WellnessFX

Good news!!! We have formed a relationship with WellnessFX, who is recognized as the premier consumer diagnostics and nutrition coaching platform in the US. We like them because they make it really easy to measure our health on a consistent basis with fast, cheap, and convenient blood tests.

We can get the ball rolling with your first WellnessFX test in the next couple of weeks. As a CrossFit athlete your first test is FREE so when I ask how it went, no excuses! 

Get started here: http://get.wellnessfx.com/cSBC

They have various products available, however my recommendation is to started with the free checkup product and we can talk about getting you a more advanced blood tests if it makes sense at a later date. 

If you have any questions shoot me an email at dana@norcalcrossfit.com.  Enjoy! 

Vegetables?

How many vegetables did you eat yesterday? How about this morning? Sometimes we can get too wrapped up in our protein (meat!) and forget about vegetables in all their nutrient dense glory.  This doesn't mean you need to be gnawing on carrot sticks all day, but you should be getting AT LEAST one serving of a nutrient dense vegetable(s) with each meal.  Check out the recipe below for an interesting way to prepare yellow squash.  Enjoy! 

Yellow Squash Latkes 

Courtesy of The Primal Palate.  

Ingredients

• 3 Eggs, Pastured
• 1 Tbsp Coconut Oil, Organic
• 1 tsp Salt and Pepper
• 4 Yellow Squash

Process

1. Grate yellow squash using a food processor or grater.
2. Place grated squash in a dish towel and squeeze as much excess liquid from the squash as possible.
3. Beat 3 eggs, and mix into squash.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Heat 1/2 cup coconut oil in a frying pan.
6. Form squash into small cakes, about the size of the palm of your hand, and carefully place in hot oil.
7. Fry until crispy, allow to cool slightly, and serve.

Stuffed Bell Peppers, Crockpot style

We are always on the look out for ways to make life both healthier and easier.  Here is a great post from  Mark's Daily Apple.  Enjoy! 

After a busy day, opening your front door and inhaling the savory, warm aroma of dinner cooking is a great feeling. Especially if you can take credit for it, even if you’ve been at work all day. The Crock Pot (which is actually a brand name of what is generically called a slow cooker) is a humble but ingenious kitchen appliance. If you can find the time to fill it with some assortment of meat and vegetables and a little broth or water, the Crock Pot will take it from there. While you head off to work or pull weeds in the yard or just lie on the couch and relax, the Crock Pot slowly works its magic.

Crock Pot recipes shouldn’t be too complicated or they defeat the whole purpose of using a Crock Pot. They should, however, contain a variety of ingredients so you can get all the flavor and nutrients you need out of a one-pot meal. The recipe for Crock Pot Pork-Stuffed Peppers that Katerina Shchyelkunova submitted to the Primal Blueprint Cookbook Challenge easily meets this unofficial Crock Pot criteria. Most importantly, her recipe satisfies a craving for unfussy but extremely satisfying comfort food.

The green peppers will hold their shape while cooking and become individual little serving dishes filled with a mild but flavorful blend of ground pork and vegetables. Grated cauliflower seamlessly blends in and the carrots add a burst of color and a little bit of sweetness. Katerina uses dried tarragon in her recipe, but we tried fresh and loved the subtle anise flavor it added.

If you don’t have these exact ingredients in your kitchen, don’t sweat it. The Crock Pot is very forgiving – yet another one of its attributes that we love. Katerina sometimes uses ground beef or a combination of different ground meats. We can also imagine using diced tomatoes instead of paste and a bold combination of spices for those with a more adventurous palate. Left as is, however, this recipe will greet you at the end of the day with its comforting aroma, and a provide a meal that the whole family will love.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/crock-pot-pork-stuffed-peppers/#ixzz2SX9iObbh

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground pork (or a combination of pork and beef)
• 4 large green peppers
• 1 large onion
• 2 carrots
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 head of cauliflower
• 6 ounce can of tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon dry oregano
• 1 tablespoon dry or fresh tarragon
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Cut the tops of the peppers and clean the seeds out.

Arrange peppers in the Crock-Pot standing up and make sure they fit securely.

Grate onion, carrots, garlic and cauliflower in the food processor. You can also just chop them into small pieces with a knife if you don’t have a food processor.

In a big bowl, combine ground pork, shredded vegetables, seasonings and tomato paste.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the peppers with the mixture and arrange leftover meat between the peppers. Add half a cup of water, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

If you don’t have a slow-cooker, the dish can be cooked in the oven, covered, for 1-2 hours.

Read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/crock-pot-pork-stuffed-peppers/#ixzz2SX9H3R1D

Variety is the Spice of Life

Now that you are eating clean you may have noticed that many sauces or spice blends at the store have things added that you would rather not put in your body.  Don't worry you are not destined to eat plain chicken for the rest of your life, there are many spices that you can use to liven things up.  Paleo Blocks  has an awesome spice chart that lists many spices I have never even tried before (ignore the fact that the chart includes bread, not sure what that is about).  Let's get creative and see what new spices we can use this week.  Find something that tastes awesome, post it to the blog comments.  What if it tastes awful? Post that here too! Enjoy!

Breakfast: Fuel for the Day

Good morning! What a beautiful weekend! Hope you all had an opportunity to get outside and play.  Can you do us a favor and stop what you are doing and answer this simple question: did you have an awesome breakfast this morning?  Let even take a step back and make it more simple: did you have breakfast at all?

