Finally Friday: and Some Healthy Chocolate Bread!

It's been a long week. The first week of school often is, of course, but this one seemed especially lengthy. Maybe it's because it's Junior year and I'm starting a whole bunch of new classes and receiving a tornado of new information that I have to keep straight. Maybe it's the difficult XC workouts we've been starting the season out with (they've been pretty monotonous, and I certainly feel the burn. I've also been told by my coach not to put our workouts on the internet for fear that other teams will get them...so I can't actually tell you WHAT we did. Just that it was hard and tiring). Maybe it's the sad fact that I haven't had time to update my blog as much as I really would like to. Or maybe it's a combination of all those things. (I think my vote's on the last one!)

Today is going to be a time to catch up on all the blog posts. It was also a night to spend in the kitchen, experimenting with this and that and whipping up more delicious recipes...or at least I hope they're delicious. It's been hard to try out new concoctions, because I'm paranoid that my recipes are going to fall flat, literally and metaphorically.

The first one tonight didn't.

Chocolate Almond Protein Bread

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup egg whites

1 oz. cocoa roast almonds

1/3 cup almond milk

1 scoop vanilla (or chocolate) protein powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. almond extract

1 T. Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder

1/4 cup Sugar in the Raw or Agave

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Grind almonds to powder, then keep grinding to a bit of a wet paste in a food processor.
3. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour into greased loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
5. Cut into slices and remove from pan. Can be frozen and kept well that way! ENJOY!

*A little note here. This ENTIRE loaf of bread has only 735 calories. I cut mine into 8 slices, which came out nice and THICK, and each one has only about 95 calories! And it tastes AWESOME. I'm not kidding. Especially warm....and a little bit gooey....ahhhh

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What's your favorite thing to cook, or at least type of cooking? Mine is probably sauting and stir frying, because it's so involved, but it would have to be followed closely by baking, as you might be able to tell!