I had this grand idea!....Week 2 of back on track-finding my center and focus again!

Let me start by saying GO NINERS!!!! Love it! I have been a Niners fan for a long time now. I am not some huge fan of the NFL but I do love football. So YES!! Nicely done Niners!




I had this grand idea for my blog today. 13 memories of 2013. I actually started it, then realized...eh...not for Sunday. Its coming though. I can say looking back..pretty satisfied with my accomplishments last year can't wait to top it this year.

My sweet grand baby Lady Scarlet is growing up so fast!!! Just a few pics from last week. Man I love this sweet little girl!!!

My New Year started with a new PR. I set a goal for January to work on a few things I have been avoiding. The overhead squat is one of them. I hate them. It absolutely displays every weakness that I have. So after avoiding it for months and months and months. I hit a new PR. 118..I can only go up from here! 

Looking forward to really working hard for the next few months and starting with a new PR has me excited to see what else I can do! For those of you not tracking your progress-this is a great tool!! As you can see I have a good history of where I have been! XFit PR app is cheap and pretty easy to use!

I had a pretty successful week last week getting my eating cleaned up. My goodness, it's so easy to fall back into bad habits, especially when life is crazy busy. But I am happy to say that I am feeling focused again. I just took it one day at a time and it seemed to work.

I have a GREAT salad tip. I had made a large green salad mixed with kale for a family party- there was quite a bit leftover so I loaded up a large Ziploc and believe it or not it lasted the entire week! I was able to have a little salad everyday it stay so fresh I was shocked. I still had plenty of mix leftover and plenty of kale so I grabbed a cucumber-some radishes-red pepper and a fat tomato cut it all up-put it in a ziploc and I am ready for the week again- since I made a ton of dressing I split that into 4 small servings and I am good to go. This is just red wine vinegar, olive oil, lemon and greek seasoning. 

I have been LOVING soup for lunch lately. I have been doing soup and salad and its been great! So I was super pumped when Christy shared this recipe with me! I am going to type it out for you. 
INGREDIENTS
2 garlic cloves minced
2 carrots peeled and cubed
1 cup butternut squash peeled and cubed
1 small sweet potato peeled and cubed
1/2 yellow onion quartered
2 T olive oil
4 c chicken stock
2-3 cups leftover shredded chicken or 1 lb chicken breast 
3/4 t dried parsley
1 t sea salt
1/2 t dried thyme
1/2 t dried rosemary
1/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t cracked black pepper
1 cup water
2 cups baby spinach 
Preheat oven to 425
Toss the veggies with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper roast for 20 min or until veggies are soft

These veggies just look gorgeous

While the veggies cook bring the chicken stock-chicken, herbs and salt and pepper to a simmer in a large pot. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes - if using raw chicken cook 45 minutes or until chicken is cooked enough to shred with a fork.

I used cooked chicken thighs

When the veggies are ready add half the veggies to the soup and the other half in a blender-make sure to put the onion quarters in the blender. Puree the veggies with 1 cup of water.
Add the vegetable puree and baby spinach to the soup and simmer 5-10 minutes until the spinach is wilted and the soup is hot. 





This was before I added the spinach. I didn't have to add anything once it was cooked. It was seasoned well and I followed the recipe with the exception that I used shredded chicken thighs. AND I think if I make it again I will throw in just a little more spinach! Thanks again Christy for sharing.




So my lunches are taken care of this soup seems pretty hearty so I may not need a salad with it but I will be packing it just in case. I am determined to be super strict during the week so that when I want to have a little "cheat meal" on Saturday i don't feel guilty. 
I also made a big batch of meatball. Lets be honest you can't really go wrong with meatballs. 

Mediterranean Meatballs

This is just ground turkey-2 turkey italian sausage links-fresh parsley, 1/2  red onion- greek seasoning, mint, dried basil and chopped kalmata olives. Bake at 350 or about 30 minutes is. 

I am still hooked on frittatas for breakfast. I made one on Wed last week and I still have 6 good servings. I followed kind of the same recipe only I subbed shredded sweet potato for the zucchini - so clearly I need to really watch any other starch this week. I usually have the frittata with a 1/2 of a SMALL avocado. 

I cant believe that we are already a week into the New Year AND THAT THE REGISTRATION FOR THE CROSSFIT OPEN STARTS JANUARY 15TH!!! Its insane and make me happy to give me something new to work toward. First WOD will be at the end of February AND SW Regionals will be in SLC again. So awesome.
Well folks. That's it for a Sunday. I am working on putting together some posts for eating Paleo on a budget. One thing I did notice when I started going a little more strict Paleo was that my grocery bill increased. For me I have learned to live with it but I know that there are many people out there who would love to eat clean but find it's more pricey. So I have been working on getting some meals put together that wont kill the budget. With as much as I am working I may not get it done this month. But I am sure going to try!!!
Have a great week everyone- stay focused-and if you haven't started already- GET FOCUSED!! A little something funny in closing...for those of you who WOD with me :)
Croni-OUT