Sweet Potato + Black Bean Hash

Oh snap…look who has another post this week!

Not that it should really be an accomplishment but I’ve gotta get back on track with baby steps I guess ;) 

Plus some things are just too good not to share!

Not sure where I got the inspiration for this, but I was trying to think of ways in use sweet potatoes in breakfast, plus I had some black beans in the fridge.  Boom.  Hash!

If you want to make it Paleo just leave out the beans…it would be delicious either way.  Personally I don’t get the whole “no beans” part of the paleo diet.  From what I’ve read the “anti-nutrients”in beans are in their uncooked state…and once properly soaked/prepared, the anti-nutrients are almost entirely gone.   Considering you can’t exactly eat uncooked beans, I’m not sure what the big deal is.

Woops, sidetracked.

Sweet Potato + Black Bean Hash
(for two people)

• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1 medium sweet potato, diced
• 1/2 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red or green bell pepper (or 1/2 each) diced
• 1/8 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/8 tsp paprika (or use 1/4 tsp paprika if you don’t have smoked)
• garlic powder, few shakes
• crushed red pepper flakes, few shakes
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup black beans (cooked or canned)
• 1 tsp butter or more coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• avocado (sliced, served on the side…optional, but SO good for you!)
• sour cream (optional)
• salsa (optional)

Note: best to chop the potato, onion, and pepper in small pieces so they cook faster.

In a cast iron or non-stick skillet heat the 2 tsp coconut oil over medium heat.  Add onion and pepper.  Sauté for 3-4 minutes.  Add sweet potato.  Stir in paprika, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and salt.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes, only stir occasionally as the potatoes will only get browned if they sit still against the pan.  As the potatoes are just about done to the consistency you like, add the bean and cook another 1-2 minutes. 

Plate the hash on two plates, set aside somewhere to keep warm (sometimes I put them in a “cool” oven, or even turn the oven on for a couple minutes then off just to warm it a smidge).

In the same pan heat the 1 tsp butter or coconut oil.  Crack 2 eggs in the pan and cook to your liking….I did over easy.

Serve egg on top of hash….bacon on the side if you like!

The avocado on the side is a MUST for me.  I also added a little sour cream, but didn’t need any salsa…flavorful enough on its own.  I even liked a slightly runny yolk!!  Who am I??

I LOOOOVED this breakfast!!  It’s not a ton of food, but the proportions are really easy to adjust if you’re feeding more people or if you or your guest have bigger appetites!  Or just add more eggs :)  Brian and I tend to eat similar servings sometimes, but I know some of you might have husbands who eat way more so go nuts!  We were both completely satisfied…not too full, just right. 

Iced latte as my bevy of choice.

Lots of healthy fats, protein, and carbs here!  

I used to think I hated hash…in my mind it was always corned beef hash, like that weird stuff from a can, but thankfully now I know better and there are numerous ways to make a “hash” that do not involve canned meat products ;) 

Do you like hash?  Favorite version??

Watermelon: Granita & Popsicles!

Hellooooo! 

I just got back from an incredibly delicious dinner with my mom and Brian at Toro in the South End.  I haven’t been since last year and my mom and I were craving it…specifically the corn on the cob and paella. 

Anyways…just had to mention that.  Other than that it has been a pretty low key weekend.  My mom has been travelling a lot for work so it was nice to spend some time with her.  It’s also been pretty toasty around here although I can’t complain…it’s summer, and this is summer weather. Although I really wish we had a pool, or a least a close friend with one ;)

Watermelon!

I bought a big whole watermelon earlier this week because I had a few people over on the 4th, but we never got around to eating it. 

I decided to hack away at it so we could eat it during this week.  

SO.MUCH.MELON.  It filled that bowl, and that’s a pretty large mixing bowl…about 12” diameter.  I don’t think the 2 of us could eat it all this week without it either going bad or us getting sick of it so I decided to use about less than 1/2 of it to make some frosty treats!

I saw this recipe on the Whole Foods website earlier in the week: Watermelon Granita

Perfect!

I made about 1/2 batch loosely following the recipe:

• 4 cups watermelon, put into blender
• blend until smooth
• add juice & zest from 1/2 lime
• 1 – 2 tsp honey (more or less if you like)
• blend again
• pour into a glass baking dish (mine was 11” x 7”)
• Place in freezer
• I stirred with a fork every 30min for about 2 hours (then left for dinner), when I came home it was frozen and time to scrape up with a fork!

Until it’s all icy

So cool and refreshing!!  This was so easy I’d love to try it with other flavors.  The original recipe said to top with mint or basil which I think either would be delicious.

I think I want to try Espresso Granita next…we had some in Rome on our honeymoon….it was sweet espresso granita topped with freshly whipped (unsweetened) cream…amazing.      

