Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

Earlier today I saw a tweet from @AsaeprisPivot asking if anyone had a good cookie recipe to make that they could bring to their race booth this weekend...

I of course chimed in with...

Yes, a great post workout option, but then I realized although I have talked about this cookie on here, I have never actually shared it with you guy...what the heck?!  So I figured I would share the recipe with you and Aspaeris Pivot at the same time!  

These cookies have been enjoyed by fellow bloggers through the Foodie Pen Pal program, some of my clients and my family members... unless they are lying to my face, people seem to like them a lot!

Chocolate Chip Protein Cookies

1 1/2 c almond flour/meal

1 c vanilla or chocolate protein powder

1/2 tsp sea salt 

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 c apple sauce

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1/4 c agave or honey

1 c dark chocolate chips (small ones work best)

Combine all ingredients well and add chocolate chips last. Form 1/2 inch balls and press onto non-stick (or greased) baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes.  Note: since almond flour is used baking time is sensitive and bottom of cookies tend to brown easily.  

Enjoy! 

A (Mostly) Pictorial Christmas

PB Surprise Cookies

Recipe: Wrap Snickers minis in peanut butter cookie dough (I used store bought dough for lack of time). Use about a tablespoon of dough, flatten it out in your hands, set Snickers mini in the middle and wrap like a present!  Bake at 300 degrees for 10-12 minutes. To die for while they're hot!

Almond & Craisin Biscotti

Recipe (Note: Mine didn't turn out very hard, so bake them longer than the recipe calls for. They were still a hit though, just more like a scone.)

Papa & Oliver

My brother needs a hair cut!

Cousin Maddy & I

Cousin Christine & I

Christmas Eve 

Christmas

Baseball in the living room 

 Amazing gifts from family & friends:

-Yoga mat

-Polar HR monitor watch (YAY!)

-Kitchen utensils

-Snowman decoration

-Air popcorn popper

-"Sisters" decoration

-Polyester blanket

-5 qt. crock pot

-Paula Deen pots & pan set (SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!)

 -Fleur de lis ring (since I lost my other one, thanks hunny!)

-Change Up the movie 

I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but thank you to all my family and friends... love you all!

Time to get a workout in, take my boyfriend's brother's girlfriend from Toronto shopping (did you get all that?) for an outfit for the New Years, and await my best friend coming from New Hampshire!  We'll be spending our New Years in the cities (the cities in my neck of the woods is the Minneapolis/St. Paul area), so it should be a good time!

What did you get for Christmas?  What are your plans for New Years?

Happy New Years!

3 Ways To Use Your Pumpkin Guts

Many of you may be carving pumpkins right now in preparation for Halloween next week.

What will you do with all the guts that you scoop out?  Here's what I did...

ONE.

Roasted pumpkin seeds.  Consider this your warning, do not dry pumpkin seeds overnight on paper towel... you will spend A LOT of time trying to scrape the paper toweling off the seeds the next morning.  This is a fact (don't ask how I know).  Next time I will wash my seeds, place them on two paper towels so that the majority of the moisture is sucked up, then move them to a towel overnight to suck up the remaining moisture.  I ended up wasting all the seeds you see on the mess-of-a-paper-towel below because I got sick of trying to save every seed.

How did I season my seeds?  Sea salt + a little stevia.  Bake for about 25 minutes (stirring after 10 minutes) at 325 degrees.  Eat.  Enjoy :)

TWO.

Smoothies!  The pumpkin that you scrape off the sides of your pumpkin to make the wall a little thinner, thus easier to carve, save that stuff!  Put a handful of it into a blender and blend away (it will turn into a liquid-like substance).  My favorite smoothie combination thus far is blended pumpkin + vanilla yogurt (1/2 c) + blueberries (1/2 c)!  Both the pumpkin and the blueberry flavors stand out so much in the smoothies, it's awesome!  Oh yeah, and healthy!!

THREE.

Cookies! I borrowed a recipe that I found on Ashley's blog A Happier Healthier Bear, and modified it with ingredients I had on hand and tried to healthify it. (Note: Don't hate on the fact that "healthify" is not in the dictionary.)  Here's my version of the recipe...

