Another cold one!!!!

Molly and I did the Ugly Sweater Run in Forest Park on Saturday morning. Definitely the wettest, muddiest run I have ever done. It was cold and raining when we got there and it rained the whole time we were running

We ran on the track in the park and it was one muddy puddle after another.  The grass was no better and by the time we were finished we were absolutely soaked, cold and covered in mud!!!  We are still smiling though....

The race was not timed, but we ran in a little over 33 minutes, not bad at all.....

Anne's Thai chicken chowder recipe

Thai Coconut Chicken Chowder

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 cup frozen pea/carrot mix

1 cup green onions, white and light green parts, finely diced

3 tbsp lemongrass, peeled and minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp cilantro, stems & leaves, minced

2 tsp fresh grated ginger (or minced)

3 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

3 cups cooked chicken, chopped (or about 1.5 lbs raw, boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

1 can coconut milk

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

½ tsp fish sauce

¼ tsp red pepper flake, or more to taste

Salt and pepper

Cilantro, green onions, and lime wedges for garnish (optional)

If starting with raw chicken, preheat oven to 350.  Place chicken breasts on a foil lined baking sheet and drizzle with salt, pepper, and a little olive oil.  Rub to coat the chicken, then bake for about 35 minutes, or until fully cooked.  Set chicken aside to cool.

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat.  Add the sweet potatoes, celery, green onions, bell pepper, and pea/carrot mix, along with a big pinch of salt.  Cook for about 10 minutes, until the veggies begin to soften, stirring occasionally.  Increase the heat to medium-high, add in the cilantro, ginger, lemongrass, and garlic, and cook for one minute, stirring frequently to avoid burning.  Pour in the chicken stock and increase heat to high.  Once it begins to boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken, coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, red pepper flakes and a bit of freshly ground pepper, stirring to combine and seasoning with salt to taste.  Let simmer about 5 more minutes.

Hot Chocolate Run 2013

Anne and I ran the Hot Chocolate 5K yesterday morning.  It was so cold that they sent out a warning to everyone about how cold it was going to be and how everyone should dress very warmly.  I even went out and bought a pair of running pants to keep my legs warm.  In the end, it turned out to be not too bad.  We were lucky that we got there just as the race was about to start so we weren't hanging around for too long.  Of course I had to take our before picture, we looked pretty wrapped up

We ran the whole way, apart from one small break when we walked a little bit. Surprisingly, it was because Anne needed to walk because her knees were hurting, I was absolutely fine....

We looked pretty good at the end

We ran in 32:03, pretty good for me.  I was happy with it anyway

Tropical muffins

Tropical Breakfast Muffins

Makes 12 large muffins

1.5 cups almond flour
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
3 tablespoons coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, plus more for the tops, if desired
1/2 cup chopped pecans, plus more for the tops, if desired
1 tablespoon orange zest (about 1 small orange)
1/2 cup very ripe mashed banana
1/2 cup grated carrots (about 2 small carrots)
1/2 cup minced pineapple (fresh is best, canned is okay)
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
4 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with parchment liners.
2. Place the chopped pecans and coconut on a baking sheet and toast for about 5 minutes, until just golden.
3. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients; almond flour through pecans. Stir to combine.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients; orange zest through maple syrup.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine
6. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Top with additional coconut and pecans, if desired.
7. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until they bounce back when you lightly push the top.
8. Allow to cool on a wire rack before eating.

New pancake recipe

3 C almond flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t sea salt
2 T flax seed meal
1/3 C heavy cream or coconut milk
8 eggs, separated, preferable pastured
6 T melted butter or coconut oil, plus additional for frying pancakes
1/4 C honey
1 T vanilla extract

1. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.
2. Combine the dry ingredients and stir with a whisk until well combined.
3. Combine the egg yolks with the other wet ingredients and mix well.
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Stir in 1/4 of the beaten egg whites to the pancake mixture, and then gently fold in the remainder.
6. Heat a large pan or griddle to medium heat and add about 1 T of butter or coconut oil. Once it’s hot, ladle the pancake batter into the skillet.  If you were gentle with folding in the egg whites, the batter will be thick, and you’ll need to spread the pancake out a bit. Make them whatever size you want, but keep in mind they’re easier to flip when they’re small.
7. Cook the pancakes for 3-4 minutes per side, adjusting the heat if necessary.