This is perfect hot weather food.   

Next!

Using the same ingredients, I put more watermelon chunks in the blender, the juice and zest from the other half of the lime and blended again.

This time I ran the mixture through a fine mesh sieve:

And filled popsicle molds with the remaining strained watermelon juice!

I bought those popsicle molds for less than $10 at Bed Beth and Beyond and have been dying to try them out. 

These will also come in handy on these hot days!

Don’t worry, we still have a GIANT container of fresh watermelon to eat this week ;)

sidenote: the pops and granita are paleo friendly!  The use of honey is up to you :)

You could also make some amazing cocktails with fresh watermelon puree…mojitos, margaritas… the possibilities are endless.  I also plan to enjoy some watermelon + feta this week too! 

What’s your favorite way to use up extra watermelon??

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. 

Balance: Crossfit + Running

Earlier this week I contributed to the official blog of Reach the Beach, where my teammates Tina, Patricia, and I talked about how we were balancing our RTB training with our love of Crossfit.

This is what I had to say about that…

I’ve been Crossfitting for 4 months now. I’m hooked and I love it… the Kool Aid has been drunk. I don’t remember ever jumping into something so fervently in such a short period of time before in my exercise history. Now, even with Reach the Beach only 6 weeks away, I’m still trying to figure out the balance of Crossfit with my training runs. I’m sure it doesn’t help that Crossfit still has that new and exciting feel to it… I don’t want to cut back! But on the other hand, I know my body, and I know that I need to get in those runs.

Gotta love my “I’m dying” face haha…(Source)

Currently my plan has been to maintain Crossfit 3-4 times a week, as I had before, and get in a longer training run on the weekends. When I trained for my very first half-marathon last year, I was having some issues with plantar fasciitis so I had cut out my shorter mid-week runs, leaving just my long runs, so that I wouldn’t be running too much on my foot.

I was just looking to be able to (somewhat) comfortably finish the half-marathon, not go for any particular times, and I did just that. So, for me, I know my most important training goals are to make sure I get in the longer training runs once a week. I’m confident that those runs, plus the metabolic conditioning aspects of Crossfit will be enough to get my through my 3 legs and Reach the Beach!

In addition to that, I think I want to try doing 2 runs “back-to-back” to mimic what the relay will be like.  And by “back-to-back” I mean 8-12 hours in between runs. 

In other news, my Crossfit box is starting a big 60-day “Paleo Challenge” starting next week.  I’m still on the fence about this whole Paleo thing, but I’m always up for a challenge…especially when it involves keeping better track of my food intake!  Plus we’re going to be broken into teams and there are other ways to get points aside from eating…

(Cauliflower “rice”…really liked this!  Will have to experiment with recipes more)

1 point each for the following:

• getting 8 hours of sleep
• 20 min stretching/mobility
• taking your fish oil
• completing the WOD (workout of the day)
• water: drink half your body weight, in ounces, a day
• eating Zone (the zone diet is also a favorable way of eating for Crossfitters) This PDF has a great breakdown of The Zone diet

But you get 4 points for eating Paleo, losing points as you decline from 100% (4 points) paleo to 85% (1 point).

I’ve already made another batch of Paleo Brownies…mmmm.  This time baked them for only 20-22 min.  Much better consistency if you like your brownies on the fudgy/gooey side :) 

As much as I do agree with many aspects of the Paleo diet, I just don’t see myself going 100%.  I find I get too resentful/angry when, in my head, I “can’t” have something.  Plus I don’t want to stress over it.  My focus during the challenge will be to incorporate more Paleo-friendly meals, keep my carb intake down, and keep it clean!  Plus we’re doing some baseline workouts to compare at the beginning and end…I love seeing improvements, and not just in my appearance! 

I’ve been doing a pretty good job of this lately anyways, so I just need to keep it up!  Can’t hurt for my Vegas trip next weekend either ;) 

Red Sox home opener tomorrow!

I think Bromley could teach them a thing or two ;)

 

Tomorrow’s Friday!!!  The weekend is going to be beautiful, I just feel bad for the marathon runners on Monday…great weather for spectators but it’s going to be a warm one!

Paleo Treats and Physical Feats

Ok, it took me way too long to think of a title for this post and it’s still lame.  But I had many different things going on here and no good way to wrap it up with a pretty bow (title) on top ;)

On Saturday, my Crossfit box had a little Intra-gym Throwdown to celebrate a year of being open!  The actual 1-year mark was back in early February but the celebration didn't’ happen until this weekend. 

The “throwdown” was just an extra special workout (actually 3 different workouts) followed by a Paleo potluck!

