Happy Valentine Day Squats and Treats

Happy Valentine Day!  I got my kids something!  See below.  

Last night I made something for V-Day treats.  Tiffany Lemon Coconut Macaroons! Without Sugar!  See recipe below.

Frog and Gorilla with M&M's for my both kids

4 Egg Whites.  Use Hand Mixer to whisk it until it reaches to soft peak.

Add 1/2 TBS of fresh lemon juice and zest of 1 lemon.  1 tsp. of vanilla extract, 1 tsp of sea salt, and 15 drops of vanilla creme stevia liquid or lemon stevia liquid or plain stevia liquid.  I used vanilla creme because it was what I had in the pantry.  Whisk it again with the hand mixer.  Be sure it is still soft peak when done.

Now, this is the tricky part.  You will need 2 cups of unsweetened shredded coconut and a soft spatula.  Fold in unsweetened shredded coconut (a little bit of that into the egg white meringue at a time as you fold).  Do not stir!  Fold in gently.  After you fold in 2 cups of shredded coconut, place the bowl into the refrigerator to let that bind. About 20 minutes.

Oven at 350 degrees.  Place silpat or parchment paper onto baking sheet pan.  Take the bowl out from the refrigerator.  Use a small ice-cream scoop or melon scoop, scoop that macaroons (the ball should be intact) onto the baking sheet pan like the picture above.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, keep your eye on these so they won't burn!

Now, that is Tiffany Lemon Coconut Macaroons!  Tiffany because of the color of the bowl.  ;-)

Crossfit from yesterday on 2/13

It was warm!  Mid 60's!  I was excited to wear shorts, at last!  And a short sleeves, at last too!  It was sunny too and the temps were fantastic.

Looking Chic for crossfit!

I made it in under 20 minutes cap.  Whew.  I did #95 bench press, #95 power cleans, #115 back squats, and #125 dead lift and guess what, I did go for a 800 m run.  Well, actually at "Grandma" pace jog and brisk walk combined.  I was excited.  Feet still achy, can't run normally, but I'm slowly training myself again to run.  I have been walking around the neighborhood at home daily this week to stretch my ankles and toes.  With Doctor's approval, of course.  I had cortisone injection in my left ankle on Wednesday, so that should help some.  Another one on Monday for my right ankle which will be the 2nd time.  Remember I have 2 big screws in my both ankles (outside and inside).

My weights for lifting still have to be light.  I wish I could RX on these heavy weights but my ankles cannot handle the pressure yet.  Time will heal.  I'm gonna wear shorts again today for crossfit at noon.  Excited to find out what we will do!

I did 190 squats yesterday (not including #115 20 back squats) at home before each meal and before bed. ;-)

SquatsChallenge and Meli's Surprise Chicken Burger Recipe!!

Did you do your Squats Challenge yet???  You better!  I did!  Total of squats during TV commercials last night was 125.  (25 squats every time the commercials come on during 1 of your favorite TV shows at bedtime or after dinner).

In summary, the reason why we should do 25 Squats 30 Day Challenge is because they will help us digest those undigested food in our belly near bedtime.   Try it, yourself!  They did work.  Not only that, they will give you a nice butt too!  Oh, and those legs too!!!  Strengthens your core too. 

Also, do 30 air squats before each meal.  I dare you!  

This morning I forgot to squat before breakfast!!  But, hey, I remembered that during my shower, so I did 30 air squats in the shower.  Be sure the shower floor or bathtub is clear of soap or shampoo/conditioner so it won't be too slippery to do squats.  I was in a hurry because I had a DR's appointment at 10 AM for my left foot 7 weeks POST-OP follow up.

I went to the food store after my doctor's appointment to grab some stuff.  I absent-minded grabbed pickled jars off the shelf.   Well, not really, I was in the mood to have some pickled something for snacks or whatever.  

