Pizza!

Paleo pizza that is. 

Tonight, I made Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza from the Make It Paleo Cookbook.  

I love this cookbook. The recipes are really easy to follow and there aren't too many ingredients necessary. I get overwhelmed with really long recipes. The pizza was awesome. The crust was pretty sturdy. I could even fold my pizza in half.  When I make this recipe again, I will probably make two pizzas. C. Varied can really eat so he needed a second meal after 1/2 of the pizza. 

Other than that it was delicious and reminded me Italy.  

Here is photo journal from making dinner.

The Secret to the Crust

 

We didn't have flax seed meal, but we had flax seed so I used the nut grinder to make flax seed meal. 

 The hardest part was flipping the crust. It was really hard to pull the parchment paper off the crust to flip it. I don't know if that is because I over cooked the crust or if is just hard. Next time, I might put olive oil on the parchment paper before cooking the crust to make it easier to flip.

 

 The Final Product...Paleo Pizza!

The key to cooking tonight was working to change my mood. It had been a long day at work and then there was a lot of traffic on the way home so I need something to change my attitude. Usually that is what my workout is for, but today was a rest day. So I need to get excited about cooking and put on Taylor Swift Pandora station and danced around the kitchen. I need to do something fun to shake off the day so cooking, dancing and singing was exactly what the doctor ordered.

This is yesterday from my Happiness Project page-a-day calendar.

I really like this saying. Finding sources of feeling good was my goal for tonight as I cooked and sang in the kitchen. I was trying to just enjoy the moment.

P.S. More to come about this book. I am going to try a 12 week program based on this book. I am going to try to use this plan with Paleo and see how I do. Maybe I will learn a thing or too.

Weekend in Review

My weekend included hanging out with a lot different groups of friends, some good workouts and great food.

Friday night 

We hosted two couples over for dinner. We had one person who was a vegetarian, who ate seafood and another person, who didn't eat seafood, so we had to get creative. Here's what we ended up doing:

Appertizers

Chips and Salsa

Guacamole and carrots or chips

Entree

Stuff Peppers with ground beef or fake ground beef

Broccoli soup

I think it worked out well.  It was fun to hang out and catch up with friends that we hadn't seen since last August.

Saturday

It started with a great workout with the Super Sectionals Training at KOP. We did a team WOD. Within the WOD, I did "Elizabeth" (21-15-9 Squat Cleans and Ring dips). I scaled and used 75# for the cleans and a band for the ring dips. I am working on keeping my intensity up and working within a short time domain even if that means scaling so I keep the speed up in the workout. After the WOD, I stayed for intro to Westside Barbell class. It is a really cool program. I am need to decide what my goals are for 2012. I am strongly considering focusing completely on Strength. 

Picture taken by Aimee during Elizabeth

After the workout, I had a friend date with my friend Sarah from the gym. We so much fun getting to know each other. We went for coffee and were just chatting the whole time. It is so much fun to really get to know a new friend. I told Sarah about this blog I have started reading and book I want to read, MWF Seeking BFF because I felt like we could be part of the book.

After coffee with went to a friends' house for dinner, we had a great dinner of broccoli soup, sweet potato fries, brussel sprouts, and pork. It was delicious. It was a night full of laughter. 

Sunday

Today, I went to the 9 am workout. It was good one and really to tried again to keep the intensity up, but I used the RX'd weights. I tried hard to break it into sets and not take too much rest. I think I did pretty well. I was happy with my performance.

21-15-9
Calorie Row
Dumbbell Thruster 25#/45#
Hand Release Push-up

15:17

I made a yummy breakfast when I got home, No-at Meal (pronunced "Note Meal") or No Oat Oatmeal. The recipe is enough for 2 servings. It was delicious and nice to change it up.C. Varied made me a latte with coconut milk with the new espresso maker. It was so good. I wish Starbucks offered this.

No-atmeal

The rest of the day was spent meal planning, grocery shopping, and prepping food for the week with some football watching. 