I love weekend workouts when there’s a big crowd, so I knew this would be fun, and I was excited to try my hand at a Paleo baked good that I would actually serve to other people besides Brian.

I’m still by NO means eating Paleo, but I still like to try out the recipes!  My Paleo almond-coconut pancakes have been a favorite weekend breakfast around here ever since I first made them (as you’ll see again shortly).

I was bummed I wasn’t going to have any pictures from the actual Throwdown but look what I saw when I checked my gym’s website today (they post each workout, usually with 1 photo from the day):

ME! (and my lovely frizz ball of a ponytail)

Obviously I didn’t even know my coach took this, but it’s a pretty cool photo!! 

This was the last workout of the day which was a ladder workout of Thrusters (45lb for women) and pull-ups.  Basically, the ladder means you do 1 thruster, then 1 pull=up, then 2 thrusters, 2 pull-ups…and so on.  We had 6 Minutes for this.  I ended up with 7 full rounds of each. 

A Thruster is when you squat with the bar, then”thrust” it up over head as you stand. 

The first 2 workouts before this one were:

1. option of the Open’s workout 12.2, which I had done on Thursday and did not feel like repeating it, or a 10 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of:

30 ground-to-overhead (GTO) at 35lb

30 GTO at 55lb

30 GTO at 75 lb

I did the first 60, but 75lb was a bit too much for me so I just did a few 65lb GTO’s until the time was up.

2. Workout 2 was:

8 Min AMRAP:  100 sumo-deadlift-high-pulls, followed by 50 kettlebell swings (35lb), and then box jumps until the time is up.  Unfortunately the KB swing weight was a bit much for me and I didn’t make it to the box jumps (which I actually like!). 

So yeah, that was the throwdown!

For the pot luck I made some Paleo brownies and I’m currently obsessed with them!!

I was unsure at first, but I love them and want to make them again.

I used this recipe by Baker Gal with the following substitutions:

• used 1 cup raw honey
• 1 cup raw almond butter
• 2T apple sauce added
• used 1 egg
• added 1 oz of 72% dark chocolate to the honey in the pan to melt together.
• Baked for 40 minutes but my one change next time would be to check them earlier, I wish they were a little underdone :)

You’d never know there was no flour in those.  I was even asked what kind of flour I used.  They are not too sweet, just deep dark and chocolaty! 

Even Brian loves them.  I’m making sure he saves me the last one. 

Inadvertently, our breakfast this morning also ended up being (mostly) Paleo!  

I’m telling you, those Almond Coconut pancakes are damn good!!

Also had a few slices of ham that we threw on the griddle.

I made extra this time.  I wanted leftovers to stash in the freezer.

Lovely flowers from Brian…I was joking that my Valentine’s day flowers needed to be replaced since they were dying.  And this is what I came home to Friday!

A breakfast feast.

After some digesting and cleaning, we went out for a little run!

I was pumped to try out some of my New Balance gear

I’m wearing:

• the Icefil Short Sleeve
• NBx Prism Capris
• Tonic Crop sports bra
• NBx Cocona Low Cut Socks
• the 870v2 sneakers

Also wore:

The NBx Prism Half Zip 

Thoughts:

• Everything is SOOO soft!  Love the materials.
• The half zip is probably my favorite thing so far.  It fits great and I love that the sleeves can fold over your hands as mittens!  This was great for today’s run.
• Love the t-shirt, especially the neon pink color.  I’ve never really worked out in t-shirts (in warm weather, like instead of a tank) so I’ll have wait until it gets warm out to try that.
• The capris are great, they have a draw string which I love and felts so smooth on my legs.  The material isn’t as thick as some of my other capris but I’m sure that will be much better for the warmer weather.
• I like the sports bra, very comfortable, but I’d probably go for something with more support normally.  I even added cups from another sports bra (I always like a little padding), and was happy there was slots for my to insert the cups.  BONUS: is that it has a little cleavage stash pocket! 
• Verdict is still out on the sneakers.  They are stability shoes which is good for me, but I think I need a bit more arch support so I added my inserts that I always wore with any other running sneaker.  At one point I thought the inserts were bothering me so I stopped and took them out mid run.  But then once we started running again, I started feeling a little arch pain so I put them back in.  We’ll see.  In the end everything was fine, and I might just need to break them in. 

You have until Saturday to use my discount code for 15% off + free shipping at newbalance.com!!  There have been some issues with some of the other girl’s codes so please let me know if you try to use it and it doesn’t work!! 

