Purple Kale Salad

What You Need:
1 bunch purple kale, clean and torn into bite sized pieces
1 large cucumber, peeled, and halved
1 lemon
2 avocados, peeled
Handful baby carrots, chopped
Salt
Pepper
Red pepper flakes

For the salad:
Place kale in a large bowl with carrots. Chop half the cucumber and one of the avocados and throw them in the bowl too. I put the avocado into a ziplock bag and toss with the juice from half a lemon once it is sliced. Get it coated evenly to keep the avocado from turning brown.

For the dressing:
Put one avocado, half the cucumber, the pulp and juice from half the lemon, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes into blender. Blend until thin and creamy.

I think a handful of cashews would go well in this salad.

Todays Workout

Back Squat
8 x 135
6 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 275
5 x 295
5 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 355
1 x 365

Bench Press
8 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 205
5 sets of 3 x 225

Bent Over Barbell Row
8 x 135
5 x 155
5 x 175
5 x 185
5 x 205
3 x 225
1 x 225
1 x 225

Bench Press and Rows were done as supersets

EZ Bar Curl
8 x 90
8 x 100
8 x 110

Overhead Tricep Extension with EZ Bar
8 x 70
8 x 70
8 x 70

Curl and Triceps done as supersets

Dumbbell Shrug
3 sets of 8 x 100 lb dbs

100 pushups

10 minutes on heavy bag

Green Beans

These beans came out of the garden this morning, and made a great simple side dish.  We had so many we at a big plate each for dinner, and I wanted more.  Will definitely plant them again.

We just washed them and threw them in the crock pot for a couple hours with a cup of chicken broth, a tablespoon of olive oil, a tablespoon of minced garlic, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Today's Workout

Back squat
8 x 135
6 x 185
5 x 225
5 x 275
3 x 295
2 x 315
1 x 335
1 x 355

Barbell Press
8 x 95
5 x 115
5 x 135
2 x 155
1 x 175

Power clean
3 x 8 with 95 lb

Dumbbell Shrug
3 x 8 with 100 lb db's

Deadlift
8 x 135
5 x 185
5 x 235
5 x 285
1 x 305
1 x 325
1 x 345

10 minutes on heavy bag

Today's Workout

Back Squat
5 x 5 at 275 lbs

Dumbbell Shrug
3 x 8 with 100 lb dbs

One Arm Corner Barbell Press
3 x 8 each side with 45 lb plate
2 x 20 each side with 45 lb plate

Corner Barbell Standing Twist
2 x 8 with 25 lb plate
2 x 8 with 45 lb plate

Plank Cable Row
8 x 90 lb each side
8 x 125 lb each side
8 x 125 bleach side

Barbell Push Press
5 x 5 with 135 lbs

Grilled Eggplant Sandwich With Gruyere and Arugula

What you need:
1 loaf french bread, sliced into half inch slices and drizzled lightly with olive oil
1 handful fresh arugula
1 block hickory smoked gruyere cheese, thinly sliced
severa tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1tbsp salt
1 medium eggplant, sliced into quarter inch slices
balsamic vinegar

What to do:
First you need to brine the eggplant for half an hour.  To do this, stir one tbsp salt into a quarter cup hot water.  Then add the salt water with two quarts cool water in a large bowl.  Add the sliced eggplant to the bowl and use a heavy bowl to keep it submerged.  After half an hour, take the eggplant out and dry it off with a paper towel.  Put the dry eggplant in a dry bowl and add one tbsp balsamic vinegar and two tbsp olive oil.  Heat grill to 500.  Cook eggplant on grill for 4 or 5 minutes until good grill marks are visible.  Then flip the eggplant and toss the bread on the grill.  Cook another 3 to 4 minutes.  Remove from grill, assemble sandwiches.