Ingredients:
2 cups raw spinach, thick stems removed
12 slices or so raw bacon – we buy Dörfleisch from the local Metzgerei (pronounced Duh-flysh), and specify we want it thinly sliced (Dünn geschnitten)
1 tomato, diced
1 small/medium yellow onion, diced (can also use 5-6 spring onions)
2 tbsp organic (buy German “Bio” butter)
6 Freiland Eier (cage free eggs)
1/4 cup feta cheese, unseasoned

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sauté onion and bacon in butter for a few minutes then add tomato and cook until bacon starts to shrink. Add the spinach 1/2 cup at a time, allowing it to wilt slightly before adding the next 1/2 cup. Transfer mixture to oven-proof low-sided casserole pan if your skillet is not cast-iron, and spread evenly. Whisk eggs, adding salt and pepper to taste, then pour over the other ingredients. Sprinkle feta cheese evenly over top & pop in the oven. Heck, I don’t know how long it cooked, around 10-12 minutes. You’re looking for the egg to be puffing up, the cheese to be melting, and a nice brown tint over the top. There are tons of combinations for breakfast frittatas out there, and you really don’t even have to eat it for breakfast. I took the picture for my frittata from the MDA site. He provides a different mix of ingredients than I (sun-dried tomatoes, goat & parmesan cheeses), and he has the great idea to pour the frittata ingredients in a muffin tin for “grab and go” convenience – Try out different combinations of meat and vegetables and find your family’s favorites…you might just be making a regular batch of this stuff. Take note of other busy-family-friendly recipes on Mark’s site & his related Primal Breakfast Suggestions for People on the Go.

Dear First Lady Michelle Obama,

I love your Let’s Move initiative! I’m currently an unemployed military housewife living overseas (so maybe implausibly), I believe I have important input regarding your Making Healthy Choices objective.

One of the crucial areas that should be identified for reform regards reporting Nutritional research. At minimum, visible to the general public, full disclosure in layman’s terms:

1. Clear details concerning the research’s potential implications. The majority of nutritional research is accomplished through epidemiology/observation studies (EOS) which are intended to establish hypotheses for further study & DON’T prove causation. It becomes a huge threat of public health to allow the media, study authors, & large corporations with substantial marketing budgets to sensationalize hypothesis in these EOS studies to infer they “prove” ramifications for individual health. Misuse of epidemiological reports caused the 2002 estrogen therapy debacle. It is now a question of when & who will be harmed the next instance.

2. Clearly demarcate any potential for bias as well as conflicts of interest, including providing details on who funds the study & scientists’ prior research. My grandmother’s doctor placed her on a cholesterol-lowering statin with no history of heart disease. High cholesterol has never been proven to cause heart disease. All evidence shows statins will do nothing to lengthen her life & have many potential serious side effects. Many doctors assert statin research involves eager-patient effect: perfectly healthy patients who want to do all they can to prevent heart disease ask their doctor for a statin & help inflate its “success” in prevention.

My undergrad is in Exercise & Health Science, but I’ve researched nutritional science only since becoming a mom. Cancer killed my older brother & permanently disabled my younger brother. Like you, I realized that the health of my family depends on proper nutrition & establishing healthy habits.

We must revalue what science perhaps has already taught us to avoid the possibility that something was exaggerated, overlooked, or misreported. We need to eliminate ANY potential for conflict of interest in American dietary recommendations. I believe in your cause & in your Presidential Team, God bless you both & long live our children.

A research scientist and a medical doctor both offer much more exhaustive detail on the same topic here and here if your interest has been piqued.

If you doubt my statement regarding high cholesterol never being proven to cause heart disease please read my blog entry here. The subject hit the mainstream again just last week at MSNBC.

So back to the pacifier conundrum: our son still uses his pacifier while he sleeps, but I think we may try to take it from him on his 3rd birthday (March), as appalling as that sounds. I won’t deny I may get cold feet! We’ve been brainwashing him daily to convince him that pacifiers (“Nuks”) are for babies, and that when he reaches 3 he will truly be a big boy. Of course we will gift him with a highly-desired comfort item on the same day which hopefully he will eventually accept as a substitute. Will it work? It will certainly be painful. What worked for you?