By the way we did a 3 mile run, plus 2 mile walk with the dog :)

There’s a whole part 2 to this weekend’s activities that include MANY shenanigans at Elizabeth’s 30th birthday party but for now I’m going to keep this post all “healthy” ;)

Sweet and Savory Pancakes {paleo}

I experimented with a couple pancake recipes this weekend, both of which would fall under the “paleo” category.  Of course then I went a head and had maple syrup on the sweet ones, and cheese on the savory ones…but really, who wouldn’t? 

First on Saturday, I made some Almond-Coconut pancakes!



Almond Coconut Pancakes
serves 2

• 1 cup Almond Flour (or Almond Meal works too)
• 1/4 cup coconut flour (or unsweetened coconut, I actually had some organic unsweetened defatted coconut that I used)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 2/3-3/4 cup unsweetened Almond Milk (I used vanilla flavored unsweetened Almond milk)
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil (melted if needed)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine almond flour, coconut, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together to combine.  In a separate bowl beat the eggs with a fork then add almond milk, coconut oil, and honey.  Mix to combine, then add wet ingredients to dry.  Stir until mixture is combined.  If your batter is looking too thick, or thickens upon standing, add a little milk until it's pancake batter consistency!

Heat a griddle or skillet over med heat.  Use coconut oil or grassfed butter to grease the pan.  Once the pan is hot, add batter in desired size, cook until edges look done then flip.  Adjust heat while cooking incase the pan gets too hot.  Cook 2-3 more minutes or until pancakes look done. 

Serve as desired! 

Like I said we had real maple syrup, banana sliced, and Brian had butter on his (I’ve never been a fan of butter on pancakes). 

These were light, and had a nice subtle coconut flavor to them!  Really delicious.  I’m think next time I might add 1/4 tsp almond extract to really make the almond flavor come out as well. 

Brian loved them too, and he could care less about them being Paleo/low carb.



My savory pancake recipe was a true experiment, as I’ve never made anything like them before.  
I was flying solo this morning, Brian had gone up to NH for a friend’s b-day Sat night-Sunday, I stayed home with my new cold that came about Friday :/

I was hungry but had no idea what I was in the mood for.  Then I spotted a leftover, fully cooked sweet potato from the other night!  I also wanted an egg, and maybe something with cheese and hot sauce. 

It’s been a long time since I’ve made potato pancakes but I do remember egg was the binder.  I guess this would be more like a mashed (sweet) potato pancake!

Savory Sweet Potato Pancake
serves 1

• 1 small cooked sweet potato
• 1 egg, beaten
• hot sauce (to you’re liking)
• 1/4 tsp dried garlic (or garlic powder)
• 1-2 tsp butter
• optional: cheddar or gouda (or your favorite) cheese, about 1 slice or a few small slices if it’s cut from a large chunk.

Cut your cooked sweet potato in half then scrap out all the flesh into a small mixing bowl.  Mash with a fork to get rid of any big lumps.  Add the beaten egg, hot sauce (I did about 4-5 shakes, wish I did more!), and garlic (I used Garlic Gold).  At this point you could really add any other seasonings you might want! 

Heat a small skillet over med-high heat, melt some butter in the pan, just enough to have a nice coating on the bottom.  Once the pan is good and hot, make 2 equal size pancakes with your batter.  Cook 3-5 min per side until cooked through and golden browned. 

Add cheese on one half and place other pancake on top.



Serve with sour cream if you like!  I actually added some more hot sauce on top too.
I really loved these!  I think next time I’d grate the cheese and add it right into the batter. 
If I had to eat them without the cheese or sour cream, I’d like some sliced tomato with them to add a cool refreshing contrast to the pancake. 



For a breakfast “dessert” I had some blueberries and banana



In other news, I have an important decision to make.  I ordered some new sneakers for Crossfit and of course it’s down to the colors ;)



My initial favorite was the pink/green, but I’m actually leading towards the purple/orange ones!  Thoughts?  I’m picking one by the time I go to Crossfit tomorrow night!
And for fun, and Outfit post!

  

One of these days I’ll take a nice "fashion” shot, outdoors with the wind blowing in my hair and the sun casting a nice glow on my skin. 
But for now, it’s iphone in the office bathroom…  yeah. 
This outfit was revolved around that blue skirt…love that skirt.

• blue pencil skirt – Ann Taylor
• grey cardigan – Old Navy
• magenta shirt (which you can’t see) – Banana Republic
• mustard scarf – Target
• grey/yellow/gold t-strap heals – Seychelles from Nordstrom

If you have tomorrow off…lucky you!  I’ll be heading back to work like normal.  At least traffic will be a lot better.

Time for some frozen yogurt and then getting to bed early!  I hope :)

What’s your favorite thing to put in or on pancakes???  Maple syrup…all the way, the real stuff of course.  I look for any excuse to put maple syrup on anything!!  (except savory pancakes that is)