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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

PowerCrunch bars

Howdy all y'all!
It's been a minute or two since my last post. Let's get down to business. Today I want to share a find. A snack food find that is. After my little one's T1D diagnosis on Sept 2017, I have been looking for a low carb high protein bar that won't spike her blood sugar. A co-worker recommended the PowerCrunch bars. So far so good, we have tried the peanut butter creme, salted caramel, French vanilla creme and wild berry creme. 

These bars are protein energy bars. On the box it says they're "high-dh hydrolysed whey protein in a creme filled wafer bar". Think sugar wafers but without the boatload of sugar. They are generously sized at 1.4 oz per bar and are filling. 


  • The peanut butter creme is our favorite. It has 10g carbs & 13g protein.


  • Salted Caramel is our second favorite. It has 9g carbs & 13g protein.     
  
  • French vanilla creme has 8g carbs & 14g protein.
   
  
  • Wild berry creme has 9g carbs and 14g protein.
   
  

To find out more about PowerCrunch bars, visit their website at PowerCrunch.com
The are available at various retailers and also online. 


Monday, July 13, 2015

CrunchyGreenHealthNut's simple meat sauce

This is my goto meat sauce, I put this stuff on everything (salads, sautéed veggies, eggs)

Basic ingredients: Worcestershire sauce, minced garlic, Italian seasonings, green peppers (red peppers  are yummy too), peppercorn.

I use Kroger brand tomato sauce in the 29 oz size can.

Ingredients in the Kroger brand tomato sauce: tomato concentrate, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, citric acid, natural flavors, dried bell pepper.

Sauce in the works. This is starting to simmer. I cook it down to where is thicker but still saucy. It is personal preference.


Simple meat sauce 
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
Worcestershire sauce
Minced garlic
1 can tomato sauce (29 oz size)
1/2 can water
2 small peppers or 1 big one. Green and red are a good mix.

Brown 1 lb of ground beef or ground chuck. Drain the fat if you like.
Add a couple of squirts of Worcestershire sauce and a generous spoonful of garlic, use more or less depending on how much you like garlic.
Add tomato sauce, then fill empty can half way and add that to the pot.
Add big chunks of red and green peppers. 
Sprinkle generous amount of Italian seasonings.
Simmer on low to reduce the sauce to your desired thickness/consistency.
Season with pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Warrior Dash 2015 experience

I had wanted to do one of these obstacle courses for a year now and have been regularly exercising for the last 2 years by going to the on-ramp to crossfit bootcamp at Crossfit Etowah.  I will be 40 years old this year and a mother of a 4 and 5 year old, I figured it was now or never, so my friend Trish signed us up for it.  There was no going back. I barely slept the night before, thinking I was going to either fall to my death or drown. I have a fear of heights, the highest I go on a box jump is 1 foot and I do not know how to swim, still I did not back out. What follows below is my personal experience on race day. Hopefully it will help some of you out there thinking on participating in one of these.

Warrior Dash April 11, 2015
Mountain City, Ga at the Blue Ridge Camp
Setting: Mountainous region.
3.0 Miles, 12 Obstacles

The Gear:

Vibram Trek Ascent shoes. You definitely need these for maximum traction. I got mine at Natural Strides In downtown Woodstock. Vibram's description for these shoes was right on the money-
"For off-road adventures and hiking in all conditions, the new Trek Ascent Synthetic offers rugged traction and sure grip to keep you firmly grounded on and off the trail. Choose the synthetic model for sporty, weather resistant performance. Machine washable. Air Dry." (http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/products/Five-Fingers-Trek-Ascent-womens.htm?activity=outdoor
Pictured here are my Trek Ascent.  They performed beautifully on the trail, notice the grip wells/ tracks/threads or what ever you want to call them, go all the way to the tip of the toes. These are extremely flexible and the grip/traction on these shoes is unbelievable and crucial for tackling some of the most slippery obstacles, like a four-wheeler in a mud track.

