Apple Cinnamon Protein Oatmeal

 Fresh Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal with Protein

1/2 C whole rolled oats

1 diced apple

Sprinkle cinnamon

Dash of sea salt

Blendfresh Protein powder (or your own)

Put first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and microwave three minutes.  Stir then sprinkle half a scoop (about 2 Tbsp) of Blendfresh Protein Powder and add almond milk if desired.   Yum!  It has a slight reminder of apple pie to it.  Great way to start the day with healthy carbs and Blendfresh Protein from plants.   You only need the natural sweet from the apples, not extra sugar.  It's a perfect way to stay satisfied and wake up your metabolism for the day.

Blendfresh Plant Protein Powder

Blendfresh 8 Whole Food Plants Protein Powder

We all know we need protein daily.  It becomes your muscle, your skin, your hair, your fingernails.  Getting enough protein daily is important for health, but especially vital when you are transitioning to a healthier state like dieting or building more muscle as you become more fit through exercise.

Here's what you need to know.  Protein is needed to increase lean muscle.  It assists in muscle repair and rebuild.  It minimizes muscle loss and fatigue during physical activity.   Your body demands protein and if you don't take in enough, it will begin to break down your own muscle mass for it's own needs!  Since muscle burns more calories than fat, we all want to be more lean these days.  Protein also has fewer calories which is a bonus.  So protein should be a big focus for anyone seeking transformation to a healthier body.

I really like this Blendfresh Protein Powder for several reasons.  I find as a fitness coach that if you are a meat eater and go on a diet or restricted plan (like Paleo, Atkins, low carb, 17 day diet, etc) the focus becomes eating a large percentage of calories from protein and the most common sources are chicken, turkey, fish, and dairy.  These are all heavy to digest and can constipate if not enough fiber is taken in.  A great solution is to get part of your protein from plant sources that come naturally with the fiber from nature.  This also gives variety to the diet and additional nutrients that would have been missed.

Shop Retail        Join the Club 

This source of proteins provides a diverse blend of eight seeds, legumes, beans and whole grains, yet is gluten free, soy free and dairy free.  So if you have tried whey protein powders in the past and they have upset your stomach, this may be a better choice for you.  My husband is a very dramatic testimonial of that.  He is lactose intolerant, and suffers symptoms like IBS if he has dairy, but is able to enjoy Blendfresh Protein daily without getting an upset stomach or gassy.  So if you have allergy to soy, gluten, milk, casien, whey or any dairy this is a good source of easy protein.  The last two ingredients are plant enzymes to aid in digestion.

The proteins in plants are different from the proteins in meat, and in this product there are enough sources together to make a complete protein from an amino acid standpoint.  If you are vegetarian or vegan this is a natural choice.  It can be used both in smoothies and recipes, like on oatmeal, in energy bars or snack balls, and baked goods like muffins, pancakes, and cakes as well as almond milks and healthy hot chocolate.

How much protein do you need?  The general recommendation to develop lean muscle is to aim for 0.8 to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day.  If you are very active and lead a lifestyle that's physically demanding, it may be to your advantage to increase this amount to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight per day.For example, if I weight 130 pounds, my protein intake should be 104-195 grams each day, depending on my activity level.

Currently Blendfresh only offers a Vanilla flavor that has a slightly sweet taste from honey, a healthy sweetener.  It's very creamy and perfect as a post-workout shake, breakfast smoothie that will keep you full, or even to add protein to your other recipes like home made energy bars.

All plants in this blend are of the highest quality.  Pesticide free, non-GMO, and clean.  One scoop provides 20 grams of plant protein.  And best of all is the taste!  I have tried MANY vegan protein powders and it is very hard to find one that I look forward to drinking instead of dreading.  This I enjoyed from the first sip!  And I'm hearing from many people who use this as part of a meal replacement smoothie that it keeps you full for hours, 3 or 4 or 5.  I've experienced this too and I've been surprised at the lack of hunger and cravings.  I can only attribute it to the good nutrition and regulated  blood sugars that come with the Blendfresh lifestyle, including the Protein.

You can blend it in a blender bottle with some almond milk or even water to keep it simple, but the best way I like to use it is making a 180º Smoothie which is blended with frozen fruit and Blendfresh Colors and Probiotic.  Yummy!