We really hope the answer to both questions was a resounding YES! It is important to start your day off  right by giving your body the fuel it needs.  That's like trying to drive your car around on empty and hoping you don't get stuck on the side of the road somewhere.  

Many times people complain that they just don't have time in the morning or they are tired of the same old eggs.  The following recipe courtesy of PaleOMG still includes eggs but provides a new slant on a normally grain filled quiche.  Enjoy!

Meat Crust Quiche

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  30 mins

Total time:  50 mins

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 1 pound breakfast pork sausage (or italian sausage)
• 1 small sweet potato, diced
• ½ yellow onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 4 eggs, whisked
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ⅛ teaspoon ground paprika
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons bacon fat (or other kind of fat)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Now you gotta make your meat into a crust. So pull out a pie plate and begin to press your meat into the pan until it is even all around and pressed up to the rim of the plate.
3. Place the pan on a baking sheet (in case of any spills) and in the oven, and bake for 18-20 minutes until meat presses back when you poke it. It doesn’t need to be completely cooked through, but pretty close.
4. While your crust is baking, place 2 tablespoons of fat into a saucepan over medium heat. Then add the minced garlic.
5. Add in the chopped onions and sweet potatoes to the pan and mix to cover with garlic. Once the onions begin to become translucent, sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top and cover to help steam the potatoes and cook quicker.
6. Once potatoes are tender after about 4-5 minutes, toss in the spinach and cover once more to help the spinach wilt.
7. After a minute or two, once the spinach is wilted, remove your mixture from the pan and place in a bowl to let cool.
8. When mixtures is cooled, add in the eggs, garlic powder, ground paprika and a bit more salt. Mix well.
9. After the crust is done baking, remove the excess oil that may be left behind, then pour your egg mixture on top of the meat crust. It’s just fine if some leaks over into the pan because the meat will shrink just a bit.
10. Place the pan back into the oven and bake for 23-25 minutes. My quiche took quite some time to completely cook through because the pan wasn’t very deep, so be sure to just poke at the middle. Once the middle pushes back when you poke it, it’s all good to go.
11. Let cool, cut and serve. Avocado on top was perfect.

Spring time goodies!

As the weather heats up, a cool treat can hit the spot.  Balanced bites sent out this simple recipe this morning that seems to fit that bill perfectly.  Try it out and let us know what you think.  Enjoy! 

Vanilla Bean Coconut Pops 
courtesy of Balanced Bites

Ingredients:

• 1, 15oz can of full fat coconut milk + water to fill pop molds

• 1 vanilla bean pod

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preparation:

• Pour the coconut milk into a mixing bowl (preferably one with an easy-pour spout) or into your blender.

• To calculate how much water you’ll need to add:  
Test how much liquid your ice pop molds will hold by filling one to capacity, then measuring the liquid in a measuring cup. Multiply that amount by the number of pops you have, then add water to your coconut milk to add up to the total number of ounces you’ll need to make your pops. For example, if you have 6 pop holders and each one hold 3oz of liquid, you will need to have 18 total ounces of liquid. In this case, you will want to add 3oz of water to the 15oz of coconut milk you have to add up to the total of 18oz.

• Slice the vanilla bean pod in half lengthwise, then scrape the back of your knife down the inside of the pod to remove the seeds.

• Place the vanilla bean seeds into the coconut milk, then add the vanilla extract and either whisk together or blend.

• Pour evenly into your molds and freeze overnight. To remove the pops, run the containers under warm water until the sides release.

SPECIAL EQUIPEMENT/TOOLS:

Ice pop molds are pretty easy to find in any home store and are also available online at shops like Amazon or Target.com.

CHANGE IT UP:

If you would like sweeten it up a bit, add 2 tablespoons of maple syrup to the mixture to sweeten it just a touch – or add 1/4 cup of your favorite fruit to the blender – try pineapple, cherries, peaches, mango, strawberries, or blueberries.

Recipe Time!

Ready Made Dinner 

I don't know about you, but when I get home the last thing I want to do is cook.  That is where the crockpot comes into play.  Many of you heard me touting the benefits of the crockpot at the Fuel Challenge but I cannot emphasize how awesome it is to walk into a house with dinner already prepared (and the house smells awesome!).  PaleoOMG posted this meat sauce that would work perfect in the crock pot.  Check it out! 

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 pound bulk pork mild italian sausage
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 (14 ounce ) cans of tomato sauce
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon dried parsley
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ½ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons fat of choice (I used bacon fat)

Instructions

1. Heat up a large saucepan over medium heat, add a couple tablespoons of fat of choice then add minced garlic cloves, the bell peppers and onion along with a little salt and pepper to the pan.
2. Move vegetables around until onions become translucent.
3. Add ground chicken and bulk italian sausage to the saucepan and break up the meat.
4. When meat has begun to cook through, add the spices.
5. When meat is almost done cooking, pour in the two cans of tomato sauce.
6. Salt and pepper once more, then reduce heat and let simmer for 5-7 minutes.
7. When all the flavors are well mixed, add the chopped fresh basil, mix well, and serve!
8. Easy peasy! Put on mushrooms, brussel sprouts, spaghetti squash, eggs, acorn squash, really anything you want. Or eat it cold. It’s pretty damn good cold.

Enjoy!!!