A Valentine Classic, Simpson-Style

Mike and I wanted a quick, easy, and healthy dinner to make this past Saturday night. We ended up modifying a “recipe” I had made in the past. It is based off a recipe I’ve made for Crab Cakes. But for this one we used salmon and eliminated the mayonnaise. We replaced the mayo with Greek yogurt – def a win!

This recipe made about 14 salmon cakes (we like our left overs!). The salmon packets we buy are the Chicken of the Sea Wild-Caught Pink Salmon in the 6 oz packets. When buying salmon make sure it is wild caught. There a ga-jillion reasons. Trust me. Also, the measurements aren’t exact but for a recipe like this it’s not dire to replicate it exactly, so have fun experimenting!

Salmon Cakes

• 4 Salmon Packets
• 1/2 Cup Greek Yogurt (Full Fat, Original)
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
• 1/3 Cup Almonds, chopped (or you can use Almond Meal)
• Old Bay, to taste (we love our Old Bay and probably put about 1 Tbl in)
• Dry Mustard, 1 tsp
• Lemon Juice, 1 tsp

Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and thoroughly mix. Using your hands, yes, that’s right – get in there and become one with your food form Salmon Cakes (roughly the size of Crab Cakes, or a flatten tennis ball). Place the cakes on a foil-lined pan. Mike sprinkled some chopped almonds on top of some of the cakes since we’re fancy like that. Bake for about 22 minutes. Then broil for another 3-4 minutes so they get crispy on top. We served ours with a seaweed veggie stir fry and white sweet potatoes. Delish!

One thing I forgot to add was dill. I had some dried dill from our CSA but it completely slipped my mind. Also, next time I might experiment and add different spices and herbs. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

The finished dinner!

Enjoy! And Happy Valentine’s Day!

THIS GIRL!!!!

Can you tell I’m psyched?!?!?! First time I’ve been able to do a pull up without any help (jumping, bands, etc) since I was in middle school!!!  Yay!! I’ve been strength training diligently over the past few months and it paid off! Granted I’ve been getting lifting PRs throughout those past few months but this was a big goal I had for myself.

In addition to my pull ups Mike and I completed a WOD tonight. We first did some accessory work: I worked on my back squats and push press. And yes, the two pics below are NOT me doing either of those things but I only had pics of me deadlifting (from the other week) so this is what ya get!

The WOD:

• As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes:
• 9 Pull Ups
• 12 Push Press
• 50 m Farmer’s Walk

I completed 7 rounds plus 4 pull ups. I used the red band for my pull ups, 53lbs for my push press, and 35 pound dumbbells for the Farmer’s Walk. A Farmer’s Walk is when you carry a dumbbell in each hand and walk (arms should be fully extended straight down, nothing fancy here). Here is a Farmer’s Walk: (and yes, my weights and face looked EXACTLY like this)

Or maybe not. Gosh – when you’re able to do 2 pull ups by yourself you think you can lift anything!  :) My hands and forearms are on FIRE already. So it was a good workout

To replace the penne, spaghetti, shells, or any type of noodles use spaghetti squash. There are a lot of different GF pasta replacements lining the grocery store shelves but most of them use rice or some type of GF flour. We try to stay away from a lot of processed foods so we don’t buy them. We use spaghetti squash because it’s a vegetable and veggies rock! Duh.

I had never made, let alone ate a spaghetti squash until 2-3 years ago. They are super easy to make and taste awesome! To start take your spaghetti squash and cut it in half, lengthwise. Be careful, sometimes this is challenging. Once cut in half, scoop out the seeds. We save the seeds, de-goop them (yes, that’s a technical cooking term, at least according to me), toss them in olive oil and salt, and bake on a cookie sheet until crunchy – yummy treats! Once the seeds are scooped out, place the squash halves in a pan and cook at 400° for 40-50 minutes. To check if it’s done take a fork and run lengthwise. If the squash comes up easily it’s ready! Run the fork from stem to stem in order to get all the “spaghetti” strands out. Add your toppings and enjoy!

Roast the seeds just like pumpkin seeds!

Immediately after cooking (even though they look just the same pre-cooked!)

Getting those strands out!

Almost done, just missing one topping...

