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!

Training speed bumps

Well, I think my strength in my training has now become my weakness. The diet used to be the easiest part for me to do. I used to be able to get into the zone and stay there and just do it because my goal was constantly on my mind. Yet, this time around I am REALLY struggling with the diet portion of my training. Obviously, I LOVE food and I love new flavors, cooking, recipes, and ingredients. Cooking and baking is a stress reliever and a relaxer for me. Usually I would be able to cook and bake and not even lick a single spoon, yet this time around I am having a hard time not eating the entire cake!

Grr....it is so frustrating because its like my actions are lining up with my intentions or my goals and I don't understand why. It is sort of weird because we have been learning about this is social psychology. From a psychologist standpoint it would be called cognitive dissonance.

It is like a flip switches in my head and all of a sudden I don't care about my prior stated goals. It is like they just go completely out the window and my mind is focused on something else. Food is awesome and delicious food is even better and homemade delicious food is amazing! It is definitely a coping mechanism and it is definitely a comfort. I don't know if it is because I am so stressed about everything else in my life that is going on, or because it is not my reeeeallll intention to compete in this show in April, or if I am just afraid to succeed. Whatever the reasoning, the dissonance that I am experiencing is huge and I am very frustrated, disappointed, mad, and upset that I can't seem to get it all together. :( It is a cycle of doing absolutely amazing and then something will happen or I will feel the stress creep in and then I feel totally overwhelmed and my prior desires and goals just go out the window and I just don't care.

Also, for those of you that don't know I have something called SAD (and yes it actually is sad). It is a form of depression that is often called seasonal or the winter blues because when the weather gets overcast and cloudy my mood is drastically effected.  Some of the symptoms are sleeping too much, having little energy, and craving sweets and starchy foods, (one of the big ones) feeling depressed, difficulty waking up in the morning, tendency to oversleep as well as to overeat, and especially a craving for carbohydrates, which leads to weight gain. Other symptoms include a lack of energy, difficulty concentrating on completing tasks, and withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities. All of this leads to the depression, pessimism, and lack of pleasure which characterize a person suffering from this disorder.

Unfortunately I am effected by almost all of the symptoms, which is not very conducive to trying to diet as hard as I am dieting and trying to get ready for a show. The only time that I ever have real thoughts, urges, cravings, and cave is when the weather is bad. I am like a totally different person sort of like Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde. It is definitely not fun but I guess it is just another speed bump to get over in not only this journey for my pro card, but also in life. I am not going to let this hold me back! Finish line here I come! :)

Chicken Stew and Cheesy Dumplings

Last weekend my mom and I’s mini cooking spree ended with an amazing stew. It was cold outside and we wanted something that would warm us up. So we decided to do something different than the usual chili or turkey soup. We choose Chicken stew and a last minute decision to make cheese dumplings too. After briefly looking for a recipe online I came across Giada’s recipe on the Food Network website. Well, we didn’t have everything that her recipe called for and also wanted to change a few things, so here is the adapted recipe that we came up with. (The amounts of the spices is an estimate because I usually just season things to taste).


Chicken Stew with Cheesy Dumplings

Ingredients

• Olive oil

• 4 stalks celery, cut into bite-size pieces

• 3 carrot, peeled, cut into bite-size pieces

• 1 onion, chopped

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can tomato sauce

• 1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth

• 1 can of water

• 2 tsp basil leaves,

• 2 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

• 2 chicken breast with ribs and skin (about 1 1/2 pounds total)

• ½ bag (or 1 can) black beans

Directions

Heat the oil in a heavy 5 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the tomato sauce, chicken broth, basil, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.

Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface. Discard the skin and bones from the chicken breasts. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the stew. Take the bay leaf out and discard. Add black beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.

Bring the stew just to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cheese Dumpling Recipe

* 3 Tbsp Shortening

* 1 1/2cups all-purpose flour

* 2 tsp baking powder

* 3/4 tsp salt

* 3/4 cup milk
Cut Shortening into flour, baking powder and salt until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto hot meat of vegetables in boiling stew (do not drop directly into liquid). Cook uncovered 10 min. Cover and cook about 10 min longer. Makes 8 - 10 dumplings.

Cheese Dumplings: Add 1/4 cup shredded sharp cheese (about 1 oz) to the dry ingredients.

This dumpling recipe is a versatile recipe that you can add many different spices or things too. We choose to make cheese dumplings, which were delicious! Yet, in my business and tiredness I forgot the shortening when I was mixing the dumplings and I didn’t remember that I hadn’t put it in until half of the dumplings had already been dropped into the stew. As my mom positively pointed out, we had fat free dumplings now! At this point we were a little concerned how they were going to turn out, and if they would rise and get fluffy, yet they did and they were delicious. My mom had a hard time not eating them all!

Critique and assessment: The stew was delicious as well as the dumplings. The dumplings added a yummy mix of fluffiness and flavor when it soaked up the broth of the stew. Yummy! We had fun making this delicious meal and would definitely make it again!