Summer Squash and Tofu Noodles

I did tell you Summer squash was our cooking inspiration this week right? It's so cheap.  So, run with it.  When something is in season take advantage of it.

Also, do not fear the TOFU NOODLES!!!
If you make them right you will never feel the need to eat regular pasta again.  They smell funny before you rinse them, but so do people before the bathe.  Run with it.

Ps..there is cheese in this and prepacked ingredients so I have no right calling it Paleo.

Ingredients:

1. 1 Medium Size Squash, skin on and sliced thin
2. 1 Small White or Yellow Onion, diced
3. 1 Cup Baby Carrots (or big ones, I just happened to have baby carrots) diced.
4. 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5. 2 gloves garlic
6. 1 Package Tofu Noodles like this picture to the left <------ or right, if your dyslexic. I use the Fettuccine ones
7. Spices--assorted like Parsley,  Salt, Pepper, Crushed Red Pepper
8. 2 cups tomato sauce (your preference or homemade)
9. Basil and Parmesan Cheese (if desired)
   
   (I'll teach you how to make homemade sauce one day, but today is not that day)

 You will notice that I am showing you a picture of the vegetables after I diced them. I did this before Crossfit to save time when I got home at night and was making dinner. Plus, if your reading this I want to believe you have some basic knowledge of cooking and I don't have to show you how to cut vegetables.  If you don't I suggest you want a tutorial on youtube.

Directions:

1. Heat one tbsp olive oil in a medium depth sauce pan (ie my Sunday sauce pan) over medium heat.
2. Throw in your sliced vegetables and cook until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes or so like so: 
   
   
3. Peel and dice both garlic cloves.  Saute with vegetables for 1-2 minutes or until garlic begins to become translucent, but not brown (brown means burnt which is bitter garlic--no one marries the woman who gives them bitter garlic in their food). 
4. Add salt and pepper.  I don't know how big your phalanges are so I won't tell you tbsp or tsp--just pinch it dammit.
5. Reduce heat to low and add 2 cups of sauce. Continuously stir and add pinches of spices--remember you are already added salt and peppa (not the singing group from the 90's). Pinch of dis, pinch of dat.  Monitor your pinches--one thing about spices is once they are in they can't be taken out.. 2 pinches of parsley, and a half pinch of red pepper flakes-a pinch of both should do it. Look at my pinchies:
   
6. Allow sauce to cook on low and covered, adding small amounts (1/4 cup) of water if needed for 20 minutes.
7. While that's happening read the back of the Tofu Noodle Package--it warns you about the "natural aroma".  No, I'm not kidding..look.
8. While cooking the sauce cut open your Tofu Noodle package and throw your noods in a strainer in the sink.  
9. Pinch your nose,I AM NOT KIDDING.  If you don't you won't want to eat the noods, but that's the best part!  So what they stink, remember my reference earlier to stinky people? 
10.  Wash the tofu noodles for 2-3 minutes in hot water in the strainer.  Use your fingers to mix them up as you wash:

 

11.  After rinsing shake out the water.  Sometimes I dry them with a paper towel but it's not really necessary for this.

12.  Add the noodles to your sauce and mix in well with tongs.  Cook for 1-2 minutes

 

13. You are done! And so is dinner.  Add parsley and cheese for garnish if you would like.  One package of tofu noodles feeds two people typically, especially with all of these vegetables. Really, you can use any vegetables but Squash is in season and I had carrots.  Use what you want, but def don't shun the Tofu Noodle.  One time and you will become a believer.  

Monitored--Days 1-4

I thought I'd add some humor to having this heart monitor on.  At first, it wasn't funny.  I cried--a lot.  Mostly to my mom, DD. Let's just call her DD. I tried to be civilized and keep saying mom but anyone who knows us knows we call her DD, and she likes it that way.  She doesn't even want to be called nanny or mom-mom by her future grandchildren, she wants to be called DD.

