Chili for when it's Chilly!

In the spirit of yet another round of snow hitting the Chicago area tonight, I decided to give this paleo chili recipe a try. I definitely give it 5 out of 5; it was definitely yummy!

Paleo Chili

Serves 4

1 pound ground meat; bison, turkey, grassfed beef, your choice
1 medium onion, chopped
1 celery heart, chopped
3 medium carrot, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons ground chipotle powder or cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (no-salt added variety)
1 28-ounce can tomato puree
olive oil


Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, celery and carrot and sauté until onion is translucent. Add the spices and allow to toast a bit before stirring into the veggies. (Feel free to adjust quantities of spices to suit your tastes.) Add the minced garlic and cook until fragrant.

In a separate pan, cook the meat until browned throughout and then drain. Add to the sautéd veggies and stir in the diced tomatoes and tomato puree, add water to thin the mixture if necessary.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer to bring together flavors – approximately 20-30 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

I have to give credit where credit is due; I originally found this recipe from the Crossfit Chicago Bison Chili recipe blog.

Crossfit Sweat Springfield - at last, we meet....!

I've dropped into alot of boxes over the past 9 months and I'm pretty sure they've all been welcoming of this Chicago Crossfit'er just droppin in to get her WOD on. Usually I'll send an email, tweet or Facebook message ahead of time so atleast someone knows I'm stopping by and of course, it's never an issue. I always end up meeting great people and having an awesome, sweaty time.

Sometimes, if I'm lucky, I get the opportunity to drop into box where I already know someone; last weekend it was Cris in Pittsburgh and then on Saturday, it was Diane at CF RVA. But the opportunity to drop into a box where you know not just one person but all four owners? Priceless. Awesome x 100.

I know I'm always saying "this box or that box is definitely one of my favorites", and I'm not lying when I say it, but I can honestly say I've never been more excited to drop into any box before than when I visited Crossfit Sweat Springfield (#37) on Sunday.



As most of you know, I'm a busy bee in the twitter world. I tweet...alot. But in the process of running my yap, I've met so many awesome people, especially Crossfitters, who I now talk to almost every day. When I found out I was going to be in VA, I knew this was one of the boxes I had to make sure to go out of my way to drop into....especially since J.L., one of the owners, is constantly kicking my rear in WordFeud. I was hoping to return the favor by kicking his rear in a WOD :)

As soon as I walked in the door, I was greeted right away by the crew, including the box's guard dog, Grace. Yes, the dog is named after one of my favorite WODs - pretty sweet. I swear she was ThisClose to being dognapped! (Kidding, Alicia ;P)



1000 on Sundays is open gym; the crew decided to do CFT from the main site while I did OH Squats. Then everyone regrouped for a painfully awesome MetCon:

5 RFT

- 20 Wall Balls (20/14)
- 10 Hang Power Snatches (75/55)

Such a deceiving WOD. 55# Hang Power Snatch? Sure! No problem.....if I wasn't doing 20 Wall Balls first! This WOD was a total shoulder smoker.



I'm still wondering if George did his birthday burpees or if he found a way out of them! I also got introduced for the first time to 'Battling Ropes'; hilarious to watch, super hard to try! But either way, it was a lot of fun.

(sorry for the crappy photo quality)

I want to wish the crew at Crossfit Sweat Springfield the best of luck at the Superfit Games this weekend - I have no doubt that you guys will bring the Beast Mode.

If the Crossfit Gods grant me my wish, I'm hoping for Round 2 at CFSS the weekend of February 5th with Devin and Stef!

Crossfit RVA - when two cults collide!

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, there was once a time when I didn't Crossfit. (Yeah, hard to imagine, right?) Instead, I was part of another cult called The Hash House Harriers. H3 was started in 1938 in Malaysia by British soldiers and has become an international club - a drinking club with a running problem. So before I would travel to Crossfit, I would travel to "Hash". One thing lead to another and last year when I was in St Louis for their Green Dress Run, I met a guy who turned me on to an even better 'cult' known as Crossfitting. Now a days, I rarely hash anymore but I do find it awesome when I get to Crossfit with Hashers.

Which is what happened on Saturday. I've never met Diane/"Hoot" before but we became Facebook friends not too long ago because we both have a lot of mutual hash/crossfitter friends. When I found out I was going to be in VA for work and not very far from where she lives, I knew I had to drop in and finally meet her!

Enter Crossfit RVA, box #36.



