Yum!

This was my "find" at the grocery store (Whole Foods) yesterday.  Ninja Squirrel Sriracha Trail Mix... What's not to love?  

loving cashew cream, but kicking it up a notch

I have growing girls who like yummy treats so I make a lot of things with nuts:

Cashew Cream Cheese

Chocolate Chia Brownies

Blueberry Bites

Dixie Pie Bites

Chocolate Frosting

and the list could go on.

Since I cook with nuts so frequently, I need to kick it up a notch at the gym. (Some of my jeans are getting snug. It's still warm and summery, so it doesn't matter, but come fall, I don't want to have to buy new pants.) Nuts are full of fat and calorie laden, but oh so good. So now it's extra trips to the gym!

I'd like to do more cardio, 'cause I'm a cardio kind of girl, but this fall, is all about muscle building. Having more muscle makes it easier to burn off calories when you are just sitting--muscles require them. Cardio burns off calories and can burn off muscle, too. (I'm not explaining it very well, but I don't feel like getting technical.)

My goal is to add in 2 strength building classes each week. I was only doing one strength building workout a week; a Pilates on the reformer workout. I think I've found a good schedule of 3 days strength training, 2 days of tap, and 1 day of heavy duty cardio day (plus walking as much as possible). (I'd like to get one more day of heavy duty cardio in there, but I don't have time until my class is over in December.)

I do love the reformer. My back, so sore for many years because of an injury and 3 pregnancies, is now not sore most of the time. From 2002-2008, it hurt more days than it didn't. I remember that if I stepped funny of a step or curb, I would be in pain. Some experts said to take it easy and rest it and some said, do more core work. Back then, I wasn't sure what a core was, but I finally figured it out and I'm glad I chose to move and not rest. It took a while to get strong, but now my core is strong and my back doesn't hurt. I don't like doing the strength building classes but not hurting is worth an hour of strength building 3 times a week!

Okay... new recipes soon. I hope. Yesterday, it was hot and summery, we even went swimming, but I decided to make soup!  I made this one Veggie Soup with Kale. Except I had no Kale. So I used cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli (and potatoes). I might add tomatoes next time or use Kale. Soups are fun 'cause you can improvise and it always works. Even the time when you add cashew cream to minestrone (I don't think I ever told you about that), but still, it worked--if you didn't think of it as a minestrone. I froze one dinner's worth of that soup (for the five of us) and have two more dinner's worth in the fridge. Next week, hopefully I'll do another soup. I made it a goal last year to make a soup every Sunday. That lasted a few weeks and then I was sick of making soup. I did get a lot frozen, and it was helpful to have them over the course of a busy year. Over the next couple of months, I'll try to make 3 or 4 kinds and get some of each kind frozen. It's all about EASY around here!

A hearty cookie

I found the inspiration for this recipe over at Oh She Glows. It looked fabulous, but I knew I had to make some changes. (I don't like coconut, I don't use coconut oil in my cooking, and they seemed like they might be a little sweet.)

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats, blended into oat flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal or almond flour
• 1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 cup of flax
• (If you like coconut, add some--up to 1/4 cup shredded. I don't like it and I didn't add it.)

WET INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup "drippy" raw almond butter (or other all-natural nut butter)*
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup pure maple syrup (I used 1/3 cup in the first batch I made and 1/4 cup in the second batch. I liked it both ways and will stick with just 1/4 cup.)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• about 1/2 cup of water to achieve the right thick cookie texture in the batter (I have no idea how much I added, but I don't think I added more than 1/2 of a cup, but in case you need more, feel free. The batter should be VERY thick and hard to mix by hand, but it shouldn't be "dry.")

The most important INGREDIENT**

• 1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips (or finely chopped chocolate) (or more!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with silicone baking sheet.
2. Grind the cup of oats into flour
3. Very coarsely grind the pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds--I did this because I don't like big seeds in cookies. I really like the effect!
4. In a large mixing bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients.
5. Add the wet ingredients all at once EXCEPT the water. Add small amounts of water at a time (maybe a tablespoon or two) 
6. Add the "most important ingredient" (you could add dried blueberries--if you're using dried blueberries, add a little cinnamon to the dry ingredients in step two (I'd use a teaspoon or two--this is my next experiment).
7. Portion small balls of dough (just smaller than golf balls) onto the baking sheet, and pat them down. We made 17 cookies, but only 15 would fit on the baking sheet so we ate two in batter form.  (Vegan cookies are AWESOME 'cause you can eat them raw!)
8. Bake cookies for 10-15 minutes. I have no idea how long I actually had mine in the oven, but I'm guessing around 12 minutes. I just kind of patted them on top until they felt cookie-like.

Cookie RePort

3 out of 5 of us loved this cookie (my husband, my oldest daughter, and me)! My vegan who doesn't like vegetables didn't like the cookie; she was suspicious when I offered her cookies for breakfast. (I originally called these "breakfast cookies" but later decided they should be "hearty" cookies since you can eat them anytime!) My vegetarian (youngest daughter) deemed it "okay" and she ate one. We'll see if she comes back for more. Note, I don't think this cookie will travel very well as it's a pretty fragile cookie.

Notes

*I didn't have any almond butter so I tried to make my own in the vitamix. Every site I read on the web said it took a lot of patience to make almond butter in your vitamix. I should have listened as I wasn't feeling particularly patient. After about 5 minutes, the almonds were a very fine flour, and just starting to get "oily," but I was having to stop the blender and stir them every few seconds--this wasn't working for me. I added a little water to the flour and blended for a few more minutes and called it "good enough for cookies." Indeed, it was good enough for these cookies as the cookies were very tasty. I now have to decide if I'll use (store-bought) drippy almond butter (and be tempted to eat it on other things) or just make more of my clumpy homemade mess.

**If you hadn't guessed, we love chocolate around here! I am excited to try these with dried blueberries and will report back when I get around to it.

I was so excited to modify this recipe that I got up early on Saturday morning to do so. My husband was surprised when he heard the blender going before 8 am, but delighted by the cookies!