Broken Butt?!?!?!

Still loving CrossFit and still doing well on the Lurong Paleo Challenge, however, tonight I literally broke my butt! Seriously I really did break my tailbone, and I'm sitting here dying laughing about it.  I know I know, its not funny, but really it is and I would pay good money to have a video of it.  Yup sick mind and all but it had to be a great fall.

So tonight I was doing one of the benchmark workouts for the Lurong Paleo Challenge and was doing great.  Rowed my first 500 meters, did my 12 dead lifts, then on to the 21 box jumps when disaster struck.  Ok not disaster thats a bit dramatic but hey it's my story.  Have you ever tried to jump on a 12 inch box?  Looks super easy but looks can be deceiving!  I stood there looking at the box and the box looking back at me it was a stare down.  I swung my arms as though I was going to jump, but it was only pretend, ok I give I chickened out, are you happy?  Anyway I backed away then walked back up and told myself I could do it, its only a box what harm could it do.  Of course at this point I ran all the could happens through my head, I could jump over the box, I could jump and not actually make it onto the box and look like an idiot.  I told my brain to shut up and just focus and do this, the clock it ticking.  Yes this is for time and I'm arguing in my head about jumping on a damn box.

I took a deep breath and jumped.  Did I mention closing my eyes?  No, well I closed my eyes, don't ask me why.  As my feet landed on the box I was excited and opened my eyes and at that point I felt myself going backwards and all I could think of was "Oh shit this is gonna hurt" and I'm sure that "OH SHIT" came flying out of my mouth at that point.  I threw my arms out in front of me, since that's what I was taught, didn't want a broken wrist, elbow, or arm, when I felt it, yup hit the floor tailbone first.  I looked up and saw one of the trainers there and I got up and asked him if there was a trick to doing those damn things.  So he did one for me, yup still looks easy, so I walk up to it and get ready to try again.  Did I mention my ass and back hurting like hell?  Just before I try again Allana tells me to modify and just do step ups, I sooooooooo love her at this moment in time.  So step ups it is.  Well I finished the work out all 4 rounds and 18:59 and that was with a fall, being shown how to do it, and hurting like hell.  I pushed through and did it.  Yes I'm very proud of me.  At the end of the day its not a good idea to wear tennis shoes with shocks since those shocks will propel your ass right off of a box.  Yes new shoes with flat soles ordered tonight!

Have you ever had a night like this where you tried something, had a failed moment but continued on?

Taking Another Step to Being Fit

It's been a while since my last post but life has really gotten in the way.  It's still very crazy around my house but wanted to post what's been going on.  We are still eating natural organic foods and I'm still losing weight.  I feel great and have so much energy.

Two weeks ago I started Cross Fit and I absolutely love it.  After doing that boot camp I wanted to get back into doing something and after seeing how amazing my sister in law looks I figured I'd give it a shot.  So I went to the main Cross Fit website and started researching it.  Liking what I saw I searched for a gym near me...there were 5!  I checked out a few and ended up finding one in my neighborhood, Cross Fit of Aces.

My gym has joined a 9 week Paleo Challenge and I decided since Paleo wasn't such a stretch from what we are currently doing at our house I would give it a shot.  I've been eating strictly Paleo for the last week and it hasn't been so hard.  Cutting out all grains I thought would be a challenge but it really hasn't.  If I really feel the need to eat bread I can make some with almond flour  or coconut flour.  Cutting out sugar hasn't been an issue since we had already replaced sugar with honey or agave syrup.  Oh by the way, don't try to make lemonade with honey...tried it then proceeded to dump it down the drain.  Yes it was disgusting.  Cutting out the dairy has been the hardest part for me.  I WANT A SUPER DUPER LARGE GLASS OF MILK!!!!  I have tried almond milk and its really good but it isn't the same.   8 more weeks and I will be able to have that glass of milk.  

Here's what we are having for dinner:

Beef Stew Paleo Style

• 1 Tbs Coconut Oil
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1 lb grassfed beef stew meat
• 2 medium carrots. chopped
• 6 oz beef stock
• 4 cups crushed tomatoes
• 5 oz red wine
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 2 large sweet potatoes, cubed

1. Saute onions and garlic in the coconut oil until soft and translucent.
2. Add beef to brown.
   Add carrots, sweet potatoes, beef stock, tomatoes, red wine, oregano and basil.
3. Simmer on low heat for one hour.

