First ER visit, Clif Crunch and Summer Desserts!

Mmm my chipwiches were the hit of Father’s Day. I’m not the best cook but I’m the master at desserts.  I decided to do homemade chipwiches when I realized the cookies I made last week + the ice cream I made for Father’s Day would make an amazing chipwich. And it did.

The cookie recipe is from Ambitious Kitchen. I skipped the almonds.  NOTE – these have to be chilled!! I got to that step and started cursing.  : )

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips

 Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
2. With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and milk until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the dark chocolate chips.
3. Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball.
5. Bake the cookies 10-13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

The ice cream! 
You need an ice cream maker for this. Adapted from Cuisinart

1 cup half and half
¾ cup granulated sugar
pinch salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Whisk to combine the milk, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl of the ice cream maker and let mix until thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes. The ice cream will have a soft, creamy texture. If a firmer consistency is desired, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours.

I have also been looking for a great cookie bar recipe  - here it is!!!  AMAZING. Oh yeah and you’re wondering why I can’t lose weight??

My other current favorite summer desserts are popsicles. I’ll take a berry puree + sugar and then a yogurt puree + sugar and make popsicles out of them. Or I’ll skip the sugar and use banana for sweetening. The kids love them!

My sweet baby girl took us to the ER yesterday. She lost her footing and banged her head on the door hinge of a closed closet.  I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of that happening to anyone!  She had a nice laceration on her forehead and had to get it glued.

Broke my heart to watch this  She is 14 months old today. First trip there so we made it 4 years and 4 months, I guess that is okay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Clif Crunch! One of our favorite snacks to crush over yogurt, mmm!  Clif sent me a bunch of flavors. I like them for myself or the kids  for a mid morning snack, addition to breakfast or pre-breakfast, post-workout for something quick, and then crushed over the yogurt.  Weirdly enough, I like them best soft! If I open and put them in a container with homemade granola bars, they will get soft and that is how I like them best… not crunchy like their name

1000th post!

Wow! I started this blog almost 5 years ago on June 23, 2008!!!

Here was my first post – about headphones!  Just reading that post brought me back to a summer of no responsibilities. Being a teacher, I don’t even know what I did with myself in the summers pre-kids. I wish I could go back  for a little bit! That is for sure!  This blog has documented my 1st pregnancy, 1st child, then two more pregnancies with running and races in between. Becoming a mom, debating the stay-at-home versus going back to work, identity crisis, fitness, nutrition… so glad I started it and hope to continue to document my life and entertain you!  THANK YOU FOR READING and your continual support!

This week I committed to Jess’ Summer Shape up workout – week 1 and to focusing on eating more protein (and less chocolate chips). I want to be lean for summer and those chocolate chips aren’t helping. Luckily, the peanut butter we currently have in the house is one that I really don’t love, so I haven’t been eating too much of that!   I went back to a schedule of 5-6 days of workouts and want some muscle!  I just feel like my body is more wired for being active most days of the week and one day of rest.

Some of my favorite things this week:

Homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream (colored with spinach!) adapted from All recipes

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups 1% milk
1 cup sugar
1 tsp peppermint extract
1 cup baby spinach

I first put all this in the vitamix – it looked like green milk.  Food coloring isn’t my thing, spinach did the trick!  You cannot taste it AT ALL.
Green milk into the ice cream maker. I added in mini chocolate chips – handfuls at a time during the last few minutes.
My ice cream maker seems like a standard size but this overflowed it so I would cut this recipe in half next time. Still, it’s delicious. I don’t do great with dairy but I’ve been eating it here and there!

Blueberry Coconut French Toast
This was an amazing breakfast that I made with homemade bread maker bread!  Recipe coming soon…

 

Jess’ Protein Bars - this has been my afternoon snack this week – they are so good! I made half the recipe and cut out some honey

1 c. creamy natural peanut butter
1/3 c. of organic honey
1 c. of hemp protein powder (Trader Joe’s)
1/4 cup chia seeds

I just look at the picture for these bars and it makes me hungry! They are my kind of snack. Peanut butter,
protein powder (which I haven’t had in a very long time but used to be a staple), honey, chia seeds. I omitted the oatmeal  - it tends to make my stomach bloated. (reaction!)
I want to swap out the protein powder (processed!) for hemp seeds and see how that goes. I’ll report back.

Homemade pizza
This has been our Friday night thing. We use the bread maker to make the dough and then add our toppings!

