Hearty Beef Stew & Almond Bread Loaf

I am so far behind on my recipes...

I doubled the recipe.  This made so much delicious soup and it was easy to reheat.  You could also freeze some for later.  I put lunch and dinner size servings in mason jars for easy reheating.

Hearty Beef Stew

Ingredients:
1# beef (I used swiss steak 2#)
coconut oil
1 onion (I skipped- not Jim's favorite)
1 minced garlic clove
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced celery sticks
1 cubed sweet potato
beef stock
1 can roasted tomatoes (I used 1 can whole tomatoes, it was in the cupboard;0)
seasoning of choice (I used italian seasoning, garlic, pepper and celery salt - I don't measure just shake and taste)

Directions:

1. Saute beef in coconut oil, add in vegetables and spices - continue to saute until meat is browned.
2. Add in 2-3 cups beef stock and 1 can roasted tomatoes and water if needed to desired thickness.
3.  Bring to a boil, then turn to simmer until veggies are cooked (35 minutes)
4.  Salt and pepper to taste.










I made this with our favorite almond bread "loaf"

Almond Bread Loaf

Ingredients:
2 cups almond meal
1T baking powder
1t salt
2T coconut sugar
5 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup oil

1.  Heat oven to 350.
2.  Mix ingredients in a mixing bowl and let batter sit 2-3 minutes to thicken.
3.  Spread evenly on cookie sheet.
4.  Bake for approx 20 minutes or until golden on top.
5.  Slice, add butter & honey, ENJOY!

Paleo Sloppy Joe's and Sweet Tater Tots

F is for Food Friday!!

One of my go to's when I need to make a meal that is substantial ...(read too much training need lots of food) and QUICK!!

Paleo Sloppy Joe's

Ingredients

I didn't have honey this time so I used maple syrup.

1 T coconut oil
1lb of ground beef, chicken, turkey
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 tsp real salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder
4 T's tomato paste
8 oz tomato sauce
1T honey
1T balsamic vinegar

Optional Ingredients

1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1/2 of an avocado cubed
1/4 cup diced onions

Heat oil in frying pan add in ground meat and brown.
Add in onions and mushrooms and cook until the meat is done.  (I personally do not use these.)
Add the remainder of the ingredients (saving the avocado for last) and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
Either add avocado at the end of simply top your Sloppy Joe with it afterwards.

I always serve our sloppy joe on a bed of spinach...topped with avocado!

Sweet Tater Tots

Ingredients

3-4 Sweet Potatoes
coconut oil
1T cinnamon
1T chili powder

Heat oven to 425.
Peel sweet potatoes and cut them into cubes or "chunks"
Coat with oil, cinnamon and chili powder.
Spread out on parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes or until done.

Workouts December 12-18 and yummy Chicken Salad Recipe

So I've really started to pick up steam in my workouts.  This week I was able to get to the gym 5x and felt really good about each of my WOD's.  Starting in January, I will be wodding Monday and Tuesday whiteboard WOD's, Wednesday active rest or weaknesses (think simple movements or endurance type wod's), Thursday I'll be training with Chelssie and Friday I'll be training with Nick (this makes for a long day!)  Saturday Team WOD + training.  Sunday will be my only rest day.

I am hoping with this amp and some training on my weaknesses in my "spare" time that I'll be ready for the open in February even though I haven't been prepping for it all year like I have in the past.  Sometimes less is more as my body is responding very well to the regimen I am on now.  I have little to no soreness but I am getting stronger and faster in all of my workouts.

I have also signed up for Lurong with CFE which will keep me accountable on my food.  This is so important coming into the open.  I know last year doing Lurong up until the open that I was lean and mean and ready to compete!!  So, we'll see what happens.

I've started to add some personal training clients to my schedule and it's nice to be coaching.  I love working with people and seeing their successes in the gym.  Between that and my classes at CFE and my bootcamps - I still get to work doing something I love and for that I am VERY grateful!!

