Franklin Barbecue: Yes, It's Worth the Wait

On February 1st, James and I woke up early and were on a mission to finally try Franklin Barbecue. Considering the fact that James is from Texas, he understands and appreciates good bbq (especially brisket).  I, on the other hand, am a newbie to the smoked meat scene (in PA we considered hot dogs and hamburgers bqq. Sometimes, we even added chicken.). Now, if you know me at all, or read my blog, then you know eating a tray of meat isn't exactly my favorite thing to do...but this time, I loved it.

7:00 Woke up and got in a workout. I did a variation of Fight Gone Bad in the garage, and added a 400 to the end. Why? Because I'm a mfgbw. If you workout in our garage you'll learn what that means.

8:15 James drops me off at the Franklin Barbecue line and goes to a coffee shop nearby to grab caffeine and snacks. A man across the street was renting chairs to sit in, but we opted for Josh's army blanket that was still in the car. While I wait for James, I email Franklin to reserve a whole brisket for James' birthday weekend at the end of March. They are already sold out for February, but they start taking March orders on February 1st.

8:30ish James returns with caffeine and yummy snacks. The line is energetic and growing as a lady from Franklin comes around to take your predicted meat order. We order 2 pounds of brisket, a mammoth beef rib, and a sausage link. Our expected time to eat is 12:15.

This is all that stands between us and brisket. I'm assuming the line began forming around 7 :00. 

Between 8:15 and 8:45 the line became this long. Throughout the day people attempt to join the end, but leave hopeless once they hear they will most likely sell-out of meat by the time they make it inside. 

Somewhere around 9:30: A nice man with painted fingernails starts selling beverages to The Line. We are reminded to be responsible and respect The Line...after all, there are about 3 hours until we eat. As I sip on my Pearl Snap, I take in the delicious fragrance of the smoker behind us and find it ironic that we are tailgating for our lunch. 

12:00 By this time Ryan has joined us and we've had a couple interactions with the nice man selling beverages. We're getting closer to the door, but are not yet inside. 

Sometime between 12 and 1: We are So. Close. Even though we've been here since 8:15, I'm not upset at all. In fact, the atmosphere inside of the restaurant is super chill and relaxed. The staff is extremely friendly and takes their time with each person. We are handed a sample from the tip of the brisket, which was divine. Absolutely, delicious. 

1:00ish, but who really cares: We have close to 4 pounds of barbecue, coleslaw, and pickles. Did we over order? Heck no. 

This is hands down the best barbecue I've ever had in my life. While La Barbecue and Salt Lick are amazing, they have nothing on Franklin. The only downfall is the wait, but in the end, I would say it makes the experience even better. Oh...I received a disappointing email that afternoon from Franklin. Unfortunately, they sold out of brisket for the month of March before they received my email at 8:20. Next time I will be more prepared and send the email at 12:01 am on the first of the month. Sorry, James. 

Breakfast: Sweet Potato/Jalapeno Hash

It is very accurate to say that Breakfast is, by far, my lease favorite meal of the day. Looking back, I didn't even eat breakfast until I met James, and there are several days that I still wouldn't eat it if it weren't for him. I've found it much easier to consume some gross breakfast than listen to him explain how terrible I am for skipping a meal. xoxo

Anyway, I am a creature of habit and routine. Monday through Friday I eat the same paleo banana bread breakfast and green apple smoothie afternoon snack. I make the bread every Sunday evening so that each morning I only have to slice it and pack it. This system has worked for over a year, but I decided  it was time for a change.

Because I usually work out in the mornings,  I decided it would be alright to try sweet potatoes smothered in hot sauce. Apparently, there are amazing benefits from consuming sweet potatoes post workout. So, last Sunday night instead of making my banana bread, I baked two large sweet potatoes. I didn't season them or do anything fancy. Instead, I poked a few holes in them and gave them a nice foil blanket. By Tuesday morning there was more hot sauce than baked sweet potato, so I decided to come up with something different. There was no way I was going to eat a boring baked sweet potato every single day. Good-bye banana bread, hello sweet potato jalapeno hash.

O EMMM GEEE. I forgot to mention the amazing addition to our family!  Teresa and Stokes blessed us with a beautiful garage gym. She came to us on Monday afternoon weighing in at a whopping 850 pounds. I apologize in advance for bombarding my Facebook and Instagram with pictures of us lifting. I seriously can't help it. #sorrynotsorry.

