Cookies with a Twist

After seeing Christie's modified cookie recipe, I got super excited to try it myself.  Note: eating two in one day can make you feel kind of bloated... however, that being said, they are great protein and totally satisfy my crunchy munchy cravings!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Chopped Fugi Apples, skin on
1 Banana
1 Cup Raw Almonds
1 Cup Hazel Nuts 

1 Cup Shredded Zucchini

1/2 Cup chopped dates

1 Tbsp Almond Butter
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tsp Coconut Oil (melted)
3 Eggs

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place your almonds and macadamia nuts in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Or if you are feeling especially strong (note, seeing as I don't own a food processor, by default, I was feeling especially strong!) - use a knife and cutting board.  Place chopped nuts into a mixing bowl.  Follow the same with your apple, banana, dates, and zucchini.   Add almost butter, cinnamon, vanilla, coconut oil, and eggs and mix well using a hand mixer or your muscles.

Form golf-ball sized scoops with your hands (super gross, but way easier) on a  parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Flatten into a "cookie" shape and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Bottoms should be lightly browned. 17 minutes was the ticket!  They were firm yet still nice and chewy. 

Here we are in Week 4 of the challenge, and I'm doing better than I thought.  Or really, I'm happy with my current progress and my ability to think about what is actually going in my mouth.  In all actuality, I am surprised at how much I've allowed myself to "cheat" on the weekends.  I'm not really cheating with food (okay, okay... I had some amazing ribs last night with BBQ sauce - and a frozen yogurt with my little ones on Thursday) so much as I'm cheating with drink.  By the end of my long week(s), I'm absolutely ready for a cocktail.  Its not simply the booze I'm craving... but more, the desire for something other than water. 

The challenge last week was to drink huge quantities of water.  This was a no brainer for me, as I drink a shit ton of water everyday.  By the time I get home from work, I've consumed at least my body weight (oz) in water.  Perhaps this is why I have the huge craving for the sweet flavor of gin or a light beer.  So, on that note, although I have cheated with booze, I've made good booze choices: Gin and diet tonic or Michelob Ultra (this is truly the pussiest beer they make - however, surprisingly good). 

So, this week, I'm going strong.  My goal is to not drink at all this weekend and prep myself for the Quincy Mountain Harvest Festival.  What's the Harvest Festival you ask?  Well, its a sweet beer fest in the mountains where you drink unlimited quantities of heavy beer for about four hours.  By the end of the festival, I am usually a bit squinty eyed and quite bloated.  Ah yes, I can't wait.  The happiness surrounding this years' festivities is the arrival of Christie (the other cool blogger at Twin Challenge) and my amazing brother-in-law, Mark.  We plan on rocking out some crossfit at IMF on both Friday and Saturday before the event.  My hope is that a week of great workouts, and a dry prior weekend, will help zero out the negative effects of heavy beer drinking.

Here's to beer!  (For the record, even scanning the beer images at Google made my mouth water - should this be telling me something?)

¿Cuántos k??

What a day!!!!

The hubby and I woke up this morning at 5:45, made a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, sweet potato, and ground pork, and headed off to the Chapman 5k.  This was my 5th race (and yes, I'm calling a 5k a race) and I was pumped.  Not only did I feel like my body was in incredible shape, I'm also at day 20 not smoking.  Needless to say, my lungs were ready for the challenge.  Our good friend Chris joined us for the run, and his amazing wife watched our spawn.  We started off strong and had a great run.  Unfortunately, my right quad felt like it literally was jumping into my stomach around the end of the 2nd mile, so I had to stop and stretch it out for a few seconds.

Regardless we all finished really well:

Chris: 26:34 (211 of 630/29th in the 25-29 age group)
Mark (the hubby): 26:55 (222 of 630/24th in the 45-49 age group)
Me: 27:42 (122 of 920/19th in 30-34 age group)

Because that wasn't enough torture for my already tortured quads, I attended the Rowing Seminar at my Box.  First off, it was a great seminar.  Steve did an amazing job and I really learned a lot.  Not only did we practice our techniques for about 2000 meters, we then proceeded to do the actual 2k workout.  Oh my god!  It took everything I had to finish under 9 minutes.  I was trying so hard to keep my split in the 2:10-2:15 range.  I succeeded and posted a time of 8:49.  Not too shabby for my first 2k rowing attempt.

Tomorrow:  REST!

Cookies (just pretend)

(I know, I know... I need to work on my "food styling" photos.  As my sister said - 
everything I make likes like throw up.  Appetizing?)

First, let's give credit where credit is due.  Kudos to Civilizedcavemancooking.com for a fabulous recipe.  These "cookies" are delicious.  They remind me of a Cliff Bar (without all of the bad crap in them).  The hubby even approved:)

Ingredients:

1 Cup Chopped Red Apples, skin on
1 Banana
1 Cup Raw Almonds
1 Cup Macadamia Nuts (I threw in some hazelnuts too)
1 Cup Shredded Coconut Unsweetened
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Tsp Coconut Oil (melted)
3 Eggs

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Place your almonds and macadamia nuts in your food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Or if you are feeling especially strong - use a knife and cutting board.  Place chopped nuts into a mixing bowl.  Follow the same with your apple and banana.  (I only used 1/2 of a small banana.  At first I didn't even want to put one in, but the creamy texture definitely helps as an adhesive.)  Add coconut, cinnamon, vanilla, coconut oil, and eggs and mix well using a hand mixer or your muscles.

