My hubby loves big breakfasts and I love weekend brunches. I recently served up these Breakfast Enchiladas at a Girls' Getaway at the Coast. We enjoyed the leftovers later for dinner.
You might consider using other fresh veggies from your spring garden or the farmer's market. We like to slip some spinach or other greens in with the filling or even chop some fresh asparagus to throw in with the eggs. Leave a comment and let us know what you try.
Spring often brings birthday brunches, baby and wedding showers, and even Easter or Mother's Day celebrations. Next time you're hosting try out these breakfast enchiladas to give your brunch a fun and festive flair!
Dorina's Breakfast Enchiladas
Ingredients:
-1 dozen organic corn or flour tortillas
Sauce:
-1 bottle Trader Joe's Enchilada Sauce (or other favorite brand)
-1 15-oz. can organic tomato sauce
-1/2 cup organic sour cream (or plain yogurt)
Filling:
-olive oil
-8 eggs, cooked/scrambled
-2 cups pinto beans, cooked (use 1 can or 1 cup dried, soaked and cooked until soft on the stovetop)
-1 teaspoon cumin
-1/2 teaspoon salt
Toppings:
-1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
-1 small can black olives, sliced
-3 green onion stalks, chopped
-1 avocado, sliced
-1 cup sour cream
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Stir together ingredients for sauce in a small pan. Heat through.
3. Meanwhile, mix eggs with cumin and salt. Scramble in frying pan in olive oil. When eggs are cooked, add canned or precooked beans and mix together with eggs.
4. Spray bottom of 13x9x2 dish with olive oil. Lay out tortillas. Add a few tablespoons of cooked egg mixture to the center of each tortilla and roll. Place face down in the pan so the opening is at the bottom. Repeat with all tortillas until dish is full. (You may need more than one dish, depending on how full you like your enchiladas or how many tortillas you want to use.)
5. Pour sauce over the top of the enchiladas and top with shredded cheese.
6. Sprinkle olives and green onions on top of cheese.
7. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes until cheese is melted and tortillas are warm.
8. Garnish with sliced avocado and serve with sour cream on the side.
3.18.2010
Farmer and the Dale: Supporting a Local CSA
It's Thursday and that means we just received a special delivery to our front porch. We recently joined a CSA called Farmer and the Dale and they deliver fresh produce to our door every other Thursday. Yes, you read that correctly. They *deliver* a box of fresh fruits and vegetables to us. No need to pile my kiddos in the car. No need to have the proper change. With just a few clicks of the mouse I can place my order, pay through Paypal, and my bank account or credit card are charged. They even deliver in these snazzy recyclable bags or crates.
Isn't this stuff gorgeous? The cost is $30 per box. We signed up to get it every other week so we're talking $15 a week right now. Totally affordable, especially for organic eats.
You might be wondering what a CSA is or how to find one in your area if you don't live in the Central Valley. A CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. These have become popular in the last 20 years as a way for people to buy local, save money and support smaller farmers. A farmer offers a certain number of "shares" to the public, which in most cases means a regular box of produce. Another popular CSA in California's Central Valley is T.D. Willey Farms in Madera. We've tried them too. They have great products but we are choosing Farmer and the Dale because they allow us to choose what comes in our box. This allows us to cook and eat the items we desire. Here are some listings of CSAs across the country.
Ericlee's fave: apples. He eats an apple a day so we selected two orders of these. The only problem is my girlies are fighting over these sweet apples now. We'll be lucky if there are any left for Daddy.
Even though it's not tomato season we just decided to try some out. These are grown in a greenhouse. They don't compare to summer tomatoes but they're nice to add to sandwiches. If you order from Farmer and the Dale, please tell them we sent you so we can get our "referral bonus." But don't just trust us, try out a box yourself and make a decision. They have amazing customer service!
3.17.2010
Go Green this St. Patty's Day
Happy St. Patrick's Day, friends! At the Gilmore house, a new holiday means a new challenge to find healthy ways to celebrate and have fun. With the help of my little shamrocks, I just created a Minty Shamrock Shake (Move over, McD's) and tried out Irish Soda Bread with healthy twists. Yummy! You could always go digging in your refrigerator or browsing at your farmer's market for green fruits and veggies. Try sliced kiwi, limes, green peppers, asparagus, cucumbers - even apples!
We know it may sound weird but spring is the time for sweet peas so why not utilize their natural color? They have a light flavor but do not dominate a smoothie so your kids probably won't even notice. And the good news is, you don't have to use those yucky dyes to make your food green. If you're gun shy, try a tablespoon first just to get a little color. Just be a sneaky chef and leave a comment so we can hear if your little leprachauns liked it.
Minty Shamrock Shake
-3 cups raw whole milk (or your fave type of milk)
-1 tray of ice cubes
-1/2 teaspoon organic peppermint extract (depends on how minty you like it!)
-3 tablespoons honey (or organic sugar, if you prefer)
-1/4 cup frozen organic sweet peas
1. Whirl these ingredients in your blender until smooth.
2. Serve with a straw.
I found several recipes for Irish Soda Bread and decided to create my own. A special thanks to Maura Marmo and Peggy O'Brien-Bremer from my elementary school on the South Side of Chicago, who inspired me with their bread recipes. I've never used caraway seeds before but they are a fun addition that give this bread a distinct flavor. I would serve this up for breakfast, lunch or a dinner appetizer.
Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
-3 cups whole wheat flour
-2/3 cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-2 beaten eggs
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk
-2 tablespoons organic butter, melted
-1 cup raisins
-1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan or mini loaves.
2. Sift flour into bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
2. Beat eggs. Add milk and butter. Blend into dry ingredients until batter is incorporated and moist.
3. Add raisins.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour or until golden brown on top.
6. Cool, slice and serve with butter.
Here are more St. Patty's Day healthy recipes from one of my fave online sources, Eating Well Magazine.
We know it may sound weird but spring is the time for sweet peas so why not utilize their natural color? They have a light flavor but do not dominate a smoothie so your kids probably won't even notice. And the good news is, you don't have to use those yucky dyes to make your food green. If you're gun shy, try a tablespoon first just to get a little color. Just be a sneaky chef and leave a comment so we can hear if your little leprachauns liked it.
Minty Shamrock Shake
-3 cups raw whole milk (or your fave type of milk)
-1 tray of ice cubes
-1/2 teaspoon organic peppermint extract (depends on how minty you like it!)
-3 tablespoons honey (or organic sugar, if you prefer)
-1/4 cup frozen organic sweet peas
1. Whirl these ingredients in your blender until smooth.
2. Serve with a straw.
I found several recipes for Irish Soda Bread and decided to create my own. A special thanks to Maura Marmo and Peggy O'Brien-Bremer from my elementary school on the South Side of Chicago, who inspired me with their bread recipes. I've never used caraway seeds before but they are a fun addition that give this bread a distinct flavor. I would serve this up for breakfast, lunch or a dinner appetizer.
Whole Wheat Irish Soda Bread
Ingredients:
-3 cups whole wheat flour
-2/3 cup organic evaporated cane juice (sugar)
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-2 beaten eggs
-1 1/2 cups buttermilk
-2 tablespoons organic butter, melted
-1 cup raisins
-1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan or mini loaves.
2. Sift flour into bowl. Add sugar, baking powder and baking soda.
2. Beat eggs. Add milk and butter. Blend into dry ingredients until batter is incorporated and moist.
3. Add raisins.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour or until golden brown on top.
6. Cool, slice and serve with butter.
Here are more St. Patty's Day healthy recipes from one of my fave online sources, Eating Well Magazine.
3.16.2010
Luscious Lunches Cooking Club: Great lunch ideas served up for dinner
Each month we choose a theme and this time around it was Luscious Lunches - inspired by a cookbook my mom gave me for Christmas. It's always fun to mix it up a little and serve something different for lunch. Who wants the same old boring sandwich day after day - especially when you are packing your hubby's lunch or your serving it up for multiple kiddos.
At Cooking Club, we always try out a new "adventurous recipe," which was this Asparagus Soup from Alfred Portale's 12 Seasons Cookbook. Our healthy option was the colorful Vegetarian Lavash Sandwiches created by our friend Cori. Everyone gobbled them up. We even made some peanut butter and jelly ones for the less adventurous types. We also look for recipes that use famer's market finds. Since spring has sprung in California that means strawberries and rhubarb are popping up in stores and on corners. We employed those babies in our fab dessert.
The Menu:
Dorina's Maple Pecan Chicken Wonton Cups
Cori's Lavash Sandwiches
Asparagus Soup
Sweet Potato Fries with Spicy Avocado Dip
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Chocolate-Banana-Oatmeal Power Cookies
Here are the recipes that aren't linked elsewhere:
Cori's Lavash Sandwiches
-hummus
-mayonnaise
-red pepper
-sprouts
-cucumber
-basil leaves
-tomato
-kalamata olives
-salt
-lemon pepper
-paprika
-1 package of lavash bread (find it near the tortillas at Trader Joe's or other local grocery stores)
1. Thinly slice all the vegetables.
2. Spread the lavash with a thin layer of 1/3 mayonnaise and 2/3 hummus.
3. Arrange the veggies on top.
4. Sprinkle with salt, lemon pepper, paprika.
5. Roll up and cut into halves or thirds. Serve.
Sweet Potato Fries with Spicy Avocado Dip
Ingredients:
-15 sweet potatoes, peeled
-1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
-2 tablespoons of olive oil
-2 cups mayonnaise
-2 avocadoes
-1 jalapeno, finely chopped (approx. 1 tablespoon)
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-1 teaspoon paprika
-1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Wash, peel and cut potatoes in large wedges. Toss with whole wheat pastry flour.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
3. Spray two cookie sheets with olive oil. Place wedges onto the cookie sheets.
4. Bake in oven for approximately 45 minutes until cooked through. If they seem mushy, turn on broil and "crisp" for 5 minutes watching closely so they don't burn.