Sweet Potato/Jalapeno Hash

Ingredients
3 large sweet potatoes
1/2 yellow onion
2 garlic cloves
2 seeded jalapeno
Little bit of cinnamon
Little bit of salt/pepper
Little more of chili powder

Directions
1. Place garlic cloves in food processor and pulse until minced
2. Add onions/jalapeno to food processor and pulse until they reach the desired thickness
3. Put minced garlic, onion, and jalapeno into a pan with coconut oil. Heat until fragrant.
4. Change the blades on the food processor from chop to shred (the super cool attachment that hovers around the top).
5. Shred your sweet potatoes in the food processor (depending on the size you may have to quarter them first)
6. Add the shredded sweet potatoes to the skillet and cook. I like mine a little crispy, so I cooked them a little bit longer so that they would brown.
7. This amount was enough for three days of breakfast. I packed them in separate containers and added a splash of hot sauce.



*I will add a pic of the hash later.

Isn't she beautiful?

James' new buddy

I got to feed a giraffe! Thanks again, Josie and Ryan!

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

hi·a·tus
hīˈātəs/Submit
noun
1.
a pause or gap in a sequence, series, or process.
"there was a brief hiatus in the war with France"
synonyms: pause, break, gap, lacuna, interval, intermission, interlude, interruption, suspension, lull, respite, time out, time off, recess;


After a brief hiatus and several life changes, I'm back on the blogging grid. I don't think my updates will work in paragraph form due to the randomness of events, so I am going to list them in true Ali form. Get ready friends, I have a lot to share.

1. James and I live in South Austin and absolutely love it!
2. I now teach Algebra I and Geometry at KIPP Austin Collegiate. Over the past seven years my range of experience has grown from Kindergarten to 10th grade.
3. I started working out at Crossfit and Fearless on South Congress. My schedule doesn't align as nicely as it did with Strom, but I'm working on it. Sometimes you have to be creative and shower in the girl's locker room at school (don't worry, NO students are present that early in the morning. That would be awkward.)
4. I stopped using almond milk in my coffee and have switched to coconut milk. As you know, it takes me an entire day to drink my one cup of coffee and for some reason the almond milk starts to separate after hour one. It looks and tastes a little odd after that.
5. James is in a fantasy football league and his team name is Hot Ham Water. So gross.
6. Traffic in Austin is stupid. Really, stupid.
7. Traffic in Austin during ACL is even more stupid.
8. My favorite cheat meal so far has been at this amazing food truck called Potato A. I thought I had mastered the french fry during my time at Edinboro University, but this guy puts my fries to shame. They are freakishly delicious.
9. My bff Lisa got engaged to a very awesome, kind, hairy man. I can't wait for their wedding this July!
10. My bfff Michelle is going to have her baby within the next few weeks. It is so weird that she made it through an entire pregnancy without me seeing her baby bump. If only I had a private jet so that I could fly home to see my family and friends.
11. I want to plan a concert weekend very soon. Sh*$ Show and Shenanigan girls, let's work on that. Maybe over Christmas break??

Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients
2 lbs of ground turkey/lean beef
3 garlic cloves
6 bell peppers
4ish roma tomatoes
1/2 white onion
2 jalapenos (1 seeded, 1 whole)
1/2 C fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
Sprinkle garlic powder
Sprinkle onion powder
2 sprinkles of chili powder
Salt
Pepper

Directions
1. Sautee crushed garlic cloves in oil/fat of your choice. I usually use coconut oil (we don't have any bacon fat, but if we did I would definitely use it)
2. Add turkey meat to the pan and season with garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder. Cook thoroughly.
3. Make the salsa by combining the tomatoes, onion, jalepenos, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper in a food processor. I have roasted the veggies before, but lately I have been making fresh salsa instead.
4. Cut the tops off of your bell peppers and remove the seeds.
5. Turn off the heat on the meat and mix in the salsa with the meat.
6. Scoop the meat/salsa mixture into the peppers
7. Bake at 400 degrees until the peppers are at the desired squishiness. I like my peppers very squishy, so I cook them for 30-40 minutes.