 

I have been super busy in the last few weeks – starting a photography business on the side, doing a ton of research and getting all set up, tutoring for end of the year finals,  trying to plan another birthday for an almost 3-year old and switching up my workouts to more strength.  My diet has been pretty horrendous ever since calorie counting for a few weeks and usually around 3pm I am starving, have a large snack and then I am not hungry again!  A few nights I have had ice cream for dinner. At least it’s homemade!

 

Here is my little mover – I love the flip flops!

 

Review of Huma Energy Gel

The folks over at Huma sent me 2 of their gluten free, all-natural chia energy gel to sample and tell you about!

I was sent two packets to try and all of the opinions below are my own.

Huma Chia Energy Gel is all-natural with chia seeds. It is a great great great alternative to many of the other gels on the market that contain mostly sweeteners.  The ingredients in the apple cinnamon are : apple puree, evaporated cane juice, filtered water, brown rice syrup, ground chia seeds, sea salt, citric acid and cinnamon.  It tastes like APPLE PIE. Mmmmm.
The gels taste like a real food product – fruit puree.   I tried them both pre-run and really thought they were a treat. The consistency is a little different than your normal gels, which comes from the ground chia seeds.  It might take a little getting used to but the sweet taste of the strawberries in the Strawberry Flavor and of the apple cinnamon in the Apple Cinnamon flavor will win you over. Yum!!  I look forward to the opportunity to use these for a long run or race in the fall.

 

 

 

Friday food talk: Vegetarian sources of protein

Happy Friday! and almost Happy June – where did the spring go? We are having hot and humid mid-July like winter and I’m convinced spring never happened this year.  I sure missed it but savored the park days and nice weather days that we were fortunate enough to have.  As the weather gets nicer and it becomes beach season I have been trying to stay on track with good eating and exercise.  Once I started doing the plan by myself and swapping things out, I saw an uptick in weight so I had to go back to the basics, but it wasn’t working for me! I did some calorie counting with plan basics in mind, but still not seeing much success. I have thought about going back to 5-6 days of high intensity workouts to get back on track, but I know my body needs to heal, so instead I am working on protein.  I really want muscle tone and fitness!!

#wishthatwasme

As a vegetarian, the most common question that I get is “WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR PROTEIN?” and my most common answer is, “nuts, beans, and cheese!”  I eat so much peanut butter, I wish I had a peanut allergy sometimes!  But just eating those things is not sufficient. To get enough protein as a vegetarian and athlete takes preparation! Below are some ideas for vegetarian protein sources.

VEGETARIAN PROTEIN SOURCES

Hemp seeds:  3 T, 10 g
Sunflower seeds: 1 oz, 5 g
Pumpkin seeds: 4 T,
Almonds:  1 oz, 6 g
Chickpeas: 1/2 c, 6g
Chia seeds: 4 T, 6 g

source: chiaseedszone.com

Rice: 1 cup, 5g
Broccoli: 1 cup, 5g
Tempeh*, 4 oz, 18g
Egg Whites, 2 whites, 7g

*Tempeh is a soy product. Read about soy below!

A NOTE ABOUT SOY
I used to have no problem getting enough protein using processed soy products such as Boca and Morningstar Products, however, I stopped eating processed foods.  All of these products and most soy products on the market today, promoted for their health benefits, are made with unfermented soy, which has been linked to many health issues including breast cancer, severe food allergies, and impaired fertility.  I have also read how soy formula for infants can mutate their hormones.  In addition, over 90% of the soy products that are available to us are genetically modified. Unfermented soy has been linked to phytoestrogens, which can mimic the effects of estrogen and mess with our hormones. Even small amounts of soy daily can have an effect on our menstrual cycles!  Avoid unfermented soy (tofu, soy milk, etc)  and stick with fermented soy products – tempeh, organic miso, soy sauce, and tamari.  Do you eat soy products? 

 

I am not a big fan of tempeh but have found a couple of recipes where you crumble it and add things to it to make it more like meat.

Check out this website for ways to prepare tempeh.

Source:thekitchn.com

PROTEIN POWDER
What about protein powder? I used to have it daily, but it is processed so I cut it out.

Below are some recommended protein goals for each meal from the Plan book.

Protein goals for each meal: 
Breakfast: 10g
Lunch: 15-40g
Dinner: 40-70g

 

Your turn:

Do you have a favorite protein source?  Do you use protein powder?
If you eat meat or not, what is your biggest protein source?
As a runner, do you track your protein? What is your protein goal for the day?

bulletproof coffee?

