gluten free

Become ONE with the (pull up) BAR

Ya not so much today but getting there I guess… just really slowly. I’m such a wussbag. But in the long run, my tolerance to hanging on the bar has gotten better. It still starts to hurt before too long but not as quickly as it once did.

This morning at the BOOM Box we worked on ring rows and pull up skills. We first did MAX REP ring rows x 3. I dutifully started out RX with my legs straight and felt fine. Coach came over and corrected the width of my arms and well my RX straight legs went out the window. I had to bend my knees for the remainder of rows. I managed to get 13, 8 and then 6. Not bad but not good either.

6/4/12 WOD

We moved on to max pull ups. So far I’ve been a slacker on my pull up work and my max with the green band has been 5. I busted a whopping 6 today! It’s better than the 3 I started off with a couple of months ago I suppose. After our MAX we worked on kipping and all the work that goes into that. I’m much better at kipping but still lack the strict pull up strength to get my chin over that bar. By now my hands hurt. I’m done. I did not become ONE with the bar. Another day.

MetCon: 8 rounds of 20 sec run, 10 sec rest with 35lb bumper. So it’s a TABATA of running! Yay for running! 😦
We had 10 yards marked out with cones. We had 20 seconds to get as many lengths as we could, then rest for 10 seconds. At each cone we had to touch the ground with the weight. Keeping count wasn’t so bad today for some reason. Overall distance 32 full lengths. Although I was struggling at the end and at a loss for catching my breath my recovery time wasn’t so bad. Maybe I am getting better at this thing called running (sprinting, jogging, etc.). Maybe today was just a fluke!

Weekend Happenings, Eating, and Rambling
We are pretty much fuddy duddies as of late. Maybe because we had a break in baseball and we just needed to chill and maybe cause we are flat out lazy! Hehehe. I did make it out to Homestead Farms on Saturday and my slacker old self didn’t take one picture. It didn’t even cross my mind, new place, new people, FORGETFUL FRANK! If you live in the Keller area it’s not a bad place to check out. They have grassfed beef, pasture chicken and pork. They also have raw goat’s milk from their own goats there on the farm. There was a varied selection of seasonal vegetables, all pesticide free. They carry an assortment of beef jerky, almond butters and other items I can not clearly remember. Pictures would be helpful right now! I ended up walking out with a couple of yellow onions, a few peaches (yummo), raspberries, and beef jerky. The had some chickens outside the back of their store for people to go see. It was a cute place. reasonable priced and in the middle of suburbia. It was a little out of the way for us to make a regular trip but if you are in the area it’s a good place to visit!

My eating habits weren’t right on point but not too bad at all. We were pretty boring… nothing fancy. I did eat those peaches though. They were perfect! And I went ahead and ate a yogurt parfait and La Madeliene because an omelet just didn’t sound good at the time. I didn’t feel any ramifications from eating dairy and fruits so I felt ok with my decision.

I don’t have much to ramble about really, it just flowed well in my subtitle. Heheh. I did stumble across this blogger who shares her struggles about her kiddo and his health, behavioral issues and how removing gluten and dairy from his diet helped him tremendously. Check it out at: http://mypickyglutenfreekid.blog.com/

Enjoy this MONDAY! Make it fantabulous and be awesome at it!

Brownies!!!

Hello Hello on this not typical day of blogging! As most of you know Wednesdays are a rest day for me and I typically stay quiet but not today as I have a special recipe to share with you.

It’s true….more BROWNIES. Now before you bash me about my sugar detox and trying to get back on track, I just want to let you know I haven’t even had a full on brownie. Just a couple of tastes for good measure. My kiddos were the official taste-testers and approvers of this show.

Now I made these because one of Jonas’ (oldest son) friends was diagnosed with Celiac’s Disease. If you are unaware of this it’s basically an intolerance to gluten. Also if you are unaware, GLUTEN is found in many products out there that you would have no idea contained gluten. This can really be detrimental to one’s health. I’m not going to go into a gluten lesson and all the badness that it can create so you’ll just have to look it up yourself or ask me via the comments section. Anyhow, Jonas’ friend knows that we strive for the Paleo lifestyle and she is definitely interested. Well my thoughtful son volunteered for me to make her a “treat” that wasn’t packaged, but made out of goodness and considered Paleo. He proposed this at the beginning of my sugar detox and I clearly told him NO. But now that I have this sugar thing under control I made a batch of these pretty darn good BROWNIES for him to share with her.

