Holy goodness, my quads are on fire this morning! I did a really tough lower body workout at CrossFit yesterday, and, boy, am I feeling it today. Yowsahs.
Workout
Check out this workout:
STRENGTH
Back Squat: 5 x 5METCON
“Honky Tonk”
AMRAP 10:
20 Overhead Squats (75, 45)
10 Box Jump Overs (24, 20)L3: (65, 35) (24, 20)
L2: (55, 25) (20, 15)
L1: empty bar OHS, (20, 15)
My quads are sore just thinking about it!
I worked with Kerrie on the Strength part of the workout. We did 3 warm-up sets and then did 5 sets of 5 reps at 140 pounds, so my legs were exhausted even before we started the WOD.
I used the prescribed weight for the Overhead Squats (45 pounds) and box for the Box Jump Overs (20 inches). I set up right near Kerrie and tried to keep up with her, but she smoked me. I finished 5 + 6 (5 rounds + 6 reps), and my legs were donezo.
After CrossFit, I came home and took Murphy for his second walk of the morning. When I took him out for his usual morning walk, he was not at all interested in doing his ābusiness.āĀ He was taking his sweet timeāāsniffing things, scavenging for food (it was trash day), and not focusing on going āpotty,āĀ so I took him back in the house and went to CrossFit. I actually grabbed an iced coffee to take with me on our second walk because I had a feeling Murphy was going to dillydally againāāand he did. He’s soooo stubborn when he wants to be. It’s Murphy’s world; I’m just living in it.
Lunch
A little while later, I made lunch, which was a ham and provolone wrap with lettuce and tomato.
On the side, I had some fresh fruit, which was leftover from my sister’s shower.
Delicious lunch!
I spent the rest of the afternoon tackling my inbox, which, I’ve determined, is a scary place. I can’t keep up with itāāeven with all sorts of labels and folders. It’s a mess.
Snack
I eventually took a little break to make some juice. You’d think I’d be sick of drinking juice after a 3-day cleanse, but it actually made me like it more. I tried to recreate Citrus 2, but I didn’t get it quite rightāāI think I need more pineapple. I’m going to try it again today, and I’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out. I need this juice in my life!
Dinner
I was excited when dinnertime rolled around because I had a delicious recipe in mind for Vegetarian Cottage Pie. When we were in Ireland, I saw a similar dish on a menu at a pub and immediately knew that I wanted to recreate it at home. I threw together this Vegetarian Cottage Pie last night, and it turned out so well. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
Vegetarian Cottage Pie
Ingredients:
- 3 large potatoes, cooked (I used 2 Russet + 1 sweet potato)
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3 carrots, chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- Pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 2 tbsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
In a large pan, sautĆĀ© onion in olive oil until it’s soft. Add carrots and vegetable broth, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Then, add celery, cover, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and mix in chickpeas.
Add veggie-chickpea mixture to an oven-safe dish.
In a food processor (or blender), combine cooked potatoes with milk, butter, salt, pepper, thyme, and Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Spread potatoes on top of veggie-chickpea mixture and then sprinkle with shredded cheddar.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown.
Remove from oven and serve immediately.
Comfort food = YUM! I went back for a second serving of this stuff. It was so good!
Recipe makes 4-6 servings.
I finished off the night with some chocolaty trail mix.
Health News & Views
Looking for an afternoon snack that will satisfy your sweet tooth too? Look no further!
These trail mix cookies are loaded with nuts, seeds, and chocolate, which will make your taste buds happy and ward off hunger pangs. Whether you’re avoiding gluten in your diet or not, these cookies will put a smile on your face!
Question of the Day
What’s your favorite vegetarian meal?
How often do you eat meat each week?
How often do you eat animal products each week?
P.S For those of you thinking about registering for the ZOOMA Annapolis race (half marathon or 10K), you can get 10% off your registration with code CNCZOOMA!
80 Comments
I try to eat at least one vegetarian/vegan meal per week or more. There are so many tasty options there’s no reason not to switch it up:)
The pie looks yummy (although, anything with melted cheese in is good with me!), although, just a note (and it may be different in the US), but the UK version of worcestershire sauce isn’t vegetarian as it contains anchovies.
My non-veggie boyfriend eats the same (veggie meals) as me about 4 nights a week – it makes things much easier.
Oh, I didn’t know that! Thanks! I don’t think the US version has anchovies in it. It might depend on the product though?
@Tina: It does. You can buy vegan worcestershire sauce though.
Maybe it’s possible to find vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, but any “normal” version will have anchovies. @Tina:
@Lindsay: Annie’s makes a vegan Worcestershire–I used it all the time when I was a vegetarian!
@Tina: I made a paleo shepherds pie recently and didn’t have Worcestershire sauce and red wine made a lovely substitute! š
The cottage pie looks delicious! Ive been eating more chickpeas and love them! I do eat a lot of meat though like chicken, lean beef, tuna patties! And our crossfit box has been insane lately, i dont know if my body will ever recover from the madness!