Wow, what didn't I cry about? I am not even sure exactly why I cried. One time it was because it was too big and I couldn't hide it, another time because my roommate (Chad, yes I live with a dude, no it's not weird for us) said "wow" and BAM waterworks started.

So, it's important I make this funny then.  Let me give me a run down of the first 4 days to make you laugh or cry with me--whichever emotion you chose.

Sunday Day 1 (insert Law and Order SVU music here)
The monitor went on at 8pm--and 4am the transmitter on the charger started going off. LIKE CRAZY.  In my sleep I thought it was the fire alarm and anyone who knows me knows I have OCD and constantly believe the house may burn down.  Even if I blow out the candles before going to bed I have to get up and check that I actually did blow out the candles probably 12 times.

Have you even been driving and in your own world and all of a sudden an ambulance is coming up behind you 90 miles an hour siren blaring.  That's what this was like.  An ambulance with it's siren's blaring--but in my bedroom.  It is the most annoying noise you can imagine.  Well, there went sleep for the night.

Monday Day 2
Since I am an itinerant vision specialist I travel all day long.  One of my little cherubs is in Elementary School and totally blind, but also independent.  She was taking way too long in the bathroom and was missing something in class so I walked out of the classroom and down the hallway.  Halfway down I hear this loud beeping noise and again what do I think--fire alarm?  Side note, I am 100% sure I have never been in a fire, but I am terrified of the possibility of it.   Nope, it was the monitor under my shirt. I forgot the transmitter and the monitor can't be more than 40 yards away from the monitor.  I had to run back and get it--and by run I mean casually walk and keep hitting my chest to make the noise stop momentarily.  Another side note--who the hell measures in yards anyway? Tell me 40 feet, I can probably figure that out.  40 yards? No. I only know what a yard stick looks like but not really sure what a yard is.
So Monday night, it gets better have no fear....I go to WOD.  It's cleans and I do one and what comes out of my shirt and hits me right smack in the face---my monitor from under my shirt.  I drop the weight and am like what the hell was that?  No worries, just something which came flying out of my cleavage and smacked me in the face.

Tuesday Day 3
 I keep forgetting the transmitter when I go places. So in my office I am going to venture to say the bathroom is greater than 40 yards away.  So I'm in the potty and all of sudden BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP from under my shirt.   Someone else in the bathroom, rather understandably startled, asked "WHAT WAS THAT?!?" My response was "my heart calling me back to the mother ship".

Tuesday mid-work day the transmitter starts doing that ambulance thing again.  LOUD. It wouldn't stop.  Look at the screen and it says dead battery.  I haven't touched this piece all day..HOW DID IT DIE?  Well, I had no charger with me at work. Surely no one at the monitoring center was concerned about me not transmitting my heartbeat to them because still no one has called to see if I'm alive. Which, I am alive...duh.   I am sure they are going to add another day to the sentence for that.  Unless I can convenience them I took a two hour shower and that's why it was off.  Which, I have done many a hangover-ago in college.

Tuesday night I go WOD again. Somehow, I get my hands all caught up in the cords during pushups and rip two leads off.    THOSE BAD BOYS ARE LIKE SUCTION CUPS ON AN OCTOPUS.  Not only did the lead thingers come off, but my skin went with it.  I think I have sensitive skin.  It's because I'm delicate flower--yeah right. Or maybe my skin just don't work with the adhesive they use.  Look, I aint kidding---

I have two of them. One on each side. Looks like someone burned me with a cigar--once on each side for good measure.   Also, did I mention DD is a nurse? So you know she's on top of everything health wise with me.  She was watching the instructional videos on how to wear the monitor before I even knew the website name.  She informed you are supposed to remove the suction cups while in the shower--not just take them off dry or they will tear your skin.  Opps.  OCD comes with ADD so my attention span is limited.