I found them via Multiply Delicious. She shared them via http://vaughangela.com/sweet-potato-brownies/ Here is the recipe:

The Good Stuff:

2 medium sweet potatoes (Steph’s note: I used Japanese Sweet Potatoes as I have read traditional ones get too mushy)
4 ounces dark chocolate
1 tablespoon honey
3 eggs
1/4 cup dark cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla or almond extract
1 tablespoon coconut flour
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts

The How To:

Clean potatoes, peel, and cut into chunks. Boil until tender then drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt dark chocolate in coconut oil, either in microwave in 20 second intervals or in a double pan on the stove.

Puree sweet potato in food processor until smooth.

Add all other ingredients (except walnuts) and puree until smooth.

Stir in walnuts.

Place parchment paper in the bottom of an 8×8 inch baking pan.

Pour into pan on top of parchment paper.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes until firm.

Remove from oven, let cool then serve.

YUMMO! Now I left out the walnuts because I wasn’t sure of the friends feeling about walnuts. I used about 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips instead. My next batch will include walnuts and chocolate chips.

These were a great alternative to my extra yummy but made with AGAVE nectar brownies that I made a couple of months ago. Also not using almond flour probably cut the calorie count down a lot, if counting calories is your thing. I hope the friend loves them 🙂

Have a Happy Wednesday. Be Awesome!!!

Lunges, Pizza and It’s all DOWNHILL from here!

How about that for some good OL randomness!

WOD
The BOOM Box Workout write up is short and sweet today although the workout itself was grueling! The skill/strength was Strict Press 5, 5, 5+. After all the percentage math I ended up with 50lbs, 55lbs and 60lbs. I struggled a little bit on the 60lbs after my initial 5 reps but squeezed two more reps out for 7 on my last attempt!

5/11/12 WOD

The MetCon was WEIGHTED LUNGES. 8 rounds of max distance lunges holding extra weight in bumper plate form for 90 seconds and then a 30 second rest. Full rep is knees hitting ground. No cheating! I tried to keep a mental count of my splits but I just couldn’t keep track. Hugging on a 25lb plate gets to hurt really fast. I held it on my head. Held it over the top of my back. Back to hugging it. It becomes a big ol nuisance by the 8th round. I didn’t stop except for my 30 sec rests, so that was GOOD. We counted total yds and I got a dead even 250yds. I may not feel my legs or butt tomorrow. I’ll let you know how that goes!

Gluten Free Pizza RANT
So by now a lot of you have probably seen or heard of Dominoe’s Pizza advertising their GLUTEN FREE PIZZA! And I know there’s pizza mixes and other restaurants offering the same craptastic idea. So now it’s all ok to chow down on pizza right? NO PEOPLE it’s not ok. It just means there is more processed crap and other not healthy things filling the place of the GLUTEN. It’s not a health advantage. You’re not CHEATING the system. The problem with most “GLUTEN FREE” labeled products is that if it’s simulating a wheat product it most likely has NOT GOOD STUFF IN IT. So OK you have CELIAC and want PIZZA this a good way to get it in but at what costs? Don’t get me wrong I love me some pizza, but don’t get all crazy with the gluten free tag. It’s not a free pass. You’re still being fed junk and I’m not just talking about calories, I’m talking about highly processed, chemicals, fake stuff and you are putting that in your body maybe once in a while, maybe regularly, I have no idea, only you do. At least try eating REAL food. Ya life is short, you’re busy, blah blah blah, to each his own. I’m just trying to be some beacon of light that if you wonder why your kid has stomach issues, or you have migraines, or regular ailments it MOST likely comes from the consistent flow of crap you put in. Our bodies aren’t meant to break down all the processed foods. Cut out the GLUTEN, don’t replace it with FAKE shit and eat real food! I’m done for now. You know I’ll be back in regards to this but CARRY ON! It’s Friday, I’m sure it’s PIZZA night anyways! HA!

Day 11 Sugar Detox
Is it true? I’ve made it halfway? I haven’t slipped up (well except for sweet potato indulgence that one day)? I haven’t had extra fruit besides a green tipped banana or green apple, which are allowed by the way, and note I didn’t eat one or the other EVERY DAY so YAY! NO added sugars PEOPLE and I’m still alive and I’m NOT miserable. You know I was but it was quick. I feel good, I feel like I’m more efficient. Maybe it’s mental but it at some point has to be physical because my body isn’t having to work any extra. I’m putting in good vegetables and grassfed meats and all is well. My urge to WANT treats is diminishing LIKE FOR REAL, my brain still thinks it but eh I don’t want it anymore like I did a few days ago. I’m diggin my DETOX. Who would have thunk it? 10 days to GO! All downhill from here!