When I got home, I was looking into the fridge to find something to cook for lunch.  I looked at grounded chicken and  ( yea, yea, yea, I know... there's something about me and chicken) thought... what ingredients will I put in these?  I had a light bulb pop up in my mind... Pickled Chicken Burgers!  Oh yea!!  I thought I'd surprise my husband with that which is why I named it, Meli's Surprise Chicken Burgers!   Here's how to make these...

You will need these.  Dill Relish, not sweet!  (sugar! bad bad for you) and Mild Bananas Peppers Rings (Soo yummy!  They are not spicy at all!  They are not like jalapeños, so quit whining "Oh, I can't stand spicy food.  Oh, are they spicy??" Just quit that!  Have some and you'll be addicted to these!  I use these in my tuna or chicken salad.  Or eat those alone as a snack.  So yummmmmmmmyyyy!  They are pickled, FYI.  Anyway, about 3 TBS of each.  For banana pepper rings, you will need to chop them up.

Place grounded chicken into a mixing bowl.  Add dill relish and chopped banana pepper rings into the bowl.  Season it with sea salt and black pepper.  Yes, that's it.  You'll be "surprised" when you bite on that chicken burger filled with pickled stuff.  It will dance in your mouth heavenly!

Use your hands to mix the chicken mixture.  "Ew, germs!?"  Suck it up, y'all.  that's what antibacterial soap and water are for.  To wash those germs off your hands.  You'll be fine.

 I turned it on at low-medium heat (number 2-3 for gas stove) Let the pan skillet get warm first before you place patties in there .  Meanwhile,  make chicken patties and then place them into the skillet and turn up the heat to medium (number 5-6) and cook about 5  minutes each side. Or until browned.

While these chicken burgers were cooking, I asked my hubby to prepare watermelon for me.  Why? Because he has an incredible patience to work with watermelons than I do.  He cuts these babies up real pretty too!!

Before we ate our lunch, my husband and I did 30 air squats!  Yes, I made him do it too. LOL  He'll thank me later for this.

There's something about me and chicken again.  Eric, my husband, swears, this is his best chicken burger ever.  Again.  LOL.

Place some sweet leaf or green leaf on your plate and some sliced cucumbers with squeeze of fresh lemon juice.  Salt and pepper these.  Place the Surprise Chicken Burger on top of sweet leaf or any kind of greens of your choice.  I squeezed some Dijon mustard on my chicken burger.  I love tangy burgers!
I brewed some chamomile and green tea to drink after lunch.  We had watermelons as our dessert after lunch.  Yum!

Here's a picture of my post-op feet.  Don't they look so much better?!  My left foot in the toe area is still swelling some.  My right foot is looking so much better except the ankle area is still swelling some too but it has reduced a lot since the last 4 months.  Because I have sprained my right ankle TWICE the first week of my post-op!  It was so painful!   Thank God, I haven't sprained my left ankle.  Gratefully, my left foot is recovering quickly than my right foot did.    The toe area (where I had both bunions removed) are still sensitive. The muscle and joints are not flexible yet but they are tolerable though.  I have to do PT on these by doing lunges as part of stretching/exercising.

I also had cortisone injection in my left ankle so the achy pain will go away.  OH MY GOD!! It was AGONY!!  I was going to get another cortisone injection in my right ankle but then my DR thought I should wait on that until Monday so I could take some pain and anxiety meds prior to injection.  It was unimaginably painful, let me tell you!  The injection needle had to sink deeply into my scar incision and to the bone.   I almost cried.  I was panicking.  The doctor felt bad so he thought I should wait until Monday.  Bless his heart!  He knows how terrified or petrified I am of needles injected so deeply inside me anywhere.  I jokily begged  him to put me to sleep first!   Now, you get the picture.   

But, now the aching pain in my left ankle has subsided since the cortisone injection.  I admit it was worth the agony pain.

Left foot is still swelling some.  I have total of 8 screws in my feet.  3 screws in each toe (removed bunions and put my joints together with screws and 1 big implant in each ankle for flat feet correction.)  I am still applying scar gel over my scar incisions.  That will take a while.  I love my feet!  My knees don't touch each other anymore!   I feel taller, really!

