Spicy Pizza Hummus in 5 minutes!

Another recipe! Yea! This one is inspired by Katie's pizza hummus... in fact they're pretty similar, so I can't take a whole lot of credit. But nutritional yeast... wow. What great stuff! That's all I'm gonna say. It really punches up the flavor of this, and I think I may start sprinkling it willy-nilly everywhere! And this hummus... I love it. I eat it even without things to dip, that's how good it is. It truly tastes like you're eating a pizza, except the texture is nice and creamy and you get a little zing from the spice that I added. And another plus? It's REALLY healthy, between the beans for protein and fiber, the tomatoes for vitamin C and lycopene, and pretty low calorie, too (only 150 for a BIG half cup that will fill ya right up!)

Without further ado, I present to you:

SPICY PIZZA HUMMUS

1/2 cup cooked garbanzo beans, drained if from can

1/4 cup no salt added tomato sauce

2 T. Nutritional Yeast Flakes

1 teaspoon Sundried Tomato+ Rosemary Spice (or mix your own)

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon Siracha chil sauce or spicy buffalo sauce (for buffalo pizza flavor!)

Dash Garlic Salt (opt)

Finely Chopped Tomatoes/Pepper (opt)

1. Put everything into a blender and blend for 2-3 minutes. Then puree for an additional minute. I allowed some bean chunks to stay in mine because I thought that added something (hence the veggie chunks, also)... And you're done! EAT UP! YUM!!!

Strawberries and Cream yOATgurt

All right, then. I posted about these in my WIAW post, but it just didn't seem the appropriate place to put a recipe, you know?

So let's get on with it :) Besides, I like posting pictures of yummy food, despite lacking photography skills on my part. But you do what you can... If it tastes good, I think I'm satisfied.

These are super creamy and they really warm you from inside out. Especially when you add some delicious toppings...like peanut butter. Because that improves everything. I pity those with nut allergies.

CREAMY STRAWBERRY yOATgurt (easily doubled)

1/4 cup rolled oats

1 Tablespoon Chia Seeds (optional)

1/2 cup almond milk+ 1/2 cup water (or some combo of the two)

2 Tablespoons Greek Yogurt (plain, vanilla, or strawberry)

1 cup frozen strawberries, partially thawed

Sweetener (optional)

Toppings (optional)

Peanut Butter

 Kashi GoLean Crunch or Granola

Slivered Almonds

White Chocolate Chips

1. Combine liquid, oats, and chia seeds on stovetop in medium size pot. Heat on high until it begins to boil, and then stir constantly for 2 minutes to make sure the oats do not burn.
2. Reduce heat to medium and let cook until about half liquid is absorbed (about 4 minutes). Stir in yogurt and let cook again until it begins to thicken.
3. Add your somewhat frozen strawberries and stir. (It turns pink!)
4. You may cook for a few additional minutes to thicken, but I liked mine runny because it was more like warm yogurt/oatmeal. Sounds weird, but delicious.  
5. Top with whatever you like, and ENJOY!

Natural Food Store Review +WIAW

Yesterday, I fell in love. With a store.

To be fair, it was a cute little store, stuffed to the brim with organic and vegetarian products. I had never seen anything like it near me- the closest I'd come was the giant Whole Foods monolith an hour away in West Hartford. But this was in my very town! Sadly, my new crush and I did not have much time together, since my mom had to go to the bathroom and kept reminding me to 'make my choices and get out'. But I could have stayed for an hour. Maybe two. Just LOOKING at all the possibilities. It was my new health food dream come true.

Maybe if you live down in shoreline CT you should stop by. It's called, quite literally, 'The Natural Food Store' in downtown Niantic. But that's enough of that. Here are some of my new finds, which I'm excited to try out:


Arctic Zero Ice Cream- High Protein and looks sooo good. (If you can't tell, this is the coffee flavor.)

Nutritional Yeast. I've been searching and searching and FINALLY found it!



The Uber-cool bag....



Ultra Energy Bar- with 22 grams protein. You know me and protein. It's good stuff! And look at this! Cookies and Cream! I can't wait to sample all my new goodies!

  On to WIAW. The theme is 'FALL into good habits'. What's my good habit? Well, mine is pretty simple, actually. It's...eating. For those who don't know my story, check out the food philosophy page. In short, though, my eating habits these past few weeks have fallen apart. I've really been giving in to restricting urges and it's time that I took control back. My body deserves to be fed, and it deserves a healthy, balanced diet that can fuel my running and daily activities and not leave me an emotional wreck. So the goal for me this Wednesday, and days to come, is to EAT. More. More calories, more often, more nutritionally-concious. It will be good for me.
 