Optional add-ins/toppings: 
1. Cheese
2. Cauliflower rice
3. Greek Yogurt: I swear to you it's just like topping your food with sour cream!

Only in Austin. 

I (Sometimes) Hate Meat

Paleolithic Diet

'Centered on commonly available modern foods, the contemporary "Paleolithic diet" consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, potatoes, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils.'


This post is not really intended to share a recipe or valuable information. On the contrary, I'm looking for support for any fellow cavepeople who sometimes hate meat. Eating paleo can be very challenging for me because I (sometimes) have a hard time eating fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, and fungi. If you remove these items from the definition of paleolithic diet you are left with vegetables, fruit, roots, and nuts. To make matters worse I've been working on minimizing the amount of fruit I eat because of the glycemic levels. What does that leave me with? Select vegetables and nuts, which frankly isn't enough to live. Thankfully, the times that I hate meat are becoming fewer and farther between, but they still exist. Thankfully, I'm not as bad as I was between 2000-2006ish when I didn't eat any meat. I honestly would go through McDonald's and Taco Bell and order meatless hamburgers and tacos. #truestory.

So. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, especially for the times that even the largest amounts of hot sauce doesn't do it.

We're cute. 

Paleo Chocolate Almond Milk

scrump·tious  

/ˈskrəm(p)SHəs/

Adjective (of food) Extremely appetizing or delicious. (of a person) Very attractive.

Synonyms delicious - delightful - superb - luscious - delectable

I set one food goal for the summer and it was to make chocolate almond milk. The reason for this is because I found some at Randall's that was freakin' delish, but definitely not paleo. Does it really  matter? No, but when you have hours of nothing to do...it's worth trying. So, in between my morning and evening WOD I gave it a go, and the result was completely scrumptious.

Pros
1. Easy to make
2. Tastes very fresh
3. There aren't any added ingredients that I can't pronounce

Cons
1. It only stays in the fridge for about 4 days (Not really a con because of how delicious it is. I have no problem consuming it quickly).

Ingredients
1 cup of almonds
4 cups of water
Several squeezes of honey
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
Splash of vanilla extract

Directions
1. Soak 1 cup of almonds in water overnight. Add enough water to cover the almonds
2. Discard the water that the almonds were soaking in and place almonds into the Vitamix, or other powerful blender
3. Add 4 cups of water
4. Blend for 1-2 minutes
5. Use a cheese cloth to remove the almond residue from the milk (Ok, let's be real. I didn't see the point of buying a cheese cloth for this, so I used an old, but clean, t-shirt. It worked fine, but James convinced me to buy a cheese cloth for the next time.)
6. Quickly rinse out the Vitamix
7. Return the almond milk to the Vitamix
8. Add honey, cocoa powder, and vanilla
9. Blend for 30 seconds
10. Pour into a glass jar and put in fridge
11. I put the almond residue from cheese cloth (t-shirt) onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and baked it at 200 degrees for 30ish minutes. I then used the almond flour as the crust for my pumpkin pie bites.

Turkey Meat/Veg Loaf

feat
/fēt/
Noun
An achievement that requires great courage, skill, or strength.
Synonyms
exploit - deed - achievement - performance

When I got my first pull up in February/March, I was ecstatic. I thought of a pull up as a unicorn that I would never see. When I walked into Crossfit Strom for the first time I never thought I would be able to accomplish these skills so quickly.  On Monday, June 24th at approximately 5:45 pm, I got a bar muscle up. I'm not going to talk about how excited I am, because I feel very humbled by such a large accomplishment in only a few short months. It was ugly, and I almost knocked my tooth out, but I was able to do two. It never counts unless you do two.

This weekend the McMillans are going to Fredricksburg for a wine tasting weekend extravaganza. I'm super pumped to get away and spend time with the family. I'm sure I will be sporting a red stained smile the entire time, but I couldn't be happier. I've arranged for James and I to drop-in at a box on Saturday because there's no way I'll make it through the weekend without sweating out some of the booze. I really, seriously think that's the only way we made it through the weekend in Cleveland. It's going to be ugly, but will be worth it in the end.

