Grass Fed

TGIF For Real! It’s been a LONG WEEK!

Finally made it to Friday! I wasn’t sure that I would but alas it is here. I totally lied about not making dinner last night. I had to drop some stuff off at a friends house and they don’t live far from Whole Foods. I got to swing by and pick up some fresh beef and bacon before I headed home. Yay for me!

But first let me talk about today’s WOD. I really had a hard time getting up this morning. I typically wake up on my short drive but this morning was HARD. I was dragging bad! We dedicated some time to practicing Muscle Ups. I know I shouldn’t say I won’t ever get them but dang it FEELS like I will never get to that point. It seems like it should be so easy. And they look like fun. I just don’t have it. That’s all there is to be said. It’s definitely a goal though. How will I ever compete in a top level event without MUs? 😦

1/27/11 WOD

Our MetCon changed a little from the picture… well it changed alot! Ha! We did do the Plyo Push Ups but we did V-UP situps instead of flutter kicks and we did Snatch Balance instead of KNEE JUMPS. Why I can’t do Knee Jumps is beyond me. It doesn’t LOOK hard but I could not get my big butt up. My kids however make it look easy! Dang kids. Anyways the MetCon was a 15 min AMRAP (as many rounds as possible). I managed to complete 10 rounds and get 4 push ups into the 11th round. Not bad I suppose. That’s 124 pushups people! My upper body is DEAD!

Once I caught my breath post WOD and post mobility right before I walk out the door I decide to bust out my jump rope. We are having a Double Under Challenge in March. Who can do 100 consecutive DUs and if more than 1 person achieves them then who can do more! Hahah, I’m in it to win it folks. So like I said, I bust out my rope and just GO. I got on roll and then got excited then let my brain get in the way but I got 49 in a row. WOOOOO! I’m so excited! That may not be a lot for some but for me that was big jump. And that made my Friday 🙂

Moving on to dinner last night: I didn’t buy anything fancy or make this amazing culinary delight but it was tasty and did it’s job. I’ve been buying sirloin tip steak – it’s not the “best” cut but it’s grass-fed and it’s not as spendy as the other quality cuts. I know I should marinate it for several hours if not overnight but I’m crunched for time so we make due. I sliced it up as thin as I could with the tools that I have and threw it in a gallon zip lock bag. I tossed in some olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, salt and pepper. I had sliced up one steak and put my oldest to shaking the bag and pretty much massaging the steak while I cut up the other piece. I had him do this for a good 15 minutes. I think it really helped the meat tenderize a bit. I threw it in a pan, sauteed for a couple of minutes and only a couple because I did not want it overcooked. It turned out pretty alright.

Not a BEAUTIFUL pic but HEY at least I remembered to take one!

I had purchased parsnips over the weekend with intentions of mixing them up with cauliflower but I never got around to that. I’ve never eaten a parsnip so I had no clue what to expect. I peeled them and chopped them up. Boiled them in chicken broth with onions and garlic till they were tender. Drained them but kept the broth for later. Threw parnsips, garlic and onion in the food processor and let it get all blended up. I added about 3 TBS of butter, 1/4 cup of reserved broth, salt and pepper. Ended up with a nice consistency more mash potato like than Cauliflower. Parsnips are sweeter than I expected but also have a spice to them. I couldn’t decide on the best word to describe it. It’s just a weird little bite. Still good and different than everything else. I’ll have to experiment more with them. But you should definitely try out some parsnips. 🙂

Have a FIERCE FRIDAY! Make it worthwhile. SMILE! See y’all on Monday 😀

WHOLLY COW what a WHIRLWIND weekend!

This past weekend was full of intensity, adventure and super exhaustion. Ernie and I headed out to Austin this past weekend because we had signed up to be volunteers at The Fittest Games. A good sized event for soon to be CrossFit Games Competitors and those testing their level of awesomeness against other firebreathers. Arrival time for volunteers was 6:00 a.m. and we worked non stop till about noon. It was so much fun to be there. The “YARD” as it was named was LEGIT. It was in this cool unfinished warehouse which is in development stages but raw and dirty and super badass. It’s a future home to a CrossFit as well. There were four Pads where WODs were being held throughout the day and the BEST of the BEST were out there putting all of their insane blood, sweat and tears on the concrete floors.