5. While the potato fries are cooking, assemble the sauce. Mash avocadoes in a bowl.
6. Mix in mayonnaise, lemon juice, jalapeno, paprika and salt. Blend well and put in small bowls to serve with fries.
2.26.2010
Menu Plans for Week of February March 1-7
I decided to post next week's menu plans a little earlier in case some of you wanted to join us on this culinary adventure week. First stop: Fresno Vineyard Farmer's Market on Saturday morning. We are just on the brink of seeing some of the spring produce at our market. I'm curious to see what vendors show up this week. In the meantime, I've incorporated some of the winter veggies like broccoli and picked out some of our fave ethnic foods. My friend Yasmin just returned from India with some authentic spices for me so I'm eager to cook with those. I'm also trying out Evelyn's Thai Chicken Curry dish. I'm jazzed about the beginning of a new month for my food budget and a new season of eating! Let us know if you would like any of the following recipes or you have questions about what's for dinner.
MONDAY
Broccoli Cheese Chowder
Artichoke Turkey Paninis
TUESDAY
Garlic Naan
Chicken Masala with Basmati Rice & Plain Yogurt
Mango Chickpeas with Tamarind Sauce
WEDNESDAY
Small Group:
Thai Chicken Curry
Coconut Rice
THURSDAY
Green Salad with Feta, Red Pepper, Black olives
Beef Strogonoff with Mushrooms
Whole Wheat Penne
FRIDAY
Luscious Leftovers
SATURDAY
Cooking Club: Luscious Lunches (for Dinner)
Lavosh Sandwich Bar
Maple-Pecan Chicken Wontons
Asparagus Soup
Sweet Potato Fries with Avocado Sauce
Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart
SUNDAY
Italian Chicken Sausage & Kale Soup
Honey Cornbread
MONDAY
Broccoli Cheese Chowder
Artichoke Turkey Paninis
TUESDAY
Garlic Naan
Chicken Masala with Basmati Rice & Plain Yogurt
Mango Chickpeas with Tamarind Sauce
WEDNESDAY
Small Group:
Thai Chicken Curry
Coconut Rice
THURSDAY
Green Salad with Feta, Red Pepper, Black olives
Beef Strogonoff with Mushrooms
Whole Wheat Penne
FRIDAY
Luscious Leftovers
SATURDAY
Cooking Club: Luscious Lunches (for Dinner)
Lavosh Sandwich Bar
Maple-Pecan Chicken Wontons
Asparagus Soup
Sweet Potato Fries with Avocado Sauce
Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart
SUNDAY
Italian Chicken Sausage & Kale Soup
Honey Cornbread
A Crossfit Journey: Coach/athlete goes for the goal
By Ericlee Gilmore
On January 1, 2010, I started a journey. My goal was to train for 12 Weeks to prepare myself for The Crossfit Games in San Jose. But I wanted to do more than just train. I wanted to record my progress, my diet, my thoughts on taking on this physical challenge. Below are some journal notes about this process now that I have reached the halfway point.
Sat, Jan 2
I weighed myself first thing in the morning on my bodyfat scale and I have 18.9% Body Fat and weigh 178lbs. My goal is to lose 5% BF and still be about 175 pounds.
I am excited and pumped for this cool opportunity to push my body to the outer limits and be able to compete. All my life I have loved fitness or the idea of being in great shape in all aspects. I played three sports in high school, learned how to do 10 events in College, and even after college I trained in a way that worked my entire body – cardio, upper and lower strength, and core. When I found out about Crossfit in February of 2009 and read the philosophy behind it all, I was impressed to say the least. After teaching Crossfit philosophy to my Analysis of Fitness College class, I respect the program even more.
So what is Crossfit? It is a strength and conditioning system or program that uses varied and random functional movements executed at high intensity. There is a part of me that says I can be in the top 20 and qualify to the Regional competition. Yet the more Workout Of Days (WOD) I do, the more weaknesses I see that shows me that I will not even be close to the top 20.
My plan is to workout with Andrew 3x a week. I will then do another workout at home either by myself or with my wife. The last workout will be some kind of running intervals with Steve or by myself.
Sun, Jan 3
Since Nutrition is at the bottom of the pyramid for an ideal athlete, I am going to watch what I eat more closely and improve my teeter totter – glucose and insulin balance.
Breakfast – whole wheat blueberry pancakes with almond butter and real maple syrup; raw milk and fruit and greens smoothie
Lunch – Leftover salmon with rice pilaf and salad
Dinner – Ground Turkey whole wheat pitas with feta cheese and lots of greens from out garden
Mon, Jan 4
I saw this WOD last month and wanted to try it at home since I do not need any equipment. 400m lunges for time and count steps. So I did it around my block. I estimate it to be about 450m long give or take some. Not very hard but I did rest about half a dozen times. My time was 12:31 and I had 415 steps. So my goal next time would be under 12min and under 410 steps.
Tues, Jan 5
First day back since the break to the Combat Fitness, Crossfit Affilate in Fresno, where I work and train. My training partner was still out of town so I decided to do a girl benchmark workout called Angie – 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 airsquats. I was already hurting from lunges the day before. But my goal was the same. I wanted to beat 30 minutes. Pullups are my weakness so that took the longest. I must admit I have improved greatly since staring Crossfit. Just over 13 minutes. Then came pushups where were harder than I thought. I guess you can say my arms were tired. That took about 7 minutes. Then the situps and squats were the easiest. My final time was 29:35. I made my goal. As I look online I notice to be better than average I must complete it in under 20 minutes. So maybe 10min for pullups, 5min for pushups, 3min for situps, and 2 min for squats. We will see.
Wed, Jan 6
I had a horrible night last night. I was so sore. I had to take Tylenol in the middle of the night to relieve the pain. Every time I moved my muscles hurt. Where? My legs some but the majority of the pain is in the upper body. My biceps and back are killing me. I cannot extend my arms all the way out. So I look a little deformed. I cannot reach up for anything because of my back muscles. It was so hard to put my shirt on this morning. I had trouble reaching the top shelf of the cubbard. To say the least, I only did a very easy run with my wife this morning. That loosened up my legs a little bit but my upper body is still very bad.
Thurs, Jan 7
I have recovered a little but I am still in much pain in my arms and back. I had trouble carrying my 11mon old daughter. I decided just to warmup only. Andrew, my training partner and coach, motivated me to do at least that much. After the warmup, my muscles did feel better and I could stretch them a little farther. The problem is now I have a two day set back. I have a rest day tomorrow and then we will see how I feel on Saturday. I will do some kind of WOD in the neighborhood of our friends house in the Bay area. Once again these are the times I wish I could call up Barry Sears and ask him this question, “How does a 35 year old recover quickly from an intense workout?”
Sat, Jan 9
Slept in because I felt a headache coming on. So no workout today. I am actally feeling better today. I have spring in my step again and my arms can extend straight. Look forward to Mondays workout. I am reminded again of fish oil and how it can help recovery. I need that more than ever after what happened this week. Maybe I can by the expensive fish oil for the last 6 weeks of training.
Mon, Jan 11
Week 2. Short but good. Sprinted about 100yds and then rested 30 seconds and then sprinted back. Performed 12 reps of shoulder press with resistant band. I did five reps of that or 10 sprints. I should of done 10 reps but that was good. I have a long way to go. Maybe two weeks from now I wil do that. I am also fasting today for spiritual and physical reasons. I need Jesus more than ever as I start my second semester of teaching at a University and as I get more serious about training. Fasting is always a sacrifice which reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus had when he died on the cross. To train for these sectional games is also a sacrifice. I know that my GI tract needed a rest. Look forward to this week of training.
Fri, Jan 15
Just like that, we are almost done with week 2. Since school started this week I was a little busy preparing to teach my classes. I wanted to write down the workouts I did this week. Today I am resting and I am very glad. On Tuesday we did some technique and skill of the snatch. Then we worked on power 3x5. We finished with the WOD of Row 500 and 30 Wall balls for 20 minutes. My goal was 5 and that is what I did. I have about 30 seconds left to get 10 more wall balls and I did it with three seconds to spare. The more I do these workouts, the more I realize how similar they are to a interval. Work hard, rest, work hard, rest. The problem is that you are doing something else and not really resting. I am resting from rowing but I have to rest while performing 30 wall balls. I am resting from the wall balls while I have to row 500 meters. I need to have a shift in my thinking. I need to go hard because I know I will be able to rest during the next exercise.
On Wed, I ran with my friend about 4 miles. It was a good day to get the lactic acid out of my legs. Next time we are going to do more intervals to get my mind and body use to that mentality. On Thursday we flipped the day. After warming up we did the WOD which was Elizabeth and not Fran because my body is still not ready for pullups. 45 cleans at 135# is a lot of work. But little by little, I got the job done. The ring dips is something I must improve on. I could not do more than 4 in a row. My partner was already done with Fran (6 min) but I was not even half way. I finally finished in 14:35. After a 10 minute recovery we did 4 sets of handstand holds from 30 second to 60 seconds and finished with 3x5 of front push press. My last set was 132lbs. So what is my goal for the Olympic lifts. Snatch – 150, Cleans – 175, Deads – 300, Push Press – 150.
Mon, Jan 18
It is crazy how fast the days go by and I have not written anything. Saturday was a great day because my family came to the Crossfit gym. It was already closed so it was just my training partner and another friend. My 3 year old daughter was so excited to see the place. She was very disappointed when Velocity closed back in November so she was looking forward to coming to the new gym. The WOD was called Bionic. It was 7 rounds of seven of the following exercises – Thursters 95, Pullups (chest to bar), ring dips, and burpees. Since I was still weak from my 100 pullups last week I had to do jumping pullups instead. I did double the amount and still the whole WOD took 21 minutes. The best thing about the whole day was that I was able to take my wife through a WOD. I gave her 5 rounds of Row 250 and 10 wall ball with 10lbs ball. She was very tired but really liked it. My daughter loved the rowing machine as well as the rings. My youngest daughter (1 year) love to crawl around and watch us workout. It was a great day.
