo, haven't started yet but kind of have lol anyways I have an odd schedule so if their are any folks out their who have similar schedules or experiencesomething I would love to hear back from you. I work swing shift 3pm-11pm so I usually end up working out at around 1am and sleeping until 1000/1030. I usually don't eat anything until probably 1pm usually my meals consist of 1st meal a sandwhich like subway tuna and some fruit. Dinner 2000hrs usually a ceasar salad, fruit and one of those healthy meal choice frozen dinners I usually get a white rice chicken with pineapple and it has a sauce made with the pineapples. I usually eat 2 granola bars and 2 mandarin oranges or a big Apple when I get home before I workout. I would love to get people's point of views and opinions about how to work with my schedule as well as meal replacement ideas etc.

What do you guys do for quick, affordable, healthy, tasty meals? My dad went carb-free for a while and lost maybe 30 lbs in what seemed like very little time. He was eating at good restaurants every meal, getting filet mignon and grilled shrimp, telling me all the while about how easy it is, and how it doesn't taste that bad. But my budget is maybe $3 a meal... What can I do? So far, I've been buying a family pack of chicken breast in the beginning of the week and cooking it up with some spices, setting aside small portions for each meal. But it's getting old quick. I love fish, but it's expensive and doesn't taste so great when kept in the fridge for a few days. Prepackaged meals? Frozen meals? A nibblet of a meal from a common restaurant? Or something that will keep all week in the fridge for me to mass produce on Monday nights? Thanks!

Hey all. I'll start off with my breakfast and workout for today, the 2nd of July, 2014. I woke up this morning and did the Beginner Body Weight Workout. I can only do 2 cycles before I absolutely die. Well, it's not quite that drastic, but it's still a solid workout, and I have something to move toward. Stretching afterward, and now I feel great. One thing I have noticed (now that i'm three weeks along, even though this is my first diary entry) is that my posture and daily energy is generally improved by my exercises. A big plus, seeing as I'm going to start playing tennis for sport soon, and soon after, soccer. For my breakfast, I made my usual: A vegetable omelette with homemade salsa. For all those curious, the omelette consists of 4 mini sweet peppers, 4 green onions, 1 cup spinach (uncooked), and 1 egg, seasoned with a little salt and lotsa pepper. For a cooking grease, I use olive oil (Is there even anything else? ) The salsa is a family recipe. I'll post it here if any are daring enough. 1 tbsp Olive Oil/vegetable oil if you don't want any flavor coloring 4 roma tomatoes 2-4 jalapeño peppers, to taste 2 cloves garlic 4 green onions cilantro to taste 3 or 4 mini sweet peppers (optional) salt to taste Add the oil to a large skillet and heat on medium low. Wash all the vegetables. For the cilantro, simply pull the leaves off the stalks. The stalks are a bit bitter and don't blend as well later. Cut the stems out of the tomatoes. Do not peel the two cloves of garlic. The skin comes off much easier after the cooking. Add tomatoes, peppers, green onions, and garlic to the skillet. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, turning the vegetables so they don't burn. After they are done, take them off the heat and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Cut the bottom of the garlic off (The part that attaches to the bulb) and pinch the other end. The garlic should slide out of the skin very easily. Cut the stems off the peppers. If heat is a concern, one could devein the jalapeños and remove the seeds (This can be done before the cooking for even less heat). Add the cooked vegetables to a blender. If they don't all fit, it's fine to do this in stages. Add the cilantro and salt*. Blend on low until finely pureed. Enjoy immediately, or place in a jar or tupperware container and refrigerate for later use. This type of salsa keeps for about a week, but I've rarely had a batch last that long For a more chunky style, you can use a mortar and pestle to blend by hand, or chop some tomatoes, onions, and cilantro and pour this pureed salsa over it. *For a first timer, it may be better to wait and add the salt later. As usual with salt, try to err on the side of less. You can always add more. If you find you have added too much salt, never fear: Just cook another two tomatoes, puree, and add it to the mixture. Now, for my lunch. I have brown rice and chicken with vegetables, along with a small side salad. My usual beverage is water for all my meals. On top of this, I have a job at a big box grocery store which requires me to walk for about 8 hours of the day. Woot! I'll update my dinner later tonight, or early tomorrow morning.