Got to try making my own bacon.....

Ingredients

• 2 lb. pork belly, skin on;
• 2 tbsp. sea salt;
• 1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper;
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary;
• 1 tsp. dried thyme;
• 1 tsp. fennel seed;
• 2 bay leaves;
• 1 tbsp. raw honey (optional);
• 1 garlic clove, minced;
• 
  

• Preparation

  1. Rinse the pork belly and pat it dry.
  2. Combine all the seasonings in a bowl, except for the honey (if using).
  3. Rub all the seasoning over the pork. Place the pork in a big re-usable plastic bag with the leftover spices and the honey, if using, and shake well.
  4. Refrigerate the pork for one week, flipping the bag every day or so.
  5. After 7 days, remove the bacon from the bag, rinse it thoroughly, and pat it dry.
  6. Preheat your oven to 200F.
  7. Place the bacon in a baking pan and roast until the meat reaches 150 F., about 2 hours.
  8. Transfer the bacon to your cutting board and slice off the skin.
  9. Let the bacon cool down to room temperature, then wrap it in wax paper and refrigerate.
  10. When you’re ready for a delicious treat, slice the meat to whatever thickness you like, and cook it the same way as you would any other bacon.

Enchilada recipe from PaleOMG

Ingredients

For the tortillas

• 6 egg whites
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 6 tablespoons canned coconut milk
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda

For the filling

• 1.5lbs pork rump roast
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1.5 cup vegetable broth

For the avocado cream sauce

• 2 avocados, pitted and insides removed (don’t put the skin in the food processor. duh)
• ¼ cup vegetable broth
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro, stems removed
• 3 tablespoons canned coconut milk
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• salt and pepper, to taste
• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1. Ok so you got to start a day ahead of time with this meal. Slow cook that pork butt. Place onions in your crockpot, then rump roast on top, and then all the rest of the ingredients for the filling in your crockpot. Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours.
2. Once your pork is doing cooking, use two fork to shred it to pieces. 
3. Now time to make your tortillas. Whisk all your tortilla ingredients together until all the lumps are gone.
4. Place a large skillet over medium heat and grease with a bit of oil. Pour a 4 inch in diameter circle in the center of your pan and tilt the pan around to spread the batter into a large circle.
5. Let the tortilla cook for a minute or so, until the tortilla bubbles and the edges begin to turn up. BEING VERY CAREFUL, circle your spatula under the tortilla pulling up all the edges before you flip it.
6. Cook on other side for another minute.
7. Place on plate to let cool. Repeat with leftover batter. You should get 5-6 tortillas from your batter.
8. While your tortillas are cooling, place all the ingredients for your avocado cream sauce into a food processor and puree until completely smooth. This may take a couple minutes.
9. Now turn on your broiler to high.
10. Grab an 8×8 glass baking dish, lay out a tortilla, place a little bit of your shredded pork along with a little avocado cream sauce (be sure to save some to put on top of the tortillas later) then curl the sides of the tortilla around to make a mini burrito. Repeat with all of your tortillas so they are lined up side by side in your glass baking dish.
11. Put your baking dish under your broiler and cook for about 6-8 minutes or until your tortillas become crispy.
12. Then remove baking dish from the oven and turn broiler to low. Cover the enchiladas with the rest of your avocado cream sauce then place back in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
13. Top with cilantro.