  So, the total of before meal squats we did today was 60, so far.  Plus more later on before snack and dinner and also TV commercials at bedtime during 1 of our TV shows.  Start right now with this challenge, y'all!!!

Be back later for more yummy recipes.

Meli Emmons

Do Air Squats during TV commercials at bedtime AND before each meal!

 Yes. For real!  I did 25 air squats every time the commercials came on.  This will be my new 25 Air Squats 30 Day Challenge.   Why not!?  

Before bedtime, do you sometimes feel sluggish or bloated or indigested from your last meal?  

If your answer is YES.  Then...

Air squats during commercials will help you digest your last meal therefore you'll sleep at ease at bedtime.  Not only that, you will increase the definitions of your hamstring, quads, buttock, and abs (core) and burn some fat too!   I challenge you to do 25 air squats every time the TV commercials come on during your 1 favorite tv show at bedtime or before bedtime.  Right now, I'm watching the recorded real housewives of Beverly Hills.  I just did several 25 air squats!  Now I'm feeling less bloated and I'm gonna sleep better tonight!  

How to do air squats:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a_fb6Kz7FQg

-------OR!!!!!!!!!

You can do this way too which I will start doing that tomorrow except I will do it for 30 days! Plus 25 air squats during TV commercials of 1 TV show before bedtime!   Hot legs, here they come!

I dare you to try this challenge!   Join me!

Day 30 completed Before and After pictures.

Now that I have reached my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  I have took pictures of my "after" appearances.  Either you agree with me or not.  This is from my point of view.  

Before you go and look at my pictures.  You want to know what's ironic?  I only lost 2 pounds!  Seriously.  Only 2 pounds, you say?  Yes, 2 pounds.  Remember earlier in one of my blogs, if you eat right and lift heavy weights, you will burn fat and gain muscle, thus muscle weigh more than body fat.  What I mean is that you lift weight, you gain muscle so your weight stays the same or slightly different.  But you lose MORE inches than the weight. My clothes, underwear, workout clothes, yoga pants, and bras feel loose on my body now than on Day 1.  The clothes were too snug for me and I hated it.   I had to burn off the fat and gain back the muscle.  Start from square 1.    I admit I was looking forward to weighing 145 pounds again like I did last year until I had surgery on my both feet at different times.   My husband is the same thing here.  He lost body fat, but weighs the same or even gained a pound because he has lifted heavier weights than before.  So we are on the same boat here.  I know our weight will shift later on.  Give or take, 3  months at most, it will happen.  Here's the perfect link on more information about muscle and body weight/fat

http://www.jumpstartmd.com/does-muscle-weigh-less-than-fat/

I know it is weird, but according to the link above, it does work wonders.  Here's my proof.  See below.  

Before (left) and After (right) You may see that my back, waist and ribcage have reduced inches of body fat.   Notice my my breast in the left picture hung out of my red bikini top a little bit?  Now, look at my breast in the right picture stayed inside the red bikini top.  Good start for now. Again, if you will look at my shoulder in both pictures, you can see my deltoids (shoulder) have toned a little bit.  (Look at the shadow on my deltoids). 

Before (left) and After (right) I don't know about you, but I can see that my breasts have reduced a little bit. My upper ribcage and obliques are showing more definition now (right picture).  The inches on my inner thighs also have reduced a little bit.  Not very much, but I'm getting ahead in the game now.  It will take a couple more months for me to drastically lose body fat and inches.  My chest (teres major) connecting to deltoids (shoulder) have slightly expanded.  (It may look like my breasts have grown in wide side but they're only my muscle).

Yesterday.

 I'm not exactly satisfied with my appearance but at least I'm getting there.  My rib cages and upper midsection have reduced the size in appearance.  Patience is too great to deal with but it will pay off.

Argghh!

Today.

Hips and waist and shoulders have slimmed down.  I also noticed that my shoulders' definition have slightly changed some too.  Thanks to Crossfit. A lot upper workouts than the legs in the past month.  But now, the leg workouts are coming in a lot lately.  Oh boy! I can't wait!

