Hog Wild

After my competition, I went a little hog wild. Here are some of the foods I indulged on, after depriving myself for soooo long! I brought the first two dishes to a pot luck. The deserts however, I made after returning home from the pot luck!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

For the roasted red pepper hummus, I used the following recipe.

I slightly modified the recipe, here are the ingredients I used:

1 whole red bell pepper (roasted in the oven)

One 15-ounce can chickpeas (don't completely drain the can, use 1/5 of the liquid remaining in the can)

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini 

3 cloves of garlic minced (dependent on your taste preference)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes

Several basil leaves finally chopped

Pinch cayenne pepper 

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

I generally always mix everything together all at once and add more seasonings/oil if needed. The method I use for mixing is my Ninja food processor, I've tried using blenders in the past but the motor burns out pretty quickly. I defiantly recommend getting a heavy duty food processor if this is going to be a regular dish. I've learned over time after throwing away my fare share of blenders.

Vegetables I served with the hummus.

Usually, I cut up bell peppers, celery, and carrots to serve with the hummus. But, at home I put hummus on, or in most of my dishes. It's kind of like salsa, you really cant go wrong with salsa, it taste good with everything (this is my own personal opinion). 

Asian Fusion Quinoa

Ah, the Asian Fusion Quinoa, a great dish for a pot luck. If you are interested in preparing the dish for 2-4 people, I highly recommend scaling the recipe down, and using half the recommended ingredients. Or, you will have a ton of left overs. I obtained the recipe from: Living Plant Strong blog. I actually made this dish for a potluck on Memorial Day. It really didn't get touched since most of the people were on a paleo diet. No worries, more for me!!!

So, on Memorial Day I joined a Cross Fit gym located in Saginaw, MI, Next Level Fitness. My boy friend Richard had already been regularly attending this gym, but I decided to start because i'd like to grow my upper body, and I enjoy olympic weight lifting moves. This gym is great! Nice people, sweat dripping workouts, and very welcoming to new comers. 

Here is a picture of the crew on Memorial Day.

WOD:

" “Murph” is a CrossFit workout, for time, that consists of:

1 mile Run 

100 Pull-ups

200 Push-ups 

300 Squats 

1 mile Run

This workout was one of Mike’s favorites and he apparently named it “Body Armor”. Crossfitters refer to it as “Murph” in honor of the focused warrior and great American who wanted nothing more in life than to serve this great country and the beautiful people who make it what it is. "

 - Information obtained from the Next Level Fitness Facebook Page

Now, as mentioned above. I went a little hog wild this weekend after my competition. Pictured below is a brownie/cookie combo served with almond dream vanilla ice cream (a great dairy ice cream substitute!), and raspberries soaked in a raspberry wine drizzled on top of almond dream vanilla ice cream. 

The brownie/cookie combo I made using a (Wheat-Free, Gluten-Free, Non-Dairy) brownie mix and chocolate chip cookie mix made by Pamela's products. When the recipe called for an egg, I substituted 1/2 banana. I've found that banana's work  well as substitutes for egg, and leave a refreshing banana flavor essence. 

Baking: I first layered the pan with the prepared cookie dough and then I put a thin layer of peanut butter down to cover the cookie dough, and layered the brownie mix on top. It took about 45 minutes for the desert to bake. Boy was it delicious!