Monday December 12th:  redid CF Open WOD 13.1  - I had no idea going into this what my previous score was...40 Burpees 45 pound Snatch, 30 reps 30 Burpees 75 pound Snatch, 30 reps 20 Burpees 100 pound Snatch, 30 reps 10 Burpees 120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible...Today I was able to get to the 100# Snatch and get 11 reps - for a PR of 161 reps.  My score in the open was 155 reps.

Tuesday December 13th:  12 min EMOM of Push Press - I worked up to 105#, 10 min EMOM of Muscle Ups - I tried for 2 each round ended up getting a total of 15 reps.  Then 21-18-15-12-9-6-3 Situps, Push Press 65#:  time 5:50 RX

Wednesday December 14th:  5 Rep Front Squat - I got to 165#.  This was tough!!  Then the WOD was so so terrible!!  I'm not gonna lie I dreaded this one ALL day.  Step ups are a killer on my psyche!!  Time 15:11.
45 DB Step Overs 45/30# 24/20 inch
35 Toes to Bar
25 Thrusters 45/30#
25 DB Step Overs 45/30# 24/20 inch
20 Toes to Bar
15 DB Thrusters 45/30#

Thursday December 15th:  rest day

Friday December 16th:  So I figured out Friday's are Hero WOD's!!  Manuel was today.  5 Rounds of 3 Minute Rope Climb, 2 Min Squats, 2 Min Push-ups, 3 Min to run a 400 M:  I ended up getting 30 rope climbs, 269 Squats, 160 Pushups and squeaked in my runs for a total of 5.  THIS WAS SO MENTALLY MISERABLE!!  I honestly spent the entire 3rd round trying to find an excuse that I could give to Nick to get me out of there.  Nothing ever escaped my lips and I kept moving and working but the entire 3rd round was negative mind games...but in all honesty we all know I would NEVER EVER quit!!  For this workout I just kept telling myself - so what, you are hurting, this man gave his life for our country!!  Get over it!!  

Saturday December 17th:  CFE was hosting a Free Community WOD and I drug Jim out the door and into the gym for the first time since it wasn't "ours!"  I am SO glad we did this.  I needed it, Jim needed it and we had an awesome workout partner Matt Lundy as our 3rd victim for an awesome WOD with friends.  Love my community and the new community I am becoming a part of.  

My son came over on Saturday afternoon as we were supposed to travel to Fort Wayne for the Tuttle family Christmas party.  It was cancelled due to the weather...we spent the day eating yummy food, drinking beer and decorating sugar cookies.  One of our favorite traditions!  I found my dad's old cookie cutters in my cookie cutter box.  I love carrying on the traditions that my dad did with me...

Brandon picked up a couple chickens from Martins and we had an entire chicken leftover.  So, I decided to make some chicken salad.  It's always delicious.

Chicken Salad:

Ingredients:

Chicken

Avocado

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Grapes

Raisins

Slivered Almonds

(you could also use, colored peppers, apples, anything crunchy you have in your refrigerator!) 

I top with pepper and turmeric.  

Cut up the chicken, avocado and grapes. Add raisins and slivered almonds.  Stir in a little olive oil and sprinkle with pepper and turmeric.  You could eat this out of a bowl or make a bowl with a colored pepper and eat the bowl!!  

One of my favorite easy go -to's.  Works with tuna too!!

Workouts December 5- 10th and Bacon Wrapped Dates Recipe (Since I am late and can't remember what I ate!)

Tis the season...

What a great week of workouts I had this week and it all started with a WOD that completely destroyed me.  I haven't felt like that in a long long time...taking a little break and coming back full throttle for this particular WOD left me feeling like my first day of CrossFit.

I found out I am not a very pleasant sore person (I'm sure Jim already knew this) and I spent 3 days in complete misery.  So, I'll share with you some of the things I did to make this soreness go away.

