CHIA SEED PUDDING

Posted on May 2, 2013 | 4 Comments

I have some exciting news! My wrist is back in action. If you didn’t already know I sprained it pretty bad doing a heavy clean about two months ago and it was devastating. I wasn’t able to lift weights, most gymnastics moves were out of the picture and my drive to perform was suffering. I managed to push through it though and I found some modified movements I could do. I also worked really hard on my endurance, ie. running and rowing, and I spent a lot of precious time with the airdyne. When it comes to weaknesses those are mine, so pushing myself mentally through that was really good for me. Now I’m faster than before and my strength has only been sacrificed slightly. With the CrossFit regionals 3 weeks out I think I have just enough time to get back to where I need to be and I’m excited to get after it. My teammates have been awesome and supportive and I’m so glad I’m able to compete with them. It’s going to be an experience I really didn’t want to miss out on. If you’re a fitness enthusiast yourself or an avid crossfitter you should definitely find out where regionals in your area are happening and get out for a weekend of fun. If that’s already on the agenda then enjoy. And if you’re competing good luck! I’ll be competing with my team at the NorCal regionals Memorial Day weekend in Santa Rosa. Maybe I’ll see you there!

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2 INGREDIENT PANCAKES

Posted on April 27, 2013 | 7 Comments

How many times were you asked, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I’m sure we’ve all been asked that question. Some of us know and pursue that passion, some of us know, but settle for something else, and some of us have no freaking clue. I think I was one of the no freaking clue people. So when I ventured off to college I spent the first year trying to figure it out, and when I still hadn’t, I settled for a business degree because it seemed reasonable, realistic, and the classes were fairly easy. Having a business degree has been great, I’ve had some good jobs since college, made some good money, travelled and seen the world. I wouldn’t ever trade it. But upon returning to California after spending two years in Australia, I wanted a fresh start. I wanted to make sure this time I didn’t settle, this time it was about finding something I was passionate about. Sure it’s important to make a decent living and to be able to support yourself and your family, but its equally important to enjoy what you do. I’ve spent my life in sports and have always loved nutrition, hence the blog, but it wasn’t until now that I realized this is what I needed to do with my life. So I’m doing it. It’s that simple. It’s going to be a learning experience, and it’s going to take time before I’m living comfortably again, but I’m happy, and I think that’s the most important part. I just finished my first week of coaching and it was awesome. I’m programming workouts and meeting some amazing people who have the same passion I do. To continually improve their health and fitness. We all struggle with things in life, and I love being that person they come to to start their day, or to finish it off and I always strive to ensure they leave feeling stronger and better than they did the day before. I hope everyone had a great week and is enjoying a lovely weekend. If you need something to make it even better, then eat these; they’re easy, delicious, and guaranteed to make you feel good.

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PALEO LASAGNE

Posted on April 12, 2013 | 1 Comment

Do you love lasagne? I hope so because this is the BOMB! I’ve been meaning and meaning to try out these lasagne sheets from Cappello’s and I finally got around to it last week. And OMG I wish I hadn’t waited so long to discover how amazing of a dish this is. Now you may be asking WHY WOULD ASHLEY HIDE THIS FROM US FOR SO LONG?! Because I’ve been busy that’s why.  With CrossFIt. Are you sick of hearing about CrossFit yet? I hope not. Because I have more to talk about. Last week we finished the CrossFit open competition. A 5 week competition put on by CrossFit that every gym around the world can participate in. Pretty amazing right? Whether you’re new to the sport or a veteran you can participate. And if you’ve done it a year prior, or several years prior, you can compare your progress and compare yourself to athletes around the world. It’s a pretty awesome concept, a great test of fitness, and a fun event to be a part of. If you participated this year I hope you had a great time and I hope you’ve seen your fitness improve. Also, if you’ve made it to the next stage, Regionals, then congratulations! I’m sure you are training hard and will need a good filling meal like the one I’m about to share with you. As for me personally I placed 62nd in Northern California. I had hoped for a little higher, maybe the top 40 or 50, but I sprained my wrist after week 2 and had to take the last 3 workouts pretty slow to ensure I didn’t make it worse. It was a bummer, but our goal was to make it to Regionals as a team and we did! We placed 10th in Northern California and I’m so excited to compete with such a fantastic team. They’ve been so supportive and have helped me grow so much in the past few months that I’ve been with them. CrossFit has brought me some great friends, great experience, and I look forward to many more to come. Now I’m going to make the rest of this quick because I’m off to the gym where my trainer can torture me (and by torture me I mean make me run) until I’m so fit everyone at regionals will be scared when I walk in. And now you know my weakness, yes I suck at running, but guess what? You can run with a sprained wrist, and not much else, so I’ll be a damn good runner by regionals!

