Pumpkin Muffins

I love fall and I love pumpkin. And I love these muffins. I originally got the recipe from a friend of mine at the Primal Kitchen, but after I moved, I lost my copy of the recipe, so I had to improvise. Here's what I did, and they came out delicious. Mmmm. Seriously, they are so yummy. I could eat these muffins every day.

Measure and mix the dry ingredients:

• 300g almond flour (2.5 cups)
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2t baking powder
• 1t cinnamon
• 1/2t nutmeg
• 1/2t cloves
• 1/2t ginger

Add the wet ingredients and mix until everying is combined:

• 3 eggs
• 84g honey (1/4c)
• 200g pumpkin puree (about half a can of the smaller can size, 1 3/4 c)

Pour batter into greased muffin tins. I don't use paper liners because they tend to stick to the muffin too much and then I lose half of the delicious tastiness... or I look like fool scraping the muffin bits off of the paper with my teeth...). Bake the muffins at 325F for 23-25minutes.

Food 4/5/11

Whole milk latte (x2)

Leftover asian-style braised chicken thigh with mushrooms and napa cabbage.

Fajita-style steak with cauliflower rice, salsa, and Greek yogurt.

Dried cranberries, nuts, and beef jerky

Sesame honey almonds.

Food Journal in Pictures

It's been such a long time since I've blogged! So many thing have changed, but the good stuff is that I have been doing Crossfit for about 6 months as my only form of exercise and I've been eating a paleo/primal-ish diet as well. I still eat dairy products like whole milk in my coffee and cheese, but I haven't had much yogurt lately.
My husband and I also read The 4 Hour Body, by Tim Feriss, recently. That man is crazed! If you think you are obsessed with working out, nutrition, and body composition, you should definitely read his book. It will either make you seem sane by comparison or give you some new ideas to try!
One of the things Feriss recommends is photo-logging your foods. I thought it sounded fun, so I'm going to give it a shot, at least for a bit. So, without further ado, here is my breakfast this morning: 2 omega-3 eggs baked with broccoli and a side of pastured pork bacon. Mmm.

A deck of cards kicked my booty!

I've been meaning to try doing a workout using a full deck of cards for a while and today was the lucky day! I used a pull up bar, a 12kg kettlebell, a deck of cards, and a stopwatch. It was simple to follow but really difficult to do. This was the hardest workout I've done in a long time, and I'm just proud of myself for finishing the whole thing! For the chin ups, I'm not going to lie: I jumped most of them. My excuse is that I'm a girl! But if you're a guy, you better not be jumping or kipping them! I timed this and came in at 32:48. If you try it, let me know your time!

Freaking Hard Deck Workout
Shuffle your deck of cards and turn them face down near your workout space. Draw a card and do what it tells you, according to the following rules:

• Numbered cards: perform the number of reps equal to the face value of the card, except for chin ups, never do more than 5 reps (so if you pull a 9 of clubs, only do 5 chin ups....unless you're insane!)
• Face Cards: perform 10 reps, or 5 reps for chin ups
• Aces: perform 15 reps, or 5 reps for chin ups

• Hearts: Kettlebell swings
• Diamonds: Burpee snatches (do a burpee, but instead of the jump as you stand up, do a kettlebell snatch. Alternate sides for the snatch each rep.)
• Clubs: Chin ups
• Spades: Alternating one-legged floor taps (stand on one leg and bend down to touch the floor, then jump up and land on the other leg. Repeat.)

Providence-lite Kettlebell Circuit

I have tons of great workout DVDs, but for some reason, recently I just can't be bothered to pop them in the DVD player and follow along with them. I want to do my own thing! I love Art of Strength workouts and haven't done Providence in a while, but I couldn't force myself do an hour in front of the TV, so I made my own mini circuit that is Providence-inspired. I did 12 rounds of 70 seconds work and 20 seconds rest (so that it would come out to an even minute and a half per round!). I chose some of the exercises from Providence, and made up some of my own. Definitely fun, and I can do it anywhere. I do recommend the real workout, though. It's waaaay harder and the music is awesome. The number of reps below for each side were what I did this time, obviously different people might squeeze in different numbers during the 70 seconds.

Round 1: Two handed swings x 25, one handed swing x 10 each side

Round 2: cleans x 5 each side (keep alternating sides until time is up)

Round 3: one handed chest press x 5 each side (keep alternating sides until time is up)

Round 4: front squats x 15, sumo squats x 15

Round 5: One-legged deadlift x15 each side

Round 6: windmill + overhead squat x5 each side (these are so freakin' hard!)

Round 7: clean and press x5 each side (keep alternating sides until time is up)

Round 8: swing/catch/squat

Round 9: alternating front lunges

Round 10: two-handed bicep curl/press/military press

Round 11: One arm row x 15 each side

Round 12: Russian twists x 30 sec, then switch to plank for remaining time

All Bodyweight Circuit

This workout uses only a pull up bar and an interval timer. It is 6 rounds of 4 exercises: one lower body, one upper body, one core, and one cardio. Do each exercise for one minute and do all 4 in the round without rest. Take a 30 second break between rounds. 27 minutes total, or just over 30 with a warm up.

Round 1
hamstring kickbacks (starting on all fours)
tripod plank
reverse crunches
high knee taps

Round 2
alternating lunges
narrow push ups
flutter kicks
half jumping jacks

Round 3
stationary lunges (30 sec on each leg)
diamond push ups
toe reach crunches
mountain climbers

Round 4
squats
negative push ups (count to 5 slowly as you lower down)
side planks (30 sec each side)
squat jumps (touch the floor when you go down into the squat)

Round 5
walking lunges
wide push ups
plank
burpees

Round 6
sumo squats
pull ups
bicycle crunches
jumping jacks

Red Velvet Pancakes

Even though I think red velvet is just the most recent food trend and I'm sure that in a decade everyone will make fun of it like they do about fondue (which I also love!!!), I still really love the craze. I tried red velvet pancakes for the first time at a local restaurant and immediately became obsessed. However, $15 for a stack of brightly dyed pancakes just seems wrong, especially when yummy pancakes are so easy to make at home. So, here's my version: not healthy at all, but requested multiple times by the pancake-hating hubby, so they must be good :)

Red Velvet Pancakes

1 c flour

1/3 c sugar

1/8 t salt

1 t baking soda

2 T cocoa

1 c buttermilk

2 T melted butter

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 T red food coloring

For Frosting

4oz cream cheese

1/4c powdered sugar

Mix dry ingredients together. Mix wet ingredients together in a searate bowl. Slowly add the wet into the dry, mixing until just incorporated.

Cook like standard pancakes, but at a lower temperature so the sugar doesn't burn. I cooked mine over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, beat the frosting ingredients together until smooth. To serve, spread a thin layer of frosting between three pancakes, cut the sandwich in half, and add a dollop of frosting and some toasted pecans on top to garnish.