Saturday, January 31, 2015

RECIPE: Clean Black Bean Brownie

Clean Black Bean Brownie

Ingredients
Serves 9-12
1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and well rinsed) 
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup quick oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave
pinch uncut stevia OR 2 tbsp sugar (or omit and increase maple syrup to 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips (115-140g) (Not optional. Omit at your own risk.)
optional: more chips, for presentation

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a food processor and blend until COMPLETELY smooth.  (A blender can work if you absolutely must, but the texture—and even the taste—will be much better in a food processor.) 
Stir in the chips, then pour into a greased 8x8 pan. 
Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. 
Bake, 15-18 minutes.
Let cool at least 10 minutes before trying to cut. 

RECIPE:Baked Zucchini Fries

  • Baked Zucchini Fries
  • INGREDIENTS
  • zucchini
  • egg white
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 425°. Cut zucchini into 3-inch sticks. Whisk an egg white in a small bowl, and add milk. 

Combine Parmesan and seasoned breadcrumbs in a separate bowl. 

Dip zucchini sticks into egg mixture, and then roll in breadcrumb mixture. 

Cover baking sheet with parchment paper, and place zucchini on sheet. 

Bake for 25–30 minutes or until golden brown.

Monday, January 26, 2015

#SisterhoodUnite

About four years ago, I found out I was pregnant for my first time. Since then, I've given birth to two beautiful, intelligent, kind children.

I'm one of those women who wants to learn everything she can about whatever she is going to do. Some would call me a perfectionist - I like to consider myself well educated? ha!

Either way - I joined every mommy group I could, from chat rooms on web sites like What to Expect, When Expecting, The Bump, every app that could be loaded on a 32GB iPhone and every book that I could stack next to my bedside and every Facebook group that would accept my "request to join".

It didn't take long, in fact it probably only took 1.2 minutes before I realized how CRAY-CRAY some of these women were!

I thought I was going to find support, answers, help... an untapped library of knowledge from other women who had already experienced mommy hood once and were going through it again and a group of mom's who were first timer's, like myself, experiencing all of the changes, hormones, scary unknowns.

However, I was NOT ready for what I had just walked into. Judgment, bashing, tears, sadness, trolls, sanctimomy's... I had just walked into the lion's den!

No matter what decision you were going to make about raising your baby, there was someone there telling you you were wrong. "You are going to give your child cancer, you are going to give them nightmares, you are going to suffocate them, you are going to be the cause for global warming and the start of World War III and the end of the world if you feed your child strawberries before the age of one!"

It didn't take long for the burnout to begin... I understand wanting to help and educate, but I've never understood the judgement that comes from MOTHERS, put onto other MOTHERS! We are all just trying to do our best. We all want our children to grow up HAPPY, HEALTHY and SAFELY.

When I saw this commercial, it was comical, I laughed... by the end, I almost cried. I don't know if my hormones are still adjusting from my most recent pregnancy (5.5 months ago) or if the stress (even still, the second time around) from the mommy judgement is still so alive that this just felt like calm in the middle of a war zone.



Check it out - Share it - and remember... we are all trying to do our best and in the end, we are all in the same club, so let's support one another. #SisterhoodUnite


Have you experienced this judgement, since becoming pregnant or a mom?


Monday, January 12, 2015

Sleep is a Five Letter F*Bomb

I'm one of those people who THRIVES on a schedule. I'm a type A, list making, competitive, organized to a fault, routine following freak! This type of personality doesn't always bode well, with having a newborn in the house. In fact, it's kind of a natural disaster at times. 

I always have a "plan". I'm going to put the kids to bed at night and then I'm going to go to bed and we'll sleep blissfully through the night. I'll wake up early and workout, work and then take a quick shower and be ready to be a great Martha Stewart type happy-go-lucky crafting and active mom, just in time for them to wake up... that might be something I whipped up in my dreams. Actually, probably not, because in order to dream, you need to sleep and THAT just hasn't been happening here. 



Both the kids have had the sniffles, at five months old that sounds like a horrible issue to deal with. Add in teething and quite possibly a sleep regression and now it sounds like a lot of horrible issues to sleep with as a mom - with a toddler who will be up at 6:59am the next morning and a husband who travels for work all week long and isn't available to help and when he is home... he doesn't hear the kids until they are screaming in his ear, because I got up and put them there. 

I'm exhausted - there is a good chance this blog doesn't even make any sense. Is this actually English I'm typing? 

Back to my "plan"... it's a thing in the past, I can see it on the horizon in the distance. Waking up early, or waking up at all to get a workout in is laughable right now. Last week I barely got three and a half workouts in. Yes, a half a workout. The baby screamed and fussed through on and off for the first 16:55 minutes, so I finally paused the workout for the fourth time and called quits, at 8:56 pm.

Point is, sometimes, as a new mom... you just have to stop being any type of personality. Just be a mom. That means you are exhausted some days and you can't get up to get the workout in. Ditch the "plan". If your schedule allows for it at any point in the day, take the opportunity because it WILL make you feel better. But, for now, while your life has been flipped upside down and sleep if a five letter sounding F*bomb... give yourself some slack. 

Your sweet baby needs their mother right now and if there is one thing to remember, you are not alone. Find another mommy to complain to, a shoulder to cry on, someone to commiserate with, THEY get it!

Watch your nutrition, sleep whenever you can and workout when the opportunity presents itself. You WILL get back to where you were before baby and where you want to be... it will just take some time. 

Until then... grab an IV and attach the coffee!

Sunday, January 11, 2015

RECIPE} Clean Breakfast Oatmeal Muffins


I LOVE breakfast, but I sometimes feels like I couldn't eat ANOTHER egg, day after day after day and I'll be honest, I am NOT the biggest oatmeal fan. So, when trying to eat clean, this sorta kinda limits my options. Especially being dairy free... But not any more!

I found a similar recipe to these oatmeal muffins on Pinterest and had to do a bit of tweaking to fit our  family's dietary needs, but gosh... they are SO delicious! I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.



Clean Breakfast Oatmeal Muffins



INGREDIENTS:
Serves 12

1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup organic applesauce, unsweetened
1 banana, mashed
1/4 cup organic honey
2 1/2 cups, Old Fashioned rolled oats 
1/8 cup chia seeds (optional)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups almond milk, unsweetened 

Optional toppings: blueberries, dark chocolate chips, strawberries, raisins, walnuts, anything you enjoy in your muffins!

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix egg, vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl (I use my ninja food processor with the mixing blade).

Add in oats, chia seeds (optional), cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients.

Finally pour in milk and combine.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners OR no liners are needed if you use a silicone pan.

Divide mixture evenly into muffin tin cups. Roughly, a 1/4 cup per muffin.

Lastly, add your preferred toppings... The picture shown is half dark chocolate chip and half blueberry.





Bake 30 minutes. Check to make sure they are baked through, using a toothpick to poke the center. If it comes out clean, they are done. Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags or pyrex. 

You can either eat these as a muffin OR warm it up in a bowl, add a bit of almond milk and eat it as oatmeal. 

If you freeze them, just unthaw in the fridge overnight and warm the muffin in the microwave 30-60 seconds before eating. 

ENJOY!