Today I met up with Andrew to do the Lumberjack 20 but it started to rain and so we had to go inside and change it up. So we decided to do three different excises but go full tilt on each one with 3-5 minute rest between the exercises. The first was Thrusters. We did 21 at 99lbs to practice Fran. It took us 50 seconds. After the rest we did 1000 row. I was shooting for under 4 minutes and I made 3:39. Finally we did 100 double unders. This was my weakest one. My partner did it in 2:10 and it took me 4:28. I am finding so many weaknesses. I wanted to know my Deadlift max so we found that out too. 264. That is horrible. We finished with some grip strength exercises and practiced handstand pushups. Someday I will be able to go all the way down.
Only 10 weeks left.
Thurs, Jan 21
On Tuesday, we tested my max for the power clean. I am so rusty on all my Olympic lifts. Practice is the only way to get better. I also realized that I need more protein since I have kicked up my workouts to four sometimes five a week. So I did 75k or 165lbs. I also did max rep for the snatch too – 55k (121lbs). After being discouraged about that we did the WOD. We added walking lunges with plate (25k) over head to Annie - 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of Lunges, Double-unders, and situps. So it took me 21:11 and for Andrew 17+. So far I have only beaten him on two WODs. Hopefully today will be three. Too bad he is not competing because I know he would do very well. I did not run on Wed due to physical fatigue and spiritual issues.
Fri, Jan 22
So I finally have my max for everything except back squat. Bench – 165; Front Squat - 209; Snatch - 121; Cleans – 165; Deadlift – 264; Push Press ?. So now I have something to improve on. Here are my new goals. Bench – 187 (85k); Front Squat – 264 (120k); Snatch – 143; Cleans – 187; Deadlift – 308; Push Press – 198
Once again we confirmed that the WOD must always be last. After warmup we have to do technique, stength/power, and finally the WOD. We did 135 Clean and Jerk 10x and 30 GHM situps 3 rounds – 13:18. I was aiming for 12 minutes. I know I lost focus the last set. We then lifted Front Squat and bench 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 going up in weight each time. Finally we learned the first progression of Muscle Ups and that was easier than I thought. So how many excises do I need to be proficient?
DoubleUnders Ring Dips Clean Thrusters OH Squats Knees to Elbow
Wall Ball Pullups Snatch Box Jumps HS Pushup Feet to Bar
Rowing Muscleups Dead Sumo HP Rope Climb 400 run
GHM Situp pushups Press Burpees 1 arm Snatch 5k run
GHM Extension Situps Bench Single leg squats Kettlebell swings Uphill run with weight
Mon, Jan 25
Saturday was a great workout by myself. I had lots of things on my mind because it was a very difficult week emotionally but I pushed through. I took a barbell with weight to the track to do the workout. 10 rounds for time of Overhead Squat 110lbs x 10 and 400m run. I wanted to average 3 min for each round and keep the 400 under 2 minutes. Here are the splits: 38, 1:46/ 48, 1:58/ 49, 2:04/ 48, 2:06/
54, 2:13/ 57, 2:16/ 59, 2:28/ 47, 2:14/ 45, 2:19/ 43, 1:53 = 29:26
At halfway, my time was 14:06 but I knew the second half would be tough. I am glad I did this workout because of the length of it. I feel I have this sticking problem around 15-20. I need to train longer than that so my endurance can improve. After drinking some water my last three rounds were much easier. This morning I ran with another friend and we did 4x800 total miles was 4. Our splits were 2:58, 3:18, 3:18, 3:06 all around 3 minute rest which was not exact. I think I am going to meet with him every Monday leading up to the qualifier. That will greatly increase my cardiovascular confidence.
Fri, Jan 29
I cannot believe that the week went by and I did not write anything. I apologize. Here is the routine of our workouts. We have a rountine now since we are finishing on month. We warm-up for 30min using a variety of drills that we mix and match. Then we move on to skill which most of the time is gymnastic in nature. Next is the strength component. Sometimes this is a skill too because I am learning how to be more efficient in lifting a bar. The strength is anywhere from 75% to 100% of our max. We finally end the day with a WOD that kicks our buddy. Total time is 2 hours. On Tuesday our skill was handstand holds with no wall, muscleups with the help of my legs and then jumping pullups from a 4 inch platform which I was able to achieve two of them. For Strength we did 3x3 of deadlifts 100, 110, 120k. The WOD was from the internet site. Thrusters x7 at 135 and row 500 – 5 rounds 19:59. I only lost to Andrew by 30 seconds. Sweet.
On Wednesday I debated if I should run or not. I was so tired from going to bed late and waking up early. My goal of 7 hours of sleep each night is not working. So I convinced myself to do something fast. I ran three laps around my block but got faster each time. I rested about 70 seconds each time – 1:55, 1:45, 1:41. I now have a standard and I know what to shoot for.
Thursday was a great day because we decided to practice a lot of the skill gymnastic exercises during the warmup. We did handwalks for 20 yards. I am actually getting better. We also did some kipping pullups and some chest to bar pullups which I had to jump from a platform. If we have to do chest to bar for the competition, I am toast. Today we did two strength routines. First we did a power clean complex 3x3 of 60k, 65k, 70k. This complex is five different progressions to make one rep. It also helped with form and grip strength. This was tough. I think I slightly hurt my knee because of my bad form. The second strength routine was deadlifts. 5 x DL every minute for 10 minutes. The load was 80% which was 100k. It was easier than I thought. Finally we did the WOD which Andrew made up to work on some weaknesses – 5x ring dips, 5x pullups, and 30x Double Unders. How many rounds in 20 minutes. I could only manage 9 rounds and Andrew lost count but he did at least 15. I was smooth on the pullups but the ring dips were difficult. I could only do two at a time. But the hardest was the DU. It was definitely a metabolic conditioning exercise. I am proud to say that I had 30 seconds to do 30 DU so I could complete 9 rounds and I did it.
Mon, Feb 1
I am done with four weeks. I feel great and excited about the next 8 weeks. I just purchased some fish oil pills to help with the recovery and stamina. It is not the top of the line but I know it will help a little bit. The workout on Saturday ripped up my hands but at least I was able to do it. The wod was Joshie but I did not do the “L” pullups but just kipping pullups. 21 right arm snatch 40lbs, 21 pullups, 21 left arm snatch, 21 pullups – 3 rounds. So really I did 126 pullups. My time was 21:49. I will not be able to do pullups for about a week because of my blisters. Since I was not competing against Andrew, I think I was resting too much. Today I did not meet with Steve to run so instead I did my traditional 3.3 loop and ran 23:57. My goal is still under 22. I have done that but it was not early in the morning. Just found out that there are 300+ athletes signed up for the NorCal sectionals. I do not know how many are men but that is not as big as what I thought it would be considering all the Crossfit gyms in the bay area.
Wed, Feb 3
Can I just say that I really appreciate Andrew, my workout partner/coach, who designs the workouts each day. That really takes the stress off of me to figure out what to do for each day. Yesterday I have three breakthroughs. I first did a muscleup from the ground rather than a raised platform. Eventually I will have to do it where my feet are not touching the group. Next I did my first Handstand pushup where my head touched the pad. The secret is in the wider hand placement. The last breakthrough was with the deadlift. After doing Jerk 5x3 starting at 60k and working my way up to 80k we moved to squats. This was the first time that my max was about the same as Andrew. Next we did a super set of handstand pushups and squats - 2x5, 2x4, 1x3. I started at 70k and worked up to 110k. My max for jerk is 176 and for squats it is 242. I needed help from Andrew on my last set of squats. The WOD was 5xDL and 10xburpees for 5 rounds. The weight of the DL was 275. My max is only 265. I did a practice one. I did the first round but no more. I have to take off 10k to finish the rest of the rounds. It was extremely hard. My back is feeling it today. My time was only 8:33. I am making progress. I am excited. On Wednesday I did the 2k row to see my time. 7:42! It is all about feeling the pain and having correct form. I know and I must get under 7 minutes. That is 1:45 every 500m. That is fast. But maybe not in relation to others. We will see.
Fri, Feb 5
Thursday was a bad day. All the lack of sleep caught up to me and I was hurting. I had one of my migrain headaches and my muscles were just physically tired. So after the warmup which was done barefoot to work on some strength in the lower leg and foot we decided to cut out some of the workout. By the way, my handwalks have dramatically improved. It only took me ten tries to go the distance. Next time I am going for five. We did OH squats and bench and took out thrusters. On the OH squats I did 3x5 of 40k, 50k, 60k. I think I could of done more. On the Bench we did 5, 5, 4, 4, 3 of 110, 132, 154, 154, 176 but Andrew helped me on it. I was so tired after that, I wanted to call it quits but Andrew convinced me to do a short WOD because I cannot be training for the games and not do a WOD. So instead of the long one he had planned we did Karen again which was 150 Wall Ball Shots. We wanted to rest our hands so they could heal completely from the blisters. We destroyed it with a time of 6:47. Last time I did 8:35. Big improvement. I need to start doing all the benchmark workouts again so I can see the improvements. The day started bad but ended on a high note. God is good. I look forward to the rest day today.
Tues, Feb 9
On Saturday I had to be in the class that my partner was teaching. So I missed out on the strength work and some skill work. The WOD was 10min of Handstand pushups, 5min of squats, 2min of pullups, 1min of pushups. My totals were 63, 206, 22, and 29 = 320. I actually did better than Andrew. The intensity was not there but it was still a good workout. On Monday I actually did two workouts. I ran 3x400 and got faster each time. My rest was about 70-90sec. I ran 1:44, 1:42, 1:38. My goal next time is to keep all of them under 1:40. After jogging a lap I did the 400m lunge. I beat my time by 20s – 12:10 and I took only 402 steps compared to 415. I look forward to the workout today because we will have to go long.
There are 14 specific workouts that I want to do or redo to get a better time before the sectionals. Cindy, Diane, Fran, Grace, Helen, Jackie, Linda, Kelly, Mary, DT, Filthy, FGB, Max pushups, and Max pullups.