Form golf-ball sized scoops with your hands (super gross, but way easier) on a  parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Flatten into a "cookie" shape and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Bottoms should be lightly browned.  In my awesome (now overworked) oven, 16 minutes was perfect.  They were firm yet still nice and chewy. 

Let's see if they pass the CF714 Trainer taste test....

Twice Baked Pork Sweet Potatoes

First off - thank you PaleOMG for the amazing recipe that I slightly tweaked as my own.  If you guys haven't checked her out - I highly suggest it.  She's actually funny (unlike our sad attempts).

Ingredients:

1 lb of ground pork (or turkey, chicken..whatever animal makes you happy)

2 large sweet potatoes

1 tbs coconut oil

1 yellow onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tsp of chipotle chili powder

1 tsp ground red pepper

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

½ tsp of paprika

Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.  Cut your sweet potatoes in half lengthwise and place face down on a cookie sheet (I used a little bit of coconut oil on the cookie sheet so they wouldn’t stick).  Bake for 25-35 minutes. 

While your potatoes are baking, sautee your onions and garlic in some coconut oil until the onions become translucent.  Add your ground meat.  When it is cooked half way, dump in your spices.  Remove from the heat when fully cooked.

When the potatoes are done cooking (the outside skins should be easy to push on), scoop out the insides and add to your meat mixture.  Be careful not to remove too much, or you won’t have any “boats” left to fill. 

Thoroughly mix together the sweet potatoes and meat mixture, then scoop back into your empty potato skins. 

Place the loaded potatoes back into the oven for 5-10 minutes to harden the mixture.

Seriously amazing.  I brought two halves for lunch today, but I think they would be delicious with some scrambled eggs too.

Talkin' Turkey...

So, after a long weekend and a crazy day at work, I decided to ditch out on crossfit and stay home to cook and do laundry (hot, I know).  So, amidst making my frittatas (the weekly go to breakfast) I decided that I was starving and in need of some protein.  

What is a paleo girl to do when she has nothing prepared and all she really wants is a granola bar and some gold fish crackers (damn you small children)?  Broil a turkey burger, that's what!  I pulled out a pre-made turkey burger, covered it in garlic powder and chili powder and popped it in the toaster oven for about 25 minutes.  Add some yummy tomatoes and romaine lettuce, and walah, a quick protein dinner with added veggies!  

Speaking of Turkey... I am sooo happy that the WLC will be over before one of my favorite food holiday!  I love mixing turkey, stuffing, corn (oh how I miss you corn), and mashed potatoes into a fabulous goolash and going at it!  Mmmmm...  

So, although I'm missing some foods and salivating at the thought of Turkey Day, I am super pleased that the WLC is intersecting Halloween.  I have zero self control when it comes to bite sized chocolate candy and reeses peanut butter cups.  Thank you WLC!

Where did you go willpower??!!!!

“I’m not gonna drink”

“I don’t want to lose my points”

Well, that didn’t happen.  I went down to San Diego with the best intentions.  I told myself that I was going to enjoy my mocktails and still try to have a good time.  What did I end up consuming?  Am I brave enough to make a list?

Our first stop was at BJ’s.  I had a Kona Longboard draft and it was delicious.  After 3 hours on the Harley, my throat was parched.

Next up was the Titled Kilt before the game.  Two Snake Bites (Harp/Cider), and a Lynchburg Lemonade (JD, sprite and triple sec).  

At the game I had about two tall boys of Corona light, a handful of peanuts, and a few pieces of red vines.

[Nope…still not done yet]  

After the game we decided to do some bar hopping.  Two vodka sodas later and I was spent (or so I thought).

When we got back to our hotel, I noticed this cute little wine bar on the corner and we decided to have a night cap before turning in.  Along with an amazing glass of Pinot, I had a slice of chocolate cake..  At that point I thought to myself (and my drunk self’s willpower leaves something to be desired), why not?  You’ve already lost your nutrition points for the day… enjoy some cake.  

Let’s recap shall we?  5 beers, three cocktails, a glass of wine, and a big ol’ piece of cake.  The best part of all of this:  I wasn’t that drunk.  I’m not sure how that worked out, but it did.  

Fast forward to Sunday morning, waking up in a ghetto hotel room, dreading a two hour Harley ride back home…  ouch!! 

Was it worth it?  On Saturday, yes.  Sunday morning: not so much.  My head hurt and my body rejected every ounce of my “good time.”  I felt extremely guilty about my indulgences.  Luckily, since my body rejected everything I put into it, I still felt slim.

Until the Brew fest on the 20th…  staying strong!