Barefoot Girevik

The weather is starting to get quite cold and with the cold air comes the frost.  If you have any good apples still hanging in there, you may want to try a good preserve recipe so you can stick them away for the cold winter months.  My Granny had a beautiful garden and orchard on the farm and always had loads of apple and crab apple preserves.  They were always such a treat for us.  I decided this year to try canning for the first time because I finally had enough apples on my tiny tree to attempt it.  The recipe is shared below, we cracked open a jar for Thanksgiving dinner and they were delish. Crab Apple Preserves: Ingredients: 6 cups water 1 cup maple syrup 2 Tbsp lemon juice 4 lbs crab apples cleaned and picked over 1 stick cinnamon If you like cloves, you could add +/- 1 tsp of whole cloves.  I am not crazy for the taste of cloves so I didn't use them. 3-4 quart size canning jars with lids and rings How to: Set canning jars into a la...

Can you tell I'm a Packer fan?  Right now I am relaxing after a long day of teaching and learning with a cup of my special Autumn Spice Coffee.  (while listening to the Packers kick some Saints butt) Until now, this was my own special recipe that I didn't share with anyone.  Everyone has to have a few secrets. I decided that this is just way too good to keep secret.  I tend to think of coffee the way some people think of Red wine.  I like to add interesting combinations of flavours before brewing to see what I come up with.  Just experiment, there will be some disasters, there always is but then there will be that one that is just awesome.  On a cold, fall afternoon, there is really nothing better than a good spiced cup of coffee.  Recipe is below, try it out, come up with your own combinations of flavours, play with it. Autumn Spice Coffee  Ingredients: Good quality coffee beans (I like Kicking Horse, Grizzly Claw) Cinnamo...

As football season is now well underway, I thought I should share some thoughts on proper nutrition for our athletes.  Nutrition for an athlete is all about optimizing your performance. Food is fuel, period.  This is not to say that your fuel shouldn't taste good. It just means that some thought and a little work need to go into it. The first item on the menu?  WATER.  I can not stress this enough.  Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water.  Water helps transport oxygen in your blood, it cushions your joints, helps with metabolism and aids in brain function (just to name a few things).  If you let your body get to a dehydrated state and your brain cells do not have enough water to function properly, they will have to work much harder and you will end up with a headache.  Your body needs oxygen to fuel the reactions to produce energy for your muscles. If your body doesn't have enough water to aid in the transport of oxygen through ...

It's that time of year, the kids are back in school, everyone is back to their routine.  It is also one of the busy times of year for health and fitness facilities and professionals, right up there with the New Years Resolutions crowd of January.  With the kids back in school parents have more time to get back to their training.  People who are planning to go somewhere warm in the winter are looking to shed the extra lbs gained over the summer from BBQ parties and beers on the patio so they can proudly sport their speedo on the beach.  (and ultimately enjoy more food and beer, on the beach this time instead, what a vicious cycle)  This means more clients for me and more time spent in the gym. There is however something else this time of year.  August means the start of the minor football season.  That means long nights at the field and before long those nights start to get cold.  Despite the colder weather and all the extra time on the field...

Almost a year ago   I posted The Evolution of A Recipe showing how I have changed the recipe for Impossible Cheeseburger Pie over the years so that my family could continue to enjoy it even though our eating habits have changed.  I have made yet another change to that delicious recipe and want to share it with all of you.  Below is my recipe from a year ago with a couple changes.  Most of it will stay the same, the change is to the biscuit mix.  I have hi-lited the changes by changing the text colour to red.  Happy Cooking! My NEW Paleo Version Impossible Cheeseless Burger Pie Ingredients: 1 lb. extra lean ground grass fed beef 1 med. yellow onion chopped 1/4 tsp sea salt 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper 2 fresh chopped Jalapenos (I remove the seeds so they aren't quite as hot) 2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped 2 tsp chili powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp paprika 1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne 1 1/2 c. Almond or coconut milk 1/4 C Coconut Flour 3/4 ...

Hey everyone!  Two posts in one day...whaaat?  Two weeks ago I went to Chapters in search of a cookbook that I had heard about.  I bought the last copy there and brought it home with me.  Since that day I have tried a new recipe almost every night.  The food is amazing and it is, you guessed it, Paleo!  We have had Fish sticks, gravy and biscuits, homemade breakfast sausage patties, Jambalaya, bangers and mash and more.  I think my favourite recipe however is the Tom Kha Gai - coconut chicken soup.  It is so incredibly good.  What is this awesome book you ask?  It is Paleo Comfort Foods by Julie and Charles Mayfield.  I don't know these people, have never met them and I don't get anything for telling you about it but I am so happy with it that I had to share my experience.  I have to say that I never strictly follow a recipe.  I always have to put my own spin on it and these recipes were no exception.  I had to tweak ...

Alright, so it has been about 5 months since my last post.  I have no excuse except to say, football season, a trip to Las Vegas and then it was Christmas.  Anyway, I made this recipe on New Years Eve because I had a craving.  It is not quite paleo, there is some sugar in there but it is a holiday treat.  The bars would not get the caramelized, hardened state without some sugar and would just fall apart. Unfortunately I don't have a pic because it was New Years and I was very busy cleaning and preparing but I will share the recipe all the same. Base: 1 package ground pecans (about 1 1/3 cups) 2 Tbsp cocoa 1 Tbsp Maple syrup 1- 2 Tbsp coconut oil Filling: 1 can Thai kitchen coconut milk 1/4 cup sucanat (Used a lot in Clean Eating recipes, it is natural, ground sugar cane. You can usually find it in health food stores.) Topping: 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (the higher the cocoa % the better) 3/4 cup chopped walnuts H...