So I think Summer is OFFICIALLY here!  I have not been to the beach yet, but I've spent some time outside. Our team competed in the Crossfit Regionals a few weeks ago and we had GORGEOUS weather.  It was really fun, our team did GREAT.  Crossfit Centermass came in 16th our of the 30 teams that made it.  Next year, I want to be on the team……  DO WORK!

I planted my vegetable garden for the 2nd year and a row – FINGERS CROSSED!  Last year, it just wasn't a good experience.  We think it was due to the lack of sun because of so many trees in our back yard.  This year its in a NEW and IMPROVED location. Growing up, my mom planted a HUGE garden every year, so I can't imagine not carrying on that tradition.  Just because I love veggies now, doesn't mean I always have – but I do remember them tasting "better" when I was picking them out of my moms garden (I do believe this is where my love for tomatoes started).  We would go in the backyard, salt shaker in hand, and eat tomatoes!  A few years in a row, my mom also jarred tomatoes.  These made the BEST sauces and snacks.  I don't think I have quite that many plants, but hey – maybe they will be very fruitful. Ive been trying to talk to it and coax it into growing lots of veggie goodness.  (Im not crazy – there has been studies showing that if you talk to your plants they grow faster. !)

For the recipe today, I decided to come at you with a little snack – Chocolate covered bananas!  These are something that you can bring to a BBQ, or just keep in your fridge when your having a chocolate moment. This recipe was derived from a almond butter cup recipe and can easily be adapted back!

Here are a few pictures from the Crossfit Northeast Regionals!

This weekend is Memorial Day.  A day of BBQs, fun, family and friends, and remembering those who serve our country.  But there are others who have a different agenda, and unwanted agenda this weekend.  I would like to take a minute and send my thoughts and prayers out to all those affected by the devastating tornados in Oklahoma.
Its been a whirlwind of awful events in the last month.  We have coined phrases "Boston Strong", "Texas Strong", and now "Oklahoma Strong".  Although our communities, cities and towns are resilient, it sucks to prove that this way!  The clean up and disaster relief is going to be months and years.  Although no amount of money can repay the families of these devastating events of what they truly lost, there are relief funds that are set up to try and help with clean up, rebuilding and to get people back on their feet.  Sadly, there has been rumors of "fake" funds out there.  I seriously cannot believe someone could have the audacity to do such a thing. So if you do donate (or buy a product that supports a fund) be sure you know where the money is going and how much.  The 3 main funds for the current events are Boston: The One Fund,  West Texas: The West, Texas Disaster Relief Efforts Fund, and Oklahoma: OKStrong. And of course donating blood to the Red Cross helps everywhere!  

Phew, now on with a post and OF COURSE a recipe!!!!  Memorial Day weekend, the kick off to Summer BBQs!  At least your guaranteed protein!  But sometimes its difficult to stay on track.  So be strong, make good choices (celebrate being able to make a choice!)  That takes me to the recipe.  The Naked Burger.  Basically, a burger with the fix-ins', sans bun.  Yummy.

Im coming at you with 3 recipes today!  Well…. They all go hand in hand, so I couldn't with hold any from you!  Joe and I LOVE seafood.  But lets face it, its not the cheapest food out there.  We like to buy the bags of the un-cooked frozen shrimp when they are buy 1 get 2 free,  that’s a good deal! We will typically get the salmon when its on sale.  We did have trout a few weeks ago, bummer I didn't get a picture of it because it was DEELish!  I see that being a recipe in the future.

So what else is new around here.  We adopted a new kitty!  Full grown kitty… his name is Milo.  We thought Bynx needed a friend, and friends of mine couldn't keep Milo anymore = Match made in heaven?  However, the introduction has been a bit rough.  Milo REALLY wants to be friends and wants to do everything and be EVERYWHERE Bynx is.  Bynx is just not sure how he feels about it.  Bynx is an old man, and may be a bit set in his ways.  Sometimes Im not sure if Milo is playing or if he's getting jealous.  He flips a switch like no other!  We are working on it, time will tell.  But we are hoping Bynx allows us to keep Milo!  I like to sing "We are Siamese if you Pleeeaasseee" to them.  Its fun.

Bruins are moving to the next round!  After 7 games, with the last being the most intense hockey game ever, we are still in it.  Now if the Red Sox could get their groove back……  

Alright, enough babble.  Now for the Recipes!

Stay away from those deadly packets!!  This is super easy to make and taste exactly the same (if not better!) without all the junk!

• 2  Tablespoons chili powder
  
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons cumin
  
• 1-1/2 Tablespoons paprika
  
• 1 Tablespoons onion powder
  
• 1 Tablespoons garlic powder
  
• 2 teaspoon oregano
  
• 1/2 teaspoon  red pepper flakes (I may have upped this a bit for more spiciness!!)
  

