Oh My May

Well, as I always end up saying at the beginning of the month, I can't believe that it is already May! Oh my, where has the time gone! I feel like I was just starting the semester and now I am looking straight down the barrell of my last 2 weeks of this final full semester of my undergraduate classes!! Yay for that! Then the following week I am taking a mini-mester class that is Monday through Friday 8am-5pm. These classes, although are nice because you get a full 3 credit hour class finished within a week, are super stressful because you are doing an entire semester class in a week! All the prayer warriors get your BIG ones out because I am going to need all the prayers that I can get these next couple of weeks!!!

Unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks I have been getting increasingly tired. I don't know if it was the switch in my thyorid medicine or just the cycle of the progesterone, or just the PCOS in general. Yet, yesterday I was falling asleep on the couch at 5pm! WOW, that is crazy for me. And even as I sit here typing this I am struggling to keep my eyes open and if it were possible for me to go back to bed, I wouldn't think twice about it! Obviously there is something going on now the real key is figuring out what it is!

My diet has been great I believe I am not on day 27 of perfectly clean eating with no carbs, and no sugar, and all natural. I love how much better I feel when I am eating like this and it has definitely helped the insulin resistance because I no longer am having CrAzY outrageous desires and NEEEEEDs for sugars and carbs. I even made Monkey Bread (a Giant Cinnamon Roll) this past week for my roommate and friend and didn't even have an urge or feel the need to have any. I have also kept up with my supplements and my water. I drink excessively as usual and pretty much always have a bottle of water in my hand. I have even started buying all grass fed, no hormone, free range meats despite the fact at how much more expensive it is.

My workouts have been quickly coming to a stall because of the energy thing. Fortunately, I am at least able to get myself to the gym in the mornings and I am getting in at least 5 weight training days per week and at least 5 cardio days per week. Unfortunately, this LACK of energy thing is REALLY starting to get to me and I am struggling to even make it entirely through all of my workouts. I am ready for bed about half-way through. Also, I am finding that I am weaker and not able to lift as much or go as long. This is TOTALLY and COMPLETELY out of my character! I hate it because it is almost like I am looking from the outside in and I know that it is not like me but I can't do anything about it. It is basically just pure exhaustion, physically and mentally.

I called the doctor this morning and left her a message about my thyroid and about the fact that I am supposed to get a prescription level of vitamin D because mine was so low and my moods fluctuate sooo much when the weather is bad. So I am anxiously waiting their phone call (with as much energy as I can muster up to wait for it!)

I am trying to stay postive throughout this time, but it sure is going to make these next 3 weeks even more difficult then they are already going to be if something doesn't change. Thank God for my amazing relationship with Him because without Him I don't know what I would do or where I would find my rest, peace, and strength! I am going to just rest on the notion that, "I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens ME" (Phil. 4:13).

Pneumonia

First off, I can't believe that it is already April! Wow, crazy! Time suuure flies (and yes, I will probably say that at the beginning of every month!) Well, March wasn't exactly my favorite month ever. I was pretty much sick the entire month and wasn't able to workout! I did get to watch a lot of movies and a lay on my butt a lot. I had been pushing to compete in April yet after a month of not working out, unless of course you count hacking up a lung, that is not going to happen. On top of the coughing and feeling awful when I actually felt like eating, I pretty much ate whatever I wanted, and most of the time I didn't want to eat chicken and broccoli. It was a crazy chain of events that started with my usual health stuff and snowballed into a cold, to bronchitis, to a kidney infection, to pneumonia! No bueno!

Well, the positive news is I am feeling MUCH better now. Despite the fact that I am still not 100% I was able to run on Tuesday, Wednesday, and this morning. Also, I trained with Jerome for the first time today too. Despite the fact I was on the verge of passing out the entire time, it felt AMAZING! I loved the torture and sorta of forgot JUST how much I liked it! It was an amazing high and made me feel soo much better! Now I can't wait to be back to 100% so I can get back focused and ready for the next competition. Right now I am trying to shoot for the end of May but sort of playing it by year because you just never know what my body is going to do (or not do).

March 10 Training

Doing clean's as part of the workout.




These are the crazy hard yoga push-ups off the tire, which we superset with 50 tire jumps! Fun times!



Now this is Jasmine trying to do her first hand stand. The video doesn't really do the humor of the whole thing justice.

March 2nd - Early Morning Training

As always Jerome kicked out butts. Here was a morning workout from the beginning of March.







Although during these workouts, I often question, "WHY?" Like, "Why am I here? Why am I doing this? Why am I not still asleep?" These kind of fast-paced, kick your butt, Jerome, plyo type workouts are by far my favorite!

Boot Camp 2/27

As usual Jerome kicked out butts at Saturday morning boot camp! There is never any doubt about that! Yet, I was feeling pretty good and motivated at the end of the hour so I decided to continue going! I choose to do more sleds and the bike and I was super excited because I ended up burning more than 1,000 calories total! It was definitely a killer workout but I was on such a workout high after, even despite the tiredness! Plus, we had a race that morning on the sleds and I was racing against a good friend that I train with that is a track star and is rated in the top 5 of her age group! She is pretty awesome! So of course we are assumed and figured that she was going to win and so the race was going to be for second between me, and the other two girls that were racing. Yet, I totally kicked some butt and WON! It was awesome! The other girls were fighting about who got 2nd place, when I so nicely reminded them that it didn't matter because 2nd place still meant they lost! All and all it was an amazing workout and morning! :)

This is a short video towards the end of the two hours of Bridgette (the track star) and I pushing some sleds!

