Pot Roast with Mashed Cauliflower

This mornings work out! 

9/30

Bench Press with bands

6×3 at 40% 1RM

Inverted Rows

3 x Maximum reps possible

Then:

21-15-9 reps, for time of:

Handstand Push-up

Ring Dip

Push-up

Then:

Double Kettlebell Presses

4×10

Standing Triceps Presses

4×20

I hope I am posting this soon enough so everyone can prepare and cook their roast. 

Pot Roast

Seasoning

1 bag of carrots

1 yellow onion chopped

1 box of mushrooms chopped/sliced

3ish lb Beef Roast

1/2 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup white/red wine

Heat a cast iron skillet OR regular skillet over medium high heat. Take your seasoning that you made yesterday and rub it all over your roast. 

 Then, sear all sides of your roast in your hot pan. (it is okay if some of the rub sticks to the pan)

While your roast is searing chop your onion and mushrooms.

When you are done set your roast aside on a plate.

Add one tablespoon of olive oil to your hot skillet. Then, toss in your onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add your mushrooms and cook for an additional 3 minutes.  

  

 Then add 1/2 cup of chicken broth and half a cup of red or white cooking wine and scrape the spices and bits off of your skillet.  

Get out your slow cooker and turn it to low. Put your carrots in the bottom and then poor your mushroom, onion, chicken broth, and wine mixture on top of the carrots.  

 Place your roast on top of the other ingredients in your slow cooker and cook on low for 7-10 hours or until tender.

 

Serve with your Mashed Cauliflower that you made yesterday.

What an awesome fall meal!

Happy Monday Everyone!!! 

Preparation for the week

The chiefs won! 4-0!

I spent $70 at Aldi... I was not happy about this :( I came home and realized I bought double of some things I already had! Bummer.... good news... we need to get more calories/carbs/nutrients in our daily intake anyways! Trying to look on the bright side but I usually try to spend around $50.

So, Here is my prep and what I made to make my week easier.

Meatballs 

These meatballs are from Sarah Fragoso's Everyday Paleo cookbook. Check out her blog. It rocks.
Okay so here is the recipe:

• 2 zucchinis
• 1 sweet potato
• 4 cups fresh whole-leaf spinach
• 3 roasted red peppers (make them yourself) 
• 2 cloves of garlic 
• 1 yellow onion
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 eggs
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees

Grate your zucchini and sweet potato and put in a large mixing bowl. This is how I chop things for my meatballs. The Vitamix! 

Put 2 chopped zucchini and your 2 garlic cloves in your vitamix and add water.  Don't pack it in there... 

Blend on speed 4 for a few seconds drain with a strainer and move it to a bowl large bowl. Repeat with your onion, sweet potato, roasted peppers, and spinach. 

It should look like this- 

Add your remaining ingredients and mix with your hands. 

Form into small balls. About the size of a golf ball or a bit bigger. 

Place in a deep oven safe dish. Tightly cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes. 

Let sit 10 minutes before taking the foil off. 

Italian Seasoning: 

2 T dried basil

2 T dried oregano

2 T dried rosemary 

2 T dried marjoram 

2 T dried thyme 

2 T red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients and store in an air tight container.

Mashed Cauliflower

Click on the heading and scroll down to where it says mashed cauliflower

Pot Roast Seasoning

1 1/4 T paprika 

1 T salt

1 t garlic powder 

1/2 t ground black pepper 

1/2 teaspoon onion powder 

1/2 t dried oregano

1/2 t dried thyme

Veggie Chopping time! 

Paleo Mexi-Ranch 

• 1/2 cup Mayo 
• 1 t dill
• 1/2 t parsley
• 1/4 t minced garlic 
• 2 T HOT salsa 
• 2 T whole fat coconut milk

Mix ingredients gently together and serve.

Well, there you go! Everything I prepared for the week. 

Meal plan 9-29

Happy Sunday morning everyone :) This was the WOD that our gym completed yesterday.

9/28

Team Chief

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 three minutes rounds of:

3 Power Cleans 135/95
6 Push-ups
9 Air Squats

Work in teams of 2 alternating rounds
For each cycle restart the AMRAP

If you would like to see what this looks like.  Watch this. 

Buy Out: 

100 sit ups 

Here is the Meal Plan for this week:

Monday- Pot Roast with mashed cauliflower
Tuesday- Pork Loin with roasted carrots and pear salad
Wednesday- Italian Chicken with roasted sweet potatoes
Thursday- Garden Fresh meatballs with Paleo mexi-ranch and carrot fries
Friday- Whole Brined Chicken **Not whole30 approved!!** with roasted broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus, and onion.

