paleo

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!

I’m NO TRACK star but I’m feelin good!

It’s Friday Folks! Can I get a big WOOOOO?!? It’s been a super long week for some reason. But we made it, right?

Like I said yesterday, no meats to cook – Cause I’m a loser slacker forgetful person :/ So I decided on my way home I’d stop by Whole Foods and pick up some fresh items and cook for my Dad since he’s still on the mend. I had gathered up the few things I needed and got in line and low and behold… NO WALLET! I left it in my gym bag! Oh you can only imagine how irritated I became with myself. So I asked if I could write a check because I had my checkbook in my purse. SURE! So I write out the check and she waits for me to hand her my driver’s license. I looked at her and said I wrote down my DL number BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE MY WALLET that has my driver’s license in it along with my money! OH. Sorry I can’t take it then. WELL FREAKIN’ AWESOME, thanks lady! and I just walked away. Petty I know. Nothing to be frazzled over but for a good 15 minutes I let it get to me.

Moving on…. I ended up cooking my dad and kids some steaks he had out (not grassfed 😦 … heheh, I’ve spoiled myself), CANNED spinach (LOL cause he lives off canned veggies, I’m working on getting him transitioned to fresh) and some corn tortillas (he doesn’t quite get PALEO just yet). None the less he enjoyed his steak tacos as did the kids. And of course NO PICS! One day it will be second nature to photograph my stuff, I PROMISE!

1/20/12 WOD

Onto my WOD this morning… a RUNNING day 😦 Talk about fake it till you make it from yesterday! Skill strength was good. I got to really work on breaking down my Clean and Jerk and getting technique developed. So many darn things to remember. I really wish I had lifted previous to knowing what CrossFit was but I guess I wish I had been a gymnast too! Haha good thing about coming in with zero knowledge is that I can really gauge how far I’ve come. It’s great to watch my progress from pretty much nothing.

Our times. We took 3 minute rests in between and that is why the overall time is over 19 minutes.

And then the RUNNING. I did not want to run at all. 600 meters is far! Hahah, well not really but times 4 it is and I don’t like the running. I have not other choice but to suck it up and run. I did get 3 minute rests between which were wonderful and needed and I just re-iterate how much of a whiny baby I really am. I surprised myself with my times. My first run was 2:38. And what do ya know I got better with each run! 2:28, 2:34 and 2:25. Like the post title says I’m NO TRACK STAR at all but I know I used to not be able to run 400m in these times much less 600m. So YES I was feeling good! I’m getting faster and I’m not even trying 🙂 I know I’m trying in overall fitness but I am sure not trying in the running dept. Not intentionally. It’s amazing. Before you know it I’ll have a sub 8 min mile and I may learn to enjoy running….hahah well maybe I’ll get the sub 8 but I don’t think I’ll ever ENJOY running just to run.

It’s Friday y’all! And we have a busy weekend ahead. Ernie and I are volunteering at The Fittest Games down in Austin, TX. It’s the last in a trio of events that some local firebreathers have been competing at. An overall champion will be crowned so it should be a great event to attend. It’s also one of the final BIG events before the CrossFit Games Open. We were thinking it would be fun to watch in general and we figured if we volunteered it would be even better. Hopefully if I’m not too busy I’ll get some cool shots with my handy dandy iPhone and maybe a few stories to share as well. We will also hit up a comedy show tomorrow night because one of our favorite comedians Bill Burr is in town. What perfect timing! We get a nice little road trip, a CrossFit adventure and some good laughs all in the same day. I hope everyone has a GREAT weekend. It should be nice here in the state of Texas. I hope it’s nice everywhere else 🙂

1000+ Views!

I finally made it to 1000 views…plus some! It’s a good feeling. I watch the stats like a psychotic person. I don’t know why I’m so addicted to seeing how many people have viewed this blog. I know there are blogs that get more than that in one day and well I’m just not there so I will take my stats and embrace them! LOL, I don’t know that I’ll ever be “cool” enough to get that many views a day :/

1/16/12 WOD

Had a good WOD today. Short, sweet and tough! We worked on Front Squats and my 1 RM was 115. I was really hoping I could get more but not today.
And for the MetCon… box jumps and straight legged sit ups… 30 seconds for each movement for 5 rounds. The first round was good and I slacked on the second round for some reason. Grant reminded us this was a sprint workout so I got on it and started moving… now wishing I didn’t slack on my 2nd round. But I did so I just had to push the rest of the way through. 120 reps total. Not bad but I know I could have had a few more reps.