1. Just put everything in a container and shake to combine! To make taco meat, mix 3 T of the mixture with 1 lb of ground meat and salt to taste. Just brown the meat, add the seasonings and 1/4 cup of water, and simmer for 5 minutes.
   

Happy May!  So I haven't written a blog post in a while, its been a bit busy around here.  Well, I guess you can say I have been consumed by current events.  Everyone by now knows about the bombings at the Boston Marathon.  What a very sad and tragic event that is very close to my heart.  I am a runner and not only have I run the Boston Marathon before, but I know what its like to be down there - an atmosphere like no other. Amazing energy, inspiration and just love from the city.  It was one of the first years I haven't been down there in many, typically I would be standing in front of Marathon Sports.  Luckily, I wasn't down there this year and my friends whom I normally go with were safe.  I am a member of a running club - The Shamrock Running Club, based out of Woburn, MA. Every year, we rent a bus to bring all of the marathon runners into Hopkinton.  So my morning started off immediately logging onto the marathon site and setting up my "tracking" for all my friends.  I listened and kept glancing at the elite runners on the streaming video on the site.  What a beautiful morning it was.  Perfect weather, perfect conditions.  Trading texts with a friend down there at the marathon, giving some updates on who they have seen ect.  Now, leaving mile 17 - they head towards the finish line.  In a matter of about 20 min, I learned that tragedy struck at the finish line.  Not knowing where my friends were, everyone I was tracking came to a halt, and more then half of them were past the 40K check point (which is almost to the 25 mile mark).  My heart is in my throat and I am panicking.  Watching streaming video (which was very gruesome and heart wrenching before they went off air due to the graphic nature)  Trying to process what was going on, all I could do was text.  and wait.  Thankfully, my spectator friends were still on the T when the bombs went off.  We had runners who has just crossed the finish line, and runners who were VERY close and were stopped.  No one really knew what was happening, my friends were getting off the T with lots going on and a few frantic texts from me.  Luckily the texts went through so they knew a tid bit on what was happening.   This is a day I or anyone close to the situation will ever forget.  I am so thankful that my friends hadn't made it to the finish line.   The marathon will never be the same. Question is, will this make it a better and even stronger race?  Each year Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, Sean Collier and the 280+ people who's lives are forever changed will be remembered. BOSTON STRONG.

Sorry for the sad post, but here is a yummy breakfast that will make your day happier!   I realize my last few posts were breakfast - so I will work on some lunch/dinner ideas next!

So its been a little while since I have posted!  The open is over and our Crossfit Centermass team has officially qualified for regionals!  We were 22nd out of 256 teams in the Northeast Region.  Although, I am not one of the 4 woman on the team, I cannot express how excited and proud I am of our team.  We have come a long way, and worked really hard to get there.  I am proud to workout alongside with these men and women and will strive to be on the team next year!  I learned a lot this open, and learned a lot about what I need to do to become a better athlete.  May 17th – 19th I look forward to cheering on my teammates as well as the rest of the individuals and teams who qualified for regionals.   
Part of being a great athlete is of course nutrition.  I am still struggling with breakfast, my love/hate relationship with eggs is still there.  I have been trying to find some recipes to try that are almost as simple as hard boiled eggs!  Last night Joe and I had our Paleo Pulled Pork in the crock pot.  I found a recipe from one of my favorite sites, PaleOMG,  for paleo tortilla shells.  They are actually more like crepes, they have eggs in them, but taste delicious!  And they actually held together with my pork!  I have been looking for a recipe that I can use to substitute something like a tortilla, this is definitely it!  Excited to see what else I could do with these as well...I think they will also work well with a fruit f

Happy Spring everyone!  With all this snow on the ground, I guess we can say that spring fever hasn't quite kicked in yet.  Every time I walk by the door to our deck, I glance outside at our grill (that we have uncovered and used quite a few times this winter!) and can't wait to BBQ, sit on the deck and enjoy the sun and outdoors.  Its been a rough winter, I am ready for some sunshine!  