The official list of ingredients is: Protein Blend (Pea Protein, Rice Protein, Potato Protein, Quinoa, Black Bean, Flaxseed, Alfalfa Juice, Spinach), Honey, Oat Bran, Agave Inulin (which is just fiber), Natural Flavors, Guar Gum (from Guar Beans), Stevia Leaf Extract, Citric Acid (from Beets), Xanthan gum, Tara Gum (from Tara pods), Orange Fiber, Papain (from Papaya), Bromelain (from Pineapple).

On a side note, Blendfresh Protein provides selenium, a critical nutrient for the production of thyroid hormones and proper metabolism.  It is found that individuals with higher levels of selenium exhibit more strength, making more of your workouts.  So add Blendfresh plant protein to your regimen and enjoy the benefits of a more plant based diet!

Click here to order retail              Click here to join the Club and save!

Fat 0.5 grams, Total carbohydrate 5 grams, Dietary Fiber 3 grams, Sugars 2 grams, Protein 20 grams   Non-GMO Project verified

Time to sign up for The Blendfresh 90 Challenge!

What is Blendfresh 90?

Blendfresh has partnered with Blendtec, the producers of “The Worlds Most Advanced Blenders” to help create the world’s most healthy fast foods. The ability to use a Blendtec Blender to mix the Blendfresh Products creates the most effective way to establish more sustainable, healthy lifestyle.

Click to register now

(use Coach Jenn Gibbs or id #2534 when prompted)

The Blendfresh 90 Day Challenge

It seems as though everyone is looking for the latest diet that will quickly give them the results they desire. In fact, many are willing to try multiple diets and programs as they do not seem to achieve their physical and health goals.

With this in mind, Blendfresh wanted to create more than just a program, we wanted to create a lifestyle. Our focus on more than just a limited number days or a start and end date, our focus is on getting you on a path of living a more healthy lifestyle every day, for the rest of your life.

As you will see, the Blendfresh 90 Challenge is all about creating healthy eating and physical eating habits. It will be these habits that truly improve one’s life. With all the noise out there it can be tough to find a program that works for you. We are confident that if you will dedicate and commit yourself to the Blendfresh 90 Program, you will see new habits form that increase your health and happiness.

What is Included?

To become an official participant who will be eligible for the contest rewards you must:

1. Accept the Challenge
2. Submit a Before Photo along with requested health measurements
3. Sign-up for the monthly (3 month subscription) Challenge Pack for $229 a month (regular discounted package price is $249). This pack includes the following:
1. 1 Blendfresh Protein
2. 1 Blendfresh Fiber
3. 1 Blendfresh Reds
4. 1 Blendfresh Greens
5. 1 Blendfresh Purples
6. 1 Blendfresh Orange
7. 1 Blendfresh Pre & Probiotics
4. Join the Blendfresh 90 Challenge Facebook Group for access to:
1. Recipes
2. Workout
3. Ask the Trainer
4. Group Discussion
5. Updates
6. Official Contest Rules

Need to know more about Blendfresh?

How It Works

Nutrition Plan

As you begin the Blendfresh 90 Challenge, for the first 10 days you will follow the 180 Cleanse plan by drinking 2 smoothies per day, using the 180 Smoothie Recipe as a guide. You can use just one Blendfresh Fruit & Vegetable powder in each smoothie, or mix them up as you like. These smoothies can be taken whenever it’s most convenient for you, and should replace two meals per day.

Other than two smoothies, you should consume 2-3 small sensible meals or snacks per day. These meals should be approximately 2.5-3.0 hours apart, and no more than 4 hours apart. The Blendfresh 15 Whole Food Fibers should also be incorporated by mixing into smoothies, or taken nightly before bed mixed with water or juice.

Other meals and snacks during the 180 Degree cleanse should be based on whole, clean food such as: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, lean protein, and healthy fats. 90% of nutritional intake from clean food and fast-foods, processed, packaged, sugary, etc. restricted to 10% or less. Please remember that this time period is meant to be a 180 degree turn away from the typical lifestyle and is a great way to jump start your lifestyle and body transformation! To assist you with your goal, try to cleanse your home and workplace of all processed food, junk food, soda, alcohol, and other tempting food items that will keep you from reaching your goal.