This is really an awesome box; apparently the owner is as OCD about organization as I am because everything was so nice, clean and organized. Pretty bad ass, I loved it. When I first saw the WOD, however, I was a little worried. "Team Fran". Brandon assured us it wasn't as bad as it looks....

"Team Fran"

2 groups; 4 girls, 4 guys

10 burpees each to start
200 Thrusters (95/65)*
200 Pull Ups
10 burpees each to end

*The Thrusters bar cannot touch the ground or it's a burpees penalty. Someone stands at each end, when the CFer is done with their Thrusters, the bar is held up while the next person gets under it.

I really enjoyed this WOD; we split everything into sets of 10. I was able to quickly bust out 10 Thrusters and then rest while the three ladies did their sets.

Afterwards, WOD #2 was 45 min AMRAP of paleo breakfast and women gossip at the Urban Farm Eatery. I hope to drop into this box again the next time I'm in the area.

Crossfit Lynchburg and Mmmmm....coffee!

Some will say that I'm a lucky girl; I have a job that requires a lot of travel so I get to drop into so many Crossfit boxes, all across the country. My last project had me located in Phoenix; warm weather, decent sized city, and I got to drop into 5 boxes during the project. So when my co-worker heard where my next project was going to be, he assumed I was going to not be pleased. Our dialog:

Brian: So um Jaimie...your next project....
Me: Yeah...where be it?
Brian: Well, it's a small town in the mountains of VA. I don't know how you'll get your Crossfit fix.
Me: Dang man. *frown* What's the city name?
Brian: Lynchburg, VA.
Me: *jumps up in joy* Hot damn! They have a great Crossfit there!!

Enter box #35, Crossfit Lynchburg, my home for the next 5 weeks during the week days. How did I know this place was going to be awesome? By chance I am in close relation to the current 'Mayor' of this place on Foursquare.



What else do I love almost as much as I love Crossfit? Good coffee. I've been drinking coffee since I was in middle school; the product of being a military brat. Up until about a few years ago, I would load my coffee up with a packet of full flavored hot cocoa and french vanilla coffee cream; I never liked the taste of just plain old coffee. Eventually I gave up the coffee cream to cut out calories and sugar.

Enter stage left: Paleo. On Paleo, you can't have hot cocoa or sugar or milk or cream or even Splenda. So what's a coffee lover to do?

Paleo has truly taught me how to appreciate coffee in it's simple form. I still add hot cocoa to it, but it's 25 calories, 2g of sugar per packet and with a splash of almond milk. Yes, not 100% paleo but I'm still doing great with getting rid of all the other shit I use to put in it. And I am really starting to appreciate the taste of good coffee, which I've never done before.

Thanks to Malia for this picture, which sums up my thoughts on Crossfit and Coffee....



Also, depending on how 'strict' paleo you are (or aren't)...Bill from Crossfit Fire came up with the tastey treat of melting a dollop of butter in your black coffee for flavor; he has compared it to eating a buttery piece of toast. I haven't tried this yet but I think I might tomorrow.

Drink up!

Rest Days are for Paleo Baking.....

Since my Paleo-approved Beef Brisket was such a success this week, I am already in the hunt for my next paleo-approved testing recipe. I love that lately I've had time to bake, cook and experiment but I have honestly not had any time to actually come up with a recipe on my own. So I want to thank Albany Crossfit for this awesome Granola recipe that I was just dying to try out.

Pre-Paleo, I would mix granola in yogurt or hot oatmeal and that was about it. So when I found this recipe, my instant excitement went to confusion.....ok great, paleo granola but um....what do I eat it with?! (Other than my hands - thanks to those who suggested the obvious! :P)

Although this was pretty easy to buy for and make, this recipe does have it's challenges. This is not what I would call an inexpensive recipe, even though you get a huge batch out of this that should last you a few weeks. But the biggest challenge wasn't the grocery bill but keeping my hands out of it once it was made! Since I'm on Day 3 of Paleo, I still haven't gotten over all of my sweet cravings, which this does satisfy.

Paleo Approved Granola:

1.5 Cups of Slivered Almonds
1.5 Cups of Chopped Pecans
1 Cup of Pumpkin Seeds
1/2 Cup of Flax Seeds
1/2 Cup of Sunflower Seeds
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup raisins
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1.5 blocks of unsweetened baking chocolate, grated
1/3 cup honey (or maple syrup or any other Paleo-approved sweetener)
1/3 cup Paleo-friendly oil (I used coconut and highly recommend it)




Mix honey, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on the stove. Let it cool. Spread the nuts and seeds out on a greased baking sheet, sprinkle on raisins, chocolate and coconut, and pour the cooled honey mixture over the top. Mix it around to get everything covered, and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degrees. Allow the pan to cool slightly and then put the mixture into a bowl.







