Let's just be VERY clear about something....just because this dessert is gluten free doesn't mean it's "Paleo". I can't in good conscience describe this decadent dessert in the same terms as my ribeye on the grill, or my omelette. If you're looking for a special treat, this cake is worth the carbs!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
• 1 cup melted butter
• 10 eggs
• 5 large carrots, peeled and shredded
• 1 cup pure maple syrup (reserve 1 tablespoon for date mixture)
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 medjool dates
• Chopped raw walnuts for garnish

Directions:

1. In a food processor, using the grating blade, shred carrots.
2. Place carrots in a large ziplock bag. Pour maple syrup over carrots and let marinate in the fridge for an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 325.
4. In a small mixing bowl, add sifted coconut flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
5. In a large mixer, blend eggs, vanilla, melted butter, and *date mixture.
6. Add dry ingredients to wet and blend.
7. Stir in grated carrots, discarding excess maple syrup that they soaked in.
8. Grease two 9 inch cake pans with butter. (You can also line the bottom of the cake pans with parchment paper for easier removal)
9. Pour batter into pans.
10. Bake for 35 minutes. Test center with a tooth pick-if the tooth pick comes out clean, then the cakes are done.
11. Remove cakes from oven and cool.
12. Frost cake, garnish with walnuts, and serve!

*Date Mixture:

1. Remove pits from dates and place in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Add one tablespoon water to the dates and microwave for 30 seconds.
3. Mash with a fork, add 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, and mash with a fork again.

 

• 16 oz full fat cream cheese
• ½ cup maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons grated ginger root

Directions:

1. Bring cream cheese up to room temperature.
2. Blend all ingredients with a hand mixer or Kitchen Aid Mixer.
3. Use right away, or refrigerate.

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Raise your hand if you’ve been enjoying our new strength programming! They’ve been quite dynamic and far from just setting a SRM. Pretty exciting stuff! Yesterday we worked on just our “clean pull.” I don’t know about you but it was nice to break down the movement and just focus on the explosiveness of the movement. Once you made your way through the five rounds of strength we put you through this WOD:

5 Rounds of:
5 Power Cleans (75-80% of 1RM)
10 Pull-ups (Advanced: C2B)

What a nice little couplet! You guys all finished this workout in about five to ten minutes. Awesome work everyone! I want to give a shout out to Special J, Dolores, and Kim Teg. All three girls’ pull-ups looked particularly strong last night (they were SUPER advanced: B2B – belly to bar ). They definitely are ready to go down a band or TWO. Nice work ladies, your hard work is paying off!

Ummm, what the heck?…Next time you all decide to have a WOD party at the 5pm class you better invite me! I showed up to coach the 6pm and there were 18 of you out on the floor busting your butts! It looked like total chaos but completely amazing at the same time! It was fun to watch and cheer you all on. Thanks for the show!

How many of you have signed up to compete in the CrossFit Open? I know I have and can’t wait to battle side by side all of you at the Fort. Visit this site if you’re interested in learning more about the Open; or if you are ready to sign up today click here. Let’s show the world who CrossFit Fire is!

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I always do a little happy dance in my head when a SUPER nice day comes along and there isn't any running in the WOD. Brian would disagree - he thought we should have been doing some  nice long 800m runs yesterday...but thrusters and burpees are just as fun on nice days as running!

10:00 - every minute on the minute
7 thrusters
3 burpees

The fact that there was not a prescribed weight on the board for this workout should have tipped you off that this was going to be TOUGH. As Zach pointed out to his evening class, "some of the strongest athletes in the gym did this at 40kg's....so make sure you don't over-shoot the weight".

Have you guys met Jamie and Amy yet? They're fresh out of the January ramp-up and they're doing GREAT in group classes! (Jamie is on the left, Amy the right) I wonder what they're both looking at....

Ladies - Warrior Women Wednesday is tonight at 7PM and we are putting on a snatch clinic. WOO HOO! We need at least 6 ladies to do this class - so if you are planning on coming please register right away! We need 2 more warriors to get the green light for the snatch clinic!

The 2012 Open begins in 3 weeks. This is your opportunity to complete a series of workouts and see how you stack up against the REST OF THE WORLD. The CrossFit Open is the preliminary round for the CrossFit Games - the biggest event of the year in our little CrossFit world. Last year we had over 30 people registered including a big pregnant lady! I want to see as many of you participate as possible - this is NOT open to only our firebreathers! I mean...what fun would it be if only the best of the best threw their hat in the ring?? NO FUN AT ALL. To participate, you will first need to create an account on the Games site: https://games.crossfit.com/mygames/login.php

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Yesterday we had you practicing your doube-unders once you completed a set of deadlifts. Kristen C strung together the most she’s ever done yesterday. Way to go darlin’, you’ll be a double-under queen before you know it! Did any of you look at the board a little crooked when you read “record the number of times you trip up?” Using this method, we got to see the consistency of your double-unders. It was a little strange counting the number of times you messed up compared to counting reps wasn’t it?  Weird.

