...chips!

KALE Chips!

We got a beautiful bunch of Kale in our CSA this past week. There are 3 ways I absolutely love to each Kale. The first is in an autumn vegetable soup, the second is sauteed with garlic and pepper with some almonds added, and the last (but not least) is to make it into chips.

It's super easy and WAY healthier for ya than those pringles taking up space in the local giant eagle.

1) rip off the leaves from the Kale stalks
2) wash em. yay salad spinner!
3) mix em with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, pepper and your favorite spice. I love Penzey's Sunny Paris or Fox Point (Warning: some spice mixes already have salt in them so watch out! Don't add too much extra salt or you will be chugging water along with your chips.)

You could spread the kale on a baking sheet and bake it at about 200 for an hour or so. I have not had great luck with this method. Burned kale chips are no bueno. Neither are soggy chips. Instead, I prefer to use our handy dandy dehydrator. Spread in the dehydrator, turn on to 145, walk away for 4-5 hours. When you come back there will be magical chips for you to savor. Nom nom nom.

...caveman crunch bars

Hey, JFwodfather - this post was inspired by and for CF Distinctions healthy diet blog (aka awesome Paleo recipes courtesy of members at the box), so feel free to re-post shamelessly :)

Sometime last fall, when I was getting into the swing of things with cooking, I stumbled upon the Civilized Caveman Cooking. I was looking for good breakfast-on-the-go recipes that I could a) throw into my bag for work, b) were paleo and c) scarf down in my left hand while scribbling notes with my right hand if the ER was busy.
Eureka - CRUNCH bars!
These Caveman Crunch Bars totally hit the spot!
I did tweak the original recipe a touch, so here's my version.

You'll need a 9 x 9 baking dish, mixing bowl and mini-food processor.

Get out all the ingredients and throw em on your counter. I buy in bulk at Trader Joe's whenever possible. If you get the big bags of nuts and seeds you'll be set for many batches of these bad boys.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cup Raw Almonds
• 3/4 Cup Raw Macadamia Nuts (can substitute walnuts; a much cheaper option)
• 1/4 Cup Raw Pepitas
• 1/4 cup salted and toasted sunflower seeds
• 1/4 Cup Finely Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
• 1/2 Cup Dried Dark Cherries (the no-sugar added ones)
• 1/2 Cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 Cup Raw Organic Honey
• 2 Eggs ("Cavemen" would use Pasturized free-range eggs...)
• 1 Tbsp Penzey's Vietnamese Cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Penzey's Cake Spice

If you are not lucky enough to live near a Penzey's, you poor poor soul, you can also put in 2 Tbsp of good cinnamon. I promised, it'll still be dericious. (And no, I did not spell that wrong. Dericious is a word. Just ask Danimal.)

Okay, you got everything? Here comes the fun part....

Some Assembly Required:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees F
2. Place your almonds and macadamia nuts in your food processor. Warn everyone around you that it is about to get very loud, then grind up the nuts until they are tiny chunks. We DON'T want nut dust or flour here. You want it chunky to give the bars some heft and hold together well.
3. Transfer the mixture to your mixing bowl and add all of the remaining ingredients. If the coconut oil is a solid, melt it. I microwave it in a pyrex measuring cup, then add the 1/4 honey on top until the liquid is at 3/4 cup total.
4. Mix well by hand to ensure an even distribution of ingredients. Bonus points if you use a fun spatula. (D's mom gave us one with a black cat on it - Boo!)
5. Spray a 9×9 Square baking dish with coconut oil cooking spray and then transfer your nut mixture to the dish. Lick the empty bowl.
6. Bake in your preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until the center of your bars pass the toothpick test
7. Once done, remove from the oven and let cool on the counter in the pan
8. Once you can handle the pan without oven mitts, place the bars in the refrigerator and let cool completely. This will harden them a touch so they stay together better when you cut em up.
9. Cut into bars.

Now wasn't that easy?!?! A little bit of effort and you have a whole stack of awesome paleo bars to take everywhere as breakfast on the go or snacks!  

In writing this up, I noticed that C.C. just added a new Apple Pie version. I know what I'm making next week...

...crossfit memorial weekend (part 2)

yes, I know memorial day was last weekend. got a bit behind with that whole werk thing.

Anyway, after the Hammy WOD on Sunday I worked from 5p-1am at my "day job" then woke up Monday morning and headed over to the Box in Beachwood. Danimal was rounding and planned to meet me there.
 
Murph:
For Time
1 Mile Run
100 Pullups
200 pushups
300 air squats
1 Mile Run

 Now, I hadn't been feeling all that great since the night before but wanted to still do this awesome WOD. Just shortly after 9, the first group was off on the first mile run. I did fine for this first part, but a few round of pullups/pushups/squats in, began to feel really sick to the point where I could barely squat without feeling pretty intense abdominal pain. I stopped after doing the equivalent of "mini-murph": the run plus 50pullups/100pushups/150 squats I called it a day. Muscle aches are one thing but I felt like pushing myself through that could be dangerous. I hate backing off and felt pretty lame, but it was probably the right decision.

Danimal got there in time for the next wave and I cheered him and the rest of the crew on.

Actually, the WOD made me nostalgic for our old box. I remember doing Murph at CF Palo Alto last memorial day. One of our members was struggling with completing the reps. The whole box was shouting his name as he finished each pullup, each pushup. Routing for him to make it through. When he started off on the second mile, we all followed behind him. We didn't want him to have to run that mile alone. The WOD itself was special, but that mile was even more so. It signified how much support each and everyone of us at CFPA have for each other. It signified that crossfit is so much more than a gym that people schedule into their appointment books between work and dinner. It signified that we are a community and that we are there for each other.

I love my crossfit weekends :)