Ingredients
2 lbs of lean ground turkey
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1/2 sweet onion
1 jalapeno
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Oregano
Ground Pepper
Parsley

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Dice vegetables to desired thickness. Ours were kinda small, but not super small. Maybe about 1/4 inch.
3. Season meat
4. Mix together
5. Place in a bread pan
5. Bake for about 45 minutes (or until completely cooked)

Note: I did not add egg or coconut flour to this recipe. I decided to try it without those binding ingredients and it turned out just fine. I also forgot to take a picture, but I'll see if I can get a good one of my leftovers. Exciting stuff, huh?

Muscle up #2. Notice how my tongue is out? I'm checking to see if my tooth is still intact. I also look like I just did a few wings (shout out to all my tappers out there). 

This is me being 'Merican. Lisa: just because I don't fish in Houston doesn't mean that I don't sport my fishin' hat. 

Sweet Summer Vacation

va·ca·tion

/vāˈkāSHən/

Noun An extended period of recreation, esp. one spent away from home or in traveling.

Verb Take a vacation: "I was vacationing in Europe with my family".

Synonyms noun. holiday - recess - leave - holidays verb. holiday

Hello, sweet summer vacation, I missed you.Of course it's not a traditional teacher vacation because I'm teaching summer school, but anyone who knows me knows that this is a good thing. I'm not a good relaxer for long periods of time. After a week or two I become extremely bored and an alcoholic (of course I use that term loosely... well, sorta). Let's be real, it only takes about two full days before I start to spiral out of control.

Anyway, I've decided to share with you my favorite summer time foods. Get excited.

Homemade Almost Pickles

Ingredients
1-2 cucumbers
3-5 onion slices
1 cubed or sliced tomato
1/2 cup of vinegar (last time I used apple cider, but I have used white and red wine)
3/4 cup of water
Salt
Pepper
Fresh dill (I only add this if I have some leftover from another recipe)

Directions
1. Slice vegetables to your desired thickness. I usually like mine about half an inch thick..
2. Place vegetables in a glass container or bowl (with lid)
3. Pour vinegar into the dish and add water. At this point you can decide how sour you like your not pickles. I personally like a lot of vinegar.
4. Place in fridge for a few hours
5. Enjoy as a snack

Iced Coffee

Ingredients
Dunkin' Donuts or Trader Joe's coffee
Unsweetened almond milk
Honey/agave
Vanilla extract
Ice cubes

Directions
1. Brew coffee (I usually make an entire pot and then keep it in a thermos in the fridge)
2. Place in refrigerator over night
3. Pour desired about of coffee into a cup
4. Add honey/agave, vanilla, almond milk
5. Pour over ice cubes (I add the ice cubes last because the sweetener doesn't dissolve as much when the coffee is ice could. Something about the solubility of the coffee at a colder temperature, right?

Sun Tea (I haven't made this since I was a kid, but it is one of my all-time fav summer drinks)

Ingredients
Gallon of water
Glass water container
Several Tea Bags
Honey/agave

Directions
1. Fill container with water and add several tea bags
2. Place outside in the sun for the day
3. Refrigerate overnight
4. Add sweetener and enjoy


I swear I had more amazing recipes to share with you, but they've since slipped my mind. Once I remember I'll totally share.

Oh, after several weeks I'm finally back to completing normal WOD's without any back/butt pain. I'm such a happier person when I work out, so this is a very good thing.

Here's James dominating Burpee Madness. I'm off to his very far right trying not to die at this point because this Yankee is not used to working out during Houston's summer months. It was bad. 

Here is the break down in case you ever want to experience this Thai Delight (this is how they posted it on the site so that people would still come. Sneaky, sneaky.)

Minute one: 10 Burpees Minute two: 20 Burpees Minute three: 5 Burpees Minute four: 11 Burpees Minute five: 2 Burpees Minute six: 18 Burpees Minute seven: 6 Burpees Minute eight: 15 Burpees Minute nine: 4 Burpees Minute ten: 8 Burpees Minute eleven: 17 Burpees Minute twelve: 3 Burpees Minute thirteen: 13 Burpees Minute fourteen: 9 Burpees Minute fifteen: 12 Burpees Minute sixteen: 14 Burpees Minute seventeen: 16 Burpees Minute eighteen: 7 Burpees Minute nineteen: 19 Burpees Minute twenty: 1 Burpee

If for any reason that you don't hit the specified # of burpees in the minute you must finish the remaining burpees on the next minute but you can not move on to the next set of burpees, you must wait until the next minute.