March 29 2019 – Darren – nutrition balance
Darren is a passionate local chef who enjoys sharing his love of food through cooking classes in the town of Okotoks and surrounding area. Trust me, you want to eat Darren’s food!!
Find him on Instagram & FB @ divinecookingathome or visit divinecoooking.ca
Enjoy the journey
By Chef Darren Nixon
If you had to choose between eating bacon every day or being skinny for the rest of your life, which would you choose….. Hickory or Applewood smoked? – unknown
Regardless of who we are and where we are starting from, there are two rules that dictate our results. Balance and consistency. This is slightly upsetting to most of us to find out that unless we apply these rules to our daily lives, we won’t be nailing our perfect vision of health. From a chef’s point of view,with a slightly greater emphasis on enjoying life over living the straight and narrow, I have struggled with this. For this reason I thought it would be more appropriate to shed some light on the importance of spoiling ourselves along the way versusfaking my way through the likes of understanding the counting of micros and macros.
I believe that living a full life definitely includes a good variety of non-restrictive delicious food moments. These are the rewards to the hard work. The balance to putting in the time at the gym (Where I struggle).Luckily there are foods out there that satisfy both ends of the equation for our day to day eating such as the recipe below. Life is too short not to indulge while we work on our consistent exercise routine. In the meantime…. Am I going to eat that poutine? Am I going to have those mini donuts? Damn rights I am! This is not a time to sweat the small stuff but rather turn off that little voice and live a little. Because in the end we need all of those satisfactory feel good moments so we can keep enduring the healthy moments
You can live to be a hundred if you give up all the things that make you want to live to be a hundred. – Woody Allen
Life is simply just too short not too enjoy! Strive for balance and consistency
This recipe covers the bases. You feel spoiled eating it and your body will say thank you. The best of both worlds
Beef Ragu with Mashed Garlic Sweet Potatoes
Serves 6 – 8
3 lb beef shoulder – cubed
2 T olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup diced parsnips
8+ cloves of garlic – halved
Rosemary + thyme – fresh or dried
4 T tomato paste
Kosher salt
Black pepper
2 cups beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
Heat a heavy bottom pot on a med-high burner. Add olive oil and allow to heat. Season your beef with salt and pepper. Add beef shoulder in small batches to the pot to brown evenly, setting each batch aside until all the beef is done. This browning step will add a rich depth of flavor to the end results. Next add chopped vegetables and garlic to pot along with tomato paste and herbs. Continue to stir and cook on medium heat for 4 – 5 minutes. At this point you should smell some serious aromatic deliciousness and a layer of caramelization will begin to form on the bottom of the pot. Add the red wine and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon to deglaze the flavors and then follow with the beef broth. Stir to combine and then return beef to the pot. Cover with a lid and place in a preheated 325 F oven for 2 hours. Prepare mashed sweet potatoes during this time. After 2 hours, remove beef from oven and taste. Adjust salt if necessary. Serve over mashed sweet potatoes with a glass of red wine of course.
Mashed Garlic Sweet Potatoes
Peel Sweet Potatoes and place in a pot with 2 inches of water, 6 – 8 cloves of garlic and a sprinkle of kosher salt. Cover and steam until tender, approx. 15 minutes. Drain remaining water and add a generous amount of butter (grass-fed if you’re feeling the love). Mash to desired consistency. Enjoy!
Natural High Fitness is located at
the Okotoks Recreation Centre.
99 Okotoks Drive
Okotoks, Alberta
403-938-4483
The Natural High Crossfit Box is located at:
113 Fisher Street
Okotoks, Alberta
403-938-7051 CrossFit Classes
403-828-3512 CrossFit Kids Classes
Mailing address:
PO Box 1545
Okotoks, AB
T1S 1B5
—– Fitness Centre —–
Natural High Fitness Social
—– Crossfit Box —–
Natural High Cross Fit Social