Food Fridays

This week, Kimberly sent us a sweet recipe for the holidays.  The original recipe was from Erika, Kimberly made a few substitutions and from what I hear, the end product turned out wonderfully. This has more sugar than you would want to consume day-to-day; what with the dates, the cranberries and the honey, but it’s probably better than most other treats you’ll find at the office X-mas party.

Something Sweet for the Holidays (Thanks Erika!)…

Cranberry Bar

1 cup raw pecans
5 dates
1 tblsp grapeseed oil
1/4 tsp sea salt
6cups fresh cranberries
3 Tbs of honey
1 tblsp orange zest

Place pecans and dates in food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Pulse in oil and salt until mixture forms a ball. Press into 8×8 baking dish (I used a loaf pan).  Bake at 350 for 8-12 mins until lightly browned. Place 4 cups cranberries, agave and orange zest in a pot on stove. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to a simmer for 10-15 mins until cranberries start to dissolve. Add remaining 2 cups cranberries and cook uncovered for 5 mins (I skipped this step, not a fan of whole cranberries). Remove from heat and cool for 10 mins. Pour over pecan crust and allow to set for 60-90 mins.

There seems to be a significant amount of sugar in these (depends on serving size) but they are really delicious and my roommate (my sugar-eater taste-tester) agreed, so they would be great to bring to a non-primal event and no one would be the wiser.  As a side-note, I haven’t had time to cook much for supper or lunches this week…but it doesn’t matter because I did a big roast in the slow cooker Sunday and prepped veggies for salads.  This is my way of saying don’t let the busy holiday season deter you from healthy eating, dinner doesn’t have to be fancy or elaborate, keep it simple and keep your sanity.

A  few random unrelated thoughts and stories to end your week/start your weekend.

for real?

1. Mandy pointed this out the scene in the photo above to me a couple of nights ago.  I hope you see the irony in this pic and that you’ll get the message.
2. I know this idea of not posting workouts can be disconcerting to some of you, especially if you like to prep for your workouts by eating a specific pre workout meal or even bringing workout gear specific to the workout.  I know climbing a rope in shorts is NOT comfortable.  We’ll probably continue not posting the workouts for a while longer so if you want to keep some gear at the gym you are welcome to do so.
3. Next time you’re in the gym, have a look at the upper right hand side of the whiteboard.  You’ll see a “Coach On Duty” sign with the name of the coach working at the time.  Of course all the coaches are happy to help with any questions you might have even if they are working out rather than working, but keep in mind that the person who’s name is on the board is responsible for ensuring you get a good workout so try to go to them first.
4. A good laugh courtesy of Chris right here.
5. I swear this next one is a true story.  Ask Nat G. who told it to me with a straight face.  Nat has completely given up refined sugar this past week and she’s had her will power tested a few times.  She went to a Tupperware Party this week and the Tupperware consultant was very excited about a super easy delicious cake recipe you can make using the Tupperware.  Here’s the recipe: Take a can of coke and mix it into a Duncan Hines cake mix, pour it all into a plastic Tupperware container and pop in the microwave for a quick delicious treat!!??!!!  REALLY????  Am I the only one who has trouble grasping this concept and who might just throw up at the thought of this?
6. Here’s something that is still sweet, but way less disturbing.  I was going to add some kind of disclaimer about how soy isn’t paleo and maple syrup is all sugar, but Kimberly is way ahead of us, so here’s Food Fridays…

Maple Mustard Glaze

This week I’m serving up my recipe for a great chicken or salmon glaze.  There are many variations on the internet and since I used far less maple syrup the first time I tried it, I don’t really know how much of each I add.  Go by taste, if you like the taste of the sauce, the finished product should be good too.  Mix roughly equal portions of: maple syrup, grainy mustard, and soy sauce (or tamari sauce).  Make just enough to coat the meat and then bake uncovered.  More maple syrup makes a better glaze, soy sauce makes it a little saltier (go low-sodium), and the mustard gives it a nice kick.  And yes, I know maple syrup is pure sugar but it’s natural and unprocessed and I don’t care, this recipe is good.

As a side note, grainy mustard is delicious and I use it to jazz up beef or chicken that was cooked in the slow cooker without seasonings.

Workout of the Day

Deadlift 3-3-3-3-3
Then, for reps:

Double-under for 2 minutes
Sit-up for 2 minutes
Double-under for 90 seconds
Sit-up for 90 seconds
Double-under for 1-minute
Sit-up for 1-minute
Double-under for 30 seconds
Sit-up for 30 seconds

Food Friday

This week, Kimberly sent us a link to a great resource, a downloadable primal recipe book.

A quick note about the chapter for endurance athletes at the end of the book, which includes some recipes with grains.  What’s our take on this?   First, after a long endurance based workout, most athletes can handle higher glycemic load and do very well with more carbs and faster burning carbs post workout.  Just remember that the majority of our workouts aren’t long enough to qualify us as serious endurance athletes.   That being said, we do have a few true endurance athletes in our membership.  Lastly, everyone is different.  What works for one may not work as well for others.  The vast majority of us would be better off avoiding the inflammatory and auto-immune repercussions of grains in our diet, but a small number of athletes, usually ones that are very lean to begin with, seem to do well on certain types of grains.

