Chickpea Cookie Dough

(adapted from: here)

1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained and rinsed very well)

1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt

tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup peanut butter (I used TJ unsalted crunchy)

up to 1/4 cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)

sweetener of choice (I used honey and sweetened until I liked the taste, about 3 T -could have been sweeter though, but the dark chocolate chips balanced out the sweetness nicely)

1/3 cup vegan dark chocolate chips

2 to 3 tbsp oats

1. Rinse the chickpeas and then add everything, minus the chocolate chips, in the food processor and process until smooth.

2. Add chocolate chips.

Enjoy!

olive oil dark chocolate chip w. sea salt – superfood w. goji berries + cacao nibs – peanut butter ginger w. crystallized ginger

-e.e. cummings

Black Bean Brownies with Peanut Butter Swirl

(Adapted from here)

Makes 12-16 Brownies

Black Bean Brownie Ingredients:

1 Can Black Beans (540 mL)
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Eggwhites (or 3 Eggs in total)
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 Cup Natural Cocoa Powder
1/4 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 Cup Agave, Honey or Maple Syrup
2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
1 1/2 Tsp Instant Espresso
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (didnt add these, but added walnuts instead, you could add both or none)

Peanut Butter Swirl Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Agave (Maple Syrup, Stevia or Honey)
Pinch of Salt
Dash of Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Place all black bean brownie ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with a healthy, non-stick cooking spray.
4. Evenly spread batter into baking dish.
5. On your stove-top melt peanut butter swirl ingredients and mix.
6. Dollop peanut butter swirl mixture with a spoon spaced out about an inch from each other onto the brownie batter.
7. Pull a knife back and forth through the batter creating your swirls.
8. Place in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
9. *Ovens vary so your discretion is needed. You will know your brownies are baked when the top becomes firm and the brownies pull away from the sides of the dish.
10. Sticking a tooth pick in the middle and pulling it out clean will ensure your brownies are baked fully.
11. Remove from oven when baked and let set in the baking dish for about 10 minutes.
12. Gently cut brownies, serve and enjoy!

Your life will be changed after trying these brownies!!!

Avocado Key Lime “Cheesecake” w/ Almond Crust

(makes  1 -9″ pie)

Crust:

2/3 cup raw almonds
1/4 cup shredded coconut
pinch salt
4 dates, pitted
2 teaspoon melted coconut oil
1-2 T agave nectar

1. Process almonds into crumb, add coconut and salt. process until a flour-like.

2. Add dates and coconut oil, then add agave nectar until crust starts to come together. You dont want it to completely come together in the processor or else it will be too sticky and too sweet.

Filling:

2 medium/large avocados
6 tablespoons agave nectar
1/2 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla (I also added a splash of almond extract)
1/3 C melted coconut oil
lime zest, to taste

1. Blend everything together until creamy and smooth.

2. Pour over crust. Freeze for a few hours (if you can wait that long).

Top w/ lime zest.

Make vanilla almond cookies of course. These cookies are a perfect little teat.

Vanilla Almond Cookies

(adapted from here)

Makes 18-22 cookies

1 1/4 cups almond milk pulp
6-8 soaked and pitted medjool dates
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond or coconut flour (I used pecan flour)
1 vanilla bean, scraped, or 1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract
Dash sea salt

1. Mix all ingredients together in a food processor until the “dough” is the same texture and consistency of sugar cookie dough. You may need to add a little more flour, but start with the given amount.

2. You can use the dough in a cookie press or (since i dont own a cookie press), you can always roll them out or just form them into cookies.

33 Dehydrate the cookies at 115 degrees for 8 hours, flipping once through (if you dehydrate these overnight and don’t flip, it’s also fine).

Notes: these cookies would work well with some lavender or cinnamon. These are perfect for a tea party or (dipped in raw chocolate) a little fancy gift.

Wanna look and feel good?
Consistent diet!

Abs are made in the kitchen and if you’re like me, very food-centric,
then you will find this a fun and exciting challenge.

A good body is said to be trained through 80% diet and 30% excercise.
But what does diet mean? It’s a nasty little word that pops up in
almost every commercial and advertisement. Diet is the way we eat,
that’s all. When we retrain ourselves to think about a diet as the way
we eat we can stop feeling so restricted and bad about ourselves when
we do eat unhealthy. There are many diets out in the world that make
the same sort of promise: to look good and improve yourself. This
positive message is often taken to the extreme when we follow fad
diets and don’t pay close enough attention to our nutrition and our
bodies.

Your body will tell you what it needs if you listen (and no, you don’t
need a Big Mac or that 24oz steak). Now, sometimes with food cravings
your body can be telling you it needs one thing when it’s craving
another. For example if you crave chocolate all the time, it could
mean your body needs magnesium. Or I used to crave peanut butter
because I wasn’t getting enough protein.

So you want to know what to eat and when to eat it? Well…I hate to tell you, but every body is different and what works for me may or may not work for you. I am still trying to find what works for me. I know fad diets don’t work long term and I know starvation is not the answer. I am still learning and I am excited to grow and learn and hear about others trials and errors.

So what diet has been success for you and what diet would you never do again?

Chocolate Protein “Muffin” with Chocolate Protein Drizzle

(Makes: 8)

Ingredients:

3 Scoops of Chocolate Protein Powder

6 T Cocoa Powder

3 Egg Whites

3 Eggs

1 T Vanilla

3 T Stevia in the Raw

Blend until smooth. Bake 350 – 30 mins.