WHEAT BELLY - WILLIAM DAVIS, MD

You all know I strive for Paleo and push to eat as clean as possible and discourage grains. I follow several blogs and what not that are Paleo and advise against grains including the Wheat Belly Blog but I had yet to read the actual book. This weekend we bought it and I tore through it. It’s not a long read so that was nice but there was a lot of information on what Wheat does to us. I feel assured that wheat and gluten are the enemy to everyone not just to those with celiac or other gluten intolerances. I don’t want to give you a book report because I think it’s important for you to read and soak it up for yourself. But if you are wishy washy on the issue or don’t even have a clue, then I highly recommend reading it. And at least try giving up all GRAINS, not just wheat, for 30 days. See if it changes you. You will go through a withdrawl of sorts, at least you probably will, it may last 2 days and it may last up to a week or 2 but you should just TRY. And don’t replace your GRAINS with junk… just eat more meats, veggies and fruits. If you don’t feel great and more awesome than ever then go back to your gluten filled ways. It won’t bother me one bit 🙂 Let me know if you do it or plan on doing it. Let me know if you need support or have questions. It’s tough mentally to remove the grains but in reality it’s not that hard if you’re willing to make the change.

I know that after reading the information in the book I am good without the “yummy” things that are made with wheat. Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD! Buy it! It’s good.

Happy Monday, MLK day, etc. Enjoy your day whether you have the day off or have to work it like I do… make it a happy day 🙂

New Workout Schedule means – NO REST THURSDAY!

I had become a little bit of a slacker on Thursdays and I had no REAL reason to be one I just got lazy over the month of December. But with my new CrossFit Schedule I’m OFFICIALLY on a new course.

1/12/12 WOD

This morning’s WOD was a nice little chipper. I felt pretty good the whole way through until I got to the burpees. They got to me for some reason today! I got super hot super quick and couldn’t shed the layers fast enough. Once I regrouped I knocked them right out. And reluctantly went to the sled pull… 30yds, not that far but I’m just not good at this yet. It’s awkward and it’s cold outside… I’m whiny too! Get over it people! Hahaha, yes I do realize I get a little cry babyish…sometimes ALOT cry babyish but I wouldn’t be me any other way. I finished in 8:36… Things to work on: PISTOLS (I suck at those) and PULLING SLEDs!

Like I stated yesterday, dinner would be OUT not IN so no new recipes. I won’t always try out a new recipe either I suppose but I want to at least once a week. Sometimes I may choose to be a little more ambitious 🙂 It’s been brought to my attention by Ernie and others that maybe I should consider creating some sort of Paleo catering/mealplan and in theory it sounds like a good idea but I don’t consider myself a CHEF by any means. I like to cook. I like making something yummy but I’m just a regular ol’ person. I’m pretty clueless most of the time.

So is it an idea I should really try to process or is it a wishful thinking dream maybe turn reality in the future? I don’t know. Do y’all think there’s a market out there for such? I know people do it already. It’s not new or unique but how successful/fruitful can it be? I can’t afford timewise to do it for fun and I can’t afford to do it full time if it doesn’t pay the bills… so much to think about. Chime in if you feel the need. Sponsor me maybe! Hahah, I wish. Any comments for or against the idea are welcome.

Moving on… I did have a little extra chicken on Tuesday so I cooked it up, minced it up, added chopped mushrooms, finely chopped walnuts, jalepenos (roasted and fresh), onion to make a little filling for some lettuce wraps. I like to buy the butter lettuce where it’s still attached to the root. They are giant pieces, sometimes a little flimsy but mostly durable enough. I sent some with Ernie to lunch and he kindly snapped a shot for me. I brought the same thing but I left my tomato and avocado at home so it wasn’t as pretty. Just another quick idea if you’re in a rush. It doesn’t take long to cook a small amount of chicken and sautee up whatever else and slap it in a piece of lettuce to have a quick snack or meal.  NOTE: it’s best to mince, shred chicken while fresh cooked and warm. You may know that but I thought I’d share anyways.

Easy Breezy Chicken Wrap in Butter Lettuce

So that’s it for Thursday. Back to being active. It feels good. Feels like I was productive. I KNOW I KNOW before y’all tell me, I need rest too. I do get rest. I know when to hold back. My body tells me, I promise 🙂

Enjoy your day. Try to find a ray of sunshine if your day is bad and if your day is going good then just soak it all in! WOW I’m a cheeseball! Aren’t I?

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.