Oh this sounds like such an easy veggi packed dinnr! It sounds like it would have tasty leftovers too!
We are definitley carnivores in this house. My husband’s idea of eating paleo means that he gets to eat endless amounts of meat. However, when we switched over all all organic/grassefed my wallet started to weep so my daughter and I eat veggie dishes while he’s at the firehouse.
We eat a lot of chicken. We used to eat more red meat but have cut back on that quite a bit. I like pastas loaded with veggies and cheese for vegetarian options. I love good veggie lasagna!.
Your lunch looks wonderful. I love fresh fruit. Last summer I made a lot of turkey wraps with some laughing cow – I need to bring them back again because they were so good.
This sounds good!
I love Running to the Kitchens Chickpea Pesto recipe, I cannot get enough of it! I sometimes just make the ‘pesto’ for a dip/sandwich spread, sooo good!
http://www.runningtothekitchen.com/2012/05/chickpea-pesto-sandwich/
Thank you so much for posting the recipe for those gluten free cookies! We just found out my sister has celiac’s, so I am going to make them for her today to have when she gets home from school š
Haha that Alicia keys image just made my day! I ran a marathon in Sunday and that was basically my anthem for the last 4 miles. I eat meat probably 5 times a week. My fiancĆĀ© is a big crossfiter so he is always cooking up protein!
This looks so great! My favorite vegetarian meal is a sesame tofu and broccoli stir-fry. I know Paleo frowns on soy, but sometimes I just crave it! š
That leg workout? Ridiculous. Hope you’re not too sore! How in the world does one start to try box jump overs?? I’m terrified of missing. Eeek!
I love eating lentils in a salad or by themselves as a veggie meal. However I really like chicken and fish and eat this 1-2 times a day!
That wrap looks so good!! Those cookies look great too. I eat meat everyday. Ha I didn’t realize that til now. It’s mostly chicken and turkey but I’ll have red meat usually a couple times a week as well. Not huge quantities, but still.
That leg workout looks awesome!!
I’m not vegan or vegetarian, but I can easily eat meals with no meat and often do. I like to get my protein from beans, quinoa and nuts. Those trail mix cookies look delish….definitely heading over for the recipe!
Awesome eats! Cottage pie was one of my favorite meals growing up.
I have a fabulous recipe for roasted beets and cabbage. It’s more a side dish but it’s hearty. And my standby meal; Vegetable and Rice egg drop soup. It’s vegan and gluten free. I make it nearly every week.
@Melisa: Soup with egg in it is not going to be vegan … but maybe vegetarian.
I love simple lunches like that wrap and fruit. The fresh and simple ingredients just hit the spot. I eat meat whenever I have it or if I’m out to eat. I don’t really think about it and never really crave it.
My salads never get old! I always mix up the toppings to make them different and tasty!
I am not too big of a fan of shepherd’s pie, but this vegetarian version looks awesome! I am definitely going to be trying this…I especially love the chickpeas- yum!
Yay! I am so glad that you posted about this because it looks and sounds amazing!! About how many servings would you say that this makes? I am curious because I only cook for myself, haha! Also, for the heads up, you may want to specify to use vegan Worcestershire sauce because most contain anchovies and are not vegetarian. Seriously, meat is hiding in everything! š
Good call about the Worcheshire sauce! The recipe makes 4-6 servings… maybe more. We eat a lot!
@Tina: I eat a lot too, so I will assume it makes closer to 4 or 5 servings ;).
I don’t eat meat that often – maybe a couple times a week, but I’ve always been that way. I love anything with tofu or tempeh! That pie looks really yummy!
This meal sounds awesome! Thanks for sharing! I am a vegetarian so I eat it everyday. I don’t think I could ever give up dairy but I try to support certified humane farmers as much as possible bc I’m a huge animal lover.
Well, I’m a vegetarian so almost all of my meals are my favorite š I really love slow cooker lasagna, eggplant parm, or stuffed mushrooms. I made a “Taco Tuesday” stuffed mushroom and it was amazing!! I eat dairy almost every day, but that’s the only animal product that I eat. I love cottage cheese and Greek Yogurt.
I enjoy eating my meat!! I would like to try being a vegetarian for a week or so, just to see if I could do it. That cottage pie really does look great š
We eat meat probably 40% of the time. Then 30% is seafood, and 30% is vegetarian. Most of my favorite vegetarian meals are probably Indian dishes like Lentil Dal. But I also love having mexican dishes that end up vegetarian, because I love beans. I’ll build a taco salad with avocado, salsa, black beans, hot sauce, peppers, etc.
oh I love trail mix so trail mix cookies sound amazing! And I’m not a huge chickpea fan (although I love hummus), I guess it’s the texture? But anyway, I think I’d love that with some other kind of bean!
It would definitely work with other beans too!
That looks delicious!!
