Practially Paleo Chocolate Cake

Tuesday's Workout, July 26
Deadlift 5x3
I was having a hard time settling on a working set...
203x3, 173x3, 183x3x3

WOD
400 m run
then 5 rounds of-
10 hang power cleans 63#
20 walls balls 12#
finish with 400 m run
Time: ??? too long

This wod beat me down and that was particularly frustrating after finishing the class the day before feeling pretty great about everything. I was basically *this* close to sitting down on the floor during those wall balls and just stopping. I didn't sit down, but I sure walked around a lot. It was one of those "just try to think about this and get the work done" wods.

Wednesday I was just sore everywhere and had desire at all to go to the gym. I also had a lot of work to get done, and a paleo chocolate cake to bake. Sometimes you just have to do what needs to be done!
Morgan and I got together and adapted this cake from Elena's pantry. And yes, we used honey, a sweetener, and chocolate chips. Sometimes, like for a birthday party, you just do what you need to do to still have fun and enjoy your food. :)

Practically Paleo Chocolate Cake
¾ cup coconut flour, sifted
¼ cup cacao powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 eggs
1 cup coconut oil
1 ½ cups honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon orange zest
2 tbsp orange juice

In a small bowl combine flour, cacao, salt and baking soda
In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, blend eggs, oil, honey, vanilla and orange zest and juice.
Add dry ingredients into large bowl and continue to blend
Oil (2) 9 inch round cake pans and dust with coconut flour
Pour batter into pans and bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes
Remove from oven, allow to cool completely then remove from pans
Frost and serve

Frosting
1 ½ cup dark chocolate chips
½ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
In a small saucepan over very low heat, melt chocolate and oil
Stir in vanilla and salt
Place frosting in freezer for 15 minutes to cool
Remove from freezer and whip frosting with a hand blender until it is thick and fluffy
Frost over cake

Happy 4th!

Rowing Deals and Paleo Zone

Back in the gym, after a great, relaxing week away.

Overhead Squat
45x5
65x5
75x5
80x5
85x3

That was taxing on my wrists, and I should have taped them up. I guess it has been a long time since I have worked on sets of 5, but I know what I need to do.

WOD
7 rounds on a 1 minute interval
5 Clean and Jerks-Grace style 83#
Max calories row
Do 5 c&j, rest remainder of minute, row for max cals in 1 minute, repeat for 7 rounds.

I actually did the first round with 103, but those jerks were so, so hard for me today, so I went back down to 83. And even though I was keeping track of my rounds, 7 is apparently a really high number for my brain. I still had rounds to finish long after others were done, so I either took way too long to get into the rower each round, or I just did 8 rounds. But being the accommodating coach that he is, Sam didn't want to be stop and assume I had miscounted. He wanted to make a deal: row a final 100m under a 2 min pace, and I wouldn't have to run today.

That decision was made in just under a blink of the eye.

I don't think I have ever chosen to run instead of row.

And in other news, I think I am going to paleo-zone things for a little while. My weight has been going down again, but I'd like to take some of this flexible time I have during the summer to make sure I am maximizing my work.

And since there is no reason to wait, I'll start it up tomorrow. So tonight I'm doing some cooking-
Sausage and leek saute
Asian meatballs
Mediterranean Turkey
Sauteed Asparagus
Steamed Green Beans
and I'll slice up some fresh veggies for salad

Italian Sausage Saute

Trader Joe's Italian Sausage Saute

When I am in a hurry, I often make this type of dinner since so many vegetables from TJ's are chopped and ready to cook. I usually just take a bunch of stuff and throw it in a pan, but when I think about it a bit more first, it often turns out even yummier. :)

1 pkg. sweet Italian Chicken sausage, casing removed, crumbled and browned in a large saute pan

Then I deglaze the pan with some chicken broth or white wine.

Add julienned sun-dried tomatoes, chopped leeks, oregano, basil and thyme.