1.  I used Epsom Soaks - 3 days in a row.
2.  I worked out again - strange as it seems this really does help.  Sitting on my duff and bitching however does not. (please note I did not give this particular tactic it's own #)
3.  I used the marc pro (on my quads) like an elf eats Christmas candy...CONSTANTLY!

I kept thinking I have a competition on Saturday and I'm never going to be able to feel my legs again...and just as quickly as the soreness appeared I woke up on Thursday and it was gone.  AHHHHH!!

Monday December 5th (THE WOD!!!) 12 Min emom PP - I got up to 95#.  12 Min AMRAP 30 Dub's, 20 Pistols Alternating, 10 OHS 65# - I did 5 rounds + some pistols (it's been too long) in an all out sprint.

Tuesday December 6th Strength - 5 rep front squat - I did 160#.  20 Min AMRAP 250 m row, 60' lunge, 20 goblet squats, 20 kb swings, 60' lunge.  I did 5 rounds...maybe?

Wednesday December 7th - rest day

Thursday December 8th - I SHOWED UP AT THE GYM ON GAME DAY!!!  I HAD TO PLAY A GAME WITH BALLS...5 rep bench press 125#.  10 min AMRAP 1 legless rope climb, 1 rope climb, 10 t2B, 10 swings 55#.  I got 4 rounds.

Friday December 9th - Hero TJ: 10 Bench Press, 10 Strict Pullup - AMAP to get to 100 Thrusters.  I had a competition coming on Saturday so I only did 95 on BP and 65 on Thrusters.  I only did 60 reps it took me about 15 minutes.  Would really like to do this one RX someday;0)

Saturday December 10th:  Cougar competition on the best team EVER - Grant's Mamaw and Dad!!
Wod #1,2 - I hit a 175 pound clean:0)
We also had some light work with pp, squat, hang clean and DL!
Wod #3,4,5 We kicked butt on the thruster,t2b wod but that cost us in our rowing;/
Snatches just hurt and I was so thankful when time was called.
Wod #6,7 So didn't want to move anymore...but 15 min cap allowed us to finish Karen as the bell tolled.

Loved the wod's and my partner with our 7th/36 place finish;0)

Sunday December 11th: As punishment for sucking in my row....I rowed a 5K today.  Time was 25:34.  I will be rowing at least 1 5k a week from now until the open;)

I know you are really here for the awesome recipe:

If you are looking for a sweet treat this one is SO simple to make and you get the yummy goodness of a sweet date along with some salty bacon and a crunch from the almond.  This is a win win for all peeps!!

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients:
Dates
Bacon
Almonds

Heat oven to 425.  Stuff the date with an almond.  Wrap date with bacon cut down to size.  Place on pan - repeat (make a lot, these are even good cold!) Bake until bacon is crispy 10-12 minutes!  ENJOY!!

Jim's snowy day Paleo Chili Recipe

We were in Chicago all day yesterday for a CF Competition and got home late last night.  I slept until 10:45 am when Jim walked in with a breakfast tray and woke me out of a deep slumber.  He does that a lot.  I never hear him get out of bed.  One of these days, I swear I'm going to be the one surprising him with breakfast in bed.

So after eating and laying around in bed even longer we finally feel ready to face the world...or should I say the kitchen and the mess of the breakfast rush.  He decided as he was finishing up the waffle batter that he wanted to get lunch over with and as he cleaned up from breakfast he started looking through the house for chili ingredients.  As he named them I would go to the freezer, refrigerator or cupboard and let him know if we had them...or if we had something close to them to get this chili underway.   The last thing I wanted to do was make a run to walmart in the freezing cold...and please, we all know I was still in my pajamas.

Please keep in mind when I post this recipe that there are SO many different options for making this. Just because you don't have every item on this list, doesn't mean you can't make this chili.  I'll tell you how we typically make it along with some subs you could use to make it your own.