Speaking of community, we met some folks now good friends who are into CrossFit Football and posting scores publicly. I think radical power improvement is in my future.

Today I tried to beat Cris’ score with 65# power cleans and overhead squats, but managed instead to double it (it was “for time”, so the lower the score the better). Then I did a 20 minute row workout and could barely drive home. YOU MUST try this workout (from crossfitfootball.com):

Complete 10 rounds (20 minutes) Row for 1 minute as many meters as you can, rest for 1 minute.
*Your score is the total amount of meters rowed – goal is row at least 2500 meters (3000 meters for men)
*Penalty is 1 handstand push up for every 5 meters under 2500/3000 meters.

This. will. kick. your. butt. If you have kids with you, and a gym partner also with kids, one would think that you could conceivably trade off rounds, but absolutely forget it. I couldn’t manage even a two-word response during my minute-of-rest periods. Instead, consider trading off the entire 20 minutes babysitting or exercising, and do insure you have a backup driver for your return trip home.

I’m concluding with another crowd-pleasing recipe for you below, but first I want to explain that when I specify (as below, but also in the future) that a recipe is “primal”, I am referring to Mark’s definition, with very few deviations, (making it “primalish”, I guess). At the same time, I also subscribe to Melissa Urban’s advice on eating dirty, and aspiration to remain 90% clean (I prudently enjoy nut butters, heavy cream, double-fat créme fraîche, and Lindt 90% cacao dark chocolate bars…and when it isn’t prudent I forgive myself quickly). There are other definitions of primal/paleo out there, but I credit our diet with keeping me cold/flu free for nearly a year and a half, as well as for being pretty dang powerful in the gym (just not compared to Cris…yet…). If you are new to primal living, and in shock, I’m not the only one who’s lost body fat and improved overall health by following this type of diet – take the time to follow some of my links in the right column. Not a lot of time? Read Dr. Guyenet and Dr. Davis. And here’s something healthy to munch on as you read their wealth of posts:

Primal Caesar Salad with Bacon & Chicken Thighs

is another simple meal I snagged from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home cookbook, slightly altered to make it primalish. Unless otherwise specified, the recipes posted here always serve 4…

4 chicken thighs/legs with skin on

organic (bio) butter

5-6 large mushrooms (will depend on size of your casserole dish & size of mushrooms- need enough to cover bottom of dish)

2 tbsp fresh thyme (discard woody stems) chopped roughly, divided

8 thin slices of your favorite Metzgerei’s bacon (Dörfleisch), Italian pancetta, or Schwarzwälder Schinken (normally doesn’t contain sugar).

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

6-7 cloves garlic, minced, divided

4 anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

3 ounces freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus a few shavings to serve

1 heaped tbsp créme fraîche (preferably double-cream créme fraîche, found at German supermarkets – I get mine at Wasgau)

juice of 1 lemon

natural unsalted walnuts, crushed and roasted

3 romaine lettuces

.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Brush mushrooms free of dirt, cut & discard tough portion from stems. Pack bottoms of mushrooms with slices of butter (sorry for lack of portion guidance – I never ration our organic butter, nor do I feel you need to), place them bottom-side down in casserole dish and sprinkle half of the fresh thyme over them plus one clove minced garlic for each mushroom you use. Season chicken with salt and pepper and place snugly together on top of mushrooms in your casserole dish. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped thyme and a few evenly dispersed chunks of butter. Put the pan into your preheated oven.

After 45-60 minutes, when the chicken looks done, take the pan out, drape the bacon/pancetta over the chicken and mushrooms, and cook for another 20 minutes until bacon is crisp and the chicken falls easily off the bone. Allow the chicken to cool.

Pound minced garlic and anchovy fillets in a pestle and mortar to a pulp – combine with parmesan, créme fraîche, lemon juice and 3times as much extra virgin olive oil as lemon juice – season this dressing to taste.

