Peanut Butter Delights…Positively Delish!

Peanut Butter Delights 3Peanut Butter Delights

I created this recipe by mixing two different recipes and a little “know-how” They are not truly “Paleo Friendly” but if you substitute the PB2 for nut butter they could be!

Ingredients (8-10 cookies)

1 1/2 Cups sliced almonds

1 Pinch of salt

1 Pinch baking soda

2-3 T maple syrup

1 T coconut oil

1t Almond Extract

4T PB2 combined with 2T water

3/4C melting chocolate of your choice at least 65% Cacao

peanut butter delights 00 Peanut Butter Delights 1

Instructions

Process almond slivers until almost flour consistency. I used my old school mini-prep processor and it worked perfectly! Add salt and baking soda.

In a small bowl combine maple syrup, almond extract and coconut oil (warmed to liquid first).

Mix together to form dough. You can add almond or coconut milk if it is too dry but do so sparingly!

Form 8-10 balls and place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Use a glass to flatten the balls into cookies. Put cookies into freezer for 10 minutes before baking.

Bake at 325 (F) for 12 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before trying to remove from parchment paper (trust me…). Place on cooling rack with a paper towel or parchment under it.

While cookies are baking melt chocolate slowly so it doesn’t burn.

Top each cookie with PB2 and drizzle chocolate over the top.

Chill for 10 minutes before eating.

Recommend enjoying with a glass of ice-cold almond milk!!

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Posted in Food, Fun, Health

Bad Timing for Insanity and Tough Mudder: But I will press on.

Let me give a little background here…I’ve been exercising and completing “mud runs” in pain for over a year…Thats BAD, I know, I know. But I’m stubborn and determined and…well…just plain STUPID! The knee pain started after I’d been working out heavily for ten months so it was definitely an “overworked” issue, but how did I expect it to go away without giving the time it needed to heal? Wishful thinking I guess! About a month after the miniscule, itty bitty, teeny tiny (seriously, it was no big deal) pain started I completed my first TOUGH MUDDER and guess what? Yup, you got it…all those “hills” killed it! My knee hasn’t been the same since *insert sniffle here*. Now mind you, I’ve thought about having it looked at…many times…but…well…ok, I’ll be honest…I was afraid of what they would say. I didn’t want to be told I had to stop! Not that I would listen anyway.

Flash forward to the present…

Four days into my INSANITY CHALLENGE and I get the opportunity to have a highly recommended physical therapist check me out! And by opportunity I mean seriously it landed in my lap, like someone reached out and slapped me, I had to go…and really, the pain was getting worse and much more frequent. But what is she tells me I have to stop my Insanity Challenge??!!?? I can’t do that to my team! They need me…ok, I need them, but the real kicker? Tough Mudder is in 11 weeks!!! *GASP*

4 DAYS IN!!!

4 DAYS IN!!!

2012 Tough Mudder

So I go…because secretly, I know there is something really wrong and I have to get it looked at! She spends 2 hours poking and prodding and hmmm-ing and ah-ing. It was a workout in itself: up, down, sit, squat, roll over, squeeze this muscle, relax that one! I was thinking: Yikes! What have I done to myself!?!?!

The results???? Not at all what I expected!!! The problem wasn’t my knee!!! It all stems back to a muscle connecting my inner hip to my pelvic floor and thanks SO MUCH to my son because between him and my wonderful delivery doctor (seriously, she was amazing given the circumstances) it was all SCREWED UP and never healed. Long story short, this muscle isn’t working very well so a bunch of other muscles have taken up the slack for, well lets see…THREE YEARS!  So 10 months into working out these muscles have had enough and can’t take it anymore! Enter: The Knee Pain and Low Back Discomfort!

The good news is she has given me lots of “work” to do and I have one week to accomplish some things or she’s cutting my 6 day a week workouts down to three (That can’t happen because I HAVE to finish INSANITY with my team) and NO Tough Mudder. So I’m being a good doobie and doing what I’m told!

Stay Tuned, and PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!!!!!!!

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Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Fun, Health, Uncategorized

Excitement Over Insanity And A Yummy Veggie Patty

Because of my continuous quest to stay healthy I have chosen to tackle the 60 day INSANITY  challenge!!! I’m so excited to start this with some good friends of mine. We’ve done a couple of Insanity Workouts in the past and loved them. We’ve decided to take before and after pictures to show our results and possibly even along the way. Can’t wait to get started tomorrow night!!! Seriously, I’m that excited…rediculous, I know! I hope you’ll cheer me on along the way!

On a food note…I made my normal “Dinner Meal Plan” for the week and it isn’t the healthiest so in an effort to combat the calorie intake I made some Very Yummy Veggie Patties to have for lunch!

Veggie Patty

 

 

3/4 Cup Cooked Brown Rice

1 Cup of Lentils, uncooked

3 Celery Stalks, chopped

2 Carrots, peeled and chopped

1 Large Onion, chopped

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

 

1.) Boil Lentils, Celery, Carrots, and Onion in a large pot with 5 cups of water. Covered for 45 minutes. Drain.

2.) Mix all ingredients (minus the Oil), season with Salt and Pepper.

3.) Shape into patties.

4.) Heat oil in a large pan. Cook patties until browned on each side.

