You Hold The Key To Your Own Happiness

  Ohhhhh HELLO!!!! My little neglected blog-o-sphere. I'm SO SORRY I've been gone for so long! The good news is, it's because I'm out enjoying my life. The bad news is, I have robbed you of some great recipes!!! Alright, sooooo I usually start off my blog with motivational mushy goodness that my brain produces from time to time. WELL, I have this friend. Her name is Ashley. And she is a beast. I love her to pieces and the other day she posted a new note to her Facebook. Simply put, it rocked my socks. It is too awesome to not share. SOOOO, with her permission, I share it with all of you... enjoy!
 

I’ve always struggled with my lack of self-confidence and still have my moments.  I’ve never felt “skinny” enough or pretty enough, which I feel is mostly due to the stereotypes that we face in the media today.  I am what you would call a yo-yo dieter, I’ve tried everything from cutting out carbohydrates, eating only 1200 calories a day, zumba, running, elliptical, stairmaster, lifting weights…I even tried Weight Watchers and through all of that I still didn’t feel that I was “skinny” enough, that the number on the scale was LOW enough or that I was a small enough size.

At one point I was at my lowest weight, I was working out 6 days a week.  Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday you could find me at the gym anywhere from 2-3 hours doing weights and a hour of cardio, the other 3 days of the week I was there doing an hour of cardio.  Something with my current job I couldn’t maintain.  I ended up getting a really sick, and couldn’t find the motivation to keep it up after I got better.  Though I hadn’t reached my goal and I still had more I NEEDED to lose I just quit.  Slowly my diet became terrible again and I gained back 20 of the 50 pounds I had lost.

November 2011 I found the courage to start Crossfit, thanks to my little brother.  I was absolutely TERRIFIED!  In fact it took me about 3 weeks to finally get up the nerve to email them to start my one-on-one sessions.  I was petrified to start the group workouts.  But right away I was in love! Something about the WODs (workout of the day), the team environment, feeling accomplished even if I finished last, everything just made me want to keep coming back.

February of this year I ended up having to have an emergency gall bladder surgery.  After I was out of the hospital and getting back into my routine I was miserable that I couldn’t go workout.  I missed the workouts and the people I worked out with.  It was the longest two months.  Every week I would go in just to say hi and see everyone.  Finally I got back in March, and I felt like I was starting all over.  I had to use the green band for pull-ups again and I wasn’t running as fast, I wasn’t lifting enough.  Then one day a couch told me, you had surgery, you have to remember that even the small successes count…they matter.

This year was the second year I watched the Crossfit Games.  While I was watching it all I could think was I wanted to be there…I want to compete.  With a team or as an individual I want to make it to the Crossfit Games.  I found that I would spend more time working on my double-unders, push myself a little harder to PR, do whatever I had to do an unassisted pull-up.

I am no longer worried about how skinny I need to be, that the number on the scale is to high or that I am not the RIGHT size (our fashion industry considers a size 6 plus sized).  Strong truly is the new Sexy for me.  I find that every day I would rather become stronger then skinner.  Crossfit doesn’t make women bulky…I know I am not going to look like a female body builder at the end of the day.  I am going to look lean and muscular.  I look up to the women who compete in the Crossfit games.  They are extremely beautiful!

I am truly blessed to have amazing coaches at Crossfit Lincoln.  I attribute the fact that I can now string together 11 double-unders, is a direct result of their coaching and pointers.  I can now do 2 pull-ups unassisted in a row.  I find I PR almost every time we have a strength day.  To me I find it less stressful and I am SO much happier being healthy and strong.  Crossfit has truly opened my eyes and the door to a world I would have never encountered….Strength is true beauty.

  As I said, she is AMAZING! She is like me, we share our stories to inspire and motivate. Everyone has a unique story and journey. Go out there and make your own too! Noww.... recipe time. This one... was... amazing. Simply put. YUM. Of course, PALEOMG.COM =)

Pork Avocado Cream Enchiladas

Prep time: 8 hours

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 8 hours 20 mins

Serves: 3

 

Ingredients

• For the tortillas
• 6 egg whites
• 3 tablespoons coconut flour
• 6 tablespoons canned coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling

• 1.5lbs pork rump roast
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1.5 cup vegetable broth

For the avocado cream sauce

• 2 avocados, pitted and insides removed (don’t put the skin in the food processor. duh)
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, stems removed
• 3 tablespoons canned coconut milk
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• salt and pepper, to taste
• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lime

Instructions

1. Ok so you got to start a day ahead of time with this meal. Slow cook that pork butt. Place onions in your crockpot, then rump roast on top, and then all the rest of the ingredients for the filling in your crockpot. Turn crockpot on low and cook for 6-8 hours.
2. Once your pork is doing cooking, use two fork to shred it to pieces. Mmmmmm shredded meat.
3. Now time to make your tortillas. Whisk all your tortilla ingredients together until all the lumps are gone.
4. Place a large skillet over medium heat and grease with a bit of oil. Pour a 4 inch in diameter circle in the center of your pan and tilt the pan around to spread the batter into a large circle.
5. Let the tortilla cook for a minute or so, until the tortilla bubbles and the edges begin to turn up. BEING VERY CAREFUL, circle your spatula under the tortilla pulling up all the edges before you flip it.
6. Cook on other side for another minute.
7. Place on plate to let cool. Repeat with leftover batter. You should get 5-6 tortillas from your batter.
8. While your tortillas are cooling, place all the ingredients for your avocado cream sauce into a food processor and puree until completely smooth. This may take a couple minutes.
9. Now turn on your broiler to high.
10. Grab an 8×8 glass baking dish, lay out a tortilla, place a little bit of your shredded pork along with a little avocado cream sauce (be sure to save some to put on top of the tortillas later) then curl the sides of the tortilla around to make a mini burrito. Repeat with all of your tortillas so they are lined up side by side in your glass baking dish.
11. Put your baking dish under your broiler and cook for about 6-8 minutes or until your tortillas become crispy.
12. Then remove baking dish from the oven and turn broiler to low. Cover the enchiladas with the rest of your avocado cream sauce then place back in the oven for 5-7 minutes.
13. Top with cilantro.
14. Serve those little enchiladas on up!

  I used chicken instead of pork because I was in a chicken mood. Stan topped his with salsa and said it was amazeballs. I, did not. I eat salsa every morning for breakfast with my eggs, so sometimes I like a break from salsa. Anyway, top it how you like, it's sure to be awesome!
  I promise to try and keep up on this more. I  miss you guys, did you miss me?! =) Have a good week peeps!