Thurs, Feb 11
I did the Crossfit challenge workout on Tuesday. It was killer again. Row in calories, Burpees, Sumo High pull (88lbs), Kettlebell Swing (24k), Wall Ball Shot (20lbs), and Thrusters (88lbs). The reps were 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6. Back in October it took me 44min and this time it took 38:20. I am making improvement. I had to do it by myself because Andrew’s back was shot. Before the WOD I did 4x3 of snatch 50k, 55k, 60k. Next was the complex of power cleans to Front squats to Jerk 3x3 of 60k, 70k, 75k. I really liked that. Finally I ended it with Bench – 5,4,3,3 of 60k, 70k, 75k for the rest. This is still a weakness.
On Wednesday I went on a run with the team I am coaching. Easy mile there and easy mile back. Today we started to work on all the workouts I still want to improve or do. Today was Cindy. After working on Dip Snatch Balance, Snatch Balance, and Hang Squat Cleans (60k, 70k, 80k), I finished with hang clean pulls. My goal was 20 for Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats). How many rounds in 20 minutes? My previous best was 16 but that was at home on a difficult pullup bar because my knees are bent. Today I almost had 19. I was 12 squats short. Andrew did 21 rounds. Pushups definitely slowed me down. I can see now why having a big max for the bench will help with pushups. My chest was so fatigued that I could not go any faster. One down 13 more to go.
Half way on my Journey. Six weeks to go.
Tues, Feb 16
On Saturday I trained in the afternoon so I could sleep in and it was superb. I performed Jackie and the time I was going for was 8:00 or at least 8:05 which was Jon’s time. In my mind I thought I could be around 8 minutes. After doing my 10 minute workout of 5 x Dead Lift at 242lbs every minute and then moved on to back squats. I ran out of time so I just did 3x5 of 220. I had to hurry because one of my clients was coming in. 1000m row, 50 thrusters 45lbs and 30 pullups. I was at 6 minutes when I started the pullups. My final time was 8:02. I was excited because I beat Jon’s time but still realizing that pullups will always be a weakness. On Monday Andrew and I went to the track for Helen - 400, 21 x KBS 24k, 12 pullups – three rounds. After a good warmup, we proceded in the fog. I thought I was going to do better. The 400 really hurt me. I knew 8-9minutes was out when the first round took 3 minutes. My final time was 10:23 which was about 40sec slower than Andrew’s time. I wonder if I hold back when Andrew is there. I sure hope not. There is a part of me that wants to do that again two weeks from now so I can beat 9 minutes. We will see.
Wed, Feb17
Another great day. I am retesting all max in all the lifts to see the progress. I improved by 11lbs in the snatch – 132 and I improved by 12lbs in the bench – 176.
We then did the Chipper WOD from the 2009 games. We did not perform the Muscleups correctly but we still accomplished the WOD. The winning time that day at the games was 19:46. I did it in 32:06. Even with the modified muscleups that took me 6-7 minutes. Andrew beat my by 5 minutes. I need to learn to rest less and push more. Here is the WOD. 30x 155 squat cleans; 30x Toes to Bar; 30x Box jumps; 15x Muscleups; 30x 40 dumbell Push Press; 30x Double Unders; 15x 135 Thrusters; 30x Pullups; 30x Burpees; 300ft walking lunges with 45lb plate held over head. I am learning with these longer workouts how to press harder. I am making progress. One area that I did not make progress in is my weight. I weight on Sunday because it was the half way point and I had gained 4-5 pounds and 1 percent in body fat. I was very confused. So I think I will go back to what I was doing which is no food after dinner or no food after 8 p.m.
On January 1, 2010, I started a journey. My goal was to train for 12 Weeks to prepare myself for The Crossfit Games in San Jose. But I wanted to do more than just train. I wanted to record my progress, my diet, my thoughts on taking on this physical challenge. Below are some journal notes about this process now that I have reached the halfway point.
Sat, Jan 2
I weighed myself first thing in the morning on my bodyfat scale and I have 18.9% Body Fat and weigh 178lbs. My goal is to lose 5% BF and still be about 175 pounds.
I am excited and pumped for this cool opportunity to push my body to the outer limits and be able to compete. All my life I have loved fitness or the idea of being in great shape in all aspects. I played three sports in high school, learned how to do 10 events in College, and even after college I trained in a way that worked my entire body – cardio, upper and lower strength, and core. When I found out about Crossfit in February of 2009 and read the philosophy behind it all, I was impressed to say the least. After teaching Crossfit philosophy to my Analysis of Fitness College class, I respect the program even more.
So what is Crossfit? It is a strength and conditioning system or program that uses varied and random functional movements executed at high intensity. There is a part of me that says I can be in the top 20 and qualify to the Regional competition. Yet the more Workout Of Days (WOD) I do, the more weaknesses I see that shows me that I will not even be close to the top 20.
My plan is to workout with Andrew 3x a week. I will then do another workout at home either by myself or with my wife. The last workout will be some kind of running intervals with Steve or by myself.
Sun, Jan 3
Since Nutrition is at the bottom of the pyramid for an ideal athlete, I am going to watch what I eat more closely and improve my teeter totter – glucose and insulin balance.
Breakfast – whole wheat blueberry pancakes with almond butter and real maple syrup; raw milk and fruit and greens smoothie
Lunch – Leftover salmon with rice pilaf and salad
Dinner – Ground Turkey whole wheat pitas with feta cheese and lots of greens from out garden
Mon, Jan 4
I saw this WOD last month and wanted to try it at home since I do not need any equipment. 400m lunges for time and count steps. So I did it around my block. I estimate it to be about 450m long give or take some. Not very hard but I did rest about half a dozen times. My time was 12:31 and I had 415 steps. So my goal next time would be under 12min and under 410 steps.
Tues, Jan 5
First day back since the break to the Combat Fitness, Crossfit Affilate in Fresno, where I work and train. My training partner was still out of town so I decided to do a girl benchmark workout called Angie – 100 pullups, 100 pushups, 100 situps, 100 airsquats. I was already hurting from lunges the day before. But my goal was the same. I wanted to beat 30 minutes. Pullups are my weakness so that took the longest. I must admit I have improved greatly since staring Crossfit. Just over 13 minutes. Then came pushups where were harder than I thought. I guess you can say my arms were tired. That took about 7 minutes. Then the situps and squats were the easiest. My final time was 29:35. I made my goal. As I look online I notice to be better than average I must complete it in under 20 minutes. So maybe 10min for pullups, 5min for pushups, 3min for situps, and 2 min for squats. We will see.
Wed, Jan 6
I had a horrible night last night. I was so sore. I had to take Tylenol in the middle of the night to relieve the pain. Every time I moved my muscles hurt. Where? My legs some but the majority of the pain is in the upper body. My biceps and back are killing me. I cannot extend my arms all the way out. So I look a little deformed. I cannot reach up for anything because of my back muscles. It was so hard to put my shirt on this morning. I had trouble reaching the top shelf of the cubbard. To say the least, I only did a very easy run with my wife this morning. That loosened up my legs a little bit but my upper body is still very bad.
Thurs, Jan 7
I have recovered a little but I am still in much pain in my arms and back. I had trouble carrying my 11mon old daughter. I decided just to warmup only. Andrew, my training partner and coach, motivated me to do at least that much. After the warmup, my muscles did feel better and I could stretch them a little farther. The problem is now I have a two day set back. I have a rest day tomorrow and then we will see how I feel on Saturday. I will do some kind of WOD in the neighborhood of our friends house in the Bay area. Once again these are the times I wish I could call up Barry Sears and ask him this question, “How does a 35 year old recover quickly from an intense workout?”
Sat, Jan 9
Slept in because I felt a headache coming on. So no workout today. I am actally feeling better today. I have spring in my step again and my arms can extend straight. Look forward to Mondays workout. I am reminded again of fish oil and how it can help recovery. I need that more than ever after what happened this week. Maybe I can by the expensive fish oil for the last 6 weeks of training.
Mon, Jan 11
Week 2. Short but good. Sprinted about 100yds and then rested 30 seconds and then sprinted back. Performed 12 reps of shoulder press with resistant band. I did five reps of that or 10 sprints. I should of done 10 reps but that was good. I have a long way to go. Maybe two weeks from now I wil do that. I am also fasting today for spiritual and physical reasons. I need Jesus more than ever as I start my second semester of teaching at a University and as I get more serious about training. Fasting is always a sacrifice which reminds me of the sacrifice that Jesus had when he died on the cross. To train for these sectional games is also a sacrifice. I know that my GI tract needed a rest. Look forward to this week of training.
Fri, Jan 15
Just like that, we are almost done with week 2. Since school started this week I was a little busy preparing to teach my classes. I wanted to write down the workouts I did this week. Today I am resting and I am very glad. On Tuesday we did some technique and skill of the snatch. Then we worked on power 3x5. We finished with the WOD of Row 500 and 30 Wall balls for 20 minutes. My goal was 5 and that is what I did. I have about 30 seconds left to get 10 more wall balls and I did it with three seconds to spare. The more I do these workouts, the more I realize how similar they are to a interval. Work hard, rest, work hard, rest. The problem is that you are doing something else and not really resting. I am resting from rowing but I have to rest while performing 30 wall balls. I am resting from the wall balls while I have to row 500 meters. I need to have a shift in my thinking. I need to go hard because I know I will be able to rest during the next exercise.
On Wed, I ran with my friend about 4 miles. It was a good day to get the lactic acid out of my legs. Next time we are going to do more intervals to get my mind and body use to that mentality. On Thursday we flipped the day. After warming up we did the WOD which was Elizabeth and not Fran because my body is still not ready for pullups. 45 cleans at 135# is a lot of work. But little by little, I got the job done. The ring dips is something I must improve on. I could not do more than 4 in a row. My partner was already done with Fran (6 min) but I was not even half way. I finally finished in 14:35. After a 10 minute recovery we did 4 sets of handstand holds from 30 second to 60 seconds and finished with 3x5 of front push press. My last set was 132lbs. So what is my goal for the Olympic lifts. Snatch – 150, Cleans – 175, Deads – 300, Push Press – 150.