Then I finish with sliced zucchini and chopped green beans.

Season with salt and pepper.

I adore leeks, so just about anything I make with them becomes a new favorite!

The Shopping Flow Chart

Here is a shopping guide to help in this new year. This is one of the most basic rules I use to make food choices every day-is it real food? Simply avoiding processed foods of any kind cuts out junk and makes shopping easier on the pocket book.

Starting Paleo

Several friends have asked what they need to know to make the switch to paleo eating. This is the time of year when we all start thinking about changes! Here are a few of my favorite sources of basic information-

Getting Started Tips
Robb Wolf's Getting Started

Robb Wolf's Sample Meal Plans

The Whole 30

Recipes
The Performance Menu

Everyday Paleo

Paleo Search Engine

Nell Stephenson

My advice to anyone making the switch is to focus first on your food quality, and know that once you are in the habit of buying and eating quality, real food you will be able to make changes to the combinations, timing, and quantity. If we are honest, we need to make manageable, accomplishable changes instead of getting wrapped up in reading and implementing everything that everyone says about paleo. Don't get caught up in feeling like you have to read all there is and get it all "right" from day one! Start eating the right foods: meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruit.

If you make this your priority now, and give yourself time to really adjust to this (like a month), you will have plenty of time later to sweat the other details that many like to worry about. Later on you will be able to decide how many nuts you should eat each day, whether you should drink water with your meals, how many minutes after waking you should eat breakfast, whether vinegar is paleo or not, or any of the many things that paleo people can completely stress and debate over.

The Paleo New Year:beef jerky

My wonderful family gives me lots of support as I keep working on this job of becoming fit and healthy, even when they give me Christmas presents!

One sister made me a big batch of these delicious paleo energy bars. They are fabulous! Not too sweet, plenty of good fat to keep you satiated, and very delicious. I'll be making some of my own in the weeks to come to help tide me over on the days when I am out all day and find it tough to fit in a regular meal.

My parents gave me a great meat cookbook, full of info on making your own bacon, sausage and jerky. So I am now on a quest to make the best paleo jerky I can-no sugar, soy or other questionable or undesirable contents. Last night I dried 9 trays of it, half with Italian seasoning, and half with a pepper garlic seasoning.

Initial observations are that homemade jerky tastes a lot more like actual beef. Have you ever noticed that many brands store bought jerky have plenty of seasoning, but then you realize that there really isn't much of the actual beef flavor? This homemade jerky tastes real. I also notice that without the sugar that is found in just about every type of commercial jerky, it seems to dry out a bit faster than I expected. It doesn't taste bad, but it is different.

WOD, Jan 2, 2011

Open Gym
Stefani picked the wod, but she takes no responsibility for the general "wonderfulness" of the wod since it came from Joc's class. Doing this one with Stefani, Melissa and Lindsay made it possible to actually finish the 20 minutes. I was ready to stop after 5 minutes...It also really helped to have Danny pushing us. That was a lot of push presses!!

AMRAP in 20 minutes
10 push press 63#
10 KBS 35#
10 Box Jumps 16"
Rounds-10

Thanksgiving Chief, year 2

Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2010

Front Squat + Jerk

63x2+1

83x2+1

93x2+1

103x1+1

113x1+1

WOD

partner Chief with Sam Y

3 Rounds

AMRAP in 5 min

3 Power Cleans 83#

6 push ups

9 squats

1 min rest between rounds

Partners alternate the Chief sequence and while one is working, the other holds the plank position

7+7 squats/7+5 squats/7 +2 squats

Try as I might, I could never get that last round finished! I loved, loved, loved this partner Chief. I almost didn't come to the Thanksgiving class when the memories of last year's Chief WOD came flooding back. But of course, I am very glad I made it in. I told my sister on the way in that if we had to do the running partner Chief, we'd have to be together and she would get to run 600m rounds while I ran 200. Then when I got home, I went back and read my entry from that wod.