Is It Friday Yet?? (I wonder how many blogs have that as a title… ORIGINAL, I KNOW)

It’s been a busy busy week and it’s only Tuesday. It’s been busy work wise and at home.

I’ve never know where to start when I begin typing. Do I start with last night’s dinner or with the WOD this morning? Blah Blah Blah… y’all don’t even care I’m sure! I understand it’s a trivial decision but I don’t like leaving anyone confused.

So I’ll start with last night’s dinner – SPINACH STUFFED CHICKEN with BACON which turned out excellent! I found the recipe online (http://www.sparkpeople.com/mypage_public_journal_individual.asp?blog_id=4574737) and I’m sure it’s been posted, reposted and modified to anyone’s liking so please NOTE you can be as creative as you want to be with this recipe.

Sizzlin Bacon


Garlic, Onions (washed out :(), and Spinach


Stuffing the Chicken Breast


A Lil Blurry... But Seasoned and Ready to Bake


Voila! Stuffed Chicken, Brocolli and Guacamole


All That Stuffing.... Yummmy!

Spinach Stuffed Chicken With Bacon

INGREDIENTS:
10 slices of “clean” bacon, (nitrate, nitrite free, etc.), divided
1/2 cup red onion chopped (I used yellow onion)
4 large garlic cloves chopped
3/4 pound of spinach, chopped
4-5 boneless skinless, organic, free range chicken breast

METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Take 6 slices of bacon and chop them up into about 1/2 inch pieces and fry them in a med-large skillet until nice and brown. Then remove the bacon from the pan and saute the red onion in the bacon grease for a few minutes. Add in the garlic cloves and saute until the onion is translucent. Add the spinach, sprinkle with salt and pepper, simmer just until the spinach is wilted nicely, and remove from heat to cool slightly.

Then taking your chicken butterfly each chicken breast and spread filling evenly on one half of each chicken breast. Then flip the other side of the chicken back over to cover the spinach filling, and wrap each with an additional slice of bacon. Place in a glass baking dish, sprinkle lightly with salt, pepper and dried Thyme leaves.

Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 35 minutes, then increase temperature to 500 and bake for 10 minutes more to brown the bacon. If it is not brown enough you can broil the chicken for a few minutes, but be sure to watch it! Serve and enjoy.

For more recipes visit: CrossFit Eureka’s Paleo Made Easy

Made for a good dinner and I was ready for bed not to long after. This morning was my “first” Tuesday workout in my new 4 day week at the Boom Box and I feel great!

I feel a little better at Snatch and besides not getting low enough on either snatch or cleans, I’m getting better at it in general.

01/10/12 WOD

The MetCon was fun! Yes FUN! I was giving myself a time of around 7 minutes because I haven’t really been doing any deadlifts lately. The weight was 85lbs to help ensure speed but it felt super light. Time 3:55! We have a newcomer that was there with me but he had a modified workout so it was just me on the board that early in the morning. I’m sure the rest of the day will put me to shame ESPECIALLY the high school BOYS… they blew my MetCon out of the water yesterday! Oh to be young 😀

01/09/12 WOD... Those Dang High Schoolers!

When I got home this morning post WOD I got a little ambitious with breakfast and took on some Coconut Pancakes from Mark Sissons “The Primal Blueprint Cookbook”. And they turned out quite dandy and the boys devoured the few I did make! Another win 🙂 I don’t have the book with me as I type this so I don’t have the recipe. But it’s simple and good. I did have to play with the liquids as it was a rather thick batter at first. But in the end they came out YUM-O!

Batter cookin' up - Treat like regular pancakes!


Doesn't look to shabby!


Finished Pancake! You can top with anything... Blackberries and Maple Syrup shown here.

There you have it! Not so sure I’ll be as ambitious tomorrow… but you never know! Happy Tuesday… SMILE! 🙂

Woohoo it’s Wednesday! (and more yummy goodness)

I feel really good today! I think getting back on track eating wise over the past few days has greatly helped me! After the cake ball frenzy before Christmas I continued to eat stocking stuffer candies and what not. I wasn’t too over the top as I was with the pizza and cookies but it was still MORE than I should have consumed in general. And after a couple of days of CLEAN eating I’m already feeling better.