I rocked it this workout and felt pretty good! I would say 2 hours and 5 minutes and 1023 calories is pretty awesome! :)

Here is Jas, Bridgette, and I doing our cool down and definitely all a little exhausted!

Egg Yolk Only Sugar Cookies

Once again this weekend I was feeling the stress and so where did I turn, the kitchen! I had the best of intentions to be good and just bake and use it as a relaxer and not put any of it into my mouth, but after the second day and the crappy weather I caved and enjoyed all that I had made. And although I was rather frustrated and mad at myself for eating it all, I do have to admit that it was very tasty! (So at least I got that going for me!)

My parents were going to their home team or small group at church on Sunday afternoon and were supposed to bring the dessert. My mom had decided that she was going to make two different jelly roles, a lemon one and a chocolate one. Of course I volunteered to help! So Saturday evening after my vintage bike ride (my dads old bike from the 70's) we started baking. We made the lemon flour part first and while that was baking we made the lemon "jelly" inside. It turned out amazingly tasty and very fresh and lemony. Then we started on the chocolate outside part and mixed that up to bake. While these were baking I had found two new egg yolk recipes that I wanted to try. One was a yellow layer cake with chocolate frosting and the other were sugar cookies. With the vote of my mom and my brother we went with the sugar cookies. 

We started to mix up all the ingredients and because my mom always likes to cut the sugar we add 1/4 cup less sugar although we ended up making up for it with the sugar coating. I don't know why but the mixture turned out really dry and was pretty crumbly. Yet, we set out to make it work so we were going to. The only other thing that we changed was we added lime zest instead of lemon because we had just used the lemon for the lemon jelly roll. We then decided that we would make St. Patrick's Day themed cookies and be festive! So we rolled our finished balls of dough in green sugar. They looked pretty yet the only problem is that the added sugar made them even more dry. We cooked them on two different pans, a non-stick (dark) pan and a light pan. We thought that they would turn out better on a regular light pan but the opposite was true. The other odd thing about these cookies was the fact that once they were cooled they hardened up and were not longer soft or gooey even towards the center. That was a big disappointment because I think even sugar cookie needs to be soft. Yet, they still tasted good. I think they at least passed the taste test because although I never got an official ruling, I noticed that my dad was taking them by the handfuls to eat!

Egg Yolk Only Sugar Cookies
(this recipe is originally from the baking blog: cookiemadness.net)

They claim that this recipe makes the best sugar cookies! Thin with a crisp exterior
and a chewy, soft interior! (Although, I figured out the truth about this soft interior part!)

Cook Time: 10
Prep Time: 30

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 (slightly rounded – not quite ¾) teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, use only
¼ tsp. salt), softened
2 cups, scant, granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon good vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
3 egg yolks

Thoroughly stir together first three ingredients. If you have time,
sift them.  Stir in the salt.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the vanilla and
lemon zest, then one by one, beat in the egg yolks.

Slowly stir in the flour mixture. Mix well.

Form into 1 inch balls and place balls about 2 inches apart on a
non-stick or parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or
until the cookies start to brown around the edges. Let cool on cookie
sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Next time I made these I will definitely be adding more egg yolks. I will probably add two more and see how they do. I will also possibly roll the dough into smaller balls and see how they do and maybe try cooking them for less time. Who knows, maybe the egg yolks will make it better all around! I guess we will just have to wait and see. 

Jelly Rolling

The other part of the Baking bonanza from this weekend were the Jelly Rolls. My mom didn't think that they turned out very good so unfortunately she ended up going with a store bought cheesecake because she is all about the presentation. I on the other hand didn't think they looked bad and I also thought they tasted really good. The lemon one had a very strong and distinct lemon flavor and there was nothing bland about that. It was light and fluffy because my mom had taken the original recipe's filly and mixed it with whip cream. Without the whip cream it would have had an even stronger lemon flavor and I don't think the texture would have been as pleasing. It made it much more light and airy in your mouth. It would be a great dessert to make in the summer time for lounging around by the pool or for a picnic.

The chocolate jelly roll we made with a cinnamon whip cream filling. Although the chocolate flavor was not very distinct I still think that it turned out good. I don't understand why the recipe only calls for cocoa powder because although it is cocoa it doesn't have a very strong flavor. Next time I think I would use some baking chocolate to give it more of a flavorful experience. The cinnamon whipped cream filling was yummy. It was also very light and fluffy and was not rich at all. The cinnamon flavor was unique and distinct because we used Saigon cinnamon which has a much stronger and bolder cinnamon flavor. Although, I think next time we make it I would use just a little more cinnamon to make the flavor even stronger.

  

 

The problem with both of them were that they turned out sort of dry so they cracked and did not form a very good "roll". They also stuck to the towel when my mom tried to unroll them. I don't know why because she had enough powered sugar on the towel. Also, I don't know why they both cracked. One of my favorite Thanksgiving desserts is a Pumpkin Roll and that always works out perfect every time. We decided it was because of the pumpkin that gives it added moisture to stay together and stay rolled. So next time we make another jelly roll we are going to make sure and add an ingredient that adds a lot of moisture.

Both of these desserts were very light and not very rich at all. Which is definitely not my favorite thing because I would love to eat a double chocolate fudge cake with chocolate chips and chocolate frosting sprinkled with chocolate sauce and chocolate shavings!  My mom choose the lemon over the chocolate because she didn't think the chocolate one had enough flavor while the lemon one was very flavorful. Yet, I would give them both a thumbs up and would definitely make them and eat them again.

 They obviously couldn't have been too bad because as you can see this chocolate one is already half gone!