When it’s cool top with:

3 T Coconut oil, melted

1 Scoop chocolate protein powder (I used vega sport and whey mixed)

Eat up!

Maco Breakdown (per piece):

Cals: 162g

Carbs: 5g

Fat: 8g

Protein: 17g

Sugar: 2g

Fiber: 1g

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013.

We grow.

We love.

We learn.

Do we ever find ourselves?

What do you want for 2013? 

I could write your eyes off about how much I want for 2013, but my words are dead unless I go and fulfill. My good friend, Amy, and I made a list of goals that we want for 2013 using the circle of life – measuring the balance in your life and (hopefully) restoring it.

The Categories are:

Career + School

Money

Health

Fun + Recreation

Physical Environment

Friends + Family

Significant Other

Personal Growth

I def have a lot to work on if I want change and growth, but that is why we are humans. We have in inevitable ability to change and grow when the opportunity arises. I don’t want to leave this life accomplishing nothing and letting life pass me by and not making the most of my life. I want to help and encourage others, but that’s not going to happen sitting on my couch waiting for them to come to me – time to get off my butt and look for ways to encourage and help people.

Strategies:

Time Blocking - Making a schedule of specific times that I need to do specific things…oh, and actually doing them.

Planning My Week – I worked for someone who always encouraged me to “see my day” and heck, see others days too. That way you know where you can spare time and you know if you get behind or even ahead, where you can cut time, etc.

Make a Vision Board - See what you want to accomplish and therefore do it. This is a great exercise that can help with processing your goals.

Make a Soundtrack for Productivity - If you’re like me, music helps everything! It can dictate my mood and help/hinder what I am doing. So, if you need a little help being productive, working out, cleaning, etc. then listen to music!! (Songza.com is a really fun and enjoyable playlist creator based on what you are doing and what you are feeling)

alright, lets go into 2013 with a fresh perspective and never-take-no-for-an-answer attitude.

welp, this post isn’t long enough I move on to my next order of business:

FitNASS – (Fitness) 

I am almost done with my original 12-week program (Ive taken a week off here and there for Holidays and even now i’m battling a stomach ache from el diablo himself which is very unfortunate because it is interrupting my eating..and this girl’s gotta eat!)

but, I wont let that slow me down. Im going to the doctor this afternoon and then (hopefully) to the gym, for at least cardio!!! Yesterday was impossible. It hurt to move.

So for the last 3 weeks of the program (currently on week 2 out of 3), i’ll be carb cycling. This hasnt been easy and I didnt realize how many carbs were in foods that I love. Thankfully for New Years I went high carb (maybe a little overboard).

Week 10 – 4 days low carb, 1 day high carb, 2 days high carb

Week 11 – 1 day high carb, 3 days low carb, 1 day high carb, 2 days low carb

Week 12 -1 day low carb, 1 day high carb, 3 days low carb, 1 high carb, 1 low carb

On high carb days my breakdown is:

Cals – 1500

Carbs- 188g

Protein – 131g

Fat – 25g

On low carb days:

Cals -1500

Carbs- 75g

Protein – 210g

Fat – 40g

The workouts are more intense and im doing a lot more work with my heart rate zones. Trying to kick it up for a portion of the workout with HIIT and lifting for endurance.

To see the workouts, just go here: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-easons-livefit-phase-3.html – weeks 10-12.

I’ll admit that through the holidays i’ve been cheating more than normal and New Years Eve was my last drinking day until cruise day in March. The effects are terrible (i feel groggy, achy, and pukey)..im sorry, not worth it.

For 2013 OLR will see more recipes, fitness motivations, inspiring words, challenges, and posting period.

What would you like to see more of?

So while I wait, I workout I am almost done with the 12 week program, which is going to take me around 14 weeks because I took a week off for Thanksgiving and this week has been so sporadic that I want to start Phase 3 over again on Monday.

For this phase let me tell you…it’s intense! A lot of active rests and super sets  also sprints (which is making me pray for leg day!)

On the docket for this week:

Monday – Quads + Calves

Tuesday – Back, Arms, Abs, + Sprints

Wednesday – Chest, Shoulders, Abs, + Sprints

Thursday – Hamstrings, Glutes, + Calves

Friday – Back, Biceps, Abs, + Sprints

Saturday – Shoulders, Triceps, Calves, + Sprints

Sunday  - Rest

Im running into a problem where I am exhausted after an hour in the gym and im not making it through my workouts. I’m not sure what the problem is, I may just be tired…I dont know.

Does anyone else run into this? If so, how did you overcome it?

Ok…time for some progress pics.

(abs – from September to December, last week)

biceps (sep – december)

ok….now time for wine (red wine)

CHOCOLATE CASEIN COOKIES

(makes about 15)

70 g canned black beans, rinsed

32 g chocolate casein

15 g ground almonds

5 g vanilla whey protein powder

13 g PB2

10 g goji berries

2 T unsweetened almond milk

Process everything together, minus goji berries. Add those last and then pulse a couple of times to just mix together. Roll into little balls and then dip in chocolate (I used vegan chocolate). Put in freezer to set up.

Enjoy!

Macro breakdown:

kcals: 50g

carbs: 5g

fat: 2g

protein: 3g

sugar: 3g

fiber: 1g