A second note about the chapter on deserts.  Keep in mind that the essence of paleo/primal nutrition is simple, real food: meat, vegetables, nuts, seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar.  It is doubtful that paleo man baked macaroons and banana bread on a regular basis.  These are fun treats to try once in a while, but keep a close watch on how you feel when you have treats made from lots of high sugar fruits and lots of high fat nut flours.  Some athletes thrive on it and others just feel lethargic.

We’ve had a lot of requests for additional nutritional information.  We’d like to take a 2-pronged approach to answering your questions.  First, we’ll update our nutritional resources page on the website with additional explanations, guidelines and recipes.   Second, we’d like to hold some nutrition Q&A clinics at the gym.  Please post thoughts and suggestions to comments.

Workout of the Day

“Johanna Grace”

15 push press (145#/100#)
row 300m
15 thrusters (145#/100#)
row 300m
15 power clean & jerk (145#/100#)

Food Friday

Kimbery has some real food for us this week.

Purple Ham Hock Gumbo

One ham hock

Half a purple cabbage sliced thin

A few carrots, onions, and celery if you like it, I don’t.

Stock or water

Cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, parsley, garlic powder, bay leaves or throw in whatever suits your taste; I prefer a lot of cayenne. Use full to half teaspoon portions of spices.

I was at the store the other day and saw ham hocks, and they looked primal, so I bought one…but never even having seen one before, I needed to find a recipe to go with it J Turns out, they’re all bean recipes…pork and beans, who knew? Anyway, I found a recipe for ham hock cabbage gumbo and then changed it up to make it primal. I used my big Le Creuset pot (I treated myself to some awesome cookware this summer!) but next time I’ll use a slow cooker. Sauté the veggies for a bit and then throw in the ham hock and enough water to just cover. Simmer for a 2-3 hours. I’m guessing a slow cooker on low for 8 hours would work too. When a knife cuts through the meat like a hot knife through butter, it’s done, take the ham out and let it cool for a bit. Remove the meat from the bone, shred it a little and add it back to the gumbo. Adding shredded cauliflower is a good rice substitute, or you could do like I did and add a generous portion of high fat yogurt to a bowl and enjoy. The leftovers were even better.

Getting a ham hock from your butcher or farmer should be cheap and natural/organic no-hormone, nitrate-free pork is always best. A ham bone would probably work too. If anyone is considering the primal lifestyle experimenting in the kitchen is the best place to start, I’ll admit not everything works but when it does…yum! Don’t think of it as giving up sugar, instead look at it as an opportunity to try new vegetables, meats, spices and recipes.

Nice

* The gym will be closing early on Friday night to prepare for the Halloween Social.  We’ll be closing at 5:00PM so arrive by 4:00PM if you want to get a full workout in.  Social tickets available in advance at the gym or at the door that night.  Costumed demo workout at 8:00PM but if you want to participate, please arrive by 7:00PM or you will be ticketed at the door.

*The gym will be closed on Saturday except for a Halloween Team Workout at 9:00AM .  All members welcome.

Workout of the Day

5 attempts of:
Row 250m

Rest as much as you need between attempts.

Then, 3 attempts at max double unders.

Food Friday

Kimberly’s best post yet…

Chocolate Cake

Another delicious chocolate cake from Nikki Young

Ingredients

5 eggs, separated

1/3 cup maple syrup (I used closer to ¼ cup)

2/3 cup oil (I used grapeseed)

100 g chocolate (I used a Lindt 90% cocoa bar but organic would be better)

1 tsp 100% vanilla extract

1 cup almond meal

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F

2. Cream oil, maple syrup and egg yolks in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

3. Add almond meal and vanilla extract.

4. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl over a small pot of boiling water. Add to almond meal mixture.

5. In a separate bowl beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, add half the egg whites to chocolate mixture a fold carefully. Add remaining egg whites and fold well into mixture.

6. Line a cake tin with baking paper, poor in chocolate mixture.

7. Place in oven for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and cook for a further 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked. Test by inserting a knife into the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean it is cooked through.

The original recipe suggests serving the cake a little warm but I liked it much better the second day when it was fully cooled.  It ends up a little undercooked in the middle and tastes a like a pudding cake. (Store it in the fridge if you intend to keep it for more than two days)

I finally wanted to see just how “bad” all my baking was so I’ve started to plug the ingredients into FitDay.  So, according to FitDay the whole cake would be 3250 Calories:

291 g of fat (78%)

113 g of carbs (14%) this is 23 g of fiber and 90 g of sugar

70 g of protein (8%)

I’d say that looks like a decent breakdown for a controlled cheat or a special occasion