So for anyone who saw me holding my chest during the WOD that night I am sorry if I scared you.  I was holding the lead and my skin on---I wasn't in pain. All wodders out there know you can't answer questions while wodding!

Wednesday Day 4
During the morning WOD I saw my buddy ol' pal Bob.  He informs me that I am lucky there is a nurse in the class, Rachel, because he has only done CPR twice and once was not successful.  I asked what not successful meant to which he responded it didn't work on one of the people.  I am going to venture to say this person is deceased, as CPR is a life saving measure, and it not working equals death.  He's so silly..and possibly crazy.

Also, guess who went all sirens and whistles again at 6:30am? You guessed it,  the transmitter.  Everyone was looking at me. It said "LEAD DISCONNECTED?"  I was checking--WHAT? WHERE? I CHECKED ALL THREE!!! After 5 minutes of it beeping and me hitting the silence button I realized that it meant one of the cord do-hickies wasn't plugged in.  Gesh.

Wednesday night, this is when SHIT GOT REAL. 10:01pm, trying to sleep---SIRENS SIRENS SIRENS.  I get up check the transmitter-- LEAD DISCONNECTED. So, I check every lead, push them in,  and Sirens stop.  Lay down--SIRENS SIRENS SIRENS LEAD DISCONNECTED. Get up, turn the transmitter off, turn the monitor off, unplug and re-plug leads, turn back on. SIRENS SIRENS SIRENS LEADS DISCONNECTED. Get up, push leads in,  stops. Lay down, move left arm, SIRENS SIRENS SIRENS.   FOR THE LOVE OF SWEET JESUS!!! Begin to beat transmitter with fist, scream at it,  (Chad didn't wake up? means if we are ever getting robbed I'm on my own), consider throwing it but know I can't afford to replace it. Lay down, move right leg or sneeze--SIRENS SIRENS SIRENS.  Unplug, rip off suction cups, skin goes with them, replug new ones, on and off on and off------Begin to text DD at 10:40pm screaming.

Thursday--alarm goes off at 4:55am....STAY TUNED FOR DAYS 5-8

I know I have been really funny about it until now, but as you can say by day 4 my patience is wearing and my normal jovial behavior is missing from my attitude.  The first person Thursday who asks me what's under my shirt is going to get an earful....

Gluten Free Summer Veggie Flat Breads

I love Pizza. It reminds me of when I was in Italy.  That pizza is amazing.  If I ever raise $10,000 I'll go back and eat pizza everyday at least once a day.  But, that's not healthy.  Dangit.  So--let's make a pizza out of a gluten free flat bread.  Stick with me and I'll make it not suck. 

Oh and remember last post I said squash was our summer inspiration this week for cooking--I wasn't kidding : )  I have another meal planned for this week with it--stay tuned. I love it because it's delicious, if prepared right, and it's dirt cheap because it's in season.  Get it local though, the supermarkets will jack up the price around this time. 

So, what you'll need.

1. 1 Green Squash
2. 3 tbsp olive oil--divided
3. 2 Gluten Free Flat Breads
4. 1/2 pound Mushrooms, I used Cermani but you use your favorite 
5. 2 cups spring mix of your choice, I used arugula mix because I like the spice. 
6. 1 Package Pre-sliced Pepperoni package
7. 2 small garlic cloves, diced and divided
8. Tomato or Pizza Sauce of your choice (I used our left overs from the cabbage rolls)
9. Seasoning--garlic salt, crushed red pepper (if you like spice), oregano,  salt, pepper, etc.    Don't worry I'll talk you through that. 
   
   
   Also, did you notice my tbsp and tsp are kind of all over the place? I don't believe in measuring spoons--so I just write that so you guys don't freak out. When cooking, go with what your heart tells you will be good. Don't get hung up on measuring--unless your baking. It's apparently important for baking,  which I learned the hard way.