Any idea how well/long it would keep in the fridge? I love to make stuff like this, but can never end up eating it all on my own since I cook for one.
Yum! I make something similar – chickpea pot pie – but this is a great no carb option!
I love a good veggie lasagna!
I am mostly a vegetarian…I occasionally cheat for sushi, but am really starting to cut out fish. It’s a transition. My favorite vegetarian meal would have to be gnocci anything. Pesto and Gnocci go together great!
I’ve played around with being completely vegan, but found it to be really hard. Dairy kills me! I love yogurt and cheese but don’t drink milk. It has always made me feel weird so I use almond milk. I would say I eat about 40% vegan and 60% vegetarian with wiggle room when I eat fish.
Last night I made Vegetarian Lentil “Meat”Loaf and it was fantastic!! I love lentils as a quality meat substitute and I have a recipe for Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie here: http://milesforthought.wordpress.com/2013/03/07/shepherds-pie-for-one similar to your cottage pie but uses lentils as the base and sweet potatoes as the topping (yumm!)
Oh this does sound like such a good idea! I love the veggie/chickpea base…yumm!
I tried your iced coffee recipe last night!The only problem was the ice melted really really fast. Do you normally use a FULL cup of ice? And what is your ratio of coffee to cream/milk?? Mine almost tasted too “flat or watery”. I think I need to experiment my add-ins!
You actually need to chill the hot coffee overnight in the fridge and then pour it over ice! š
@Tina: haha, yes I did that! But I used the actual coffee pot which is a “thermos” so maybe it just didn’t cool all the way?! It was in there all night. I put a handful of ice in the cup but it melted so quick!
This sounds amazing! I really wish I was home so I could make this. I’ll definitely be trying it out soon!
Ah – I want a cookie RIGHT now!
PS. They sell vegan Worcestershire sauce? I didn’t even realize that was an option haha.
Me either until today!
Wow this looks amazing!! Definitely trying this. Thank you! š
Bwahahaha! Love the “Quads on Fire” caption on that photo. Hilarious. š My husband and I make 3 different dinners to last us for one week. This past month we’ve been experimenting with making two out of those three dinners meatless. So far it’s going great and we’re really liking it.
That cottage pie looks so good! I eat vegetarian for at least half of my meals, but usually more like 80% of them. I just love beans, tofu, and tempeh! My favourite veggie meal is tofu stir fry with brown rice.
WOW! I bet your legs are beat. 140lbs!! #beastmode
“My Quads are on Fire” is exactly what I was singing last week after some tough TRX workouts!
Not related to your post, but figured youd love this.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/freddiecampion/10-pugs-who-look-like-things-5vii
Haha! Thank you for the link! š
Love veggie cottage pies! I go all out with sweet potato on top or go for a cauliflower mash topping! Puy lentils make a great filling, they even look more like meat š
My legs ache just looking at that workout!! You hung in there, man, but I don’t know if I could’ve – especially after those first back squats š
Hey Tina! I’m new to CrossFit, and I was just wondering if you could explain (or maybe direct me to a post you’ve written that explains?) how you write out your workouts. I’m a little confused by the shorthand (L1, L2, L3, etc.) but I’d love to understand it better!
BTW, those cookies look deeeelicious… thanks for the recipe!
Check out this post: http://carrotsncake.com/2012/07/wod-you-say.html Hope you find it helpful and happy Crossfitting! š
Yum that looks delicious! Because I’m not a very talented chef cooking meat makes me very nervous because I don’t want to poison myself. I mostly only eat it when Im out.
I hardly used to eat any meat but since going Paleo and finding a good butcher I eat red meat and chicken three or four times a week, but also a lot of fish to balance it out.
140# 5×5 is legit, nice work Tina!! I’m so impatient with my strength, I just want MOAR WEIGHT!!
BTW, long time reader and I must say I love your philosophy on life and all that it encompasses. You inspire me in many ways, keep it up!
~Jenn
Aww, thank you! š
That vegetarian cottage pie looks delicious! I love all things vegetarian, so I can’t pick a favorite meal. I eat meat (red meat and chicken) about twice a week, but I also eat fish three or four times a week (which I consider meat). Probably more cheese than I should…
I think I hardly pass a day without meat, if not for a main meal od the day, than for a snack sandwich with lunch meat or so. I must confess that the main reasons are my lack of creativity and ideas for vegetarian dishes. At least now I try to avoid meat in the steak form and to focus on fish, chicken or stews. I noticed that it really helped a lot to my digestive system.
I don’t really eat a ton of meat – maybe 3 times a week. I
try to only buy organic, grass fed, but it gets so expensive that
most of the time, I’ll skip it all together!
@Victoria @ Reluctantly Skinny: @Victoria @ Reluctantly Skinny: I know what you mean! I try to only buy organic, grass fed meat so meat has now become part of a “special occasion” dinner.
The cottage pie looks delicious! I love the idea of using chickpeas for protein instead of ground meat.