1/04/12 WOD

The BOOM Box did not fail me and I had a great WOD. We worked on kipping and pullups after our warmup. I have the kipping down pretty good considering I suck at pullups. I stole Ernie’s “hand guard” thingies (like the ones gymnasts use) and those helped me out tremendously. I’m such a wussbag when it comes to hanging onto that bar! I’m so close at getting that kipping pullup. I can taste it! I want it so badly but I guess not badly enough to practice at home! Ha! I have to make the effort to work on those at home but I just don’t 😦 So after the kipping practice we had to do 3 sets of 5 strict pullups. I managed to get a few in with just the BLUE band (smallest band there is at our box) then I doubled up blue bands and finished out the reps. It’s hard work but I AM GETTING THERE!

And the MetCon was fantastic! Did I just say it was fantastic? Wow I may have suffered a blow to the head and I don’t recall! With the exception of a few NO REPS on my wall balls, I think I did well. Did I tell you I despise wall balls? Did I also tell you they are my enemy? Hehehe, Yes I know I did, I just wanted to make sure you’re following along! So 7 rounds of 7 wall balls, 7 ring rows and 200m run on rounds 2, 4 and 6. The fatigue really kicked in after the second run. Not sure if it was the cold air in my lungs that was bringing me down or just overall loss in arm strength. Round 6 was weak, but I finished strong in round 7 for an overall finish of 8:45.

Last night Ernie started his new 7pm Box time versus waking up early and being miserable….so I had some time to myself to play with my food processor and get dinner going. The shredding disc on my processor is AMAZING! In no time I had shredded zucchini and carrots! And I loved it. The kids were rather impressed as well! Now that I have shredding down, the plan was to make faux latkes and that is what I did. They fell apart a little too easy so next time I will add more egg to hold them together. I used grapeseed oil to cook them in and the taste was nice. Not sure how “paleo” grapeseed oil is because I haven’t done much research. It’s in several recipes I used but like you know by now there are varying lines of thought on “paleo”. Overall they came out great! Along with my latkes I baked some chicken and steamed a little broccoli. A nice light dinner 🙂

Dinner and testing out "latkes"

I’m a blog troll who randomly finds recipes from oddball places but I found this following recipe from Paleo Parents. I troll their blog regularly and like them on Facebook so this recipe “glowed” at me. And I knew I had to try it out.

A new treat Chocolate Banana Bites!

Dark Chocolate Banana Bites

2 bananas
5 eggs
3/4 C coconut oil
1/2 C maple syrup, we recommend Grade B
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 C almond flour (or coconut flour if you’re nut-free)
1/2 C cocoa powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon

1/2 C dark chocolate chips

Using an electric mixer or food processor, combine all of the wet ingredients (bananas should smooth out)
♥ In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients except chocolate chips
While mixing on low, add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just combined
♥ Sir in chocolate chips to the dough
♥ Using a silicon mini muffin pan or mini muffin liners on a metal pan, scoop the dough until almost full into mini muffin pans
Cook at 350 for 10 minutes

Makes 4 dozen; store chilled and let come to room temperature before serving or eating. This is a super easy recipe and perfect for letting kids help (♥)!

I had a super mini muffin pan and I felt like these just weren’t very pretty but they tasted just fine! I also have a 6 count mini muffin silicone pan that I have never used and it ended up being just perfect! I had to cook those a little longer, closer to 20 minutes but truly I don’t recall. I watched them for a while but I just don’t remember the exact timing. My apologies for being a slacker. A win from the kids and a SUPER WIN from Ernie as he devoured many of the super mini bites!

I’m glad I have another “treat” in my bag of recipes.

I hope y’all have a great day. See ya tomorrow! Woooooohooooo!

HELLO 2012!

Welcome to the NEW YEAR people! I’m really hoping it’s great. I plan to make it great regardless of what life throws at me 🙂

I bypassed yesterday’s blog because I was lazy and slept in and it was a day off. But today is a new day and I need to get my crap under control!

Let me recap for you NYE and the bringing in the New Year with FRAN! She’s a dirty girl and we started off by kicking her to the curb. I hope I don’t see her for a while but who knows. New Year’s Eve, Ernie and I hosted a small gathering of the Boom Beasts to eat, watch dvr’d CrossFit Games and then head over to the Boom Box to meet Fran.

The FEAST NYE!

As you can see by the spread of food I was a busy girl that day. New Year’s Eve PALEO feast! Everyone brought their own protein and I provided most of the sides. Everything but the Israeli salad (which was great and resfreshing) brought by Josh. On the menu was Kale Chips, Guacamole, Holiday Brussel Sprouts (taken from Everyday Paleo), Sweet Potato Casserole, Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus, Stuffed Mushrooms, Paleo Deviled Eggs, Walnut Date Bars and store bought veggie tray, fruit bowl and shrimp trays.