  

Trish's Vibram are the Grey with purple and pink accents. (Photo Credit: Trish Keller)

Injinji light weight toe socks.  I always wear socks to cut down on any rubbing or chafing, I did not end up with any blisters or loose any toe nails.
Fitted ankle length polyester/spandex running pants. I feel more comfortable with a layer of protection around my legs. Felt thankful to be wearing long pants while swimming (or attempting to swim ) and wading through the natural lakes/waterholes with tons of foreign slimy plants and who knows what else living in there.
Fitted long sleeve polyester/spandex running shirt. No loose clothing that could potentially get snagged on barbed wire or branch. Do yourself a favor and do not wear cotton.
My good Ole trusty half finger weigh lifting gloves. Helped save my hands during all the crawling and climbing, less slippage, I also cut off all my nails really short.

The pre-race specifics:

The event was very well organized. My friend and I carpooled (highly recommended). We parked as instructed, paid the $10 parking fee and took the shuttle to the event site. 
There we checked in at the sign in tent to turn in the participant waiver and get our bib, shirt and how Trish puts it " ..that, ever so cool, viking hat."
From there, next stop was the ID tent to get our 21 and over wrist band so we could get our beer later. 
Gear check was a huge tent set up with rows of tables. A volunteer at the exit would check to make sure the number on the bag being checked out matched the bib number. 
From there off to the starting line 10 minutes before our heat time.
The race starts:

First mile or so was up and along the side of the mountain. There were plenty of natural obstacles in the rustic narrow natural trail, we had to navigate over fallen trees, branches, rocks, muddy sections, more rocks, slippery slopes, and holes.  It was a heck of a warm up if you ask me.  For those of you who are affected by high levels of pollen and/or sports induced asthma remember to use your inhaler before you start.

Then came the obstacles along the remaining 2 miles.

The Obstacles:

 Here are the 12 we had to survi...errr..  overcome:
(Click on each obstacle name to see it in action at the Warrior Dash Website)

 

Mudmounds

"... climb over a tall mud mound and slide down into a muddy pit…over and over again." (https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/mud-mounds/)
There was not a lot of mud in the pits, the mounds were huge but scalable. I used roots that were sticking out to grab on to and dug into the dirt with my toes to get footing. The Trek Ascent shoes were great for this.

 

Under the wire

"... 100 feet underneath real barbed wire." (https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/under-the-wire/)
I made sure to crawl with my behind down as to not get snagged on the barbed wire. There was not a lot of mud underneath, some grassy areas mixed in with dirt areas and compacted Georgia red clay.

 

Diesel Dome

 "...30×50 wooden dome ..."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/diesel-dome/)
I am afraid of heights but the dome was not bad. Easy climb.

 

Hard Rain

"Trudge through a water pit and fight the spray as you ascend up and over a soaking wet, 40-foot vault."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/hard-rain/)
There was no "trudging" and this was no "water pit".  It was an actual natural lake or water hole we had to swim across to get to the 40-foot vault.  This was my first "OMG I'M GONNA TRULY DIE!" obstacle. As I stepped into the water I had my friend Trish to my left (she can swim), and a volunteer to my right on the shore ready to throw a life preserver at me. A few steps in the freezing cold water and there was a drop, first to chest level.  This sent me into a cold shock and hyperventilating, I was literally panting, could not catch my breath, super rapid short breathing that I could NOT control. All of a sudden  I could not feel the bottom, I sank over my head. I can't swim, was completely submerged but somehow I doggie paddled up to the surface, yelled "OMG Trish!" and started to swim. I made it, with Trish to my left yelling "you're doing it you're swimming!" and another volunteer on the shore that let me know I was getting close to shallower water. The 40-foot vault with water spraying at me suddenly did not seem to daunting after all.

 

Shock Top unfiltered

"... hurdle yourself ... over three sets of barricades. ... scoot underneath an 80-foot canopy. ... race over three more barricades...."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/shocktop-unfiltered/)
The canopy crawl was over a grassy area and the barricades were not that high, not hard to scale. On some I had to scale over and some were to crawl under.
Here's a pic of the last barricade of the ShockTop obstacle. 

