A Druid's Battle Log

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 6196 steps. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Today was pretty much a total loss on the food front. I had a burrito bowl from a food truck for lunch (which was so good) but it cost me in calories, and then I could barely get myself to eat the last of my leftovers and I had something sweet afterward to drown out the taste. I think the food boredom has officially set in. It's all your fault, @Kharissandra for mentioning it LOL. I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the week. Anyway, total calorie intake was 1424. 

 

Intellectual:

        - Revised my short story for about 45 minutes and got through roughly 2 pages. 

        - Read a little of Furyborn. I really like it so far. Much better than the last book.  

[RubiksCat]

Keep talking about food trucks and I might have to go back to my old university and order something from one. I've always thought the roach coaches had a bad reputation but after reading your posts maybe they aren't that bad after all.

Better luck tomorrow. New day new opportunities. 

[Jupiter]

28 minutes ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Keep talking about food trucks and I might have to go back to my old university and order something from one. I've always thought the roach coaches had a bad reputation but after reading your posts maybe they aren't that bad after all.

 

LOL they are actually pretty good, for the most part (I was wary of them at first too). 

 

28 minutes ago, Rubik'sCat said:

Better luck tomorrow. New day new opportunities. 

 

Thanks, and yes, very true.  

[Endor]

1 hour ago, Jupiter said:

total calorie intake was 1424

What's your calorie target and how did you come up with the number?

[Jupiter]

8 hours ago, Endor said:

What's your calorie target and how did you come up with the number?

 

Right now I'm aiming for between 1150 and 1250 calories but I'm just guessing right now. I've been tracking my calories for about a month and my normal seems to be about 1400 to 1500 so I was aiming for a little less than that. I'm just trying to figure out what works and what doesn't right now.

[Khari]

10 hours ago, Jupiter said:

I think the food boredom has officially set in.

 

The doctor just diagnoses the sneezes you walked in with; the fact that your symptoms worsen now that you know you have the flu are not her fault.

Cooking is hard. Sauces and ways to turn your food into burritos are your friends. For instance, what's the difference between a chicken fajita, a chicken salad sandwich, and a Monte Cristo? They're all chicken sandwiches, but the experience is EXTRAORDINARILY different. This also prevents food boredom. You can do this. Hang in there, and when you get a chance to hit the grocery store, try this: 

 

Flavors: Get yourself a can of salsa. (I believe Pace is paleo-friendly. Just check and make sure there isn't sugar in it and you'll be fine). Get yourself some avocados, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. (Lime juice would also be good.) If you don't have spices at home, try out some rosemary, and pick up some curry powder! Also coconut aminos and hot sauce are your buddies.

 

Protein: get yourself a load of chicken thighs (bone-in is cheaper). Or a whole chicken. (Or, if you're taking my advice from earlier, get yourself a few different kinds of protein.)

 

Veggies: While you're at the store, grab whatever hardy veggies you can (carrots, beets, celery, red cabbage, bell peppers, cucumbers--any veggie you enjoy that has a nice crunch, preferably that can be cut into sticks or strips). You want at least 3 types of veggies (minimum of 1 that's "hardy" as described), and you want them to be yummy. (Personally, I love mushrooms, so I would grab some of those. Also sugar snap peas. So I would grab those too. And carrots, when not dried out and sad, taste pretty sweet and have crunch-factor. So I would probably go for those as well.) And grab something with big leaves. (Green cabbage, romain lettuce, kale, nori, iceberg lettuce if you must--whatever you pick, make sure you don't mind eating it raw, because when it comes to baked cabbage rolls, you're on your own!) Make sure you get some garlic and onion too (if you enjoy them, as with everything here). Also, if you have a little extra cash to throw around, why not get some fruit and make it special? (Apples and pineapples are fun to add to sandwich-like things). Remember those hand-potatoes I mentioned? Get some. You can bake them in your instapot (I don't have a recipe, you're on your own.) or bake them in the oven (white potatoes: stab them with a fork until you feel peace return, shake salt and pepper on them, wrap em in foil, and stick em in the oven. Check them every so often until they feel less like a rock and are soft when you squeeze them. My mom says they should be baked at 425 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. Sweet potatoes you don't have to worry about wrapping in foil. Or stabbing. But you can. Do several at once. Reheating potatoes is super simple and takes way less time than actually cooking them). 