Way back then I was still slightly overwhelmed by the shear eliteness of Cliff and Golden, so there was a lot of pressure from being the way, way, way slowest person in that wod. Ah the memories... And a year later, I still whine about running, and I am still often the slowest person in the wod. Now being slow doesn't bother me as much, and I am ever so slightly better at running, slightly being the operative word.

And then I went home and finished all of the preparations for our Thanksgiving feast. I am often asked if I cheat, so here is some photographic evidence of my cheat day-

The paleo foods-

Turkey, one smoked and one roasted

Sweet Potatoes

Paleo Stuffing

Brussel Sprouts

Green Beans with Bacon

pumpkin bars

Apps: vegetables, fruit, mini sausages

The non-paleo foods-

Cranberry sauce

gravy (thickened with potato starch and no one noticed the difference)

Cauliflower squash with asiago cheese

real, traditional mashed white potatoes

gluten free biscuit

whipped cream on my paleo bars

Apps-jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped with bacon, artichoke jalapeno dip, m&ms

And wine and gluten-free beer

Thanksgiving Cooking-Paleo Pumpkin Pie Squares

Paleo Pumpkin Pie Squares

Ingredients:
Nut crust
1/2 a cup of pecans, chopped up as finely as possible
1 cup of almond flour
one squirt of honey
a dash of salt
4 tablespoons of coconut oil

Filling
1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree (make sure you purchase pumpkin and not pumpkin pie filling that is pre sweetened)
3 eggs whisked
roughly 1/8 cup of honey
3/4 cup of full fat coconut milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 a teaspoon of nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon of ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees for the crust.

Mix all of the ingredients together for the crust and then press into a 9x9 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Bake until light brown. For me, this took 10 minutes, but it could take anywhere between 8-20 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven.

Combine all of the ingredients for the filling and pour on top of the nut crust. Lower the oven temp to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. When finished, the middle will still be wobbly, but the edges will be set. Remove the pumpkin bars from the oven and let come to room temperature, at least 45 minutes. The pumpkin will solidify as it cools. Cut into bars and serve!

Paleo Pork Chop Dinner

My Quick Dinner (about 15-20 minutes from start to finish)

1. Start the butternut squash
Empty a bag of peeled and chopped butternut squash onto an oiled baking sheet
Drizzle a bit more olive oil over the squash
Season with salt and ground pepper
Put into a 375 degree oven.

2. Make the Pork Chops
Heat an oiled skillet to med-high and when it is hot, add 3 boneless pork chops, seasoned with salt and pepper

While the chops are browning (this should take about 6-10 minutes and you just have to remember to turn them) chop a small shallot and a handful of cherry tomatoes

You should also have enough time to make the garlic butter by mixing a couple tablespoons of butter with 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic. Set this aside until the chops are done.

When the pork chops are done, remove then from the pan. Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 cup of broth, white wine or even water. Deglazing is done by turning the heat to high, waiting a moment for the pan to get nice and hot and then quickly added the liquid to the pan and scraping up all of the browned bits of meat from the bottom of the pan.

As soon as the pan is deglazed, add the shallots and tomatoes to the pan and cook this for about 2 minutes, just enough to soften the shallots and release some of the tomato juice.

Serve the pork chops by placing a dollop of garlic butter and some of the tomato-shallot sauce on each chop.

Your squash should be just about done by now!

**And yes, butter is not exactly paleo, but I was sure to use grass-fed butter. :)

The Paleo Challenge

The votes for Paleo 2.0 were counted and I won. :) I am so very appreciative of all the encouragement and support that so many people provided. It was a lot of work, but it was very, very worth it. You can read more about it at the link above.

Thursday

I worked more on my pull ups. :) They are HARD without a band!

WOD

5 rounds

5 pull ups (violet band)

5 box jumps 20"

Time: 3:22

The difference between how little work it took to do pull ups with the green band and how MUCH work it took to do them with the violet band was significant. But I remember when I could not do one with the green, or even when I could not do one with the blue, no matter how hard I tried!

