Crossfit for Beginners

So I'm desperate to get back into Crossfit.  I miss it so much.  My flatmates go every day and I'm jealous. 

I have found a place to spend my time volunteering and this gives me a chance to workout in the mornings.  WHICH IS GREAT!  Soooo- I am going to attempt to do my own sort of crossfit at Urban.  Now I just need a friend to join me.

Todays workout was as follows:

EMOM for 5 minutes:

• 4 Deadlifts (120/80kg)
• 6 Push-Ups
• AMRepsAP of Double Unders.

Rest 90 seconds, then EMOM for 5 minutes:

• 4 Burpees (trying to touch the ceiling)
• 6 Abmat Sit-Ups
• AMRepsAP of Double Unders.

Its a start, and I feel my legs today....so its a good start.

I'm one happy girl.

Try try try again....

 A friends birthday is coming up and so I thought I'd bake him some cookies.  When I told Tim about the cookies I was going to make, he wanted the ones from the hotel we stayed at in Canada.  So after a few hours on pintrest, I found recipe one.
 

First Try:

 

Copy Cat Double Tree Chocolate Chip Cookies:

 

I have no doubt this recipe is delicious; however, as a first time chocolate chip maker, this was a complete fail.  100 % fail.  They were absolutely awful and not one person in the house objected to me throwing them away.  Well, that's not true, Mat protested when he realized I threw them away, but quickly backed down when I said I wasn't offended that he shouldn't eat the cookie.

Second Try:

Double Tree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies
 

So the next day, I tried a similar recipe but first did a couple of hours of research.  Upon my web browsing, I found this website:  http://m.designmom.com/2012/10/living-well-8-secrets-to-the-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookie/.  8 Secrets to the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  A blog worth reading!  It helped me understand my mistakes and therefore learn from them.  I am happy to say that a happy house was to be had when I produced the cookies below:

 

 

BINGO!  THEY WERE PERFECT!  Now....to make it one more time for the birthday boy......

 

Ingredients

2	cups flour
½	tsp. baking soda
¼	tsp salt
1	cup oats (uncooked)
¾	cup sugar
¾	cup Dark Brown sugar
1	cup butter, softened
2	large eggs
2	tsp. vanilla
1	tsp. lemon juice
12	oz. chocolate chips
1½	cup walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets. Place the butter in a large bowl and cream lightly with an electric mixer. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and lemon juice and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, oatmeal, baking soda, and salt. Add to the creamed butter mixture and stir well to blend. Add chocolate chips and walnuts and stir to combine. Using a 1/4 cup measure or a 2−oz ice cream scoop, drop the batter on the cookie sheets, leaving 2 −3 inches between each cookie. Bake for 13 − 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the cookie sheets and cool on wire racks.

Wanted to make,.....

Tonights Dinner is:

Pinterest has so many great recipes....although I'm having difficulty with finding extremely health foods that the four of us adults can agree upon.

Tonight we shall try chicken (yes, again!) pots and veg:

Heroin Chicken

Slim Potato Casserole

SLIM POTATO CASSEROLE:

INGREDIENTS:
6 Shredded Pots
1 1/2 cups plain Greek Yogurt
1/2 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Milk (at least 2%)
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Season All Salt
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 cup Shredded Cheese (of your choice...but be sure it is NOT low-fat)
Salt and Pepper to taste


*Although this recipe is much lower in fat/calories than the traditional, it still needs some fat to make sure the ingredients bind while cooking...that is why I suggest 2% milk and regular cheese...if you use low fat everything, it will turn out watery....
DIRECTIONS:
Pre-Heat Oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl.  Grease a 9 X 13 glass or ceramic (no metal!) baking pan with cooking spray.  Pour potato mixture into baking pan and spread evenly.  Bake uncovered for 55 min.