Here are the flat bread brand I used, but you can use any kind you like.   Wegman's has their own brand as well which is probably much cheaper than this one.  The bakery has it's own website www.amaranthbakery.com  It's pretty cool, they have all Gluten Free products--they are located in Lancaster, PA.  They are also at the Collingswood Farmers Market every Saturday morning with all their delicious smelling goods. 

Directions:
1. Preheat the over to 400 degrees while you prepare your pizza toppings.
2. Place one tbsp olive olive into one nonstick pan and heat on medium low.
3. Wipe off dirt from mushrooms (never soak and wash mushrooms) and slice in half.  Place 2 cups spring or arugula mix with mushrooms and garlic in the pan.  Sautee 10 minutes until the mushrooms get a little crispy and the arugula wilts to look like spinach.
4. As this mix is cooking add any spices youd like--I added 1 tbsp parsley, 1 tsp red chilli flakes, and 1 tsp garlic salt. It will look like this as it cooks:

5.  As this pan is cooking, if your stove is big enough, heat another tbsp of olive oil over medium low heat. 
6. Slice squash thin with skin still on.  Mix with garlic, salt, and pepper.  Place in second pan like this:

7. Heat over medium low heat for 5-6 minutes until squash starts to brown.  Flip as it browns.
8. After about 6 minutes add 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce or pizza sauce, mixing as it cooks so it does not burn.  Add 2-3 tbsp of water to the sauce as it cooks. 

Don't just walk away as this cooks for another 10 minutes. It'll burn and youll be stuck with goop.  GOOP I'M TELLING YOU!!!  Keep an eye on it.

9. As you are keeping an eye on your squash and sauce prepare the 2 flat breads with the one tbsp of oil left.  Pour half of  the tbsp on each flat bread on a lined baking sheet--like so

10.  Rub it in with your fingers. Don't be dainty about it, you can always wash your hands.  No need to act like a wuss in the kitchen.
11.  Add your toppings as you like.  I put argula and mushrooms on one and squash sauce mix with pepperoni on the other. I put the pepperoni on top because it's salty and delicious as it cooks and gets all crispy.

12.  Place in over for 10-15 minutes, keeping an eye on it.  Pull out and they should look like this:

YUMMM!!!!!!!

13. The final step to crisp up the bottom is to throw them back on just the rack at 400 degrees for 2-3 minutes.  Make sure they don't burn.

Why didn't I do this from the beginning?  Well, I don't have a pizza stone.  Maybe someone should buy me one--HINT HINT GIORDANO'S!!  Also, they are a little flimsy before they cook.  So, if you try to pick one up and put it on the rack uncooked it will be flippidy flamming all over and will most likely just fall.  Then you'll be hungry. So you'll order a large pizza with pineapples and ham from Domino's.  You'll eat too much.  You'll hate yourself. Endless cycle. SO FOLLOW MY DIRECTIONS YOU HEAR!?!?!


14. Remove from oven and let cool for 1 minute.
15. Slice into halves or fourths. I am not going to tell you how to cut your pizza.  I don't know you so no judgie. 

Maybe make this for your next dinner party.  Your guests will be jelly (jealous) of your mad cooking skills.  Also, you can tell them it's healthy and locally grown--if you keep it real like I did.

MONITOR your health

Sorry I have been gone so long! Gesh, feels like forever. So, I have had a lot going on.  Let's discuss...

So, like three weeks ago I passed out twice in one morning before Crossfit.  I called the doctor because at the time I was on Chantix.  Did I ever mention that just 2 months ago I was a pack a day smoker?  Yeah, maybe I breezed over that lol.  Well, I quit.    He said to come in and when I did they did an EKG.  You know the one with all the electrodes.   So---yeah that didn't end well.  From there they said I had an irregular ticker (heart).  So, I went to the cardiologist.  Who also said something just ain't adding up.  And then he dropped this bomb----have you ever been treated for lyme's disease?  The who and the what?????????  I aint got no lyme's disease.  Oh, apparently I do.    Well, apparently I do and have had it for a long time (my mom may be laughing right now, because she knows I don't know how to spell apparently). 