Fitness, Finance, Food, Friends, Family & Fun in 2014 This year's goals I consider this a work in progress and I will edit and change as necessary. Fitness Continue with NF challenges Waist down to 28" Get rid of tummy fat Maintain a size 6 Be bikini ready for June Take swim lessons Finance Read - I will teach you to be Rich and Rich Dad, Poor Dad Proceed from there Friends Through the years friends moved away or just lost touch Even when I can go out I have no one to go out with. I need to expand my circle of friends! Make 3 new friends and do something fun with them. Family - Improve the diet of my whole family less pizza and chicken nuggets! - Sit down for a family meal once a week in the dinning room- more difficult than you would think, autistic son hates to sit down, constant battle to keep him at the table - Cleaner home; declutter and fix broken things J (severe autism, non-verbal, age 10) - address toilet training (he's almost there) and sleep issues & keeping clothed (Loves being naked, running around the house) - TMJ issues; lots of biting things and bottom teeth are starting to become very crooked; research treatments - Fix dynavox program, with family pics - Sign up for horseback riding program in the spring - Sign up for Surfer's Healing program this summer in Toronto O (mild autism, very verbal, socialization issues, age 10) - Socializing skills & Counciling - Sign up for Canisius College socializing program - Get back into counciling and back on meds. Husband - Have more fun together - I want to say go out once a month but I think three times before my birthday in July is more realistic. Fun - Belly dancing classes - Travel to Chicago for summer architecture program - Go out with husband - Go to more live music events

Now that I have proven my mettle sufficient to join the Assassin's Guild, it's time to begin the real quest: Defeat the Princess Link had Dark Link, Ichigo had Zangetsu, Max has the Princess. The internal self we must defeat to truly come into our own. She embodies everything I have been taught to be, everything I have internalized from my culture and surroundings that is contrary to my self. She is the dress-wearing, makeup-smeared, ladylike alter-ego I have been putting on before I leave the house since high school. It is the Princess who has convinced me time and time again that visible muscles are un-ladylike, that talk is better than action, that I must sit in the tower and wait to be saved while someone else fights the dragon. It's time to fight my own dragon. It's time to defeat the princess. For Halloween this year, I'm going as Kara Thrace. I've got 6 weeks to become her. Challenge Part the First: Push down the world Grace, Strength, and Power - Continue progress toward changing my self-image Continue habit of workouts And the ultimate goal for this challenge: do 10 pushups Quest One: Grace (+4 CHA) For nearly 15 years, I have been counting calories. In this challenge, that stops. Instead, I will keep track of quality and will eat no fewer than three times a day. Thin is not the goal. Waif-like "femininity" is not the goal. Grace, strength, and power are the goal. To that end, I have deleted MyFitnessPal from my phone. Grading for quest one: A: Check calories no more than once a week, eat all meals B: Check calories 2-3 times per week, miss 2-3 meals C: Check calories 4-5 times per week, miss 4-5 meals D: Check calories 6-8 times per week, miss 6-8 meals Fail: Re-load MyFitnessPal, miss anymore than 10 meals Quest Two: Strength (+3 STR) As mentioned in my previous challenges, I have a number of legitimate health and structural blockages to fitness. Long-term joint inflammation, vertigo, poor digestion, among others. Because of this, I have to shoot slow and low in my strength goals to keep from hurting myself. My natural competitive nature would drive me beyond what my body could handle and ultimately set me back. So, we're keeping this small. By the end of the challenge, I would like to be able to do 10 pushups. Grading for quest two: A: Do 10 pushups B: Do 8 pushups C: Do 6 pushups D: Do 5 pushups Fail: Any fewer than 5 pushups Quest Three: Power (+3 STA, +2 CON) I've settled into a workout rhythm over the last challenge, and I'd like to not lose my momentum. Currently my rotating four-day schedule goes as follows: Day one: legs, day two: arms, day three: bodyweight/core, day four: rest. During this challenge I hope to keep plugging away doggedly at that schedule, but I won't set any specific workout for each day. I learned from SASX last challenge that mixing up what you do on any given day - while still focusing on the assigned muscle group - can really keep the challenge interesting and engaging. Grading for quest three: A: Don't miss any workouts or rest days B: Miss 2-3 C: Miss 4-5 Fail: Miss more than 5. Side Quest: Words Words are my sword. Hahahahahahahaha, cliche much? Write every weekday. The novel, the screenplay, the short stories, whatever it is, just write every day. A: Write 5 times per week B: Miss 2-3 days C: Miss 4-5 days D: miss 6-7 days Fail: Miss more than 8 days. I'm taking a page from Duality's book for updates here and will keep my rambling text-based posts to my battle log. Grace: 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 0/21 (meals by week) Strength: 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 0/10 (pushups by week) Power: 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 0/7 (workouts/rests by week) Words: 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 0/5 (writes by week)

So... before or after breakfast? Before or after lunch? Before or after dinner?