Shred the chicken meat from the bones, tear the bacon roughly, and combine it all with your (washed and spun-dry) romaine and creamy dressing. Scatter attractively with parmesan shavings to finish.

But now, I have my toddler in my lap and am working split-screen (I’m on the blog-editor while he watches his “Ian-videos”) and this isn’t even half as productive as it sounds…so without further ado, today’s workout follows:

Benchmark Workout
45 reps each, pullups, pushups, situps (abmat or janda holding ball to butt with heels), & squats – preferably finish all pullups before proceeding to pushups, etc (rather than doing 10 of each, for example).

Your previous benchmark workout was 35 reps of each – the times I have on record for the folks who were present follow:
L: 10:17
C: 12:23
M: 12:52
E: 9:10
I believe that you can match these times despite the increased reps! Push yourselves & let me know how it goes.

Lately other things have been flowing out of our son’s sweet mouth, falling wayshort of heavenly but certainly not hilarity.

I assign nicknames to items or creatures with exceptional value in my life, and the names have no particular underlying rationale or make any sense whatsoever except to me, the only person in the entire world who has any interest in using them. Hearing our son call the dog “Mr. Lookey” immediately doubled me over in delighted mirth. No one else probably understands this.

But anyway, some of my slogans aren’t so sweet when used out of context, so it was to my initial deep mortification to hear our son inform the dog in high-pitched insistence that he had a STINKY BUTT and that he planned to SHOOT him. He waited for a crowded place to tell me the same thing and to take a big handful of my offending butt. Our son is an exceptional speaker for a 2.5 year old, and his volume appears to have an inverse relationship with polite speech. Even if 80% of the Germans around here didn’t speak perfect English, “stink” has the same meaning, and the words “butt” and “shoot” are universal.

Adaptation is necessary for survival, and I think it is because God understands our disparate situation that he has gifted mothers with the skill for promptly achieving it. I don’t get embarrassed by my son’s outbursts nor even by the (so far infrequent) tantrums he pulls in crowded places anymore. This is something I could never understand before as a non-mom. Being on occasion a first-person witness to toddler tantrums was equitable to 100% effective birth control for us, and certainly one of the major factors responsible for our 9-year delay.

Everyone has a different experience and a unique and perfectly justifiable perspective to share, but me — if I could do it all again — I would never delay. My priorities are refocused, material objects just don’t hold much worth anymore, my empathy has deepened, our marriage has strengthened, and I am experiencing wonder and gaining appreciation for normal everyday phenomena all over again. Well, that’s my story 85% of the time, anyway. 75%?

…like this morning, when Ian finally realized that directing his peestream can be fun. Fortunately one of the perks about having a 2.5 year old is that you can completely convince them that cleaning up is a blast too (I will enjoy this short-lived phase as long as I can). Now he just needs to get a little better at it (that does happen eventually, right?) and I can set him loose on the house….

What are your experiences and some novel discoveries you’ve shared with your mouthy toddler?

The good news is, I am willing to provide free training for military spouses from my home in Waldfischbach this winter!! I do the workout one day earlier than the workout of the day found on the CrossFit homepage, so you will always know what to expect. I will supervise and assist you with childcare during your workout, and will scale it appropriately (BrandX provides scaled workouts for the CrossFit WOD). Please let me know if you are interested, so that I can arrange times for the group (daily if necessary) that are acceptable.

Today’s workout:
Complete as many rounds as possible 20 minutes of:
15 Double-unders
15 AbMat (or ball-clenched) Sit-ups
15 Back extensions (can lay down on belly and lift arms/heels)

For those of you not in class last Tuesday, we discussed training for a run (10k or less in length) sometime next spring in March/April time frame. I will try to find out when the next race is that’s sponsored by MWR or Youth Services. Next year on 2 May in Kaiserslautern there is a Half-Marathon run which allows time for feasible progression if anyone is interested. I will supply a training plan, training assistance, and even childcare (when I can) here in Waldfischbach to anyone interested in training for these races! I trained for my second Ironman distance race using a babystroller with my 45lb dog inside (long story). I finished the marathon (at the end of the Ironman) in 4 hours flat.