Mon, Jan 18
It is crazy how fast the days go by and I have not written anything. Saturday was a great day because my family came to the Crossfit gym. It was already closed so it was just my training partner and another friend. My 3 year old daughter was so excited to see the place. She was very disappointed when Velocity closed back in November so she was looking forward to coming to the new gym. The WOD was called Bionic. It was 7 rounds of seven of the following exercises – Thursters 95, Pullups (chest to bar), ring dips, and burpees. Since I was still weak from my 100 pullups last week I had to do jumping pullups instead. I did double the amount and still the whole WOD took 21 minutes. The best thing about the whole day was that I was able to take my wife through a WOD. I gave her 5 rounds of Row 250 and 10 wall ball with 10lbs ball. She was very tired but really liked it. My daughter loved the rowing machine as well as the rings. My youngest daughter (1 year) love to crawl around and watch us workout. It was a great day.
Today I met up with Andrew to do the Lumberjack 20 but it started to rain and so we had to go inside and change it up. So we decided to do three different excises but go full tilt on each one with 3-5 minute rest between the exercises. The first was Thrusters. We did 21 at 99lbs to practice Fran. It took us 50 seconds. After the rest we did 1000 row. I was shooting for under 4 minutes and I made 3:39. Finally we did 100 double unders. This was my weakest one. My partner did it in 2:10 and it took me 4:28. I am finding so many weaknesses. I wanted to know my Deadlift max so we found that out too. 264. That is horrible. We finished with some grip strength exercises and practiced handstand pushups. Someday I will be able to go all the way down.
Only 10 weeks left.
Thurs, Jan 21
On Tuesday, we tested my max for the power clean. I am so rusty on all my Olympic lifts. Practice is the only way to get better. I also realized that I need more protein since I have kicked up my workouts to four sometimes five a week. So I did 75k or 165lbs. I also did max rep for the snatch too – 55k (121lbs). After being discouraged about that we did the WOD. We added walking lunges with plate (25k) over head to Annie - 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 of Lunges, Double-unders, and situps. So it took me 21:11 and for Andrew 17+. So far I have only beaten him on two WODs. Hopefully today will be three. Too bad he is not competing because I know he would do very well. I did not run on Wed due to physical fatigue and spiritual issues.
Fri, Jan 22
So I finally have my max for everything except back squat. Bench – 165; Front Squat - 209; Snatch - 121; Cleans – 165; Deadlift – 264; Push Press ?. So now I have something to improve on. Here are my new goals. Bench – 187 (85k); Front Squat – 264 (120k); Snatch – 143; Cleans – 187; Deadlift – 308; Push Press – 198
Once again we confirmed that the WOD must always be last. After warmup we have to do technique, stength/power, and finally the WOD. We did 135 Clean and Jerk 10x and 30 GHM situps 3 rounds – 13:18. I was aiming for 12 minutes. I know I lost focus the last set. We then lifted Front Squat and bench 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 going up in weight each time. Finally we learned the first progression of Muscle Ups and that was easier than I thought. So how many excises do I need to be proficient?
DoubleUnders Ring Dips Clean Thrusters OH Squats Knees to Elbow
Wall Ball Pullups Snatch Box Jumps HS Pushup Feet to Bar
Rowing Muscleups Dead Sumo HP Rope Climb 400 run
GHM Situp pushups Press Burpees 1 arm Snatch 5k run
GHM Extension Situps Bench Single leg squats Kettlebell swings Uphill run with weight
Mon, Jan 25
Saturday was a great workout by myself. I had lots of things on my mind because it was a very difficult week emotionally but I pushed through. I took a barbell with weight to the track to do the workout. 10 rounds for time of Overhead Squat 110lbs x 10 and 400m run. I wanted to average 3 min for each round and keep the 400 under 2 minutes. Here are the splits: 38, 1:46/ 48, 1:58/ 49, 2:04/ 48, 2:06/
54, 2:13/ 57, 2:16/ 59, 2:28/ 47, 2:14/ 45, 2:19/ 43, 1:53 = 29:26
At halfway, my time was 14:06 but I knew the second half would be tough. I am glad I did this workout because of the length of it. I feel I have this sticking problem around 15-20. I need to train longer than that so my endurance can improve. After drinking some water my last three rounds were much easier. This morning I ran with another friend and we did 4x800 total miles was 4. Our splits were 2:58, 3:18, 3:18, 3:06 all around 3 minute rest which was not exact. I think I am going to meet with him every Monday leading up to the qualifier. That will greatly increase my cardiovascular confidence.
Fri, Jan 29
I cannot believe that the week went by and I did not write anything. I apologize. Here is the routine of our workouts. We have a rountine now since we are finishing on month. We warm-up for 30min using a variety of drills that we mix and match. Then we move on to skill which most of the time is gymnastic in nature. Next is the strength component. Sometimes this is a skill too because I am learning how to be more efficient in lifting a bar. The strength is anywhere from 75% to 100% of our max. We finally end the day with a WOD that kicks our buddy. Total time is 2 hours. On Tuesday our skill was handstand holds with no wall, muscleups with the help of my legs and then jumping pullups from a 4 inch platform which I was able to achieve two of them. For Strength we did 3x3 of deadlifts 100, 110, 120k. The WOD was from the internet site. Thrusters x7 at 135 and row 500 – 5 rounds 19:59. I only lost to Andrew by 30 seconds. Sweet.
On Wednesday I debated if I should run or not. I was so tired from going to bed late and waking up early. My goal of 7 hours of sleep each night is not working. So I convinced myself to do something fast. I ran three laps around my block but got faster each time. I rested about 70 seconds each time – 1:55, 1:45, 1:41. I now have a standard and I know what to shoot for.
Thursday was a great day because we decided to practice a lot of the skill gymnastic exercises during the warmup. We did handwalks for 20 yards. I am actually getting better. We also did some kipping pullups and some chest to bar pullups which I had to jump from a platform. If we have to do chest to bar for the competition, I am toast. Today we did two strength routines. First we did a power clean complex 3x3 of 60k, 65k, 70k. This complex is five different progressions to make one rep. It also helped with form and grip strength. This was tough. I think I slightly hurt my knee because of my bad form. The second strength routine was deadlifts. 5 x DL every minute for 10 minutes. The load was 80% which was 100k. It was easier than I thought. Finally we did the WOD which Andrew made up to work on some weaknesses – 5x ring dips, 5x pullups, and 30x Double Unders. How many rounds in 20 minutes. I could only manage 9 rounds and Andrew lost count but he did at least 15. I was smooth on the pullups but the ring dips were difficult. I could only do two at a time. But the hardest was the DU. It was definitely a metabolic conditioning exercise. I am proud to say that I had 30 seconds to do 30 DU so I could complete 9 rounds and I did it.
Mon, Feb 1
I am done with four weeks. I feel great and excited about the next 8 weeks. I just purchased some fish oil pills to help with the recovery and stamina. It is not the top of the line but I know it will help a little bit. The workout on Saturday ripped up my hands but at least I was able to do it. The wod was Joshie but I did not do the “L” pullups but just kipping pullups. 21 right arm snatch 40lbs, 21 pullups, 21 left arm snatch, 21 pullups – 3 rounds. So really I did 126 pullups. My time was 21:49. I will not be able to do pullups for about a week because of my blisters. Since I was not competing against Andrew, I think I was resting too much. Today I did not meet with Steve to run so instead I did my traditional 3.3 loop and ran 23:57. My goal is still under 22. I have done that but it was not early in the morning. Just found out that there are 300+ athletes signed up for the NorCal sectionals. I do not know how many are men but that is not as big as what I thought it would be considering all the Crossfit gyms in the bay area.
Wed, Feb 3
Can I just say that I really appreciate Andrew, my workout partner/coach, who designs the workouts each day. That really takes the stress off of me to figure out what to do for each day. Yesterday I have three breakthroughs. I first did a muscleup from the ground rather than a raised platform. Eventually I will have to do it where my feet are not touching the group. Next I did my first Handstand pushup where my head touched the pad. The secret is in the wider hand placement. The last breakthrough was with the deadlift. After doing Jerk 5x3 starting at 60k and working my way up to 80k we moved to squats. This was the first time that my max was about the same as Andrew. Next we did a super set of handstand pushups and squats - 2x5, 2x4, 1x3. I started at 70k and worked up to 110k. My max for jerk is 176 and for squats it is 242. I needed help from Andrew on my last set of squats. The WOD was 5xDL and 10xburpees for 5 rounds. The weight of the DL was 275. My max is only 265. I did a practice one. I did the first round but no more. I have to take off 10k to finish the rest of the rounds. It was extremely hard. My back is feeling it today. My time was only 8:33. I am making progress. I am excited. On Wednesday I did the 2k row to see my time. 7:42! It is all about feeling the pain and having correct form. I know and I must get under 7 minutes. That is 1:45 every 500m. That is fast. But maybe not in relation to others. We will see.
Fri, Feb 5
Thursday was a bad day. All the lack of sleep caught up to me and I was hurting. I had one of my migrain headaches and my muscles were just physically tired. So after the warmup which was done barefoot to work on some strength in the lower leg and foot we decided to cut out some of the workout. By the way, my handwalks have dramatically improved. It only took me ten tries to go the distance. Next time I am going for five. We did OH squats and bench and took out thrusters. On the OH squats I did 3x5 of 40k, 50k, 60k. I think I could of done more. On the Bench we did 5, 5, 4, 4, 3 of 110, 132, 154, 154, 176 but Andrew helped me on it. I was so tired after that, I wanted to call it quits but Andrew convinced me to do a short WOD because I cannot be training for the games and not do a WOD. So instead of the long one he had planned we did Karen again which was 150 Wall Ball Shots. We wanted to rest our hands so they could heal completely from the blisters. We destroyed it with a time of 6:47. Last time I did 8:35. Big improvement. I need to start doing all the benchmark workouts again so I can see the improvements. The day started bad but ended on a high note. God is good. I look forward to the rest day today.