First Team WODs @ pad 1 (1RM clean and jerk and Max front squats)

Pad 2 - Women killing Muscle Ups

From CrossFit Tyler – I HEART NINJAs by the way!

I had a fun job by marking up the athletes with their assigned Number. We got to laugh, joke and have a good time. Even scored a cool shirt! I then had a job as scorerunner. It is what it is – take the scores to the computer peoples so they can enter everything. I got up-close behind the “scenes” viewing and met some cool people. The athletes competing were BEAST at all things. I was inspired, overwhelmed and excited all at the same time. I sooooo want to be at that level but then I think that’s soooooo far away and then I think I’ve only been doing this a few months and I didn’t come in awesome as it is so I have a ways to go but it’s doable. I THINK! I HOPE!

As we finished our assignments we were going to stick around but we opted for going out for lunch and then realized we were exhausted so we’d head out to my aunts house for rest. We did have a comedy show to attend later that evening and didn’t want to be miserable. As we were headed back I recalled a blog or someone on FB mentioning a paleo burger in Austin. Thank GOODNESS for google because it pulled up WHOLLY COW BURGERS! We u-turned as fast as we could and headed straight there.

We found it! Love smart phones. Makes life so much easier 🙂

A convenience store with a burger place or was it a burger place with a convenience store? Who knows. I needed to see the Paleo Burger on the Menu… because this wasn’t special order where they look at us weird for asking for no buns or mayo or whatever restaurants think when we order NO GRAINS. And there is it was the Fit Cross (Crossfit Paleo Burger). It’s not the holy grail of burgers I know this, but it’ going in the right direction. Local Grass Fed beef cooked up just right, slapped between portabella mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, onions, natural ketchup and mustard. It was yummy. Especially when you’re out of towners, this was a good find. We ordered one burger each to “check” it out. WIN! So we ordered two more and added sweet potato fries after we inquired if they had them. Perfect! It filled us up and we knew it was good local homegrown grass fed beef. We talked to the owner and peeps that worked there and found out that not all grass fed beef is created equal. Ranchers are allowed to grain feed the last 120 days before slaughter and are still able to claim their beef to be “grass-fed”! I had no idea! That’s how little research I’ve done. I’m saddened by the news but also now informed. So it’s an overall win.

In their convenience store - organic produce also available there.

Fit Cross Paleo Burger at Wholly Cow Burgers, Austin, TX

If you’re in Austin, then definitely check this place out. They do have a website and FB page but not a lot of content. So with that said just CHECK THEM OUT at some point.

I’m finally to today and our WOD this morning. Sled Pulls are awkward and take some getting used to and left me a little out of breath but that’s OK what would CrossFit be if it were EASY?!?

1/23/12 WOD

Out MetCon just about killed me. Was it a case of the Mondays? Or was it just flat out loserness? Not sure at this point but it was close to killing me. Snatch DL is very weird feeling. Having to deadlift with a super wide grip definitely ups the ante in knocking reps out. The weight was light “for a deadlift” at 75lbs. And TABATA to boot. Although we only did half TABATA 4 rounds vs. 8 rounds, but that was fine with me because I was going to have to push press that 75 lbs. My max regular press is 65lbs but with the “PUSH” it’s easier to get a little more weight up. I didn’t do my first round of push press because I was so spent after the deadlifts. I think I managed to get 13 presses. SUCK! We moved onto Front Squats and again it took some energy to freakin just clean it. So I wasted almost the whole first round just trying to talk myself into getting the bar up. I finally did and I was beat. I really double sucked at front squats as well. Overall REPS at 61. I KNOW I could have done more, but I talked myself out of it before the MetCon even started. Not a wise thing to do and I don’t suggest punking out like I did. I am happy I did it”RX’d”. I’ve done a few but not a lot so it feel goods when I can MOVE the weight around. I was spent but it was a good spent.

I hope you all enjoy your Monday. Make it great. I’m hoping I kill my WOD tomorrow. And I hope you meet whatever goals you have for the week. Eat Clean. Train Dirty! LOVE IT!

More Foods, More Beatdowns and More Airrosti

I really enjoy being in the kitchen when I have the time and right now I have the TIME… not for long when baseball season gets into gear and the boys are going full speed ahead BUT for now I can play in the kitchen and it’s fun!

