Slip, Rip, Mash, Steak

Today was one of those nasty rainy cold Minneapolis days, and after a long night of girl talk last night with some friends, I had a little difficulty getting out of bed this morning for the WOD. But...I prevailed and managed to walk a whole 8 feet before slipping on a slab of ice and hitting my entire left side on the concrete outside the gym.
And that was just the beginning of my "great" morning! I have a good 4 blisters and bubbles on my hands that just kill when I have to grip a BB or the pull-up bar. And thanks to Tyler, we did both today - back squats and deadlifts for the warm-up and pull-ups for the WOD.

For time:
400m Row
6 Broad jumps
15 Burpees (scaled to 8)
21 Pull-ups (scaled to 15)
250m Row
21 Pull-ups(scaled to 15)
15 Burpees (scaled to 8)
6 Broad jumps
400m Row

After the warm-up, we were complaining so much about our sensitive hands that Tyler decided to scale the pull-ups down. It still hurt like a mother though! I finished in 10:40, I got really gassed on the last bit of rowing and didn't meet my goal of sub-10.

To treat myself after the pain I put my hands through, I went to Target to pick up a few things: toilet paper, toothpaste, the usual. I also got a roasting pan, meat tongs, and a really swanky pepper grinder! I'm planning on roasting a chicken next weekend after I get back from my annual psychology conference - kind of a trial run before I roast a whole chicken for our Superbowl party!

But for today, I had to just deal with cooking sirloin steak and finally making the carrot-parsnip mash that I've been wanting to try all week:

Carrot-parsnip mash
3 parsnips, cut into small chunks
4 carrots, cut into small chunks
3-4 Tbsp of butter
salt and freshly ground pepper

Boil some salted water, then throw in the parsnips and carrots. Cook parsnips and carrots until tender, about 15 minutes (although, mine came out a little too tough, so either cut the carrots smaller or boil for a little longer). Drain thoroughly and put into a bowl with the butter. Mash while adding salt and pepper to taste.

Voila! Super easy and pretty delicious - the parsnips are slightly sweeter than the carrots and cooking them takes away that super "carroty" taste. And the butter helped too. I also tried cooking my steak a little differently today. Typically, I use my Foreman grill, but the steak always comes out dry and tough so I took a tip from Cosmopolitan (if you want recipes from a girlie magazine, you have to wait until they do a feature on "How to Cook for Your Man," otherwise you just end up getting a bunch of low-cal salad and pizza and pasta options - ick!):

Steak without a Big Green Egg
Preheat oven to 375'. Season steak with a drizzle of olive oil or melted butter and spices/garlic/etc. Sear 2-3 minutes on high heat, each side (they recommend using a cast iron, which I don't have; stainless steel worked just fine). Finish cooking in the oven - 10 minutes each side for a two-inch steak medium rare.

The steak didn't come out perfect, but it was pinker inside than what comes off my Foreman. And juicier too! Definitely something I'll try to perfect. I think part of the problem is that I get a specialty beef from a meat seller at the farmer's market, and the beef is VERY easy to overcook. Looks like I'll be asking my farmer for some cooking tips!