 

Also grab a bag of frozen broccoli or cauliflower (only if you enjoy them, mind.)

Go home and start with the meat. If you got a whole chicken, you can cook it in your instapot (here's a recipe: https://nomnompaleo.com/post/156918257623/instant-pot-pressure-cooker-chicken-and-gravy) or roast it in the oven (https://nomnompaleo.com/post/99591424823/weeknight-roast-chicken ; if you don't have an all-metal frying pan, just pre-heat a regular pan with the oven. She includes pictures so you can cook along with her.) If you got thighs, you can fry them (here's a recipe: https://nomnompaleo.com/post/74180911762/cracklin-chicken) or you can roast them slow (SLOW. Chicken likes to be cooked low and slow. Here's a recipe: https://nomnompaleo.com/umami-chicken. Nom Nom Paleo is my go-to because she's a foodie and it's delicious. If you don't have a couple of the ingredients (like fish sauce), it's okay; just use what you have and know it'll be a little different than she said. In that case, slightly less flavorful. In the case of an all-metal frying pan, slightly less crispy looking. That's about it.) If you bought ground beef, go ahead and turn it into burger patties (salt + pepper + garlic powder + just a touch of cayenne should be enough spices. You can also do it as simple as salt + pepper. Mix the ground beef and spices together by hand, pat them into patties (it's guesswork until you've fried a couple, but they want to be around the size of your hand up to the first knuckle, and thin-ish. They thicken and shrink inwards when they cook). Go ahead and fry a few in advance if you want, but you can also cook them from frozen (we always do). If you got porkchops, you can fry those also (they take much less time than it looks like. Observe how squishy they are when you first set them in a preheated frying pan. They should be firmer than that when they're done, and also be brown. If you're not sure if they're done, cut into them and see if they look pink. If they're white on the inside, take them off! You'll know when you get it right). You can also make meatballs if you want to. (The effort you exert is determined by how much food you want to make at once. My biggest experience was prepping 2 weeks worth of food to take with me camping for 2 weeks. I came back with much more food than I expected, but I also didn't starve.)

 

While your chicken is cooking or your oven is preheating, start washing veggies and chopping large veggies into sticks or strips (that would be the beets/carrots/celery/red cabbage etc). When those are chopped, set them aside. 

 

Now sauces. Salsa is premade, so you don't have to worry about it. Here's my recipe for avocado mayo (https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/avocado-mayonnaise-202316?soc=socialsharingpinterest -- you're just whipping everything together. I've done it by hand. You'll be fine.) Or you can do "traditional" mayo (here's a recipe: https://nomnompaleo.com/post/3440774534/paleo-mayonnaise). If you feel fancy, you can buy the ingredients and make this bbq sauce too (https://happywifestyle.com/blog/whole30-bbq-sauce lasts forever and is INSANELY good. I really missed bbq sauce). And stirfry sauce for funsies. ( https://nomnompaleo.com/2017/12/24/purpose-stir-fry-sauce) If not, stick with the mayo and feel free to experiment some other times. If you mix mayo and hot sauce, you get spicy mayo! If you mix mayo and curry powder, you get curried mayo! 

 

Chicken should definitely be done now. While it's cooling, lay out some of the big leaves from your big-leafy veggie. Use the leaves like a tortilla. Put varied veggies/fruits in there. When you feel the meat is cool enough, slice however much you want into strips and turn them into wraps. Add sauce of choice from above. You now have at least 2 types of veggie wraps: fajita (with salsa) and regular good old chicken sandwich. You can also cube some of the chicken, mix it with the mayo, chop some veggies into not-sticks, and add spices as desired; now you have chicken salad, and you can also wrap that in leafy veggie (or eat it as a dip, and use more veggies to scoop it into your face)! You can use the broccoli and the stir-fry sauce to make stir-fry (ever seen Panda Express Beef + Broccoli bowls? now you can do that too. Put it in a carry-away bowl with some rice or rice some cauliflower and use that. Garnish with whatever veggies you want. Now you have a food-truck bowl of your very own!). You can wrap burger patties with vegetables, and now you have a burger! 