Sausage stuffed mushrooms

Ingredients

• 20 large button mushrooms;
• 1 lb. sausages, casings removed;
• 1 onion, thinly chopped;
• ½ bell pepper, thinly chopped;
• 2 cloves garlic, minced;
• 2/3 cup almond meal;
• 2 tbsp. fresh parsley leaves, minced;
• 2 tbsp. olive oil;
• Cooking fat;
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 325 F.
2. Remove the stems from the mushrooms. Chop the removed stems finely and set aside.
3. Toss the mushroom caps in a bowl with the olive oil, and set aside.
4. Melt some cooking fat in a skillet placed over a medium heat.
5. Add the sausages to the skillet and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, while breaking them apart into tiny pieces with a wooden spoon.
6. Add the chopped mushroom stems, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the sausages, and cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Add the almond meal and stir until well combined with the other ingredients. Remove from the heat.
8. Add the parsley; give it a good stir, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
9. Fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of the sausage mixture.
10. Line all the stuffed mushrooms on a baking sheet, and place in the oven.
11. Cook for about 40 minutes or until the stuffing is browned and crusty.
12. Remove from the oven and serve while warm.

New Challenge for December

This is my new fitness challenge.  I'm doing it with a colleague that I know from American Heart Association grant study sections.  We are running for 25 mins or 5K (whichever comes first) every day in December.

http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/FunRaiser/NAT-IFEFUNraise;jsessionid=DA67BA9F9F23E8E98938BA3EF5C8EA5E.app244a?px=3733113&pg=personal&fr_id=2320

Kirkwood/Webster Turkey Trot 2013

Sam and I got up at 5 this morning to run the Kirkwood/Webster Turkey Trot. This is the 3rd time I have done this race and I wanted to get under 30 mins, even though the fastest I have run before is 30:43 (same race, last year).  It was really cold at the start, around 25 this morning, the coldest I have ever run.  I should have known I had too many clothes on because I wasn't cold at the starting line.  Still, we took our "before" picture in the car because I didn't want to hang on to my phone

I started off really well but ran out of gas around 2 miles.  Then I got too warm so I had to take off my hat and gloves, wish I'd taken a shirt off too!!!!  I ended up walking some of it, but I think that gave me a little extra boost on the last part of the run.  Sam left me behind when I was walking because he was getting cold. I was disappointed that I'd had to walk, but was really happy to see that my time was 30:18, much faster than I thought it was 

I cut 25 seconds off my time last year and really did feel OK the whole time I ran, just ran out of steam for a while.  Not sure if it was because I started out too fast or the hassle of trying to get around all the walkers.  Even so, I just could not feel my legs and felt like I was going to fall over and I had to walk.  I'm still happy with my time and it was better than I thought it would be.  My last 3 runs have been around 33 mins, so a huge improvement

Sweet potatoes in the oven

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, sliced thin
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• ¼ cup almond meal
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 tablespoons coconut butter
• 4 tablespoons almond butter
• 2 tablespoons raw honey
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste
• enough bacon to cover the top OR cook and put inside

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Grease a 9×13 baking dish
3. Thinly slice 2 sweet potatoes and onion
4. Start layering the sweet potatoes in lines so you can’t see the bottom on the dish. Then layer with a little onion and a little almond meal. 
5. Keep on layering until all your sweet potatoes are gone.
6. Pull out a saucepan and put over medium heat.
7. Add your coconut milk, coconut butter, almond butter, agave (or honey), and spices to the saucepan and stir until the coconut butter and almond butter have cooked. Don’t boil. 
8. Once everything is mixed together, pour the mixture over the sweet potato layers. Then top off everything with a little bit more almond meal.
9. Cover the rest of the dish with strips of bacon (unless you chopped and cooked it to add into your gratin).
10. Cover your baking dish with aluminum foil and put in the oven for around 30 minutes.
11. Once the 30 minutes are up, pull out the dish, remove the aluminum foil, and put dish under the broiler for about 3-5 minutes, or until bacon is nice and cripsy (or however you like yours).
12. Let cool for 10 minutes or so then dig in.

Sweet potato soup in the crockpot

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes or yams, diced
• ½ yellow onion, sliced
• 1 (14oz) can of coconut milk
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in the crockpot.
2. Mix around.
3. Cook for 3 hours on high.
4. Use a hand blender, blender, or food processor and puree mixture until smooth. 