  I like that both my oblique muscle and upper midsection are slightly expanding and changing in definitions too, which is what I was hoping for. But I need to work harder on my lower abs (belly) area.   Gotta work my butt off some more.  This has been a little over a month since Ive been back to Crossfit.  So, the physical appearance will change in overtime.

In conclusion, I have completed my 30 Day Paleo Challenge.  However,  I am still continuing my Paleo lifestyle.  I am going to refrain whey protein/isolate from my paleo diet because they still make me feel bloated and sluggish.  I will stick to L-glutamine and BCAA with water or almond milk only.  I also will have to restrict on nuts and fruits intakes this time.  Still no honey or maple syrup in my diet for a long while.  I have to burn off excess of body fat.

I will keep you updated from time to time in my blogs, just not on a daily basis this time since I am moving around more and more now that I'm not wearing my surgical boot anymore!  Yay!

See you in my next blog soon.  I will blog on my interesting and yummy recipes too!

Good night, y'all!

Meli Emmons

Day 25. Steak for dinner and a trip to Central Market

I cannot believe I have gone this far, 25 days.  5 more days until I get on the weight scale to see how much I weigh and take pictures too.  I cannot wait to compare the pictures on Day 1 and Day 30.  But, I wouldn't be surprised if my weight hasn't gone down much but I can assure you that I feel my clothes loose on me.  This is what I was counting on.  Loose clothes, not so snug.   Why would my weight not go down so much?  Remember, I am doing crossfit, so I am gaining back my muscle slowly.   

However, I will continue with another 30 days of strict paleo.  That means no sugar (dates, dried fruits, chocolate, or too many fruits, etc..) and alcohol.  They are usually allowed in regular paleo diet after you meet our goal.  But, I am trying to reduce my body fat percentage, so I have to omit those from my Paleo diet.  And, this time I will refrain using Why Protein isolate after my first 30 Day Paleo Challenge since they have dairy in it.  I am going to stick with L-glutamine and BCAA with unsweetened almond milk.

This morning, I wasn't in the mood to make breakfast.  I wasn't too hungry.  I didn't even finish my latte.  Due to my poor sleep last night.  I didn't get enough sleep, so I decided to make vanilla protein drink (whey protein) with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Then I went back to my bed to take a nap before I headed out to Austin to run a few errands.  Today was my rest day from crossfit.  

After my brief nap, I got ready and it was almost noon, still, I wasn't hungry for lunch.  So, I ate half an apple with coconut butter and very little bit of almond butter just to keep my energy level up.  I had to make myself eat.  

I went to get my nails done first.  Then, I had to make a trip to Nordstrom to make an exchange for something else.  Then I went to Central Market to get some dinner.  I finally felt hungry.  So, I went to the salad bar.  See below.  (Always eat something before you shop for food otherwise you grab unnecessarily junks into your cart!  Trust me, it does happen.)

Kale, Arugula, Carrots, little bit of Sweet Potatoes, Roasted Chicken, little bit of Beets, purple Cabbage, and lemon EVOO and little bit of balsamic vinegar.  And I mixed 2 different kinds of tea into my cup.  Sunburst Green Tea and Hibiscus Mint Tea.  Sooo good!

I grabbed what I needed for dinner and headed home.  I couldn't wait to have steak!!  My kids really love eating steak.  They wish they eat steak every week!  Or 2 times a week, at least.  We don't eat red meat often, except for grass fed ground beef, once to twice every other week.  Steak, probably every 2 to 3 weeks or so.  We eat mostly white meat.  

And my husband is out of town so I was thrilled to get Japanese Sweet Potato, my favorite but not my husband's.  I took advantage of having some for dinner tonight!

What are Japanese Sweet Potatoes?  See the link below.

http://slism.com/diet/japanese-sweet-potato-diet.html  

I baked both Japanese sweet potato (red) and Idaho potatoes (for my kids)  I used Le Creuset roasting pan with cover , and filled it with an inch or two of water in the pan.  Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour or so.  

