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!

A Lot of Work

Monday

Deadlift, halting
5x2 0r 3
123, 173, 203, 223x2


I was having a hard time with the halting.



WOD
done with a partner, Anna
2000 m row (split into 500 m rows)
150 KBS 35# (sets of 20)
100 burpees (sets of 10)
So...we finished the last exercise after the 20 minute cut off-
150 med ball toss sit ups 8#
Final time-28:40


We kept all the work evenly divided until the end of the burpees when I made Anna do 5 extra so that we could get the burpees all done RIGHT at the 20 minute cut off. It is a good thing that I was on top of things like that so I could correctly dole out the work load to make sure we got done in time.


This was a great every once in a while wod. ;-) It was exhausting, but it felt great to get all that work done. There was not one team in my class who finished before the cutoff, but we are all so hardcore, we finished any way. That is the wonderfulness of the 5pm class.


Tuesday

Snatch
5x3
58.5#


WOD
15-12-9
DB farmer's carry lunges 25#
DB thrusters
pull ups (GB)
Time-? don't remember


But those lunges seemed to last forever.


And since I have renewed my commitment to a real dead hang pull up, these band dead hangs are killing me. They don't throw my shoulders into all kinds of nastiness and pain, but it is super frustrating to not kip. It is sooooo sloooooow. But I need to work up to a dead hang, so I will just deal with it.


I can hardly believe that I contemplated trying this with the 30# DBs. The 25s were horrible enough, but I still feel like I should have been able to do it with the 30s.


But I really think I was too tired. I am just tired. That is what happens when you have to end Christmas vacation and go back to a regular work schedule. I am also starving right now. I'm in that fabulous place where I am hungry no matter what I eat.


So I am going to go to bed. The sleep will obviously be good for me, and if I am sleeping, I can't be eating...

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.

2011 Goals

I need to really get on this...

I mean, really how can one CrossFit without setting your yearly goals?

One of my goals to make goals that make sense this year...

Some of my 2010 goals were just flat out nonsensical. Shall I amuse you with them now?

1. 400m run-sub 1:55 (yep, I'm that slow!)
**so I hate running so much that I never even attempted a timed 400 m run, over the course of one full year. That means 12 months without ever thinking to time a 400 m run.

2. 500m row-sub 1:50
**goal met
3. OHS-115#
**goal met

4. C&J-135#
**made it to 123#

5. Grace-as Rx'd
**goal met

6. Pull Ups-get 3 real ones
**I can do 3 kipping pull ups on 3 different attempts...

7. Helen-as Rx'd
**what?!?! 3 pull ups, yet still do Helen with 36 pull ups? That one made a TON of sense.

8. Push Ups-25 unbroken
**I don't think I can do this one, but I should see where I am.

9. snatch-103#
**nope, just made it to 93#

So now I have to think about new goals.
I have a long list so far:
1. 1 deadhang pull up
2. 5 consecutive double-unders (maybe I should make that 2!)
3. Snatch-103#
4. Clean and Jerk-138#
5. string together 20" box jumps, cycle them without resetting each time

Class
Skill
1 PPress+1 PJerk+ 1 Split Jerk (hold 5 sec.)
63, 73, 83, 88x2

WOD
4 rounds
20 ball slams 25#
10 pull ups (BB)
Time: 6:22

After doing the push press wod yesterday, we all just knew that we were destined to have lots of arm work tonight. It never fails...And then we get reprimanded for not checking the strength calendar, but there was no calendar.

I like ball slams. I almost never mind them since they are something I can do without thinking-just pick up the ball, slam it into the ground, repeat...but tonight my arms were complaining loudly during the whole last two rounds.

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