Tues, Feb 9
On Saturday I had to be in the class that my partner was teaching. So I missed out on the strength work and some skill work. The WOD was 10min of Handstand pushups, 5min of squats, 2min of pullups, 1min of pushups. My totals were 63, 206, 22, and 29 = 320. I actually did better than Andrew. The intensity was not there but it was still a good workout. On Monday I actually did two workouts. I ran 3x400 and got faster each time. My rest was about 70-90sec. I ran 1:44, 1:42, 1:38. My goal next time is to keep all of them under 1:40. After jogging a lap I did the 400m lunge. I beat my time by 20s – 12:10 and I took only 402 steps compared to 415. I look forward to the workout today because we will have to go long.
There are 14 specific workouts that I want to do or redo to get a better time before the sectionals. Cindy, Diane, Fran, Grace, Helen, Jackie, Linda, Kelly, Mary, DT, Filthy, FGB, Max pushups, and Max pullups.
Thurs, Feb 11
I did the Crossfit challenge workout on Tuesday. It was killer again. Row in calories, Burpees, Sumo High pull (88lbs), Kettlebell Swing (24k), Wall Ball Shot (20lbs), and Thrusters (88lbs). The reps were 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6. Back in October it took me 44min and this time it took 38:20. I am making improvement. I had to do it by myself because Andrew’s back was shot. Before the WOD I did 4x3 of snatch 50k, 55k, 60k. Next was the complex of power cleans to Front squats to Jerk 3x3 of 60k, 70k, 75k. I really liked that. Finally I ended it with Bench – 5,4,3,3 of 60k, 70k, 75k for the rest. This is still a weakness.
On Wednesday I went on a run with the team I am coaching. Easy mile there and easy mile back. Today we started to work on all the workouts I still want to improve or do. Today was Cindy. After working on Dip Snatch Balance, Snatch Balance, and Hang Squat Cleans (60k, 70k, 80k), I finished with hang clean pulls. My goal was 20 for Cindy (5 pullups, 10 pushups, 15 squats). How many rounds in 20 minutes? My previous best was 16 but that was at home on a difficult pullup bar because my knees are bent. Today I almost had 19. I was 12 squats short. Andrew did 21 rounds. Pushups definitely slowed me down. I can see now why having a big max for the bench will help with pushups. My chest was so fatigued that I could not go any faster. One down 13 more to go.
Half way on my Journey. Six weeks to go.
Tues, Feb 16
On Saturday I trained in the afternoon so I could sleep in and it was superb. I performed Jackie and the time I was going for was 8:00 or at least 8:05 which was Jon’s time. In my mind I thought I could be around 8 minutes. After doing my 10 minute workout of 5 x Dead Lift at 242lbs every minute and then moved on to back squats. I ran out of time so I just did 3x5 of 220. I had to hurry because one of my clients was coming in. 1000m row, 50 thrusters 45lbs and 30 pullups. I was at 6 minutes when I started the pullups. My final time was 8:02. I was excited because I beat Jon’s time but still realizing that pullups will always be a weakness. On Monday Andrew and I went to the track for Helen - 400, 21 x KBS 24k, 12 pullups – three rounds. After a good warmup, we proceded in the fog. I thought I was going to do better. The 400 really hurt me. I knew 8-9minutes was out when the first round took 3 minutes. My final time was 10:23 which was about 40sec slower than Andrew’s time. I wonder if I hold back when Andrew is there. I sure hope not. There is a part of me that wants to do that again two weeks from now so I can beat 9 minutes. We will see.
Wed, Feb17
Another great day. I am retesting all max in all the lifts to see the progress. I improved by 11lbs in the snatch – 132 and I improved by 12lbs in the bench – 176.
We then did the Chipper WOD from the 2009 games. We did not perform the Muscleups correctly but we still accomplished the WOD. The winning time that day at the games was 19:46. I did it in 32:06. Even with the modified muscleups that took me 6-7 minutes. Andrew beat my by 5 minutes. I need to learn to rest less and push more. Here is the WOD. 30x 155 squat cleans; 30x Toes to Bar; 30x Box jumps; 15x Muscleups; 30x 40 dumbell Push Press; 30x Double Unders; 15x 135 Thrusters; 30x Pullups; 30x Burpees; 300ft walking lunges with 45lb plate held over head. I am learning with these longer workouts how to press harder. I am making progress. One area that I did not make progress in is my weight. I weight on Sunday because it was the half way point and I had gained 4-5 pounds and 1 percent in body fat. I was very confused. So I think I will go back to what I was doing which is no food after dinner or no food after 8 p.m.
2.20.2010
Menu Plans for Week of February 22-28
This week we are revving up some old family faves and some new recipes as well. The Peanut Pasta is inspired by a "Barefoot Contessa" show I saw on Food Network with a few of our own twists. This is the second time I've tried this dish and it's already a hit with my kiddos. Also, if you're looking for a way to stretch the budget but not compromise on great flavors, try this easy Italian Egg Drop Soup.
SUNDAY
Baby Greens Salad
Pepperoni & Black Olive Pizza
MONDAY
Ethiopian Spicy Lentils
Gomen (Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage Dish)
TUESDAY
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Rice & Beans
WEDNESDAY
Asian Cabbage Salad with Toasted Sesame Seeds
Peanut Pasta with Carrots, Red Pepper and Bok Choy (We use Ina's recipe for the pasta but I substitute my own veggies from the Farmer's market and use Sunflower oil instead of Vegetable oil in the sauce.)
THURSDAY
Teriyaki Mahi Mahi
Quinoa
Sauteed Broccoli & Garlic
FRIDAY
Stracciatella (Italian Egg Drop) Soup
Rosemary Lemon Biscuits
SATURDAY
Luscious Leftovers
SUNDAY
Baby Greens Salad
Pepperoni & Black Olive Pizza
MONDAY
Ethiopian Spicy Lentils
Gomen (Potatoes, Carrots, Cabbage Dish)
TUESDAY
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Rice & Beans
WEDNESDAY
Asian Cabbage Salad with Toasted Sesame Seeds
Peanut Pasta with Carrots, Red Pepper and Bok Choy (We use Ina's recipe for the pasta but I substitute my own veggies from the Farmer's market and use Sunflower oil instead of Vegetable oil in the sauce.)
THURSDAY
Teriyaki Mahi Mahi
Quinoa
Sauteed Broccoli & Garlic
FRIDAY
Stracciatella (Italian Egg Drop) Soup
Rosemary Lemon Biscuits
SATURDAY
Luscious Leftovers
2.02.2010
Fitness for Busy Mamas
Are you feeling droopy? Wondering why you have so little strength in your arms or back? Is your energy level crawling slower than your baby? We have just the thing (and we're not trying to sell you anything). We call it the "Go, Mama Workout" and it only takes 10-15 minutes to get the real job done. The fun part is you can follow our workout plans like "The Bertha" or create your own and modify the exercises to fit your own abilities.
We recently gave a tag team talk on "Fitness for Busy Mamas" at North Side Church's MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. The ladies showed up in sweats and tennies and jumped in. Here are some ideas we shared with them. We welcome your feedback, questions and even success/failure stories.
By Ericlee Gilmore
“Go Mama” Workout Tips:
• Keep the workout short and speedy so it combines cardio and strength training.
• Constantly change it up because your body adapts to a stimulus.
• Focus on the gymnastic exercises (body weight) first and then move to weight lifting exercises.
• All exercises can be done anywhere – you do not need expensive equipment.
• Plan to go two days a week to start and work up to five days a week.
• Reps and rounds should always be different.
• Compete against yourself for motivation. (How long does it take or how many rounds can you finish?)
• Consider putting 2-3 gymnastics together and that could be your workout or add one from each of the following categories.
• Remember it is about intensity and duration. If you want it easier, then lower intensity and duration. If not, then raise it.
Mix and match the following exercises:
Gymnastics
-Push-ups
-Sit-ups
-Air squats
-Dips
-Lunges
-Pull-ups
Weight lifting
-Shoulder press
-Chest press
-Bicep Curl
-Tricep Extension
-Squats
Cardio
-Jumping Jacks
-Burpees
-Jump Rope
-Running – 30 seconds
-Running – 2-3 minutes
The first few times may seem hard but push through and see how much just a short workout can do for you, your stress level and even your family.
We recently gave a tag team talk on "Fitness for Busy Mamas" at North Side Church's MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group. The ladies showed up in sweats and tennies and jumped in. Here are some ideas we shared with them. We welcome your feedback, questions and even success/failure stories.
By Ericlee Gilmore
“Go Mama” Workout Tips:
• Keep the workout short and speedy so it combines cardio and strength training.
• Constantly change it up because your body adapts to a stimulus.
• Focus on the gymnastic exercises (body weight) first and then move to weight lifting exercises.
• All exercises can be done anywhere – you do not need expensive equipment.
• Plan to go two days a week to start and work up to five days a week.
• Reps and rounds should always be different.
• Compete against yourself for motivation. (How long does it take or how many rounds can you finish?)
• Consider putting 2-3 gymnastics together and that could be your workout or add one from each of the following categories.
• Remember it is about intensity and duration. If you want it easier, then lower intensity and duration. If not, then raise it.
Mix and match the following exercises:
Gymnastics
-Push-ups
-Sit-ups
-Air squats
-Dips
-Lunges
-Pull-ups
Weight lifting
-Shoulder press
-Chest press
-Bicep Curl
-Tricep Extension
-Squats
Cardio
-Jumping Jacks
-Burpees
-Jump Rope
-Running – 30 seconds
-Running – 2-3 minutes
The first few times may seem hard but push through and see how much just a short workout can do for you, your stress level and even your family.
