Pork Chops & Kale Chips

I know I’ve been missing for a few months.. that happens around here. I have a few important things going on in my life. First thing is that I’m doing my 2nd Whole Life Challenge! It’s a nutrition and lifestyle challenge that lasts 8 weeks. It is not all-or-nothing. Unlike a Whole30, which I love btw, if you eat something you’re not supposed to, you don’t have to start over. You start with 5 nutrition points a day and your goal is to keep all of them. If you have a serving of non-approved food then you minus one point. You can earn additional points per day for things such as being active, mobilizing/stretching, drinking enough water, taking supplements, and completing the lifestyle challenge of the week. The lifestyle challenge changes every week. For week 1, we’re supposed to try and enjoy our meals without the distractions of a phone, tablet, laptop, etc. <— Errm… that one was VERY hard for me. I think I failed 4/7 days. Made me realize how much I’m attached to that damn phone. It’s my Instagramming time…. This week’s lifestyle challenge is to prioritize and complete tasks. So you have to make a list of to-do’s:

• 1 thing you NEED to complete today
• 2 things you would LOVE to complete today
• 3 things you would LIKE to complete today

To earn a point this week, you have to actually make your list & complete the #1 thing on it. I particularly love this week’s lifestyle challenge! This is something I need. I’m one of those people that just feels like I have an ever-growing to-do list with 1 million things on it. It’s so overwhelming that I usually get nothing done because I can’t even handle looking at my list. Yesterday, I made my list and completed ALL 6 items! It felt really good and I felt productive and accomplished. My today’s #1 NEED to complete task is to draft a blog post to go out this week. TA-DA! Almost done. ;) This is the only reason I’m actually doing it. I want to earn my point!

So another part of this Whole Life Challenge is that you take before and after photos, measurements and also do a workout that you can repeat at the end of the 8 week challenge to see what progress you’ve made. I did a #backfie and a little mirror check this morning to see where I am.

Um, yeah, I know my phone camera is (STILL) broken and my makeup table needs major organizing. <– Two things that will go on my to-do list later this week. Holla.

On the left is me in Hawaii a few years ago, pre-heavy weightlifting. On the right was day 9 of my Whole Life Challenge. I had no muscle back then and I was a lot more..jiggly. :) It’s always great motivation to look back at how far you’ve come so you don’t get discouraged. My progress is slower than a mofo but I know it’s there, somewhere. Haha

Onto the 2nd important thing going on in my life: I got my hair did.

Ok ok, stop rolling your eyes already. The pork chop recipe is coming up so just calm down. For those of you who care, I went to Vim & Vigor Salon in San Francisco because the gorg Jane Kim (aka The Glamourist, who did my hair & makeup for my wedding) recommended Larissa, a super talented colorist. It came out a little white-blonde and I wasn’t sure about it at first, but now I dig it.

OK STOP YELLING, HERE ARE YOU PORK CHOPS!

PALEO PORK CHOPS:

I had a pair of particularly thick cuts of pork chops so I decide to sear these babies on the stove & then bake them to keep ’em juicy on the inside.

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbsp ghee
• sage
• parsley
• rosemary
• cumin
• balsamic vinegar
• pepper
• sea salt

Instructions:

• pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
• put empty baking dish into oven to pre-heat along with the oven (this is so your pork chops will be placed directly onto a hot surface later)
• heat 1 – 1.5 tbsp ghee in a pan on the stove
• coat both sides of pork chops with sage, parsley, rosemary, cumin, pepper & sea salt
• drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the pork chops & sear until nicely brown
• flip, drizzle a little more balsamic vinegar & sear until brown
• remove empty baking dish from oven, grease dish with another tbsp ghee
• remove pork chops from stove & place on baking dish
• bake for 10 min
• I had to take one of my chops out at 10 min and leave the thicker cut pork chop in for another 5 min, so check your meat!

Along with these Paleo Pork Chops, I also baked some really simple kale chips.

KALE CHIPS

• tear leaves off of stem
• rinse & dry leaves
• place on baking sheet(s) <– I usually bake several trays at once with different seasonings for a variety
• coat kale leaves with coconut oil spray/olive oil spray or melted ghee
• sprinkle sea salt lightly
• bake for 10 in at 350 degrees

I made a second tray of kale chips sprinkled with chili pepper flakes & chili powder bc I like them a little spicy. Other great flavors are salt & a little vinegar or garlic powder & dried onion powder. Super easy to make. If you like your kale chips a little crispier, leave them on the baking sheet to cool and they will crisp right up. Everyone’s oven is different, so watch your chips near the end of the 10 min as you can see the edges of the leaves start to brown.

HURLWON

Hurlwon has been so needy lately. He’s got an ear infection so he’s been supes clingy. If he weren’t so daaaaaaaaamn cute….. well I don’t have to finish that thought because he is so damn cute. Ba-zinga.