And the box jumps-I was doing them all without resetting my feet on the floor, so I am inching closer to cycling those 20 inchers.

Sat

Chinese dumbbell rows 35# 3x10

WOD

5 rounds

10 DB snatch R. 30#

10 DB snatch L. 30#

10 Burpees

Time: 11:50

I love burpees. They are the best. I think I love them so much and have gotten so good at them that I probably don't even need to do them anymore. At least for a very long time. Right?!?

Knees to Elbows?!?

SNPP (behind the neck)

73x5

83x4

93x3

103x2

113x1

WOD
All 2 minute rounds

4 rounds:

100 m shuttle

15 plate sit ups (25#)

(subbed to 7 GHD sit ups for the last 2 rounds)

4 rounds

150 m row

10 T2B, subbed to almost K2E

I liked the rest in each round. That worked well for me. :) Joc is good at pushing us to work nice and hard with these wods. She is giving me lots of practice in getting my breathing under control...

When I was done, Kyle muttered something about knowing my secret. What secret? I have no secrets!! Well, it turns out that he thought that I was indeed able to do the actual K2Es and that I was just sandbagging. No, I can't do them! I know I can't. I've never been able to come even close, so I just pull my legs up and engage those abs. I have been getting better, but nope, can't actually do them. Kyle didn't agree.

So I told Kyle that I would show him that I couldn't do it.

Then I tried it again. I did it. Bummer! Now I'll have to actually do real K2Es. :)

In keeping with my goal to make sure I was eating really well this week, my menu for today-

Breakfast

eggs, Italian sausage, tomatillo salsa, and avocado

Snack, post wod

almonds

Lunch

grilled pork tenderloin with peach salsa

roasted broccoli with caramelized onions

Dinner

grilled hamburger patty with tomato, avocado, and tomatillo salsa

roasted broccoli

Dessert

strawberries and blueberries with coconut milk

Immediate Goal Setting

2 Position Snatch
1 power snatch + 1 hang snatch

I just did a bunch with 53 and then a bunch with 63. I was highly organized in my approach to this one! :)

WOD
5 rounds
30 lateral jumps
10 cross chops rt. 25#
10 cross chops lt.
7 ring dips (BB)
Time: 7:43

Since I went to the Amundsen goal-setting seminar, I figured I would set an immediate goal for this wod-

1. get the first round of jumps unbroken-done

This was the first time that I have done ring dips in a wod, so I started with the blue band. Next time I will use the green band. I will also have to think about whether I should use a heavier KB for the cross chops, but I'll worry about that one later.

One of my 7 day goals is to refocus on my diet, with proper attention to my protein and carb (specifically vegetable) intake. I find that I can fall into a pattern of eating protein at each meal, but not eating nearly as many veggies as I did back when I carefully paleo-zoned. I am not worried that I am eating too few carbs since I allowed myself fruit for the summer, but I know that I have been missing out on all the goodness that comes with a variety and great volume of vegetables. I have also fallen into the habit of sometimes just eating 2 meals in a day, and then I just get hungry too soon and eat lots and lots of fruit (or sometimes...even chocolate.)

So I took a bit of time this afternoon to shop and then prep somethings ahead.


Roasted Broccoli with Caramelized Onions
The onions elevate roasted broccoli (already pretty fantastic) to a whole new level of vegetable goodness.

1 bag of broccoli florets (from TJs)
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper
olive oil
butter

Oil a baking sheet lightly. Dump the broccoli on the pan and sprinkle with a bit more olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast this in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt a pat of butter in a skillet, preferably cast iron. If you don't have a cast iron pan, this is a very, very good reason to get one. When the butter is hot, but before it starts to burn, add the onions. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and add some more butter if it needs it. Turn down the heat to med-low and cook the onions until brown and soft, about 20 minutes, stirring as needed to keep them from burning. If they seem to be burning, not slowly browning, you can turn down the heat and/or add a few tablespoons of water.