Before 1 hour was up, I took it out and cut each potato into half so they would cook some more in the core of potatoes.  I returned the pan back in the oven to cook while I grilled the steak.

Now... if you want to eat the oh so good steak then I recommend you to buy grass fed steak.  No questions.  They are so tender!

Grass Fed Top Sirloin Steak at Central Market.  You can find Grass Fed steak at your local food stores.  Just ask.

Now, when I was at the bulk area thinking of what seasoning to use for my steak to rub with.  Remember, the fewer ingredients, the better they taste.  I took my time in there to study the spices and seasonings they had.  When I saw the applewood smoked sea salt... I thought, Perfect!!!!!  Flavored sea salt!?  I never thought of that!  So, I grabbed that.  

YOU HAVE TO GET THIS!!!  YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED!

When I saw that, Vanilla Pepper, I thought that was interesting.  I gambled, I got some of that.

I couldn't wait to season my steak with these 2 new ingredients.

Just sprinkle enough of both spices, applewood smoked sea salt and vanilla pepper on both sides of the steak.  Rub these in real well.  Let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes so the sea salt and pepper will make the steak ever more tender.  Trust me on this one.  Just do it!

Yes, I used my skillet.  It is so cold outside and my husband is out of town and I didn't want to mess with his grill.   Heat the skillet medium-high, number between 6-7 on gas stove.  Let it get hot first for a little bit before you sear or cook your steak.  My kids and I love our steak rare medium.  So, I seared the steak exactly 6 minutes on each side.

Done!  6 minutes on each side of steak.  Ready to cut.  It smelled so good!  It perfumed the whole kitchen!

Rare medium, perfect!  Just what we wanted.  Both kids couldn't wait to get those babies on their plate!

I made side salad with lemon juice and EVOO.  Half of Japanese sweet potato with little bit of coconut oil, sea salt and pepper.  Let me tell you, those steak were exceptionally heaven!!!!!  They tasted so delicious.  Those spices I used were perfect!    Don't be shy to buy these and try these on your steak or chicken!  Soo good!  

It's gonna be cold the next 6 weeks, apparently so,  the groundhog stayed underground. Yesterday, I bought 2 more new workout outfits for Crossfit.   I cannot wait to wear these tomorrow and Friday.  They are gonna keep me warm.  I will have to wear long socks with these too.  

Who's ready for warm weather??  I AM!!!

From TJMaxx

I'm going to hit the sack now since I didn't sleep well last night.  I hope I will sleep through the night.

Night, y'all

Meli Emmons

Part of day 23 and day 24 Check out my Herb De Provence Chicken Thighs recipe!

Part of Day 23:

After breakfast, I got ready for our Noon Crossfit.  Guess what, I finally got to wear both normal shoes, well, Oly (Olympic, heavyweight lifting shoes) yesterday!  I was happy!  So happy!  Of course, I did it nice and easy with front squats.  I haven't done any heavy weight squats for nearly 4 months!  Air squats, yes, but not with weights!

See my cute Oly shoes below?

Oly shoes on!  No more surgical boot!  I hope so!

Of course, my ankles are still weak.  I have to train my ankles again to get the strength back to normal.  That means I cannot tempt myself to go HAF (Heavy as Fu-k) or HAS (Heavy as Sh-t).  My last 1 RM for Front Squat before surgery was at #165.  This time, I went as heavy as #125.  Not so bad for nearly 4 months of no weight squats.  I did it real nice and slow.  I slowly increased the weight after every 3 tries.  The heavier they got, I went for 1 try (1 rep) every time I added more weight to the max where my ankles could tolerate a little bit.  No more.  So, #125.  Then after that, we had to do 1000 M Row for benchmark.  Yesterday was the benchmark day for both FTSQ and Row.  I finished 1000 M Row in 4:10.  Not bad.  It did kind of hurt my toes and ankles a little bit but tolerable.    When we were all finished.  I went ahead and did 3 sets of 30 reps Toes to Bar for abs.  And then I did 5 butter-fly pull-ups.  