Chewy Pumpkin Spice Cookies (modified)

1/2 c applesauce

1 1/4 c packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 c fresh pumpkin (blended as seen above)

2 1/2 c all-purpose flour 

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

Chocolate chips 

(I used less than a half bag since that's all I had left, wish I had more since I like everything chocolaty)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cream applesauce, sugar and eggs together. Mix well. Add vanilla and blended pumpkin.  Stir in dry ingredient to the wet mixture. Add chocolate chips (or nuts, raisins, etc. if you want).  Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet, bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool.  

The cookies are still in the oven as I write this post, so check back here in the comments of this post or check Twitter (@wealths_health) for the results!  

What other ways do you use the guts of a pumpkin?  

PS If you're wondering what we carved in our pumpkins, you'll have to wait until Halloween!  But I'll give you a hint... mine has to do with one of my favorite cities in the US.  Can you guess it?  

Where Did You Go July?!

Holy moly!  It's August already! Where did June and July go?!  Well I suppose since a new month is upon us that means it's time for a little monthly recap...

Challenged myself with Mission: Simply Water
Had my first giveaway
Started my internship
Started working part time at the YMCA
Made hot pockets,
Moved in with my boyfriend and learned some lessons 

Fitness Plan
Monday: 3.5 mile run
Tuesday: Lift, 20 cardio
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: Lift, 20 min cardio
Friday: Lift, 25 min cardio
Saturday: 6 mile run
Sunday: Off

Weekend in Rewind
I missed my Saturday lift due to my trip to La Crosse to see my best friend who has been living in Indiana and will soon be moving to New Hampshire for graduate school.... boo NH!  Just kidding, she is really looking forward to it, I'm just not.

Anyway my friend CS and I spent most of Friday afternoon sipping on cocktails waiting for JC to get into town.

Happy hour

Hazelnut Tiramisu & Key Lime Pie 

After JC finally arrived into town, things got started!  We really didn't have a whole lot to drink, but I suppose you don't need to when you get drinks this size...

The three of us shared this drink, called a Snookie (some call it a beergarita) featuring tequila and two bottles of Corona, and a fish bowl (not pictured). We didn't even make a dent in the Snookie since it came second to the fish bowl.  Fun stuff :)

The next morning we woke up and went on a walk to get some coffee, only to find that the street across from where I used to live was on fire!  It started in one of the buildings and spread to the other connecting buildings, taking a warehouse, 6 apartments and an optometry shop.

2 roads blocked off

A look down the smokey alley

Street's starting to flood from all the water used

Rescue efforts

Thankfully no one was hurt, however, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.  A number of people have lost their businesses, jobs and homes from this fire.  Keep them in your prayers!

Yesterday the bf and I invited my family over for a cook out!  I've been so busy and haven't seen much of my family lately so it was nice to have them over.  We grilled up some brats (beers brats and jalapeno brats) for the adults and hot dogs for the kids.  I made BLT dip and cookies for sides and the family brought watermelon, potato salad and hummus.  

BLT dip

If you're interested in the recipe for the cookies here it is!  Note: these cookies have a cakey texture to them.  

Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Cream together:

1 c butter

1 c plain yogurt

1 c sugar

1 c MoreFiber Stevia Baking Blend (or add an extra cup of sugar if not using this)

2 c brown sugar

Add:

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Mix together:

4 c flour

4 c oatmeal

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together & add one bag of M&Ms.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Makes 4 dozen cookies. 

*****************

This morning I got a call from my sister asking if I wanted to go to a movie with her and the kids...and get this, it was 25 cents a person!!!  During the summer the Micon Theater here in town has 25 cent movies on Monday and Tuesday mornings (10 am)!  This morning's feature was the Bee Movie.  I haven't seen this one and I had been wanting to so it was perfect.  If you're into cartoon movies, I would recommend this one.  It is great for kids, but has enough clever things in it to make it entertaining for adults. 

 Source

I asked if she would mind picking me up for the movie and then I would run home from there.  It worked perfectly because my breakfast was fully digested and I got my 3.5 mile run in before it was noon!

Off to work, do laundry and watch baseball later tonight!  Happy Monday!