 

These are foods you can put in a washed used carry-out container (or get some tupperware from the thrift store). You can take them to school, you can take them to work, you can carry one in your hand (or mouth) as you flee out the door while being chased by the zombie hoard. Put meals together in takeaway bowls at the beginning of the week (or the end; you do you). Just put six different lunches together at the same time (or 2 and 2 and 2) and rotate them through the week. It'll be hardest the first time you do it. (Give yourself a day, invite a friend who cooks more than you, turn on some music, and eat some snacks that someone else made--I give you permission to buy a cheeseball or comparable for this occasion, should you desire it.) After that, the intimidation goes way down. I just told you enough food to get you through probably between 1 week and 1 month. Take as much or as little of this as you want, and play around with how literally you take it. Challenge yourself to experimentation until you feel confident. 

 

Now go do that thing! No more beating yourself up about eating out when you don't have food; now you just know you need to get gear from town BEFORE going and fighting an owlbear. You can do it!

[Jupiter]

Yesterday:

 

Fitness:

        - Walked a little over 6000 steps. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Yesterday I had a frozen meal for lunch and then I had scrambled eggs and a bread roll for dinner. Ended with a calorie count of around 1275. I may need to change my calorie goal, but I'll give it another few days and see.

 

Intellectual:

        - I was exhausted yesterday so instead of revising I cleaned and then read some. Didn't do nearly as much as I would have liked but at least I did something.

[Jupiter]

22 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

The doctor just diagnoses the sneezes you walked in with; the fact that your symptoms worsen now that you know you have the flu are not her fault.

 

 

22 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

white potatoes: stab them with a fork until you feel peace return

 

LOL, I love this, I might steal it.  

 

22 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

Cooking is hard. Sauces and ways to turn your food into burritos are your friends. For instance, what's the difference between a chicken fajita, a chicken salad sandwich, and a Monte Cristo? They're all chicken sandwiches, but the experience is EXTRAORDINARILY different. This also prevents food boredom. You can do this. Hang in there, and when you get a chance to hit the grocery store, try this: 

 

Thank you so much for all this! I won't be able to go to the store until this weekend but I'm definitely going to try some of it this weekend.  

 

22 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

Now go do that thing! No more beating yourself up about eating out when you don't have food; now you just know you need to get gear from town BEFORE going and fighting an owlbear. You can do it!

 

Thank you!!!  

 

 

 

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 5097 steps. I wanted to do more, but I've been super tired this week. I'm wondering if I'm trying to do too much too fast again (I want to be able to do All The Things, which can sometimes make me impatient and hurry to do more than I can actually do at that time) so I made myself slow down a little and I didn't aim for any particular step count, just did what I could do for today and decided not to worry about the rest. Thank you @Kharissandra for reminding me not to be so hard on myself.  

        

Nutrition:

        - There was a food truck today and I got bacon mac and cheese, yum. Had a frozen meal for dinner also. Total calorie count is 1337. I'm not really losing any weight so far but I'm not really gaining weight either. I'm maintaining, and I'm counting it as a win for today. And just as a random thought, I watched a video on how to make an omelette. I've never made one before and I want to learn how to do it (also I have eggs I need to eat and it has the added bonus of saving me a little money) so I'm going to try to do it tomorrow. I'm also already making my grocery list for the weekend so I can be more prepared (usually I just grab whatever I feel like grabbing). 

 

Intellectual:

        - No revisions today either, though I did work through how I want to fix this next fight scene and make it better, so I say that counts. And I'm still on track to finish the 2nd round of revisions by the end of the weekend. 

        - I mostly read this afternoon, which I think my brain really needed. Sometimes your brain hits a wall and you have to take a step back. 

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 2264. Didn't meet my minimum, but then my calorie intake was small today anyway since I only snacked a little throughout the day. 

        - Yoga 20 minutes. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Didn't really eat much today, my calorie count was only 988 unless I'm forgetting something. Weirdly enough I wasn't all that hungry today. I did make my omelet though. I screwed it up the first time so I remade it and got it the second time, and I don't think I did too badly. 

 

Intellectual:

        - Read for about 30 minutes. 

        - Revised for 1 hour and made it through this fight scene. I'm still not quite sure about it though. It might just be because I'm tired. I need to go back through the whole thing again for edits anyway so I'll see how it is then. Until then, onward. 