Many recipes for caramelized onions will call for some type of sugar, but you do not need any at all. As long as you cook them slowly and long enough to really brown, the onions will be sweet on their own.

When both the broccoli and onions are done, toss together and enjoy!

Team WOD

The 10am was a full class, so there was lots of activity and energy to keep everyone moving. On top of that we had a team wod, so there was no rest for the wicked, and thankfully, the righteous don't need any.

Team WOD
8 rounds each
5 burpees
3 push presses 83#

then each person completes:
40 KBS 45#
(broken into 5 rep/round)

then each person:
8 sprints

Time, with Lisette: 15:21

I was admittedly performing a rather loose interpretation of a push press on this one, but I was just going with the idea of shoulder to overhead, anyway. I am a pretty rotten push presser and generally either press the bar or jerk it, so this creative expression of the lift is not surprising.

I also did some canning and cooking and ended up with some wonderful peach salsa, tomatillo salsa, and plum chutney, but I have to find the cable to upload the picture...But fresh salsas are a wonderful paleo addition as they are great on grilled chicken, pork, beef, fish, sausage, and eggs. And they are super easy!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Roast these under the broiler until nice and charred:
about 8 tomatillos, paper skin removed
1 large onion, cut into chunks
2-3 jalapenos
2-3 cloves of garlic

Then cut the stem out of the tomatillos. Toss all of the roasted veggies into the food processor and pulse until it is chopped, but not mush.

Add:
a handful of cilantro
the juice of a lime
salt and pepper

Finish processing and enjoy!

Buffalo Tri-Tip

Push Press+Push Jerk+Jerk
53
73
83
93
103
108
113
118
123 fail on the push press

WOD
AMRAP in 10 minutes
200 m row
10 OH plate lunges 25#
10 K2E
Rounds: 4 + row

This wod was nice and fast, but still very hard. K2E were definitely the hardest part and the lunges were easier than I thought they would be.

I grilled up some buffalo tri-tip for my dinner, and it was very, very tasty with a wonderful rich, deep flavor. I loved it and hope that Cliff will go hunt some buffalo for all of us...

C&J, Deadlifts and Yummy Food

Clean and Jerk, on the minute
80x5
88x5
93x5
No misses
Then
103x1
108x1
113x1

The 113 clean was not very beautiful...

WOD
AMRAP in 10 minutes
7 deadlifts 165#
12 GHD situps
Rounds-4 and 7 DL, 8 GHD

Yes, I was that close to finishing the 5th round, and if I had moved faster I could have finished that round. By the way, GHD situps still make me lightheaded and dizzy. Good times!

I went home, did some work and then took a nap.

Then I cooked dinner-
stuffed bell peppers
glazed carrots
melon with prosciutto

It was one of those super nourishing meals, not just food for fuel, but deeply satisfying food. Wish you all could have enjoyed it with me. :)

And yes, amazingly enough I realize that there are now plenty of time that I eat just to fuel my body. I eat that chicken or cauliflower simply because I need to, not because I want to. I didn't think I would ever be that person. I ate because it was good. One of the problems was that there was just too much that I thought was good and it actually wasn't. Now I make sure I still have plenty of food that I love, but there are plenty of meals that I just eat because I know I have to, because it is what I need to work well.

Jump, Jump, Jump

Snatch PP
63x5
73x4
88x3
98x2
108x1
118 fail

SLDL
83x3x5

You do enough of those behind the neck presses and jerks and you learn to absorb that weight a little better! You do those SLDLs and they just remind you that your hamstrings exist and complain a bit if you don't give them enough attention.

WOD
8 rounds
8 Box Jumps 20"
8 KBS 44#
50 m run
Time: 11:56

I could say that the difference between completing 36 jumps on the 20" box last week, coupled with almost no other leg work, compared to the 64 jumps, coupled with the runs, was just a tad noticeable. If you want a more honest assessment, I'd have to say that it was tough to even finish. Blah, like leaning against the wall, wondering why I put myself through this stuff kind of tough. I'll admit that I felt pretty proud/hard-core/legit for actually completing those box jumps, but it was hard to get them done.