Today's breakfast started off nice and hearty with some Creamy yOATgurt on the stove (recipe to follow). The flavor I settled on was strawberries and cream, topped generously with some peanut butter to make a little PBandJ yOATgurt.



I may also have had some ah-mazing coffee. Another new obsession. It's fall and pumpkin is everywhere, what can I say? It's simply delicious, and the smell just makes you want to hug someone. Spread the love, won't you?



Lunch included a veggie burger on toasted whole wheat bread, Spicy Pizza Hummus and cauliflower for dipping, and some cocoa roasted almonds to snack on before practice.

Haven't gotten to dinner and evening snack yet, but I'm pretty sure the agenda will include some fresh roasted spaghetti squash and Spinach N Veggie Wraps.



And dessert? Well, I'm thinking that coffee ice cream looks pretty good ;)

Why Everyone Should Love Speedwork

I'm anticipating another Uber-busy week coming up. School will take off as normal, I assume, and I'm going to have to drag myself out of bed and get moving each morning in order to make it to the bus stop and through 3 hours of classes before the next real break for lunch. So of course, I need to be extra prepared with a filling breakfast that can carry me through!

Before I share my (hopefully) delicious new recipe, let's talk about speed work. Duh duh duh.... I know. If you're strictly a distance runner like me, the very phrase brings chills to your spine. To be honest, despite the title of this post, I don't love speedwork. I actually kind of loathe it...but just a little less than I did before.

You see, I had to face a grueling set of speed drills this morning at 8:00 AM, which is either a really good thing or a really bad thing depending on how you spin in. If you want to look at it negatively...it was 8 in the morning on Labor Day and I would really have preferred to be snuggled down in my warm bed, head buried deep in my yummy-scented pillow. If you want to put a positive spin on it, though... the fact that it was 8 meant that my mind hadn't completely woken up to figure out what the heck I was doing to it yet, so I got in maybe 200 meters before I had a mental breakdown. Hey. That's 200 meters more than last time, so I'm happy.

But the long and short of it is: speedwork DOES help you. It can't be denied (I've looked for a way. No go) The reason speedwork helps improve performance is it literally 'creates' a different energy-usage pathway in our muscles so we can burn through glycogen more efficiently. That means increased metabolism, people!

In more detail, our body only has so much accessible glucose at any given time, and this gets quickly used up in short sprints through Anaerobic Respiration. However, longer, sustained workouts activate Aerobic Respiration, in which the body has to use available oxygen for conversions. The more we build our Anaerobic pathway, the more we can prolong the time that the body starts Aerobic Respiration, and the more we can burn through any excesses of glycogen (essentially, sugar). So it helps our body out! Yea speedwork! (I'm not cheering, either, don't worry. I still do not love it, and probably never will.)

But let's get on to something I do love. Like food. Like maybe... FROYO!! Or even better...

CHOCOLATE BANANA PROTEIN FROYO

Okay... with some chopped espresso beans too :)

1 ripe banana, mashed

8 oz Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt (could use vanilla or honey, also)

1-2 T. Dark Chocolate Cocoa Powder

1 Packet Sweetener (optional)

2 T. Chopped Coffee Beans (optional)

Banana

Banana and Yogurt

Everything!

AND FREEZE!

1. Combine all ingredients and stir well. Place in freezer for at least 1 hour. Take out and thaw for a few minutes, stirring up or putting in blender to obtain soft-serve consistency. ENJOY!

Nutritional Information for ENTIRE RECIPE: 250 calories, 1.5 g fat, 24g protein, 33g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber

Happy Labor Day! Have a (Funfetti) Blondie!

Personally, I think that Labor Day is an excuse to push school back a week farther.

Or, if you live on the East Coast, to get used to sleeping in again after your first week of school, completely throwing off your transition. But that's just my opinion. Not that anyone could complain about Labor Day when there's a beautiful little dessert to celebrate... (it's red, white, and blue, so clearly it was made for this day!)

Oh, and did I mention it's FUNFETTI?
Much like these little guys:

I just couldn't get enough with my little funfetti protein cakes so it was time to bake up another lovely little cake adaptation. Needless to say... this one isn't exactly for the health nut. It IS, however, absolutely delicious, and you will not regret making it. It's a party in your mouth. Truly. A sweet, beautiful, fiesta.

Blondie, anyone?

