OK, so we are 2 weeks into this challenge and things seem to be going ok. I'm finding more recipes to convert or just follow based on friends' recommendations or on websites. I'm not finding that my workouts are any easier to get through or any harder to get through as a result of eliminating grains and dairy for 85% of the time. And yep, I am still at 85% level of adherence so I am pretty happy about that. Breakfast is slowly becoming a part of my repertoire, which will benefit me in the long-run.
I continue to rotate between a healthy fat combined with either protein or fruit. A healthy fat can be something like avocado or almond butter. So you probably are wondering what I spread the almond butter on, or, uh, maybe you're not because you just spoon it straight out of the jar? :-) Well I spread the almond butter on apple slices. I know it seems weird but I like it and it fills me up. Actually we get such big apples out here that it almost seems like too much with the almond butter and the super large apples that we get, but whatever. It's easy to make and I like the taste.
On Saturday, we had some friends over and smoked some rib-eyes on the Big Green Egg. To go with 
the rib-eyes, I made a garlic-shallot butter which came out as expected (I used ghee to make it more Paleo-friendly). Our friends were kind enough to make a Paleo-friendly salad, which was tasty & had BACON "croutons", in addition to the Beef and Guinness pie (my puff pastry was "donated" to Marc). I decided to make something with sweet potatoes, but I was struggling with something over than doing a mash. I took a recipe off of Robb Wolf's website and made some tweaks to create a "Savory Sweet Potato Stuffing with Bacon and Sage".
It was a lot of work chopping 
up all of the sweet potatoes since I was planning on making enough to have as leftovers for the week (my arm was still sore on Monday morning from Saturday afternoon!). I also subbed out bacon for the sausage and chicken stock for the white wine. Finally I swapped in hazelnuts for pecans and left out the raisins. In short, it came out great and I am really happy that we have LEFTOVERS of this dish! And my guests, who weren't huge sweet potato fans, really enjoyed the stuffing as well. Score!
The other recipe 
that I wanted to share was a Ming Tsai recipe from his "One Pot Meals" cookbook, which I think I have recommended to 6 people and counting. It was a Lemongrass-Coconut Chicken Soup, and it was pretty easy to make. I was glad that I added the serrano chilies for an extra kick because I think it made a positive impact. I also decided to let it slow cook for awhile longer than the recipe indicated, which I think helped. I think it will make for a tasty leftover this week.
Finally one of my running buddies sent over some baked goods recipes that are Paleo-friendly. Marc made some chocolate chip scones, which we served on Saturday at our house and on Sunday at another friend's house. Definitely well received by our friends so that was good. Our Crossfit coach and her husband also received some of the leftovers, which I was told they inhaled. LOL.
Yesterday I spent the day running up a hill with one friend at the Mercer Island 
Half-Marathon after cheering on a few of my other teammates and former colleagues, and then I went to climb the stairs of the Columbia Tower (69 floors) to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society with some of my Crossfit mates. My goal for the climb was 15-20 minutes, and I came in at 14:59. Seriously that was my exact time. I was psyched. And I was able to run 5 miles pain-free. All in all, a great weekend with some positive progress on the physical fitness side and many laughs with excellent friends.