The final product! Trust me - this will fill you up!

But because we do have some dairy every now and then I have to share with you an easy appetizer “recipe”.  Recipe is in quotes because this barely qualifies as a recipe.  It’s that easy. But of course when I was making it I wasn’t paying attention and burnt the pecans. So I did find a way to screw up this easy “recipe”. We had this when we were over my parent’s house for Christmas Eve with the family. So I’ll dub it:

Christmas Brie

• 1 Wheel of Brie
• Pecans, chopped (about 1 cup)
• Sugar (to taste)
• Apricot Jelly/Jam/Preserves (about ¼ cup)

Place sugar, pecans, and a little bit of water in a frying pan. Heat on low, stirring constantly until sugar melts and all the pecan pieces are coated and warmed. Spread apricot on top of the brie wheel. Spoon pecans on top of the apricot. Enjoy!

But sorry, you’ll have to get your own wonderful boyfriend to put it all together for you

So make 2012 count.  Make it POP.  Make it yours.  Happy New Year’s everyone!

MC Escher was the king of visual deceiving images

…and most CrossFit workouts (How’s that for a lead-in???  hehehe).  They look fairly simple/easy/quick on paper but when you actually do them – WOW – not so easy!  I tackled Cindy the other week (if you didn’t know CrossFit names some of their WODs {Workout Of the Day} after girls, see the list here).  I did a 10 minute version as opposed to the regular 20 minutes BUT (and this was a big  but!) I wore an extra 15 lbs throughout the workout.  Crazy hard!!!  If you have a weight vest obviously that would be the easiest to add the weight but we don’t own one so I improvised

Using a weight vest for a variety of exercises

Don’t they look like bullet proof vests????  Pretty hardcore  So anyway, here is what I did for the WOD:

Cindy

• 5 pull-ups
• 10 push-ups
• 15 squats
• AMRAP in 10 minutes (That’s As Many Rounds As Possible)
• Added 15 lbs

I completed 4 rounds plus 5 pull-ups.  Whew!  I was exhausted.  That extra 15 lbs of “body weight” killed me.  All I kept thinking throughout the workout was that this is how it feels to anyone who is overweight who has to deal with those added, unwanted pounds.  Definitely motivation to stay fit and healthy!  This is how I made my own weight vest:

• Take desired weight and an old, Ravens-appropriate towel:

• Wrap up weight in towel (I actually used 2 towels to prevent the weight from banging my back during the workout).
• Place wrapped weight in book bag:

• Strap on book bag (I made mine a snug fit to prevent it from bouncing around):

• And workout!!
• Tip:  Remove anything you have from the book bag i.e. pencils, books, food, papers, etc.  You don’t want any additional weight and I guess you don’t want to damage your notes and school books either
• And I guess by now you figured out this WOD has nothing to do with this Cindy, even though she’s much cuter:

And yes, while it’s GF and “primal” it’s still contains a lot of sugar so treat it like a treat.  And try to resist it’s beckoning call every time you open the fridge

Refrigerator Cake

Cake Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup of plain yogurt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 tablespoons of butter, vegetable shortening, or coconut oil (I used butter)
• 2 eggs
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 cups of blanched almond flour

Ganache

• 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips or a bar
• 1-2 teaspoons of yogurt, milk, or cream (I used yogurt)
• 2-3 tablespoons of butter

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 310 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, blend yogurt, eggs, honey, and vanilla together. Next, add 3 tablespoons of melted butter and blend well.
3. Add all the dry ingredients (flour, baking  soda, and pinch of salt) to the wet mixture, and blend well.
4. Pour the batter into a buttered baking pan (I use a brownie pan.  See how I grease my pans here).
5. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the center is not wiggly. The top will be starting to brown and a toothpick will come out clean. Cool completely and then slice the cake into two layers using a sharp, long, carving knife. (Since I use a brownie pan I cut the cake in half to make two layers – I don’t cut it horizontally since I feel like that would be too hard because it’s not that thick.)  
6. Set the layers apart and get the bottom layer ready for the chocolate gananche.
   

   The lone bottom layer

7. Prepare the ganache by adding the chocolate chips, yogurt, and butter into a bain-marie or a bowl placed over simmering water. The idea is to melt it all together slowly until you have a chocolate liquid. If the mixture is too thick, add more butter or yogurt.
   