Meatloaf was on the brain last night and I had 2lbs of grass fed ground beef ready to be cooked. I did a quick search on the interwebs and stumbled across Paleo Diet Lifestyle and a recipe they had on their site.

Paleo Meatloaf with Mushrooms! It was a HOMERUN in the family department. Perfect served up with Mashed “Potatoes” Cauliflower and some Asparagus.

2 lb ground beef (you may substitute with ground pork);
1 ½ tbsps salt;
1 tsp ground black pepper;
1 egg;
1 medium onion, finely chopped;
2 cups white button mushrooms, finely chopped;
1 tsp chili pepper flakes;
3 tsp fresh thyme, minced;
1 tsp fresh oregano, minced;
3 cloves garlic, minced;
½ cup homemade ketchup;
(I USED an ADDTIONAL 1/3 CUP for the meat Mixture … stephanie)
1 tbsp honey, optional;
½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce, optional;
1 tbsp paleo cooking fat;

Preparation
Preheat your oven to 350 F.
In a medium sized skillet placed over a medium heat, melt the cooking fat, add the mushrooms and saute for 2 to 3 minutes, or until soft.

In a large bowl, combine the meat, salt, pepper, egg, onion, mushrooms, chili pepper, thyme, oregano and garlic. Mix well, makng sure to break-up the meat. Add the cooked mushrooms as well. It’s very important that the mushrooms are evenly distributed to ensure the loaf bonds well.

Lightly grease loaf pan with additional cooking fat and fill it with the meat mixture. Place in the oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine ketchup, honey and Worcestershire sauce to make the sauce for the top of the meatloaf.

After cooking for 15 minutes, gently spread the sauce on the top of the loaf.
Continue cooking for another 40 minutes.

PLEASE NOTE… I did not make my KETCHUP. I used organic ketchup from Whole Foods. While this has some sugar in it, it is better than OTHER ketchups. In the future I plan on making my own ketchup but I didn’t have the tomatoes to do so. Also I added some ketchup to the MEAT mixture – about 1/3 cup. I also left out the Worcestershire sauce because I don’t have any in my kitchen.

Ingredient Prep

Cookin' Up the Mushrooms

Ready to be MIXED!

Another Blurry Pic ARGH! But this is when I put the Sauce on the Meatloaf 15 minutes after it's been in oven. I made a little extra cause it seemed like a good idea 🙂

Meal Ready to Be Served

All I can say is "DELICIOUS"

While that was baking, I steamed up some cauliflower and garlic gloves. Once the cauliflower was done I salted and peppered it up, threw it in the food processor with 3 TBS of pasture butter and got it mixing. It turned out really nice and creamy in texture. Perfect with the meatloaf! The kids gobbled it up as did Ernie and myself. We then watched some Biggest Loser to see if “CrossFit” was incorporated and passed out!

Steamed Cauliflower Ready for the Food Processor

 

Rise and Shine (in the dark) as it was an early morning today. It’s my CrossFit day off and I decided to attend iChoosefit Bootcamp in Midlothian. It’s a good 25 minutes away from me but they have an indoor facility that I’ve been wanting to check out! One of my local bootcamp friends came along for the ride as well. We were equally impressed with Speed & Performance Training Facility. The upside to this place is that they have barbells and plates which allows for heavier lifting than the mobile bootcamp allows. It was a good beatdown today. We had everything from Box Jumps, Back Squats, Deadlifts, Sled Pushes, Running and so forth! AJ did not hold back in his beatdown. It’s a great large space with plenty of equipment. I wish I owned something along those lines.

I came home with no ambition in regards to cooking so breakfast was eggs and fruit. But I was excited for my AIRROSTI appointment. My hip pain has dramatically decreased and it appears that I have an impingement in my hip so I’ll always have to work hard at keeping myself properly stretched as well as keep up with the foam roller and ice. But the constant burn and ache is GONE. It would hurt while I was just sitting in my car on the drive home or burn if I was on my feet for too long. I definitely recommend giving AIRROSTI a try! Thank you Dr. Bertrand and Casey!

Have a WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY! I forgot to defrost any proteins (DOH!) so I don’t know what will be on the menu… probably eating out but we’ll see.