How do decide your goals with your workouts? Should I work on getting stronger or faster during workout?

Happy Sunday!

Steve's Club

Today C.Varied and I participated in a Day of Service with Steve's Club at KOP. It was an inspiring experience. We got to skype with soliders in Kandahar CrossFit in Afghanistan and do the WOD with them. The WOD today was a Hero WOD.

"Jack"

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 minutes of:
115/75 pound Push press, 10 reps - I used 2 20# dumbbells
10 KB Swings, 55/35#
10 Box jumps, 24/20 inch box

I got through 9 rounds with the help of my friend from Steve's Club in Camden, who counted for me and really helped me push myself. The kids from Steve's Club are awesome.

Huddled around the laptop to skype with Kandahar CrossFit

Group picture of Kids and Coaches from Steve's Club in Camden and KOP.

Photos Courtesy of C.Varied

Steve's Club is an organization connects the youth of the community with Crossfit.

Here is their mission statement:

"Steve’s Club and its participating members provide a national network of programs through which at-risk or underserved youth of any socioeconomic background can join in the CrossFit Community at a reduced, low or no cost structure."

Steve's Club: Saving a Nation One Kid at a Time from Again Faster on Vimeo.

It started as one gym in Camden, NJ and now it is opening up the program nationally. So Crossfit KOP started their own affiliate of Steve's Club in 2011. The coaches running Steve's Club are doing an amazing job. Once a month, we do a team WOD with the kids and it is a great opportunity to bring the two communities together. It is something that I look forward to each month. I don't think the kids realize how much they bring to our community.

If you ever looking for some great paleo snacks, Steve's Club offers a variety of snacks such as paleokits and paleo krunch. 15% of proceeds goes to Steve's Club National Program.

Dessert!

So I got home today and I was tired and hungry or as I like to say "hangry" (definition - a combination of hungry and angry). I just wanted to eat chocolate or chips and salsa or anything quick and easy. C. Varied wasn't going to be home until late so I was on my own for dinner. If you know anything about me, you know that I don't cook very often and I definitely don't cook when I am tired and hungry, but I rallied tonight. I made myself a salad with tilapia and half of an avocado with oil and vinegar, but I knew I need something sweet too. Obviously I can't have a real dessert because of the challenge, but I could fake myself out with something else. 

Here was my reward for making dinner:

Enter Sweet Potatoes to the Rescue!

 I microwaved them and then sauteed them in grass fed butter.

 

Dessert: Sweet Potato with Cinnamon!

I even ate them after dinner so they felt like dessert. It hit the spot.

Here is my silly fashion moment for the day. I was proud of myself with the outfit that I put together today. It was influenced by my family, which I think is why I really like it. Over the holiday, my mom and 3 sisters took me shopping, which is what we usually do when we are all together since I never go on my own. My family is the best! Today's ensemble included the scarf they picked out for me and the cardigan my sister gave to as a gift from being in her wedding. Let me know what you think.

I made it!

Today is day 3 of the No Sugar Challenge. I was worried about today because I had to go to work. It is easier for me to be good on the weekends because C. Varied is good at keeping me on course. Whereas at work, I am on my own and there are lots of temptations from candy baskets to free lunches. I made through the day! My goal is just to take it one day at a time and be prepared as possible with my breakfast, lunch, and snacks so I don't let myself get too hungry.

WOD

5 rounds of:
Row 250
20 Wallballs (14/20# to 10 feet) - I used 12#
5 Power Cleans (120/185#) - I used 95#

*Complete the round and then rest for the remainder of the round until the clock hits 5:00 minutes (10/15/10/25 minutes until all 5 rounds are complete). Score is total time completed for each round. 

My scores were 3:28, 3:45, 4:01, 4:04, and 4:24

I made an awesome dinner tonight. From Paleo Comfort Foods, I made fried chicken and from Primal Blueprint, I made brussel sprouts. It was delicious. I am starting to feel more comfortable in the kitchen and enjoying myself. Don't tell, C. Varied. ; )