Grocery List: 

• Beef Roast- 3 lbs
• Whole Chicken - 1
• Chicken Broth OR hopefully you have some in your freezer that is homemade :)
• White or Red cooking whine- 1 bottle
• Pork loin-1
• Chicken Breast- 4
• Ground Beef- 1 lbs
• Ground Turkey- 1- 1 1/2 lbs
• Cauliflower- 2 heads
• Broccoli- 2 heads
• Carrots- 3 bags of baby carrots or 3 bags of whole carrots
• Sweet Potatoes- 6
• Salad Greens
• Olive Oil - 2 cups
• Pears-1
• Mushrooms- 2 packages
• Asparagus- 2 bunches
• Yellow Onion- 1 bag or 3-5 onions
• Avocado- 3 not ripe *will use on saturday for lunch*
• Tomatoes- 3
• Cabbage- 1 head green or red
• Sugar *Raw if possible*- 1 small box
• Fresh Spinach- 1 bag
• Zuchinni- 6
• Red Peppers- 3
• Garlic- 2 bulbs
• Eggs- 1 dozen
• Whole Fat Coconut Milk- 1 can
• Extra virgin olive oil- 1 bottle
• Balsamic vinegar- 1 bottle
• Red Onion- 1-2
• Walnuts- 1 small bag
• Dried cranberries or raisins- 1 small box/bag
• 1 package of italian seasoning ** feel free to buy a package or make your own** I will make my own.

Spices-

• Paprika
• Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper
• Onion Powder
• Cayenne pepper
• Dried Oregano
• Dried Thyme
• Parsley
• Basil
• Marjoram
• Oregano
• Rosemary

Things I will prepare today so this weeks plan is easy. 

I will wash and chop my broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, whole carrots, salad greens, yellow onion, zucchini, and slice my cabbage.

I will make the garden fresh meatballs, mashed cauliflower, paleo mexi-ranch, Pot roast rub, and italian seasoning today too. 

Sunday's are a day where I cook a lot! We will have chicken wings for the football game today. 

Go Chiefs! And with that, most likely roasted cauliflower, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. 

Well, that sure sounds like an overwhelming Sunday but I hope I can make it as simple as possible in my next few posts... after grocery shopping, prep, and finally cooking.

Fish Tacos

My Hamstrings hate me right now from the last two work outs.  They are so sore and I LOVE that! I am sure I look funny though with the way I am walking...

Okay, you know me, straight to the point. Plus, I don't have anything else to say :)
Another fast, easy meal. I prepped by making my pico on Sunday so it was easy to put together. Next Sunday I will write a post of what I make ahead of time to make for an easy week.

Pico
4-5 servings

• 3 Roma tomatoes, chopped (seeds removed)
• 1/4 c cilantro, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely diced (seeds removed)
• 1/4 green onion (feel free to use red but I had green from chicken salad)
• 1 t Kosher salt
• 1 t fresh lime juice
• 2 avocados diced (optional)

Fish Tacos 
4 servings

• 1 lb white fish (about 6 filets) ** I used flounder... it was awesome and it was $4 at Aldi for wild caught flounder. 
• 1 head of cabbage sliced 
• sea salt - to taste 
• pepper- to taste
• 1 head of lettuce or romaine hearts 
• Pico (see recipe above)
• 1/2 T coconut oil (or EVOO).

Aioli 
6 servings

• 1/2 mayo
• 2 T sriracha sauce 
• 1 t honey (optional)

Heat coconut oil in a medium size skillet over medium high heat.

Pat your filets dry and season your filets with salt and pepper. 

Place your filets in the preheated skillet 

Fry on both sides for about 2-4 minutes or so per side. 

Slice your cabbage 

In a separate bowl combine 1/2 cup mayo and 2 T of sriracha sauce. Mix well. 

Take a lettuce leaf or romaine leaf and put a filet, pico, and cabbage inside and drizzle with the mayo and sriracha aioli. Done. Fish Tacos. :)

Nutrition Info 4 servings: 

Fish Tacos 

33g Carbs

33 g Fat 

105g protein

870 calories 

Nutrition Info for 6 servings:

Aioli 

 974 calories

100g fat 

Per serving fish tacos with Aioli 

379 calories 

33g Carbs 

24g fat

26g Protein

Don't want to make the Aioli?! Just use Sriracha or, red hot hot sauce by itself. Just make sure the ingredients are JUST vinegar and cayenne no additives or preservatives...

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Chicken Salad

Chicken Salad 

This salad is quick and easy.  Make sure to make your mayo, almost pickled cucumbers and boil your eggs on sunday so you don't have a lot of prep.