Have a superlicious weekend folks! As always make it awesome. SMILE. Do something ridiculous and put a smile on someone else’s face 🙂 AND HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMMA’S!!!!

Food Friday – Paleo-liscious Brownies!

GLUTEN FREE EASY TO BAKE GOODNESS!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve tried a new recipe but I finally made some brownies that I found on Elana’s Pantry and I HEART THEM! As do the kids and some co-workers. Well I don’t know if the co-workers LOVE them but I’ve heard they do like them. The kids were like oooh you can definitely send these for school treats 🙂

I don’t have preparation pics because I was doing a gazillion other things and forgot! But it’s not a lot of steps and it takes very few ingredients. http://www.elanaspantry.com/brownies/

  1. In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender
  2. Blend in eggs, then blend in agave and vanilla
  3. Blend in cacao, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips
  4. Grease a 9×13 inch Pyrex baking dish
  5. Pour batter into dish
  6. Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes

Makes about 24 brownies

It was a good treat for sure and I’m thinking I’ll make more this weekend and maybe share with the BOOM Box Beasts. Everyone loves treats 🙂 I have two WOD wrap-ups for y’all and they were not fun at all!

Yesterdays WOD didn’t seem to intimidating. I didn’t doubt it would be HARD but I surely didn’t expect it to nearly KILL ME! The skill/strength was 3 rounds of MAX REP KETTLEBELL PRESS! I’m a wuss I know this so bare with me. The KB’s bruise my forearms, bruise my deltoids and are awkward to hold! I managed to get 17 reps my first round on each arm at 25lbs and then 15 reps for a second round. I moved up to the 1 POOD KB for the last round and got 13 reps each arm. I should have moved up on the 2nd round but I was slightly SCARED of the 1 POOD (Russian for about 35lbs).

4/12/12 WOD OF DEATH!

Next was KB swings and Wall Walks. 10-1, so 10 KB swings, 10 Wall Walks, 9 KB Swings, 9 Wall Walks, etc. I did fairly well with the KB swings being 1 POOD swings. And the wall walks, although they look easy, they quickly tax your shoulders and for me personally brought on DIZZINESS fast! Not to mention my core is about as sore as ever. It hurts to take deep breaths. :/ Coach set a standard of getting your nose to the wall and to come down with restraint and not flailing around. I managed to get my nose to the wall each time and keep control but it was not easy. There was a 20 minute cap and I only managed to work my way down to 4 KB swings. With 20 seconds left there was no way I was getting 4 wall walks. It was disappointing and I was dying but I never thought it would hurt so bad! Hahaha. I lived and when I meet those beasts again, I’ll cry! Jokes, sorta. Hopefully I’ll be better at them!

Not our Box but as you can see you gotta get vertical on the wall AND touch your nose to the wall! WoOOOWEeeEEE! It's not easy!

Today’s happy day o’ fun was Skill/Strength: Dead Lifts, 3, 3, 3+1. Coach has been making us do math in the mornings. I don’t know if for punishment or his own amusement but I had to take 95% of my Max add 20lbs then take 80%, 85% and 90% of that. This results in what weight I should do each round of lifts. This equaled to 155lbs, 165lbs and 175lbs. I managed to bust out 8 reps on my last go. Not bad! At least to me not bad 🙂

4/13/12 WOD

The MetCon was a joy all in itself: RUN 800m, do 40 burpees (don’t die), RUN 400m, do 20 burpees (don’t puke) and RUN 200m, do 10 burpees (pray for survival). I totally killed this 800m RUN compared to Tuesdays run by a whole 3 seconds! LOL. It’s true. Then the 40 burpees came. I did 20 fairly well. I just paced them out nicely but the last 20 sucked. I didn’t stop, just didn’t go fast enough I suppose. Who knows. I couldn’t get a good deep breath to save my life! The 400 had to of been slow. I stopped looking at the clock. The set of 20 burpees was much better than the 40 but I was spent from the running. Fortunately by the time you get to the 200m run you know it’s almost done. I couldn’t breathe very well at all this morning but I was real happy to finish the last round of 10 burpees! Time: 13:42. I’m dead for the weekend. My body hates me!So hopefully I’ll get some nice recovery. Another weekend full of baseball for us with a forecast of rain 😦 Lets hope it waits till Sunday!

