It just hurts so bad

I survived CrossFit! I'm thinking about getting that tattooed on my new bulging bicep. But I just barely survived. We got there a bit early just to see what we would be doing because neither Levi nor I know a whole lot about CrossFit workouts. I'm still not quite sure I understand it all completely but yesterday's workout was the MISTY? and it was a benchmark day so Levi and I only did the hard stuff for 10 minutes. I totally thought, "Ten Minutes? I can run for hours so I should knock this out easy peasy." I wanted to cry after 6 minutes and the last 4 minutes were the longest minutes of my life. The 50 hour labor of my son was a cakewalk compared to these last four minutes! I could not have titled my last post any more appropriately because after our CrossFit experience my legs were shaking like a cold chicken! I could barely walk to the car. But the pain didn't stop there. Just bringing my arms up to wash my hair was near impossible. Somehow that workout made my arms weigh twice my body weight each.

But despite all the pain and shaking we are going back. Levi LOVED it! It is exactly what he wants in a workout. But of course he loved it, he was good at it. I can't even squat correctly. But I was really impressed because form was a big deal and Heath, the owner, took the time to work with us on it. I've read that there have been a lot of CrossFit gyms/boxes? popping up but not teaching proper form and people are doing more damage to their bodies.

What I really loved was the people. Everyone was so encouraging and friendly. Not at all the scary, grunty, thick neck, bulging red eyed monsters I'd imagined. The entire environment was very family friendly and there is even a room for kids to hang out in while mom and dad are getting their workout on. There was even the absolutely cutest pregnant little momma there with her adorable baby belly that made my heart flutter. She was kicking everyone's butts and did that workout for the entire 20 minutes! I was amazed.

I'm not sure how we are going to make CrossFit work in our family schedule. It is kind of pricey but worth it as long as you are able to go regularly. I'm just not sure we can go often enough to make it worth the chunk out of our budget. If the decision was left to me I would probably just decide to not add one more thing to our overly full schedule. But Levi loved going and loved me being there with him (I think it was the spandex) so we are going to experiment with these next two weeks of free CrossFit and see if we can add it to our routine without losing our minds.

I hope all of this workout talk has made you hungry because I have some awesome recipes to share.

I think my biggest reason for not going grain free in the past was my fear of giving up pizza. Pizza was always on our menu weekly. It is so versatile. You can make BBQ pizza, Thai pizza, BBQ Thai pizza, meat lovers, veggie lovers, pesto pizza, Margarita pizza, taco pizza, etc. We love to make homemade pizza and it is just the natural counterpart to family movie night. So our little family was overjoyed when we discovered the secret of cauliflower crust! I'm telling you, if I ever crash on a deserted island I hope I crash with a huge crate of cauliflower. You can make mashed fauxtatoes, rice, pizza crust, use it instead of breadcrumbs in meatballs and meatloafs, and probably more that I haven't even discovered yet! We were once again pleasantly surprised at the yumminess of this weird little paleo twist on pizza. Pizza is once again on the menu! YAY!

Pope Paleo Pizza-I took a combination of several recipes and made up our own. We loved the finished product and the name.

For the crust:

• 2 cups raw ground cauliflower. ( I buy one head of fresh cauliflower a week and grind it into a rice like texture in my food processor and then store in an airtight container. It makes about 5 to 6 cups. Then I just use as needed in my recipes throughout the week. If there is any left at the end of the week I just cook it with some coconut oil and salt and pepper and it makes a great side dish.)
• 3/4 cup almond flour (I actually added a couple more tablespoons to the mixture because my "dough" was a little too wet. Just use your own judgement and add more if you think it needs it.)
• 3 large free-range eggs (Which by the way are now available at the Sunshine Shoppe and are cheaper than Walmart's!)
• 1 heaping tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1 to 2 heaping TBSP chopped fresh rosemary or any herb that smells yummy to you.
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder

Combine all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mush with your hands (just because it is fun) until well combined.

Don't freak out because it doesn't look like dough. It will look like a slimy eggy lump.

Spray some Kelapo coconut spray on your pizza pan. Then dump your slimy eggy lump on the pizza pan and pat it out towards the edge to about a 1/4 inch thickness, maybe a bit thinner.

Pop that baby in the oven at 450 degrees for about 25 minutes. If you are adding toppings that need to cook for a bit then only cook your crust for about 15 minutes before adding toppings and then stick back in the oven for the remaining time.

For the toppings: (Be creative here. I would love to hear different topping combination ideas from you. But the following is what we did.)

In a food processor combine and process the following:

• 1 cup of walnuts
• 2 cups of fresh basil
• 6 or more sun dried tomatoes stored in oil.
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Spread this incredible pesto over your now solid (be amazed) pizza crust. Top with sliced tomatoes, roasted chicken, sauteed mushrooms and leaks. We added a bit of goat's milk cheese to our pizzas even though it isn't perfect paleo. We don't have issues with dairy and didn't experience any issues after adding this tiny treat to our pizzas. You choose what is best for you and your family.

Then, as if pizza isn't the absolute highlight of our weekend we made waffles Sunday morning. I found lots of recipes that are "paleo approved" but I wanted to keep my ingredients basic without having to add tapioca flour, guar gum, or arrowroot powder. Those ingredients aren't bad but they aren't staples in my kitchen and I HATE buying an expensive ingredient all for the sake of one recipe. So I settled on this lovely waffle recipe from The Unrefined Kitchen. We spread some ooey gooey softened coconut butter and drizzled maple syrup over these delightfully delicious waffles.

On a quick a happy note I just wanted to share that I am loving hearing from all of my friends and readers about your health successes. I have heard from several of you that you have started taken baby steps to paleo or something like paleo. I think that is just so cool. Progress towards making healthy food choices sometimes comes in stages. Maybe your diet is all over the place and you don't even know where to start. Well I encourage you to choose one thing and conquer it. It could be just limiting your fast food meals to only once a week. Or choosing to no longer drink any type of soda. Or maybe you just cut out grains in the morning. Pick something and figure out how to make that one thing work in your world. Once that new thing becomes your norm pick something else to conquer. And keep letting me know about your success! I have a dear and precious friend who had hit a weight loss plateau despite making healthy food choices. The one area she hadn't quite conquered completely was grains. But she just sent me the message that she finally made that last step and cut out grains and has lost 6 pounds in one week and is feeling awesome! I just love that!!! It makes me want to do a happy dance...if only my entire body didn't hurt so darn bad!