• 2 celery stalks
• 6-8 hard boiled eggs
• Chicken from your greek chicken (skin removed) or 2 chicken breasts
• 1 t dill 
• 1/2 mayo
• 2 T green onion 
• 3 baby cucumbers (pickle size)
• 1 T mustard 
• 2 T Raw sugar
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar OR regular vinegar
• 1/2 t sea salt.

How to make your almost pickled cucumbers:
chop your cucumbers into small pieces (the size of relish) a vitamix works great for this.  For the vitamix chop your cucumbers in half and then fill your vitamix half way with water. Pulse on 4 or 5 or until the cucumber is the size of relish and drain water with a strainer.  
Place cucumber in a plastic bag or some type of storage bowl.  Add the sea salt and let sit in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Add the vinegar and raw sugar into your bowl and toss the cucumbers in the vinegar, sugar mixture well.  Let sit for 30 more minutes before using.

Chicken Salad
Peel your boiled eggs and chop your boiled eggs, celery, chicken, and green onion into small pieces.

Combine boiled eggs, celery, chicken, green onion, mayo, almost pickled cucumbers, mustard, and dill.

Mix well and serve!

Real Mayonaise

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Here was our work out this am.

9/24 

Every 1 min for 10 mins do:
2 Power Snatches
1 Overhead Squat, 70% 1RM

Every 1 min for 5 mins: Hang Squat Clean
2 Hang Squat Cleans, 70% 1RM

Then:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 20 mins of:
5 Power Snatches, 95/65 lbs
6 Overhead Lunges, 95/65 lbs
5 Box Jumps, 24/20 in

Buyout

Ghd Parallel Isometric Holds 3×1 minute

If you are thinking about going to a gym check out crossfiti35 I would recommend this gym to anyone! Plus, it is where I go :)

Here is a recipe that I WISH I would have known about 2 years ago when I started eating paleo.

Every once in a while I CRAVE something "saucy" or "creamy".  Well, I had NO idea you could make mayo from just a few ingredients.  So, no further wait, here it is.


2 cups Light olive oil ** I use regular but I am sure light tastes better...
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 T yellow mustard
1 t sea salt
2 egg yolks

Put your two egg yolks and your vinegar in a mixer.  Blend for just a few seconds and stop.

Slowly add in your olive oil on a low speed. Just make sure it emulsifies before adding more.  Slowly slowly slowly add your olive oil in.

If it seems to separate stop and let it emulsify before you add more but don't over mix.  This takes me about 5 minutes to add all of the olive oil.

 Once it starts to thicken you can add it a BIT faster.  

Once it has thickened and mixed all the way add in your cayenne, yellow mustard, and sea salt.
Mix well and there you go... home made mayo.

My mom tells me this is how my Grandma used to make mayo.  

There you go, REAL mayo!

Why do you need to make this mayo? For chicken salad, no potato salad, sriracha aioli etc. 

This is somethings I always have on hand. 

Greek Chicken with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Broccoli

Todays work out was awesome! I couldn't really walk normal after it but it was awesome!

Band Deadlift : 1 Rep Max

Russian Kettlebell Swings
10 x 10 with biggest bell possible

Then:

Complete as many rounds as possible in 10 mins of:
6 Pistols (Alternating Legs)s
6 Knees To Elbows
9 Kettlebell Swing (Russian)s, 32/24 kg

Here is the recipe for the Greek Chicken


Roasted sweet potatoes 

• 1-2 sweet potatoes
• Extra Virgin Olive oil- to taste
• Sea Salt -  to taste

EVOO - around 1/2 to 1 T (enough to coat your sweet potatoes).

The only thing you are going to add to your Greek chicken recipe is you are first going to spray the bottom of your roasting pan. Then, slice your sweet potatoes coated with olive oil, sea salt, and pepper ( to taste).

Place the sweet potatoes in the bottom of your roasting pan and place your roasting rack on top of the potatoes.

Then, place the chicken on the roasting rack and place on top of the pan with the potatoes. As the chicken cooks the drippings from the chicken will end up covering your sweet potato rounds. ** Follow the Greek Chicken recipe as follows from here on out. 

When you have 20 minutes left on your chicken chop your broccoli into small florets.  Coat with olive oil, sea salt, garlic, and pepper (to taste) and toss.  

Place on a separate baking pan and place in the oven with your chicken for 15 minutes or until the tops of your broccoli are browned. (see picture above). 

My husband is not a huge fan of sweet potatoes but he LOVES these roasted ones.  

MMM :) enough said! 

Don't forget to spread some yummy roasted garlic on your chicken after slicing!!! 

Please ask questions if needed!!! :) Leave a comment and tell me how it is!

I will leave you with this picture of me and my baby. 

Happy Monday Everyone!

