Coach Kirstin

Holidays can be challenging.  I don't really have to tell anyone that.  You get family together celebrate.  Some people show up that you hoped wouldn't, others don't show that you wanted to.  Holidays are filled with memories.  Memories of celebrating with family that may not be around anymore.  Add all the cooking, travel and everything else and its just always so much fun.  Thanksgiving was a holiday I intentionally choose not to travel for.  Especially living in DC.  The place become a ghost town.  With Thanksgiving on a set day, travel become predictable and expensive.  So for the past 13 years of living here, I gladly spent the day with friends.  Until I started dating someone who would become my future husband.  Talk about adding a new level of stress to the holidays.  Hardest part is figuring out how to share the holidays.  You come up with some notional  schedule that neither side is truly happy abou...

I'm writing this post about 2 weeks before I plan on publishing it.  Why?  Because I am 10 weeks pregnant and we have not announced it yet.  Things are going well (knock on wood) but I am 36 so I am just being cautious before we tell the world.  But I am struggling with accepting my body as it is.  There are a couple of factors playing into this.  First, I had a scar treatment on the old (21 years) scar on my knee.  It was supposed to break up the scar tissue and make it better.  It didn't.  It opened up the old scar in multiple places.  After one round of antibiotics, a lot of cleaning, butterfly bandaids and not bending it, it is almost closed.  11 weeks later.  Second reason, I am beyond exhausted.  I read that you will be more tired the first trimester of your pregnancy but wow.  I am struggling just to make it through the work day.  Going to the gym almost seems impossible.  On a regular, I am taking a ...

So I am cheating.  I actually make this dish this spring.  Who makes a heavy potato dish in the spring?  This girl.  Because she wanted to clean out the random meats she was acquiring in her freezer.  In this case it was 2 ham steaks i had ordered from the farmer.  I am not really sure what I intended to do with them but they had been in the freezer for several months so it was time for them to go.  I started to google and didn't really find a single recipe I loved so this was a bit of an experiment.  But I failed on taking pictures.  I took a picture of the butter as it started to melt.  And then the finished product.  I was actually cooking several things this day and got pictures of everything else. Just not this.  You can sort of see it from the last picture but I had arranged my potatoes so beautifully.  When they were cold, they were perfectly formed solid layers that I was able to toss in the freezer.  But I d...

Paperless. It seems so simple. I save every thing to my phone/ email/ Google drive. I don't even print my proof of insurance.  Or so I thought. And then I read an article on an update to the  Tim Ferriss 4HWW and one of the things was never touch paper twice. I'm not even close to that. I carry around a file folder in my work bag (which has been soaked about 3 times by water that leaked out of my water bottle which I also carry in the same bag) full of papers of things I need to do. Car taxes, health insurance claims, paperwork for grandfathers estate and my notice from OPM that I was part of the breach (Hooray!). They are all just things I need to take care of. So this morning I scanned them in and shredded them. Then added specific items to my TeuxDeux list.  It was kind of gratifying.  I realized I was holding onto these papers to remind me to do things. But they weren't reminding me of anything. Other than I have a lot of things to do. And I carry arou...

Meatballs are easily one of my favorite foods.  I just like them better when others cook them.  They aren't a ton of work but its just a process.  And they are best when they can sit in the sauce and soak it up all day.  On my kick of prep ahead foods, I decided meatballs were on the menu.  I made about 2.5 batches.  One for dinner and one for the freezer.  There would probably be 3 meals but I think the husband likes meatballs more than I do.   The ingredients used were: 2 lbs of ground beef 2 lbs of ground veal 2 lbs of ground sausage 1 lbs of ground chuck (ideally you would use all good quality ground beef but I went with what I had on hand) 5 eggs 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons pepper 2 teaspoons garlic powder 2-3 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped 2-3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped 1.5 cups breadcrumbs (I had panko on hand but any are good) 1 handful of parmesan  First steps, getting all 7 lbs of meat out of the packag...

