meet you half way...

fathlete confession: I love food. The holidays is when my love for food really comes out. It's also when I love to throwdown my cooking skillz! However, I've been trying to figure out how I can hold on to my cultural sensibilities while still be healthy. Isn't it terrible that I associate Filipino or Islander food as unhealthy?! I just remember all the yummy, fatty food we used to eat at fiesta and family gatherings. Now that I'm older, the health issues have kicked in (like the type II diabetes) and I'm trying to be mindful of good eating. In the spirit of the holidays, I'm sharing my tips on how I compromised culture, health, and good eating. Enjoy!

I couldn't go without making my infamous Chamorro shrimp patties. These bad boys only come out during the holidays because they're expensive, time consuming, and deep fried. Admittedly, I make these so good that my Chamorro friends and relatives agree that they're the best they've tasted! In fact, you haven't lived until you've tried my shrimp patties!

I meant to make a healthy green bean dish with a balsamic vinegar and garlic dressing. However, my brother specifically requested green bean casserole (an American tradition that I still don't understand). Granted, the fried onions and canned cream of mushroom means that this isn't the healthiest thing around. I did make it as clean as possible by using fresh green beans and adding fresh mushrooms to the mix. In fact, I over veggied it so the cream of mushroom wasn't so overwhelming. For Christmas, I'm opting to make some brussels sprouts (inspired by the ones they serve at Angeline's). You know, the kind you'd actually eat! On to the healthy stuff....

I don't know what your family is like. But my family gatherings consist of meat, meat, and more meat with rice, pancit, and other yummy-licious carbs. Unless they're deep fried, veggies are still fighting for their right to be at my family gatherings. For Thanksgiving, I made this very simple concoction of mushrooms and zucchini tossed in EVOO and herbs. Seeing that there weren't many leftovers, I'd say this one was a hit!

Finally, I love potatoes. Mashed potatoes are my favorite part of the holiday meal. However, I opted to do a cauliflower mash, which was inspired from MDA's Shepherd's Pie recipe. It was so easy to make and was tastier than I had imagined. I didn't miss mashed potatoes at all!

For Christmas, I have faith that my family have the meat and carbs covered. Therefore, I've decided to focus on veggie dishes again. For my aunt's lunchtime gathering, I'm doing miso coleslaw and green beans with a balsamic and shallot dressing. For my brother's dinner gathering, I'm doing those same green beans, brussels sprouts (as mentioned above), and a mushroom medley (I bought FOUR kinds of mushrooms from the farmer's market!). If I can find some decent cauliflower, I may do the cauliflower mash again. I'll let you know how it goes!

Warm-up
Pause Rowing
Prep for the WOD

CrossFit One World WOD
Complete nine rounds for time of:
5 thrusters 42#
5 jumping pull-ups

Joanne's Final Time - 8:40

Notes (to myself) about this workout: Truth is, I've been a bit injured. Well, not injured, but just plain sore. Last week really did a number on me. Therefore, I decided to go light. REALLY LIGHT on this one. I'm so glad that I did. My body is still recovering and right now I just need to treat it with some TLC. It also helps that Freddy posted this rant on the difference between pain and discomfort.

I haven't been as consistent with my WODs, so I need to back off and ease in slowly. I know what I can do, but I just need to be gentle and let my body do what it needs to do in order to get where it needs to be. Make sense?