And guess who actually completed a double-under? Yep, and then I was able to do it again. I was just too overwhelmed with the thrill of a double-under to get the rope around again...

On a diet note, I went to Whole Foods yesterday, fell so in love with all the fabulous fruit that the produce guy kept giving me to taste that I decided to add fruit back in for the summer. It is good to eat seasonally, right? I think I'm going to have figs and prosciutto tomorrow.

Weekend Cooking Bliss

Cooking wonderful food makes me happy, very happy. So this weekend I crammed in a bunch of things, almost all paleo:

Chicken Curry
Cucumber Salad
I made so, so much of both of these! I made dinner for 3 different families, and I have more for myself to eat this week.

Wilted Spinach Salad
How can you lose when you use the bacon drippings in the dressing!?! It has been so long since I have made this salad, but I won't wait so long next time.

Mango Salsa and Grilled Chicken
Suffice it to say, I love living near huge produce markets that have so many options. I went in for strawberries, but when I walked past the mangoes, they just called out to me and I had to think of something to make with them.

Fresh Fava Bean Ragout
When your sister goes out of town and leaves you her CSA box, you never know what you are going to get to cook. I had 2 weeks worth of fava beans, and I had to come up with something. It was an exercise in slow food to shell them AND peel every bean, but it was worth it!

And to round it all out, a gluten-free, non-paleo
Chocolate Cake

The Best Burgers

My dinner last night:

I loved it, every single part of it. The burger is a Jamaican Jerk Burger. I figured I needed all the help I could get with my Olympic lifting.

But really, the marinade for this burger is so full of flavor. It is so wonderful that I would enter it into the greatest burger contest ever, if only I could. Every time I make these, I wish that one of our many very helpful government reps would do something to change the law that keep me, a Californian, from entering a contest run by a Californian company. There is no other burger contest I want to enter. I only want to enter the biggest and the best. Not that I resent that liquor law or anything...

And yes, those are sweet potatoes. I don't eat them very often, but they make me very happy when I do, especially when I top them with lime juice, cumin, cayenne, and green onion.

Oh, and I do take some of the credit for Anna's PR on the jerk today. The food you eat really does make a difference.

Eggs, Properly Scrambled

Eating eggs everyday or almost everyday has the potential to be boring, but it does not have to be. There are umpteen ways to cook an egg, but my fall-back method is the scramble. If you do it right, it is really hard to get sick of a properly cooked egg.

I'll tell you right off the bat to save your money and skip this contraption. No one needs an ez cracker or an ez scrambler, but the infomercial is highly entertaining.

There is some disagreement on the idea of a proper scrambled egg, but I am whole-heartedly in the camp of creamy, soft, fluffy scrambled eggs. Overcooking your eggs to the point of dry, little pellets is heartbreaking and should be avoided at all costs. Even cooking your eggs closer to dry rather than creamy is a culinary travesty that I would love to see ended.

So here's what you need to know-

Crack your eggs into a bowl and lightly whisk. Add a bit of salt, pepper, and a pour of coconut milk (in my pre-paleo days I used cream.)

Put your skillet on the stove with med-low heat. It is very important to keep the heat low. High heat=killing your scrambled eggs. Add your fat of choice: olive oil, coconut oil, or bacon fat. Pour the whisked eggs into the pan, but reserve just a tablespoon or so of the egg. Keep this little bit in the bowl for the very end of the cooking. Stir the eggs very gently over the low heat until they are just set. Keep the eggs moving slowly during the cooking and remove them from the heat as soon as they are set, while still looking a bit wet. The eggs will continue to cook even after you take them off the stove, so you want them looking just very barely done. Now add that reserved bit of egg and mix gently.