Cauliflower Curry Mash-up

Posted by Nate on Jan 25th, 2010 | 1 comment

Sometimes it’s nice to have a starch side dish with your meat and veggies. Sweet potatoes, yams, and various squashes are good choices but tend to add a lot of carbohydrate ad may not be optimal for leaning out. A tasty substitute for for potatoes and rice is mashed or diced cauliflower. I like this recipe as a side for Indian or Caribbean main dishes.

8 cups chopped cauliflower

1 tsp sea salt

2 Tbl. coconut oil

1 tsp. curry powder

chicken broth

Boil cauliflower in largish saucepan covered for between 10-15 minutes or until soft. Drain off water and add all ingredients into saucepan. Mash. Use chicken broth as needed for wetness. Serve with delicious main dish.

Using Gymnastics Grips for CrossFit

Posted by josh on Jan 21st, 2010 | 0 comments

Most CrossFitters discover pretty early on in their initial forrays into the sport that beyond the intense soreness and cardiovascular shock of entering into a high intensity fitness program come a handful of minor annoyances, not the least of which is the almost constant hand tears. Before you develop the strong and smooth callouses that help prevent further rips, there is always a period of tearing and that intense stinging pain of performing pullups with bleeding hands.

If your experience has been anything like mine, the hand tears were as much a barrier to achieving more pullups and knees to elbows as the strength portion of the exercise. And you can’t build the strength if you can’t hang on to the bar. And you can’t build calluses if you don’t allow the hands to heal first. After experimenting with countless taping methods, and upping and lowering the amount of chalk on my hands, I finally turned to gymnastics grips. Simple, no nonsense, two holes for your fingers, a strap around your wrist, and a piece of leather that covers the areas most likely to tear.

Beyond preventing tears, which they do tremendously well, they served a second and more important purpose. As I wore them my hands slowly developed strong calluses. When you’re doing kipping pullups, the friction which causes the calluses is still present when using the grips, it’s just much less intense and much less likely to cause tearing. In any case, the calluses still build, but at a slower pace. The slower, more gradual growth of the calluses has allowed the skin on my hands to become much more resistant to tearing. I wore them for a period of about four months and have been without them for about two months and have not torn since.

In addition to grips, one of the keys to preventing rips, is proper skin maintenance. American River CrossFit had posted this on their blog some time ago, but it’s worth a repost. Hand Rips.

A Fine Hash

Posted by Nate on Jan 19th, 2010 | 1 comment

Breakfast can be one of the most difficult meals to accomplish grain-free. This is primarily due to the central grain component in most morning meals (oatmeal, toast, bagel, etc.) Everyone loves the smell of a sweet cinnamonny breakfast item, as do I. Try this one out. It reminds me of apple pie.
Chicken and Apple Hash
2 lbs. ground chicken or turkey
3-4 chopped apples
2-3 cups acorn or butternut squash cubed and par boiled
2 Tbl. cinammon
1 tsp. allspice
sea salt to taste
2 Tbl. coconut oil
1 Tbl. dried chopped onion
chicken broth
In a deep sauté pan cook chicken until no longer pink. Add chopped apple, onion, and spices. Simmer covered Add chicken broth as needed to prevent from sticking. Once apples are soft add squash and some chicken broth and simmer until all items are soft allowing fluid to cook off. You may mash ingedients or leave it chunky.Top with chopped pecans or other nuts.

Simple Green Curry

Posted by Nate on Jan 16th, 2010 | 4 comments

Coconut is a staple in any paleo diet and nothing goes better with coconut milk than curry. Here is a simple green curry that is fast and convenient.

Simply Green Curry
1 can full-fat coconut milk
5-7 chicken thighs(1 package boneless skinless)
2 zucchini sliced
3 heads baby bok choy leaves
1 small yellow onion sliced
1 tsp. green curry paste
juice of 1 lime
3 cups broccoli heads
butternut squash or sweet potato cubes par-boiled (optional)
chicken broth
Using deep sauté pan add chicken, onion, curry paste, and coconut milk. Covet and simmer until chicken is cooked and easily separated. Add chicken broth as needed to prevent from sticking. Once chicken is done add chopped veggies and lime juice. Steam veggies until broccoli is tender and bright green. You may add cooked squash or sweet potato/ yams is you want more carbs. Top with chopped cilantro.

Kale and Apple Salad

Posted by Nate on Jan 13th, 2010 | 1 comment

Seasonal local and nutritious!

Eating seasonal veggies is a paleo-diet given. Lauren and I get a weekly delivery box from Farm Fresh to You. The home  delivery is full of seasonal local organic produce. The variety that comes in the box is a nice deviation from the typical broccoli and carrot routine that you find in your grocery cart. We had dinosaur kale, leeks, and apples in the box this week. The salad followed.

Dinosaur Kale and Fuji Apple Salad served with Flank Steak in a Warm Leek and Dijon Dressing

2 heads dinosaur kale sliced into 1/2″ strips

chicken broth

Large leek or 2 small sliced into 1/4″rings and washed

1# grilled flank steak with your choice of rubs

1 Fuji apple sliced into 1″ pieces

1/3 c. olive oil

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp crushed white pepper

3 Tbl. lemon juice

1/3 C. sweet Vermouth

1 tsp. sea salt

2 Tbl. crushed pecans

Start the dressing first. In saucepan add leeks and salt to oil over medium heat. Once leeks soften mix-in mustard, pepper and lemon juice. Add Vermouth to mixture and simmer till creamy and delicious. Set aside dressing. In deepish stock pan use about 3/4c. chicken stock to lightly steam kale. Once kale has yielded a deep green hue remove from stove and rinse in colander under cold running water. Slice flank steak and mix with apples, kale, and dressing in large mixing bowl. Plate salad. Top with crushed pecan pieces. Enjoy.