 

 

 

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Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Food, Health

Sweet Smoothie: Drinkable Watercress

Reading about the benefits of watercress caused me to purchase a bunch this week. I’ve used it in my salad and put it in soup but am looking for other options…enter: The Smoothie!

smoothie

Watercress

Almond Milk

Green Apple

Frozen Green Grapes

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Posted in Health, Smoothie

Good Ol’Fashion Vitamin C

peels and powder

I wont go into all the details regarding the health benefits of vitamin C but I will tell you that the list of “other ingredient” on the back of my Emergen-C box includes: Fructose, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Tapioca Maltodextrin (easily digestible carbohydrates made from natural corn starch.  The starch is cooked, and then acid and/or enzymes are used to break the starch into smaller polymers), Malic Acid, Silica (primary use of the silica is to act as a flow agent, anti-packing agent, and water scavenger), Glycine, Aspartic Acid, Tartaric Acid, and Cysteine Hydrochloride.

I can also tell you that there are a few items in the above list that I don’t want to put in my body or my family’s! How else to get a dose of Good Old Fashion Vitamin C??

Make My Own!!

I simply saved the peels from my lemons and oranges (washed of course, organic is best) and left them out to dry.

peels

Once they were dry and brittle I tossed them into my food processor, a coffee grinder would have worked quicker but I don’t have one.

peels in processor

The finished product smells fabulous!!!

vitamin C

               I’ve added a teaspoon full to my tea and smoothies and even dissolved in 6oz of water for a quick boost! What else would you put it in?

 

Sources:

http://www.grainprocessing.com/food/maltodextrins-corn-syrup-solids.html

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen01/gen01308.htm

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Posted in Food, Health

Paleo Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

I’ve been really wanting spaghetti so tonight I roasted a spaghetti squash, sliced in half and placed skin up, for 45 minutes. While it was cooling enough for me to handle it I browned up some grass-fed ground beef with onions, basil and a giant clove of garlic minced. Drained and rinsed it and tossed it back in the pan with a jar of diced tomatoes (canned from my garden this summer of course) and a small can of tomato paste. While that simmered to perfection I scooped out the squash. My picky husband and even pickier toddler ate it all up…SUCCESS!!!

spaghetti 2

Ingredients:

1lb Grass-Fed Ground Beef

1 Medium Spaghetti Squash

1 Can Tomato Paste

1 Jar Diced Tomatoes

1 Small Onion, Diced

1 Large Clove of Garlic

1 Handful Fresh Basil

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Posted in Food, Health

Crock Pot Paleo Pot Roast

paleo pot roast

I am lucky enough to have a freezer full of grass-fed beef that my brother-in-law raised for me and I love it…one complaint though…some of it is a little tough due to the animal not being grain fed and the meat not having any marblization. To counteract that fact I soak the tougher cuts in a tomato based sauce, the acid does wonders to tenderize the meat!

For this recipe I chose a jar of spaghetti sauce (made from my garden and canned this summer) and mixed it with a cup of Balsamic Vinegar and a 1/4 cup white wine. First I rubbed the meat with sea salt, pepper, fresh minced garlic and paprika then I browned it in coconut oil to lock in the flavor. Tossed it in the crock pot (Mom’s Best Friend) and surrounded it with sliced onions. Dumped my sauce over it and cooked it on low for 6 hours. I served mine with a big salad and some roasted zucchini! YUMMY!!!

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Posted in Food, Health

The Original “Don’t Be A &itch” Workout

Some friends were coming over to workout in “The Gym” aka my basement, and I was trying to put something together that was new and fresh to keep us entertained, the day I was having required me to sarcastically title it…DONT BE A BITCH… I’ve revisited this workout many times but still like the original best, isn’t that always the way?

Don't Be A Bitch

When company joins me in “the gym” for a good sweat session I create stations by taping the individual pictures in separate locations. We set an interval timer, my fave is the free app on my smart phone “HIIT Timer”, crank the music and KILL IT!!! I prefer to workout with company, it keeps me motivated and I push myself to be better (ya, I’m a little competitive like that). How about you? Do you fly solo or sweat it out with a few friends?

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Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Health

How to Instantly Better Your Strength and Conditioning Performance…Seriously!

A great article for anyone looking to instantly increase performance! John Sifferman, CST Coach, CST-KS Health-First Fitness Coach explains how, simply by using joint mobility exercises!

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No Plyo Box? No Problem!!

Added a new piece of equipment to my arsenal.

Added a new piece of equipment to my arsenal.

Created a workout today that required me to do box jumps, the problem? I don’t have a plyo box and didn’t have the time or the money (I hate spending money) or the desire for that matter, to go buy one. The solution? I made my own! Took a little walk around the property to see what I could use… Found a scrap piece of plywood in the garage…Found a couple of empty 5 gallon buckets out behind my husbands metal fabrication shop! Now I’ve got a plan coming together all I needed were 2 junk 2×4 pieces and I would be in business (back to the garage)!  Wait…I bet your thinking…if your husband owns a metal fab business why don’t you have him form one up out of steel??? Why are you using wood? The answer is simple, He’s not here and I need it now, I’m an independant daughter of a wood booger (I just married the metal guy)! Snuck into the shop to “borrow” some deck screws and the drill!     My Daddy taught me well 🙂

TAAA-DAAA!!!

plyo box

What lengths have you gone to in order to do a workout you really liked??

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Posted in Exercise, Fitness, Health

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