What I love about this recipe is that you can add such a variety; the original recipe didn't call for unsweetened chocolate. I believe my next batch will have fewer pumpkin seeds, as I found this batch to be slightly more salty than I would have liked. I plan on mixing my current batch with almond butter, press into a brownie pan, and chill in the freezer to make granola bars!



Just to note; originally the recipe states that you mix in the raisins and coconut after baking; I was super excited and in a hurry and didn't 'read' this part until after I mixed in everything. So I baked away with my fingers crossed. It worked out well; it toasted the coconut and melted the chocolate.

Beast Mode: 2011!

I'm not a big fan of making "New Years Resolutions"; as a devoted Crossfit'er and Paleo lover, I try to live each day as "RX", as they say. So I don't make New Years Resolutions for myself and basically ignore everyone elses...however, I am definitely jumping on Crossfit Love's 30 Day Paleo Challenge. If I were to have any 'resolution' to start in January, it would be to use my crock pot slow cooker alot more often to make delicious, inexpensive Paleo-approved meals that I can 'nom' on for a week.

My first experiment? Beef Brisket. And it was a total success. Even my non-Paleo roommate loved it. This recipe made a huge crock pot full, which will last us for the week!



BEEF BRISKET WITH MIREPOIX

Mirepoix makes everything in life better.

For the meat:
3lb beef brisket
4c beef broth
1c red wine
4 cloves garlic peeled and sliced
3 bay leaves

For the mirepoix:
4 carrots diced very tiny
6 stalks celery diced very tiny
2 onions chopped fine
3 strips good salty, smoky, fatty bacon

Cute up Brisket into cubes and pre-cook the bacon in a pan. Pre-sauté veggies in the bacon grease, throw everything in the Crock pot. I cooked mine on high for 3 hours, and then on low for another 2-2.5. Meat came out perfect!

Today's MetCon at Lincoln Park Crossfit was a fun one for me! I really suck at Double Unders and have been practicing a lot this week; each day, they seem to be getting worse! Today was total beast mode though:

Strength: Push Press 3-3-3-3-3

Previous PR was on 10/28 at 105# x 2
Today I got 105# x 3 and 115# x 1

Conditioning: 225/135 and 24kg/16kg

21 Deadlift
21 Kettlebell Swings
50 Double Unders

15 Deadlift
15 KettleBell Swings
50 Double Unders

09 Deadlift
09 KettleBell Swings

I haven't been sleeping well this past week due to letting life get me down, so when I walked in to the 7am class exhausted this morning, I wasn't expecting Beast Mode at all. I did the MetCon at RX, got it in 12:24 and my DUs weren't so bad. I felt amazing after the MetCon - and rewarded myself with a nap :)

Body By Burpees December!

Yay! Today is December 1st! Why am I so excited? First of the month = new challenge!

A few months ago, my now dear friend Heather was tweeting on Twitter about an October Burpees Challenge, which is how I found her on twitter and we've become great friends since! I did this challenge for a few weeks - yes, not all of October, but still, a few weeks in and it has greatly improved my speed and efficiency...just ask the cute guy at my box who I beat last week at a MetCon containing burpees ;)

The challenge: 15 burpees a day + the date. Simple math. (Oh Crossfit, how you've made me a better math student....)

December 1st: 15 + 1
December 2nd: 15 + 2

And so forth, until December 31st, which is 15 + 31 = 46....and then January 1st is the day of rest.

Doing this burpee challenge on your WOD days is not very difficult; it's really not that many burpees. What got me back in October was I would forget on my rest days to do them. And who wants to do 15+x twice for making up a missed day???

My goal for this month's challenge: Do as many as possible unbroken. Leading up to December 15th, I'm going to try to do all unbroken. Then we'll see after that. 30+ burpees is no joke!

One of the things I absolutely LOVE about this month's challenge is that my loud mouth has definitely paid off in support; I posted it in my Facebook status and all over twitter, and now I have seriously 20-30 people saying they will be doing this challenge with me! And these are not all Crossfitters, which is what I love.

#GetSome folks!

January's challenge....maybe Double Unders?? I'm taking suggestions!