So, did you know if you have Lyme's it can spread to your heart and cause Lyme's Disease Infection of the Heart? I shit you not, google it.  No wait, I'll do it for you--- how considerate of me.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11982302  See, I wasn't lying. It's called Lyme's Carditis.  Well, I have that.  Ought oh.  I now have to wear this god awful heart monitor for 3 straight weeks.

So it shows up on my doorstep one day in this huge box and all I'm thinking is---WHAT THE HAM SAMWICH IS THIS!!!!  Well, it's a heart monitor duh, shouldn't I have known that at the ripe age of 26.

It comes in this box with more doodads and doohickies than I've ever seen 

  Did I mention god awful--look---

Let's say in the next three weeks I am not going to run into prince charming who sweeps me up in his arms.  He will probably think I am dying and rush to get me a wheel chair.  Stupid prince charming.

I can hide that big thing in my shirt, if I wear a shirt the size of what my grandma calls her house coat.  It kind of just sticks out and looks hideous.

Are you wondering why I am telling you this?  My mom told me I should blog about this because it sucks.  Sucks is an understatement.  So I want to give you some advice.

1. Always get second opinions--don't settle for the answer you think is right because how could a doctor be wrong. ---ie I have been told for 10 years I've had Lupus and some other things, when really it was Lyme's disease.

2.  Take care of yourself.  Eat healthy, work out, and find friends who will listen to your shit.

3. Get blood work often and make sure you're all good.  

4.  If you also have Lyme's read this blog my friend Val recommended to me : )

http://samanthaslymelife.blogspot.com/Samantha's Lyme Life

She's truly an inspiration. 

Lyme's disease isn't all feeling tired and worn out and bulls eyes. It spread to your heart. Which causes blockages.  Which they think is my deal right now.  Oh and don't think I am going to stop crossfitting.  I have this big old transmitter--ie see below!!!

I plan to tell one of my fellow crossfitters--Bob--it's a two way radio.  I'll have him talk into during the WOD and tell him only I can hear what he is saying.  I'll keep you updated on how long that lasts before he finds out my tom foolery.


So--keep following.  Unexpentantly, you just joined on to another journey with me.

Oh--gluten free pizzas and tofu noodles coming soon.  This week I am using Squash as my cooking inspiration!!!

Asian Slaw-----you'll eat it on everything

Seriously, you are going to eat this stuff like crack.  The recipe makes a lot--but it can go on everything. I use it as a side dish, on wraps, as a salad, etc.  Keep this one because we will be remixing it next week.  I recommend having it with a broiled cod with lemon and butter.  It's like fish tacos, without the carbohydrates of the tortilla wrap.

I am on a hunt for gluten free wraps because I plan to make chicken and Asian slaw wraps all this week for lunch.  Stop judging me--I can't make more than two lunches a week,  my schedule doesn't allow for it.  By my schedule I mean I recently started watching Hemlock Grove, a netflix series, and I've become mildly obsessed.  I have to get through season 1--which means a lot of remixing this recipe will be happening!

Anyway, let's get to down to brass tacks--I hate when bloggers ramble.

Last side note, my pictures will never look like they came from a photo shoot--because they came from my kitchen.  As I make, I take pictures. If your looking for fancy schmancy look elsewhere because like I said--I keeps it real!

What you'll need:

1. 3 Cloves Garlic
2. 2 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
3. 1/4 cup sesame oil
4. 1/3 cup rice vinegar (I used Kikkoman plain)
5. 1/2 cup soy sauce
6. 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
7. 3 tablespoons honey
8. 1/4 cup water
9. 1 1/2 bag Cole Slaw mix (I used Dole)

Seriously, this is simple.  I know some of the ingredients are expensive but they will last a long while and are versitile.  The ginger, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and soy sauce can be used in a stir fry.  If you play your cards right, I'll make a tofu noodle stir fry with the cabbage slaw and chicken : )

Directions:

1. Mince garlic and ginger root.   This is the part that takes the longest because you want relatively small mincing action going on:

2. Take first 8 ingredients and put into a bowl--like so: 











Seriously, do you even need pictures?

