Thanksgiving Day

Representing CrossFit NorCal at Silicon Valley Turkey Trot!

This year I got to spend Thanksgiving with the CrossFit ohana and Eugene's family.  In the morning, I went down to San Jose to participate in the annual 5k/10k Turkey Trot with a bunch of members from the gym.  Afterwards, I went home to prepare a traditional, gluten-free (hehe), Thanksgiving dinner.  My family does not celebrate Thanksgiving so it was nice to learn how to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner from scratch!

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5x5 Deload Week Fun

Final muscle up count yesterday.

I just finished the 5x5 strength program (blog post to come soon) last week and now I am suppose to take a week off from heavy lifting so I can start Wendler's 5/3/1 next Monday.  The timing worked out perfectly since it's Thanksgiving week and my lifts started to stall.  Because I took such a long time off from all Olympic lifts and muscle-ups (hand injury), I decided to use this week to work Oly lift technique, specifically exploding with the hips... and apparently max strict muscle-ups while I'm at the gym!

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Thanksgiving Potluck at KI Athletics

KI Athletics' Thanksgiving Paleo Potluck!

Last Friday was KI Athletics' first annual Thanksgiving Potluck and Canned Foods Drive.  I was super excited since it's been awhile since we had one of these events and because I love Thanksgiving food!  I had a great time catching up with people and meeting other members.  There was really good turnout from both gyms and tons of delicious food, even for people who came late!

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Thanksgiving Sausage Stuffing

Paleo Thanksgiving Stuffing!

Stuffing has always been one of my favorite Thanksgiving dishes.  However, the dish is basically all bread seasoned with herbs and hence totally not Paleo and full of gluten.  In spirit of the Thanksgiving Potluck at CrossFit Santa Clara today, and my determination to convince my boyfriend's parents that low carb dishes can be delicious, I have been experimenting with making Paleo-friendly Thanksgiving stuffing.  I think I found the perfect recipe, thanks to Mickey and Alex for sampling in exchange for feedback... and it does not include chili peppers!

Check out my latest Thanksgiving dish creation: Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup and Scalloped Root Vegetables!

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CrossFit Los Angeles / CrossFit LA

CrossFit LA!

While in LA last weekend, I made some time early Saturday morning to get a WOD in at CrossFit Los Angeles in Santa Monica, CA.  I chose to come here since CFLA is the closest CrossFit gym to Westwood, Shirley and Alyssa from Sweet Cheeks workout here, and because I wanted to check out a box that participated in the CrossFit Games this year.  At the games, I sat across from CFLA folks in matching baby blue jerseys.  I remember all of them cheering at the top of their lungs, especially during the team rope climb WOD.  Conveniently, CFLA is also the closest CrossFit gym to Westwood, where I stayed.

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Valley CrossFit - Round 2!

9am crew at VCF!

Last weekend I took a trip down to LA to visit Eugene.  While in town, I made time to get a WOD in at Valley CrossFit since I had such a blast last time!  My expectations were exceeded!  They are still one of my favorite boxes to visit ever.

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Dressing-less Salad

Two recipes in one.  Beefy Lettuce Tacos for lunch and Beefy Eggs for breakfast!

I love to go to the Farmer's Market on Sunday's to buy Thai chili peppers and to load up on food for the week.  I also go to sample all the fruit in season from different farms.  Last Sunday a farm brought in a large variety of apples.  The apples were so good!!!  I really wanted to get some, but I did not want to end up eating like five apples a day so I quickly started brainstorming what recipes I could make with apples.  Luckily, I ran into Sally who gave me the idea to make an apple salad with arugula.


While shopping for arugula, I noticed that the farm had all different kinds of spinach for sale.  One of the owners was nice enough to explain the differences between all the spinach.  The one I liked the most was this purple spinach called Orach because it had this natural salty flavor.  Viola, I knew what I was going to make for dinner: a dressing-less salad with ingredients so full of flavor that they can be eaten plain... and all the ingredients would be from the Farmer's market!

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Smoked Paprika Pecans

Smoked Paprika Pecans.

My favorite nuts-to-go packets to get are Oren's Kitchen Smoked Paprika Pecans at Whole Foods.  However, since they stopped selling them... or maybe I just can't find them anymore, I decided to try to make them on my own using the same ingredients except instead of olive oil, I used macadamia nut oil.  I don't have any olive oil.  After a few attempts, playing with the way I added salt, mixing the spices, and using paprika vs. smoked paprika, I finally found a recipe that taste almost exactly identical to Oren's.. but a little spicier and fresh! 

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