Beanless Chili Recipe

3 pounds ground beef 
(we have used - ground chicken, turkey and sausage or a combo of all)
1 cup finely chopped onions 
(Jim doesn't like onions but he likes the flavor so we typically sub with minced onions- we were out of these today so we used onion powder)
5 cloves garlic chopped
(you could sub garlic powder)
1/4 cup oil
3 cups tomato puree
(today I took a large can of the stewed tomatoes and pureed them in the ninja)
1 1/2 tsp cumin 
1 tsp ground coriander 
2-3 jalapeno peppers chopped
2 colored peppers chopped
(If you don't have peppers - you could use chopped zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp oregano
3 tbsp chili powder

Brown all meat and cut up peppers and onion.  I use 1/4 cup minced onion instead of fresh.
Pour the tomato puree in cooking pot with 2 cups water.  Add all spices and peppers to the puree.
Add meat and cover pot.  Heat on high until you get a boil.  Stir and reduce to simmer.  Simmer for 35 minutes stirring every 12-15 minutes.

As for me, I rowed my 5k as punishment for sucking at rowing in yesterday's CF competition and finally showered and put my Broncos shirt on to make my hubby love me even more!!  Time for this girl to go eat some chili;0)

 

Primal Thanksgiving Stuffing

I will never ever forget...


The night before Thanksgiving, it was my job to help dad break up loaves and loaves of white
bread; there were pans sitting all over the kitchen, on top of the refrigerator, everywhere you looked you would see bread crumbs drying for dad's famous Thanksgiving stuffing.

I would be the first one awake on Thanksgiving morning, I simply couldn't wait to see what jobs dad had for me to do.  I always awoke to the aroma of that turkey already cooking, I always wondered if I got up this early what the heck time did he wake up to get all this started before me.  I remember seeing the "turkey guts" cooking in a pan.  I knew dad added all the good stuff to the stuffing, liver and gizzards and the famous turkey neck...he cooked them up, ground them and we ate every single part of that turkey.

When it was my turn to start cooking Thanksgiving for my family, I was never gifted enough to take everything from scratch and come up with that awesome stuffing my dad made every year.  So, my kids got Stove Top or Pepperidge Farm...whatever was on sale.  Maybe, it wasn't because I wasn't gifted - maybe I was a product of my environment and did what seemed to be the simplest way to get everything done.

Then, one day...not necessarily out of the blue.  I changed the way I ate.  And I changed the way I cooked for my family.  All of a sudden, my food creations would get better and better.  I was able to throw things together and create recipes.  I was able to add a little bit of this and a little bit of that and my kids were happy and they ate it!  Which made me happy!  I have this natural tendency to want to feed people, I think I get it from my dad.  And when I feed people, and they are happy, then I am happy to!


So, a few years back I desperately sought out a stuffing recipe that was grain free, gluten free all of the above...this was THE LAST thing I changed about our Thanksgiving dinner.  I would always say, "It's Thanksgiving, a little gluten won't hurt!"

So, when I found this recipe- they had me make bread and break it into little pieces to dry the night before Thanksgiving.  Please try to understand what happened to me at that moment.  Every flood of emotion, every Thanksgiving I spent "helping" my father, every smell, taste, sound, feel...came back to me and punched me square in the face.  I've never cried so hard breaking bread and setting it on trays to dry like I did that day.  I remember the first time I made it, sobbing out loud and telling my daddy, "I know you'd be proud of me now!"

You see, food is emotional.  There is always something attached.  That night, it came full circle.  I was able to carry on this tradition for my family that my dad loved so dearly.  That was obviously engrained in my soul.  I want my kids to remember someday, what I did from my daddy, and pass that on to their kids...a legacy!