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SAMOA COOKIE BARS

Posted on March 30, 2013 | 6 Comments

There’s so much I want to tell you, yet nothing seems to want to travel from my brain to the keyboard. I don’t know what’s happening. So this is either going to be a short post, or a ramble, but either way I won’t be hurt if you jump ahead to this bomb recipe. A friend of mine from the gym found a photo on facebook of some insanley delicous looking samoa brownie cookie chocolately heavenly like bars and asked me if I could make them paleo. And since I love her, I did it. It was torture though because I wanted to eat all of them, but I couldn’t because I’m doing the whole30 right now, but I’m on day 27! So that’s exciting right? Not really when you have these starring you in the face, but it’s all good. And I mean who does a 21 Day Sugar Detox, straight into a whole30? Crazy people thats who. And yes I know I’m slightly crazy, it’s no secret. So anyway that’s that. What else is happening in my life? Since you’re all dying to know. We’re doing the CrossFit open competition and luckily I’m competing on a very beastly team because I sprained my wrist last week and it’s ruined my hopes and dreams of dominating the leaderboard. Okay, it hasn’t ruined my hopes and dreams, but it does suck. We were working on a 3 rep max hang clean and on my third one my elbow collided with my knee sending 195 lbs of force onto my wrist. Yes it was devastating. I managed to tape the crap out of it and get 8 muscle ups on last weeks workout, but this week doing cleans was not fun. I did a decent amount, but I had to be extremely cautious on each one. So when you see me fall off the leaderboard you will know why, but like I said, my team kicks ass so I’m not worried. I’ll be well rested by regionals and probably more fit than I would be if I hadn’t sprained my wrist. Strange I know, but I’m a pretty crappy runner, and I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of running the next few weeks. So be scared, I’m coming for you.

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STUFFED DATES

Posted on March 24, 2013 | 2 Comments

I’ve been trying to think of some yummy Easter sweets to make, and how to best paleofy them. This has proved to be a bit torturous as I’m currently whole 3oing, but since I’m currently on day 21  I’ve managed to stay strong. Although I will most likely celebrate with a little sweet on day 30, I’m not craving them like I normally would be and I’ve never felt better! If you’re curious as to what the whole 30 is I suggest you check out whole9 and read their book It Starts With Food. In a nutshell (and a very Ashley abbreviated paraphrase) the whole 30 is 30 days eating strict paleo with the idea that we should be eating three balanced meals a day and limit snacking. A big part of the whole 30 is overcoming your cravings for certain things like sweets or pizza or whatever your weakness might be and also to really understand what type of foods affect your body in certain ways. That’s why you cut out all grains, dairy, legumes and sweeteners because they are known to cause allergies, inflammation disease and much more. After the 30 days you can reintroduce certain food types one at a time to see how they directly affect you. It’s awesome. I have more energy, I’m sleeping great, and I’m losing weight. Who wouldn’t love all of these things to happen to them? Seriously, just do it. You’re body with thank you. Okay back to my Easter sweet treat talk, since that’s probably what you’re more excited about. I came up with this recipe when I was frosting my carrot cake muffins because the frosting was so delicious and I had extra dates lying around. I thought, this would be freaking amazing together. I decided to make the frosting a bit less frosting like and a bit more nut buttery, and bam, easy and delicious stuffed dates for any party. Enjoy!

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CARROT CAKE MUFFINS

Posted on March 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

So I made a joke on Instagram that I wouldn’t share this recipe until I found my future husband. But then I realized you’d probably be waiting a very long time. So I’ll just give it to you anyway. However, if you take advantage of this delicious recipe, you can pay me back by setting me up with any hot single men you might know. You know where to find me, all forms of social media are right there to the right, just chose one and contact me. I’ll be waiting patiently. What else can I tell you? The crossfit open competition just started. I’ve been spending my days training like a beast, and my nights chillin’ like a grandma in the hopes that I will be at least adequate against the insane athletes taking over this sport. Seriously, where are these monsters coming from? My life is the gym (hence why I need you to find me a boyfriend) and I still feel inadequate. And I really don’t know what to expect with this first workout. I mean its 17 minutes of burpees and snatches! Okay, burpees and snatches? Fine. 17 minutes? Shoot me! I’m a sub 5 minute kind of WODer. Hopefully my inner beast will kick in and some bundled up form of endurance which I’ve still yet to find will magically appear. That would be ideal at least. Good luck if your competing in the open, or good job if you’ve already pushed yourself through this first WOD. You’re an animal!