MY PLATE NYE

It was a good time and it appeared that everyone enjoyed the food and hanging with each other outside the BOX. A little after 11, we headed out to CrossFit Boom for a little warm up and the countdown to Midnight! There were 9 of us working out and we had to split up into two groups so I didn’t start at Midnight per say, I started at about 12:15. Travis (injured) wanted us to set a goal time so I said 12 minutes. Last time I did Fran was Nov 1 and I used 55lbs and finished in 11:38. This time around I used the RX’d 65lbs, still used bands for pullups and finished in 10:30. I’m getting there slowly but surely. For those of you that don’t know… FRAN is 21, 15, 9 of Thrusters and Pullups. So you do 21 Thrusters, 21 Pullups, 15 Thrusters, 15 Pullups, 9 Thrusters, 9 Pullups! Crazy insane I know but we brought in 2012 like that and it was actually a good time! I had a blast. It was also Jonas’ “first” BOOM workout. He starts officially today. I’m excited for him 🙂

2012 FRAN at MIDNIGHT 1/1/12

Sunday was absolute sleep and rest day. We didn’t do very much at all! Monday was back to CrossFit and shop day since we had the day off and we got all of groceries done for the week.

We did CFT for our WOD and it was good and not so good! I PR’d (Personal Record) my Press by 5lbs and my Backsquat by 5lbs. I did not however do good at Deadlift! I was not happy. I didn’t even come close to my Max of 185. Fatigue and bum hip got to me I think. So overall for the morning 140lbs backsquat, 65lbs shoulder press and 155 deadlift.

1/2/12 WOD

Starting next week I’ll be CrossFitting 4 days a week as Ernie graciously signed me up for an extra day! LOL, it should be good. But it’s still intimidating!

Doing a little Mobility post CFT WOD

So that was it for today people. Short and sweet! Happy Tuesday! Back to normalcy for the most part. No more vacation Days (which really make me lazy) 😦 Like I said earlier… 2012 will be great! Bring it!

Airrosti Amazeballs and Paleo-ish Enchiladas

Due to my head congestion I decided to flake out on bootcamp this morning. I know this is becoming a regular routine and I need to nip it in the bud NOW. I will, I PROMISE. And hopefully the congestion funk disappears soon as well.

This morning I had an AIRROSTI appointment for my hip. Over the past few months my hip flexor has gone from achey to just painful. It has affected my whole hip, glute and hammies. It’s obviously not stop you in your tracks pain but it’s affecting my lifts and some of my range in depth. I will say I wasn’t “sure” how this would go or how helpful it would really be but in just a short time A LOT of pain has been alleviated. It’s truly AMAZEBALLS. It’s as if the pain melted away. It still hurts where my hip pain originated from but the extra aches and pains are pretty much gone…. it should last but we’ll see. I have to go back 2 more times and hopefully I’ll be pain free by then. I will keep you posted! They gave me some stretches to do twice a day and a cool little wristband reminder. I also got a nice aqua blue kinesio tape up job on my leg to help support my muscles. I’m not saying it’s a miracle fix yet but I am saying the initial pain relief was good. Like I said I’ll keep you updated on what I feel like next week!

Airrosti Reminder Bracelet

Kinesio Tape Up

As for fun yummo goodness, I made chicken enchiladas this morning… CHICKEN ENCHILADAS you say? YES I did say. I had made chicken last night and had intentions of making this last night but without kids and with impatient Ernie we bailed on the chicken and went to Rockfish. It was alright, nothing great but it was quick and warm.

So to the chicken enchiladas. Like I said I had made chicken last night. I seasoned it up with my fave stuff… cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder. I let it cook on one side for a few minutes then flip it, let it cook for another couple of minutes then pour chicken broth over it (about half way filling pan). I let the broth boil, bring it to a simmer and cover it for 15 minute or so. Sometimes longer. Once it’s done, it’s perfect for shredding. I however put it in the fridge.

Chicken Partially Cooked

Adding the Chicken Broth

This morning I pulled out a couple of pieces and minced them up with my handy dandy chomper smasher thing from Pampered Chef (I’ve had this for years and love it). I don’t really have a recipe for my sauce but if you really are interested I will email it to you or write down a proper recipe. Pretty much I used:

Chicken Broth
Chili Powder
Cumin
Salt
Pepper
(whatever spices you like best)
Coconut Flour

Minced/Shredded Chicken

I don’t have measurements because I dump until I find a suitable flavor to my liking. I mix it all together and let it heat up on stove. I tried thickening with coconut flour but in my time frame I couldn’t get it to thicken and this is where “paleo-ish” comes into play. I went to my default cornstarch for thickening purposes. So I had to cheat but I was in a rush this morning and trying my best to make something for lunch!