For the remaining 20 days of the month, simply consume 1 smoothie per day, as well as 3-4 small sensible meals or snacks. During this phase, 80% of food intake should be fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and healthy fats. About 20% from whole-grain carbohydrates, lean protein, and some less-ideal foods may be included.

Recommended caloric intake per day for women: approximately 1,500 calories, men: 2,200 calories. Please refer to sample meal plans to see recommended portion sizes and breakdown of caloric intake during the day, using healthy fats, carbohydrates, and protein in proper amounts.

Use of Blendfresh Products

• Blendfresh Protein
  • Participants will add to their smoothie one serving of protein powder, but will also include fruits and vegetables and other ingredients in their smoothie
• Blendfresh Fiber
  • Participants will consume one serving of the Fiber daily, best results when taken at night before bed. Can be mixed with water or 6 oz. of juice.
• Blendfresh Pre and Probiotic Product
  • Participants will consume one serving of the probiotic product daily. This should be included in the morning smoothie
• Blendfresh Fruit and Veggie Blends (Red, Green, Purple & Orange)
  • Participants will consume at least one serving of one of the Blendfresh Fruits & Veggie Blends each day, ideally added to smoothies but can be consumed with other foods as desired

Exercise Program

Participants will participate in a regular exercise program for 45 minutes daily, 6 days per week. This exercise should include cardiovascular exercise, for a minimum of 4 days per week, or a combination of weight training and cardio for 5-6 days per week for a total of 45 minutes per session. All activity should be according to the level of the individual, and when in care of physician please consult a doctor first.

Daily Journal and Meal Planner

Participants are encouraged to record all meals and exercise. Blank tracking pages are available for download. It is also recommended that participants use apps/tools available, such as: My Fitness Pal, Map My Fitness, Nike Fuel Band, Jawbone UP, etc.

How to Register

1. Accept the Challenge
2. Complete Form to register  (use Coach Jenn Gibbs or consultant #2534 to register)
3. You will receive an email from Blendfresh letting you know what the next steps are. Included in that Next Steps Email will be the following:
1. A request for you to send a before photo
2. Your personal story
3. Waist measurement (inches), and estimated body fat using calculator at http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bodyfat
4. You will receive a call from Blendfresh or you can call Blendfresh to sign-up for the Challenge Pack. You will be asked to join either as a Preferred Customer for only $10 or if you want to join as a Blendfresh Consultant capable of earning commissions you can do so for $35.
5. Accept invitation to join Blendfresh 90 Challenge Facebook group to stay updated, get motivation, receive fitness tips, recipes, meal plans, workouts, and more!

This is the chance you've been waiting for!  Motivation, support, a specific plan with accountability and a long enough committment to bring lasting healthy changes into your life.  It's time for you to take care of your body and learn to do it for the rest of your life!

Click here to register

(use Jenn Gibbs or Consultant #2534 when prompted)

#blendfresh #blendtec #blendfresh90 #weightloss #fitness #health #challenge # recipe #fun

Just Fudge It!

Just Fudge It!

1 14 oz. can of sweetened condensed milk

2 C chocolate chips

1 cube butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 scoop Blendfresh Sprouted Fiber Blend

1 C broken walnuts (optional)

Microwave ingredients and pour into a 11x7 pan lined with foil that is sprayed with non-stick spray.  Refrigerate until cool, then peel the foil from the back and cut into small pieces.  This is definitely a treat to be enjoyed in small amounts and shared.  It is more filling than most fudge (because of the fiber), so there is a natural tendency to be satisfied more quickly and eat less.  Whew!

Ok, I promise that's the last treat recipe for a while, but I had to sneak it in cuz the picture I took was too perfect!  Happy New Year!

Scottish Toffee Pudding Cake

Scottish Toffee Pudding Cake

1C pitted dates

1 C water

1 tsp baking soda

Combine above ingredients in your blender jar and blend until smooth, then extra 90 seconds (or use Hot Soup setting on your Blendtec).  Then add to jar:

1/4 C butter (1/2 stick)

3/4 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

Blend until creamy and lastly add:

3/4 C flour

 and blend just until mixed.  It should be thin like batter.