Focaccia recipe

•  4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut cream from the top of a can of coconut milk
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped herbs of your choice, such as rosemary, thyme, or oregano
• Olive oil, for brushing
• Coarse sea salt, for topping
• Toppings of your choice, such as chopped olives, halved cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic cloves, or whatever your heart desires

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Beat the eggs with the coconut cream until smooth. In a medium bowl, combine the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. Add the egg mixture to the flour and stir until well combined.
4. Line a pie plate or small jellyroll pan with parchment and spread the batter in the pan.
5. Drizzle with olive oil and press your fingers lightly in the dough to indent.
6. If topping the bread, add toppings evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes until top is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and brush with more olive oil. Cool before slicing and serving.

Cuban Shredded Beef Recipe

Ingredients

2 lb. boneless beef chuck.

3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion, thinly sliced;
½ tsp. ground cumin;
2 tbsp. fresh orange juice;
½ tsp. lime zest;
1 tbsp. lime juice;
1 cup beef stock;
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;
Cooking fat;
Lime wedges, for serving;

Preparation

1. Season the beef all over with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
2. Place the beef in a slow cooker with the stock and cook 6 to 8 hours on low.
3. When the beef is cooked, break it apart gently with a fork and set aside.
4. In a large skillet placed over a medium-high heat, melt the cooking fat. Add the garlic and onion, and cook until the onion is golden and soft (about 5 minutes).
5. Add the beef to the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 4 minutes.
6. Add the cumin, orange juice, lime juice, lime zest, and season again with salt and pepper to taste. Give everything a good stir.
7. Serve warm with lime wedges.

Banana nut muffin recipe from Leeny

Ingredients

2 cups almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup dates (or raisins if you prefer)
3 ripe bananas
1 T. vanilla (I prefer Mexican vanilla)
3 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3 T. coconut oil melted
2 T. almond butter

How to:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  (In a non stick pan, roast pecans on medium heat until fragrant tossing gently as they roast.  This step is not a must but it adds another level of flavor and complexity to the muffin.)  Set aside.
Mash bananas with a whisk or fork, and add honey and almond butter.  Beat eggs and add to banana mixture.  Add oil and vanilla and blend well.  In a separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients, including pecans.  Mix wet with dry ingredients.  Spoon batter into lined muffin cups or a non stick muffin pan. Bake 15-20 minutes.  Makes 12-15 muffins.

Sunday dinner

Caroline is a member of a CSA so she brings vegetables home that we would not normally eat.  She got some beets this week and I haven't had them in ages.  We baked them in the oven and then I sliced them up and added some cherry vinegar from Vom Fass to them (they were really yummy).  We also roasted red onions, turnips, squash and carrots with some tomatoes in olive oil.  Sam grilled some chicken and cut it up with Richard's BBQ sauce.  It was a great Sunday dinner.  Caroline had a box of Mac and Cheese and I cooked it for Ben and Maggie, it made their day!!!!

Apart from dinner, we made a batch of no-oat oatmeal, sweet potato hummus, chocolate pumpkin sun butter treats and kale chips.  We have enough food to last us for a few days.....

End of Whole Life Challenge

	Me	World
Days Recorded Score	55	32 avg
Inches Lost	7	4 avg
Workout Improvement	27	19 avg
Acts of Kindness	7	34,529 total
Minutes of Mindfulness	70	472,060 total

I have finished the Whole Life Challenge.  In some ways it was hard, in others it was easy.  During the 8 weeks, I managed to stay on track for 3 work dinners, John's wedding, John's birthday and a dinner to celebrate my Citizenship.  Amazingly, I also survived a trip to Dallas, including the airport both ways.  It was very strange to be in the airport and not get a Starbucks at every opportunity.  At the end of the challenge, I was surprised to find my workout had improved because I haven't been doing as much Crossfit as I had at the beginning.  I had also lost inches, hopefully won't put them back on!!!

Rank	Name	Community	Total
1	Jane McHowat	None	605
2	Elizabeth Pogostin	None	591
3	Sydney Saito	None	532
4	Leeny Hoffmann	None	302
5	Amy Nash	None	288
6	Marileana Garcia	None	188
7	Anne Bosch	None	118
8	Samara Campen	None	63
9	Gina Stiffler	None	0

This was our Paleo Crossfit team.  It's interesting that one person paid to enter the challenge and then never entered a score at all.  Watching the scores every day, I figured out that most people are like me and once they lose a few points or forget to record a score on any day, they give up completely.  Only one other person stayed the distance and recorded scores and reflections every day.  I think this is probably the reason why most diets fail.....