All the while I have begun prepping my “TORTILLA” made with coconut flour and egg whites! This was taken from Paleo Comfort Foods. And this is my first recipe I’ve used out of their book. I wrote the recipe and directions from memory so they aren’t verbatim as to what they printed. But I think I got pretty close!

1/4 coconut flour
8 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp baking soda
coconut oil for greasing pan

Preheat pan. Mix all ingredients except coconut oil. Whisk well and make sure it’s smooth mixture. Add 1tsp of coconut oil in pan and swirl around to coat all of pan. Pour 3 TBS of mixture into pan and swirl around making your tortilla (crepe-like). I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup. Let the tortilla cook for a couple of minutes. Like a pancake you don’t want to try and flip it too soon or it will fall apart. Once it’s golden on one side flip it and let it cook up. Voila your first tortilla is done! Re-grease before each tortilla with coconut oil.

Tortilla In The Making

Finished Tortilla

I didn’t have time to make a fancy morning presentation, but I packed everything up and brought it to work. Now I know it’s not the same but my goal was to make these enchiladas! So if I have to break it up over the day then I will and I did. Next time, with better preparation I’m sure I could make my tasty enchiladas into some really outta this world gourmet goodness but for now they are plain. Co-worker approved as well as I let Yie (the friend/co-worker I blab to about everything) taste it and she was intrigued and ready to buy coconut flour! I added some avocado slices and grape tomatoes and it was pure YUMMINESS that I feasted on!

Preparing My Feast at Work

All Done! Chiken Enchiladas!

And there you have it for Thursday. Tick Tock the year is almost up! It’s hard to believe! Thanks for sticking with me so far and pray that 2012 will be FANTABULOUS!

All by Myself Wednesday

Found this on the interwebs - LOVE IT!

Oh how lonely it is to show up to the box and I’m the only one there to do work! It surprised me because when I first started out I was the only one at 5 am for a couple of weeks and it was nice. Maybe it was ok then because I was new to it all and I was learning a lot at once. But today it was so quiet. I still put in all my effort just no high fives or unison groans of exhaustion at the end. On the upside I had some extra time to work on kipping and pretending in my head I could do pullups. But geez, the bar hurts my ‘delicate’ hands so much! Yes I need some sort of protection and I need to shop for some gloves or something but I just don’t ever make time for it. My hands have developed some nice calluses but it still hurts! I’m a big ol’ baby, I know. That’s what you’re thinking too, I can feel it!

Even though I’m a big baby I still work hard. Just some things I don’t get along with right now. So onto the WOD for the day:

Skill
Ring Dips
3,3,3,3,3

METCON:

3 Rounds
3×3 Power Clean@75%
3×3 BFB
Add (10-5lbs) after each round

I’m getting better at ring dips that’s for certain but on the last round I tried to go without the band and HOLY SHITAKES it’s hard. I was feeling so strong busting out my measley 3 reps with the smallest band there is but when it came down to no “safety net, crutch, etc..” I failed! Argh, I even suggested they make another colored band just the tiniest bit smaller than the blue one! Hahaha. I wish! I’m getting there… I guess. I just want to get there faster.

This was me in Oct. I'd say my form is a little better now and 65lbs isn't near as heavy 🙂

As far as the MetCon went, I was sailing along smoothly. The 3×3 was confusing in writing but once explained I was good to go…. (3 cleans, 3 burpees) x 3, rest 1 minute, (3 cleans, 3 burpees) x 3, rest 1 minute, (3 cleans, 3 burpees) x 3… THE END. Make sense? I hope so, if not too bad! I finished in 6:17 and I need to start remembering to take pics of the board! GRRRR!

This was an ALL about my workout post today! Hahahah, No FOODs yet. Although we are having a pre-NYE WOD feast at my house, so I will be testing out some new recipes from Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield. It was a Christmas present and I think it will come to good use!

Yummy Goodness Coming Soon!

One last thing – Happy Birthday to my momma who would have been 64 today. A hole is still bigger than ever in my heart from losing her almost a year ago. Wow, time passes fast! I posted on Facebook earlier today: If birthdays exist in Heaven, I pray my Mom is having the best birthday ever! I miss you mom, you left us too soon … still so lost without you.

See y’all tomorrow!