Almond Butter Whey Cookies, Part 2.

So, those Almond Butter Whey Cookies from my last post? Well, I decided to follow up on those and experiment with making them more moist. I think I found the trick... Add a ripe banana!

My revised recipe:

• 2/3 cup oats
• 1 tbsp creamy almond butter (could also use peanut butter)
• 1.5 scoops whey protein powder (I used Designer Whey's vanilla variety)
• 1 egg white (or 1/4 cup liquid egg whites)
• 2 packets Stevia (or sweetener of choice; I used 2 tbsp of granulated Splenda)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 cup carob chips (optional; I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
• 1 small ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• dash of salt

-Pre-heat oven to 350˚F.
-Whisk dry ingredients together.
-Mash the banana and mix well with wet ingredients; add to dry ingredients.
-Use a teaspoon to scoop the batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper & sprayed with non-stick spray. The mixture will be a bit runny. Aim for 12 cookies.
-Bake for 10 minutes.



I ended up with 12 this time (2 are missing from the picture after Doug and I did a little quality control).

MUCH better! The mashed banana made a big difference. Plus, it added a nice banana flavor to complement the chocolate and nut butter. What more could I ask for? Moist, fresh chocolate chip cookies ready in well under 20 minutes.

The nutrition changed a bit though; instead of the original 30 cals per cookie, my revised recipe makes these 58 calories per cookie. Still not bad at all, considering how much more satisfying they were than the first batch. Glad I decided to give this recipe another shot!

Treats in the heat.

Last night's dinner was another specialty a lá Doug. There was brief talk about taking advantage of a special at Domino's Pizza, but remembering how much cake I ate over the weekend and into Monday, I quickly shut that idea down. So back to healthy meal planning we went.

We ended up with a Quinoa salad, topped with grilled chicken and homemade vinaigrette dressing:



For the salad mix, Doug tossed together diced tomatoes, sliced radishes, green onion and cooked quinoa. For the dressing, he whisked together:

• Minced garlic
• Lemon juice
• Olive oil
• Dijon mustard
• Apple cider vinegar
• Cayenne pepper
• Ancho chile powder
• Dried cilantro flakes
• Salt & pepper

The chicken was cooked on the grill and brushed with Famous Dave's Texas Pit BBQ sauce. If you want to go meatless, this salad would go great with black beans and corn.

Fresh, clean flavors and a great summer dish that required minimal use of the stove. Works for me! And apparently it also worked for Randal, who did a great job of cleaning up some quinoa that spilled on the floor:



Before dinner, I already had dessert on the brain, so I decided to try a couple of recipes I had seen in the latest issue of Oxygen Magazine, both of which featured whey protein powder.

The first recipe was a batch of Almond Butter Whey Cookies:



Bite-sized, of course:



For this recipe, you'll need:

• 1/2 cup Oats
• 1 tbsp creamy almond butter (I used Barney Butter; it's so smooth!)
• 1 scoop whey protein powder (I used Designer Whey's chocolate variety)
• 1 egg white (or 1/4 cup liquid egg whites)
• 2 packets Stevia (or sweetener of choice; I used a generous tablespoon of granulated Splenda)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 cup carob chips (optional; I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)

(I also added about a tablespoon of cocoa powder for extra flavor, along with a dash of salt.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the wet ingredients with a spoon. The dough will be really sticky and kinda difficult to work with, but mix as well as you can.

Use a teaspoon to make the dough into golfball-sized portions. Bake in a 350˚F oven for 10 minutes. I ended up with 10 cookies instead of 12, but whatevs. Each cookie is about 30 calories!

Things to do differently next time: While the chocolate flavor in these cookies was spot-on, Doug and I both agreed that they were DRY. Like really, really, I-need-copious-amounts-of-milk-stat! dry. I'm already planning to make another batch, but I will definitely play around with adding milk and/or unsweetened applesauce to give them some much-needed moisture. A little softer, and these could be a pretty satisfying, guilt-free treat when the chocolate craving hits.

The second recipe I tried was for Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups:



In a blender, add:

• 4 oz water
• 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used Designer Whey)
• 1 tbsp peanut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co's Dark Chocolate Dreams)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1-2 packets of preferred sweetener (I used a generous tablespoon of granulated Splenda)

Blend until well mixed, pour into a muffin tray and freeze for 1-2 hours. (I used a mini muffin pan and ended up with 10 cups total.)

Things to do differently next time: As far as the recipe goes, I don't think I'd change much because they tasted pretty darn good. But they're also super-messy to eat because it's basically like eating pieces of a frozen fudge bar without the stick. That said, I think this recipe would work as a really great base for a low-cal ice cream. I'm going to try mixing it with a few cups of almond milk, freezing it and seeing what I end up with. Given the creaminess of the cups, I think the ice cream would turn out pretty good.

POM-tastic!

This week, the wonderful people at POM were generous enough to send me some samples of their juice to try. I had only tried their iced teas before, but not the actual juice, so I was pretty excited when the package arrived yesterday! I'm not a huge juice drinker, but still enjoyed the flavor and became eager to experiment with some recipes. The result? POM Cake!



Pretty easy to make and full of great flavor. For the cake, I used:

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1 cup POM juice
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup no-sugar-added applesauce (in place of oil)
• 3 egg whites
• 2 TB flour (for those at high altitude)
• several drops of red food coloring (optional; just for fun)
• powdered sugar (optional; mostly for aesthetics)

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl with a hand mixer and bake according to the directions on the box. The platter decided to slip out as I was flipping the cake over, so I ended up with a crack in one side. Boo! I hate it when stuff like that happens. Oh well.

I also made a POM-orange glaze to drizzle on top:



For the glaze:

• about 1 3/4 cup POM juice
• zest and juice from one orange
• 2 tsp honey

I simmered the juices and the zest and constantly whisked them for almost 30 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, I added the honey. After I reduced the liquids, I ended up with about 3/4 cup of glaze. I didn't pour it over the entire cake because I didn't want it to get soggy, so I stored it on the side, to pour on individual slices. If you're planning on serving the entire cake all at once though, go ahead and pour all of the glaze on.

Pretty much one of the best cakes I've ever made! I may/may not have had two slices back to back. I think next time I attempt this, I'll just replace all of the water with juice. It didn't seem to affect the texture of the cake and you can't go wrong with extra POM flavor! Between the cake baking and the juices reducing, our house smelled of cakey-orangey-pomegranate-y goodness. So, so good.

Later this evening, I plan on trying some POM cocktails! My mom brought me back a small bottle of champagne from her trip to California, so I'm pretty sure POM-pagne is in my future. Great way to kick off the weekend, eh?

Mental Health Day.

Took the day off from work, primarily to go to an 8:30 am spin class and to bake cake. Yuuup. Priorities. I have 'em.

Spin class was ok... I got a lot of good sprints in, but not a fan of the instructor. She was probably on the bike 50% of the time. Rest of the time, she was walking around. But she played more tolerable music than some of the other instructors, so I cut her some slack.

Came home, showered, ate a big bowl of oats and prepped for the day's next task:

Lemon-Blueberry Pound Cake!

Just in case you forgot where I stand on the whole Cake-vs.-Pie debate... And please note, this is NOT a healthy recipe! Plenty of butter and sugar to go around and I didn't make any substitutions. In fact, I added a few things to the original recipe from Food Network.

I first made the cake on Father's Day for my dad (sans blueberries) because lemon pound cake is one of his favorites. He raved about it so much that I had to make it again (that, and Doug was bummed that he didn't get to try any the first time).

Aside from adding blueberries, the main changes I made were: adding the zest of an entire lemon (creamed in with the butter) and adding an additional 1/4 cup of flour. I added the extra flour with high-altitude baking in mind, but even if you aren't at high-altitude and still want a lighter/fluffier texture, go ahead and add it.

The lemon zest is crucial! If you want a distinct lemon flavor in this cake, you really do need to add the zest, even though the original recipe doesn't call for it.



I poured about half of the batter in the pan and added about 2/3 cup of thawed frozen blueberries.



Poured the remaining batter and topped with the rest of the blueberries (somewhere between 1/4 and a 1/3 cup).





Waiting for this thing to cool before slicing into it was murder. Smelled sooooo good!



I cut it in half and froze the other half. Also, I did NOT include the extra glaze on this version. I did include it when I made my dad's version, but I left it out on this version and I think the cake was just fine on its own.

Delicious. And although I've avoided baking in the past, I'm coming around to it more often these days. I'd rather bake my own treats so I know exactly what's going into the mix and because there's much more effort involved, the final result is that much more satisfying. When I think of the discounted cakes, pastries and doughnuts I always eye at the grocery store bakery (and sometimes buy), they all make me gag now when I look at this cake.

I think bread will be next on my list of baking adventures. The bread selection in most stores doesn't do much for me these days and the good breads at the local/specialty bakeries are too expensive to buy regularly, so I'm going to start making my own. We'll see how it goes!

Cat Scratch Fev-uh.

Ok, dumbest thing I've read so far today? "Gwenyth Paltrow's Secret to Weight Gain!" I try not to waste too much time sippin' the Haterade (well, most of the time), but y'know what? Gag me with a friggin' spoon. And dip the spoon in chocolate and peanut butter while you're at it. "Secret" solved! Buh.

Skipped Zumba last night. (Gasp!) I had to. I ended up doing the Jackie Warner DVD Wednesday morning, JM's Yoga Meltdown DVD Wednesday night (along with some failed hula-hooping attempts) and then ran 2 miles Thursday morning. By Thursday afternoon, I was just too sore and busted to shake my boo-tay. Oh well. Next week.

This morning, I headed to the gym at the usual dark 'n' early hour. Ran/jogged 3 miles, followed by 15 minutes of intervals on the step mill. Nice burn, good sweat, feelin' good.

Re-cap of last night's dinner:



I needed to use up an avocado and came across an idea (from the official California Avocado site or something?) to make an avocado chipotle quesadilla. Well, wouldn't you know it, I actually HAD a few cans of chipotle peppers, so I was all over that idea.

Mashed 1/2 small avocado on a wrap, topped with 3 chopped chipotle peppers, shredded cheddar, and, wait for it... Tuna. Yeah, yeah. I was out of canned chicken, too lazy to defrost an actual chicken breast and not really in the mood for black beans, so tuna it was. Doug was slightly repulsed when I told him about it (he had dinner with his parents/brother earlier), but y'know what? It wasn't bad at all. To me, anyway. I was craving some extra protein and it hit the spot.



Grilled, crispy goodness.



A [bad] close-up. As I've mentioned before, I like-uh the spiiice and this baby was indeed spicy. It was my first time trying chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, but I wasn't skeered. Loved the smokey taste and the runny nose/sweaty upper lip that later ensued. Win.

But when the spicy sensation continued to linger longer than I anticipated, drastic measures needed to be taken.



*Bites knuckle*



I followed Doug's lead from the other night and paired a slice of orange crush cake (white cake mix + can of diet orange crush + shredded coconut) with, yes, cake-flavored ice cream. I gave him shit for it the other night, but now I realize I was just jealous that I didn't think of it first. Cake & cake-flavored ice cream. Like, duh. And of course it took care of the chipotle burn.

Since I had a second half of the avocado, I ended up making a second quesadilla which will be today's lunch. Breakfast was a peanut butter/banana/cinnamon/honey wrap made with my new vanilla cranberry PB that I got at Super Target. Also had some coffee, soymilk and an apple as well. It's been a while since I've had soymilk. I'm ready to go back to almond, ha.

And for a snack later?



A spinach-fruit salad. Instead of making my usual Green Monster, I used the last couple handfuls of spinach in salad form. Topped with papaya chunks, strawberries, blueberries, chia seeds, 2 crushed pecan halves and a drizzle of honey. Never tried this combo before, but um hello? Pretty sure this is gonna be the shiz.

That's all for today. After work, we need to figure out dinner, head to my mom's to try and fix her computer and finish the evening off with a big grocery trip. Happy Friday, kids!

Rush, as in not enough time, not the band.

I really need to go back to packing my lunches and snacks the night before. The past few mornings have been too rushed and it makes me cranky. Buh. Oh well. Nothing a little Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth can't cure. Music Tangent: I wasn't a big fan of Sonic Youth before (didn't hate them, just kinda neutral). Doug on the other hand LOVES them. Between hearing him play their albums all the time and seeing them in concert last year, I must say, they've totally grown on me.

Let's back up to last night's dinner, shall we? I had a couple of ideas on what to make, but I also had a Buy One Get One Free coupon to Noodles & Company, so off we went.



I got a small order of Bangkok Curry with a grilled chicken breast on top. Added a few drops of Sriracha and I was good to go.

But y'know what I'm really excited to share? DESSERT:



What is this, you ask? Well, my inner Fat Kid took a Deep Chocolate vitatop, a tablespoon of marshmallow cremé and sprinkled on about a teaspoon of reduced-fat unsweetened coconut. The result? A mother-frickin' Sno-Ball. Only much better, in my opinion. I do enjoy me some original Sno-Balls from time to time, but I get sick of them after a few bites because there just seems to be too much marshmallow and not enough cake (is there ever really enough cake in anything though?). Well problem solved, with my version. And the vitatop has chocolate chips in it, so um, helloooo?! Heaven, for the most part.

Moving on to this morning's breakfast:



A bowl of I-Don't-Know-What and a slice of Great Harvest Cinnamon Chip toast.



Ok, so here's what I mixed together:

• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• cinnamon
• splenda
• splash of vanilla extract

I microwaved it for 2:30 and let it cool for a bit. It was good, but maybe could have used a tablespoon or so of flour? I don't know. I just wanted a little bit of oats, but with extra sources of protein, so that's what I ended up with. I guess you could call it Stuffed French Toast in a Bowl? Whatevs. If I want to go for the French Toast effect though, I think next time I need to drizzle some syrup on top. Maybe that's what was missing...

And another shot of the toast, because it made my soul smile:



Quick 'n' Dirty Review of Jari Love's Get Extremely Ripped DVD: Love it! Another great strength & resistance workout. There's definitely not any cardio moves in this one which kinda bummed me out at first, but since it's based around high reps with no breaks in between, my heart rate and sweat output stayed steady the whole time.

It's well over an hour and does move slower than the Get Extremely Ripped! 1000 DVD, but overall, I still enjoyed it. Using the step makes a HUGE difference! Especially when doing stuff like reverse lunges and side squats. Good lord. I had to step off of it occasionally because my quads were on fire.

After the first two workouts (each 30 minutes each), I did the push-ups and plank interval, but skipped the abs routine because I was running out of time and needed to start getting ready for work. Plus, after the ab work I've been doing on the Jackie Warner DVD this week, I was sooo not in the mood for more abs.

Tons of squats, lunges, bicep curls, shoulder presses, rows, tricep kick backs & extensions. Some of the pulsing squat moves killed me, but I could feel my butt and abs working overtime, so I couldn't complain. And you pretty much keep dumbbells in your hands the whole time, so my lifting gloves came in handy for a better, less sweaty grip.

After being disappointed with her Body Rock! DVD the other morning, I'm glad this one met my expectations.

My shoulders and rump cheeks are officially killing me now though, so I don't think I will follow through with my original plan of doing the Jackie Warner DVD again tomorrow. I think I'm just gonna do a 2 mile run (maybe) and call it a day. I know I said last week that I didn't want to break my runs down into smaller distances over the course of more days, but this week, it seems like a better fit.

That's all for today. I think I'm gonna skip lunch and snack photos today since they're basically the same as yesterday, more or less.