National Running Day Miracle + My Dilemma

First thing's first, I totally forgot about the professional pictures taken during my half marathon back in May (I know pathetic) and just remembered them yesterday so I posted the couple pictures they had of me on my "Race" page, check them out!

Anyway, last night, on National Running Day, I found my old Nike + that I thought did not work, while I was cleaning my room.  Well I was about to throw it away when I decided, "no I'll give it one more try", so I plugged it into my ipod and sure enough Nike + booted up on my screen (this is more than what it used to do, I'm not sure what exactly happened)!  Since it was late, I did not get a chance to go for a walk or run to see if it really worked or not, so today my girl friend Carrie and I went for a walk to return a movie.  I wasn't sure if it was really going to work or not and I didn't want to get my hopes up in case it clunked out on me again.  As we started walking I monitored the distance and pace to make sure things were on track and reading like they should and sure as shit (as the express goes) it worked!  I'm so jacked!  I used to use my Nike + all the time when I ran, and when it stopped working for me I bought my Garmin.  Now I'm going to go back to using my Nike + since I'm not the biggest fan of my Garmin!

Here's my first logged bit of exercise!  Can't wait to take it out on my first run!  It's been a year and a half since I used this last, so I'm impressed that it is working. I'm also impressed with the updated nikeplus.com features!  It must be some kinda National Running Day miracle!

Workout
30 minutes biking with speed and hill intervals
15 minutes lifting
40 minute walk

My Dilemma 
While I was lifting today, I grew increasingly frustrated with the university's weight room, which actually caused me to leave and cut my lift a little short.  Why am I so frustrated with the weight room?  Right now we are in the process of a big switch over with the facility.  The weight room is no longer going to be controlled by the athletics side, but rather the fitness center side.  Since this is happening they are trying to remodel the weight room a little (aka paint mostly).  Now I understand that the summer is the best time to do this remodeling process, but there are also some things that I should be able to expect from my $60 summer fee to use the weight room.  Here are my issues with the weight room right now:

1. All equipment (ellipticals, weights, machines, etc) are all pulled away from the wall, limiting the already limited working space and creating obstacles. 
2. The cubbies are no longer in the room, which means users have no where to put their bags/belongings, which has resulted in people placing their bags randomly throughout the room... ummm, not safe. 
3. The free weight rack has been removed for repair or painting or something, and thus the free weights are sitting on the floor.  Not only are they sitting on the floor, they are scattered and in a totally random order so you have to go on a scavenger hunt to find the 15 lbs dumbbells you want to curl.  
4. Paint fumes + people working out = fainting and other bad things. Enough said. 
5. There is dust from sanding the walls on all of the equipment. Time for somebody to get out the feather duster!
6.  The workers do not do anything to help matters.  I know this because I know some of the workers there and they always say how they never do anything there and they just sit on the computer searching stuff.  This time could be put to use organizing #3 or cleaning #4 on my list. 
7. And finally, the door to the weight room, which is usually accessed by swiping your member card, has been left wide open multiple days to try to air out the room.  Having the door wide open means that any student can just walk in without swiping their card (aka they have no membership).  

So, for these reasons I feel like I should either get a refund, discount or at least be given the satisfaction of seeing the workers actually do something to better the weight room.  I could easily get a membership at Snap Fitness or the YMCA for the same price that actually gives me a decent place to work in. I mean I'm paying not only for the equipment I use, but also the appearance/quality of the place, right?  I know the director of the weight room, so I think on Monday I am going to go talk to him, however, I'm not exactly sure how to go about it due to our relationship (he is an influential person in my human performance program).  Am I out of line here?  What would you suggest I do?  Sorry for the vent, but thank you ahead of time for any input you may have :)

PS Someone needs to take these cookies away from me, I am dominating them far too quickly!

Stevia + New Creations!

My Stevia came! My Stevia came!  Despite my sluggish morning, when I heard a knock at my door from the UPS guy delivering the Stevia that I won from Jennifer giveaway last week I perked right up!

Included in the package is:

1. More Fiber- Stevia Baking Blend
2. 50 White Stevia packets
3. Vanilla Stevia Liquid 
4. Huge stack of papers which intimidated me at first, but then I realized the majority of it was recipes using these three products!  

