Crockpot Sweet Potato Casserole

Do you ever have one of those days where you just are unmotivated and really don't want to do anything? Well I had one the other day and now I am on a quest to make sure that does not happen again. CrossFit is super humbling, but really hard when you have been great at a sport your whole life and catch on to things super fast, but CrossFit is different. I played hockey in college, it came easy, it is what I was really good at and accomplished so much in my fours years in college. I'm used to having that mentality of being the best, and well at CrossFit I'm far from it. So seeing people surpass me who have been doing Crossfit for a few months is so frustrating I go through phases where I want to quit. I'm not a quitter though, and I'm deteremined to get better. It took me awhile, but I know look at CrossFit as an individual sport. Its me v. me. I read this ARTICLE about things you need to give up to be happy. It is so true. Please read it. I feel if more people do not sweat the small stuff and realize how little things  are not important. This article spoke to me especially in a CrossFit sense and I'm back at it, just trying to get better each day, for me. 

Enough of the sappy Crossfit stuff, on with the recipe. So I found this recipe as I was trolling Facebook and found an amazing website called Paleo Pot! Pot as in Crockpot druggies! Drugs are bad :-)!  It is a website dedicated all to Paleo Recipes you can do in the Crockpot. The Crockpot is a wonderful tool and being able to make a good amount of food and with minimal work is super appealing to me. So you better believe you will see more recipes from here. I need to get a bigger crockpot though since mine is a tad to small. 

RECIPE: Sweet Potato Casserole

INGREDIENTS:

2 pounds lean grass-fed beef (if possible)

1/2 pound uncured bacon

8 eggs

3 large sweet potatoes

1 large white onion

1 large red onion

Spices: Cayenne, Salt, Pepper, Paprika, Garlic, Oregano

I have a small crockpot, so I split everything in half, but if you have a medium to large one, go with the amounts above. I had all these ingredients already too so I was excited to get'er done. First I diced the bacon and cooked it up, put it to the side so I could cook the rest. I sautéed the onions next in the grease until they got translucent and then added the meat and all the spices I wanted to. I also added some kale since I wanted some greens in there and I had it in the fridge. I also started to cut the sweet potato. If you have a mandolin, use it!! It took me 15 seconds to get all the sweet potato slices I needed. I got one from amazon.com and it cost 10 dollars, I would invest in one for sure so you have the same size slices. After the meat was browned and ready to go I started my layering.  First the sweet potatoes, some meat, some bacon, first layer down, then I just repeated until I ran out of food. It got pretty high and looked yummy. Once I finished my layers I whisked the eggs and just poured it all over the layers in the crockpot. I set the crockpot to low for 6 hours and went out for the day!

How its supposed to look....

The recipe says after the 6 hours to put the mixture in the fridge over night to let it all come together. I was excited to be able to have it for breakfast in the morning. Sure enough it was all put together in the morning. I added a little bit of salt and popped it in the microwave to heat it up. It doesn't look good since I wasn't great about the pictures, but it tasted yummy. The sweet potatoes are soft and the crunch of the bacon is fantastic. The flavors all come together. The tricky part is getting it out of the crockpot with out it falling apart! Super easy, great for leftovers, and something you can have for any meal of the day! Enjoy...and I sweat it taste better than my pictures look....darn phone camera!

   

Yea I'm not great at pics.

Banana Bread French Toast

It has been a crazy couple of weeks! I haven't been trying new recipes at all and I have been eating out a little too much. I cooked so much for Regionals, I needed a break and cooked a lot of my staple recipes that are already on the blog. Regionals was a blast! I am happy that it is over since it was so time consuming, but all the hard work that our team put in was shown at the CrossFit regionals. Our team ended up in twelve place out of 30 teams. The best workout was WOD #4 where Soco took first in their heat and they had all of us cheering them on and screaming SOCO! The team had a lot of ups and downs, but worked through everything to give it their all. I'm so inspired by everyone on the team and how much hard work they put in and for never giving up, GO SOCO!

Non-Paleo french toast...nom nom

So I have wanted to make this recipe for a long time. I LOVE French Toast. So much that I almost went and bought bread (ahh!) and made it the the day. Though whenever I crave non-paleo foods, I wait a few days and see if I'm still craving it. If I am, then I devour it and I'm ok with that! I have been looking for a paleo french toast recipe and found this one! So I have been eyeing this recipe for awhile and finally had some time to make it. I got it from the great site of Paleomg where the genuis paleo cooker Juli Bauer made up this one. I couldn't wait to try it!