1.28.2010
Meal Planning for Busy Mamas
Recently I had the opportunity to share with a group of MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) ladies some of my thoughts on Meal Planning. The following is an outline of what I shared. My small disclaimer is that I can only share about my journey and then encourage you all on yours. You don't have to plan meals the way I do. My hope is that you can take away from this something small - a new goal, a new recipe, a new way of thinking about food, grocery shopping, even cooking.
Where I Begin:
On Thursday and Friday I start thinking about what I'm in the mood to eat. It starts with you. If you're not interested in eating what you cook, why would your family be? I peruse food magazines, cookbooks from the library or from my personal collection and even recipe web sites on a regular basis to get my taste buds working. I love EatingWell.com and FoodNetwork.com. I always check out what Giada de Laurentis and Ellie Krieger from Food Network are making. My friend Allison swears by AllRecipes.com because they have a spot where you can enter ingredients you have or even ones you want to avoid and tons of recipes pop up.
The Plan:
I write out my Meal Plans each week in a calendar I can carry around. If you're more of a computer person, check out PlanToEat.com or other similar sites that allow you to make and store grocery lists and a calendar of meal plans. I love being able to flip through my personal calendar (even when the internet is down!) and remind myself of what we ate last month.
As I plan I am always very aware of our schedule. As the mama of two, caretaker of two more and a coach's wife to boot it's really important that I take into account the busy evenings when I won't have lots of cooking time. I teach a college course on Monday nights so I can't even serve the meal then. That said, we do make dinner a priority on other nights and try our best to eat as a family.
I think in these categories of meals:
Creative Crockpots - These are fast meals that I can dump in the crockpot in the morning when I know we are headed to a meeting or track event. I love Pomegranate Beef or Taco Soup and I'm discovering more off blogs.
Super Soups & Chilis - These are one-pot meals that I serve up at least once a week when the weather is cooler. In summer months, this category changes to One-dish Pastas. These might include our Pumpkin Party Soup in fall when the pumpkins are ripe and in season or Italian Wedding Soup when greens are growing everywhere in our winter garden. Sometimes I'll even make a soup or chili and freeze half or double the batch so I can have it for lunches too.
Dinner for Company - We love to entertain. We host a Cooking Club at our house once a month and we meet with a Life group of three other families every other week where we share dinner. We also host my parents for a meal three times a week (and they pitch in some for groceries.) These meals are ones I might spend a little more time preparing. I like to try ethnic foods like Indian Butter Chicken or Ethiopian Lentil Sauce.
Vegetarian - This is a newer category for us. In 2010, our goal is to eat 2-3 vegetarian meals a week. We aren't entirely against meat. (I grew up a total carnivore!) However, we do think our body needs a good veggie cleanse on a regular basis so I'm trying out some new vegetarian dishes this year with that end in mind.
Batch Cooking - This category includes meals that I make (usually on the weekends) in big batches. For example, I make a batch of my mom's Italian Meat Sauce with Manicotti and it will last for several meals. I might make two Rainbow Vegetarian Lasagnas at a time and freeze one or I make Whole Wheat Pizza dough and freeze 3/4 of it for lunches or Friday nights. This saves me gobs of time. I can just thaw something from the freezer and heat it up on the busier nights or nights when this mama is just plain tired.
Don't shop 'til you Drop:
As I write down my meal plans, I start a grocery list at the same time. Throughout the week, I keep a running list of pantry items we're out of like salad dressings, whole wheat tortillas or juice. Then I add in what we'll need for dinners. Just making a list is a step toward saving money. If you just browse the grocery aisles, you will end up with a bunch of stuff in your cart that you don't need or can't afford. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes take "field trip" grocery outings and allow myself time to check things out. But more often than not I'm speeding down the aisles with two kids in tow trying to find what I need.
Where I spend my loot:
My grocery shopping always starts with our local farmer's market. I am blessed to have a market just a few miles from my house that is open every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning year round. Unless we are out of town, it's a family ritual to go to the market on Saturdays and buy our organic produce and raw milk. I also weekly go to Trader Joe's. No, they did not pay me to say this but it is the best store in Fresno. I've done my homework and TJ's has the best deals on fresh, organic or local, minimally-processed foods. If I can't get it at the market, I usually get it at Trader Joe's. My goal between the market and TJ's is to spend $100 a week for our family of four. I also spend $100-125 more at Costco and Winco. I shop at Costco for organic snacks for my kids and big box items like tomato sauce. I shopt at Winco for their bulk section. That's where I buy our month's supply of dried beans, rice, nuts and even fresh-pressed peanut butter for the granola I make. My husband will eat this for every breakfast if I can keep the container full. I also sometimes check out Whole Foods for specialty items or a new store in our area called Fresh & Easy.
I generally do the market on Saturday and then head to TJ's on Sunday or Monday, depending on our schedule. Some regularity to grocery shopping also helps the budget. If you plan a week or two at a time then you won't be running out at the last minute for that one item.
Cooking:
For those of you who know me you know I love to cook. Cooking is my stress relief. I recognize that cooking stresses some people out. Cooking does stress me out when I'm tired, have three kids hanging on my clothes and I'm rushing to a meeting. Meal Planning does relieve some of that stress so you aren't deciding on a meal in the midst of the craziness. I also suggest maximizing weekend time or evening time when you are not stressed to plan ahead for other meals. My daughter and I often mix up batches of muffins and granola on a Sunday night to prepare for the week. We enjoy this time together.
The bottom line is: have fun. Share resources with friends. Check out new meal options. Ask questions. Leave us a comment. We love to chat on this topic. Happy Meal Planning!
Where I Begin:
On Thursday and Friday I start thinking about what I'm in the mood to eat. It starts with you. If you're not interested in eating what you cook, why would your family be? I peruse food magazines, cookbooks from the library or from my personal collection and even recipe web sites on a regular basis to get my taste buds working. I love EatingWell.com and FoodNetwork.com. I always check out what Giada de Laurentis and Ellie Krieger from Food Network are making. My friend Allison swears by AllRecipes.com because they have a spot where you can enter ingredients you have or even ones you want to avoid and tons of recipes pop up.
The Plan:
I write out my Meal Plans each week in a calendar I can carry around. If you're more of a computer person, check out PlanToEat.com or other similar sites that allow you to make and store grocery lists and a calendar of meal plans. I love being able to flip through my personal calendar (even when the internet is down!) and remind myself of what we ate last month.
As I plan I am always very aware of our schedule. As the mama of two, caretaker of two more and a coach's wife to boot it's really important that I take into account the busy evenings when I won't have lots of cooking time. I teach a college course on Monday nights so I can't even serve the meal then. That said, we do make dinner a priority on other nights and try our best to eat as a family.
I think in these categories of meals:
Creative Crockpots - These are fast meals that I can dump in the crockpot in the morning when I know we are headed to a meeting or track event. I love Pomegranate Beef or Taco Soup and I'm discovering more off blogs.
Super Soups & Chilis - These are one-pot meals that I serve up at least once a week when the weather is cooler. In summer months, this category changes to One-dish Pastas. These might include our Pumpkin Party Soup in fall when the pumpkins are ripe and in season or Italian Wedding Soup when greens are growing everywhere in our winter garden. Sometimes I'll even make a soup or chili and freeze half or double the batch so I can have it for lunches too.
Dinner for Company - We love to entertain. We host a Cooking Club at our house once a month and we meet with a Life group of three other families every other week where we share dinner. We also host my parents for a meal three times a week (and they pitch in some for groceries.) These meals are ones I might spend a little more time preparing. I like to try ethnic foods like Indian Butter Chicken or Ethiopian Lentil Sauce.
Vegetarian - This is a newer category for us. In 2010, our goal is to eat 2-3 vegetarian meals a week. We aren't entirely against meat. (I grew up a total carnivore!) However, we do think our body needs a good veggie cleanse on a regular basis so I'm trying out some new vegetarian dishes this year with that end in mind.
Batch Cooking - This category includes meals that I make (usually on the weekends) in big batches. For example, I make a batch of my mom's Italian Meat Sauce with Manicotti and it will last for several meals. I might make two Rainbow Vegetarian Lasagnas at a time and freeze one or I make Whole Wheat Pizza dough and freeze 3/4 of it for lunches or Friday nights. This saves me gobs of time. I can just thaw something from the freezer and heat it up on the busier nights or nights when this mama is just plain tired.
Don't shop 'til you Drop:
As I write down my meal plans, I start a grocery list at the same time. Throughout the week, I keep a running list of pantry items we're out of like salad dressings, whole wheat tortillas or juice. Then I add in what we'll need for dinners. Just making a list is a step toward saving money. If you just browse the grocery aisles, you will end up with a bunch of stuff in your cart that you don't need or can't afford. Don't get me wrong, I sometimes take "field trip" grocery outings and allow myself time to check things out. But more often than not I'm speeding down the aisles with two kids in tow trying to find what I need.
Where I spend my loot:
My grocery shopping always starts with our local farmer's market. I am blessed to have a market just a few miles from my house that is open every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning year round. Unless we are out of town, it's a family ritual to go to the market on Saturdays and buy our organic produce and raw milk. I also weekly go to Trader Joe's. No, they did not pay me to say this but it is the best store in Fresno. I've done my homework and TJ's has the best deals on fresh, organic or local, minimally-processed foods. If I can't get it at the market, I usually get it at Trader Joe's. My goal between the market and TJ's is to spend $100 a week for our family of four. I also spend $100-125 more at Costco and Winco. I shop at Costco for organic snacks for my kids and big box items like tomato sauce. I shopt at Winco for their bulk section. That's where I buy our month's supply of dried beans, rice, nuts and even fresh-pressed peanut butter for the granola I make. My husband will eat this for every breakfast if I can keep the container full. I also sometimes check out Whole Foods for specialty items or a new store in our area called Fresh & Easy.
I generally do the market on Saturday and then head to TJ's on Sunday or Monday, depending on our schedule. Some regularity to grocery shopping also helps the budget. If you plan a week or two at a time then you won't be running out at the last minute for that one item.
