I wanted to start this post off by apologizing, I'm sorry that I haven't been updating on a regular basis. If I'm correct It's been a week since my last post. I just can't seem to be motivated to put words and pictures together. I'm still making things but I just seem to be in a lull. Working these long hours is quickly getting to me. I'm still waking up at 4:45 am to do The 30 Day Shred, which doesn't seem to be that hard to do since I've been going to bed at a reasonable time. However everything else just seems to be such an ordeal, I mean, at a slug pace. I don't even want to dress nice for work, which is weird because I love dressing up, I mean, I'm still doing it, but I much rather be sitting in Lululemon pants with a huge baggy Bench sweater, but I know that isn't the most beautiful look so I'm skipping doing that. My meals have been relatively unimaginative, i.e. I make something really nice then I just throw the rest together. I need to get out of this lull because my body is seriously feeling it.
Before I start talking about food I want to write a little blurb about what happened on Monday! I woke up very early, cleaned my room, walked around the house in anticipation for quite some time. I waited for my friend to get to my house, then my morning began. Where was I heading to you ask? To get my license. Yes at the age of twenty-one I still didn't have my license, until Monday that is! It started off badly though. The driveway was mad icy, I actually slipped while getting into my car and it was raining. I put gas in the car for my first time... I feel as though now that I can drive, when it's cold out my mom is going to make ME get out of the car, yuck. We continued on our trek and went to the drivers place. Here is where my anxiety and anger came though. It turned out you have to cancel your appointment 48 hours in advance, and I only canceled 24 so I had to pay an ADDITIONAL $40.00. Well, I wasn't happy since I'd already paid a couple times. I had to wait on stand by since I didn't have an appointment, but I had an amazing guy. He was nice right from the start. My test was literally 1/4 of the time my last one was, and I merely had to park in forward, it was awesome! I'm still so happy, I mean the day of I was definitely on a natural high it was amaziiiiing how great it felt to finally have some freedom, unfortunately it only took five years to gain the courage, eek.
This morning I made a beautiful Green Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie. It was so delicious, smoothe, and refreshing especially after my work out. It was definitely filling too. I love smoothies due to them being easily transportable and if you have all your fruits frozen already it's a cinch to throw together. This morning I was craving some peanut butter and bananas and since we had some greens that needed to be used I tossed them in. I even threw in some lettuce, I had never tried that before, I knew there wasn't going to be any harsh taste so I figured why not, I loved this, yummy!
Green Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
Ingredients:- 1 frozen banana
- 1/2 frozen avocado
- 1/2 scoop peanut butter whey powder (any flavour will work)
- 1 1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
- 1 cup spinach
- 2 cups lettuce
- 1/2 tbsp homemade peanut butter
Whiz everything in the blender, drink and enjoy!
The remaining recipes on this post are going to be from the weekend. On Friday my mom and I stayed home from work, there was supposed to be a horrible storm, plus I had my driver's test that day. Well my test ended up being cancelled, and we never got a storm.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Hummus Crackers
Recipe adapted from here
When I woke up at that morning I was definitely in the mood to be in the kitchen. Working forteen hours a day hasn't allowed me much time in the kitchen, needless to say I took advantage of the situation. After having some leftover chick peas from the Sweet Potato Chickpea Patties I decided to make more of the ever-so delicious Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Hummus, I fell in love when I first made it, and definitely fell in love the second time I made it. This time however, I wasn't making the hummus to eat it as a dip, no, I was making the hummus so I could have a sweet cracker. I found a recipe using hummus as half of the ingredients to make crackers. I was a little skeptical, but the images of the hummus crackers were gorgeous, and I figured with something as delicious as the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Hummus there's no way these crackers could taste bad if they turned out. Well they turned out, and boy did they turn out beautifully. I literally ate the whole batch within the first hour of making them. I mean, it's my fault I made the most amazingly sweet hummus in the world. These crackers were fantastic, they were so simple to make, delicious, if you have leftover hummus they are definitely a good way of ridding your fridge of that, and they are full of healthy fats and protein, woohoo! I will certainly make these again, whether it's with a different hummus or the same I am positive they will be just as fantastic.Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup hummus
- 1/3 cup ground flax seed
- Salt (optional) - I omitted since this was a sweet cracker
Preheat oven to 375°.
Mix ingredients together until you have a stiff ball of “dough.” Place ball of dough on a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet. Pat down into a rough square. Place another sheet of parchment on top of the dough, and roll dough with a rolling pin until fairly thin. Peel off parchment. Sprinkle dough with optional salt.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cut crackers into desired shapes with a pizza roller. Return to oven and continue baking until crackers are crisp – up to 10 more minutes. Your baking time will vary depending on the wetness of your hummus.
The following thing that was made was a Red Pepper-Cilantro Pesto, as mentioned before I really am not a pesto person, however, after making Coriander and Kale Mixed Nut Pesto it seemed as though my palette was more in touch with those earthy flavours than before. I gave it another chance, and honestly I can definitely see myself being a fan of pesto, however, that being any pesto but parsley. Parsley to me is like eating wild grass that a dog has peed on, I absolutely detest the flavour and am always able to notice it in a dish a mile away. This pesto is awesome though, it isn't too thick, and not too thin either, I've used it as a dip, salad dressing and this weekend I plan on making an Israeli couscous pasta salad with it.
Red Pepper-Cilantro Pesto
Ingredients:- 2 roasted red peppers, chopped
- 3 tbsp slivered almonds, toasted
- 1 garlic clove, chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 tsp freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Place roasted red bell peppers in the bowl of a food processor. Add slivered almonds, garlic, cilantro, Parmesan cheese, and lime juice. Pulse until combined. While the food processor is running, slowly pour in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set the pesto aside.
Chocolate Almond Butter Cookies
Recipe adapted from here
Next I made some of the best cookies ever. I seriously devoured these bad boys. Homemade almond butter definitely made a significant impact in these cookies. Everyone I gave them too loved them as well, which is always nice to hear, especially when it's vegan, because we all know how skeptical some people can be. These cookies reminded me of a chocolatey-vegan shortbread cookie, the reason I say that is because of the amount of "butter" that was called for in the recipe. The cookie had a harder exterior with a real beautiful center I'm even really sure what I would consider it, chewy-soft perhaps, I'm not sure, but these cookies were fantastic. The original recipe calls to add a chocolate bar to the dough, but I seriously thought it was sweet enough with my homemade almond butter, to be honest, I could have even reduced the brown sugar by a bit, but the additional sweetness from it was definitely sweet. The cinnamon, although not a hefty amount was still prevalent, it was really nice. Unfortunately they only lasted two or three days, I was rather sad when they were gone, but this gives me an opportunity to try a new cookie, yeehaw!Ingredients:
- 1/2 c whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 cup carob chip cranberry almond butter, or any almond butter of your choice
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp flax meal plus 3 tbsp water
In a small bowl mix the flax meal and water. In a mixer, cream the almond butter and brown sugar. Whisk the other dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Add flax mixture to almond/sugar mixture, then add in dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Using your hands grab off 1" size balls , roll into balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes
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