This was really good, so good there were no left overs!  So far my husband and my children haven't complained about going Paleo in our house.

When you diet does your family share the experience and eat what you eat?

Hot, Tired, & Smells Like Onions

We are back from our vacation and I'm been trying to catch up on laundry, work, email, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, and did I mention laundry.  I think I have done more laundry since we have been back than I did last month!  We were only gone for a week what gives, did someone come into my house and wear all our clothes while we were gone?

Today after going through my fridge I decided I needed to cook up the hamburger that was in there.  I sauteed some onions and garlic in my dutch oven and crumbled up about 10 pounds of ground beef.    If you haven't tried browning ground beef in a dutch oven you should try, you can get so much more cooked up and in less time that a skillet.   I put a tiny bit of olive or coconut oil into the bottom of the pot, throw in some chopped onions, and some crushed garlic.  As they start to carmalize throw in your ground beef, add whatever seasonings you like and stir it up.  Let it cook for a bit then stir occasionally until its all browned.  Then drain and package.  I freeze it in one pound packages for later.


Once I got cooking I couldn't stop.  I had found a gluten free bread recipe at Gluten Free Cooking School.  I threw together the flour mix she suggested, luckily I had it all on hand.  I have been trying to bake with different flours, we are slowly getting to gluten free in our home.  This bread smelled amazing while baking and I'm just about to slice it.

So while the bread dough was rising I thought I'd try out my newest kitchen gadget, Wilton's mini pie press.  I made homemade ham and cheese hot pockets.  These turned out so yummy.  Hubby and both boys were my guinea pigs and they loved them.  "These are better than that frozen crap" was one of the comments I received.   They also have now decided that I need to make egg & sausage, pizza, meatball, chicken pot pie, veggie, and fruit ones.  So next weekend I am going to get the boys to help and we can make the ones they want and freeze them.  These will be great for lunches or quick snacks for the boys.

I also started a roast in the roaster with a red wine sauce.  I can smell it and its making me hungry and I just ate!  I made this same type of roast last night and it was a big hit, the flavor was amazing.  It was tender and juicy and you could cut it with a fork.

While getting the roast ready my hubby came in and had the nerve to ask "What's for dinner".  Dinner really?  I have been in the kitchen prepping and cooking and now he wants dinner.  LOL I totally forgot that I needed to feed everyone tonight!  I had no idea what I was going to feed them I have been in my own little kitchen world that I hadn't even thought about dinner.  Well precooked hamburger to the rescue...Mustgo it is!

You are probably wonder what Mustgo is, I know the first time I heard my hubby and my mother in law talking about it I did.  Well it's really a very simple dish as they put it.  My mother in law had to feed 5 kids and 2 adults and leftovers were shoved in the fridge and on Mustgo night, everything in the fridge Must Go in the pot, hence the name Mustgo.  Typically she threw ground beef, elbow macaroni and whaever veggies were in the fridge as leftovers, and tomatoe juice and brought it to a boil then served.  I do it a bit differently,



Mustgo

1 lb Ground Beef
1 can Corn
1 can Peas or Green beans (whichever I have on hand)
1 46 oz can Tomato juice
1 bag Elbow Macaroni (or whatever pasta you have on hand)
 Salt & Pepper to taste

Brown ground beef and drain.  Cook pasta and drain.  Put all ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil.  Serve.

You can modify this with whatever veggies you want and they can be fresh, frozen, or canned.

 Now that I'm done cooking for the evening the title makes much more sense don't you think?  It's the end of the day and I'm hot from being in the kitchen with the oven and several burners going, I'm tired since I've been in there all day, and yup I smell like onions!

 

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July to everyone!  I sit here watching The Patriot in my hotel room with my family and silently thank those that did fight so many years ago for our freedom.   And I thank those that continue to fight to keep our freedom.

On the Road Again

Yesterday's post had us preparing for our trip from Texas to Wisconsin. Today we are in the car on the way. The plan was to leave at 5 am but as with most family trips, 5 am became 8 am.

The boys and I were up most of the night finishing up our packing, making a trip to WalMart, and cooking up food that didn't get eaten and freezing it. We only got about and hour of sleep before the hubster got up and was ready to hit the road.

Within twenty minutes of rolling out of the driveway my son was out cold. This was the way most of the day went. When they were awake they gt along great, not at all what I expected. I guess I'm used to the constant bickering but I guess they are maturing.