As I have been following the plan, I have been a part of a facebook group of tons of people doing the same thing.  Within the group, bulletproof coffee was mentioned.

You add butter to your coffee?? It’s supposed to give you tons of energy and keep you going for hours. There are also claims within the group that it will fill you up until lunch time with the healthy fat content.

Check this out from the website:

” I use the lowest toxin, highest performance coffee there is (I know, because I created it and tested it!), brew it, and then I blend unsalted grass-fed butter into it. Yes, butter. All the benefits of healthy milk fat with none of the damaging denatured casein proteins found in cream. It makes for the creamiest, most satisfying cup of coffee you’ve ever had. It will keep you satisfied with level energy for 6 hours if you need it. And because I’m having it for breakfast, I’m programming my body to burn fat for energy all day long!”

What do you think?

I tried it with coconut oil, just about 1 tsp the last two days. I like the taste! Coconut coffee!  Did it keep me full? Nope! Lots of energy? Maybe.  Would you try it?

Friday faves!!

Wooo an up and down week for me, but if I have a focus I feel better! Focusing on Photography this week. Trying to work on my website & improve it, continue to work on my portfolio and go with this since it is something I enjoy. On the backburner – getting certified to teach group exercise classes.

Boston shirt – Did you see they raised over $25k on these shirts!

 

Popsicle recipe by Martha Stewart- just in time for summer!

1.5 cups strawberries + 1 T sugar – puree
1.5 cups blueberries + 1 T sugar – puree
1.5 cups plain yogurt + 1 T sugar – puree

Mix and swirl into your popsicle molds

source: Martha Stewart

New blog to read! Detoxinista!

I think she is in her 3rd trimester of 1st pregnancy but I just started reading. Great raw, paleo and all around healthy recipes!!

Additionally, I wish I had a peanut allergy lately. I can’t stay away from the stuff!!  :- )

 

 

 

 

All over the place!

It is the end of the school year for my kids tomorrow. I am so very sad about this! I have really enjoyed some time in the mornings to myself while the baby was napping, and a break from the kids. Next fall there will be no "break time" in the morning anymore since there will be no morning nap anymore, instead we'll be doing errands together, playing and something structured like swimming or gymboree. I can't believe how fast time goes!  I feel like we skipped spring and it's amazing to me that Memorial Day weekend is this weekend and I have a 13 month old. How?

During the down time, if I don’t have something to work on – I feel lost! There are so many things I could be doing (such as housework, but who wants to do that?) I always need something to work on or I feel bored. I don’t like unscheduled time  I have been thinking about what I will do when all the kids are in school.  I have been missing some of my pre-kids identity. Running has kept me going ever since having kids, but now I feel like I’m in the stage where I feel like I’m practically pregnant since my body can’t do what I want it to do, geesh!  Back before kids, running was huge, and now my body is falling apart slowly, which is so frustrating.   I started getting into toning/fitness last fall  after the baby and that sent my SI joint off the deep end.   Running fast after taking time off after that brought hamstring problems back that began when I was pregnant with Lindsay and marathon training. The long and short is that my body has been pretty tough over the past 4+ years and I’m starting to feel my age as it slowly breaks down. Boo!!!   I’m still running, but around 10-15 miles a week, and not without some pain. This morning I was able to run with a friend after we dropped off the older kids at school. Yay!

How cute are they?  they are 19 days apart. Love this age!

Photography has been an outlet but there’s only so much you can do.   We are starting to get ready for summer with the hot humid weather we are having and broke out our little pool yesterday and set up the jungle gym to go in it. The kids stayed cool and had a blast!

I love looking up new recipes and trying out healthy ideas, but following the plan has limited things I can eat.  I’m getting tired of the monotony of it at this point and just trying to follow some of the suggestions but eat what I want.  Drink my water! Lots of veggies, seeds and nuts still included in my everyday. I made homemade meatballs (with kale pesto, wooo) for the boys in my family for the first time, probably ever – last week – and remade them this week. Weelicious helped me with that!

Here are some recipes I pinned to check out:

Weelicious - Falafel

 

Veggie Casserole - Weelicious

Lauren’s Latest – Enchilada Casserole

Firecracker ice pops! – Martha Stewart

I’m looking forward to summer, but I am terrible at transitions – school to pool.
My goal for June is to get back to the gym! I don’t know what I will do there but something to get out of the funk! Maybe TRX?

What type of workouts are the most effective for you right now for toning and strength?

I leave you with one of my favorite workouts from Blonde Ponytail for sculpting your arms for summer!