I am officially dubbing the WOD yesterday “the gripper ripper.”

3 rounds:
30 UNBROKEN kettlebell swings (24/16)
:15 rest
15 pullups
1:45 rest

Anyone else feel their forearms throbbing in the last round? Oh. My. Gosh. It took all I had to hang on to that kettlebell and keep my swings unbroken. My 5pm class asked what the punishment was going to be if they ended up breaking up their swings. My answer? A swift kick to the hiney! Really, there was no punishment but you should have chosen a bell or scaled the reps appropriately to find a combination that allowed for your swings to be unbroken. Major props to Sophie who actually underestimated herself before the WOD by overscaling. But, before she completed the first set of swings, she decided to scale UP! Sophie, I’m glad you pushed yourself yesterday. You really got to see what you were capable of. Atta girl!

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PHEW! Anyone else completely exhausted? Yesterday was quite possibly the most amazing day EVER in the history of the Fort. I want to thank everyone for coming out and participating, spectating and hanging out with us. It was EPIC.

While we didn't get the 45 degree weather, I think the wintery wonderland gave the event some character. (that's the equivalent of saying it's good luck when it rains on your wedding day) It stayed about 55 degrees on the competition floor all day and about 99 degrees upstairs in the loft. Despite the temperature everyone was a good sport about it. We had half naked people in the loft, and people in coats, gloves and scarves outside in the tents.

The competitors were absolutely inspirational. You came with a smile, left everything on the barbell and walked away proud. These were tough workouts designed to test you mentally and physically. You made the impossible, possible. Great job to all of you! Final standings can be found on the men's score page and the ladies score page.

I have about 4 dozen people to thank for helping put together this event. Maybe you baked something for the concession stand, took pictures, came at the crack of dawn to shovel snow, kept our twitter feed going, moved around equipment, or checked athletes into their heats - for that I thank you. The entire event was never more than 5 minutes off schedule the WHOLE DAY. We truly have the most amazing community of people at the Fort. You gave me 110% and I couldn't ask for more.

To my judges, you had the hardest job of all. It's never easy to issue a "no rep". It's also not easy to spend 7 hours of your Sunday counting reps and offering encouragement for other athletes. You held strong to our movement standards and made this a legit event.

I wish I had a 60 person podium, because you all deserve recognition for your hard work! Alas, the podium only held 3 men and 3 ladies.

Ladies:

1st place - Nell Shuttleworth
2nd place - Jessie Murphy
3rd Place - Maddy Ruggeburg

Men:

1st place - Scott Carlson
2nd place - Ben Crookston
3rd place - Todd Nief

Our 3 lovely photographers took almost 1,000 pictures! If you'd like to view them, you can find them here. Feel free to use these on your blogs or Facebook pages. Sharing is caring. Extra credit points if you use a picture from our event for your CrossFit Open Competitor profile picture!

Again, awesome event. I couldn't have asked for anything else! I look forward to seeing all of you next winter!

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Yesterday we had the pleasure of working up to a 3RM thruster and this little ditty:

5:00 AMRAP of:
5 Thrusters (60/40)
10 Pull-ups
5:00 Rest
5:00 AMRAP of:
10 Burpees
10 Wall Ball Shots (20/14)

Boy, did anyone else think those 5 thrusters were heavy after setting a 3RM? Wowzers! Five minutes was the perfect amount of time for these four movements. Last night I got to see everyone moving throughout the entire five minute AMRAP. You can always stop and breathe after the WOD, right? Way to go guys.

Hey, have you met Ashley? She’s the lovely young lady in the picture to the left. She’s just gotten out of ramp-up and is making her way through group classes. Be sure to introduce yourself to her if you haven’t already! She is a super positive and fun chick. I am so excited that she is part of the fort family.

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Wondering what in the world the title of today's post means? Well I would be too if I were in your shoes! Last night after triumphantly calling TIME for the workout, Dolores informed me that it was the very first RX workout she had ever done. EVER. (insert celebration here) After doing some calculating, Dolores realized that she has been coming to CFF for 9 months - hence she gave birth to her RX baby last night! Congratulations!

4 rounds:
500m row
50 sit-ups

Another big congrats goes out to Bad Tiffany. Her first row of the WOD was a PR time for her - the first time sub 2:00 for her 500m row! And I also  have to congratulate good Tiffany (Snooks) on her amazing ability to stop, smile, pose and look adorable at any moment during the workout. That's true talent!

Just a reminder - this Sunday is our War of the WODs. We will start setting up shortly after Team Saturday and we could use your help. There will be tents to setup, errands to run, and equipment to move. If we all work together I think we can get it knocked out in about 2 hours. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has already volunteered! It's going to be a fantastic event!

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