Almond Flour/Macadamia/White Choc Cookies

I baked AND cooked today.  That shouldn’t really deserve an announcement, but I feel like it does.  I haven’t spent some quality time in the kitchen in what feels like a WHILE!!  May was FULL of weekend events and activities, and I’ve been trying to get to Crossfit as much as I can in the weekday evenings.  I love being busy, but I’ve noticed that I haven’t been really cooking or baking as much…except for simple dinners that I don’t really feel are blog-worthy. 

June is shaping up to be just as busy, so I had to take advantage of this relatively FREE weekend…those don’t come around often!

This past week was not the best for me, eating wise.  Especially after being pretty diligent about cutting back on the starchy carbs.  We had a LOT of leftovers from Brian’s birthday party…including CAKE!  Delicious delicious cake.  I had a little piece pretty much everyday last week…yeah.  It doesn’t really bother me, I mean it was AMAZING cake, but when I’m putting so much effort into my workouts, I want to respect that with what I’m eating.  Everything works better that way. 

So the cake is now gone!  (Brought into work and froze some for future cake cravings).  However, I do enjoy a good baked good so I opted to make some Paleo-ish cookies!

I saw these at Trader Joe’s yesterday and new I wanted to do some sort of white chocolate/macadamia cookie!

For my while chocolate I ended up with this…

Yes it has pieces of freeze dried strawberry in it…

But I figured that would taste good, AND it was the only white chocolate I could find with non-GMO soy lecithin in it.  Soy lecithin is in SO many things!!  Especially chocolate.  It’s an emulsifier used in numerous products, and even in organic products it doesn’t have to be non-GMO.  Being “certified organic” means 95% of the product must be organic, but no one is regulating that pesky 5%.  Then if that 5% is made from soy products, chances are it’s genetically modified since about 90% of all soy in this country is from genetically modified seeds. 

This bar specifically listed it’s soy lecithin as (non GM), so that’s why I got it.  It also would have been okay if it said 100% organic, or if it was organic soy lecithin. 

I know I can’t avoid it all the time, but when I can, I will. 

Anyways…moving on :)

Almond + Macadamia + White Chocolate
+ Cherry Cookies

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup macadamia nuts, chopped small
• 1/4 cup ground flax
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, barely melted (grassfed is best!)
• 3 T maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup dried cherries
• 1 ounce white chocolate, chopped

Pre-heat oven to 375

In a mixing bowl combine almond flour, macadamia nuts, flax, baking powder, and salt.  Stir to combine. 

Add in butter and syrup.  Stir to combine.  Add egg and vanilla.  Stir to combine.  Mix in cherries and chocolate.  Since there is no wheat flours in this dough, you don’t have to worry about “over-mixing”, so just stir until it’s all combined evenly. 

Scoop or spoon mixture onto a cookie sheet.  I lined mine with a sil pat.

Bake for 10-14 min, until starting to get a little golden brown on the edges.  Cool completely.

Between the nuts and butter, these are pretty rich!  But also delicious. 

Happy to have these to indulge my dessert cravings this week. 

As far as Crossfit goes, I’ve been able to do a couple of the more well known workouts lately!

On Memorial Day we did “Murph”.

“Murph"

For time:
1 mile Run
100 Pull-ups
200 Push-ups
300 Squats
1 mile Run

In memory of Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy, 29, of Patchogue, N.Y., who was killed in Afghanistan June 28th, 2005.

This workout was one of Mike's favorites and he'd named it "Body Armor". From here on it will be referred to as "Murph" in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is.

Partition the pull-ups, push-ups, and squats as needed. Start and finish with a mile run. If you've got a twenty pound vest or body armor, wear it. (source)

Sounded intense.  I was a little nervous about this one, but it ended up being pretty fun!!  It helped that we had  BIG crowd that day!!

(I’m on the left, kneeling on the ground) (source)

Because there were SO many people, the pull up bars were for those who could do them unassisted (i.e. no resistance bands which is what I use).  So I did body rows which is using a racked lifting bar that’s set up closer to the ground.  So basically I was sitting/lying on the ground, grabbing the bar and pulling up that way.

Like this! (source)

I’m sure it would have been a lot harder if I could have done it with regular pull-ups (even with a band), but it was still challenging.  Most people break it up by doing 5 pull ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 squats for 20 sets.  Much more manageable that way!

Took me 44 min and change. 

Also had my first go at Fight Gone Bad

"Fight Gone Bad!"

Three rounds of:
Wall-ball, 20 pound ball, 10 ft target (Reps) 14lbs for women
Sumo dead lift high-pull, 75 pounds (Reps) 53lb for women
Box Jump, 20" box (Reps)
Push-press, 75 pounds (Reps) 55 lb for women
Row (Calories)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point. (source)

I did the weights prescribed for the ladies.  Again we had a lot of people at this one, so we did 2 heats and had a partner.  Having a partner was great because they counted your reps for you and kept you motivated!  It’s a lot harder to give up if someone is telling you that you can get a few more reps! 

Score: 217

Still LOVING Crossfit :) 

Now lets all wish the rain away, at least by Wednesday!  I’m golfing (for work) and the DMB Concert that day! 

How do you deal with party leftovers???  I have such a problem throwing out food, so a lot of times I end up eating things I normally wouldn’t have in the house, but I have my limit too!  I try to give them away, or bring stuff into work but that doesn't always work either.