Keylime Pie and Jesus

It's not very often that I come up with my own concoctions in the kitchen; I would like to think I am a creative person but really, I am no recipe maker; I'm a total recipe follower. Steph introduced me to coconut milk whipped cream, which by basic nature is not very sweet on it's own. It is, however, very much like whipped cream, which I use to love, pre-Whole30. So as I'm licking the spoon, I think to myself....how can I give this already awesome treat some zing with what I already have in my fridge?

Enter lime juice and crushed almonds. Just mix together with a spoon and viola! "Keylime pie pudding". Man, I'm genius. Just go very easy on the lime juice; you don't need much. Yum!




Although I am not a very religious person, I saw a quote today from Jesus while doing some reading for my religions college class that I thought even the most God hating atheist could relate to some point in life.....

"Do not be unbelieving, but believing" - Jesus to Thomas (John 20:27)

Of course, there was more to this quote but I removed all of the religious stuff so that it is relatable to everyone. And of course, I don't need to explain how this quote can be motivational and I know every one is triggered different by motivational quotes; this one speaks volumes to me in all facets of life. I hope it means something to you to.

BELIEVE! :) <3

Meatloaf Cupcakes w/ Sweet Potato Frosting

As I start a new round of Whole30 this week, I decided to explore some new recipes. You know, just to shake things up. A few weeks back, my P.I.C (partner in crime) Steph sent me the link to this potentially amazing recipe for "Meatloaf Cupcakes with Sweet Potato Frosting".

I made these last night. Amazing doesn't even cut it. They were AH-MAZING.

Here is the link to the original recipe and below are my modifications:

http://www.janssushibar.com/?p=12965

- Since it's just me, I used only 1 pound of ground beef, mixed with red onion and bell peppers and 1 egg. I didn't have any steak seasoning but I did have some "Mesquito" seasoning, so I threw that in. I used a regular cupcake tin, and this made roughly 8.

- Instead of topping with chili sauce or ketchup, I topped it with homemade paleo approved "pizza sauce" that I made on Saturday....recipe can be found here:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/homemade-tomato-sauce-i/



- For the Sweet Potato frosting, I cut up 1 small sweet potato, 1 small yam, cooked per instructions, then mixed with a splash of almond milk and clarified butter.

Pretty easy and inexpensive recipe for such an amazing dish!

Grapevine Crossfit

As many of you know, if you follow my (infrequently updated) blog, I spent basically the whole month of January in Dallas for a work project. Granted, there are worst places in this country to be stuck in for a month, but as someone who is as dedicated to fitness and health as I am, it can be very hard to stay on track with such a dynamic schedule.

Thankfully for me, I was super lucky to discover Grapevine Crossfit. Grapevine is located just west of the Dallas Fort Worth Airport/Northwest Dallas, which was the area I was working in for the month. Before dropping into GVCF, I emailed the owners (Bevin and Brandon Head) and we had a chat about my situation. They were extremely welcoming and we were able to work out a very reasonable drop in fee schedule for whenever I was able to make it to class.

Another super cool thing that worked out great for me was the fact that they had a dedicated OLY class, which I also have at home at Invictus, so I wasn't missing out! Between 6am Group and 630pm OLY, I was able to hit not one but two big PRs while at GVCF; a 280# 1RM Deadlift and a 50kg Snatch.

Alas, as happens, the project is now over. I'm very happy to be back home but I do miss the GVCF crew and I hope to have another project in that area sometime this year so I can drop in again. Here's some pictures I took my last week there.

Me and my OLY girls:



Me and Coach/Owner Brandon:



Me and Travis, co-founder of the awesome Skilled Athlete software utilized at Invictus (small world!!):



Me and my 6am homie, Beth:




My 280# Deadlift: