My good friend and fellow fitness student, Lee (from Fit Foodie Finds) has an unbelievable talent for creating adorable, delicious and power-packed snacks that you cannot WAIT to put in your mouth.

Yesterday in class, Lee was “kind” enough to bring in her most recent creation to share with all of us; a DIY Coconut Apricot KIND Bar.

I could have easily eaten 5 of these things… and then had room for 5 more.  It was especially perfect timing for a wholesome snack because I had just finished with the Goldy’s Run that morning!  This bar kept me focused and fueled for 2 hours of classroom learning and another 2 hours on our feet in the studio! 

The main ingredients are oats, almonds, dried apricots, brown rice syrup and some almond butter.

Check out how easy it is for you to make this on your own over at Lee’s website, Fit Foodie Finds.  I’m still in a state of disbelief!!

1. You can include whatever goodies you want. Nine times out of ten there is just something off about the granola I buy, like chocolate when I’m trying to be healthy or nasty dried soy nuts when I hate soy nuts. And then it’s just a bunch of waste on the bottom of the bag.
2. More than likely, it’s much healthier than store bought, especially since you know exactly what’s going in it. This recipe has no refined sugars and the only fat is from the seeds and nuts.
3. It makes the house smell good. No need to explain this one.
4. You can make as little or as much as you want. It’s super easy to store and keeps for a long time.
5. Most of the ingredients you need are probably already in your pantry, which means it would take more time to run to the grocery store to buy some granola than it would be to toss the ingredients together and into the oven (depending on how close you live to town, of course).

Voila!

Another plus: for some reason people always seem impressed when I tell them that the granola I am eating is homemade…I don’t know why, really.

Almond Poppyseed Granola

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups oats
3/4 cup almonds (I used half raw, half roasted and salted)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp poppy seeds
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
generous portion of dried fruit (I used cranberries)
1/4 cup sunflower seed butter (can use other nut butters as well)
1/4 cup pure maple (or honey or agave)

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Measure out sunflower seed butter (or other nut butter) and microwave until melted enough to easily stir. Add maple, vanilla, and almond extract and mix well.

2. Combine oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, poppyseeds, almonds, and dried fruit. Pour liquid mixture into oat mixture and mix until oats are moist. It will seem a little dry, but that’s okay. It’s how it’s supposed to be.

3. Cook in 325F oven for 15 minutes or until granola is crunchy, stirring occasionally.

Now, as y’all can probably tell already, I love them! And seed-butters etc, the whole nine.
Since going strictly to the raw and sugar-less varieties, I’ve had some difficutly getting the right taste. Before I realized I had been eating ones with added sugars (yes, the “organic cane sugar” IS STILL SUGAR!) I was eating them by the spoonful and just enjoying every second of almond-y, sunbutter-y goodness!
But now that I only buy the raw, roasted, organic, and natural flavors, I’ve been wanting to branch out and try some new things….

I switched over to the raw almond butter and I CANNOT STAND IT!! Without that added sweetness, or at least sea salt, it doesn’t taste good to me at all unless I hide it in a smoothie…

I switched to the roasted kind last week and it’s better than the raw, but I still can’t eat it alone or even dip my fruit in it– yuck, not my fave!

So I went online today to browse through my other options.

I recently saw someone post about this thing called Nuttzo
I’d never heard of it, but it sounded awesome so I googled it and found it for a semi-decent price (there’s never really a great price for nut butters, unfortunately…)

I ordered it and I should be getting it next week yay! It’s like an EXPLOSION of ingredients, but no additives or sugars and I cannot WAIT to try it!! And this is their only peanut-free product so hooray!! Just look all all that goodness packed in– ahhh!

I also ordered Trader Joe’s Hint of Sea Salt Almond Butter– which is EXACTLY how I like my almond butter! I’m hoping it’s good because I really have been in this love/hate relationship with almond butter lately….and I made sure to read all the labels before ordering anything to make sure I knew what I was buying and wasn’t going to get a surprise with any hidden sugars!

Once these babies come in next week, I’ll be digging in asap! And hopefully I’ll be working on experimenting with some new recipes using these new products! Hooray spending money on things that will be worth it!

Fancy nut butters also tend to be pretty pricey! That’s why I was super excited when Artisana sent me some free goodies to try! I’ve seen their stuff around the blog world but could never find it in stores so I was dying to try it.

The first one I tried was the Pecan Butter. The great thing about Artisana is everything is all natural, raw and organic. There isn’t any added sugar in the pecan nut butter and many of their other raw organic nut butters. For me this is a plus because most of the almond butter and even sun butter you see in stores even if it is organic has added “evaporated cane sugar” or some other sugar in disguise. The pecan butter was a winner! So decadent and sweet all by itself.

They also sent me 5 of the their new nut butter ‘super foods’. These were quite interesting. It’s basically cashew butter mixed with a little something extra in the form of nutrients, antioxidants and vitamins.

They were cool to try but some had a weird taste- especially the blue algae and marine phytoplankton!  I could handle the goji berry and milk thistle as well as the berry antioxidant.

I went ahead and purchased one of their products, the walnut and cashew butter. O.M.G. This is so simply deliciously good. It has a rich, walnut taste and crunchy texture. Perfect for dipping veggies or on toast in the morning. Or eaten straight out of the jar using a finger as utensil. That’s cool too.

Just watch your serving sizes on this deliciousness because it has 200 cals per 2 tbsp. Similar to any nut butter. Although a tablespoon with veggies has some staying power.

Head on over to the Artisana webpage if you want to check out more of their goodies. Definitely high quality products without nasty additives!

I still want to try their coconut butter!

What nut butter products do you love?

One of the recipes I made was Speculoos Cookies.

There was a reason I made those.

To make this

Homemade COOKIE butter.

Yes, cookie butter.  And you make it just like you would make any regular nut butter.

Just with cookies.

So for those of you who live near a Trader Joe’s, you have probably either heard of or had this amazing treat.

For everyone else… you’re in the same boat as I am.  I don’t live anywhere near a Trader Joe’s (although one is opening up about half an hour away from me later this year!!).

I decided to look online to see if I could just purchase it and have it sent here.

Yeah, it’s a good 10-15 bucks factoring in shipping.

I know some nut butters can be this pricey, but after looking at their website and finding out it’s only about 3.69 at the store, I figured this was a bit of a rip off.  I also didn’t like the fact that the cookie butter they make literally is just cookies.  It doesn’t contain the high amount of protein and healthy fats that normal nut butters do.

That’s why when I found this recipe, I was overjoyed.

It’s from foodie fiasco, and it’s amazing!

You are going to need

1. 2 cups of homemade honey roasted peanuts

2. about 15 homemade speculoos cookies

3. 1 tsp vanilla

4. 1-2 tbsp cinnamon (I used closer to 2)

5. a heaping cup of white chocolate chips

Start by blending the peanuts until it starts to form peanut butter.  Add in the other ingredients, and blend until combined.

Transfer into a jar

and enjoy!

This stuff is seriously sooooooooooooo good.  I absolutely love that there is a hint of the peanut flavor, which I’m sure I would miss from the real version.

Question: Have you ever tried Justin’s nut butters?  I’ve been meaning to try more of the unique flavors and need suggestions.

It doesn’t matter who you ask… It would appear that ANZAC biscuits contain almost equal portions of plain wheat flour, cane sugar, rolled oats and desiccated coconut as well as golden syrup, bicarbonate-soda and boiling water. How simple. They’re all doing it – Donna Hay, Margaret Fulton, the famous Beechworth Bakery to name a few.

On that note, it’s all very well to make healthy versions of this and that, but change too many ingredients and the ratios thereof and you’ve created something else altogether. I wouldn’t and couldn’t do that to the iconic Australian ANZAC, but I have altered the recipe enough to omit dairy, cane sugar and wheat, yet for the flavour and texture to result in a biscuit which is crunchy, yet chewy, sweet and moist – just like an ANZAC biscuit should be. Click here to find out how.

I sampled a few of these beauties while writing this post and I can therefore confirm, with  confidence, that these ANZAC biscuits are totally addictive and arguably better that the original thing!

ANZAC Day is not far away, so click here for the recipe, whip up a batch or two and have a great ANZAC holiday!

xx

I found almond butter (for 10 euros, eek) at Naturalia, pretty much the only organic/natural food store in Paris/France (that I know of) and I found whole wheat rice cakes (thin ones) too, and I’m basically having a party with myself right now, licking almond butter off of my fingers and trying not to get it all over my pretty little computer. (PS: whole grain/brown rice cakes are a great source of slow digesting complex carbohydrates – aka good carbs – and they are low in calories so they can act as a nice substitute for bread and they are great to eat as a pre-workout snack.)

Almond butter, for those of you that are living in darkness, is like peanut butter, only better. (Check out this little info graphic comparing both nut butters, if you want to know more) (Also, for someone like me with high cholesterol, almond butter has less saturated fat than peanut butter so its better for me lil’ arteries). It has around 100 calories in one tablespoon and around 7 grams of protein, but what its really great for is getting some of your very important healthy fats (i.e. monosaturated fat) and for satisfying every desire your body and mouth could ever crave. Spread it on whole wheat bread, mix it in your oatmeal, in your protein smoothie, make delicious almond butter paleo balls (plenty of recipes online if you’re curious), or spread it on whole grain rice cakes and top it with a banana, like what I’m doing right this second. Its filling, lean, and so good for you! Just remember to stick to the listed serving size (even if you have to measure it out… 1tbsp is deceiving) since nut butters of all kinds are calorically dense, and if you’re trying to watch that pretty little figure of yours, you might want to consider not doing what I did and sticking the spoon straight into the jar and eating like it ain’t no thang.

I’m begging you, try this shit, or get out!

Note: With any nut butter, try to buy organic and raw, since they tend to have less ingredients like salt, sugars, and preservers that alter the flavor and nutrition content of the product. Look for ones with the least amount of ingredients possible, and make sure they are all ingredients you can pronounce! (This goes for all food, pretty much). The one I bought today lists almonds as the only ingredient. Yours should too, or at least come very close.

Breakfast

Start your day with porridge as it is a slow energy release food. To your porridge you can add these ingredients to make it rocket fuel powered.

1. Multigrain and seeded porridge – The food doctor (2.99)
2. Soya milk or almond, coconut or goats milk
3. Blueberries and goji berries
4. Teaspoon of cinnamon
5. A scoop of no sugar protein powder – Spirutein (22.99)

With your breakfast enjoy a cup of white or black coffee or green tea to get your metabolism going and fire up your energy levels.

Snacks

Snacks can be had in between breakfast and lunch or in between lunch and dinner. Here is 3 energy boosting snacks for you to carry everywhere with you!

-       Nuts and seeds; if you carry a small tupperware box of nuts and seeds around with you they are perfect to snack on as they are a source of protein. Nuts like almonds and seeds like pumpkin are best for nutritional content.

-       Chopped raw vegetables with a dip of hummus or nut butter.

-       Natural energy bars like the bounce energy balls are great for an afternoon pick me up and usually contain added protein.

Lunch

It is essential that you try to include protein in every meal as this helps sustain energy, not carbohydrates like many people believe. Having something such as a salad with grated beetroot, carrot, chicken and pumpkin seeds is perfect for lunch. Other options are baked potatoes with a protein filling such as tuna, baked beans, chicken or chilli. If you are choosing from a limited sandwhich bar opt for granary/seeded bread with a protein and salad filling.

Dinner

Often the simplest of recipes have the highest nutritional content. To make a simple stew all the ingredients are energy boosting and high in vitamins.

All you need is:

1. 300g of meat (chicken or stewing beef)
2. 1 vegetable sock cube and ½ a cube of beef or chicken stock
3. Vegetables: carrot, spinach swede, parsnips, potatoes, onions.

Lightly cook the meat in onions and then add the vegetables and then the stock last. Cook for 45 minutes or leave in a slow cooker all day.

Drinks

2 or 3 cups of coffee a day isn’t too bad and caffeine helps sustain alertness if you order your beverage plain with just milk no sugar. Try switching one of your cups of coffee a day for a green tea which is much better for you but still contains some caffeine.

If you find yourself reaching for a fizzy drink throughout the day stop and switch to one of these healthy fruit or fizzy drinks:

-       Purdeys multivitamin drinks

-       Vita coco

-       V8 vegetable juice

-       Firefly drinks 

So, in the process of snacking, I decided to utilize part of my jar in a new recipe.  The original thought was sunbutter blondies with dark chocolate chips.  I didn’t exactly have all the correct ingredients, but I went with it.  Typical of me and my lazy spontaneous baking habits

Sunflowerbutter (Chocolate Chip) Blondies 
makes ~ 16 bars

Ingredients
1 cup nut butter (for me – mix of sunflower & pb)
3 eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup low-fat milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cake flour (provided a lighter/fluffier texture)
1/2 – 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used a chocolate bar)
Optional: extra nuts (peanuts) or peanut butter chips for oomph

Look at that gooey goodness.

“Freedom lies in being bold.”
– Robert Frost

Happy Wednesday!
The official halfway point of the week!
…And this one seriously needs to end. For some reason I am just so exhausted both mentally, and physically!
Todays day was full of some delicious eats though thats for sure! It was even accompanied by some gorgeous sunlight once again (although its thundering and pouring currently)
Womp
Although, sometimes I find the pitter of rain and crash of thunder somewhat comforting
Other times, I’m cowering under my sheets, hehe.

Anyway, breakfast this morning was a renewed version of my everyday oatmeal…

Creamy, buttery, coconut oats with agave, coconut butter, banana, and shredded coconut

Mmmm it was so good! I didn’t think adding a little bit of coconut butter could make such a creamy and delicious difference!
I have some plans to improve this delicious bowl of coconutty goodness, so stay tuned!

My snack was a little something to keep me running through the school day, up until lunch period.

For the most part, I am terrified of eating most/any types of bar. The one bar I am comfortable with (Quest Bar) my stomach doesn’t agree with so much. But, I am fighting hard to tackle my fear of packaged/processed bars.
Truth is, all processed foods aren’t spawn of the devil…
I’ve been eating a bar everyday for the last month now. Although I still get some anxiety from them here and there, I’m still alive and well so HA! Take that ED.

My lunch was my typical, go-to, easy to pack lunch

mixed greens, craisins, croutons and walnuts

Accompanied with the perfect snacks

And a heaping bag of baby carrots and tomatoes.

After school and my MUCH needed downtime, I geared up for a nice workout.
According to my nutritionist, I can only workout 3x a week (blah) So I savor those three days as MUCH as I can.
I did some strength training, then took advantage of the sunny weather while it was still here and went on an incredible 2.8mile jog/walk!

So, quick story for ya today…

          After warming up with some walking, I finally broke into a jog. You know how sometimes the first few minuets of your jog can be the hardest? I don’t know about you guys but it takes me a couple minuets to fall into the moment. To get to that state where the only thing you feel is your heart throbbing against your chest, and the only thing you hear is your feet pounding down on the pavement,  despite the fact that you may have pandora on full blast. ANYWAY… Finally, I was falling into that state. Once I’m in it, its hard to get out. I can run for miles if properly fueled. Slowly, I began to drift into my runners world… When suddenly, a car passed by my and the passenger rolled down his window and screamed SO LOUD he completely broke my ‘trance’. Not only that, but he scared the buh-jeezus out of me, causing me to jump a bit and almost drop my phone. Everyone in the car immediately burst out into laughter and started clapping their hands like demented seals. They were happy.

Eventually I fell back into my trance, but the whole situation was a bit odd.
What it comes down to though is that I would much rather have a bunch of teens get a good laugh out of me, rather than some creepy oldman stopping to try and talk to me.

After my workout/run, my stomach was feeling the need for a good snack…
And whats better than nut butters?
…Uhm, nothing.
Maybe chocolate, but for the most part, nothing.
Nothinggggg.
Nothing.
I’m sure plenty of you can agree with me there, right?

Whole grain rice cakes, white chocolate PB, almond butter, and organic amber honey

Mmmm… Behold the deliciousness of a snack so simple, yet so perfect…

My snack was followed up by an amazing dinner after a nice shower, and couple hours dedicated to homework (Yeah… homework.)

And a tad bit of cottage cheese…
My favorite way to eat it: Straight from the jar

Yay for me today, too! I faced a major fear food of mine!
For a while now, avocados were always a big problem for me.
What?! Avocados… Why?!
I’m perfectly aware of all the amazing health benefits avocado provides, and I’ve read up on them multiple times trying to convince myself they were a-okay to eat…
But my ED constantly ruled them out. Although they are filled with (lots of) good fats, they are relatively dense in calories, and that always scared me.
But, today I decided to jump on that fear! Hoorah!
That, and my avocados are about to go bad hahaha!

That sums up my WIAW for the most part!

Hopefully I’ll have room for a dessert <3

What did you eat today?

xoxox

Just as peanut butter is made of peanuts, almond butter is made of almonds… and you can make it yourself! Very easy. Ingredients: raw almonds. There’s the option to roast them beforehand to heighten the flavour, but I skipped that part for my first try. Then blend blend blend. I added a little canola oil at the end for a smoother texture.

Breakfast: Overnight oats with pineapple, frozen berries, almond milk, Greek yogurt, chia seeds, oats, and a walnut topper. Was feeling a bit peckish, so I broke into my snack pack at work.  Coconut bread and sliced apple.  Perfect combination.  Maybe a little better if there was some peanut butter…A #lululunch (phenomenon started by Theresa) occurred in between classes and resulted in the following: carrots, broccoli, asparagus, tofu, salsa, and an iced coffee. 

Dinner: These lovely dude ranch chips from my foodie pen pal last month, a choconut smoothie (see below), and some carrots.  It was a whirlwind sort of day, so complete meals were not on the menu.

Choconut Smoothie (perfect for snack)
1/2 frozen banana
1/4 almond milk (vanilla tastes better)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 tbsp coconut shreds
1 tbsp cocoa powder
optional: 1 tbsp almond butter

I did end the night with one of these delicious sunflower butter blondies.  I had experimented with a recipe this weekend and let’s just say they were demolished within seconds of me opening the tupperware at chapter.  Of course you will have to come back tomorrow for the fun reveal of these nut butter perfection of a recipe.

Instead of a quote, I’m going to leave you with this image for the day.  Stumbling upon images and inspirations such as these from Pinterest, set me up for a positive and confident day, or at least a tough mental attitude.  How about you?

What’s something positive in your life or in your day?

Or maybe I’m wrong, and I have actually posted more cookie recipes than I remember and if I weren’t so lazy I’d go look right now but I’m lazy so I won’t. (I’m also too lazy for periods and proper sentence structure. Eh.)

Well that ends today, kids. Today I’m going to tell you all about a cookie recipe.

After I tell you about a bunch of other stuff first.

How cool is that photo up there? One of my biology students had his iphone 5 with him in class, to take photos of the rats we were dissecting (SO SUPER COOL. The rats, not the phone. Well, both actually.) I am so far behind the times and uncool and I only have the iphone 4, so I don’t think mine does this.

It’s a 180 photo of the entire classroom! How awesome?!?!

I know I posted this on my Today I Made page, but I’m just too proud of it to not mention here, since I know that some of you (you know who you are) don’t read it and even though I am so excited, it doesn’t really need it’s own post.

I used a pattern I found here as a base. The original pattern was for a toddler size 4T fleece sweater, with a cowl neck. Clearly I am bigger than a 4T and clearly I didn’t make the cowl neck.

I just printed the pattern, added a few inches to the edges, cut, and followed the directions.

Mostly followed the directions, I should say. Which is probably why it took me three times to make this sweater, but I love how it turned out, so it is all good in the end.

Speaking of things I posted on my Today I Made page that you may have missed so I’ll highlight it here for you, I made yet another new flavor of sunflower seed butter yesterday and while I was eating it directly from the jar after work, I started mentally cataloging all the different flavors I’ve made and I lost track.

So…here’s a semi-official list:

• Chinese 5-Spice SFSB**
• Mocha PB
• Cinnamon Vanilla PB and SFSB
• Kimchi PB **
• Wasabi PB **
• Caramel Latte SFB
• Sundried Tomato-Basil SFSB **
• Cinnamon PB
• Ginger Cinnamon PB
• Kelp PB
• Lemon Ginger PB
• Sriracha PB **

I only started making my own back in September, so I think this is a pretty solid list of flavors in only 7 1/2 months.

** denote my favorites. Clearly, I like the sweet-salt-spice flavor trifecta.

Okay, okay, you’ve been patient with me. Thank you for listening to me. Would you like a cookie?

These are actually kind of similar to the sweet-salt-spice flavor profile I was just talking about.

White chocolate chips (and sugar, obviously) give it the sweet, cinnamon (extra fancy Vietnamese, which I think is spicier than it is sweet) give it the spice, and…well….there’s a 1/4 tsp of salt in there….? Yeah, that counts.

Maple Cinnamon White Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1/4 cup coconut oil (slightly softened, but not melted)
• 1 cup sugar (or equivalent sweetener of your choosing – I use erythritol)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp maple extract
• 3/4 cup oat flour
• 2 T arrowroot powder (or use another 2T flour; this just makes the cookies a little softer, I think)
• 1 T cinnamon (or less if you aren’t as big a fiend as I am, or more if you’re really nuts)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 325 and line your baking sheet with parchment or a silpat. (Seriously guys. Get a silpat already. You’ll thank me for making you do this.)

Mix the oil, sugar, egg, vanilla and maple together until nice and creamy. Mix in the flours, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and stir until combined. (It is at this point that I always eat at least a cookie’s worth of dough, for testing purposes, obviously. You can choose to omit that step or not, I’ll leave that up to you.)

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. I err on the side of under baked, because I’d rather die of salmonella after eating soft and delicious cookies than live after eating hard and crappy cookies. Again, this is your call.

Have you tried a savory nut butter flavor yet?

Do you follow directions?

Do you have the new iphone and isn’t that phone thing THE COOLEST?!?!

Was the recipe worth the wait?

Can you think of another annoying question? ASK ME!!! ASK ME!!!

It seems like I’ve been traveling almost constantly for the past month! I’m certainly not complaining – I love getting away and experiencing someplace or something different. As a bonus, the nature of my recent travels has mostly been related to doing cool things with family and friends. From Atlanta to Mammoth to Vegas, I was lucky to hang out with some special friends, my parents, and my brother.  I just returned to Los Angeles yesterday after a quick weekend trip to Vegas with my dad and brother to hit the ACM’s and a couple of special shows for Dr. Pepper folks.

Live from the ACM’s!

We stayed at the MGM (which played host to the ACM’s) and indulged in some sinfulness and fun as is customary for any worthwhile Vegas trip! But the main attraction – the ACM awards – on Sunday evening was in itself worth the trip. I’ve never been in the audience for a televised event, and it was a total treat!

Jackpot!

Though the show was a blast, I think the after party was even better.  A bunch of performers including nominees and winners from the ACM’s came to perform for a much smaller crowd. I wasn’t quite current on the country scene, but I came away with a couple of new favorites. I cannot stop listening to Luke Bryan! He was awesome in person. This song has been stuck in my head for the past 48 hours…Be warned if you haven’t heard it: SO. Freaking. Catchy.

So, long story short, I made something really easy and incredibly delicious like two weeks ago and have been meaning to share it, but…I guess all the traveling got in the way. It happens.

I picked up my usual bag of unsweetened coconut flakes on a Whole Foods trip with the intention of using it in oatmeal and baked goods, but decided I would try to make coconut butter because I’ve been seeing it all over the Internet and it looks delicious. But when I opened the pantry, I spotted my toasted pecans and instantly knew they were destined to intermingle with the coconut flakes to create something extra-special.

The Cast

Well, my hunched turned out to be a hit! The slightly crunchy, smooth and rich nut butter was unlike any other nut butter I’ve had. It has a hint of sweetness from a spike of honey, and a flavor that somehow almost tastes like German chocolate cake (without the chocolate).  The best part is it has only three ingredients! It doesn’t get more simple than that.

By the spoonful, atop a bowl of oatmeal, or spread onto toast, this toasted pecan coconut butter is utter perfection.

German Chocolate Oats

**

Toasted Pecan Coconut Butter

2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (Let’s Do Organic is a great brand)

1 ¼ cup toasted and salted pecans

Honey, to taste (I used about 3 tbsp)

Melted coconut oil, if needed to get things moving in the food processor

Pour the pecans into the bowl of a food processor and grind until they turn into crumbles. Add in the coconut flakes and honey, and continue to process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl until a smooth consistency is achieved. This may take 10-15 minutes of stopping, scraping, and processing, but it is SO worth it!

*Note: Depending on the temperature in your kitchen, you may need to drizzle in a bit of melted coconut oil to get everything moving in the food processor.

What is your favorite kind of nut butter? 

What song is stuck in your head right now?

Yesterday morning, happened:

So (again *nerd alert*), Sunday mornings have become my nut butter mornings. For the past couple months, I’ve been making a big batch of nut or seed butter most weeks, always with the intention that the BIG batch will last at least a couple weeks.

Sometimes? When I make two full food processor full batches? It does.

Most of the time? It doesn’t.

Last week, for example, I used the last of the 16 ounce bag of sunflower seeds to make sunflower seed butter. That’s about the typical size of a jar at the grocery store.

I had to ration that starting on Thursday, at which point I had about 1/4 of it left.

Quick math: I ate 12 ounces of sunflower seed butter in 4 days, 3 ounces per day, which is equivalent to 6 T, or 3 times the recommended serving size, or almost HALF A CUP of nut/seed butter.

When you eat this stuff as much as I do, you can’t afford the nice fancy stuff at the store, so you have to make your own.

This week, I used 20 ounces of sunflower seeds, which cost me a total of $3.75. That’s about half what you’d pay for a 16 ounce jar of sunflower seed butter at a normal grocery store, but let’s not even talk about how much it would cost at Whole Foods.

I should make you click to my Today I Made page to see what funky flavor I made this time, but I’m too excited.

SUN-DRIED TOMATO BASIL.

I think this rivals wasabi as my favorite flavor to date and I’m going to be shocked if the 1/2 cup I made makes it to the end of the day.

Before you get all Whoa Katie is so creative and such a genius nut/seed butter flavor comer-up-with-er, I got the idea to add sundried tomatoes from the book I just finished, Creamy and Crunchy.

The addition of basil, however? That was all me.

Be sure to check out the rest of my shenanigans for the past week on the Today I Made page. I’m getting bad at updating it, but not bad at following through with making something daily.

Would you try this flavor? Do you eat as much nut/seed butter as me?

Has anyone’s child ever done that with peanut butter?!?

**Can I just get a blanket nerd alert for this blog, just overall? It’s obvious. It’s a caveat for every post. It is my life, after all.

But this weekend I reclaimed my territory

Saturday was wildly productive! Not only did I knock out a 3 mile run (for the first time since November, I might add), but I also whipped up a new hybrid cookie recipe!
My boyfriend has been dying for me to bake him some treats and send them to him, but since he’s been working on cutting his sugar intake and I’ve been helping, we agreed I would make him either a clean eating cookie or a paleo one! Since going paleo, I haven’t made many cookies and the ones I have tried have been paleo and have been HUGE fails! Pre-paleo, I was the cookie queen and could basically wing it for any recipe to create something weird and scrumptious and new!
I managed to find a recipe that I adapted to make one of my best cookie creations yet…and it’s paleo(ish)

I call these Daryn’s Trail Mix Cookies (now my boyfriend has a cookie named after him– lucky guy!)

For my base recipe, I found an awesome one over at tgipaleo.com

To make my Trail Mix Cookies, I used this base recipe with Soy Nut Butter– they tasted JUST like peanut butter cookies, moist and chewy and “nutty!”
Yeah yeah, I know, the soy thing isn’t paleo, but shhh– you could use any nut butter and get a delicious cookie, I assure you!

My additions were as follows:

• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup chopped raw almonds– for crunch!
• 1 serving prunes (about 7 prunes)
• Milk chocolate chips (I used whatever we had in the pantry– this is the only non-paleo part, but honestly, the chips weren’t even necessary! I ate around them)

I adjusted my time to 12 minutes and baked on 350, which produced a perfectly browned and moist, chewy cookie
I KNOW I’ll be making these again– and keeping them for myself

Today I whipped up a quick lunch after church. I’d had breakfast earlier, but Sundays always seem to make me crave breakfast food all day long…
So I threw together a quick brunch scramble using:

• 2 eggs
• Oven roasted thick carved turkey breast
• Extra lean ham
• A splash of almond breeze unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup of raw spinach
• 1/3 of a tomato
• And PLENTY of pepper, sea salt, adobo powder, chili powder, and crushed red peppers– I like everything with a KICK!

And of course, a sliced pear on the side!

This weekend has been wildly productive, healthy, and fit. I feel incredible and am happy with everything in my life right now. Paleo power, y’all! Am I right???

With all of that in mind, these were born…

I was surprised they came out so well!
Sweet, sticky, delicious, and most importantly they are protein packed, and 100% clean!

They make the perfect pre workout snack to energize your body, and I also feel they make a good post workout reward treat.

Maple Almond Protein Bites

• 2 tablespoons of protein powder (I use About Time protein)
• 2 tablespoons of unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 tablespoons of maple agave nectar
• 2 tablespoons of crunchy almond butter
• 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 tablespoons of old fashion rolled oats
• 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract

Mix everything all together nice and good, and simply roll into balls! This made seven, two-bite balls for me. Of course, you can probably make 3 or 4 giant ones, which I just might do next time.

These were SO good. Really tasted like a sweet, unhealthy treat! I was so happy, even my parents enjoyed them. Thats how you KNOW they are good! Haha Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

Of course, there can be some minor substations made here. You can really use any agave nectar, or even regular honey if thats what you have. You can use any nut butter you want. Whats great is that you can easily play with this recipe and switch things up a bit to create more delicious flavor combinations. My next one may be a vanilla peanut butter flavor! Hehehe

Enjoy!
xoxoxoxo

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These were super good and went fast! They are a bit gooey to work with so next time I might add more thickener but no one was complaining My mom tried them out and brought them right away to a party that weekend. See below for her changes as well.

With Chocolate – to us this really wasn’t optional

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites
recipe from namelymarly.com

1 cup Rice Chex
1 cup potato flakes
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened Vegan Butter (aka, Earth Balance margarine)
1 cup powdered sugar (less if you used sweetened peanut butter)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
1 – 2 cups dark chocolate chips, plus more for melting and dipping

Pulse Rice Chex and instant mashed potatoes in a food processor until fairly pulverized. It doesn’t have to be flour-like, but in the neighborhood.
Add the peanut butter and softened Vegan Butter. Pulse for a few more seconds until everything is blended.
Add the powdered sugar and ground flax seed and pulse a few more times to mix it together.
Transfer the dough into a medium lidded bowl. Add the chocolate chips and stir so they’re evenly incorporated.
Put the lid on the bowl and place it in the fridge for a minimum of an hour so the dough firms up a bit. (makes it so much easier to work with!) Take tablespoon size pieces and roll into balls.

Optional – Double Boil chocolate and dip. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Naked Balls

My mom’s changes:

Wheat Berry Breakfast

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cooked wheat berries
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 3 dates sliced in half
• 1 tbsp nut butter (I used almond)

Directions: Heat wheat berries and milk in small saucepan until heated through. Transfer to bowl. Add dates and nut butter. Enjoy, preferably with fresh coffee.

I’m a bit of a breakfast fan as it is the most important meal of the day!

Ill be posting more quick recipes that you can grab on the go but here is my porrij takeaway.

It’s pretty simple actually. Almost same recipe as the previous.

Three table spoons of Brookfarm Gluten free Porrij

Then using he water filter at work I put enough water so the porrij is immersed at least one cm

Microwave for 90 seconds

Add a dash of almond milk

Teaspoon of natural peanut butter and mix mix mix

Top with berries.

This takes me, 3 minutes in my office. Not even!!

I keep the berries in my fridge at work as they double as 3.30pm sugar craving snack!!

Yes it’s as delicious as it sounds. Even better actually. I fell in love with this stuff & I’m going to be making my own nut butters more often. I’ve seriously become addicted. But this was super simple, although I would have liked it to be creamier. I’m so impatient haha, I just wanted to dig in.

But here ya gooo

About a cup of natural almonds
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp water

Process the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped. Then add the remaining ingredients minus the water, I added that towards the end after processing for about 5 minutes. Slowly add water, until desired consistency. Voilaaaaa!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Discovering this recipe opened my world to enormous possibilities. I’m just bummed that I discovered it after I purchased my ice cream making attachment bowl for “Betty”, my Kitchen Aid blender… in tangerine, obviously.

The base for this ice cream is made from only one ingredient. Uno, ehad, une. (You get the picture.) Experiment with adding your favorite ingredients to create an endless number of frozen treat options. You can make this as healthy or as decadent as you desire and I encourage you to go hog wild. Even if you add the naughtiest of ingredients, you can rest assured that the base is pure fruit!

Ice Cream Base:

INGREDIENTS
Bananas (sliced and frozen)
I wasn’t kidding. That’s it!

DIRECTIONS
Using an S-BLADE with the food processor, blend frozen banana slices till smooth and creamy. At first, the pieces will look crumbly, just keep going and let it process until the velvety consistency appears. You know what ice cream should look like and you’ll recognize the texture when you see it. My food processor is not the most powerful and it takes about 5 minutes. Serve immediately or put in freezer.

NOTE: If the ice cream is left in the freezer too long (over 4 hours or so), it becomes SUPER hard and very difficult to scoop. The lack of fat causes it to freeze completely and more solid as opposed to premium or super premium ice creams, which have a lot of fat that doesn’t freeze completely.

freeze slices on a single layer

frozen banana slices ready to rip!

Smooth and dreamy!

MIX IT UP!
To create an endless number of flavors, add the following with the bananas (adjust depending on how many bananas you are using). NOTE: the bananas are extremely mild in taste and most anything you add (depending on how much) will probably overpower the subtlety of the fruit.

Chocolate – a few tablespoons cocoa powder
Peanut Butter – a few tablespoons peanut butter (crunchy or smooth) or ANY nut butter!
Chocolate Peanut Butter - you guessed it… a few tablespoons of cocoa and peanut butter. Adjust depending on how peanuty or chocolatey you prefer.
Vanilla - a few teaspoons of real vanilla extract or better… scrape the inside of one vanilla bean.
Mexican Chocolate - a few tablespoons cocoa powder + a few teaspoons of cinnamon
Honey - a few tablespoons honey give it a much sweeter taste.