Pour into a greased 11x7 pan and bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes.

When it's done, set the cake to cool for a few minutes while you make the toffee sauce (below).  Once a little cool, slice the cake into about one inch cubes.  Separate cake pieces with a fork to pour the sauce in between each one and around the edges.

"The Sauce"

3/4 C brown sugar

1/2 C butter (1 stick)

3/4 C heavy cream

Add above ingredients to sauce pan and heat until thick without boiling.  If you have any sauce left over after pouring between the pieces, just pour it on top.  If you make and slice the cake ahead of time, you can make it piping hot again if you pour the sauce on it just before serving.  Optionally, you can save some sauce to do a drizzle on the plate as well.  For the photo above, I did a drizzle with some of the heavy cream that was left.

Note:  I love this recipe.  It is an old, Scottish family recipe of Chef Brad, the Grain Chef who I met at the BYU Education Week classes on whole grain nutrition.  He has many great recipes,and most of them are much healthier!  I actually attended a private cooking class at the Bosch Kitchen Center with a personal trainer friend when this was revealed.  Fun memories.  

There's no question that this is a "treat" best made only once or twice a year.  I have tried to modify it and make a healthier version, but it's my family's consensus that it's just not worth it.  The Sauce really can't be modified well, and using whole grain flour instead just changes the texture.  My advice: make this as dessert, THOROUGHLY ENJOY YOUR SMALL PORTION, and invite friends  over to help you finish it so it doesn't stay in your kitchen after that first night.

If you want to feel a little better about it, add a scoop of Blendfresh Green to the batter (you won't taste it with everything else going on), and when your done, drink a tall glass of water with a scoop of Blendfresh Spouted Fiber Blend to bind with some of the fat and minimize the damage!

And Bliadhna Mhath Ùr (Gaelic for Happy New Year!)

"Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

"Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

Add the following to your blender jar (use Wildside if you have a Blendtec blender);

2 C sugar

1 3/4 C flour

3/4 C cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 scoop Blendfresh Green (optional)

1/2 - 1 scoop Blendfresh Sprouted Fiber blend (optional)

Pulse a few times until the dry ingredients are well mixed.  Then add;

2 eggs

1 C milk

1/2 C coconut oil

2 tsp vanilla

Mix for about 40 seconds in blender, then add

1 C boiling water

Mix together and pour into a sprayed a 9x13 pan.  Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes.  As an option add up to a cup of walnuts.  

For frosting I like to sprinkle a 1/2 - 1 Cup of chocolate chips on top of the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.  After about a minute the chips will be melted enough to spread over the cake with a butter knife and cool as cake topping.

The Blendfresh Green scoop you will not notice the taste of.  It will just add nutrition to what could possibly be a dessert of very little nutritional value - just a fun treat once in a while, which this should be.  If you add 1/2 scoop of Fiber you probably won't notice it, but if you add a whole scoop of fiber you may want to add 3 Tbsp of water to keep your cake from becoming dry.  Use this rule of thumb with any cake or baked item that you want to add the extra Fiber to.

This is my adaptation of the "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake from the Hershey's Recipe Collection Cookbook, 2008.

Alfredo Sauce with a "healthier" spin

Disclaimer: This recipe is delicious, and yet please understand the goal.  This is not what I would call a "healthy" recipe.  This recipe is for moments we are intensely craving pasta with alfredo sauce, and this is a very tasty way to make it better for you, but I would not recommend this recipe often as being "good for you".  It's just better than the traditional recipe because of the added fiber and whole grain.  That said, let's make some yummy pasta alfredo!

Alfredo Cream Sauce

1 cube butter

3/4 C heavy cream

1/3 C parmesan cheese

1 scoop Blendfresh spouted fiber blend

Cook: 1/2 box Barilla whole grain spaghetti

Cook pasta.  In a separate pot gently melt butter, then add heavy cream and stir until very warm and blended (do not boil or cream may separate).  At the last moment quickly add parmesan and Blendfresh fiber and whisk to blend.  Pour immediately over cooked pasta and mix together.  The parmesan will melt and the fiber will begin to thicken immediately, so you want them on the pasta as that happens so it's easier to work with.  You can still add it after it thickens, but it will become very thick, not like a traditional sauce.