SO without any further commentary:

Primal Thanksgiving Stuffing

Bread needs to be baked at least a day before so that you can set it out to dry overnight:

Ingredients

Bread

2 cups almond flour
3 tbsp coconut flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp real salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp coconut sugar (or 1 tsp honey)
2 large eggs
8 tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee)
1 cup sour cream (or plain, whole coconut yogurt)

Preheat oven to 425.  Butter an 8x8 baking pan.  Mix dry ingredients together in bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients.  Pour mixtures together.  Pour batter in pan.  Bake for 30-35 min.

Stuffing

1 pound pork sausage
(bag of insides of turkey - boil and add to sausage)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (or ghee)
1 large onion (chopped)
2 large celery sticks (chopped)
10 fresh sage leaves (chopped)
1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
1/2 tsp real salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 grain free bread (cut into cubes and left out overnight to dry)
1 cup chicken stock (homemade;0)
3 large eggs

Cook sausage and turkey insides.  Drain and set aside...return drained grease to pan...add butter or ghee along with onion and celery to cook on medium heat (about 5 minutes.)  Stir in sage, parsley, salt and pepper.  Add mixture into pork mixture.  Add in dried and cubed bread.  In a separate bowl whisk chicken broth and eggs - pour this over all ingredients and gently mix until everything is wet. Pour into 8.5 x 11 baking dish and cook for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Butternut Squash/Carrot/Pumpkin Soup

I made the best soup EVER last night...

Fall is officially here.  Our weather keeps switching back and forth.  I have turned the heat on twice only to turn it off after a few hours because it was too warm in the house.  It's that time of year you aren't sure if you should be wearing pants a coat and a scarf or shorts and a tank top!!

Dress in layers and be prepared for anything is how it goes right now!

So,  I am in the process of trying to figure out my "new schedule!"  I have to be honest, I haven't worked out in FOREVER!! Well, at least for me.  I am not sure when, or how, or even what to do or what I want.  As soon as I figure that out and make a game plan I'll be working out again.  In the meantime, I have been eating super super healthy!  I have given myself an ultimatum - by December 1 (I know seems like a long time away!)  I have to make a decision on what my future CrossFitter self is going to do.  Do I go for it in this years open?  Or, do I just do the workouts and enjoy it for a change?  Can I even allow myself to do that after going for it the last two years?  So many decisions to make, I am hoping that they just come to me ...like a message...Dear Carole, DO THIS!!  I'll keep ya'll updated on my nonsense.  (Please tell me I am not the only crazy person out there who talks like this to herself!)

So, with that said...eating super healthy.  With some of my extra free time I have been hanging out in the kitchen.  Good news is we don't have to eat dinner at 9:30 pm anymore...on our first night home dinner was ready at 7:00.  By 9:30 pm I was starving again.  I will find balance.  That night the dogs ate so early they were in bed by the time we had our dinner on the table.  Everyone is adjusting around here!  LOL

The recipe Carole the recipe:

I made some little tweaks to my butternut squash soup last night and I have decided that this is how I will make this recipe from now on.

Butter Nut Squash/Pumpkin/Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

*1 butternut squash
*6 large organic carrots (this is an item I buy organic - I am eating the skin!)
*2 cups pumpkin puree (I made my own you could always use a can here)
*coconut milk
*1- 1.5 cups chicken broth (I made my own you can find good broth to add here)
*thai curry paste (if you don't have this chili powder works too)
*cinnamon

Heat oven to 425.
1.  Cut butternut squash in half and dig out the seeds.  Fill each seed compartment with coconut milk and 1 tsp of thai curry paste.  Sprinkle cinnamon on the rest of the squash.  Put on pan.
2.  Cut carrots in half and lay on pan.
3.  Cook for 45 minutes then take the carrots out and put in your blender.
4.  Cook squash additional 15 minutes.
5.  Add pumpkin to blender w. carrots.
6.  Scrape out the butternut squash and add to blender.
7.  Add chicken broth to blender.
8.  Blend. Taste.  Add spices as needed...I typically need to add another tsp curry paste and 1-2 tsps of cinnamon.  It makes a nice spicy/sweet blend.