 

[ReturnOfTheDad]

I feel you on the omelette, it’s become one of my staples and took time to nail it. My recommendation, low and slow on the temperature and a pot/pan lid to help evenly cook the eggs and to melt the cheese. For egg white omelettes (all I make now), I sauté up some veggies, put it on a side plate, lower the pan heat, whip the egg whites for a minute with a fork and seasonings, lightly butter the pan, then put in the egg whites with the pan lid so it cooks more evenly, then veggies, cheese, pan lid again to melt the cheese, close, and enjoy.

 

The variation of seasonings, veggies, and cheeses make it a lot easier to not get burned out on it and a challenge to make different kinds, here are a few of my favs:

 

Greek: garlic salt, Spinach, tomato’s, feta cheese

Southwest: Chipotle seasoning, bell peppers, onions, jack cheese

Homestyle: sage, pepper, tomato’s, onions, cheddar

 

Hope that helps!

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 4010 steps today while running errands. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Ate take out and frozen food today, but I picked out a few recipes and made up my grocery list for when I go to the store tomorrow. Total calorie intake was 1166. 

 

Intellectual:

        -Revised for about a half an hour. Only 2 pages left. 

[Jupiter]

23 hours ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

I feel you on the omelette, it’s become one of my staples and took time to nail it. My recommendation, low and slow on the temperature and a pot/pan lid to help evenly cook the eggs and to melt the cheese. For egg white omelettes (all I make now), I sauté up some veggies, put it on a side plate, lower the pan heat, whip the egg whites for a minute with a fork and seasonings, lightly butter the pan, then put in the egg whites with the pan lid so it cooks more evenly, then veggies, cheese, pan lid again to melt the cheese, close, and enjoy.

 

The variation of seasonings, veggies, and cheeses make it a lot easier to not get burned out on it and a challenge to make different kinds, here are a few of my favs:

 

Greek: garlic salt, Spinach, tomato’s, feta cheese

Southwest: Chipotle seasoning, bell peppers, onions, jack cheese

Homestyle: sage, pepper, tomato’s, onions, cheddar

 

Hope that helps!

 

It does, thank you!!  

[Khari]

9 hours ago, Jupiter said:

I picked out a few recipes and made up my grocery list for when I go to the store tomorrow

 

9 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Only 2 pages left.

 

LOOK AT YOUUUUUU You're doing the thing!!!! Wooohooooooooo!!! Good job adding veggies along with the takeout; those make a difference, trust me  And way to go making an omlette (complete agreement, omelets are hard; I've rarely made them, just because scrambled eggs are easier and the set-up is the same. Lol in fact, I sort of decide halfway in which one I'm actually making. I'll do everything the same as @ReturnOfTheDad up through buttering the pan; then I add my veggies (onion, garlic and bell peppers are top favs for me) and saute them before pouring the eggs over. Then I cover with a lid and wait for a while. If I leave it a little long and it looks more solid than I expected, I will try for an omlette (lol folding is hard though, so most of the time I end up scrambling it and calling it a day). And if I'm impatient, then I uncover it too soon and I just scramble it (and call it a day XD). @ReturnOfTheDad, you have good taste in seasonings--that sounds delicious! 

 

Anyway, good job, Jupiter! Keep going and let us know how grocery shopping and meal prep goes!

[Jupiter]

11 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

 

 

LOOK AT YOUUUUUU You're doing the thing!!!! Wooohooooooooo!!! Good job adding veggies along with the takeout; those make a difference, trust me  And way to go making an omlette (complete agreement, omelets are hard; I've rarely made them, just because scrambled eggs are easier and the set-up is the same. Lol in fact, I sort of decide halfway in which one I'm actually making. I'll do everything the same as @ReturnOfTheDad up through buttering the pan; then I add my veggies (onion, garlic and bell peppers are top favs for me) and saute them before pouring the eggs over. Then I cover with a lid and wait for a while. If I leave it a little long and it looks more solid than I expected, I will try for an omlette (lol folding is hard though, so most of the time I end up scrambling it and calling it a day). And if I'm impatient, then I uncover it too soon and I just scramble it (and call it a day XD). @ReturnOfTheDad, you have good taste in seasonings--that sounds delicious! 