   My homemade version of a bain-marie

8. Pour about 1/3 of the ganache over the bottom layer.  
9. Now place the top layer over the bottom layer. Pour the remaining ganache over the top layer of the cake and then smooth it out and push some of the ganache slightly over the edges so it starts to drip down the sides of the cake. 
10. Cool the cake in the refrigerator for as long as you can hold back, and then serve it.  (It does taste really good warm and fresh from the oven so try it then as well!  But I definitely recommend putting it in the fridge because the ganache hardens and the whole cake has a different texture/taste almost!)
    

    Fresh from the fridge!!!

11. Store the cake in the refrigerator, covered if possible. Once it is cold, it is easier to slice the cake with a carving knife.

How good does that slice look?!?!?! Pure heaven!

Merry Christmas!!!!

WOD #1:

• 60 Towel Pull ups
• 100 Kettlebell Snatches (50 each arm)

This isn't me, but this is what towel pull ups while using a band look like

I have done my fair share of pull ups: normal, jumping, chin ups, chest to bar, underhand, overhand, etc.  But never towel pull ups.  Here’s a video that shows you what they are.  In the video he goes through many variations of towel pull ups.  The ones we did are around the 19 second mark.  They are titled “Left up” and “Right up”.  We made sure to have one hand higher on the towel than the other (it’s to mimic climbing a rope essentially).  Then we would switch hands so one is not always higher (or lower) than the other.  These really test your grip strength!!!!  I had to use a band to help me up.  That is the great thing about CrossFit – all of the exercises are able to be modified to each person’s skill/strength level.

After that WOD we warmed up for the next one (as if we weren’t already warmed up!) by doing overhead squats.  Since I don’t have a lot of experience with overhead squatting we practiced those by starting out using just the bar and then slowly added weight.  I got up to 73 lbs for 3 reps during warm up.  If you’re just learning to overhead squat it might be easiest to not even use a bar but use a dowel rod, pvc pipe, or a towel.  That way you don’t have to worry about added weight and can just focus on your form.

Using dowel rods or pvc pipes

WOD #2

• 5 rounds for time:
• 3 Overhead Squats
• 7 Burpees

I completed this WOD in 5:59 and squatted 53 lbs.  Good times  I love how CrossFit mixes up their workouts and exercises to expose you to a ton of different moves that work various muscles.  

Only a few more days left until Christmas!!!!  Yay!

See???? Pumpkins do exist at Christmas!

The other month I had pumpkin leftover for some reason and didn’t want it to go to waste so I incorporated it in a great new recipe.  I found this recipe here and didn’t really have to make any adaptations – it was great!  This recipe is gluten free and sorta Paleo/Primal.  I say sorta because it has lots of added sugar and cream cheese, so it’s def a treat.  But a good one  I made this about a month ago and we had some friends over who aren’t GF or Paleo and they loved this recipe!

Pumpkin Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Bites

Crust Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp cocoa powder

Filling Ingredients:

• 2 8-ounce blocks cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tbsp almond flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• dash cloves
• OR use Pumpkin Pie spice if you don’t have all the other spices
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 inch square pan with tin foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on all sides.

2. Combine all crust ingredients until uniform. Press into pan and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until slightly firm. Set aside to cool.

3. Place softened cream cheese in food processor and blend until smooth. Add sugar, pumpkin, eggs, almond flour, spices and salt. Process until combined. Set aside.

4. Place chocolate in microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring between each, until melted. Add one cup of pumpkin mixture and stir to combine. Set aside.

5. Pour remaining pumpkin mixture into prepared pan. Drop dollops of chocolate mixture onto pumpkin mixture and swirl with a butter knife. Bake until cheesecake is set, but jiggles slightly when gently shaken, 40 to 50 minutes.

6. Cool in pan. Cover and chill until firm, at least 2 hours (up to 2 days). Using overhang, transfer cake to work surface. Using a knife dipped in hot water (and dried), cut into 16 squares.  Mine cracked a little while cooking (see the pic below) but once you cut it into pieces you couldn’t tell!

7. Enjoy!