Gym Brag

I have to give my new gym some props. I've been really active there for a week (since I was sick for a good 2 weeks in November) and I love it! Spin, Circuit, Weights, etc... they seem to have exactly what I want without being overly complicated. All of the people that work there are awesome, and so nice. There is never a wait for anything and they keep the place in prime condition.

But today, I hated them for a little bit. They whooped my ass in the Calorie Crushing, post-Thanksgiving workout. Somehow I kept up, and even better some of the big macho men that joined in on the class. Not surprisingly most of the women kept up better than the men (thanks to us not doing weights ALL the time).

I got to the class, and as I was setting up my space where I would be tortured for the next 75 minutes, I saw a professional camera being placed in the corner. Great. No makeup, Saturday morning, and about to sweat. Yes, I loved seeing the camera (sarcasm for those who can't catch it too well).

I survived, barely. Here is what we did:

Run in place
Lunges
Ski
Squats
Squat Thrusts
Curtsy Lunge
Vsit-up
Pushups
Mountain Climber
Jumping Jacks

Each set was for 1 minute, then do it again, minus the last exercise on the list (so 9 minutes for the second set and no jumping jacks). We did that until we only had one- running in place. It was intense, especially the squat thrusts which were not soon to be knocked off the list. But it was awesome, and definitely a burn that I was looking for!

So, what was I burning off? This carmelized pecan apple pie. Recipe is quick and easy (and mine). Here goes.

Carmelize a bag of pecans: Mix 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan (you can add a squeeze of honey too, I just didn't have any on hand). When boiling, pour pecans into mix, coating. Using a spoon with holes, place the coated pecans sans the sauce on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Broil for a few minutes. Watch so they don't burn! Let cool until hardened then chop

For the pie: I used a store-bought crust for ease (and money saving). One pie is about 4 apples, so I used a mix of McIntosh (my favorite apple ever) and Granny Smith apples. I also left on the skin and just sliced up the apples into smaller pieces.


Mix the following for the filling:
- 4 apples cut up
- The carmelized pecans, chopped
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp flour
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- dash of salt
- dash of nutmeg
- 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

Add more spice if you like the stronger spice of pie (typical of my mom). So, dump all of that into the crust, place the second crust on top, pressing the crust edges together and putting slices in the top of the crust.

Finally, bake for 15-20 minutes until browned, place tinfoil over top so the crust doesn't brown too much, then bake for another  30 minutes or so (total cook time about 45 minutes)

Let cool then serve with some vanilla ice cream! This turned out way yummy!