I woke up early the other morning, prior to falling off my bike….and decided to make oatmeal.  I am, however bored of oatmeal so I don’t know why I decided to make it……in an effort to make my oatmeal taste AWESOME I cooked it with some milk instead of water… I microwaved about 1/3 cup which was still to much but whatever….. after it was cooked (approx 1-2 minutes) I added a sprinkle of dairy free, nut free chocolate chips and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.  I then added a splash of milk (I like it soupy).  Before eating the oatmeal I stirred it up and it was GREAT!! Sort of like having a healthy dessert for breakfast…….

azizisbored:

Jimmy Fallon Interview: Part 1 – Late Nights and Dating in the Texting Era… 

I love this guy… Had to reblog this because he is the only comedian that cracks me up

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)

Today I ran home really quickly for lunch because I feel like I am getting a cold.  I really wanted to sleep but I was more hungry than anything so I went for comfort food.  I used Ezekiel whole wheat bread with sesame seeds, and fresh mozzarella and swiss cheese. I added a little american cheese in for taste.  I toasted the bread and then threw the cheese on the sandwich.  I put the sandwich in a pan on the stove and put a soup can on top of the sandwich to push the sandwich down and expedite the warming of the cheese.  I also opened a can of Muir Glenn natural minestrone which is one of the only brands of canned soup I will eat because it has all “good stuff” in it.  I have to get back to work now….feeling crappy. 

Spicy Sweet Potato fries recipe.  This is a recipe I made up a while ago because I was craving fries and didn’t want to eat the calories. I threw some ingredients together and waited to see if it tasted good.  Originally I added some brown sugar (sprinkled a tiny amount) on top of the fries while they were cooking.  I have since removed the sugar from the recipe to cut down on calories and to make the recipe more clean.  This dish has good oils, the benefits of sweet potato packed with a ton of flavor and a little spicy. I usually combine this with meat (chicken or pork), wraps (as I did tonight), or a turkey burger.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp Cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp sage

1 tsp garlic salt

1 sweet potato and 1 regular potato or 2 small sweet potatos

(since all potatos range in size from small to gargantuan you will need to start cutting and if you feel you have to much then stop)

Cut potatoes up length wise in strips, cut as thin as you can because they will cook faster.

Place cut pieces on a cookie sheet with aluminum foil over it

drizzle olive oil on the potatoes, add spices, with your hands move the potatoes around to ensure they are fully coated with mixture.  You can also place them in a ziploc mag with the mixture and shake them until coated.  Once the potatoes are back on the cookie sheet or you are done coating them; place them in the over at 375 for about 30 -40 minutes.  Check them frequently to ensure you don’t over or under cook.  I like mine very crispy so I leave them in until they appear crispy.   

Tonight I wasn’t very hungry so I made myself a spinach, tomato and mozzarella salad.  I used some leftover spinach and greens, fresh local grown tomatoes which were amazing and mozzarella. I cut up several pieces of mozzarella, its fattening but sooooo good.  I also added a drizzle of olive oil and some vinegar/truffle oil combination that is shown in a previous picture. I am not a big salad eater unless there is meat on them or they are grilled but anything with fresh cheese can motivate me. I am going to add a grilled salad this week. 

I went to the farmer’s market today, which is rare for me.  I actually didn’t realize how awesome the local farmer’s market has become.  I just moved here recently and I never bothered to explore as the farmer’s market in Kentucky wasn’t great.  The market in Chicago wasn’t great either.  Im determined that the further south I go the better the produce.  Anyways, I tried this awesome goat cheese spread that you can basically eat plain from Humble Heart Farms. I also got some tomatoes that I am going to throw on a salad later. 

well I woke up this morning and wanted to eat something that wasn’t heavy. Im trying to leave room for this wing festival we are going to later.  I have these awesome peaches that I can’t stop eating so I decided to just cut up some peaches and dip them in yogurt.  I don’t normally eat Yoplait yogurt but I had some in the fridge that I was experimenting with so I decided to just eat it.  Normally I use that greek yogurt with the weird name….Fage.  I also added a small amount of agave syrup to the peaches but they really didn’t need it.  

Whole Wheat Banana Bread

This is actually my grandmother’s recipe that I have tweaked a little. I used to make this with her whenever I visited her house….. she was always very anti butter.

banana nut bread:

1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs or 4 egg whites

1 3/4 cups flour sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about two bananas)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

 add milk if to thick

1/4 cup milk

if you want to make this chocolate chip banana bread.

1/4 or 1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips (I use enjoylife)

beat egg whites well and add sugar and oil

add to flour and baking powder and soda mixture. 

beat well and add bananas 

stir in nuts

beat again

pour into 9X5X3 pan. bake @ 350 degrees and cool on rack. 