Cooking:
For those of you who know me you know I love to cook. Cooking is my stress relief. I recognize that cooking stresses some people out. Cooking does stress me out when I'm tired, have three kids hanging on my clothes and I'm rushing to a meeting. Meal Planning does relieve some of that stress so you aren't deciding on a meal in the midst of the craziness. I also suggest maximizing weekend time or evening time when you are not stressed to plan ahead for other meals. My daughter and I often mix up batches of muffins and granola on a Sunday night to prepare for the week. We enjoy this time together.
The bottom line is: have fun. Share resources with friends. Check out new meal options. Ask questions. Leave us a comment. We love to chat on this topic. Happy Meal Planning!
1.26.2010
Menu Plans for Week of Jan. 24 & Jan. 31
As we all consider ways to save money in 2010 and make more healthy choices, it's important to plan ahead. Sure, there's always room for inspirations in the kitchen or an occasional meal out but the Gilmores are committed to eating together as a family and putting healthy, organic foods at the forefront of our diet. I always love to share resources. Here's what we're eating this week and next. Let us know if you are interested in recipes or have questions.
Sunday
Tortellini & Meatballs and Mom & Dad's place
Monday
Crockpot Taco Soup
Tortilla Chips
Tuesday
Lemon Piccata Chicken
Israeli Couscous
Sugar Snap Peas
Wednesday
Swiss Chard & Feta Pie
Whole Wheat Baguette Bread
Baby Greens Salad with Carrots & Raisins
Thursday
Filipino Pancit
Adobo Chicken Legs
Friday
Salad
Calzones
Chocolate Lava Cakes
Saturday
Cooking Club: Gnocchi-Making Gathering
Caesar Salad
Homemade Potato Gnocchif with Marinara Sauce
Spinach Gnocchi with Alfredo Sauce
Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi with Basil-Cream Sauce
Sunday
Luscious Leftovers
Monday
Grass-fed Beef Tacos with Tomatoes, Olives & Sour Cream
Salad with Avocadoes, Oranges & Cilantro Dressing
Tuesday
Chicken Marsala
Butternut Squash Risotto
Wednesday
Lime-Crusted Salmon
Asian Peanut Pasta
Thursday
Italian Wedding Soup
Rosemary Biscuits
Friday
Red Lentil Dal
Mango-Chickpea Curry
Garlic Naan
Saturday
Missions Dinner
Sunday
Tortellini & Meatballs and Mom & Dad's place
Monday
Crockpot Taco Soup
Tortilla Chips
Tuesday
Lemon Piccata Chicken
Israeli Couscous
Sugar Snap Peas
Wednesday
Swiss Chard & Feta Pie
Whole Wheat Baguette Bread
Baby Greens Salad with Carrots & Raisins
Thursday
Filipino Pancit
Adobo Chicken Legs
Friday
Salad
Calzones
Chocolate Lava Cakes
Saturday
Cooking Club: Gnocchi-Making Gathering
Caesar Salad
Homemade Potato Gnocchif with Marinara Sauce
Spinach Gnocchi with Alfredo Sauce
Sun-Dried Tomato Gnocchi with Basil-Cream Sauce
Sunday
Luscious Leftovers
Monday
Grass-fed Beef Tacos with Tomatoes, Olives & Sour Cream
Salad with Avocadoes, Oranges & Cilantro Dressing
Tuesday
Chicken Marsala
Butternut Squash Risotto
Wednesday
Lime-Crusted Salmon
Asian Peanut Pasta
Thursday
Italian Wedding Soup
Rosemary Biscuits
Friday
Red Lentil Dal
Mango-Chickpea Curry
Garlic Naan
Saturday
Missions Dinner
1.19.2010
Menu Plans for Week of Jan. 17
Wondering what we're eating for dinner? Leave us a comment if you're interested in recipes or have questions. Bon appetit!
Here are the menu plans:
Sunday
Rotisserie Chicken Burritos
Brown Rice
Monday
Creative Crockpots: New World Chili
Honey Cornbread
Tuesday
Sauteed Greens & Garlic
Roasted Mahi Mahi with Orange-Pepper-Chayote salsa
Whole Wheat Couscous
Wednesday
Small Group Potluck: Haitian Rice & Beans
Thursday
Dinner for Company:
Green Salad with tomatoes, cheese
Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Penne
Roasted Cauliflower
Tiramisu
Friday
Baby Greens Salad with Cranberries & Maple Walnuts
Roasted Garlic & Black Olive Pizza
Saturday
Luscious Leftovers
Here are the menu plans:
Sunday
Rotisserie Chicken Burritos
Brown Rice
Monday
Creative Crockpots: New World Chili
Honey Cornbread
Tuesday
Sauteed Greens & Garlic
Roasted Mahi Mahi with Orange-Pepper-Chayote salsa
Whole Wheat Couscous
Wednesday
Small Group Potluck: Haitian Rice & Beans
Thursday
Dinner for Company:
Green Salad with tomatoes, cheese
Chicken Parmesan over Whole Wheat Penne
Roasted Cauliflower
Tiramisu
Friday
Baby Greens Salad with Cranberries & Maple Walnuts
Roasted Garlic & Black Olive Pizza
Saturday
Luscious Leftovers
1.07.2010
Recipe of the Week: Dorina's New & Improved Tortilla Soup
There's something about pureed soups that warms my soul. Tortilla soup is a recipe that comes in many versions and deserves to be passed around. This is a more updated version of my Tortilla soup posted in 2008. The original was created about 8 years ago and our family has changed up our diet pretty significantly since then. I've reduced the salt and substituted for some more healthy ingredients. Feel free to make your own modifications according to your family's needs. We've passed on the recipe to many other families and it seems to be a universal fave. I always make a double batch and freeze some for lunches or to share with friends. This tortilla soup is a thicker pureed version compared to the broth-based version a lot of restaurants serve. If you have problems with dairy, skip the sour cream and you have a hearty, dairy-free meal.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 organic boneless chicken breasts,
1/2 jalapeno, minced (1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)
6 organic corn tortillas (7”)
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups fresh sweet corn (or 2 - 16 oz. cans of organic white corn or 1 bag frozen organic sweet corn)
5 Roma tomatoes, chopped (or 1 - 28 oz. can chopped organic tomatoes)
1/3 cup organic tomato paste
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups water
1 quart organic chicken stock
Garnishes:
Sour cream
5 corn tortillas cut in strips (or substitute organic tortilla chips crumbled into pieces)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large Dutch oven-type pot. Cut chicken breasts into small bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with minced jalapeno or crushed red pepper. Sauté in pot.
2. Chop onion. Add to pot and sauté until onions are translucent.
3. Meanwhile, add three tablespoons oil to a large frying pan. Cut tortillas into one-inch strips. Add half the tortilla strips to the soup pot with the chicken. (This gives the soup a thicker base when it's pureed.) Brown the other half of the tortilla strips in the frying pan for garnish. (Fry until crispy and dry on paper towels.)
4. Add garlic and jalapenos/red pepper (depending on how spicy you like it) to soup pot. Add two cups corn and tomatoes to pot. Mix.
5. Add spices: cumin, salt, black pepper and chili pepper. Add tomato paste.
6. Finally, add 3 cups water and 1 quart chicken stock. Stir ingredients together well.
7. Bring soup to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender (or transferring to regular blender) and puree the soup. (You can skip this step if you prefer a chunky soup.)
8. Allow soup to continue cooking at a low heat for 10 minutes. Continue to puree until large chunks of chicken and tomatoes are blended into the soup.
9. At this point, you can decide about the consistency. If you like a thicker soup, leave as is and allow to cook longer. If you want to thin out the soup add 1/2 cup water until you are satisfied with the consistency.
10. Add two remaining cups of corn to pot, stir and serve.
11. Put garnishes in separate bowls. Allow your guest or family to add garnishes their soup themselves for fun or you can do it and wow them with the presentation.
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 organic boneless chicken breasts,
1/2 jalapeno, minced (1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes)
6 organic corn tortillas (7”)
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups fresh sweet corn (or 2 - 16 oz. cans of organic white corn or 1 bag frozen organic sweet corn)
5 Roma tomatoes, chopped (or 1 - 28 oz. can chopped organic tomatoes)
1/3 cup organic tomato paste
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups water
1 quart organic chicken stock
Garnishes:
Sour cream
5 corn tortillas cut in strips (or substitute organic tortilla chips crumbled into pieces)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
Directions:
1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large Dutch oven-type pot. Cut chicken breasts into small bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with minced jalapeno or crushed red pepper. Sauté in pot.
2. Chop onion. Add to pot and sauté until onions are translucent.
3. Meanwhile, add three tablespoons oil to a large frying pan. Cut tortillas into one-inch strips. Add half the tortilla strips to the soup pot with the chicken. (This gives the soup a thicker base when it's pureed.) Brown the other half of the tortilla strips in the frying pan for garnish. (Fry until crispy and dry on paper towels.)
4. Add garlic and jalapenos/red pepper (depending on how spicy you like it) to soup pot. Add two cups corn and tomatoes to pot. Mix.
5. Add spices: cumin, salt, black pepper and chili pepper. Add tomato paste.
6. Finally, add 3 cups water and 1 quart chicken stock. Stir ingredients together well.
7. Bring soup to a boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Using an immersion blender (or transferring to regular blender) and puree the soup. (You can skip this step if you prefer a chunky soup.)
8. Allow soup to continue cooking at a low heat for 10 minutes. Continue to puree until large chunks of chicken and tomatoes are blended into the soup.
9. At this point, you can decide about the consistency. If you like a thicker soup, leave as is and allow to cook longer. If you want to thin out the soup add 1/2 cup water until you are satisfied with the consistency.
10. Add two remaining cups of corn to pot, stir and serve.
11. Put garnishes in separate bowls. Allow your guest or family to add garnishes their soup themselves for fun or you can do it and wow them with the presentation.
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