Banana Pecan Bread

OMG Amazing!!!!!  I seriously couldn't keep this in my house.  I had to cut up in cute little pieces and take it to my box.  It was deliciously sweet with a nice crunchy crust.

3 ripe bananas
4 Tablespoons ghee, melted
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
2 Tablespoons flax meal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease your loaf pan with coconut oil.  Mash the bananas and mix the wet ingredients together.  Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and slowly add to the wet mixture.  Mix well and pour into your pan.

My loaf cooked for 58 minutes and possibly could have gone a little less.  But then again, I have a tendency to overcook everything:)

Sweet Potato Chai Muffins

Something about the taste of Chai makes me ridiculously happy.  I borrowed this amazing recipe from PaleOMG (man, I love that girl).

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet potato or yam, cut in half lengthwise
• 1 banana, peeled
• 2 chai tea bags (no sugar added)
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup pecans
• ⅓ cup flax seed meal
• ⅓ cup coconut oil, melted
• 3 tablespoons coconut nectar (or other sweetener – add more if you want sweeter muffins)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 3-4 tablespoons coconut crystals (to garnish muffins)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 405 degrees. Cut sweet potato in half, place on baking sheet, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until super soft. Remove skin.
2. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.
3. Place soft sweet potato and banana in the food processor and puree. Then add chai tea herbs from two bags (discarding the chai bags), pecans, flaxseed meal, baking soda and powder, and cinnamon. Puree until completely broken down and smooth.
4. Then add the wet ingredients: coconut oil, eggs, coconut nectar, and vanilla extract.
5. Puree until smooth.
6. Line muffin tin with paper or silicone liners and use an ice cream scoop to scoop out and pour ingredients into each cup. The ice cream scoop keeps the muffins equal in size.
7. Sprinkle each muffins with a bit of coconut crystals.
8. Bake muffins for 25-30 minutes or until you poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
9. Let muffins cool before consuming, it helps the muffins meld together a bit more.

Body Fat (take 2)

At the beginning of this month my Box hosted a hormone/nutrition seminar given by Dr. Sean Breen.  Each person that attended got an InBodyAnalysis read done.  It measured your weight, water weight, lean mass, etc.  I was really pleased with the results.

Weight:                147.2
Water Weight:      91.51
Lean Body Mass: 125.2
Fat Body Mass:    22.31
BMI:                      22.4
BFP:                     15.2

Can you believe it?  15.2 body fat percentage.  This report put a smile on my face for the past month.  Not only that, but it has motivated me to keep doing what I'm doing: 

Eating clean and working out hard!!!

Two whole days...

Due to feeling under the weather on Saturday morning (damn you Nicki Bluhm concert and vodka-sodas), I decided to take it easy... i.e., sitting on the couch in my robe until 1:00 p.m.  With Sunday being my sweet girl's 3rd birthday party, needless to say, I haven't done anything in two days.  I hate taking two days off in a row.  I generally only allow myself one rest day (Sunday) a week, and even while I'm "resting," I'm still running around like the multi-taskin' girl that I am, squeezing in a few sit ups and air squats along the way.

I'm ready to hit the gym hard today, but I think my body is secretly thanking me. 

p.s.  I need to start practicing what I preach.  Remember that "self-inflicted allergy" post I did a few days ago...  threw that out the window along with three delicious cupcakes yesterday.  Ouch.

Back in the Saddle again...

Well, here we go again.  The Whole Life Challenge has been over since November; however, Christie and I are still pushing ourselves in healthy eating (that isn't to say that the occasional animal cracker binge does not occur) and crossfit. 

I've been crossfitting at IMF Crossfit for almost a year.  Each week I feel myself getting stronger and stronger...  Since November I have PR'd the following:

Deadlift:       215 lbs
Backsquat:   165 lbs
Strict Press:   75 lbs

In addition, I accomplished a ring dip and the kipping pull ups. 

What's next you ask? 

Stringing together more than 1 double under in a row.  What the hell is wrong with me?  Each time I actually get a double under, I'm so excited, I stop.  C'mon Jamie... its all in the wrists!!!

It's the little things in life...

...that make me happy...

Like my first unassisted strung-together pull-up!!!!!!!!

The trainers at CrossFit714 are amazing!!  Learning a different technique from each one helped me finally get that elusive pull-up.  This has been an amazing week for me.  PR'd my dead lift (205), my bench (101) and got my chin up over the bar.  

Floating on cloud nine!!!

Self-Inflicted Allergies?

(How I miss you blog!!)

The WLC ended in November and for the most part, I've continued eating Paleo.  Mind you, I'm not as strict as I was.  I don't think twice before I eat a chicken salad from El Pollo Loco, and I don't question our Sunday diner about what kind of beef is used in their sirloin patty and eggs.  But I do try to follow the basic fundamentals on a daily basis.  The few times I've "cheated" with ice cream or a handful of goldfish my body completely rejects (and that's the nice way of phrasing it) the dairy/gluten.  It's as if my body doesn't know how to process this foreign food and does whatever it can to get rid of it.

I've come to the decision that it's just not worth it.  My body functions better and is way happier when I eat clean.  I've also found that my workouts and runs are dramatically better when I've only put Paleo food into my body.

The WLC is beginning again in 3 weeks..  I can't decide if I want to participate again.  I was so discouraged the last time with my final workout and weight loss that I'm not sure if I want to put myself through the pressure again.  On the other hand, I loved the accountability that the WLC had to offer.  It almost felt like an "atta girl" every time I logged in.

A few more weeks to decide...  Twin????