Saturday, May 16, 2015

Whole30 Cabbage Rolls


Ingredients:
1 head cabbage
1 onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups grated cauliflower (cauliflower rice)
2 pounds good quality ground beef
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Oil (coconut, avocado or olive oil) to sautee cauliflower, onions, etc.

Sauce:
2 cans (14.5 oz) crushed tomato
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped fine
1/4 cup coconut milk (I use Thai Kitchen in Red/Black can)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Prep Cabbage Leaves:
Boil whole cabbage in large pot for about 10 minutes. Put lid on pot for last 5 minutes. Drain water and let cabbage sit to cool off.

Filling:
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Sautee onion and minced garlic until onion is soft and just starting to turn golden.
Add riced cauliflower and stir fry for 4-5 minutes.  Cauliflower should be soft.
Put all into a mixing bowl and allow ingredients to cool.
Brown ground beef and spices, drain fat.  Allow meat to cool while you prepare the sauce. 

Sauce:
Add more oil to skillet and add crushed tomatoes, coconut milk, salt, and pepper. Add onion/garlic mix that you prepared earlier and combine well.
Spoon a thin layer of sauce to the bottom of a large baking dish.

Assemble the Cabbage Rolls:
Carefully remove the cabbage leaves one leaf at a time. Try to be careful not to tear the leaves. You want them to be as whole as possible. Trim of any part of stem that is super thick. Pat dry any remaining moisture from leaves with a paper towel. The leaves should be able to lay open kind of like a bowl. Spoon about a quarter of a cup of filling into the leaf. Start at the bottom edge of the leaf and roll the meat up into the leaf, like a burrito/eggroll. Tuck in edges half way half-way to prevent your filling from falling out and continue rolling.
Lay each roll, seam side down, in the baking dish.
Pour remaining sauce over cabbage rolls and cook in oven for about 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Not as pretty, but this was lunch the next day. They heat up very well and can even be prepared ahead of time and frozen to heat up a quick meal on a busy evening!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

My First WOD

The very first time I did a Crossfit WOD (workout of the day) was October 24, 2014.  It was the day before my amazing cousin Erin's wedding.  She is the owner of Crossfit Center City in Philadelphia. They had a Wedding WOD.  I don't remember what I did, but I do know that it was hard and I lived. I was so very sore the next day (and the day after) and I liked it!

The awesome people and Maddox (fur person) that were there when I did my first WOD

This was the actual prescribed WOD taken from the archives of their site:

MOVEMENT PREP: Foam roll/lax ball any tight spots for 2-3 minutes, Lax ball calves 1 minute/side, 30ft Spiderman Lunge + OH Reach, 30ft over the fence/under the fence, 30ft Lateral Lunge, 30ft Crab Walk Forward
STRENGTH:
A1. Weighted Step Ups x 6-8 reps/leg (20/16″), x 3 sets, Rest 60 seconds
A2. Ring Rows x 8-10 reps @ 2111, x 3 sets, Rest 60 seconds
A3. Side Plank x 30 seconds/side, x 3 sets, Rest 60 seconds
CONDITIONING:
3 Rounds
60ft SA Front Rack DB Walking Lunges (45/20lb)
10 Alternating DB Power Snatch (45/20lb)
30 Sit Ups
Of course, I did a VERY modified version of this with mostly instruction from a great coach named Emily, but I did something!!
Since that time, I've been dying to get into a Crossfit gym.  It's taken us a while, but in addition to changing our eating habits, I knew we had to do more physically than what we were doing (hardly doing) at Planet Fitness.  I'm not knocking the place, but let's face it. Most people walk around gyms like that and have no idea what they are doing.  Seriously. Or maybe it was just me???...
Anyway, after much debate, we decided we would make some adjustments to our already over-stretched budget and make a way to go to Crossfit. 
Since then - April 27th - we've been going faithfully and I love/hate it.  I love it because I feel strong and I know that I am pushing myself.  I love that you get a sense of community there. Even though I don't know everybody there, I am starting to see the same people and meeting them. They have all been so encouraging.
A huge part of this is keeping track of your WODs and trying to improve your scores as you progress. I thought I might as well keep it all here in one spot!  So this is mostly for me - as a way to keep record of what I've done and what I want to do.