Meal Plan 9-22

Meal Plan 9-22

Here is what I will be cooking for the week:

• M-Whole Greek Chicken with Roasted sweet potatoes and Broccoli 
• T-Chicken Salad
• W-Fish Tacos with Spicy Slaw 
• TH- Date night
• F-Pork loin with Roasted Asparagus 

Grocery List

*vinegar needs to be on that list too!!!

Happy Sunday Everyone! Brady and I were going to go for a bike ride and I was making this post and looked over at my husband and found him like this... 

I guess we aren't going on a bike ride! Everyone deserves a nap though!! I may join him!

I am going to post a recipe for Chicken soup. One thing I love about cooking is how loose you can be with your ingredients.  This recipe is what worked for me.  Feel free to tweak or change it to fit your taste buds.   Our friend had a cold this weekend so I took them chicken soup.  Chicken Soup is good because it is an anti inflammatory and also is so comforting and hydrating when you have a cold! 

Chicken Soup

• 4 chicken thighs 
• 1 chicken breast
• 6 cups water
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 t oregano
• 1 t basil (or 1 fresh basil leaf)
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 yellow onion
• 5 carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• Sea salt to taste

Chop your onion, carrots and celery. Combine all ingredients.  Let simmer (not boil) for 2 hours.  

Take out the chicken and rosemary and either chop or shred the chicken and discard the bones, skin, and rosemary. 

Add the chicken back in and continue to let simmer for 30 minutes.  Discard bay leaves and serve.  

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend :) 

Deals

I need to research this further but what?!!??!?!

Aldi, you surprise me every day.

Tomato Soup

So it has been stormy here in Kansas this evening so I thought I would post a recipe for tomato soup :)

Usually tomato soup is made with heavy cream but not this one! BUT it is still creamy and delicious and doesn't hurt my husbands stomach!

WOD

Back Squat (High Bar)
2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2

Squat Clean
6×2 at 70% 1RM

Then:

5 rounds for time of:
50 Double Unders
10 Sumo Deadlifts, 225/155 lbs
15 Kettlebell Swing (Russian)s, 32/24 kgs

**Both of these recipes come from Sarah Fargoso's book Everyday Paleo Family cookbook

Tomato Soup

1 yellow onion
1 t minced garlic
5 cups diced tomatoes (peel them first) OR 2 cans diced tomatoes (16 oz each)
1 (13.5 oz) can full-fat coconut milk
1 t sea salt (don't use if you are using canned tomatoes)
1 t black pepper
1 T coconut oil

Heat coconut oil in a soup pot over medium high heat.  Dice your onion and heat until onions start to caramelize.  Add your garlic and cook an additional minute.

Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes stirring often.
Add the coconut milk, salt, and pepper, and heat until simmer.
Pour your mixture into a vitamix or blender and blend until smooth.

I know, not the most amazing picture but oh my goodness. SO good!!!

Eat it with this chicken and you will be in comfort heaven! 

Again sorry for the bad pictures but this was so good! 

Greek Chicken 

1 whole chicken

1 lemon cut in half

sea salt 

olive oil

dried parsley 

pepper 

1-2 garlic bulbs 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Remove giblets from your chicken.  Rinse and pat it dry with paper towels.  Put the lemon halves in the chicken cavity.  Lather your chicken with salt, pepper, and parsley. Place in a roasting pan (or if you don't have money to buy a roasting pan put it on a cookie sheet, with a rack on top ** see picture for reference). 

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.  Cut the tops off of your garlic and drizzle with olive oil.  Put on the rack with your chicken and bake for an additional 30-45 minutes or until internal temp reaches 190 degrees.  Remove from your oven and tent with foil for 10-15 minutes.  

Meal Plan 8-2

This past week was such an awesome week but I wasn't able to post a lot of what I did!
I got to spend an awesome weekend with the children I help with. They are so wonderful and we got to  do so many special things! We went to a sporting kc game and the kids got many things signed by the players and then off to the lake we went!

Brady is still on break so we have been biking and going to the lake and having so much fun!

Here are a few pictures-

Sporting Kc Game

The kids were so fortunate and got to walk on the field with the players for the national anthem! How awesome is that?!

This is my husband jumping my rope wake boarding.  He is a stud.

The kids, Brady, and I tubing!


This is the meal plan for the week (yes I know it is Wednesday).  I am sure everyone will understand since it was a Holiday Weekend right!? :)

Meatloaf w/ Broccoli and mashed Cauliflower

Pork Tenderloin w/ Roasted sweet potatoes and Asparagus

Seafood chowder-- I know, I have had this on here for the last few weeks but I still haven't needed to make it with all the other food I have prepared! 

Slow cooker Short Ribs w/ roasted zucchini, asparagus, onion, and mushrooms.

Have a wonderful day! Happy Wednesday!