We made it through 12 hours of driving and only stopped 3 times for gas, food and bio breaks. The hotel bed is calling my name and I must answer.

Vacation Time

I haven't posted in a few days because I'm trying to get my family ready to leave for a lovely road trip from Texas to Wisconsin.  Does the movie National Lampoon's Vacation come to mind?  It does mine every time we decide to take a family trip and drive.  Granted its never as bad as the scenes from the movie but pretty darn close sometimes.

When you travel with small children you think "This will be so much easier when they are older".  I am here to tell you that is not true in the least.  Mine are 22, 18, and 14 and this is been the roughest trip to get ready for!  Making sure they have taken the time off work, they have school covered, they have enough clothes packed, and that they have even packed.  When they were younger we packed for them, we kept them occupied with Disney movies and a portable DVD player.  Now they do their own packing and Disney movies are not going to cut it this time.

You would think with this trip being planned for almost a year they would be ready, not the case.  We had to keep reminding our daughter to take off of work.  No clue if she has packed yet since she no longer lives at home.  My oldest son has been in some trouble so he's had to get permission to leave, I've been telling him for months to get it done but teenage boys just don't listen.  He waited until last week to let people know.  Then there is my 14 year old, the baby of the family and our "monster child", he wouldn't stop playing video games long enough to pack.  I forced the issue last night and he finally pulled some clothes together, a few t-shirts, two pair of underwear, a sock (not a pair just one sock), a pair of shorts and two pair of jeans.  Yes all this for a week long trip!  I know all the mothers reading this with teenage boys are dying laughing because you have been there done that.  Oh and one of the shirts he has is long sleeved.

Once all my laughing stopped I asked him, why the long sleeves and why 1 sock.  He looked at me with the most serious face and let me know that it could get cold you know so he might need a long sleeved shirt.  Now I'm laughing again, this child thinks that he may need long sleeves during 4th of July week.  Really?  I'm thinking right about now I must have dropped him on his head at some point when he was a baby.  He never explained the 1 sock just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his game.

At the end of the day even thought my children have made me crazy getting ready for this trip, we are sure to have a great time.   I can't wait to share with you how this trip plays out. 

Grandma Would Be Proud

Farmer's Market haul.

If you read my last post you know I have been doing a lot of cooking from scratch using fresh ingredients.  While at the Farmer's Market I picked up some fruit and veggies.  But today I focused on the small cucumbers I got in this haul to make pickles. 

I started gathering my canning equipment and getting very excited.  Seriously to this city girl it was one of the highlights of my week.  I used to watch my grandma prep her vegetables for canning when I was little.  Unfortunately I never learned from her because we movd out of state when I was 13 so spending weekends on the farm just wasn't in the cards anymore.

Boiling pickling juice.

After gathering all my stuff I gave the cucumbers a vinegar and water bath then started to cut some of them into chips and spears.  After packing them into my ball jars I got started making the pickling juice.  My house started to smell like one big pickle and my son stopped playing XBox long enough to come into the kitchen to see what smelled so good.  There aren't too many things that can drag him away from shooting zombies, but I guess pickles will do it.  He's my pickle eater, and given the choice of a bowl of pickles or a bowl of ice cream, he's grabbing the pickles.  Now back to the pickling.

Once the pickling juice was ready, into the jars of cucumbers it went.  As I put the lids on I started to think about my grandma and wondered if she ever had the same thoughts I was having.  I've made pickles before and every time I have the same thoughts, that it would be so much easier to just go to the store and buy them.  I mean the time it takes to sterilize the lids, the jars, cut up the cucumbers make the pickling juice, the water bath, I could have been to the store and back several times.  Well more than likely she didn't have those thoughts, after all she grew up on a farm during the depression, and helped my grandpa run their farm in her adult life, so I doubt that they got pickles from the store.

Ready for the water bath.

I brush those thoughts away and continue on with my pickle making.  Into the pot go the first 7 jars for their water bath.  I was able to make 9 pint jars and 5 quart jars of pickles.  Like the title says grandma would be proud, I'm kinda sorta following in her footsteps.

At the end of the day even though the thoughts of just bypassing all this work, not that it was a whole lot of work, and just going to the store and buy pickles, I kept at it and got a great batch of pickles.  Like the title says, my grandma would be proud because I'm kinda sorta following in her footsteps.