Among the recipes featured in this recipe collection, that you will hopefully see in the not so distant future are:

• Averie's Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip Soft Serve 
• Frozen Fudge Mousse
• No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars 
• Raw Vegan Chia Seed Pudding
• Sugar Free Thin Mint Cookies
• Sparkling Lemonade 

Since my comment that I left on her post to get entered into the giveaway was this...

I of course had to follow through and try making them! The temperature and cooking time were the same as when I made the spicy toasted almonds, I just switched up the ingredients to make them sweet and salty!  

Sweet & Salty Toasted Almonds

1 cup almonds

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

1 packet Stevia (or 2 tsp sugar if you're taking that route)

1 tsp salt

Dash of cinnamon 

I overcooked mine just a hair because I wasn't paying attention, but they still tasted awesome!  I was really surprised that Stevia gave the nuts the same sweet flavor that I would have tasted had it been with regular sugar... I'm sold!  

I couldn't stop at the toasted almonds though...I had to try out one of the recipes from my new Stevia recipe collection. I really need to hole punch these papers and put them in a binder so I can call it a recipe book :) The recipe that I tried out was Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, the ingredients are as follows:

1 cup flour 

1 scoop protein powder (optional) <-- I did not use this

2 tsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup MoreFiber Baking Blend 

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp mint extract (optional) <-- I did not use this 

1/4 cup chocolate chips 

Recipe additions after the first try: 2 eggs & 1/4 cup water

Combine flour, protein powder, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place Stevia MoreFiber Baking Blend and oil in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and mint, beat well.  With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mix.  Beat just until well combined, then fold in chocolate chips. Drop by the tablespoon 2 inches apart onto a sprayed baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes or until just set. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. 

After I mixed all these ingredients together like they said this is what I got.  Very clumpy, but not quite moist or sticking together as a whole. Now granted I do not have a mixer (it's on every wish list I have... birthday, Christmas, Hanukkah even though I don't celebrate), I don't think the mix would have turned out much different.  So I improvised.  I added two eggs and mixed it together... still a little dry.  So then I added about a 1/4 cup of water and got it to a point where at least it looked like I could form balls with it. 

Since the dough tasted good, I went ahead with the cookies and baked them up!

Final product

They weren't exactly pretty cookies, because I don't have a mixer to mix the ingredients together really well, but what they lacked in appearance they made up for in taste.  Once again I am amazed that Stevia presents the same sweet taste that sugar does!  These chocolate cookies are a must try!  They only made 16 for me, my cookies were moderately sized, but I always undershoot what recipes tell me it should yield.  

Have you tried Stevia?  What do you think about it?  Any good recipes you used it in that you would like to share with this newbie? 

Whew!  Two big days spent in the kitchen in a row! Who knows what tomorrow will bring!  

A New Addition to the Family!

Yesterday my boy and I added a new addition to our little family, a beta fish!  Meet Luther!

Look at that little guy, isn't he adorable (the one above and below this comment ;) )

We sure love our new little fishy!  Since I live in La Crosse and he lives in Eau Claire, Luther is living with me!  Now, I just have to keep him alive, I didn't have very good luck this summer with other fish  :-/

EATS

Breakfast was a French toast bagel with cream cheese

Lunch was this lovely spread of goodies

Salad w/Virginia ham * Honey bran muffin * Cantaloupe * Pretzel thins * Carrots * Celery (w/peanut butter)

Very filling and I like having items like this because I can drag them out over a period of time... snack-like foods!

Dinner was leftover mac & cheese from last night & some pretzel thins with strawberry yogurt to dip them in (awesome combo!)

I just got finished baking cookies using the Flourless Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies recipe from  Runnerscookie.  I really like the taste of them, however, just a warning mine did not stick together very well when I tried to take them off the cookie sheet.  

Workout

Today my workout was a fairly quick one!  I did a track workout, 2 x 1600 m (8:30 pace), with 2 minutes of walking in between.  After the quick run, I hit the weights for about 20 minutes. 

Off to do some studying or maybe I'll just watch Luther swim around in his bowl :)