Chocolate Pumpkin Sunbutter Treats

These have just got to be phenomenal!!!!

Ingredients

• 2 cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips (or dark chocolate brand of choice)
• ⅓ cup coconut milk
• ½ cup sunflower seed butter (or other seed or nut butter)
• ⅓ cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup raw honey
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• ⅛ teaspoon powdered ginger
• pinch of salt, to top

Instructions

1. Melt chocolate chips and coconut milk in microwave or in a double boiler until smooth.
2. Line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment paper (for easy clean up and removal). Pour chocolate into the dish and smooth out.
3. In a bowl, mix together sunbutter, pumpkin, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger until smooth.
4. Spoon sunbutter mixture on top of chocolate and use a knife to spread throughout the chocolate mixture. Just keep making pretty designs in it until it is well mixed. Top with a pinch of salt.
5. Place in freezer and let freeze for 4+ hours. Serve immediately. Store in freezer.

Cauliflower tortillas

Ingredients

• ¾ a head of cauliflower riced or 2 cups riced and packed
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. For these I actually rice my cauliflower slightly more fine that cauliflower rice. Toss ¾ a head of cauliflower cut up and most of the stem removed and pulse until you get a texture slightly finer than rice. (Once it’s riced measure it to make sure you have 2 cups packed.)
3. Place riced cauliflower in bowl and microwave for 2 minutes and stir, then another two minutes and stir again then place in a dish towel and squeeze excess water out as hard as you can. (You’re going to want to get out as much water as you can and be careful not to burn yourself because it’s going to be very hot.)
4. Place drained cauliflower back in bowl and add two eggs, salt and pepper and mix until well combined.
5. As a note it will be a little bit runny but shouldn’t be pure liquid either. Spread mixture onto a baking sheet into 6 small fairly flat circles.
6. Place in the oven for 10 minutes then pull out of the oven and carefully peel them off the parchment and flip them and place back in the oven for 5-7 more minutes.
7. Once they’re done place them on a wire rack to cool slightly.
8. Heat a medium sized pan over medium heat and place the tortillas into the pan pressing down slightly and brown them to your liking. (Don’t skip this step because it gives them slightly crispy on the edges and gives them a wonderfully nutty taste)

WLC week 8 workouts

Day 1
Repeat 3x:
1 min shuttle run (25 yards)
15 sec rest
1 min max 5 push ups, 10 squats
15 sec rest
1 min max sit ups
15 sec rest 

Day 2
Easy cardio/metabolic conditioning of your choice.  Minimum of 10 minutes.  Keep heart rate in recovery range.  Finish feeling good and fresh, not tired and wiped out. 

Day 3
2 min jumping Jacks
15 squats

10 push up

1 min run in place (high knees)
15 squats

10 push ups

1 min burpees
15 squats

10 push ups
2 min jumping jacks 

Day 4
Easy cardio/metabolic conditioning of your choice.  Minimum of 10 minutes.  Keep heart rate in recovery range.  Finish feeling good and fresh, not tired and wiped out 

Day 5
repeat 2x
2 min squat hold
2 min prone cobra hold
2 min plank hold

Sunday cooking

I cooked in two shifts on Sunday.  I knew we'd run out of no-oat oatmeal in a day so I made more before we headed out to Eckert's to pick Fuji apples.  When we got home, I made this apple cobbler with the apples we had from previous trips.  It's got almond meal, eggs and flour in the topping, so within paleo limits.  I think it's better with the peaches than apples though....

I was looking through old recipes and found this recipe for an oven omelet.  I thought it would be a nice change from the usual fare

I made another batch of Scotch eggs.  This time, I got some bacon apple-wurst from Eckerts and used it, it was really good.  We had beef bourguignon made in the crock pot for dinner and I'm planning on making salmon chowder with coconut milk for dinner tonight.  Definitely making some old recipes this week