3. Whisk--now this picture is just silly

4.  Pour over cabbage in another bowl...mix up with tongs.  This picture is by far the silliest of all

Okay, no more pictures.  Cover and let sit atleast one hour in refrigerator. I refridgerate overnight so the dressing melds well.  You can also use this dressing as a marniade for chicken or steak.  In a wrap add slivered almonds, crushed peanuts, or chow mien noodles to add a little crunch!

Will keep at least 5 days, so if you plan to eat it less than me make less.  I eat it about everyday, just in a different way each day.  Didn't I say the other day I loved cabbage?  Big dealio.

Cindy (ugh), Grace (silly girl), Annie, Diane, Fran (hate that name)...yada yada

So, most of us walk into the gym with the mindset of not finishing last.  Well, here's what I learned---you can't worry about when or if you finish.  You need to be better then the last time you did it.  You need to continue to be better than YOU, not the guy next to you. Although we all know how frustrating is to be one round behind.  Let the frustration push you to do better than you.   I am no crossfit expert, and I don't pretend to be.  I wanted to impart of my wisdom for beginners to think about. 

Also, why are the workouts named after girls you might be asking.  There are so many theories I've heard but I am thinking because women are vicious. I don't know any of these women, but I wouldn't cross them.    See website here: http://crossfit208nampa.wordpress.com/the-girls/ 


Things to think about:

1. Improve your speed or fluidity (quit taking breaks!)

     If the workout is addressing AMRAP then you might want to look at improving your speed or fluidity while moving through reps of different exercises.  IE-- Cindy.

Cindy
5 Pull Ups
10 Push Ups
15 Squats

AMRAP in 20 minutes

When your done the workout, don't look around at what everyone else did.  Take a second and analyze what you could have done DIFFERENTLY.  Did you take too many breaks? (I am no stranger to this),  Did you have trouble remembering your count? Were you looking around to see where everyone else was?  Could you have completed one of the exercises faster?     For instance, for me I am faster at squats then both push ups and unassisted pull ups. Knowing that, I should be focusing on improving my time for the other two sets or on how I broke my sets up.

Sometimes when we get tired we stop doing all 5 unassisted pulls ups together in one set and we break them up into sets of 2 and 3 or 2,2, and 1 for when you are really out of steam.  This time after the WOD might be a good time to assess how many reps you can stand to do together and for how long.  If you ran out of steam and could no longer do sets of 5 pulls ups in round 5 make a mental note of that.  See if that improves next time.  Or, work to improve it--HELLLLLOOO OPENNNN GYM.

What I am trying to instill is do not look at your time as a whole, look at each individual part to assess what you did really great and what you can do differently.  I stress the importance of the congratulating yourself on doing something really great---after all you are doing more than some of people who have massive hangovers at 7:30am and are thinking about McDonalds.

2.  Worry about improving your OWN weight

If the workout has a Rx or Goal weight then you should be thinking about the last time you did it and what weight you did at that time.  Don't look at the person next to you and see what weight they are doing.  That is the fastest way to hurt yourself.

It's important to know your limits and know you won't RX the first time you do something.  IE--Fran

Fran
21-15-9
95 lb Thrusters
Pull Ups

I know everyone is guilty of this--you get through 21 and then you slow down, take more time in between, and treat it like it's all down hill from here. Honestly, for me, the more tired I get by the end of the workout 95lbs starts feeling like 200 when I go to thrust it.  Take that into account and keep a steady pace.