For anyone who wants a starting benchmark, this weekend on 29 November there is a Weihnachtsmarktlauf (Christmas market run) in Landstuhl. The cost is 6 euro and the distance is 7.6km (just under 5 miles) – you must signup before 11am on race day to participate.

Over the past couple weeks we’ve grown a deep appreciation for basic heat. We close the rouladen shades tightly at night, yell at each other when doors to infrequently-used rooms are left open, and though an infinitesimally-cracked door shove the dog in and out at tightly controlled intervals during the day so that he can answer nature’s call. Ah THIS is how Europeans live! I was informed by civil employees in charge of utilities (water & electricity) here in town that we would be charged a little more per month than the average German family in anticipation of our greater use of resources. We are American, after all. This actually might be one of the easiest areas where we can defy expectation and prejudice, but I dunno….we do have a sauna (yea)! We will keep you posted.

We’ve tried to use this experience to kindle a sense of adventure in our son. When he wakes and complains about the cold I explain we are living like early pioneers only much, much better: we have TV, a pressure cooker, running (cold) water, and one working automobile. No mortal danger sources surrounding this docile neighbourhood save from a 400% increase in traffic due to careening white Polish vans in search of hot SpärMüll deals. I’m not complaining – bulk trash pickup is only scheduled twice per year, and anyway we’ve personally benefited: I’ve found a perfectly good soccer ball and sturdy shopping basket people threw out on their curbs so far.

Anyway, no scarcity of subjects to blog about, and I will be regular now that we are moved in.

I mentioned the pressure cooker…. our stove (circa 1980) protests with a loud CREEEEEAK and flying rust each time we open the door. The electric cooktop is more emotional than even I – there are numbers on the dials but they don’t seem to correspond with any degree gradient of temperature increase. Of COURSE as you can imagine, my sladky-approval rating on cuisine has suffered accordingly, but I’ve come to rely on ole faithful pressure cooker. So in its honour, here are two soup recipes I made in the last two days which earned the highest rating from mein Mann just in time for Thanksgiving

Cauliflower Cheese and Mustard Soup I altered a recipe I found from Nigel Slater. Mine serves 2-3 if you use it as the main course.

1/5 slice from block of German bio (organic) butter (50g)
1 red onion sliced thin
3 cloves FRESH soft purple garlic (any garlic will do) minced
2 medium cauliflower, broken into florets
a small potato, sliced relatively thin
1-2 tbsp mustard
1 bio vegetable bouillon cube or homemade chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups water
salt
pepper
50g parmesan cheese, diced
50g Emmentaler cheese, diced
2 tbsp Crème fraîche

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker. Add the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Dump the cauliflower in and stir well to coat florets then add potato, mustard, bouillon and water, seal pressure cooker and find a good red wine….(I will blog soon about some excellent sources we found in our neighbourhood).

After about 10min on level II (or cook according to the settings/recommendations of your personal pressure cooker) I removed the soup from heat and released the steam. I threw in cheese chunks and used an immersion blender to blend before adding a little more pepper and a couple tablespoons of Crème fraîche. Nigel recommends frying bread cubes in butter (croutons) and sprinkling them on top (yum) but I forgot and we were hungry….remember everything is healthier without bread, anyway! We grilled steak and zucchini, and this soup was the perfect accompaniment.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

1/5 slice from block of German bio (organic) butter (50g)
3 cloves FRESH soft purple garlic (any garlic will do) minced
2 medium broccoli, broken into florets
a small potato, sliced relatively thin
1 bio vegetable bouillon cube or homemade chicken or vegetable stock
4 cups water
salt
pepper

Melt the butter in the pressure cooker. Add the garlic and fry until soft. Dump the broccoli in and stir well to coat florets then add potato, bouillon, and water, seal pressure cooker and cook for about 10 minutes on level II, or according to the settings/recommendations of your personal pressure cooker. Immersion blend and season to taste – I served with roasted chicken and mushrooms.

Enjoy!