 

Anyway, good job, Jupiter! Keep going and let us know how grocery shopping and meal prep goes!

 

Thank you!  

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 4250 steps. I was going to do yoga also but I'm exhausted after spending half the afternoon cooking so I said forget it LOL. 

        

Nutrition:

        - I mostly snacked today, and for dinner I just made scrambled eggs and had some brioche bread to go with it. I tried my hand at batch cooking again, so I made shredded garlic chicken thighs (I plan to make sandwiches with the bread rolls I have left over, because why not?), shredded chicken breasts made with salsa for chicken tacos (I was going to get chips to go with the tacos but I forgot), and potatoes in the oven. The chicken I made in my instant pot. I'm hoping it'll last me the whole week, but we'll see. 

 

Intellectual:

        - Revised for almost 2 hours and finished the short story. I wasn't sure about the ending before, but it isn't as bad as I first thought. Next round will be edits.

        - Read for about an hour. 

 

Here's a picture, @Kharissandra as promised.   Sorry the picture is huge, LOL, I don't know how to make it smaller. 

 

[Khari]

WOOOOO!!! Good job!!!!  And yes all the pictures come out like that, I'm not sure why. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Jupiter]

11 hours ago, Kharissandra said:

WOOOOO!!! Good job!!!!  And yes all the pictures come out like that, I'm not sure why. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

Thank you!!

 

 

[Jean]

Wow, that looks tasty, congrats! Don't hesitate to batch cook some other meal during the week and to alternate between the two if you get tired of it (it tends to happen to me somewhere between the third and fourth serving.

 

Also, showing pictures like that is fine. If you really want to resize it, you can do it by double clicking on it. It will open a menu where you can  set its size (I like to use percents but there are a few units you can use).

 

Keep it on.

 

[Jupiter]

4 hours ago, Jean said:

Wow, that looks tasty, congrats! Don't hesitate to batch cook some other meal during the week and to alternate between the two if you get tired of it (it tends to happen to me somewhere between the third and fourth serving.

 

Also, showing pictures like that is fine. If you really want to resize it, you can do it by double clicking on it. It will open a menu where you can  set its size (I like to use percents but there are a few units you can use).

 

Keep it on.

 

 

Thanks!  

[ReturnOfTheDad]

Looks super tasty!!!

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - Walked 5229 steps. 

        - Yoga 20 minutes. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Breakfast: Muffin

        - Lunch: Garlic chicken and roasted potatoes

        - Afternoon snacks: Apple, pop-tart bites 

        - Dinner: Chicken tacos and a taco shell broken into pieces as "chips" (I was craving tortilla chips like crazy so I did this as a substitute. Not the same LOL.)

        - Evening snack: Mandarin orange

 

Total calories: roughly 1305 (I never know if this is totally accurate). I was a little worried I wouldn't like what I made, but everything tasted really good. I'll have to make it again.  

 

Intellectual:

        - No revisions/edits today. I wanted to give it a day before I dive back in for another round. I'll start edits tomorrow. 

        - Read for about an hour. 

 

[Jupiter]

1 minute ago, ReturnOfTheDad said:

Looks super tasty!!!

 

Thanks! It was pretty good.  

[Jupiter]

Fitness:

        - My coworker wasn't in the office today so we couldn't walk together, but I still went out on my own and walked 4556 steps. 

        

Nutrition:

        - Ate my leftovers and some snacks and that was about it. Total calorie count is 1299 (well, around there). Still hovering around 140 pounds. I can't quite seem to go lower. I'm not sure how (or if) I need to adjust or if I need to give it a little more time. 

 

Intellectual:

        - Revised for about a half an hour rather than the hour I wanted. Still, I got through a page so I'll take it (although now I don't like this page and I need to tweak it some more). 

        - Still plan to read for about 20 to 30 minutes. I keep going back and forth between 2 or 3 different books. I'm not sure I like any of them yet. 

[Kishi]

That batch cooking looks amazing!

 

If you're looking to batch cook more, rice can be a fantastic little staple/bed for things. You can do white or brown depending on whether your body likes gluten or not. I absolutely do recommend it; if you sweeten it with some stevia and then refrigerate it it can come out sweet enough to be a desert. :'D