I woke up this morning and wanted to make pancakes however…… the big however….is that my fiance hates whole wheat pancakes which is what I usually make on the weekends.  We have been together over three years and today was the day I decided to humor him in his request for “anything but whole wheat pancakes”.  So…..I decided to make pancakes from scratch however I didn’t want to fill them with butter or other unhealthy stuff. Here is the recipe I came up with and he loved them which I know is the true test…as he doesn’t like anything to wheaty or “healthy” tasting.  *It’s like having a small child who is a very picky eater…I have to trick him into eating healthy.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour ( I almost always use whole wheat however because this was for the picky eater I made them with all purpose flour) I will try them with whole wheat next weekend.

2 eggs (organic)

2 tablespoons apple sauce (i used musslemans with no sugar or anything added to it)

1 tablespoon coconut oil (melt in microwave before adding to mixture) + small “pat” of butter optional (melt in microwave)

3/4 cups milk

2 tablespoons baking powder

3 tablespoons coconut sugar,

1 tablespoon stevia

1 tsp cinnamon (add to egg mixture when blending)

1 tsp vanilla (to batter)

1 teaspoon salt

coconut oil cooking spray (for pan)

Let the pain heat on low to medium heat while you mix everything together.

I pretty much threw everything in a big bowl together EXCEPT the eggs, oil and butter. I mixed the eggs to get a little air in them (with a hand mixer) and then added the cinnamon to the eggs.  I melted the oil and butter together and then poured both eggs and oil into the batter and mixed with a hand mixer.

Once the pan is ready (test with a splash of water), spray coconut oil cooking spray (I got mine at Trader Joe’s) and slowly pour the pancake batter into the pan. When the batter starts bubbling and the edges have turned hard, it is probably time to flip the pancake.  Once you cook both sides for several minutes, I would recommend cutting a small slit into the side of the pancake to make sure it is fully cooked. I usually rinse the pan in between each pancake as this is the only way I have found it possible to not burn the pancakes. Then i respray with cooking spray and start over.

When I served these for my fiance I just used regular maple syrup (organic, real syrup non of that aunt Jemima junk).

For my pancake I added cut up peaches and agave syrup. I did not use maple syrup. 

agave syrup, add peaches

Well this is my first post. EVER.  A little bit about myself; I am a bodybuilder and I work constantly. I also love biking specifically mountain biking. I knit and sew in my spare time and will be sharing my projects as I complete them. I also am passionate about cooking which is a fairly newly discovered hobby.

I have been saving my recipes basically so I could make a log here to keep track of everything I cook. I cook a little bit of everything.  I have always been a very healthy eater but sometimes I stray from my norm and make white chocolate rice crispy treats (recipe coming soon).  When I make something like that I take them to work or tell my fiance to take them to work so that I don’t eat the whole trough of treats.

The newest recipe I came up with last night. COCONUT FLOUR CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES.  You can make these with lemon extract or you can make them without.  I made two different batches and both were very good.  The lemony cupcakes were not over powering at all (hint: i usually am not a lemon person).  You can also make these gluten free as coconut flour is gluten free and the chocolate chips I used are gluten free. 

ingredients:

you will need a muffin tin (i didn’t use muffin papers), i also use a hand mixer for everything I make unless I specify otherwise. I also use the whole egg in everything I make because I’m not afraid of egg yolks however if you want to eliminate the yolks just add an extra egg white. I also use organic milk and try to stick to organic products in my cooking however I stray from this rule sometimes because I may not be able to certain things in organic.

1/2 cup coconut flour

1.5 tsp vanilla

1.5 tsp baking soda

4 eggs or 5 egg whites (organic – I use eggland’s best)

1/2 cup coconut oil (i didn’t melt it) +may need to soften batter and add a little more

1/3 cup milk (I use regular 1% organic)

1/4 cup coconut sugar (lower glycemic index doesn’t cause the crash that regular sugar causes)

if you want to add lemon

1 tsp lemon extract

Set over to 350 degrees. Note: Melt coconut oil in microwave prior to mixing for  easier mixing. Put wet and dry ingredients in separate bowls. When mixing slowly pour wet into dry ingredients and blend until smooth.  Pour or spoon into muffin tins and cook for 30-35 min.  I cooked mine until they were slightly browned on top.  Also, the batter will seem thick but if it is so chunky and really dry you may want to add a little coconut oil and/or a little milk to the mixture.

glaze or frosting: There wasn’t an exact science to this when I did it…I dumped about 3/4 -1 cup  of confectioners sugar in a bowl and slowly added milk.  I organic 1% milk in most of baking unless i specify otherwise. I must note that you should add the milk SLOWLY because this concoction gets to thin very easily.

add confectioners sugar, add milk and stir till thick, 

put in fridge or freezer till it becomes thicker and spread of cooled cupcakes.

To make chocolate melt dairy free nut free sugar free chocolate chips in microwave  

add to sugar mix and spread over cooled cupcakes.  ( I sometimes use carob chips but I didn’t use them in this, I used the chocolate chips by the brand “enjoylife”.