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY the 13th! Make some brownies, they are good!

 

Fun Friday and TREATS!

So I half lied because not all of this morning was a “fun” Friday at the BOOM Box in regards to working out. Today my body was just exhausted and the COLD weather decided to remind us it’s not spring just yet!

3/9/12 WOD

Back Squats and TABATA were on the whiteboard menu today. I was all fine and dandy to take it all on but my damn IT BAND on my left leg which has been pretty quiet and pain free was being WONKY this morning. I blame it on the cold because I haven’t had any problems in a few months. So I couldn’t pull of the weights I need to with Back Squats. I was kind of sad because I know I’ve gotten stronger and today I felt so weak. In the MetCon we had to do jumping lunges and well I could only half ass do those as well. My left knee wasn’t gonna make it to the ground each time. I still worked and TABATAs are always a beating so have no fear, I still got a workout! We did a round of jumping lunges, a round of flutter kicks and the round that counted was DEFICIT Pushups. Both hands are on plates and you go down till your chest hits the ground before you come back up. NO FUN my friends, NO FUN AT ALL. My arms are DEAD from yesterday and now we have to kill them with pushups. I opted out of RX and went to my knees because I’m lame like that. I struggled with those as well 😦 We had to take the lowest amount we completed in the 8 ROUNDs that we completed! Come on NOW. How sucky! My count dropped, and dropped and dropped some more. So after starting out with 13 in 20 seconds, I finished with 8 in 20 seconds. Today was a WEAKSAUCE DAY. Hopefully tomorrow and next week are better 🙂

It's kind of sad looking because 1. I'm no photographer and 2. I'm no frosting professional but it is TASTY!

Now for the FUN part of Friday! Today was Coach’s birthday so I decided to try out a new recipe that I found on Elana’s Pantry website. I test baked and tasted on Wednesday. My first round were a little overcooked. Not bad but not super great. Last nights batches were right on target! These are gluten free and paleo (well if you don’t eat dairy, don’t eat the whipped cream and if you do eat dairy it’s ORGANIC VALLEY so it’s good stuff).

I tripled the recipe for 2 dozen, YUMMO! Coconut Flour, Eggs, Agave, Celtic Sea Salt, Arrowroot Starch, Vanilla, Baking Soda and STRAWBERRIES!

I'm sure if you don't care for strawberries, any berry would do just fine 🙂

Adding the strawberries into the mix.

I'd be happy eating them raw! Hehe, I'm a weirdo, I know.

Voila, Ready to go to the BOOM Box!

The recipe makes 8 cupcakes so I tripled the ingredients to get a whopping 2 dozen to share with the BOOM Box BEASTS! These are kid approved and NON HEALTHY/PALEO eating people approved! One of our 5am guys doesn’t eat anything remotely healthy (or so he claims) enjoyed them so it was great to see that he wanted a dozen for himself! They are tasty and quick to make. The only thing to me was they were more “muffiny” than cupcakey. Which is fine by me. I enjoyed them very much but I just want to be clear so if you make them you can let me know if you felt the same way or if I just plain ol suck at baking them.

You can find the recipe here: http://www.elanaspantry.com/strawberry-cupcakes/

Mine weren’t as BEAUTIFUL as hers are on her site but ah well. I’m a work in progress!

I also made (as suggested) Whipped Cream Frosting. I’m not much of a baker so I have never made my own whipped cream. AND I WISH I HAD KNOWN/LEARNED SOONER on how easy it is to make! To frost 8 cupcakes all you need is 2 TBS of Agave Nectar and 1/2 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream! I used Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream. I’m new to this so to me it was amazing how simple and easy it is to make. You put it in a deep bowl and get a hand mixer and mix away until you get whipped cream. Voila! Done SON! I was quite happy. My kids noted it wasn’t necessary to add whip cream to the cupcakes, they were good as is. I was really surprised. They did like the whipped cream but that’s how great they are, they don’t need the added sweetness 🙂

Anyhow. Hope your Friday turns out to be fun! Even if you have to do something crazy and obnoxious to make someone smile. Make someone else’s day fun too and yours is bound to be super FUN! I know enough with the word FUN! Have a great weekend folks!