Serve with steamed broccoli.  To make a complete meal serve with a protein.  In this picture I show turkey seasoned with Blendfresh Orange.  As an alternate, try kidney beans added to pasta for a vegetarian meal.

PBJ Energy Bites

Fast, easy and filling!  In case you can't read the graphic, here's the breakdown;

Peanut Butter and Jelly Energy Bites

1 Cup rolled oats (pulsed in blender optional)
1 Scoop Blendfresh Protein Powder (or sub your own)
1 Scoop Blendfresh Purple fruit and veggie raw powder (or sub 1 Tbsp jam)

Stir dry ingredients together with a fork.  The add 3 Tbsp water and

2/3 Cup chunky peanut butter

Mash until mixed and roll into bite sized balls.

So tasty you'll forget it's good for you.  Kids love it and it makes a great after school activity and snack!

My favorite ways to use Blendfresh!

I have loved plants for nutrition for many years.  The idea just sits right with me.  The One who made our amazing bodies also made the perfect fuel for them, and in pretty colors as a bonus!  Each color does something different in the body.

When I found Blendfresh, it was a sigh of relief.  Clean, pesticide free, non-GMO, raw, whole, good foods, preserved gently by removing the water so they can be picked when they are ripe, and they won't spoil before I can use them.  Plus I love to save money!

I want to help as many people enjoy great health as possible, so once you have your own Blendfresh, how do you actually USE it in real life?  Here are some suggestions for my favorite ways.  I'm sure I'll discover more as I go!

Reds
Beautiful!  Add a ruby color to any dish and a variety of tastes come into play.
Sprinkle on Eggs
Sprinkle on Oatmeal
Salsa
Pizza Sauce
Enchilada Sauce
Soups
Add to chili
Smoothies
Raspberry salad dressing
Syrups
Yogurt for a fruit dip
Use as a food coloring
Smoothie
In coconut water as a workout recovery drink
Add to red jello
Add to cranberry sauce
Flavor chutneys or sauces
Add to chunky dips

Purples
Add to any smoothie that may have a brownish color from adding greens
Oatmeal
Let kids lick fingers and use like Fun Dip
Berry salad dressings
Use like sugar over cold cereal
Make a flavored water
Roll with peanut butter, oats, honey, Protein and a little water for an energy bar
Add to smoothie
Add to cottage cheese
Stir into yogurt

Orange
Use in scrambled eggs or a baked frittata
Use in enchilda sauce
Use in any orange soup like pumpkin, sweet potato, taco soup, etc
Sprinkle on cheese quesadillas for extra nutrition and taste
Use in meatballs
Add to macaroni and cheese
Add to scalloped potato dishes
Use in warm water first like tea
Use a s a pre-workout mild energy drink
Use as a season salt on meat or veggies
Add to sweet breads like pumpkin
Serve over baked chicken

Greens
Anywhere you can sneak them in!
Stir into scrambled eggs or frittata (baked eggs)
A scoop to any smoothie
Make a flavored Mayo
Keep in a salt shaker and sprinkle on foods to season
Sprinkle on quesadilla
Add to box brownie mix or chocolate cake
Add to green soups like spinach or broccoli
Add to lasagne
Sprinkle a little into the middle of a peanut butter jelly sandwich!
Drink with water if I know I haven't eaten well during the day (not delicious, but doable)
Add to green jello

Protein
In smoothies!
Make a high protein almond milk
Make a high protein hot chocolate
Protein pancakes
Substitute for part of the flour in sweet recipes
Make energy balls by adding peanut butter, a little water, Purples and oats
Experiment!

Fiber
Stir into a tall glass of water and drink quickly before bed
Add to a thick smoothie and pour into cups to make pudding
Substitute for powdered sugar when making fudge (if the chocolate in the recipe is sweetened)
Thicken soups and gravies
Alfredo Sauce
Add to cake recipes or boxed cornbread mix
Add to a smoothie with protein and a veggie color as a meal replacement (very filling)
Use half a scoop in water with kids and call it a "Fiber Racing Drink".  Let them race to see who finishes theirs first!

Probiotic
Add 1/2 tsp. to a smoothie once per day.