(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

 

Great warrior wall

"...  14-foot wall caked in the slick mud ...."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/great-warrior-wall/)
I am hanging my head down in shame shame shame on this one.  I gave it a shot, walked up to that rope, grabbed it tight and had both feet on that wall, but for the life of me I could not pull myself up to the first slat. I would have made it if I only could have gone up to that stinking first slat that was sooo out of my reach. The only obstacle I had to walk around. You're good to go if you are tall, have long legs, strong upper body.

 

Warrior roast

"... leap over a row of real fire ..."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/warrior-roast/)
Low row of stacked up firelogs. Did not have to jump high. Got a running start.

 

Muddy mayhem

"Army-crawl under real barbed wire through a 100-foot-long mud pit..."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/muddy-mayhem/)
The mud was thick and mid-thigh high, no army crawling through this, more of a duck and walk under the barbed wire. Very slippery and uneven footing. Mud got thicker after the barbed wire area, before we made it out. Make sure shoes are on tight.

(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Trish and I half way through the muddy mayhem.
(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Alcatraz

"...Swim out to floating docks in the water, climb up and over, and make sure you still have enough energy to swim to shore."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/alcatraz/)
The floating docks had cargo netting that helped with the getting on top bad over. Thankfully this was not in deep water. Phew!

 

Chaotic cargo

"...climb up 60 feet of cargo net and cross another 10 feet of shifting cargo..."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/chaotic-cargo/)
 Chaotic cargo was high up and I definitely battled with my fear of heights on this one. I picked a support beam and went up that way. The rope seemed tighter along that area, making it less wobbly going up. Days later I still have bruises on my chins and knees from the hands and knees crawling.

(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Made it to the top. My hands sweating and butterflies in my stomach.
Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Starting my descend, as my teammate gets to the top.
Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Pipeline

"...Climb up, over, and through a tube of kinked cargo nets 12 feet in the air."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/pipeline/)
This is the entrance to the Pipeline. I crawled up it the regular way on my hands and knees but according to Trish "going up on our back makes this much easier to navigate."
(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

On the next photo you can see the other end of the cargo net tubes leading into a scaling down of a slanted wall. This led to the next obstacle (Goliath), you can see part of it to the right, it is that slanted wall with wooden slats across and ropes coming down. People were slipping and sliding all over the place and slamming against the wall. My vibrams awesome traction helped me scale this wall with no slippage. 

Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Goliath

"...Summit the largest obstacle,... race across a two-story balance beam before making a splash at the bottom of a 30-foot-high slide..."(https://www.warriordash.com/obstacle/goliath/)
   
After scaling the slippery wall came the balance beams with water sprays shooting out at us. There was a water and mud pit under it. It seemed to me that we were pretty high up in the air, I do not know how deep the water pit was and I did not want to find out.

Pictured here is my friend Trish walking across the balance beams. 

(Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

Facing my fear of drowning, since I don't know how to swim. This is me, after going down the 30 foot high slide. I landed in a spot that was deeper than I am tall. I sank and having no footing, had to dogie paddle to the surface and out of the deep area.

Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

We made it out alive! 
Photo Credit: GameFaceMedia)

 After the last obstacle we went by the Natural Strides tent, where they had the Vibram FiveFingers shoe washing station. What a nice touch, I thought that was a great idea. They washed our mud filled shoes for us. While we sat in the sun to dry up a bit and got some of the mud out of our ears. Thanks Natural Strides for having a box of Qtips at their tent  :-)

(Photo Credit: Greg Scott, Natural Strides)

There was also a tent for changing clothes. It was set up with tables, no showers. On the way out to the shuttle I saw a sign out on a front yard "camp hose shower $1.00" heee heee. 

I have to say that this event was very organized. I was very pleased with the overall atmosphere and despite having to battle my fears I came out with a great feeling of accomplishment.

I can't wait to do it again next year.


Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Spinach and kale chicken salad




Pour about 1 tablespoon of grape seed oil in a pan.
Sprinkle the chicken breasts with yellow curry, grilling seasonings, and Worcestershire sauce if you like.
Cover and cook on low till tender, add small amounts of water as needed to keep it saucy.
Shred chicken.

1 can green beans mixed w/ one capful of apple cider vinegar. 

1 can regular beets ( not the pickled kind)

Serve the chicken, green beans and beets over baby kale and spinach.





Saturday, March 14, 2015

Upcoming Local Events- 2015

Instead of looking through my timeline to find local event links that I have already posted somewhere down the line, I decided it would be easier to update and share this list from here as I find new events throughout the year.  These are local to North Georgia, usually Woodstock, Marietta, Kennesaw and surrounding area, with some events farther away.

 

 

 

*3/21/15 Next Step Run Walk or Roll 5K

First Baptist Church of Woodstock 
11905 Highway 92 
Woodstock Ga 30188
8:00 a.m.
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*3/21/15 Warrior Krav Maga Bootcamp

ATA Woodstock
11517 Highway 92, Ste 110
Woodstock Ga 30188
10 a.m. - noon 
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*4/11/15 Warrior Dash obstacle 5K

Blue Ridge Camp
Hwy 441 and Playhouse Street
Mountain City Ga 30562
11:30 a.m.
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4/18/15 Festivus Crossfit Games 

CrossFit Etowah
8811 Hwy 92
Woodstock Ga 20189
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*5/2/15 GreenPrints 5K

Starts and finishes at the site of Trailfest
behind Natural Strides in Woodstock 
at 8636 Main Street Woodstock Ga 30188
8:00 a.m.
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*5/16/15 Hustle for Heroes 5K

First Baptist Church of Woodstock
11905 Highway 92
Woodstock Ga 30188 
7:30 a.m.

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*5/25/15 Memorial Day MURPH


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*6/13/15 Rope Mill Trail run 10K

Olde Rope Mill Park
690 Rope Mill Road
Woodstock, GA 30188

----------------------

*7/04/15 Woodstock Freedom Run 5K

Morgans Hardware
8594 Main Street Woodstock, GA
Woodstock, GA 30188

7:15 a.m. 

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*8/1/15 Hero Run 5K

Kennesaw First Baptist Church
2958 North Main Street
Kennesaw Ga 30144
7:30 a.m. 


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*9/7/15 Labor Day Be Your Own Hero 5K/10K

AMC Barrett Commons 14 
2600 Cobb Pl Ln NW
Kennesaw Ga 30144
7:30 a.m. 

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*12/13/15 Locomotive Half Marathon

Barrett Summit 
1990 Vaughn Rd
Kennesaw Ga 30144
7:30 a.m.

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Egg Coffee

I'm a big coffee drinker and I had never heard of egg coffee..until today. At first I was sort of repulsed at the idea of having an egg in my coffee, then I saw the video by Tastemade and decided to give it a try.

Basically you take an egg and mix it with your ground coffee and add that to boiling water then strain it.
I was pleasantly surprised. The result was a richer cup of Java without the bitterness.

I drank mine with coconut milk, but it is perfectly fine all by itself. Oooo and I'm thinking it would also make an awsome Bullet proof coffee w/ coconut oil, some cinnamon, turmeric and coconut milk all revved up in the NutriBullet. Mmmmmm.


Check out the video for step by step instructions


If  YouTube video doesn't play then try viewing it on Tastemade a FB page:

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Another comforting chicken soup

I love soups and make them often. They're an easy, quick and I find them so comforting, specially during the winter months.
For this particular one I sautéed two boneless chicken breasts in grapeseed oil, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and grill time seasonings. 
I then added water to cover and let them cook. Took them out and chopped them, then returned to the broth. 
To that I added chopped up carrots and waited till the carrots were done before adding diced green and red pepper and celery. 
I also sprinkled in turmeric and curry.
Since these were boneless breasts I added a little bit of chicken bouillon. Had them been bone in I would have let the bones simmer longer and ommited the bouillon. But that is just my personal preference. 


Mmmmm mmmmm Good Soup.