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ORANGE CHICKEN

Posted on February 28, 2013 | 7 Comments

A lot of things have been happening in my life lately, therefore I felt you needed an update and could probably use a new recipe in your life. I’ve recently started interning at my gym because I’ve decided I’d like to become a certified CrossFit trainer. It’s incredible the opportunity I’ve been given to learn from some of the best trainers out there. The owners of my gym, CrossFit 209 Sport, Gabe Subry and Vince Carter are incredible. They’ve been doing CrossFit since it’s humble beginnings and know more about the sport and the way the body works than I could possibly imagine ever knowing. I’ve recently wondered why I hadn’t realized sooner what a strong passion I have for fitness, nutrition and the opportunity to teach others how to become healthy. Why did I study business in college again? Maybe I was just too young then to realize this was what I was meant to do, but I guess it’s never to late to make a change. Gabe has been in the game for years now and is an incredible athlete. Since moving back from Australia 4 months ago my level of fitness and strength has increased tremendously. I hit PRs every other week and I’m continually amazed by my increased endurance. I’m so thankful for the opportunity to train with and by these guys and I’m very excited for what the future holds. I’ve also got some new stuff in store for my blog and have decided I’d like to go back to school to get my masters in nutrition. It’s definitely going to be a long journey ahead, but when you find something your passionate about, time is merely a factor right? Okay, with that being said, if you’ve been following me you know I’m doing the 21 Day Sugar Detox and I’m proud to say I’m almost finished! I’m on day 18 and my sugar cravings have decreased dramatically. I am looking forward to a little reward at the end though I’ll admit. If you’ve ever considered giving this a try now is the time. Spring is just around the corner and I guarantee you’ll feel amazing as the sun starts to come out. Also, with the CrossFit Regionals approaching I think I might try to continue on this path but incorporate some fruit again because I love fruit. Only 3 days to go!

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AVOCADO AND SUNDRIED TOMATO STUFFED BURGERS

Posted on February 20, 2013 | 1 Comment

Happy hump day. And I’m not just celebrating Wednesday, I’m almost at the halfway point of my 21 Day Sugar Detox. Which is reason in itself to celebrate right? I’ll be honest I gave in and stepped on the scale this morning. I was going to wait the whole 21 days before I did it, but I couldn’t help myself. And disappointingly I’d only lost a couple pounds, which isn’t bad, but I guess I was hoping for a little bit more. I have had 3 people today ask me “wow you’ve lost weight haven’t you?” so I need to remember it’s not all about the number on the scale. I have a feeling in the past few months I’ve lost a lot of fat, but gained a lot of muscle. So the number on the scale might not reflect my hard work, but the compliments sure do. I guess the moral of my rant is to not get down if the number on the scale doesn’t budge too much. Especially if you exercise and lift weights a lot. If I get the guts maybe I’ll post some before and after photos. And if you’re doing a detox or a whole30 or a paleo challenge, be sure to take some photos of yourself as well. You might have major scale movement and you might not, but photos never lie! And continuing with my quest to make delicious 21 Day Sugar Detox approved recipes I made this one from Caveman Feast, one of my favorite paleo recipe ebooks from Civilized Caveman. Hope you enjoy it!

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SPICY CHICKEN TACOS WITH COCONUT FLOUR TORTILLAS

Posted on February 17, 2013 | 2 Comments

Day 7 of my 21 Day Sugar Detox baby! That’s right, this is officially a PR for me, I’ve never made it longer than 5 days without sugar. And I’ve tried, several times I hate to admit. What’s kept me on track? Probably the copious amounts of training I’ve been doing that keeps me busy at the gym and a lot of experimenting with new dishes like this one. Adding new flavors to my meals every day keeps things fun and exciting. I still have cravings though, and I’m still nervous that I could fail, but for now I will keep trucking along because I’m finally one third of the way to my goal. So that’s that, now who’s excited for the CrossFit open? Can you believe it’s in less than 3 weeks?! I can’t! I was sick this weekend so I’ve now had 4 days off in a row and I’m feeling extremely sluggish and crappy. I’m nervous for tomorrows workout, and I hear we’re doing track work, the kind of stuff that kills me! It’s gonna hurt thats for sure. Hopefully I can get my ass in good enough shape in these last few weeks though. I think the open is such a cool experience because you can literally compare yourself to every CrossFitter in the world. There aren’t many opportunities to do that and I’m really excited to see how I stack up. If you’re giving the competition a go, good luck and make sure you have fun while you’re doing it! Also, be sure to make lots of paleo dishes to keep you fuelled and fired up.

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TURKEY VEGETABLE SOUP

Posted on February 16, 2013 | 2 Comments

Happy Saturday, happy weekend, and happy sunshine. I’m enjoying this beautiful weather, but I’m not looking forward to this rain they speak of next week. Well I guess if it’s going to cool down again what better way to get through it than with a warm bowl of turkey and veggie soup. I posted a pic on instagram of this soup a couple weeks ago and a lot of people asked for the recipe. Unfortunately this was a “throw whatever’s in the fridge in the pot” kind of soup so I’m not too sure what the measurements should be. I’m gonna guestimate for you though, so if anything seems to much or too little try adding or subtracting to your liking. Also, I’m almost a third of the way done with my 21 Day Sugar Detox and going strong. Yesterday I got really sick though and it made things extremely hard. You would think being sick would make it easy, I had no appetite most of the day, but then by the evening I was feeling a bit better and all of a sudden I was starving and had no motivation to cook. I just wanted to grab unhealthy snacks from the cupboard, but I didn’t. I baked some chicken and veggies so I didn’t have to stand over the stove and monitor anything. So day 6 it is today. Hope you’re staying strong as well if you’re doing a detox. It will be worth it I promise!

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