Raw Kale, Red Onion, Bacon, Mint & Grapefruit Salad
In a bowl whisk together vinegar, honey, and mustard and add oil in a stream, whisking until emulsified.
In a large heavy skillet cook onion and bacon over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is pale golden and bacon is browned.
In a large serving bowl toss together kale, mint, grapefruit sections, and bacon mixture. Add the dressing and toss to combine. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Gluten-Free Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (one standard packet)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups white rice flour
10 cups water
1 cup baking soda
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon raw honey
Rising the yeast. Combine the warm water, sugar, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn on the mixer, briefly, until they are combined. Leave the bowl in a warm place in the kitchen
until the yeast has doubled in volume, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Letting the dough rise. Grease a large bowl. Add the dough, which will not be quite as stiff as a typical gluten dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm place in your kitchen until it has risen by at least half its volume, about 1 hour.
Forming the pretzels. Take the risen dough out of the bowl. Divide it into balls about 3 ounces each. Dust the countertop with white rice flour. Roll each clump of dough into a tight ball, form whatever shape you like.
Freezing the dough. Put the completed pretzel dough onto a plate. Repeat until the plate is full. Put the full plate in the freezer for at least 15 minutes before you work with it again. Continue filling plates until you have rolled the entire dough into pretzels.
Making the baking soda water. Combine the water and baking soda in a large saucepan, stirring them together as the water comes to a full boil. Reduce the water to a lower temperature until it keeps at a steady simmer.
Preparing to bake. Preheat the oven to 450°. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Dunking in the baking soda water. Take one plate of the pretzel doughs out of the freezer. One at a time, lower the pretzel dough into the baking soda water, on a slotted spoon, for about 30 seconds. This will give it the pretzel taste. Do not go longer than 1 minute or the dough will start to fall apart. Lift the dunked dough, still in its original shape, onto a waiting baking sheet. Continue until the baking sheet is full.
Baking the pretzels. Whisk together the egg and honey. Brush the egg-honey wash over each pretzel. Top with coarse sea salt. Continue until all the pretzels are washed. Bake until the pretzels are firm to the touch and are golden to dark brown, about 15 to 18 minutes, depending on your oven.
Remove the pretzels from the oven and cool them on a cooling rack.
Finish the remaining pretzels with the baking soda water and oven until you have baked them all.
Makes about 12 pretzels. Enjoy!
The Science of the Six-Pack
My Neighbor Totoro
Cauliflower Crust Pizza
a quick thought...
Happy 2012!
Push.
by Fatima Cook
What pushes you that extra mile (foot or even inch)? Just when you feel like you have given it your absolute all...I mean dug up mojo on a cellular level...a spark is ignited...a trigger is pulled, and you are able to persevere, even transcend. What is that “thing” that enkindles your brain to fire it up when you had, just a split second ago, felt like you had burned up every match in your matchbook...like you couldn’t possibly go any harder or any longer?
Gregg does this thing in his classes where in the last 10-30 seconds he asks you to consider doing more....going faster, harder, stronger. He gives you about 15 seconds to decide whether you will maintain your current level of exertion or elevate it. I have to say that in most cases, I feel like I am already struggling uncomfortably, on the brink of ceasing and desisting. Yet I make the split second decision to find more. Oftentimes I look around the room once the effort is over and see that many others have done the same. Where does that last burst come from? Before he says whatever it is he says, you were ready to kick it. Somehow you are able to launch yourself to the next level for those last 10 seconds. Again I ask, what is that? It works every single time. A great coach/trainer can do this for you. This is why we pay exuberant amounts of money for our trainers, classes and gym memberships. This is why we work out with others or compete in events. Motivation. I mean really good motivation. The kind that feels like we did it ourselves. The kind that feels unforced, not guilt-driven. Can we bottle that, please?
Anyway, the bottom line is that we have...we are, so much more then we first can see. Once we are able to get past that belief, or block, we can achieve so much more. There are ways we can do this for ourselves (ultimately, we must meet Gregg’s motivation with our own, but that is the topic for another day). Here are my humble few thoughts on the matter, most taken from Gregg.
Find a word that signifies something to you. It doesn’t even need to be one word. It can be a phrase. It can even be the name of someone you either love to death and would do anything for, or someone you are insanely competitive with. When you find yourself looking for an excuse to back off, repeat that word to yourself over and over again or see that person in front of you. Let it motivate you to go a bit further....3 seconds longer, 2 mph faster, 1% harder...
Timing is everything. As the saying goes, the enemy you know is much better then the one you don’t. You can’t push yourself harder endlessly. You just can’t. Can you most likely do it for 10 seconds, maybe 15, maybe even 30? Yes. Give yourself time slots to work within.
Timing is everything. Gregg only allows us 10-15 seconds to “decide” to go for it or not. He doesn’t go on and on about it for hours, even minutes. Don’t give yourself the time to back out of it. As Nike so succinctly puts it, “Just do it”.
Believe and let go. Change your mind into actually believing you can and “just do it”(great tagline, Nike). Your mind is your greatest friend and your biggest enemy, depending on how you use it. Don’t entertain the idea that you may not, cannot. Know that you are going to try and try. Just that, is already success.
The reality of it all is that this translates with perfection to all things in life. Your physical training can be life training. In anything you do, your work, your children, your husband/wife, family, etc...believe you are limitless, and you will break barriers you never thought possible.
What are we leaving out? Part 2
I hope last month’s sleep protocol has helped you feel more rested and focused. The next topic of discussion in the “what are we leaving out” series is recovery. This is something I talk tirelessly about at the end of class...and with good reason. Many of us believe that the more we train, the greater the intensity, the better our results. Ask yourself this...have you ever felt that after 3 consecutive days of vigorous training you are feeling more listless then energtic? Or that how your body feels after your training hinders your every day activities? Has simply climbing the stairs become so draining that a very important meeting on the 3rd floor must be cancelled simply because the only elevator in the building is on the fritz? If so, is our training really working for us? May I suggest the preposterous notion of training to feel better...the idea of not to wear ourselves down to the bone. Sounds simple and logical, no? Well, it is.
It all boils down to your ultimate goals. Why are we doing what we are doing? Pretty simply, there is no need to do more then we need to do. After 1-2 intense training days, please. welcome yourself to an easy training day, or (you better sit down for this one) take a day off. The amount of rest really depends on exactly what you are doing. Of course, not challenging your body enough may result in nothing as well, so talk to a trainer about creating a balanced training schedule.
The body needs time to repair tissue damaged during training and replenish energy stores after a tough workout. Without it, the body will continue to break down, both physically and psychologically. Your risk for injury increases. You may experience lackluster feelings and even depression. With adequate recovery time, you allow your body to perform optimally.
So...sleep well and train hard with requisite recovery. Stay tuned for more...
My Favorites this Week