RECIPE: http://paleomg.com/banana-bread-french-toast/

INGREDIENTS:
  For the bread:

• 3 medium spotty bananas
• 1.5 cups unsalted cashews- Used 1 cup almond butter
• 2 tablespoons walnut oil -Didn't use
• 1 cup almond flour
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 1 TBSP Raw honey
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

  For the French Toast:

• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup canned coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1-2 tbsp coconut oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I mixed the bananas and almond butter in my Vitamix or if you have a food processor that would work well too until its smooth. After that is done add it to the 2 whisked eggs and mix it up. Then add the rest of your ingredients. Simple! I had a bread pan that was just a typical one, not sure the sizes, but I had a tin foil one I bought from the grocery store. Make sure you oil the heck out of the pan though so the bread can easily slid out. 

After baking for about 28 minutes, the top was very crusty and I took it out for it to cool! That is the hardest part since I love Banana Bread and it smelled so great. I let it cool for about 10 minutes for I let it out of the pan. The bread itself fell quite a bit and I think that is because I used a little too much almond butter, I would decrease it a little bit next time. Don't get me wrong, it still was amazing! After eating a piece of the banana bread, I was excited to make it into french toast. The bread stayed together well and was hearty enough to make a good French Toast. 

I cut a few larger pieces and dipped it into all my french toast ingredients minus the coconut oil and placed in a pan to cook! Yum Yum. They came out nice and crispy. Pure yuminess. I topped it with a few banana slices and had a little agave nectar and grass-fed butter. I had two slices and was full. The bread is dense compare to other french toast breads, but the banana and the almond butter together taste fantastic. I had no idea you could use these ingredients to make such a tasty bread. I saved the rest of the bread for later and finished in a few days since the bread itself is great. 

So even if you don't want to make it into french toast you have a great banana bread. Next time I want to add some chocolate chips. 

CrossFit Games Regional Prep

The weekend is coming and you know what that means? No probably not, but I'll fill you in...Crossfit Games Regionals?!?!?! OMG OMG. So for the few of you that have no idea what I'm talking about it is a huge competition that is going on in Castle Rock, CO where teams and individuals from the Southwest region compete for a chance to go to the Crossfit Games in California! I mean this is the creme de la creme! I am so excited for this event because I get to volunteer the whole weekend and immerse myself into the CrossFit community, not to mention meeting awesome CrossFit people. And the best part you ask? CrossFit Soco is sending a team to compete!! I can not wait to lose my voice from screaming and live vicariously through all the athletes. Sean is on the team and I think I might be more excited than he is. If anyone is in the area and wants to check out this "CrossFit" thing since all you do is here me talk about it 24/7, then you should  for sure check this out. 

We are so lucky to be able to host the Regionals in Colorado and you should take advantage of being able to watch some amazing athletes! 

So I'll be volunteering the whole weekend and Sean will be competing so the first thing that comes to my mind is food. I'll be lucky enough to have catered food from the amazing Paleo Wagon while I'm volunteering so I'm good there, but Sean will need lots of food all the time..oh vay! So we decided to start planning out a menu that will be easy, but good so Sean can power through the workouts and stay energized.

So here is what I'm packing up for the weekend!

1. Sweet Potatoes- I am going to make chips and mash! For the chips I'm just going to cut the sweet potatoes in even circle 'chips' and bake for 10-15min at 350. For the mash I bake the sweet potatoes for about 35 minutes. I then through them all in a bowl and mash!! I usually always add full-fat coconut milk so there is some fat and carbs. Then you can get creative. I like adding things like cinnamon, grass-fed butter, chives, and anything else that might be paleo I can put in a potato! 

2. Avocados- Great fat that is easy to cut open and eat with anything else. Might make some guacamole to put on cucumbers, carrots, etc. 

3. Coconut Water- Great potassium. I think this stuff is gross, Sean loves it. 

4. Bison- I'm making a bison crockpot stew that will be good cold, but easy to make and easy to pack away and put in a cooler for a nice meal after a WOD or a snack in between. I'm honestly just throwing whatever I have in crockpot. I love crockpots.

5. Coconut/Almond Butter- Another great fat source that actually tastes really good by itself

6. Some fruits- Some oranges, bananas, and apples for a quick carb snack if needed

7. Protein Shake- Gotta have some recovery protein for right after the WOD

8. Veggies- Some quick go to veggies like cucumbers, carrots, and celery. Can dip in guac or almond butter.

9. Bacon- Obvious reasons, its awesome. 

10. LOTS of Water

11. Nuts- Probably some Macadamia and Almonds

I know I'm probably missing a few things, but so far this is what we have. It takes a lot of planning, but so worth it in the long run. The way you fuel yourself is so important especially when you are competing. Since I got rid of all processed and refined foods and have focused more on a 'paleo' diet, my energy has increase, my fitness level has gone way up, I feel great, and I have leaned out without even trying. 

I'll be volunteering all weekend long so say hi if you see me, I'll probably be stuffing my face with Paleo Wagon goodness! Good luck to all the teams and individuals, I'll be cheering you on! And right when you think you can't....just know that you CAN!!