EXTRA-GOOEY FUNFETTI BLONDIES

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 +1/4 cup funfetti cake mix

3/4 cup All Purpose flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

Extra Sprinkles (optional....but come on. Of course you'll use them)

Red and Blue Food Coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9x9 pan
2. Cream the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together in large mixing bowl. I used my handy-dandy Kitchenaid mixer, which can handle just about anything!
3. In separate bowl, combine cake mix, flour, baking soda, and a handful of sprinkles. Add slowly to wet mixture, stirring constantly (or if you don't have a mixture, between each flour/cake addition.
4. Once well mixed, pour out into pan. Batter will be thick, so you may need to spread it a bit.
5. Make lines of each red and blue food coloring on top of mix. Using a knife, make small swirls in the batter to get the marbled effect. Add additional sprinkles on top of everything.
6. Bake for 45-50 minutes in oven until toothpick comes out clean. You want them to still be gooey, but if you prefer a cakier texture just leave them in for longer.
7. Cut into squares (I made 9 large ones) and ENJOY THIS HEAVEN!

Yum.

Double Yum.

Salivation...............................

Spicy Roast Cauliflower

It's tough to choose a favorite vegetable. I realized this very recently, when someone asked me WHAT my favorite veggie was. I would have expected myself to have some immediate answer, but nothing was coming to me. I guess it's like choosing a favorite child...although I neither have children nor have any desire to currently! The closest I could come to naming a favorite was making a list (and lists are what I do best!) of some potential candidates:

• Zucchini
• Brussel Sprouts
• Spaghetti Squash....actually all squash really :)
• Salads
• Cabbage
• Water Chestnuts
• Mushrooms
• Baby Corn
• Roasted Red Peppers
• Snap Peas
• FRESH tomatoes
• Celery

And actually, this list could go on for quite a while. I won't continue it in the interest of time, but it's nice to know I've begun to outgrow my childhood pickiness. One veggie that HAS succeeded in making it through the long haul with me, though, is cauliflower. I was ALWAYS part of the clean-plate club when those steamed florets were served. So it is with great excitement that I continue to show off my old friend in a new way:

SPICY ROAST CAULIFLOWER

adapted from here

1 head cauliflower, washed and cut into florets

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Pinch chili flakes

1/4 tsp paprika

2-3 dashes salt

Dash pepper

1/4 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. Olive Oil

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Pour oil into large ziploc baggie, then add cauliflower and shake to evenly coat. Open up baggie and add spices, shake around again to coat evenly one more time.
3. Spread onto baking sheet and roast in oven for 40 minutes. It smells and tastes AMAZING, by the way! Enjoy!

Sunday Spinach N' Veggie Rollups

Hello world! I have not totally begun to neglect my blog due to the immense stress of Junior year (yet.) I've been studying away for the flood of tests that has come to greet me this first week of school, and let me say it was quite a shock to the system. Luckily, since I had some free time this Sunday (and it's a blessed rest day...my legs are sighing with relief), it was back to the kitchen for me.

I've been busy pinning away on Pinterest, which is also an addiction of mine, looking for special things to adapt and create. Some of the most intriguing pins I found involved making tofu frittatas and scrambles, as though it were eggs.

Huh.

I couldn't just let that go by without trying something similar, so here's what I came up with to please my picky palate:

Wrap it up!

VEGAN SPINACH 'N VEGGIE WRAPS (with tofu!)

8 whole wheat wraps (you can make your own even!)

1 16oz package frozen microwaveable spinach

1 16oz package firm tofu, drained but not pressed

1 tsp. basil

1 T. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. celery salt

S+P, to taste

1 red pepper, chopped

3-4 stalks celery, chopped

1-2 tomatoes, chopped

Any veggies you want!

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly spray or grease a cookie sheet
2. Microwave spinach according to package directions
3. In blender, combine tofu with spices and lemon juice. Puree for 1-2 minutes, then blend an additional 1-2 minutes until the entire mixture is creamy and there are no tofu chunks.
4. Combine cooked spinach with tofu mixture until spinach is completely coated.

5. Lay out wraps and spread with a large scoop of spinach mixture. Sprinkle with desired veggies, and then roll up and lay side by side on baking sheet. Bake in oven for 20 minutes until spinach mixture starts to set and veggies get nice and tender. Serve warm or cold, but of course, ENJOY!

Little Pizzas?

DONE!

Each Wrap, depending on the tortilla/wraps that you use, has 200 calories, 10 grams protein, 5 grams fiber, 26 grams carbohydrates, and 6 grams of fat. Delicious and nutritious here I come!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you do on your rest days? Do you flop on the couch and watch TV, or are you more the type who begins to get that itch to exercise anyway? I think for me it depends on the day. Often I have a really hard time NOT doing anything, so I'll go on a walk or a bike ride just to get out of the house, but today I was EXHAUSTED. Flopping on the couch (even with a textbook as my reading material) felt great!