Caring for your Blendfresh
It's best to refrigerate these items.  All are raw and nutrients will be best preserved in low temperatures.  It is recommended to use the bottle within 90 days of opening.  There are no fillers or preservatives, so once oxygen enters the container, fragile nutrients can begin to deteriorate.  If unopened, it is suggested to use within 3 years for optimal nutrition, but they are shelf stable for 20 years.  Consider adding them to your home emergency storage.

Crustless Veggie Quiche or 29 veggies in 7 minutes

This can be breakfast or dinner!  My family likes to have breakfast for dinner anyway, so here's a healthy solution.  I like to make creative combinations that save me time, so this one uses the steamed potatoes and veggies from dinner the night before, but they won't be recognized as recycled!

Here's the text just in case you can't see the graphic.

10 eggs, or egg whites

2 Cups leftover dinner veggies

1 Cup leftover steamed potatoes

6 Slices crumbled Cheddar cheese

1/2 Cup milk

1 Scoop Blendfresh Green (optional)

1 Scoop Blendfresh Orange (optional)

Bake about 50 mins at 350 in an oiled 8x11 glass pan.

Serves 12 breakfast or dinner.

  For more recipes feel free to like my page www.facebook.com/jenngibbswellness.

Blendfresh raw, whole food powders

Want something that makes getting your fruits and veggies easier? I have just found this and am IN LOVE! Raw, whole food powders, pesticide free, non-GMO, soy free, gluten free, dairy free, vegan. Just the good stuff you actually want in your body. I have been sneaking scoops of this into our smoothies the last two weeks and no one in my family seems to mind they are eating so many veggies! This is the new foods line put out by Blendtec and one of the reasons

 I'm so excited to work with them.

What happened was that Blendtec, the maker of the world's most advanced blenders, would make a great product and then their completely satisfied customer would be gone for 8-10 years enjoying their blender.  Millions of people worldwide know this brand for quality, and they all go and buy various qualities of produce to use for their smoothies.

Blendtec saw an opportunity to better serve their customers by spinning off a sister company that would focus on high quality foods that could be used with their amazing blenders.  As soon as I knew this line was affiliated with a 200 million dollar company and a 38 year reputation, I wanted to know more.  There is no way a stable company like this would put out a substandard product.  

The more I learned, the more excited I got.  Yes, several companies sell greens powders, I've been buying them for years.  But how many are actually raw?  Dried with light instead of heat to keep the enzymes unharmed and active?  And are greens all we really need?  What about the orange, red and purple colored vegetables - we are supposed to "eat a rainbow" of color right?

I was even more impressed when I read the label.  "Bell pepper, rhubarb, strawberries, cranberries..."  twelve ingredients.  Only fruits and vegetables.  No fillers so that they will make more money selling a larger container of product.  No binders so it looks artificially pretty.  No preservatives so they can keep an abnormally long shelf life.  This is just a bottle of food with the water carefully removed.  Wow.

Because it is a fresh, raw food they suggest keeping it in your fridge and using within 90 days of opening.  I love looking in my fridge the last couple of weeks, wonder what I should make, and then having a beautiful bottle remind me and inspire me to make a nutritious smoothie.  Sounds corny, I know, but that's what's been happening.  And with zero arguments from kids or hubby!

I'll post more detailed articles soon on the other great products in the line, but here's a teaser; a probiotic complete with blackstrap molasses as a pre-biotic, so your friendly germs are still alive when you open your bottle.  A fiber blend of sprouted nuts and seeds that meets FDA requirements for soluble and insoluble fiber so that they can say it "lowers cholesterol" right on the label.  And last but not least a delicious (which is rare) vegan protein powder, with not one but 8 different protein sources for a complete amino acid profile.  Lighter on the digestive system than traditional whey and made of whole foods - you can actually read and understand the label!  I could go on and on, and I will, soon.  Just know that if you need a solution for more nutrition quickly and simply (and I forgot to even mention that it even costs you less than fresh produce!) just find out more about this!  I've made a YouTube video link so click here to see me explain it in more detail.  It even goes along with a Blendtec blender discount program if you need one of those.  

So think on it, and have a great day.  I'm going to go mix up a glass of Purples!