When I was a kid I hated meatloaf.  I'm not sure if it was the cook or just all the mushed up ground meat.  Either way it creeped me out.  Fast forward 25 years and its actually one of my favorite things but I rarely make it because the prep work.  Over 4th of July weekend we had people over and I made way too much BBQ chicken, which was great because we just reheated chicken all week.  Which is ironic because when I stopped fighting all I wanted to do was cook hot meals every night, as all I did was eat reheated food.  What I forgot is how convenient that is.  And allows me to make somethings that actually take too much time for a weeknight, ahead of time.  I planned out the week and got a few things ready over the weekend.  I took a lot of pictures but didn't post anything, wanted to make sure it actually tasted good!  The goal was to make it a little healthier and not red meat.  We already eat plenty of red meat in our house so ...

There is just something about pot roast.  It so many things.  It smells amazing the second you walk through the door.  It tastes even better than it smells.  And its that stick to your ribs kind of filling food that you love.   And all the ingredients you cook it with end up tasting just as good as the roast you cook it with.  I'm not sure which part I like better. Except the part that has every recipe saying sear in a pan and then put it in your crock pot.  Thats why I use a crock pot, so I don't do any other work.  Or dirty any other dishes. So here is what I started with celery, chicken stock, sweet yellow onion, 2 lbs beef rump roast, 16 oz baby bella mushrooms, carrots, potatoes and garlic.  I forgot to put the red wine in the picture.  I used a bottle the at I had sitting around that had gone bad and we were waiting to use in cooking.  I try to use all organic veggies and meats and with the exception of the mushrooms I thi...

Two years ago I was about to have my first pro mma fight. I had agreed to the fight even though she came in 15 lbs heavier than the agreed to weight because I really just wanted to fight. My life changed forever that day. I finally had the fight I had wanted, I was actually tested. I had to decide how bad I wanted to win. I did win but at a high cost. I had a really bad concussion. I had trouble remembering the names of things, people's names or what I was doing. I struggled to drive because I had no depth or speed perception. I constantly had a bad headache.  Being in the sunlight was miserable and caused a headache instantly.  I had a hard time keeping a train of thought, maybe it was because of the headaches.  And my personality began to change.  I initially avoided the obvious and didn't go to the dr. I did after a few weeks but if you know anything about concussions, I had passed a very critical window. Initially,  I worked with a sports concussion specia...

I love coleslaw.   I hate coleslaw drowning in mayo, I actually hate most things drowning in mayo.   The other weekend we went to chain restaurant. GASP! The most horrible of all food atrocities.   But we live in the suburbs, options are thin.   Any how.   The fiancé ordered a side of peanut coleslaw.   Its was fucking amazing.   I don’t know why I had never thought of that.   I love vinegar coleslaw, so I feel a creative food block that I never considered other sauces….wheels spinning.      I guess I have officially transitioned to becoming a crossfitter…I went to a 16.1 viewing party.   For those uninitiated, that means you watch the announcement of the first workout of the Crossfit Open with other people (who are in great anticipation) and then you watch super freak athletes perform it.   Yeah its weird.   But it was a food party.   I wasn’t sure what people would bring and it was going to be our dinner so...

I have been experimenting with a lot of foods lately but I have not been good about posting on them.  This week I was checking in with a client and said I would give her a recipe for the brisket I had just made that I thought she might like.  I am a huge brisket fan.  I think it also is nostalgic for me as it was what we had every year at the FFA banquet in high school.  Yes I was in Future Farmers of America, even an officer.  But the way they cooked it was very savory and smokey.  I have been trying to make my own but all the recipes I found were sweet using brown sugar and ketchup.  I finally paired together somethings I thought would be the right combo and it came out perfectly.  Of course I was experimenting and didn't measure.  I intended to recreate it this week but when I searched the freezer all I had was London broil, so its been ordered from the farmer for next week!  On to the recipe! I dry rubbed the brisket the night befo...