This was our WOD for Day 23.  Find your 1RM (Rep Max) FRSQ (Front Squat). And 1000 M Row.

Really a good workout!  I so needed that.  I like it when my heart pounds from working out.  When I got home, I drank L-glutamine and BCAA with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.  Then, I had a bowl of chili that my husband warmed up for me.  I didn't eat very much of that.  I probably had like 3 or 4 spoonfuls of chili.  I was running late for an appointment in Austin.  So, I rushed to get ready but I bought a bag of pork chips for my snack later in the afternoon.

I felt like a clown wearing this to Crossfit and H-E-B.  Hehe.

Lunch, leftover chili.  Didn't finish it.  Only had 3-4 spoonfuls of that. 

I love that!  Ingredients: Fried pork skin and salt.  That's it!!  That is why I love this bag!  I snack on these when I get hungry or running low on fuel.

I got home a little later than I thought from Austin.  I had ran a several errands.  I got home about 6:30 PM.  I managed to make Breakinner (breakfast for dinner)

Omelet with asparagus and a dollop of guacamole dip.  Then I had Not Really La Madeline Romanof for dessert.  

Day 24:

My husband made some bacon and I made scrambled eggs for our breakfast.  Latte, of course.

Then Crossfit time.

Oh boy!  Great HIIT!  (High Intensity Interval Training)  High cardio and Lifting at the same time.  I loved it!
Bear Complex (Clean; Press; Back Squat; Press)  DT (12 Dead lift; 9 Hang 6 Clean; Press)   Curtis (Hang Clean; Front Squat or Front Lunge; Press) I did these at #65 instead of #95.  Remember, my ankles are not strong enough to tolerate HAS (Heavy as Sh-t) weights yet.  Patience will pay off.  The time cap was 25 minutes.  I took the picture of the board before the coach changed the time cap.  

Ignore the 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM, they were from yesterday's WOD.  6 AM and 12 PM from today.  I wish I could do it with #95.  #65 is still great to use for a fast workout.  Fat Burner workout! 

Blurry picture, but I had to take another picture of my Oly shoes again!  So excited!  'Suse my powder on my pants.  After that, I did 3 strict pull-ups and some ABS workouts too.

When I got home, I had my regular L-glutamine and BCAA drink and then had some carrots and celery dip with guacamole and a very small bowl of chili.

When I was getting ready for my bath... oh wow!  Look at my Hang Clean mark on my front leg!!  Dang!  Bonus points for that!    That says I did it too fast, dropping hard on my leg when doing hang cleans.  Looks like hickey marks.

See below.

Bonus points!  From Hang Cleans.

This was my afternoon snack.  Banana Chia Pudding that I made last night.  I let it sit in the fridge overnight.  It was sooooo gooooooodddd!!  Mash a banana in a bowl.  15 drops of vanilla creme stevia liquid into the bowl too and add a can of coconut milk (not Lite, full fat).  Add 1/2 cup of chia seeds into the bowl and stir well.  Fill that in a mason jar or an air tight container.  Let it chill in the refrigerator overnight or 2 hours.  

Before I took my bath, I prepped for dinner.  Herb De Provence Chicken Thighs.

About 1/4 cup or 1/3 cup of dried Herb De Provence and 2 TBS or 3 TBS of sea salt.  Coat these chicken thighs or drumsticks with the seasoning.  Place them in the dutch oven.  Cook at 325 degrees for 3 hours.  Then Turn up the broiler to high and take the cover (top) off and let it cook for another 5 minutes or longer just until they are brown and crispy!

All Done!  Soooo frigging good!

While chicken thighs were resting in the dutch oven with the top or cover on, I sautéed green collards and napa cabbage in EVOO and lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Yummy!  That was my dinner.  I indeed did eat 2nd 1/2 of chicken thigh.  Then I had Not Really La Madeline's Romanof Dessert.  Recipe of that is in one of my blogs.

I look forward to drinking L-glutamine and Bcaa drink before bedtime.  I predict I will have sore legs and arms.  I can feel them coming.

Good Night, y'all!