*I have never encountered this, but if you are worried about the yogurt curdling, try mixing in 1.5 Tbs of flour to the potato mixture before pouring into the baking pan*


AND!  *Drum roll*

Dessert:

Brown Sugar Baked Peaches and Apples

Ingredients

1. Per serving:
2. 1 fresh peach and 1 Fresh apple
3. 1 tsp. unsalted butter, divided
4. 2 to 4 tsp. brown sugar, divided
5. Sprinkling of ground cinnamon, to taste

Sweet Carrots and Chicken

 

 

Honey Roasted Carrots:

    8 peeled carrots 3 tbs olive oil 1/4 cup of honey salt and pepper to taste 1.Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F 2.Place the whole carrots into a baking dish, and drizzle with olive oil. Mix until the carrots are completely covered with olive oil. Pour on the honey, then season to taste with salt and pepper; mix until evenly coated. 3.Bake in the preheated oven until just tender, or cooked to your desired degree of doneness, 40 minutes

 

 

Parmesan Baked Potato Halves:

Ingredients

• 6 small potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
• 1/4 cup butter
• grated parmesan cheese
• garlic powder
• other seasonings (to personal preference)

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter and pour into a 9x13 inch pan and spread evenly across the bottom. Generously sprinkle parmesan cheese and lightly sprinkle other seasonings all over the butter. Place potato halves face down on the butter and seasonings. Place in preheated oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Serve on a plate with a side of sour cream for dipping.

 

 

 

Chicken:

Marinade:

the best 4 ingredient chicken marinade: 1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vinegar

 

Grill appropriately

 

 

 

 

And the winner is........

Firstly,  I will start this post with a massive surprise.  Do you remember a few days ago when I posted the shortbread cookies?  If not, let me remind you by posting the link here.    I thought the cookies were awful!  So awful in fact, I left them here at the house instead of taking them to Tim's parents house, of which they were made for. 

Anyway, my housemate, Kara told me today they were the best cookies I've made to date; this includes the rocky road cookies too!   She said they were just as good as ones she's purchased from the bakery!  EEK!  haha- This thrills me!


This was a winner -Said the flat mates

And now for tonight's dinner:

Beef, Broc Salad and Fries.

The beef was made exactly as prescribed by the recipe; except!  I didn't have enough parsley, so I halved the recipe with (something else that I will add here later when I get back into the kitchen to take a look)

The broccoli salad is something I have always enjoyed as a teenager.  I worked in a restaurant and they made this all the time.  So good!  This is the second time I've made this, although, they were different from one another.  At dinner, Mat and Kara said to start that it was a good meal.  At the end, they said how great it was again.  A great mix of healthy and tasty.

The beef is a lean beef with seasonings, and no salt.  The broc salad; while not so clean, isn't so bad with the Greek yogurt replacing mayo.    Using turkey bacon makes it a bit more clean than regular bacon.  So on the health scale; its a bit closer to clean than some other ways you can make it.

With that, they added that this should be added to the weekly roster.  haha- so, with a full belly and a happy heart, I finish this last post tonight. 

Enjoy your night peeps!

Ooey Gooey Rocky Road Cookies

 
 This is THE cookie I've been trying to make for so long...... It's taken me forever to get all the ingredients in the house at the same time.  BUT here they are.....

Ingredients:

• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 extra large egg whites
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2.5 oz sliced almonds, toasted
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

Directions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

2.   In a large bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Whisk in the salt. Add the egg whites and vanilla and whisk until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds.



To compare the stack to Tim's head....

3.   Use a disher to portion out small mounds on to the parchment paper, then top each cookie with 4-5 marshmallows. Pop into the freezer for 5 minutes to chill slightly (this prevents them from spreading too much in the oven).

4.   Bake for 12-13 minutes until the marshmallows are golden brown. Let the cookies sit on the paper for a few minutes to set, before moving them to a wire rack to cool. Are these ooey gooey or what? Enjoy!!!

I decided that I didn't want these cookies to be around the house long.  Therefore, I made them a bit bigger with the total lapse in logical judgment as to how big they would grow.  I had NO idea they would expand to the size they did!!    When I pulled them out of the oven, I laid an Australian 10 cent piece beside it to give you some kind of idea how big these cookies are!  haha- You don't want to be eating an entire one in one sitting. 

 

But I must say: THESE ARE AMAZING!!   A bit too chocolaty for me, but for those of you who love sweets and chocolate: this is the cookie for you. 

 

The woman who posted these on her site should get a massive thank you, as these were just simply divine!   NOT healthy in anyway shape or form and I'm so sorry Kara for messing with those abs you're working for!! 

 

 

 

Next baked good will be a crack at homemade Samoan Girl Scout Cookies.... Can't wait!!