Like I said, don't look at the person next to you and try to compare to their weight.  Take sometime before the workout and see what you can do comfortably WITHOUT hurting yourself.  Use that weight and remember it for next time.  If your establishment is anything like Solstice you might not see that workout again for months, so it's good to have a journal to have it written down in.   So, when you do see that workout again look at what you did before and see if you can improve upon that weight.

Let's say there is a 20 minute time cap on this at your gym.  You pick a good weight that you know you can do, but you know you can't finish in 20 minutes. OH WELL. Don't knock your weight down just to finish and look good.  Do what you can do and don't worry about that time.  If you don't finish, you don't finish.  I've found it's more important to do all you can, leave it all out on the mat, then to sissy around and finish first or on time.  Yeah I said it, sissy around.


3.  Congratulate yourself, frequently
     If your not acknowledging your accomplishments, who is? Certainly not your mom.  She probably has no idea what crossfit is.  Matter of fact, my mom has no idea what I am talking about in this blog.  She does however read it.  She said to work on my grammar---ie your and you're.   She does like my recipes, because when I lived home I cooked for her. God knows what she's eating now.
      If your waiting for someone else to see how well you are doing you will be waiting a long time.  Get a good book.  It'll be like waiting to get blood work done on Saturday morning--which I've learned is the WORST time to make an appointment for blood work. 
      This might be where keeping a journal comes in handy.  My friend Kate once said to me okay let's sit down with a Marble Notebook.  My response was--okay first let's get a marble notebook.  Who has one of them who isn't in third grade?  Not me.  However, I do keep track of my accomplishments.  Ie---2 months ago I could not do an unassisted pull up  Now, I am trying to do 40 in 4 minutes.  Where did I come up with that number your probably saying to yourself.  I have no idea, it just came to me and it sounded good.

My point is--BE BETTER THAN YOU.  Don't try to be better than anyone else.  Trying to be Foucher or Spealer will only get you so far.  You should be the next big name, don't try to be someone else's. 

 

Inside Out Cabbage Rolls

So...I love cabbage!!!! I don't know why, and I hope you don't judge me for it. If you do judge me for it, that's okay...I'll love it anyway.  So, this is super easy and it makes a lot.  If you haven't noticed I like having left overs because I am far too busy to make a different lunch for work everyday. In the words of that woman from tv---aint nobody got time for dat!

And..by the way...ITS AMAZING

What you'll need..

Ingredients:

1. One Head Cabbage
2. One Small Onion
3. 2 Garlic Cloves
4. One Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5.  1/2-2 pounds 80% lean ground beef
6. Large Diced Tomato (or two small cans)
7. Tomato Sauce (any brand, this is just what I bought because it was resealable)

The directions are so simple.  Have you noticed I like things you can make in one pot and move on from?  Maybe you make it, let it cook, and clean your house while your waiting. I am not saying I do that, but hey you have the time : ).   Maybe I should start...

Anyway..let's get down to business.

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat in nonstick cooking pot...has to be pretty large to fit all the ingredients. I used what I'd call my Sunday sauce pot.
2.  Dice onions and garlic. saute in oil 1-2 minutes or until they turn translucent--like this
   

 

3.  Once translucent throw ground beef on top and break up with spoon or spatula. It will look like this: 

4. Cook 5-6 minutes on high-medium heat until the meat turns brown.  Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

5.  Once the meat is no longer pink mix in the diced tomato and at least 1/2 of the sauce.

It kind of looks like chilly, but it's not.
6. While the sauce is cooking, 3-4 minutes, dice the cabbage, removing the core. Cut into 4-5 big chunks, don't worry about the size. It will fall apart anyway as it cooks. Like this:

7. Throw in the sauce, stir, and cover.

 Try to mix in as best as you can. As it cooks it will wilt and mix in anyway.
Let cook on medium heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours and then!!!!
 BAM

 

Seriously, make this one. I'm not kidding. Go to the store. Get moving. GOOOOO