In the Crossfit world, we are in week 3 of the Open workouts.  Last week was a very interesting. This workout took an approach on using lot of strategy and thinking out side the box. The workout was a 10 Min AMRAP (as many reps as possible) on 5 Shoulder to Overhead (75/115), 10 Deadlifts (75/115) and 15 Box Jumps.  The big question/strategy here was do you jump on the box, or step up onto the box? (which typically isn't something that is allowed in a non-scaled competition).  Competitors around the world took this on and posted some amazing scores.  But of course with greatness, comes the doubt and disbelief. This brought the worst out in some crossfitters. These 3 movement apparently could be cheated relatively easily, or people just plain didn't understand the standards.   I was appalled and saddened by some of the things that were being written on message boards to fellow athletes.  The open certainly is about competition, but it is also about integrity and the unity of the crossfit community.  Unfortunately, there are people out there who lack these ethics.  They post scores that are not true to move them up the leader board, videos are discovered and they are clearly not following standards.  The most unfortunate part, is these people will get to go to regionals over other who worked their tails off and entered their scores with truth and honesty.  Once they get to regionals, their weakness with be revealed.  But for the athlete who was in 49th place, when they only take the top 48, suffers.  Its hard for logic to prevail over emotion when these things happen, but the past has past.  We can't control it.  Theres a new workout this week, and there will be 2 more after this.  We are going to see more technical movements, (hopefully) some new workouts.  So keep trying, stay focused, and dominate. 

"There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul" – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

So now after those deep thoughts, lets move on to the recipe!  This is a great crockpot recipe.  Relatively easy, and very flexible - Paleo Beef stew

Day light savings week.  I have definitely been dragging ass.  Its only an hour, but man!  It is exciting to drive home in the daylight and if our workout involves running, to run in the light!  So... The CrossFit open is here!  Last week, the first workout was announced.  It was a 17 min workout that involved some burpees and a snatch ladder.  I will say, I was extremly happy with my performance. I wasn't able to contribute to our team score, but for myself it was a huge improvement from last year.   Overall, our comp team did really well!  Currently, we are 25th in the region!  We need to stay in the top 30 to go to regionals. Tonight week 2 gets announced.  Wonder what it will have in store!

With that being said, when working out this hard you need to fuel your body properly.  Lately, I feel I have been lacking energy, so I decided to up my carb intake.  Eating paleo - sometimes we don't get enough carbs, and as an athlete, we need them.  So I added some quinoa into my diet. This is a controversial food that could go either way.  My advice is that is your working out hard, it's a good addition however is you main goal is weight loss then I would eat this in moderation, if at all.  It is gluten free and it's considered a seed but there are some articles that say it isn't paleo due to the fact that it could contains anti nutrients that if consumed in high amounts regularly could link to a "leaky" gut and cause slight inflammation. So use your judgement!

So its been too long since my last post!  It's Friday, the sun is shining, we are praying for NO snow this weekend!  It has snowed for the last 4 weeks in a row!  Last weekend, we did get to enjoy it by going to Mount Wachusett. (Yes, we took our picture on the big ski chair, haha!)  It was a lot of fun, the conditions were awesome! I have only been snowboarding for about 3 years, but last year I was only able to go twice because we didn't get much snow. (I wasn't totally complaining!)  New England conditions are not exactly beginner friendly, lots of ice!  I've been fortunate to be able to go when there is fresh snow. 
So next week is a HUGE week in Crossfit.  Its the start of the Crossfit Open.  Those of you not familiar, the Open is a world wide event that any athlete can sign up for.  Each week (on Wednesdays) a workout is released that you have to complete at a participating CrossFit affiliate, or submit a videotape of their performance to the Games website. In five weeks there are 5 workouts.  All of them are intended to be attainable, but yet still have a way of pushing you out of your comfort zone. Then, from these scores, the top athletes and teams from each region (there are 17 regions, we are in the Northeast Region).  We have been training to make it as a team, hopefully some of our athletes will make it as individuals too!  So I am excited, nervous – but ready as I am going to be!  If you want to check out the site its: http://games.crossfit.com/
So now onto the recipe!  This is for a paleo alfredo sauce that will knock your boots off!  I will admit, there are a few things I miss from non-paleo food and one is alfredo sauce.  I paired this with some Quinioa, Shrimp and chicken, but would go well over some spaghetti squash with chicken and broccoli!

Happy Valentines day! After our big storm, we are melting down.  Mother nature dropped a little over 2 feet on us.  On the south shore in Boston, some people are just getting power back!  We were lucky to not have lost power at all. Thats one of the scariest things.  A few years ago, we had a massive storm in October that dropped very heavy snow and ice and many people, including my family, lost power for about 8 days. Thankfully, that did not happen again.  We do have more snow headed our way, but its not as much as last weekend.  Even though we had all that snow a week ago, it has been very mild - spring like conditions. I can't wait for spring! One thing I am looking forward to this spring/summer, is planting my garden this year.  Last year, it was our first garden!  It didn't do to well, but I think it was because we have lots of tress round so the sun wasn't beating on it.  I have a new idea for a location, so I am hoping for better luck!  
So on to the recipe!  This is a great dish to make for your special someone, or treat your self to a special meal.  It's pretty fancy looking, but is surprisingly easy to make. Depending on time, you could leave off the almonds - but I think it gives it a great flavor boost!