No-Guilt No-Bake Cookies

This recipe was developed as a way to get more amazing coconut oil into my body. I’ll do a separate post on the benefits of it, but this cookie helps me not miss traditional treats so much while I am preparing for competition. LOTS of fiber, and only good stuff in it!

In a glass measuring cup barely melt 3/4 Cup coconut oil, and add 1 tsp vanilla, stir.

In a big bowl combine and stir together;
1/2 Cup cacao powder (I like raw, you can use any chocolate powder)
1/2 Cup almond flour
1/2 Cup Coconut flour
1/2 Cup quick oats
1/2 Cup unsweetened, shredded coconut
1/2 tsp salt

Pour the wet into the dry and mix. Drop by spoonfuls or into a mini tart pan and freeze 10 minutes. These are best cold. Makes 12. Try to share them!  If you don't have almond or coconut flour, they are great to add to your pantry and start experimenting with - worth the risk of trying something new!

This recipe is vegan, gluten free and raw (if you use GF/raw ingredients), and high in fiber.

Help! My family wants Mexican food!

Starting with this picture is like reading the last chapter of a book first; it takes all the suspense away.  But I really was proud of the solution I found ,so it's okay.

It was Sunday night.  Earlier in the day I had filled the crock pot with chicken breasts and the best intentions before we left for church.  Seasoned with just a little garlic and dried onion, I had planned to come home to enough chicken for a nice Sunday dinner and extra to help me stay on track through the week.  Perfect plan right?  I had even cleaned the kitchen so it would be so easy to make a nice Sunday dinner for the family.

The problem was I had planned nothing other than chicken breasts.  I make sure when I shop to stock up on lots of fresh veggies, so I had a number of things I could steam or make a salad from.  But I had made a salad the night before, and I've been looking at lots of steamed veggies lately, so neither one of those had much appeal.  Combine this weak spot with the family asking "what's for dinner?".  Uh oh.  This is where your metal gets tested.

Like a bunch of baby birds chirping, I keep hearing "Mom, I'm hungry..." (insert whine as you read).  I had made a good start, but now it was showtime and I didn't have a good finish planned.  With 11 days left until the Beachbody Classic physique competition, this was no time to be hungry and without a plan.  I stalled to give myself time to think.  First I would take care of the noise-makers in the room.

Enchiladas are a quick go-to (I'll give my super easy microwave recipe in an upcoming post), but we didn't have enough corn or flour tortillas to make a whole pan.  It is more dangerous for me to keep uncooked, fresh tortillas in the fridge to tempt me, so I opted for quesadillas to use them up first.  I was thinking I might make myself a corn taco, but wondering how to handle the cheese situation (corn and cheese are both off limits until after the show).

I had to get creative, and fast.  I can honestly say I would not have come up with this if I had not had a rock solid "why" or goal in mind.  I came very close to just having one quesadilla.  What's the harm?  It's only one.  It won't ruin everything, can't be more than 200 calories, right?  But for me I know this is a slippery slope, and I have made a commitment to myself to say no to those things TEMPORARILY for a greater reason.  It was hard.  I'm not saying this lightly.  I'm making food I like for everyone else and still don't know what I will be eating, but desperately trying to figure it out before my resolve wanes.  But then I realized, not only do I want to do my best and be proud of my choices - especially when they are hard - but I will be in this exact same situation again.  And so will the good people I coach.  And I had a chance under pressure to make myself think to the next level and find a solution that worked, and that I could advocate as a substitute.

So there you have it.  You can see the results in my picture above.  I did serve my family refried beans along with their meal (PLEASE give your family some fiber if you are serving white flour tortillas!).  I topped them with a few sliced orange bell peppers for color and so I wouldn't miss the cheese as much.  In the heat they softened and were really very good.  And as I had mentioned, I was not in the mood for a salad again on this day, hence the steamed broccoli.  And my own personal solution to not having a quesadilla?  I shredded some of the chicken, mixed the enchilada sauce with it and topped with avocado.  Absolutely delicious.  In the end I did not feel ripped off at all.  In fact, I came out last with my plate and there were a few envious eyes.  My husband even said "I would have eaten that instead if I had known you were making it"!  The most delicious part though, was knowing I had kept my word to myself and as a payday I not only am closer to my goal, but I have a new recipe to look forward to on Mexican night